Misplaced Pages

#879120

38-995: IWF events occur weekly on Saturday nights. In most events, championship matches occur. Before each week's shows, the IWF website features their Eruption webcast which gives a preview of the upcoming show. Established in 1999, IWF Wrestling School trains hundreds of wrestlers and managers from 16 states and six countries that perform in bouts around the globe. The IWF wrestling school has taught former many athletes, from former WWE wrestlers to teenagers. The wrestling school usually features clinics from former and current wrestling superstars. Tom Prichard , John Bradshaw Layfield , Tito Santana , Honky Tonk Man , Steven Richards , Nunzio , Ricky Steamboat , Ken Shamrock , Dawn Marie , Tom Brandi (Sal Sincere), Steve Corino , Jim Powers , Bushwhacker Luke and Simon Diamond have hosted clinics. In addition to his role as an instructor, WWE Hall of Famer Tito Santana began wrestling with IFW in 2005. Santana,

76-538: A black eye and begged Prichard to help her, only for Anthony to attack him from behind, cuff his hands behind his back and hang him. On October 3, 1988, in Birmingham, Alabama , he defeated Anthony in the finals of a tournament to win the vacant CWF Heavyweight Championship . Prichard lost the title to Wendell Cooley on April 7, 1989, in Knoxville, Tennessee, but regained the belt on June 23 of that year. He lost

114-594: A couple of single matches against Bret Hart and Shawn Michaels. They returned to SMW and regained the SMW Tag Team Championship, marking Prichard's eighth title reign, on August 4, 1995, in Knoxville, Tennessee , defeating Tracy Smothers and Dirty White Boy at the Super Bowl of Wrestling. During the feud, The Thugs injured Prichard's leg, and he began wearing a loaded boot, which he used as

152-734: A dyed blond crew cut, to more resemble his storyline cousin. On the WrestleMania XII pre-show, on March 31, 1996, the team defeated The Godwinns in the finals of an eight team tournament to win the vacant WWF Tag Team Championship . They held the titles until May 19, 1996, when they were defeated by the Godwinns in Madison Square Garden in New York City. After Skip left the WWF in fall of 1996, Prichard became

190-651: A falling out with promoters in Louisiana with Mobile-Pensacola only running in the summer months. Kelly turned the promotion around from holding monthly and seasonal shows in a few towns which only drew a few hundred people to holding weekly shows in a different town night after night with local television exposure in each market, which led to each arena drawing thousands. Bob Kelly left the wrestling business in 1976 to enter real estate and spend more time with family, and Lee Fields found it more difficult to operate both his wrestling promotion and Mobile International Speedway at

228-913: A frequent attraction in the summer. However, due to his obligations in Nashville, his son Buddy Fuller (Edward Welch) was made booker for Mobile-Pensacola, and Fuller eventually expanded the territory into Mississippi-Louisiana as well. At this point, the territory didn't even have a name, its own belts, or even its own wrestlers (aside from members of The Welch Family of course). They often relied on wrestlers and champions from Buddy's and their Uncle Lester Welch's territory. He ran in places like Tampa, Florida, and Atlanta, Georgia (which would eventually become Championship Wrestling from Florida and Georgia Championship Wrestling), as well getting help from his father in Nashville, Tennessee, and some occasional help from his Uncles Herb and Jack. These early attempts would start to unravel when Buddy Fuller failed to make payments to

266-751: A guitar and Jarrett was knocked out cold as Chyna went for the victory. He also occasionally commentated for shows such as WWF Metal and co-hosted Byte This! , the WWF's internet talk show. Prichard was released from WWE in 2004. He went on to wrestle in the United Wrestling Association and in various other independent promotions in the Southeastern United States. He also holds training seminars in conjunction with certain promotions. During this time Prichard also befriended online professional wrestling journalist James Guttman of World Wrestling Insanity and provided

304-457: A masked jobber named Dr.X. Dr. X fought mainly on house shows but made a few TV appearances on Superstars. Dr. X lost to Brakkus at In Your House 12: It's Time . By 1997, he became a trainer for the company, responsible for training such future stars as The Rock , Kurt Angle , and Mark Henry , among others. In addition, Prichard made a few appearances as a singles wrestler for ECW in the summer of 1997. On November 16, 1998, Prichard became

342-532: A private party room. On June 26, 2017, the IWF held its last training school session. The Independent Wrestling Federation began in 1998, as a road show. The IWF traveled to local high schools and venues to perform live events. In 1999, the IWF moved into its current home in Nutley, New Jersey , known as the IWF Centre. The IWF CustomMuscle Centre houses not only the wrestling events, but also wrestling clinics,

380-504: A six-month promotional war over the Knoxville territory. Many of these defectors later joined the Kentucky based outlaw promotion International Championship Wrestling owned and operated by Angelo Poffo . After this, the Knoxville end of Southeastern experienced financial losses, and sold to promotions such as Jim Crockett Promotions and Georgia Championship Wrestling for the next five years. Fuller then made Birmingham his main end of

418-614: A team as " The Heavenly Bodies " and joined Smoky Mountain Wrestling upon its formation in 1992, and on April 23, 1992, in Harrogate, Tennessee , they defeated The Fantastics to become the first SMW Tag Team Champions . They continued to feud with The Fantastics throughout mid-1992, and were finally defeated for the titles on August 8, 1992, in a barbed wire cage match in Johnson City, Tennessee. The Heavenly Bodies regained

SECTION 10

#1732793715880

456-606: A training facility, and serves as a wrestling school. At February Fury in 2009, Kevin Knight was beat for his IWF Heavyweight Title by Chris Steeler. This not only marked the first time the Ross Family held every title (excluding Junior Heavyweight), but Steeler became the first GrandSlam winner (has held every IWF Championship). Kevin Knight was able to win a 16-man battle royal to become number one contender for Steeler's title at March Madness. Steeler remained champion throughout

494-495: A two-time WWE Tag Team Champion , also held the IWF Tag Team Championship in the latter part of his career. NXT graduate and former Raw performer Darren Young trained, graduated, and wrestled in the IWF. While wrestling for the IWF, he was known as "Bonecrusher" Fred Sampson. Other graduates of note include current Total Nonstop Action talent Rob Eckos (ring name Robbie E.), who is also mentioned in

532-655: A weapon to gain victories for him and Del Ray. They held the titles until the promotion folded on November 26, 1995. Also that summer they worked for United States Wrestling Association . They won the USWA Tag Team titles from PG-13 on August 7, 1995. After SMW folded, the Heavenly Bodies briefly wrestled for Extreme Championship Wrestling in December, until Prichard returned to the WWF. Prichard competed under his own name with his Heavenly Bodies attire at

570-522: A weekly commentary on the world of pro wrestling entitled Tuesdays with Tom. On August 10, 2006, eight days prior to his 47th birthday, he became the oldest man to win the United Wrestling Association Heavyweight Championship, defeating Dillinger for the title. In January 2007, he was rehired by WWE and replaced Bill DeMott as the head trainer for Deep South Wrestling (DSW). When DSW closed, he

608-524: Is the older brother of Bruce Prichard . Tom Prichard began his career in Los Angeles, around 1979, working for Gene and Mike LeBell's Los Angeles Olympic Auditorium wrestling promotion, where he held several championships in that organization, including the Americas tag team title with Chris Adams . After LeBell closed the L.A. promotion down in 1982, Prichard competed in various NWA territories for

646-570: The Darren Aronofsky film " The Wrestler ", and "Pretty Boy" Moby Plinko, better known as music producer Keven Maroda. Eckos and Maroda trained together under Kevin Knight in 2000. On April 30, 2014, the IWF Centre (Independent Wrestling Federation's school) relocated and opened in Nutley, NJ at a state-of-the-art 7,000 sq-ft facility with a new wrestling ring, padded amateur wrestling/MMA room, 3 dressing rooms, pro shop, nutrition store, and

684-775: The Sunshine Network , a regional sports cable channel that served the Southeastern United States . Their last TV episode aired on November 25, 1989. The promotion closed after their final show on December 6, 1989. Despite many huge angles over the years, this territory often has the status as "the lost promotion". Such obscurity was due to the lack of media coverage during the Gulf Coast and Southeastern years since both Lee Fields and Ron Fuller believed that their promotions should not be covered by wrestling magazines and often did not allow reporters in

722-608: The Survivor Series 1995 , wrestling on future tag team partner Skip 's team " The Bodydonnas ." Prichard was the first man eliminated as the Bodydonnas defeated Barry Horowitz 's "Underdogs" team. A month later, Prichard was officially introduced as Zip, Skip's on-screen cousin and tag team partner, interfering in a match allowing Skip to defeat Rad Radford , who had been trying to become a Bodydonna himself. Before this appearance he cut off his long curly brown hair into

760-614: The Eastern Tennessee territory he already established. This was initially labelled ”the Southern Division” of the SECW treating them as two separate entities despite the original plan to run a talent exchange between the two involving talent spending sixteen months in one end of the territory and then spend eight months in another to regain momentum after losing steam in the previous one. In June 1979, several members of

798-418: The Knoxville end of the territory, with this expansion came a name change to Continental Championship Wrestling . After a failed negotiation with CBS , he settled on moving the television show out of the small television studio and into the big arenas where they did house shows in order to give the promotion a national look and feel. While the name Southeastern restricted the promotion to a more regional feel,

SECTION 20

#1732793715880

836-605: The Knoxville territory from John Cazana in 1974 and the Alabama/Florida territory in 1977. When Fuller sold the promotion to David Woods in 1988, the name was changed to Continental Wrestling Federation . Nashville promoter Roy Welch had purchased the Mobile-Pensacola end of Leroy McGuirk's Tri-State Wrestling. Unlike McGuirk, who only promoted in the Mobile-Pensacola area on special occasions called spot shows, Welch decided to make promoting in Mobile-Pensacola

874-515: The later events. The Heavyweight championships stayed on Steeler's waist for all of 2009 since winning the title in February. Chachi won the Tournament of Champions in December to win the vacant American Championship. Tom Prichard Thomas Prichard (born August 18, 1959) is an American retired professional wrestler and author better known by the ring name Dr. Tom Prichard . He

912-491: The locker room to interview the wrestlers. This was to prevent the exposure to kayfabe and preserve the illusion of wrestling as a sport in the area. However, Fuller relented with the changeover to Continental in order to get national exposure for the promotion from the magazines. Such exposure was at an all-time high during the Eddie Gilbert period. Due to the expensive nature of archiving at television stations before

950-409: The masked Blue Blazer teaming with Jeff Jarrett losing to Steve Blackman and Goldust on Raw Is War. The next week he lost to Blackman and December 21 both on Raw Is War. The Blue Blazer gimmick was related to Owen Hart storylines and Hart's feud with Blackman. On September 27, 1999, Prichard teamed up with Jeff Jarrett to face against Chyna and Debra on Raw Is War. Prichard hit Chyna with

988-575: The match, Prichard and Rossi announced that this was their final match. Continental Championship Wrestling Continental Championship Wrestling was a professional wrestling promotion based in Knoxville, Tennessee , and Dothan, Alabama , from 1985 until 1989, owned by Ron Fuller . The promotion evolved out of the NWA-affiliated Southeastern Championship Wrestling and Gulf Coast Championship Wrestling territories owned by Fuller, who purchased

1026-497: The name Continental gave fans the impression they toured all over the country, except Alaska and Hawaii. In 1988, WCOV-TV owner David Woods bought the controlling interest in the promotion from Ron Fuller, and he renamed it Continental Wrestling Federation in a further attempt to compete with Vince McMahon and appear to resemble a nationwide promotion, even to the point of getting a national TV deal with Financial News Network . Episodes also aired every Monday at 1:30 a.m. ET on

1064-556: The next four years (including a stint as color commentator in Georgia Championship Wrestling (replacing the departed Roddy Piper) in 1982-83) before settling in the southeast, where he had the greatest success of his career. Prichard joined Continental Championship Wrestling in 1986, and by 1988, he feuded with "The Dirty White Boy" Tony Anthony . Their feud included a very controversial angle, which aired on April 23, 1988, where Anthony's valet came out with

1102-824: The other top babyfaces, including Jeff Jarrett , Bill Dundee , Robert Fuller , and others. While based out of Texas, Prichard won both the USWA Southern Heavyweight championship and the USWA Texas Heavyweight championship before the USWA closed the Texas end of their territory in November 1990. Afterwards, Prichard competed in the Memphis end of the USWA before the opening of Smoky Mountain Wrestling in 1992. Stan Lane and Prichard formed

1140-564: The same time.. So he sold it to his cousin Ron Fuller around 1977-1978. In 1974, Ron Fuller purchased Southeastern Championship Wrestling based in Knoxville, Tennessee from John Cazana, where he focused mainly on the east Tennessee area. In 1977, Ron Fuller took over the territory his grandfather and father had founded when GCCW folded and Fuller expanded the SECW to run in the Southern Alabama, Northern Florida area in addition

1178-506: The talent roster and behind the scenes personnel left SECW over frustrationd involving backstage politics with Ron's brother Robert Fuller who was considered lazy in terms of booking the territory, and spent many nights partying and felt his spot in Southeastern was owed to him since he was a member of The Welch/Fuller family. Led by Bob Roop , Ronnie Garvin , Bob Orton Jr. and Boris Malenko , All-Star Championship Wrestling fought

Independent Wrestling Federation - Misplaced Pages Continue

1216-467: The territory from his father Roy Welch. Buddy's cousin Lee Fields (Albert Lee Hatfield) would save the territory and gave it the name "Gulf Coast Championship Wrestling". Lee Fields would eventually buy the territory from Roy Welch and Buddy Fuller, and run shows in the area for almost two decades with Rocky McGuire booking Dothan-Panama City and Bob Kelly booking Mobile-Pensacola and Mississippi after

1254-699: The territory with the Dothan end continuing to flourish, giving early exposure to future stars such as The Fabulous Freebirds , rising stars in the territory along the lines of Austin Idol , and appearances by Ric Flair who would defend the NWA World Heavyweight Title in the area each year. Five years later, Fuller decided that it was time to reach beyond the Southern Alabama/Northern Florida area and re-purchased

1292-662: The title to Dennis Condrey a month later on July 22 in Dothan, Alabama , before once again regaining it after defeating Condrey on December 6 of that same year. Prichard held the title until the CWF closed later that month. In 1990, Prichard then moved on to the United States Wrestling Association , first working out of the Texas branch, where he formed a heel stable that included Eric Embry and Steve Austin , managed by Tojo Yamamoto . They feuded with

1330-726: The titles to the Heavenly Bodies on the following day in Taylor, Michigan. At WrestleMania X the Heavenly Bodies defeated the Bushwhackers in a dark match. The Rock 'N Roll Express defeated the Heavenly Bodies on April 1, 1994, in Pikeville, Kentucky in a " Loser Leaves SMW match ", where they then competed in the World Wrestling Federation for about a year, before being released in July 1995. Prichard fought in

1368-581: The titles two days later, holding them for three months before losing to the Rock 'N Roll Express on November 13, 1992, in a hospital elimination match in Harlan, Kentucky . They traded the titles with the Rock 'N Roll Express three times in a variety of hardcore matches over the following year before Lane left the promotion and retired from the ring. Prichard reformed the Heavenly Bodies with Jimmy Del Ray , and

1406-737: The two competed in both SMW and the World Wrestling Federation , wrestling the WWF World tag team champions the Steiner Brothers at SummerSlam 1993 . On November 24, 1993, in Boston on the World Wrestling Federation's pay-per-view Survivor Series 1993 , Prichard and Del Ray defeated the Rock 'N Roll Express. The Rock 'N Roll Express regained the titles on February 18, 1994, in Port Huron, Michigan, but lost

1444-646: Was moved to WWE's new developmental territory Florida Championship Wrestling . On May 30, 2012, Prichard was released from the WWE, being replaced by Bill DeMott as the head trainer. In 2017, Prichard travelled to England to wrestle at the Runcorn Wrestling Academy (RWA), where he teamed up with RWA owner Andreas Rossi (his former OVW trainee), Chris Von Sharpe, and Connor "The Bullet" Stafford in an eight-man tag team match against "Fantastic" Matt Fox, Demoni, Johnathan Alexander, and Mr. Williams. After

#879120