Southwest Championship Wrestling
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| Acronym | SCW |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1978 |
| Style | American Wrestling |
| Headquarters |  San Antonio, TX |
| Founder(s) | Joe Blanchard |
| Owner(s) | Joe Blanchard |
Southwest Championship Wrestling (SCW) was a professional wrestling promotion that was owned by Joe Blanchard and based[1] in San Antonio, Texas, from 1978 to 1985, when it was purchased by Texas All-Star Wrestling and absorbed into that company.
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History [edit]
Venues [edit]
Its television matches were usually taped at The Junction, a small boxing venue in San Antonio, although occasional matches from cards at San Antonio's HemisFair Arena were also seen.
Television [edit]
Starting on December 5, 1982, Southwest Championship Wrestling became the first weekly wrestling program on the USA Cable Network, airing Sundays at 11:00 a.m. Eastern Time. As a result of the new national exposure, SWCW staged a one-night tournament in Houston, Texas, to determine an "Undisputed World Champion." Adrian Adonis was the winner of this tournament, and as a result he was presented with the oldest existing championship belt by Lou Thesz, as well as a brand new belt made specifically for the championship.
However, because of a particularly bloody match between Tully Blanchard and "Bruiser" Bob Sweetan (which USA refused to air), the inability of the promotion to keep paying USA the $7,000 per week to keep the time slot, and a monetary offer made to the cable channel by WWF owner Vince McMahon to replace Southwest Championship Wrestling with his own programming,[2] USA canceled the program (in spite of the high ratings the show was garnering for the network) and turned the time slot over to WWF All American Wrestling. Adonis' "undisputed championship" simply faded from SCW storylines within a few months and was abandoned in September 1983, and in April 1985, the promotion was sold to Texas All-Star Wrestling.
Rights of Footage [edit]
In 2010 JADAT Sports Inc. bought all the footage of SCW and Texas All Star from Ronnie Martinez. They have released a DVD "Best of the 80s Volume I" which contains mostly SCW footage. This DVD is in the top 10 wrestling DVDs on amazon, and was beating Randy Orton's newest DVD for a month. Also available at Kmart.com, and VCI entertainment.com.[citation needed]
Championships [edit]
For most of the promotion's existence, the World Heavyweight Champion of the American Wrestling Association was recognized as SCW's top champion as well.
| Title | Final champion(s) |
| SCW Southwest Brass Knuckles Championship | Tony Atlas (abandoned in 1983) |
| SCW Southwest Heavyweight Championship | Kevin Sullivan |
| SCW Southwest Junior Heavyweight Championship | Ron Sexton |
| SCW Southwest Tag Team Championship | The Maoris (title renamed & continued in Texas All-Star) |
| SCW World Heavyweight Championship | Scott Casey (abandoned in 1983) |
| SCW World Tag Team Championship | The Sheepherders (abandoned in 1984) |
Alumni [edit]
References [edit]
- ^ "WrestlingTerritories.png". Freakin' Awesome Network Forums :: Freakin' Awesome Wrestling Forum :: (w)Rest of Wrestling. Retrieved 25 March 2012.
- ^ KM : Reading Topic : swc on usa
External links [edit]
- American professional wrestling promotions
- Companies established in 1978
- 1985 disestablishments in the United States
- Sports in San Antonio, Texas
- USA Network shows
- 1982 American television series debuts
- 1983 American television series endings
- 1980s American television series
- Southwest Championship Wrestling
- 1978 establishments in the United States
