Catch Wrestling Association

Catch Wrestling Association
Acronym CWA
Founded 1973–1999
Headquarters Austria
Germany
Founder(s) Otto Wanz
Owner(s) Otto Wanz

The Catch Wrestling Association was a professional wrestling organization based in Austria and Germany and was founded in 1973. It was formerly run by famous AWA champion Otto Wanz. The CWA featured a traditional brand of mat wrestling mixed with various “Strong Man” competitions. The company was engaged in talent-share agreements with other wrestling promotions, including New Japan Pro Wrestling and the American Wrestling Association (the latter existing now as AWA territories). These agreements expanded the opportunities given to many European wrestlers.

CWA's biggest card was the Euro Catch Festival, which was held twice a year (it was held in Graz, Austria in the summer, while in the winter, it was held in Bremen, Germany).

Tragedy struck the promotion in December 1993, when Larry Cameron suffered a heart attack during a match with Tony St. Clair, and died in the ring.

Matches were fought using European rules, including dividing the match into rounds and having the possibility of a victory by knockout. The CWA World Heavyweight Championship was recognized as the legitimate European World Championship as counterpart to the AWA-, NWA- and WWF-titles in North America and NJPW's IWGP Heavyweight Championship in Japan.

List of CWA alumni

This is an incomplete list that may never be able to satisfy particular standards for completeness. You can help by expanding it with reliably sourced entries.
     
  • Eddie Steinblock
  • Drew McDonald
  • Karsten Kretschmer
  • Christian Eckstein
  • Colonel Brodey (Shaun Arnott)
  • Joe Mackenzie
  • Klaus Kauroff
  • August Smisl
  • Bruiser Mastino (Mike Hallick)
  • Robert Fasser
  • Steve Regal (Darren Matthews)
  • Rip Rogers
  • Derrick Dukes
  • Moondog Rex[4]
  • Boston Blacky
  • Kato Gypsy
  • The Barbarian
  • Kib A.B.
  • Joe Cruz
  • Bastion Booger
  • Dan Collins[5]
  • Michael Kovac
  • Tiger Mike (Mike Lozansky)[6]
  • Rico de Cuba

Billy Boy Wilcox

Championships

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 "Catch Wrestling Association". Online World Of Wrestling. Retrieved 2008-02-12.
  2. ↑ "Larry Cameron". Archived from the original on 2011-03-29. Retrieved 2011-03-29.
  3. ↑ "Mile Zrno". Archived from the original on 2011-03-29. Retrieved 2011-03-29.
  4. ↑ "Randy Culley". Archived from the original on 2011-03-29. Retrieved 2011-03-29.
  5. ↑ "Dan Collins". Archived from the original on 2011-03-29. Retrieved 2011-03-29.
  6. ↑ "Mike Anthony". Archived from the original on 2011-03-29. Retrieved 2011-03-29.
  7. ↑ "Catch Wrestling Association Heavyweight Title". Wrestling-Titles.com. Retrieved 2009-09-26.
  8. ↑ "Catch Wrestling Association Intercontinental Heavyweight Title". Wrestling-Titles.com. Retrieved 2009-09-26.
  9. ↑ "Catch Wrestling Association World Junior Heavyweight Title". Wrestling-Titles.com. Retrieved 2009-09-26.
  10. ↑ "Catch Wrestling Association World Middleweight Title". Wrestling-Titles.com. Retrieved 2009-09-26.
  11. ↑ "Catch Wrestling Association World Tag Team Title". Wrestling-Titles.com. Retrieved 2009-09-26.

External links