Eastern Wrestling Alliance

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Eastern Wrestling Alliance
Details
Acronym EWA
Established 1998
Style American Pro Wrestling
Location Massachusetts
Founder(s) James St. Jean
Bob Staples
Owner(s) Jeremy Barron
Scott Despres
Sister Front Row Wrestling

The Eastern Wrestling Alliance (EWA) is an American professional wrestling promotion currently based in Massachusetts and founded in 1998 by James St. Jean and Bob Staples. The EWA has been a prominent professional wrestling company in the New England area since the early 2000's beginning most notably in 2001 with the kick off of their long run of monthly shows in Portland, Maine.

Contents

[edit] History

[edit] 1997 - 2000

The Eastern Wrestling Alliance was created in 1997 by physical therapist James St. Jean, who served as owner and president and Bob Staples, who served as vice president, both legit and as a character. After running two shows in May 1997 in which Tony Rumble served as booker, St. Jean offered the position to Tony Atlas.

Atlas served as booker for about a year, during which time the EWA began filming a weekly TV show, seen throughout central Maine. These live shows, unless they were at a county fair or college, were generally poorly promoted and lost money. In early 1999, Joshua Shea was brought on board to help Staples with some administrative duties and contribute booking ideas.

With Atlas' connections in the industry, he was able to bring experienced indy talent from all over the northeast, going as far west as Ohio and as far south as Virginia. He also was able to bring in many former WWF stars that otherwise may not have performed at shows as small as the EWA was putting on.

In 1999 MTV used the EWA as one of the primary focuses for their documentary style show True Life: I'm A Professional Wrestler[1][2]. This one hour broadcast followed Tony Atlas in his post-WWF career as an independent wrestler and booker for the EWA[2]. During the filming of the documentary the EWA owner/promoter James St. Jean and Tony Atlas had a falling out leading to the EWA show scheduled to be run during the filming of the MTV documentary to be canceled by James St. Jean[1][2], only to then see Tony Atlas fight his hardest to make the show go on[2]. The documentary did not paint Tony Atlas in the best light but it did bring national attention to the EWA itself, increasing awareness for their product for the years to come as it was aired on MTV repeatedly over the next couple of years.

The fallout of the MTV fiasco had Atlas leaving the company while Shea and Dan Mason, a color commentator, took over booking for a period of time. Staples, who suffered a heart attack shortly after the MTV show was filmed, also stepped away from the business. St. Jean stopped producing a TV show a few months after Atlas was dismissed. Upon Mason leaving the company for professional opportunties outside of wrestling, wrestlers Scott King and Steve Rand took over booking duties.

In early 2000 James St. Jean sold the promotion to equal share holders Rand, King and Shea.

[edit] 2000 - 2003

When the new owners took over the EWA they switched their primary market place to the Portland, ME. area[3] and expanded their road schedule to include shows in New Hampshire[4] and with help of business partner and co-promoter Jeremy Barron in Massachusetts as well[4]. Steve Rand and Scott King booked the shows while the third owner operated in a promoter capacity hanging fliers and such until late 2001, when he left the company. Rand and King then offered that share to Brian Mailhot.

With Steve Rand and Scott King booking the shows business went up for the company. They went from running shows with typical attendance averaging around 100 or so to running shows with attendances reaching 400+ in their primary venue the Steven's Avenue Armory in Portland, ME. This was also in part due to the quality of wrestler that Rand and King brought in to the EWA including many notable independent wrestling names such as John Walters, Antonio Thomas, Romeo Roselli, Brian Black, Adam Booker, Dr. Heresy, Chi Chi Cruz, Kid Krazy and former WCW star[5] Rick Fuller; all of which went on to work for the WWE and/or TNA in various capacities.

These shows were filmed for local public access TV for the greater Portland area[6]. The EWA was also featured in another documentary filmed by two college students in 2002 titled "Don't Stop Believing". The documentary followed Frankie Armadillo and Adam Booker primarily as they lived locally. Dr. Heresy, Brian Black, Steve Ramsey, Alexander Worthington III and others from the EWA were also featured. This documentary did not receive any sort of syndication but was sold by the EWA at their live events.

In early 2003 as a result of the attacks on the World Trade Centers and The Pentagon on September 11th, 2001 the EWA lost their primary venue in the armory in Portland, ME. as the army determined it would not rent out its armories anymore. This lead to a venue change to The Strive Center in South Portland, ME. Not too long after the venue change owner/promoter/booker Steve Rand decided to move across the country leading to the sale of the EWA to their business partner Jeremy Barron.

[edit] 2003 - present

With the sale of the EWA to their Massachusetts promoter and business partner the EWA re-located its primary market to Massachusetts, most notably in Southbridge and Ludlow, MA[7][8]. It was not long before fellow independent wrestler Scott Despres got involved and became equal partner as promoter and booker for the EWA. Typical attendance did drop to the more average area of 150+ for the Massachusetts shows though as the Maine fan base that had been built up over the prior 3-4 years largely did not make the 2-3 hour commute for shows in the new EWA market place. The EWA now runs just in Massachusetts, usually in Orange, MA. but also works in tandem with their newer sister promotion Front Row Wrestling based in New Hampshire. The two companies allow title defenses on each others shows and on occasion run joint promoted shows.

[edit] Current Championship Belts

Championship Belt Current Champion(s) Held Since
EWA Heavyweight Championship [9] Kid Mikaze March 15th, 2008
EWA Tag Team Championship [9] Dr. Heresy & Kid Krazy March 15th, 2008

[edit] Inactive Championship Belts

Championship Belt Last Champion(s) Inactive Since
EWA New England Championship [10][11] Antonio Thomas Late 2004
EWA Hardcore Championship [10][11] Chris Venom Late 2002
EWA Light-Heavyweight Championship [10][11] Kidd USA Mid 2000
EWA Women's Championship [10][11] Violet Flame Late 1999

[edit] Roster

Singles [12]

  • Maverick Wild
  • Max Bauer
  • Moondog Barron
  • "The Duke of Elegance" Don Chesterfield
  • Chi Chi Cruz
  • "Die Hard" Eddie Edwards
  • Sonny Goodspeed
  • Dr. Reginald Heresy
  • Larry Huntley
  • Kevin Landry
  • Makua
  • Kid Mikaze
  • Brian Milonas
  • Tony Omega
  • Brian Black[13] a.k.a. former WWE star Palmer Canon[14][15]
  • Psycho
  • Michael Sain
  • Antonio Thomas
  • Panther Martin
  • Jimmy James

Tag Teams [12]

  • Antonio Thomas and Romeo Roselli a.k.a. former WWE tag team The Heart Throbs[16][17]
  • Christian Angers and Tim Walker
  • Chi Chi Cruz and Kid Mikaze
  • Chunky But Funky
  • Omega Security (Tony Omega and Jimmy James)

Other Talent [12]

  • Manager Steven Marriott
  • Nurse Kiki Van Dyke
  • Referee Holyoke Joe
  • Referee Michael Crockett
  • Referee Rich Bass
  • Ring Announcer Tommy D
  • Color Commentator Nicholas Santone
  • Color Commentator Dr. Payne
  • Color Commentator Don Chesterfield

[edit] Alumni

  • "Fragile" Frankie Armadillo [6]
  • Tony Atlas
  • Adam Booker [6]
  • Johnny Curtis [6]
  • The Damned - Mad Dog and Draven [6]
  • The Egomaniacs - Johnny Idol and Mike Steel [6]
  • "Big" Rick Fuller[5][6]
  • Damian Houston [6]
  • "Intellectual" Arch Kincaid
  • "Pristine" Kristine
  • Billy Kryptonite a.k.a. Chad Dick - ½ of former WWE tag team The Dicks[18][19]
  • "Latin Fury" Luis Ortiz
  • Ken Pheonix[20] a.k.a. Kenny Dykstra currently featured on WWE's SmackDown[21]
  • Steve Ramsey [6]
  • Dave Vicious
  • "Hurricane" John Walters
  • Alexander Worthington III [6]

[edit] Footnotes

  1. ^ a b Storm, Amanda, 2000 .Blakwidow:My First Year As A Professional Wrestler. Pages 190-196. ECW Press
  2. ^ a b c d "True Life:I'm A Professional Wrestler". MTV Productions. 1999
  3. ^ Eastern Wrestling Alliance Handhelds 2001
  4. ^ a b Eastern Wrestling Alliance Handhelds 2002
  5. ^ a b Rick Fuller - Biography
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Burket, Harry et al. London Publishing Co. 2002. Wrestle America. The 2002 Guide to Professional Wrestling Page 46.
  7. ^ Cornell, Tanya. EWA Southbridge, MA.: 06/27/2003 2723. TCTapes 2003
  8. ^ Cornell, Tanya. EWA Southbridge, MA.: 10/18/2003 2901. TCTapes 2003
  9. ^ a b www.easternwrestlingalliance.com
  10. ^ a b c d Wrestling Information Archive - Eastern Wrestling Alliance Title Histories
  11. ^ a b c d Solie's Title Histories
  12. ^ a b c Roster
  13. ^ 121402ewa
  14. ^ Rajah.com - Latest on Why Palmer Cannon Quit WWE & Officials Not Letting Him Leave
  15. ^ http://www.thewrestlingblog.com/2006/05/01/palmer-cannon-update/
  16. ^ eWrestling News [ Breaking News: The Heart Throbs Released From WWE ]
  17. ^ WordPress › Error
  18. ^ Rajah.com - Real Reason Behind The Dicks Release From WWE
  19. ^ John Toland - Biography
  20. ^ 013103ewa
  21. ^ WWE: Superstars > SmackDown > Kenny Dykstra

[edit] References

[edit] External links