| Acronym | WCPW |
|---|---|
| Founded | January 30, 1988 (1988-01-30) |
| Style | American wrestling |
| Headquarters |
|
| Founder | Sam DeCero |
| Owners |
|
| Formerly | Windy City Wrestling |
| Website | officialwcpw |
Windy City Pro Wrestling is an American regional professional wrestling promotion originally based in Chicago, Illinois. Established asWindy City Wrestling by retired wrestlerSam DeCero in 1988, the promotion was one of several major regional territories in the Midwest, along withDick the Bruiser'sWorld Wrestling Association, during the late 1980s and among the oldest independent organizations in the United States until its last promoted show in December 2010.
In November 2015, the expired WCPW trademark was re-registered by former Windy City Pro Wrestling wrestler James K. Duck.[1][2]
After retiring from professional wrestling due to a back injury, Sam DeCero purchased a 95th street garage onChicago'sSouth Side and began training local wrestlers, advertising as far asHammond, Indiana. With Mike Gratchner, a former promoter and wrestling photographer, DeCero decided to establish his own promotion. Within a year, he had managed to secure investors including relatives, friends and co-workers and held the promotions first event at a South Side nightspot featuringSteve Regal againstPaul Christy in the main event on January 30, 1988. The event, which was attended by 160 people, was successful, and soon the promotion began holding events in similar venues offering to hold cards ranging from $3,500 to $9,500.
DeCero soon began running televised wrestling events with then-22-year-oldPaul Heyman,[3] who was also working for Southeastern promotionsSouthern Championship Wrestling and theContinental Wrestling Federation.[4] Their events were held at DaVinci Manor nightclub (originallyBalaban and Katz's Manor Theater) and theInternational Amphitheater,[5] which later aired onWMBD-TV. During the summer, saw serious losses due to poor attendance, including losing $10,000 at a show inRockford, Illinois and between $12,000–13,000 at the International Amphitheater. In September, despite drawing a large crowd at a card featuringTerry "Bam Bam" Gordy andBam Bam Bigalow in the main event, the promotion still lost money.[6]
Within four years, the promotion operated two training facilities and had a weekly half-hour television show airing onSportsChannel. They also participated in several fundraisers for charity organizations includingToys for Tots,Muscular Dystrophy, Maryville City for Youth and the Chicago Coalition for the Homeless.[7][8]
During the late 1980s, the promotion featured many popular wrestlers of the era includingDick Murdoch,Shigeri Akabane,Dennis Condrey,[9]Steve Regal,[10] and George Ringo, who acted as honorary commissioner. Prior to his death in Puerto Rico,Bruiser Brody had been scheduled to faceNord the Barbarian at the International Amphitheater in Chicago, Illinois on August 12, 1988. Other mainstays included "Mean" Mike Anthony,[11] Trevor Blanchard,[12] Rockin' Randy, Tony Montana,[13] and The Power Twins (Larry & David Sontag).
The annualBattle of the Belts supercard was aired onSportsChannel on May 22, 1993,[14] and two years later, it presentedSailor Art Thomas a"Lifetime Service to Sport Award" on May 16, 1995.[15] The promotion also began holding events in venues outside the Chicago-area such theHammond Civic Center inHammond, Indiana andHempstead High School inDubuque, Iowa in February 1996.[16] In September, the promotion initiated in a nine-month legal dispute withTed Turner'sWorld Championship Wrestling regardingtrademark infringement over the use of the WCW acronym. The matter was settled out of court and in late 1997, the promotion was renamed Windy City Pro Wrestling (WCPW).[17]
In August 1999, the promotion began broadcasting live events via the internet through the websiteLiveOnTheNet.com as part of its Sunday afternoon sports lineup featuring Mike Anthony, "Tenacious" Terry Allen, Ripper Manson, Stone Manson, Steve Boz, Willie "Da Bomb" Richardson, Sgt. Storm, The Outfit, Lips Manson and Greg "The Hammer" Valentine.
The promotion managed to survive during the decade, and due in part to its wrestling school and televised events in the Chicago-area, several light heavyweight wrestlers such asAce Steel,[18]Sosay,[19] Kevin Quinn,[20]Christopher Daniels,[21] "Tenacious" Terry Allen, Steve Boz, Brandon Bishop, Vic Capri, and Jayson Reign emerged from the promotion during the late 1990s and early 2000s. During the last several years, independent wrestlers such asColt Cabana,Abyss andAustin Aries among others have made appearances in the promotion as have WWF veteransKing Kong Bundy,Greg "The Hammer" Valentine,[22] andJerry "The King" Lawler.
On May 20, 2000, WCPW promoted the Largest Battle Royal in History at that time. Battle of the Belts 2000, an event held in The Hammond Civic Center in front of 2500 fans, was an event main evented by a 3 ring, 120 person Battle Royal to crown the first-ever WCPW Battle Royal Champion.[23] Bigtime won the Championship that night in what is still the largest championship match in all of pro wrestling history.
The promotion remained popular with Chicago wrestling fans favoring its "old school" wrestling approach unlike "sports entertainment" based promotions such as theWorld Wrestling Federation,[24] and it began competing with rival promotions such asAll American Wrestling,Independent Wrestling Association Midsouth andAWA Slam.[25] Working with its affiliate organization Urban American Professional Wrestling in Chicago's inner-city areas in recent years,[26][27] its South Side wrestling school was featured onInsomniac with Dave Attell in 2002.[28]
In 2001, DeCero hired wrestler James "Bigtime" Duck to create the main event of Battle of the Belts 2001. Duck presented the Stacked Ring Battle Royale, a match dubbed "The Badder, Ladder, Royale". The match was held in front of 1900 fans and featured two rings side by side arranged like a staircase. The first ring was a standard wrestling ring. The second ring stood twice as tall as the first and had a ladder in it. The rules had 40 participants start in the lower ring and try to climb into the taller ring to attempt to set up the ladder to climb it and claim the Battle Royal Championship Belt suspended 50 feet in the air.
In 2004, with over 1,000 in attendance atMorton College inCicero for their supercardBattle of the Belts 16 grossing over $15,000, the following yearBattle of the Belts 17 was held at the Hammond Civic Center on May 17, 2005; shortly before signing withWorld Wrestling Entertainment, Rob Van Dam had previously headlined a WCPW event against League Champion "Tenacious" Terry Allen at the building on May 26, 2001, attended by 2,000 fans.[29][30] Reduced revenue as a result of losing talent to major promotions led to the closure of WCPW's South Side Production Studio. WCPW attempted to revive business by hiringHulk Hogan to appear at an autograph signing in 2009 and promoting a supershow atToyota Park inBridgeview, Illinois in conjunction.[31] While the event was a moderate success, it was not enough to turn the company around and in December 2010, WCPW ran its last event with DeCero as owner.
In November 2015, James Duck re-registered the name WCPW as a trademark and began plans for a relaunch. In May 2016, a wrestling company based in the United Kingdom began using the WCPW name for their promotion, delaying the launch. The UK-based promotion changed their name in 2017.[2] In 2018, the first match for this new WCPW was held in Chicago. Later events have since been hosted in DeKalb, Illinois.[32]
DeCero operated a well-regarded wrestling school and helped train and/or promote new wrestlers,[33] such as
| Championship | Notes |
|---|---|
| WCPW League Championship | Themajor single title of WCPW. It was established in 1993, when the promotion's weight class divisions were created, and continued to be defended until 2010.[38] |
| WCPW Heavyweight Championship | Theheavyweighttitle of WCPW. It was established in 1988 and continued to be defended within the promotion until 2010. The title was served as the promotion's top singles championship before the creation of the League Championship in 1993.[38] |
| WCPW Middleweight Championship | Themiddleweighttitle of WCPW. The title was established in 1991 and continued to be defended until 2010.[38] |
| WCPW Lightweight Championship | Thecruiserweighttitle of WCPW. It was established in 1991 and continued to be defended until 2010.[38] |
| WCPW Ladies Championship | Thewomen'stitle of WCPW. It was established in 1988 and continued to be defended until 2010.[38] |
| WCPW Tag Team Championship | Thetag teamtitle of WCPW. It was established in 1988 and continued to be defended until 2010.[38] |
| WCPW 6-Man Tag Team Championship | The 6-Mantag teamtitle of WCPW. It was established in 1997 and continued to be defended until 2010.[38] |
| WCPW Battle Royal Championship | Thebattle royal title of WCPW. It was established in 2000 and continued to be defended within the promotion until 2010. |
| WCPW Bare Knuckles Championship | The title was established in 1999 and defended until 2008. |
| WCPW Midget Championship | The title was established in 1988 and continued to be defended until 2001. |
Between 2001 and 2010, Windy City Pro Wrestling hosted an open-invitational tournament, the "Lee Sanders Memorial Cup", as part of an annual tribute to longtime WCPW mainstay Lee Sanders, who wrestled as Staff Sgt. Storm, in which any independent wrestler throughout the U.S. was eligible to enter.
| Year | Name | Date | Location | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2001 | Terry Allen | March 10, 2001 | Chicago, Illinois | |
| 2002 | Germel "GQ" Quinn | March 16, 2002 | Chicago, Illinois | GQ also won the UAPW Heavyweight Championship. |
| 2003 | Baltazar | March 15, 2003 | Chicago, Illinois | |
| 2004 | Mike Anthony | March 13, 2004 | Chicago, Illinois | |
| 2005 | Cassius XL | March 12, 2005 | Chicago, Illinois | Cassius also won the WCPW Middleweight Championship. |
| 2006 | Omega | March 11, 2006 | Chicago, Illinois | This would be his last match with the company due to injuries |
| 2007 | Mitch Blake | March 10, 2007 | Chicago, Illinois | |
| 2008 | Steve Boz | March 8, 2008 | Chicago, Illinois | The tournament final was a four-way match also involving Acid Jaz, Derik Durton, and Sean Mulligan. |
| 2009 | Chris Collins | March 14, 2009 | Chicago, Illinois | Collins was awarded the vacant WCPW Middleweight Championship. |
| 2010 | V-Factor | March 27, 2010 | Chicago, Illinois |
