| Acronym | BCW |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1993 |
| Defunct | 2010 |
| Headquarters | Windsor, Ontario |
| Founder(s) | Doug Chevalier Scott D'Amore Chuck Fader |
Border City Wrestling (BCW) was an independent professional wrestling promotion once based in Windsor, Ontario. It was the base promotion for several Total Nonstop Action Wrestling wrestlers, including all of the former Team Canada, Chris Sabin and Alex Shelley. Many BCW employees were trained by Scott D'Amore, the owner and booker of BCW, at the Can-Am Wrestling School. The promotion merged with BSE Pro to create Maximum Pro Wrestling in 2010.
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Border City Wrestling was founded in 1993 by Scott D'Amore, Chuck Fader, and "The Canadian Destroyer" Doug Chevalier. After Chevalier's departure of Ontario in 1994 as well as Fader leaving the company due to his diagnosis with throat cancer in 2000, D'Amore became the sole owner of the company. D'Amore closed BCW for several months in 2000, but re-opened the company later that year.
In 2001, BCW began utilizing several Extreme Championship Wrestling employees who had been left without full-time work when ECW declared bankruptcy in April of that year. On August 29, 2001, BCW even held the "Mikey Whipwreck Retirement Bash" to honour the retirement of Mikey Whipwreck.
After his cancer went into remission in late 2001, Fader returned to BCW as a publicist and their kayfabe Commissioner.
In 2001, BCW merged with Maximum Pro Wrestling (MXPW) out of Detroit. BCW/MXPW put on a few shows under the MXPW banner, however, the merger ended up being quite short-lived.
After another short hiatus the previous year, BCW returned in the Spring of 2004 after merging with rival promotion Ontario Championship Wrestling (OCW) and taking on a new partner in OCW founder James Trepanier. After the merger, BCW began running regular smaller scale shows at OCW's former venue in Windsor.
On December 12, 2004, BCW, and their partner promotion from Michigan, Prime Time Wrestling, held A Night of Appreciation for Sabu, to raise funds to assist Sabu in paying the costly medical bills he had incurred with his serious back injury and viral infection that year. The show featured many BCW and TNA wrestlers, and the main event featured Shane Douglas vs. Raven with special Guest Referee Mick Foley.
2005 was a banner year for BCW as they held 3 landmark shows in the company's history.
On January 21 they held the 4th Annual Doug Chevalier Memorial where the main event featured the culmination of a long running BCW feud between Chris Sabin and Alex Shelley for the BCW Can-Am Television Championship refereed by Mick Foley. The show also featured Abyss and Jimmy Hart.
On July 22 they held their annual WrestleFest show which was headlined by a four-way Can-Am Television Championship match between Chris Sabin, Petey Williams, Alex Shelley, and A.J. Styles that has been since praised as one of the greatest matches in BCW history. Even more notably, the show featured one of the first reunions of the original Hart Foundation of Bret "Hitman" Hart, Jim "The Anvil" Neidhart, and Jimmy Hart.
On September 15, BCW held International Incident which featured TNA wrestler Jeff Jarrett defeating Raven for the NWA World Heavyweight Championship with the unexpected help of America's Most Wanted (who turned heel in the process) only 2 weeks before TNA returned to national television on Spike TV. This event was highly publicized as well and became known as "Controversy in Canada" to TNA fans worldwide.
After their WrestleFest event in the summer of 2006 featuring Christian Cage, BCW once again went on a hiatus, not holding a show for nearly 2 years.
On May 3, 2008, BCW held its return show, 'Awakening', in Windsor, Ontario. The show featured Al Snow in the Main Event.
Since their 2008 revival, BCW has returned to running regularly in Windsor and the surrounding area. This has included an ECW themed show entitled 'A Night of Extreme' on October 4, 2008 featuring Team 3D, Jerry Lynn, and Little Guido Maritato as well as their 15th anniversary show on December 13, 2008, featuring Kevin Nash.
In 2009, BCW ran several successful 3-show tours in Southwestern Ontario featuring the likes of "Hacksaw" Jim Duggan and The Highlanders on a regular basis.
On February 3, 2010 it was announced that owner Scott D'Amore has left TNA Wrestling and has announced that his Border City Wrestling, will be merging with Toronto's BSE Pro, run by Jason A. Brown, to become one of North America's largest independent wrestling company under the new banner, Maximum Pro Wrestling.[1][2]
| Championship: | Current champion(s): | Held since: |
|---|---|---|
| BCW Can-Am Heavyweight Champion | Tyson Dux | March 28, 2009 |
| BCW Can-Am Tag Team Champions | Vacant | |
| BCW Can-Am Television Champion | Vacant |
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