Africa Wrestling Alliance (AWA), formerly known as Africa Wrestling Federation, is a South African professional wrestling promotion founded in 1995. The regionally based company is owned by

Shaun Koen Shaun Koen is a South African professional wrestler. He is the owner and promoter of the Africa Wrestling Alliance and is the promotion's current African Heavyweight Champion. Koen is a second-generation professional wrestler; his father Jack ...

and Koos Rossouw. It is a traditionally styled promotion influenced by the international wrestling market, such as European and American mainstream wrestling. The style encompassed by the promotion's wrestlers is referred to as Rofstoei (an

Afrikaans Afrikaans (, ) is a West Germanic language that evolved in the Dutch Cape Colony from the Dutch vernacular of Holland proper (i.e., the Hollandic dialect) used by Dutch, French, and German settlers and their enslaved people. Afrikaans gra ...

term).

History

The Africa Wrestling Federation (AWF) was founded by Shaun Koen and his wife in 1995 after the death of his father, Jackie Koen, on 16 December 1994. The AWF started off as a regional promotion based in

Cape Town Cape Town ( af, Kaapstad; , xh, iKapa) is one of South Africa's three capital cities, serving as the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. It is the legislative capital of the country, the oldest city in the country, and the second largest ...

, regularly running in the Goodwood and Parow areas. A few years later the AWF started doing tours nationally and also ventured outside of South Africa to tour countries like Swaziland and

Zimbabwe Zimbabwe (), officially the Republic of Zimbabwe, is a landlocked country located in Southeast Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers, bordered by South Africa to the south, Botswana to the south-west, Zambia to the north, and ...

. In 2003 AWF signed a year-long television contract with

eTV ETV may stand for: Television * e.tv, a South African terrestrial television channel * Educational Television (Hong Kong), a television series * Educational television, the use of television in education * Enhanced TV, an interactive television ap ...

to air weekly shows in 2004. The series was known as ''AWF on E Slam Series'', and the episodes were recorded in arenas such as the

Good Hope Centre The Good Hope Centre in Cape Town, South Africa (1976) by Pier Luigi Nervi, is an exhibition hall and conference centre, with the exhibition hall comprising an arch with tie-beam on each of the four vertical facades and two diagonal arches support ...

Carnival City Carnival is a Catholic Church, Catholic Christian festive season that occurs before the liturgy, liturgical season of Lent. The main events typically occur during February or early March, during the period historically known as Shrovetide (o ...

and the

Coca-Cola Dome The WeBuyCars Dome, previously known as the Ticketpro Dome is an indoor arena and car showroom located in Johannesburg, South Africa. The showroom accommodates over 1,000 vehicles and covers about 11,000 square metres. The Dome opened on 8 April ...

. The actual running time of these events lasted three to four hours, but to minimise costs, they were split into one hour for each episode. In late 2004, ratings and attendance started decreasing. A soundtrack CD, ''AWF on E - The Soundtrack'', was released under the

EMI EMI Group Limited (originally an initialism for Electric and Musical Industries, also referred to as EMI Records Ltd. or simply EMI) was a British Transnational corporation, transnational Conglomerate (company), conglomerate founded in March 1 ...

label to promote the television show. The year-long season culminated in a two-hour live special held at Sun City on 11 December 2004. Plans were underway to have a second season in 2005, but AWA and eTV failed to agree to new terms. This caused the promotion to lose ownership of the name Africa Wrestling Federation and forced them to create new trademarks. The Africa Wrestling Alliance (AWA) name was then established in March 2005. Due to the lack of television exposure following ''AWF on E'', some of the top names like The Saint, Skull, Rey Bourne and Jacques Rogue departed AWA to pursue other interests.

Coca-Cola Royal Rumble

The AWA holds an annual Royal Rumble show at the

Parow Civic Centre Parow is a suburb of Cape Town in the Western Cape, South Africa and a Northern Suburb of the City of Cape Town Metropolitan Municipality founded by Johann Heinrich Ferdinand Parow who arrived in the locality in 1865. History During a great sto ...

venue (nicknamed ''The House of Pain'') in December. The event is regularly sponsored by

Coca-Cola Coca-Cola, or Coke, is a carbonated soft drink manufactured by the Coca-Cola Company. Originally marketed as a temperance drink and intended as a patent medicine, it was invented in the late 19th century by John Stith Pemberton in Atlant ...

. The last champion was William McQueen, who won the AWA Royal Rumble Championship on 3 December 2007 in the 21-man battle royal main event.

Touring and charity work

Although the AWA is currently a non-televised, regional promotion, it has had a big impact on the South African wrestling industry and frequently does tours beyond its headquarters, having held events in the surrounding areas of Cape Town and in neighbouring countries such as Swaziland,

Mozambique Mozambique (), officially the Republic of Mozambique ( pt, Moçambique or , ; ny, Mozambiki; sw, Msumbiji; ts, Muzambhiki), is a country located in southeastern Africa bordered by the Indian Ocean to the east, Tanzania to the north, Malawi ...

and

. The promotion is also actively involved in charity work. In association with its many sponsors and the Reach for a Dream foundation, unprivileged children are provided with the opportunity to attend certain shows for free and meet members of the roster.

Training academy

The AWA training facility is currently based at the Wingfield Army Base in Goodwood, Cape Town. Classes are regularly held every Tuesday and Thursday. The head of the academy is Shaun Koen.

Championships

Active

Inactive

AWA African Cruiserweight Championship

The AWA African Cruiserweight Championship is a

professional wrestling Professional wrestling is a form of theater that revolves around staged wrestling matches. The mock combat is performed in a ring similar to the kind used in boxing, and the dramatic aspects of pro wrestling may be performed both in the ring or ...

cruiserweight

championship In sport, a championship is a competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion. Championship systems Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship. Title match system In this system ...

owned by the AWA

promotion Promotion may refer to: Marketing * Promotion (marketing), one of the four marketing mix elements, comprising any type of marketing communication used to inform or persuade target audiences of the relative merits of a product, service, brand or i ...

. The title was created and debuted on 11 December 2004 at a two-hour live television special, ''AWF on E Slam Series Final'', when Johnny Palazzio won it in a battle royal. Title reigns are determined either by

professional wrestling matches Many types of wrestling matches, sometimes called "concept" or "gimmick matches" in the jargon of the business, are performed in professional wrestling. Some gimmick matches are more common than others and are often used to advance or conclude a ...

between wrestlers involved in pre-existing scripted feuds and storylines, or by scripted circumstances. Wrestlers are portrayed as either

villains A villain (also known as a "black hat" or "bad guy"; the feminine form is villainess) is a stock character, whether based on a historical narrative or one of literary fiction. ''Random House Unabridged Dictionary'' defines such a character a ...

heroes Heroes or Héroes may refer to: * Hero, one who displays courage and self-sacrifice for the greater good Film * ''Heroes'' (1977 film), an American drama * ''Heroes'' (2008 film), an Indian Hindi film Gaming * ''Heroes of Might and Magic'' ...

as they follow a series of tension-building events, which culminate in a wrestling match or series of matches for the championship. Title changes happen at live events, which are usually released on DVD.

Roster

Heavyweight Division

* BDX-treme * Bulldog * Johnny Palazzio * Just Ted * Missing Link * Selfstyled Sammy Swiegers *

* The Oz

Cruiserweight Division

* Miss Gorgeous * Mr Money * Nitro * Rashiedi * Rasta Man * Vinnie Vegas] * William McQueen

Lightweight Division

* Ed-Electric * Hillbilly Kid * Nick Fury * Revyv

Other personnel

* Stan Mars (''Ring Announcer'') * Billy Daniels (''Timekeeper'') * Robert Meyer (''Referee'') * Black Mamba (''Referee'') * Kenny (''Referee'') * Tony "The Hammer" (''Referee'') * Leon Venter (''Referee'')

Alumni

* African Warrior * Alkatraz * Archangel * Big Bad Bruce * Billy West * The Bruiser * Butcher * The Chad *

Danie Brits Danie Brits was a South African professional wrestler and former South African Heavyweight Champion, known for his work in many of South Africa's major promotions in the past and for his 1980s stint as ''The Masked Tornado''. Career Early car ...

Dusty Wolfe Dusty Wolfe (born Barry Dale Wolfe on July 18, 1962), occasionally billed as Dale Wolfe and occasionally appearing as Doink the Clown, is an American retired professional wrestler. Professional wrestling career Wolfe was trained by fellow wrest ...

* Du Congo * El Matador * Geronimo - Majive * The Great Raj * Gypsey * Iron Bone * Jacques Roque * Johan Voges * Leslie van der Westhuizen * Mr Pain * Nizaam "the champ" Hartley * The Protector * Rollerball Danny * The Saint * Skull * Solid Gold Grant Smith * Sunny Surf * Sledgehammer * Spider Nel * Terry Middoux * Tolla the Animal * Tommy Rich * Trashman * Trevor van der Westhuizen * The Viper * Vamp * Warlock * Wurm Visagie * X-Hale

References

{{reflist

External links

Africa Wrestling Alliance Official Website

Wrestle Mania takes Cape Town by storm

South African professional wrestling promotions