25-469: The NWA Alabama Heavyweight Championship was created in October, 1962. Since its creation, the championship has been defended in a number of NWA territories throughout the decades. Initially, the title was a part of Gulf Coast Championship Wrestling (GCCW) and later Southeastern Championship Wrestling (SECW), which became Continental Championship Wrestling (CCW) in 1985. It is unclear exactly when
50-651: 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
75-1007: A manager for Major League Wrestling . He reactivated The Stud Stable with the Dirty Blondes as his first signees. Robert Fuller comes from a wrestling family: his father Buddy Fuller and his grandfather Roy Welch were wrestlers, as were his brother Ron Fuller and his cousin Jimmy Golden ("Bunkhouse Buck") . He has been married four times: Joyce Logan, who he has his oldest daughter Kimberly by; Sylvia Wilson (Miss Sylvia), who he has Katie and Charlotte by; Susan Lostraglio, who he had no children with; and his current wife Laverne Stewart. He has 7 grandchildren. Fuller currently resides in Seminole, Florida. His ex-wife and valet Miss Sylvia (born December 15, 1956) died at her home in Killeen, Texas from breast cancer, on November 11, 2022, at
100-561: 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
125-669: A stable called The Stud Stable . Among the members in the independent versions of this stable were Golden, Sid Vicious , Cactus Jack , Dutch Mantel , Brickhouse Brown, Gary Young, and Brian Lee . He spent some time in the American Wrestling Association with Golden in 1988, and they feuded with The Rock 'n' Roll Express ( Ricky Morton and Robert Gibson ). He also wrestled in the Texas area where he teamed with Jeff Jarrett . In 1993, Fuller went to World Championship Wrestling as manager Col. Robert Parker,
150-612: A takeoff of Col. Tom Parker of Elvis Presley fame. He managed Sid Vicious and teamed with manager Harley Race and his protege, Vader to form "The Masters of the Powerbomb". They feuded with Sting and Davey Boy Smith . In 1994, he managed "Stunning Steve" Austin before reforming his "Stud Stable" with Golden as "Bunkhouse Buck", Meng , Dick Slater , Terry Funk and Arn Anderson . They feuded heavily with Dusty and Dustin Rhodes . In 1995, Col. Parker courted Sherri Martel to
175-491: Is an American manager and retired professional wrestler , better known by his ring names Robert Fuller and Col. Robert Parker . Robert and his brother Ron co-owned Continental Championship Wrestling for a time. Fuller started wrestling in 1970 in the Alabama and Tennessee regions. He often teamed with his cousin Jimmy Golden and they won many tag team titles. In the 1980s, he took his brother Ron's idea and made
200-775: 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
225-507: The home video boom of the 1980s, much of the footage from the Gulf Coast era and the Knoxville portion of Southeastern no longer exists, despite a few bits of rare footage turning up here and there. However, almost all of the Dothan portion of Southeastern along with the majority of Continental footage still exists. They are still owned by David Woods and Woods Communications. Robert Fuller (wrestler) Robert Welch (born May 14, 1949)
250-527: The "manager" designation. One trademark of Parker's managing would be his fanning himself during matches. In October 1996, Harlem Heat fired Parker after he cost them the WCW World Tag Team Championships. He quickly started to manage The Amazing French Canadians ( Jacques Rougeau and Carl Ouellet ), trading in his gray suit for a French Foreign Legion uniform. Harlem Heat and The Amazing French Canadians began feuding. Fuller
275-614: 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
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#1732782677033300-418: 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,
325-536: The NWA Wrestle Birmingham Junior Heavyweight Championship. With the help of Fuller (who referred to Spruill as his " Million Dollar Baby "), Spruill defeated El Mexico to win her third wrestling title. On September 14, 2006, Fuller was seen, once again as Col. Parker, being interviewed by Robert Roode on TNA Impact! . On February 8, 2018, Fuller made a return to professional wrestling as Col. Robert Parker,
350-674: The championship moved to SCW/CCW, however it was sometime between December 1977 and November 1980. The title stayed there until CCW left the NWA to join the American Wrestling Association (AWA) in 1988. The championship was then shortly picked up by Alabama Pro Wrestling (APW - now NWA Xtreme) as its major title in May 2001. The title then became again inactive in November 2002, when APW created its own Heavyweight Championship. Continental Wrestling Federation Continental Championship Wrestling
375-460: The dismay of both the Stud Stable and Sherri's charges, Harlem Heat . Parker and Sherri went to get married and Sherri was attacked by Madusa , who was supposed to be Parker's wife. Parker and Sherri split and feuded and then made up again, with Parker leaving the Stud Stable to help Sherri manage Harlem Heat. While with Harlem Heat, Parker's official title was "promoter", while Sherri retained
400-491: 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
425-497: 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
450-607: 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 a frequent attraction in the summer. However, due to his obligations in Nashville, his son Buddy Fuller (Edward Welch)
475-564: 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
500-506: 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
525-467: 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
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#1732782677033550-646: 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
575-646: 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 the Knoxville territory from John Cazana in 1974 and the Alabama/Florida territory in 1977. When Fuller sold
600-737: 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
625-682: Was released from WCW in 1997 and in March 1998, he resurfaced in the WWF as Tennessee Lee, a character similar to his Col. Parker character, and began managing Jeff Jarrett. His time in the WWF was short-lived; he would be released in August 1998 and went back to wrestling with Golden on the independent circuit in Alabama . On June 2, 2006 in Irondale, Alabama , Fuller managed Shannon Spruill against El Mexico for
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