Border City Wrestling (BCW) is an

independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s * Independ ...

professional wrestling promotion A professional wrestling promotion is a company or business that regularly performs shows involving professional wrestling that has little relationship to the rules of the amateur olympic form. "Promotion" also describes a role which entails man ...

owned and booked by

Scott D'Amore Scott Francis D'Amore (born August 8, 1974) is a Canadian retired professional wrestler, manager, promoter, booker and entrepreneur. He is the current Executive Vice President of Impact Wrestling, where he also worked from 2003 to 2010 as an on- ...

, and based in

Windsor Windsor may refer to: Places Australia * Windsor, New South Wales ** Municipality of Windsor, a former local government area * Windsor, Queensland, a suburb of Brisbane, Queensland **Shire of Windsor, a former local government authority around Wi ...

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...

, Canada. Many of the promotion's employees were trained at the ''Can-Am''

wrestling school Professional wrestling has accrued a considerable amount of jargon throughout its existence. Much of it stems from the industry's origins in the days of carnivals and circuses. In the past, professional wrestlers used such terms in the presence o ...

. After the promotion briefly merged with

BSE Pro BSE Pro (Formerly Blood Sweat and Ears) (or BSE Wrestling) was a Canadian independent professional wrestling organization, founded in 2005. It held 10-12 events a year in the Greater Toronto Area, as well as quarterly tours to Northern Ontario ci ...

to create

Maximum Pro Wrestling Maximum Pro Wrestling (MaxPro) was a Canadian independent professional wrestling organization, founded in 2010 with the merger of Scott D'Amore's Border City Wrestling out of Windsor, Ontario and BSE Pro Wrestling out of Toronto, Ontario. Histor ...

in 2010, an offshoot promotion named after the school would be launched in 2012 before BCW would resume holding shows later that year.

History

Early years (1993–2010)

Border City Wrestling was founded in late 1992 by

, Chuck Fader, and "The Canadian Destroyer" Doug Chevalier. The promotion's home base was

LaSalle's Lasalle & Koch Co. or Lasalle's was a department store in Toledo, Ohio, Toledo, Ohio, with branches in some nearby communities. History Lasalle's traces its beginnings to a store opened in 1865 by Jacob Lasalle and Joseph Epstein, at 51 Summit St ...

Centennial Arena, with most their shows being held at this venue. The promotion was known for featuring a mix of local talent and stars from major promotions, such as

WWE World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc., d/b/a as WWE, is an American professional wrestling promotion. A global integrated media and entertainment company, WWE has also branched out into other fields, including film, American football, and vario ...

(then known as the World Wrestling Federation (WWF)) and

Extreme Championship Wrestling HHG Corporation, doing business as Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW), was a professional wrestling promotion and media company that was based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The promotion was founded in 1992 by Tod Gordon as National Wrest ...

(ECW) in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. From 2002 to 2003, BCW had a weekly television series that was produced for

Cogeco Cable Cogeco Inc. is a Canadian telecommunications and media company. Its corporate offices are located at 1 Place Ville-Marie in Montreal, Quebec. The company is structured into three strategic business units (SBU); Cogeco Connexion, Breezeline ( ...

and aired in several

markets. In 2004, BCW would merge with Ontario Championship Wrestling (OCW). At BCW's ''International Incident'' event on September 15, 2005,

Impact Wrestling Impact Wrestling (stylized as ''IMPACT! Wrestling''), is an American professional wrestling promotion based in Nashville, Tennessee. It is a subsidiary of Anthem Sports & Entertainment. Founded by Jeff and Jerry Jarrett in 2002, the promot ...

(then known as Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA)) founder

Jeff Jarrett Jeffrey Leonard Jarrett (born July 14, 1967) is an American professional wrestler and promoter. He is currently signed to All Elite Wrestling (AEW), where he also serves as Director of Business Development. Beginning his career in his father J ...

defeated

Raven A raven is any of several larger-bodied bird species of the genus ''Corvus''. These species do not form a single taxonomic group within the genus. There is no consistent distinction between "crows" and "ravens", common names which are assigned t ...

to win the

NWA World Heavyweight Championship The NWA Worlds Heavyweight Championship is a world heavyweight professional wrestling championship owned and promoted by the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA), an American professional wrestling promotion. The current champion is Tyrus, who is in ...

with help from D'Amore. On February 3, 2010, it was announced that D'Amore had left

TNA Wrestling Impact Wrestling (stylized as ''IMPACT! Wrestling''), is an American professional wrestling promotion based in Nashville, Tennessee. It is a subsidiary of Anthem Sports & Entertainment. Founded by Jeff and Jerry Jarrett in 2002, the promoti ...

and that BCW would be merging with Toronto's

, run by Jason A. Brown, to become

. This merger would ultimately last for two years.

Revival (2012–present)

In August 2012, an offshoot of BCW known as ''CAN-AM Rising'' debuted featuring up-and-coming talent as well as past graduates from BCW's Can-Am Wrestling School. On the debut show.

Phil Atlas Phil may refer to: * Phil (given name), a shortened version of masculine and feminine names * Phill, a given name also spelled "Phil" * Phil, Kentucky, United States * ''Phil'' (film), a 2019 film * -phil-, a lexical fragment, used as a root ter ...

defeated

Tyson Dux Tyson Moody (born June 19, 1978), known by his ring name Tyson Dux (pronounced "Dukes"), is a Canadian professional wrestler, who is currently wrestling for various independent promotions. Professional wrestling career Independent circuit (1997� ...

to become the new BCW Champion. In October of that year, BCW returned with its first show since breaking off from the BSE merger. One year later, on October 19, 2013, BCW held their 20th anniversary show at St. Clair College. On May 9, 2014, BCW presented a special event titled ''East Meets West'', featuring talent from

New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) is a Japanese professional wrestling promotion based in Nakano, Tokyo. Founded on January 13, 1972, by Antonio Inoki, the promotion was sold to Yuke's, who later sold it to Bushiroad in 2012. TV Asahi and Amuse, Inc. own minority shares ...

. The event featured appearances by

Shinsuke Nakamura is a Japanese Professional wrestling, professional wrestler currently signed to WWE, where he performs on the SmackDown (WWE brand), SmackDown WWE brand extension, brand. Nakamura is known for his time in New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW), where ...

Kazuchika Okada (born November 8, 1987) is a Japanese professional wrestler 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 dramati ...

Karl Anderson Chad Allegra (born January 20, 1980), better known by the ring name Karl Anderson, is an American professional wrestler currently signed to WWE where he performs on the Raw brand. He also makes appearances for New Japan Pro Wrestling (NJPW), whe ...

, and

Hiroshi Tanahashi is a Japanese professional wrestler. He works primarily for New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW). Widely regarded as one of the greatest professional wrestlers of all time, his accolades in NJPW include a record setting eight reigns as IWGP Heavywei ...

. BCW's "Excellence" event, held in October 2014 and headlined by

Bret Hart Bret Hart (born July 2, 1957) is a Canadian-American retired professional wrestler, currently signed to WWE under a legend's contract. A member of the Hart wrestling family and a second-generation wrestler, he has an amateur wrestling backgr ...

drew the promotion's largest crowd to date. As a result, it would become a reoccurring, annual event. The second Excellence event would be held at

St. Clair College St. Clair College of Applied Arts and Technology is a college in the Southwestern Ontario counties of Essex and Chatham-Kent. Campus Its main administration and largest campus sites are in Windsor, Ontario, Canada. In addition, other campuses ...

the following October in 2015. In the Spring of 2016, BCW revived their

BCW Can-Am Tag Team Championship The BCW Can-Am Tag Team Championship is the tag team title contested for in the Ontario-based professional wrestling promotion Border City Wrestling. Title history Combined reigns As of , . By team By wrestler Notes See also *Prof ...

through a tournament, which was won by Phil Atlas & Brent Banks after defeating The Fraternity at Spring Loaded 2016 on May 28, 2016. In March 2017, BCW formed a partnership with Japanese promotion

Pro Wrestling Noah (stylised as Pro Wrestling NOAH) is a Japanese professional wrestling promotion, founded in 2000 by former All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW) ace Mitsuharu Misawa after he had led a mass exodus in which 24 of AJPW's 26 contracted wrestlers left the ...

to exchange talent between Japan and Canada. On December 5, 2017, D'Amore and

Don Callis Donald Callis (born October 13, 1963) is a Canadian professional wrestling manager, color commentator, and former professional wrestler and business executive. He is signed to All Elite Wrestling (AEW), where he works as the on-screen manager of K ...

were announced as

's new executive vice presidents. As a result, ''Impact'' and BCW began to work together, with content from BCW becoming available on Impact's streaming service, and most BCW events serving as television tapings for both Impact's eponymous weekly program and '' Xplosion''. Border City Wrestling announced their 25th Anniversary show in July 2018, on October 6 at

. The event was filmed as part of Impact's One Night Only event series for the

Global Wrestling Network Global Wrestling Network (GWN) was a digital streaming service and mobile app owned by Anthem Wrestling Exhibitions, a subsidiary of Anthem Sports & Entertainment and parent company of Impact Wrestling. It primarily featured content from the Impa ...

Champions

Roster

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, , - , {{sortname, Aiden Prince , , - , {{sortname, Ben Boone , , - , {{sortname, Brad "Freakin" Martin , , - , {{sortname, Brent Banks , sort, Also known as ''Brent B'' , - , {{sortname, Caleb Stills , sort, Formerly known as ''Gutter'' , - , {{sortname,

Cody Deaner Christopher Gray (born March 7, 1982), better known by his ring name Cody Deaner, is a Canadian professional wrestler signed with Impact Wrestling, where he competes under the ring name Deaner (a shortened version of his previous ring name) and ...

, sort, Current BCW Can-Am Champion , - , {{sortname, Channing Decker , sort, One half of ''The Fraternity'' , - , {{sortname, El Reverso , , - , {{sortname,

Gisele Shaw Gisele Mayordo (born 30 October 1988), known by her ring name Gisele Shaw, is a Filipino professional wrestler currently signed to Impact Wrestling. She is known for her work in England with various promotions including Progress Wrestling and R ...

, , - , {{sortname, Idris Abraham , sort, Formerly known as ''Abe "Action" Jackson'' , - , {{sortname, Jade Chung , , - , {{sortname, Jake O'Reilly , , - , {{sortname,

Jake Something Jacob Doyle (born July 25, 1989) is an American professional wrestler. He is best known for his time in Impact Wrestling, where he performed under the ring name Jake Something. Professional wrestling career Independent circuit (2010–present ...

, , - , {{sortname, Joe Coleman , , - , {{sortname,

Joe Doering Joseph Doering (born April 16, 1982) is an American professional wrestler currently signed to Impact Wrestling, where he is a member of Violent By Design. He is currently inactive due to cancer surgery. He is a former two-time Impact World Tag ...

, , - , {{sortname, John E. Bravo , , - , {{sortname,

Johnny Devine John Parsonage (born April 27, 1974) is a Canadian semi-retired professional wrestler, better known by his ring name "Hot Shot" Johnny Devine. He is best known for his time in Total Nonstop Action Wrestling. Professional wrestling career Early y ...

, , - , {{sortname, Johnny Playboy , , - , {{sortname,

Johnny Swinger Joseph Dorgan (born July 3, 1975) is an American professional wrestler currently under contract to Impact Wrestling, using the ring name Johnny Swinger. Dorgan is also known for his appearances with World Championship Wrestling and Extreme Champ ...

, sort, Member of ''The Syndicate'' , - , {{sortname,

Jon Bolen Jonathan Bolen is an American professional wrestler and bodybuilder. He currently competes on the independent circuit including Maximum Pro Wrestling, the International Wrestling Cartel and the National Wrestling Alliance. After winning Total No ...

, sort, Member of ''The Syndicate'' , - , {{sortname,

Jimmy Jacobs Christopher Scoville (born February 17, 1984) is an American professional wrestler, better known by his ring name Jimmy Jacobs. He was recently signed to Impact Wrestling as a member of the creative team and producer. He is best known for his 1 ...

, , - , {{sortname, K. C. Spinelli , , - , {{sortname, Karou , , - , {{sortname,

Kongo Kong Steven Wilson (born August 10, 1979) is an American professional wrestler best known under the ring name Kongo Kong. He is best known for his time with Global Force Wrestling and Impact Wrestling. Early career Wilson went to Saginaw Valley Stat ...

, sort, Member of ''The Syndicate'' , - , {{sortname,

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, sort, One half of the BCW Tag Team Champions in ''The Desi Hit Squad'' , - , {{sortname, Randy Reign , , - , {{sortname, RJ City , , - , {{sortname,

Rohit Raju Rohit Raju is an American professional wrestler best known for his time with Impact Wrestling, where he is a former one-time Impact X Division Champion. Before working for Impact Wrestling, he worked over 10 years on the independent circuit in ...

, sort, One half of the BCW Tag Team Champions in ''The Desi Hit Squad'' , - , {{sortname, Ryan Wright , , - , {{sortname,

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, , - , {{sortname, Sebastian Suave , , - , {{sortname,

, sort, Owner, promoter, and booker. Also member, wrestler, and manager of ''The Syndicate'' , - , {{sortname, Sheldon Jean , , - , {{sortname,

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, , - , {{sortname, Stone Rockwell , , - , {{sortname, Tarik , , - , {{sortname, Trent Gibson , sort, One half of ''The Fraternity'' , - , {{sortname,

, , -

BCW Hall of Fame

The BCW Hall of Fame is a professional wrestling hall of fame maintained by Border City Wrestling. It was established in 2009 to honor select wrestling personalities, mostly alumni of the Ontario-based promotion. The induction ceremony for the Class of 2009, the inaugural inductees into the Hall of Fame, took place at BCW's "War Without Honour" held at the Windsor Armories on November 13, 2009. Doug Chevalier and Chuck Fader, the original co-founders of BCW along with Scott D'Amore in 1992, led the class, along with other former BCW "originals".{{cite web , url=https://www.facebook.com/bordercitywrestling/posts/152294712484 , archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/iarchive/facebook/76950389790/152294712484 , archive-date=2022-02-26 , url-access=limited, title=BCW fans will be excited to learn that War Without Honour will feature the induction of some BCW Legends into our Hall of Fame. Who do you think will join Doug Chevalier and Chuck Fader in the Hall? , author= , date=October 8, 2009 , website=Facebook.com , publisher=Border City Wrestling {{cbignore {, class="wikitable sortable" style="font-size: 100%" ! width="1%", # ! width="1%", Year ! width="15%", Ring name
{{small, (Real name){{Ref label, birthname, a, a ! width="10%", Inducted by ! width="10%", Inducted for ! class="unsortable", Notes{{Ref label, Notes, b, b , - , align="center", {{sort, 01, 1 , align="center", 2009 , {{sort, Canadian Destroyer, The, The Canadian Destroyer
{{small, (Doug Chevalier) , ,

Wrestling Wrestling is a series of combat sports involving grappling-type techniques such as clinch fighting, throws and takedowns, joint locks, pins and other grappling holds. Wrestling techniques have been incorporated into martial arts, combat ...

, Posthumous inductee; won the BCW Can-Am Championship (1 time) and founder of the BCW Can-Am Wrestling School{{cite web , url=http://bordercitywrestling.com/roster/#hall-of-fame , title=Hall of Fame , author= , website=BorderCityWrestling.com , - , align="center", {{sort, 02, 2 , align="center", 2009 , {{sort, Fader, Chuck, Chuck Fader , , Promoting , Co-founder of Border City Wrestling , - , align="center", {{sort, 03, 3 , align="center", 2009 , {{sort, Apollo, Otis, Otis Apollo , ,

, Won the BCW Can-Am Tag Team Championship (5 times) , - , align="center", {{sort, 04, 4 , align="center", 2009 , {{sort, Clancy, Bobby, Bobby Clancy , ,

, Won the BCW Can-Am Tag Team Championship (5 times) , - , align="center", {{sort, 05, 5 , align="center", 2009 , {{sort, Doyle, Mickey, Mickey Doyle , ,

, Won the BCW Can-Am Championship (2 times) , - , align="center", {{sort, 06, 6 , align="center", 2009 , {{sort, Kass, Denny, Denny Kass
{{small, (Dennis Kasprowicz) , ,

, Won the BCW Can-Am Championship (1 time) and BCW Can-Am Tag Team Championship (1 time) , - , align="center", {{sort, 07, 7 , align="center", 2009 , {{sort, Destiny, Larry, Larry Destiny
{{small, (Larry Brun) , ,

, Won the BCW Can-Am Tag Team Championship (1 time) , - , align="center", {{sort, 08, 8 , align="center", 2009 , {{sortname, Scott, D'Amore , ,

, Won the BCW Can-Am Championship (5 times) and BCW Can-Am Tag Team Championship (1 time) *{{note label, birthname, a, a – Entries without a birth name indicates that the inductee did not perform under a

ring name A ring name is a type of stage name used by an athlete such as a professional wrestler, mixed martial artist, or boxer whose real name is considered unattractive, dull, difficult to pronounce or spell, amusing for the wrong reasons, or projecting ...

. *{{note label, Notes, b, b – This section mainly lists the major accomplishments of each inductee in the promotion.

References

{{reflist

External links

*{{Official website, http://bordercitywrestling.com/ {{Professional wrestling in Canada {{TNA Wrestling {{Pro Wrestling Noah Entertainment companies established in 1993 Entertainment companies disestablished in 2010 Entertainment companies established in 2012 Canadian companies established in 1993 Canadian companies disestablished in 2010 Canadian companies established in 2012 Companies based in Windsor, Ontario Professional wrestling in Ontario 1993 establishments in Ontario 2010 disestablishments in Ontario 2012 establishments in Ontario