Continental Wrestling Association (later the Championship Wrestling Association) was a wrestling promotion managed by Jerry Jarrett. The CWA was the name of the "governing body" for the Championship Wrestling, Inc. promotion which was usually referred to as Mid-Southern Wrestling or the Memphis territory. This promotion was a chief NWA territory during the 1970s and early 1980s while operating out of

Tennessee Tennessee ( , ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. Tennessee is the List of U.S. states and territories by area, 36th-largest by ...

and

Kentucky Kentucky ( , ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States and one of the states of the Upper South. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north; West Virginia and Virginia ...

. The CWA was a member of the National Wrestling Alliance until 1986 and affiliated with the

American Wrestling Association The American Wrestling Association (AWA) was an American professional wrestling promotion based in Minneapolis, Minnesota that ran from 1960 until 1991. It was owned and founded by Verne Gagne and Wally Karbo. The territory was originally part ...

until 1989. In 1989, the CWA merged with the World Class Wrestling Association to form the

United States Wrestling Association The United States Wrestling Association (USWA) was a professional wrestling promotion based in Memphis, Tennessee. The company was founded when the Memphis-based Continental Wrestling Association merged with the Dallas-based World Class Wrest ...

thus ceasing to exist as a separate entity. Lance Russell and Dave Brown were the television commentators and hosts for the Memphis territory, including the Continental Wrestling Association. Throughout the existence of the CWA, there were notable feuds that took place. These feuds included

Jerry Lawler Jerry O'Neil Lawler (born November 29, 1949), better known as Jerry "The King" Lawler, is an American color commentator and professional wrestler. He is currently signed to WWE, although he has not performed as a full-time commentator since Ap ...

vs Bill Dundee in 1977, and Terry Funk vs Jerry Lawler in 1981.

History

The split

The professional wrestling territory commonly referred to as the “Memphis Area” was originally part of the NWA Mid-America promotion that was founded in the 1940s. It operated in Memphis and Nashville, Tennessee, but also included stops in surrounding cities and states. The "NWA Mid-American" territory featured tag teams in nearly all of its main events, and sometimes featuring only one or two singles matches to complement an evening of tag matches. Such teams as

The Von Brauners The Von Brauners were a professional wrestling tag team/stable that operated from the 1950s through the 1970s. The teams consisted of Karl Von Brauner (Doug Donnan), Kurt Von Brauner #1 (Jimmy Brawner), Eric Von Brauner (Ron Donnan), and Kurt Von ...

, The Interns, The Infernos, The Bounty Hunters, Tojo Yamamoto and Jerry Jarrett, Don and Al Green, Bobby Hart and Lorenzo Parente,

The Fabulous Kangaroos :''This team is not to be mistaken for the similarly named team The Royal Kangaroos of Jonathan Boyd and Norman Frederick Charles III'' The Fabulous Kangaroos were a professional wrestling tag team who existed in various forms from 1957 until ...

and Jim White, The Fabulous Fargos, and a host of other teams were regulars. During the mid-1970s the focal point of the territory changed from tag wrestling to singles action. In the mid-1970s the territory split in two, with separate promoters for each half. Jerry Jarrett was in charge of Memphis, Louisville, Lexington and Evansville while still part of NWA Mid-America, while Nick Gulas, who had been the primary booker, continued to promote the other half of the territory. Many of the wrestlers in the promotion were upset at Gulas for over booking his son George Gulas in the profitable Memphis half of the territory. It was very hard to believe that George could regularly beat his larger more experienced foes. George was given matches and wins over longtime veterans of the territory without "paying his dues". After Jarrett had invested a large sum of money into what he thought was a 10%-share of the promotion and learned that Gulas had tricked him into paying for an option to buy less (which by the time he learned had already expired), he decided to go his own way. Jarrett decided to break away by starting competing cards at the Cook Convention Center in March 1977. Gulas, who lived in Nashville, eventually made "Music City" his home base, running weekly cards at the Fairgrounds and all over mid-Tennessee. Originally Gulas was backed by many of the areas top draws. Jarrett, however, was backed by Jerry Lawler, who had just toppled Jackie Fargo as the headliner of the Memphis area. Gulas did attempt to run shows in Memphis for some time but without the headliner, Lawler, he could not compete. This split between Gulas and Jarrett created the Continental Wrestling Association as a totally separate promotion run by Jarrett. In 1980 after only three years, the Gulas territory folded when Gulas retired and the CWA took over some of the more profitable locations (e.g. Nashville).

NWA affiliate (1977–1986)

After the split from Nick Gulas, the CWA became a National Wrestling Alliance affiliate, which entitled the CWA to

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 (wrestler), ...

defenses. The champion regularly toured through the territory defending the title against top contenders. The main title of the CWA was the Southern Heavyweight Title, which was nominally sanctioned by the NWA (into 1978) or the AWA (beginning in 1978). The cornerstone of the CWA was the weekly Monday night shows from the Mid-South Coliseum in Memphis, where the cards regularly drew full houses. These shows were repeated in some form weekly in Louisville and Nashville (on Saturday nights). Having three major shows at all three cities, and additional shows through other towns in Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, Missouri, and Northern Alabama provided significant profits into the early 1990s. These shows showcased a series of wrestlers as they made their way through the Memphis territory including Hulk Hogan,

Harley Race Harley Leland Race (April 11, 1943 – August 1, 2019) was an American professional wrestler, promoter, and trainer. Race wrestled in the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA), the American Wrestling Association (AWA), the World Wrestling Federati ...

, Terry Funk,

Jack Brisco Freddie Joe "Jack" Brisco (September 21, 1941 – February 1, 2010) was an American amateur and professional wrestler. As an amateur for Oklahoma State, Brisco was two-time All-American and won the NCAA Division I national championship. He tur ...

, and Ric Flair. The biggest run of the promotion was the Jerry Lawler- Jimmy Hart feud which lasted throughout the early 1980s. Jimmy Hart's "First Family" included dozens of wrestlers who Hart brought in to face Lawler. Included in this list were The Iron Sheik, The Dream Machine, The Nightmares, Eddie Gilbert, Ken Patera, Jesse Ventura, Hulk Hogan, Bugsy McGraw, Kevin Sullivan, Bobby Eaton, "Killer Tim Brooks", and Paul Ellering. The feud ended when Hart was signed by the

World Wrestling Federation 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 var ...

in 1985, and Lawler won a match against Eddie Gilbert in which the stipulation was Hart leaving the territory. The federation also aired live Saturday-morning wrestling cards from the studios of

WMC-TV WMC-TV (channel 5) is a television station in Memphis, Tennessee, United States, affiliated with NBC and owned by Gray Television. Its studios are located on Union Avenue in midtown Memphis, and its transmitter is located in northeast Memphi ...

in Memphis, hosted by Lance Russell and Dave Brown. In the territorial era of wrestling, many local promotions had huge ratings with their wrestling shows, but none of them topped the ratings for the weekly CWA show which drew previously unheard of shares behind the strength of Lawler's local popularity. Throughout the late 1970s, the 1980s and into the early 1990s, Jerry Lawler also engaged in feuds with Dutch Mantell, Robert Fuller, The

Mongolian Stomper Archibald Edward Gouldie (November 22, 1936 – January 23, 2016) was a Canadian professional wrestler. He wrestled for Stampede Wrestling for decades as Archie "The Stomper" Gouldie, with the nickname coming from the wrestler's reputation of ...

, Bruiser Brody, Jimmy Valiant,

Austin Idol Michael McCord (born October 26, 1949) is an American retired professional wrestler, better known by the ring name Austin Idol. He is best known for his appearances in the Mid-South with the Continental Wrestling Association, in particular his re ...

, Rocky Johnson, Tommy Rich, Randy Savage, Rick Rude, and Bill Dundee among others. These men were also on and off again partners to Lawler.

Andy Kaufman comes to Memphis, Tennessee

In the early 1980s, Andy Kaufman routinely wrestled women during his shows, proclaiming himself the “Intergender Wrestling Champion” and offering women $1000 if they could beat him. As part of this performance, Kaufman would imply that these matches were “real” and thus also imply that professional wrestling was not “real”, which countered the sacrosanct belief of fans in that era that wrestling was "real". Kaufman even started appearing in the Mid-South Coliseum shows wrestling women in the undercard matches, and after winning Kaufman would berate the Memphis crowd and proclaim his own greatness in the sport. He even went so far as to claim that no woman could beat him and if they did – he would marry that woman. Jerry Lawler, however, was a proud defender of wrestling and angry at Kaufman for mocking the sport that made him a star, so he decided to coach one of Kaufman's opponents. Kaufman still won despite Lawler's coaching and gloated until Lawler had enough and pushed Kaufman, sending the comedian on a tirade. The fans loved every second of it, watching the local star defend the sport against the arrogant actor from Hollywood. During the inevitable Lawler/Kaufman match, Lawler executed two Piledrivers (a move that was "banned" in Memphis) after which Kaufman was carried out of the arena on a stretcher (kayfabe). The following day several newspapers reported that Kaufman had in fact broken his neck. Several weeks later, Kaufman returned to the Mid-South Coliseum wearing a neck brace, vowing to get even with Lawler. The feud got national exposure in several newspapers after Kaufman's supposed injury, and it would get even more press after Kaufman discussed it on ''

Saturday Night Live ''Saturday Night Live'' (often abbreviated to ''SNL'') is an American late-night live television sketch comedy and variety show created by Lorne Michaels and developed by Dick Ebersol that airs on NBC and Peacock. Michaels currently serves ...

''. On July 27, 1982, Kaufman and Lawler were guests of

David Letterman David Michael Letterman (born April 12, 1947) is an American television host, comedian, writer and producer. He hosted late night television talk shows for 33 years, beginning with the February 1, 1982 debut of ''Late Night with David Letterman' ...

on ''

Late Night with David Letterman ''Late Night with David Letterman'' is an American late-night talk show hosted by David Letterman on NBC, the first iteration of the ''Late Night'' franchise. It premiered on February 1, 1982, and was produced by Letterman's production compa ...

''. Kaufman still wore a neck brace even though the alleged injury had occurred 5 months before. Lawler described the neck brace as a "flea collar" and tensions rose between them until Lawler stood up and slapped the Kaufman out of his chair and off the stage. Kaufman unleashed a profanity-laced tirade on Lawler, culminating with Kaufmann throwing a cup of coffee at him. Kaufman continued cursing Lawler as he (Kaufmann) stormed out of the studio. The antics of Lawler and Kaufman made the NBC network executives uneasy, believing that the hatred between the two was real and that mayhem could break out at any time. Kaufman and Lawler kept claiming that their hatred and actions were real, but they were later revealed to have been a staged " work", as the two were actually friends. The truth about it being a work was kept secret for more than 10 years after Kaufman's death until the Emmy nominated documentary ''A Comedy Salute to Andy Kaufman'' aired on NBC in 1995. In a 1997 interview with the ''Memphis Flyer'', Lawler claimed he had improvised during their first match and the Letterman incident. Although officials at St. Francis Hospital stated that Kaufman's neck injuries were real, in his 2002 biography "It's Good to Be the King...Sometimes," Lawler detailed how they came up with the

angle In Euclidean geometry, an angle is the figure formed by two rays, called the '' sides'' of the angle, sharing a common endpoint, called the ''vertex'' of the angle. Angles formed by two rays lie in the plane that contains the rays. Angles ...

and kept it quiet. He also said that Kaufman's explosion on Letterman was the comedian's own idea.

AWA affiliation (1986–1989)

At the end of 1982, Jerry Lawler had seemingly won the

(AWA)'s World Title from Nick Bockwinkel, but due to the match's controversial ending, the title was returned to Bockwinkel with a rematch scheduled for January 1983. On the night of the match, manager Jimmy Hart showed up in Bockwinkel's corner, face bandaged after being beaten up by Lawler in December. Near the end of the match, Jimmy Hart showed up revealing the bandaged man to be Andy Kaufman. In the confusion Bockwinkel won the match. The Lawler/Kaufman feud ended in the early part of 1983 after Lawler threw a fireball at Kaufman, ending his run with the CWA. After Kaufman left, Lawler refocused his efforts on Jimmy Hart and his

First Family First Family is an unofficial title for the family of a republic's head of state. A first family usually consists of: the head of state, the first spouse and their children. Related terms The term ''second family'' is often used to refer to ...

stable A stable is a building in which livestock, especially horses, are kept. It most commonly means a building that is divided into separate stalls for individual animals and livestock. There are many different types of stables in use today; the ...

. Lawler challenging for the World title and almost winning it was a recurring theme throughout the mid-1980s, with neither the AWA nor the NWA being willing to actually put their main title on Lawler. The NWA World title was not defended very often in the Memphis area, usually touring with companies that had more political clout in the Alliance, which meant that the CWA actually featured the AWA World champion more regularly than the group of which they were actually dues-paying members. In 1988, plans were set in motion to actually merge the AWA and the CWA into one federation in an attempt to counter the

’s national expansion. The federation was renamed the Championship Wrestling Association in late-1987 when Lawler began co-promoting with Jarrett. Subsequently, all singles titles in the CWA (AWA Southern, CWA/AWA International and NWA Mid-America Heavyweight) were merged in order to recognize one CWA Heavyweight Champion. On May 9, 1988 in Memphis, Lawler took on the reigning AWA World Champion Curt Hennig and won the title. As the year went on the AWA/CWA alliance was expanded to include the World Class Wrestling Association out of Texas, with a title unification match set for the AWA’s first (and only) pay-per-view, AWA SuperClash III. Lawler retained the AWA World Heavyweight Championship and won the WCWA World Heavyweight Championship in controversial fashion—the match was stopped due to excessive blood loss from Kerry Von Erich—and was declared the “Unified World Champion”, cementing his claim by carrying the AWA and WCCW titles with him. Due to controversies following the PPV, the CWA (and WCCW) broke off their relationship with the AWA, and Lawler was stripped of the AWA World title. In retaliation, Lawler kept the physical AWA World Heavyweight championship belt for not getting his payoff for SuperClash III. After the cooperative attempt with the AWA failed, Jerry Jarrett bought WCCW from the Von Erichs and unified the two promotions as the

in 1989, thus ending the era of Continental Wrestling Association.

Notable Feuds

1977: Jerry Lawler vs Bill Dundee

Through the summer until the early fall of 1977, Jerry Lawler and Bill Dundee had their first of many feuds take place. From July to September, the pair faced each other 10 times. The matches varied in types of wrestling matches and in stipulations. The types of matches varied from a one-fall contest to a Texas death match. The stipulations of these matches varied from a title vs Cadillac match, where Lawler promised to take the Southern Heavyweight Title, the main championship in the promotion, from Dundee or he would give Dundee his Cadillac. Another stipulation was that Dundee said he would shave his head if he did not win the title from Lawler. Dundee lost this match, but the week after promised to beat Lawler for the title or else he would shave his wife's head. Dundee lost this match as well, and his wife's head was shaven. This was a notable feud in the CWA, as it did a lot of business in terms of ticket sales. According to newspaper clippings, the pair sold a total of 85,538 tickets over their 10-match feud. That is roughly an average of 8,500 people coming to watch wrestling every Monday night at the Mid-south Coliseum. In those matches, the pair sold out the Mid-south Coliseum once on August 1, where 11,300 people came to watch the two fight.

1981: Jerry Lawler vs Terry Funk

Jimmy Hart would try to bring in wrestlers from other areas to fight Jerry Lawler. Hart did this because Lawler had broken his leg. So, Hart wanted to bring in a wrestler to break Jerry's leg. One of the wrestlers brought in was Terry Funk. Terry Funk was a National Wrestling Alliance champion from 1975 to 1977, and was considered by many to be one of the best wrestlers of his generation. Terry Funk NWA Champion

The first Lawler vs Funk match occurred on March 23, 1981, in the Mid-south Coliseum. This match was a No Disqualification match. Terry Funk had Jimmy Hart at ringside. The two men wrestled for about 11 minutes. Jerry Lawler won the match by count out, as Terry Funk had been incapacitated and could not return to the ring after he had his head slammed into a table by Lawler. This match is remembered as being the first time Lawler had ever dropped his strap on his wrestling singlet and not won the match immediately. Before this match, Lawler would drop his strap and immediately beat his opponent. After this match, Funk was extremely upset that he had lost. He wanted to get his revenge on Lawler during a rematch. Funk wanted this rematch to take place in an empty arena. Funk's justification for this was that he did not trust the audience or referee, who he felt were on Lawler's side. The match took place in an empty Mid-south Coliseum on April 6, 1981, and it aired on television on April 25, 1981. The only people at this match other than Lawler and Funk was Lance Russell, a cameraman, and a photographer. The match ended after Lawler had stuck a wooden spike in Funk's eye. This was after Funk made the spike from smashing it against the ring post and tried to drive the spike into Lawler's eye. According to Jim Cornette, former wrestling manager and wrestling historian, Funk left the CWA for a month to wrestle in Japan. Funk did return later in 1981, where he came on television and asked where Lawler was. Lawler was not present in the studio, so Terry Funk decided to take out his anger by punching a chair several times. Terry Funk and Jerry Lawler would not fight against each other for the rest of 1981. This was a notable feud as it marked the first time Terry Funk ever wrestled Jerry Lawler, with both men putting on two classic wrestling matches that some might say are the best in wrestling history.

Alumni

Singles wrestlers and managers

Deceased individuals are indicated with a dagger (†). * Adrian Street *Allan West * Andy Kaufman * Angelo Poffo * Art Crews *

*Sheik Abdullah/Iranian Assassin * Bam Bam Bigelow * Big Bubba the Belt Collector * Big Daddy Ritter *Big Red * Bill Dundee *

Bill Irwin William Mills Irwin (born April 11, 1950) is an American actor, clown, and comedian. He began as a vaudeville-style stage performer and has been noted for his contribution to the renaissance of American circus during the 1970s. He has made a num ...

* Billy Robinson * Billy Travis * Barry Horowitz/Jack Hart * Bob Armstrong, † * Bobby Eaton * Brad Armstrong *Brad Batten *Bart Batten *

Brickhouse Brown Frederick Seawright (August 11, 1960 – July 29, 2018) was an American professional wrestler, better known by his ring name Brickhouse Brown. He was a top heel in several Southern promotions in the 1980s and 1990s. Professional wrestling career ...

* Bruiser Brody *

Bubba Monroe Quentin Bell"Sputnik Monroe Obituary" ''DeclarationofIndependents.net.'' Ed. Sean McCaffrey. N.p., Nov. 2006. Web. 5 Oct. 2011. . (October 23, 1960 – September 10, 2022), better known by his ring name Bubba Monroe, was an American professiona ...

* Buddy Landel * Bugsy McGraw * Cactus Jack * Chris Champion *

Chick Donovan Charles Donovan Kelley (born March 7, 1947), better known by his ring name Chick Donovan, is an American semi-retired professional wrestler who worked for Georgia Championship Wrestling and a short time with World Championship Wrestling. Profess ...

* David Schultz * Don Bass * Don Muraco * Dirty White Boy * Downtown Bruno * Dream Machine/Troy Graham *Duke Myers/Colossus of Death * Dutch Mantel * Eddie Gilbert * Gypsy Joe * The Great Kabuki *Goliath * Ed Boulder * Hulk Hogan * Iceman Parsons * The Iron Sheik * J. J. Dillon * Jackie Fargo * Jeff Jarrett * Jerry Jarrett *

Jerry Roberts Captain Raymond C. "Jerry" Roberts MBE (18 November 1920 – 25 March 2014) was a British wartime codebreaker and businessman. During the Second World War, Roberts worked at the Government Code and Cypher School (GC&CS) at Bletchley Park fro ...

* Jesse Barr * Jesse Ventura *Jerry Oske * Jim Cornette * Jim Neidhart * Jimmy Golden * Jimmy Hart * Jimmy Valiant *Johnny Wilhoyt * Jos LeDuc * Kamala * Kendo Nagasaki * Ken Patera * Kevin Sullivan *

Killer Karl Krupp George Momberg (May 13, 1934 – August 24, 1995), better known by the ring name Killer Karl Krupp, was a Dutch-born professional wrestler famous during the 1970s and early 1980s. Early life George Momberg was born in the Netherlands and wa ...

* King Kong Bundy * Lady Beast * Lanny Poffo * Len Denton * Lord Humongous * Lou Thesz * Man Mountain Link * Mark Starr *

Mario Milano Mario Bulfone (15 May 1935 – 9 December 2016), better known by his ring name Mario Milano, was a professional wrestler. Milano got his start in wrestling in Venezuela and later competed in Australia, Hong Kong, Japan, South Africa, Mexi ...

* Masa Fuchi *

Masked Superstar William Reid "Bill" Eadie (born December 27, 1947) is an American retired professional wrestler who has competed under the names of Ax as part of Demolition and The Masked Superstar. He was a high school teacher and coach at Cambridge High Scho ...

* Master of Pain * Maxx Payne *

Mike Sharpe Michael Sharpe (October 28, 1951 – January 17, 2016) was a Canadian professional wrestler better known as "Iron" Mike Sharpe. A second-generation wrestler whose father and uncle ( Mike and Ben Sharpe) also competed in the profession, Sharpe w ...

* Makhan Singh *

* Mr. Onita * Nick Bockwinkel * Ox Baker * Pat Barrett * Paul Ellering *

Paul E. Dangerously Paul Heyman (born September 11, 1965) is an American professional wrestling manager, former promoter, photographer, and executive. He is currently signed to WWE, appearing on the SmackDown brand as manager for Undisputed WWE Universal Heavyweight ...

* Paul Orndorff * Pez Whatley *

Phil Hickerson Phil Hickerson (born October 4, 1946) is an American retired professional wrestler. He is best known for his appearances with the Tennessee-based NWA Mid-America and Continental Wrestling Association promotions. Professional wrestling career ...

* Professor Ito * Randy Savage * Ric Flair * Rick Rude * Robert Fuller * Rocky Johnson * Ron Bass * Ron Fuller *Russian Invader * Russian Stomper * Scott Armstrong * Scott Hall * Scott Steiner * Sherri Martel * Shogun * Sid Vicious * Skip Young * Sonny King *

Sputnik Monroe Roscoe Monroe Brumbaugh (born Rosco Monroe Merrick; December 18, 1928 – November 3, 2006) better known by his ring name Sputnik Monroe, was an American professional wrestler and civil rights activist. He was a headliner in many territories, and ...

* Stan Hansen * Steve Armstrong * Stunning Steve Austin * Superstar Billy Graham * Sweet Daddy Siki * Terry Funk * Terry Gordy * Terry Taylor * Tojo Yamamoto * Tommy Rich * Tom Prichard *

Tony Anthony Darrell W. Anthony (born April 12, 1960) is a retired American professional wrestler, also known by his ring name Dirty White Boy. He wrestled primarily for independent promotions in the Southeastern United States. He was most active throughout ...

J. T. Southern J. T. Southern (born January 4, 1964) is an American retired professional wrestler. Though he achieved most notoriety during his 1992 feud with Van Hammer in World Championship Wrestling, Southern also competed for Verne Gagne's American Wrestlin ...

Toru Tanaka Charles J. Kalani Jr. (January 6, 1930 – August 22, 2000) was an American professional wrestler, professional boxer, college football player, soldier, actor, and martial artist who, in fighting rings, was also known as Professor Toru Tanaka, ...

* Tracy Smothers *

Wendell Cooley Wendell may refer to: Places in the United States *Wendell, Idaho *Wendell, Massachusetts *Wendell, Minnesota *Wendell, North Carolina People *Wendell (name), a list of people with the name *Wendell (footballer, born 1947) (1947–2022), full nam ...

* Uncle Elmer

Tag teams

* The Assassins * Akio Sato and Tarzan Goto * Badd Company ( Paul Diamond and Pat Tanaka) * Blond Bombers ( Larry Latham and Wayne Farris) * Bruise Brothers ( Porkchop Cash and Dream Machine) *Dirty White Boys * Fabulous Freebirds ( Michael Hayes and Terry Gordy) *

Fabulous Ones The Fabulous Ones were a professional wrestling tag team consisting of Stan Lane and Steve Keirn that was active between 1982 and 1991 with brief reunions during the 1990s. The Fabulous Ones competed primarily in North American territories such ...

( Steve Keirn and Stan Lane) * Fantastics ( Bobby Fulton and Tommy Rogers) * The Freedom Fighters ( Rock and Flash) *The Grapplers * Midnight Express (

Norvell Austin Norvell Austin (born March 9, 1951) is a retired American professional wrestler. Austin worked for most of his career in the Southern United States, most often in tag team competition. Norvell Austin is most famous for teaming with Sputnik Monr ...

and

Dennis Condrey Dennis Condrey (born February 1, 1952) is an American retired professional wrestler. He is best known for his appearances with the Continental Wrestling Association, Jim Crockett Promotions and World Championship Wrestling in the 1970s and 198 ...

) and Randy Rose * Midnight Rockers ( Shawn Michaels and

Marty Jannetty Fredrick Martin Jannetty (born February 3, 1960) is an American professional wrestler who has worked for promotions including the World Wrestling Federation/Entertainment (WWF/E), the American Wrestling Association (AWA), World Championship Wres ...

) * The Moondogs ( Rex and

Spot Spot or SPOT may refer to: Places * Spot, North Carolina, a community in the United States * The Spot, New South Wales, a locality in Sydney, Australia * South Pole Traverse, sometimes called the South Pole Overland Traverse People * Spot (produ ...

) *The M.O.D Squad * The Nasty Boys ( Brian Knobbs and Jerry Sags) *The Nightmares (

Ken Wayne Ken Wayne (1925–1993) was an Australian actor of radio, theatre, film and television. He made his film debut in ''Sons of Matthew'' (1949) and appeared in a number of movies including '' Dust in the Sun'' (1958). He was also well known for hi ...

and Danny Davis) * Pretty Young Things (

Koko B. Ware James W. Ware, Jr. (born June 20, 1958), better known by his ring name Koko B. Ware is an American retired professional wrestler. He debuted in 1978 and became widely popular in 1986. He later went on to the World Wrestling Federation, where he ...

and

) * The Road Warriors ( Hawk and

Animal Animals are multicellular, eukaryotic organisms in the biological kingdom Animalia. With few exceptions, animals consume organic material, breathe oxygen, are able to move, can reproduce sexually, and go through an ontogenetic stage ...

) * Rock 'n' Roll Express ( Ricky Morton and Robert Gibson) * Rock 'n' Roll RPMs ( Mike Davis and

Tommy Lane Tommy Lee Jones was born on January 4, 1949, and is an American retired professional wrestler, better known by his ring name, Tommy Lane. Lane is best known for his appearances in Southern United States professional wrestling promotions as Tomm ...

) * The Crazy Squaws Jr Wapass & Calvin Wapass) * Wild Samoans, The Samoans ( Afa Anoa'i and

Sika Anoa'i Leati Sika Amituana'i Anoa'i (born April 5, 1945), better known as Sika Anoa'i or simply Sika, is an American Samoan retired professional wrestler. He is best known as one-half of the tag team The Wild Samoans with his brother Afa. Championship ...

) *

Sheepherders A shepherd or sheepherder is a person who tends, herds, feeds, or guards flocks of sheep. ''Shepherd'' derives from Old English ''sceaphierde (''sceap'' 'sheep' + ''hierde'' 'herder'). ''Shepherding is one of the world's oldest occupations, i ...

( Butch Miller, Luke Williams,

Jonathan Boyd Jonathan Barry Boyle (21 October 1944 – 7 August 1999) was an Australian professional wrestler who is known worldwide under the name "Lord" Jonathan Boyd. Initially Boyd competed both in North American and international promotions as part of ...

and Rip Morgan) * Stud Stable ( Cactus Jack and Gary Young) *Zambuie Express ( Elijah Akeem and Kareem Muhammad)

Championships

CWA Heavyweight Championship The CWA Heavyweight Championship was a major professional wrestling title defended in the Championship Wrestling Association. It was created through the unification of the NWA Mid-America Heavyweight, AWA Southern Heavyweight and CWA/AWA Intern ...

CWA Tag Team Championship The CWA Tag Team Championship was a major professional wrestling tag team title defended in the Continental Wrestling Association. It lasted from 1988 through 1990, when it was abandoned and replaced with the United States Wrestling Association T ...

* CWA Southwestern Heavyweight Championship * CWA Super Heavyweight Championship *CWA Tennessee Tag Team Championship Jeff Jarrett and Ricky Morton were the first and only CWA Tennessee Tag Team Champions, the title was retired sometime after they defeated Brickhouse Brown and King Parsons on July 24, 1989 in

Memphis, Tennessee Memphis is a city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the seat of Shelby County in the southwest part of the state; it is situated along the Mississippi River. With a population of 633,104 at the 2020 U.S. census, Memphis is the second-mo ...

to win the title. * CWA World Heavyweight Championship * CWA World Tag Team Championship * NWA Mid-America Heavyweight Championship *

NWA Mid-America Tag Team Championship The NWA Mid-America Tag Team championship was a tag team title promoted by the American professional wrestling promotion NWA Mid-America that ran more or less exclusively in Alabama, Tennessee, and Kentucky, United States, from the 1940s until ...

* NWA United States Tag Team Title (Mid-American Version) * NWA World Six-Man Tag Team Championship * CWA/AWA International Heavyweight Championship * CWA/AWA International Tag Team Championship *

AWA Southern Heavyweight Championship The AWA Southern Heavyweight Championship was a major professional wrestling title in the Continental Wrestling Association during the 1970s and 1980s. The title is part of a long lineage that was started when the NWA Southern Junior Heavyweight ...

AWA Southern Tag Team Championship The AWA Southern Tag Team Championship was a professional wrestling tag team title in the Tennessee area from the 1940s through the late 1980s. It was originally named the NWA Southern Tag Team Championship ''(Mid-America version)'' from its ...

Notes

References

*Lawler, Jerry. ''It's Good to Be the King... Sometimes'' (2003)

External links

Championship/Continental Wrestling Association Title HistoriesMemphis Wrestling HistoryContinental Wrestling Association Documentary
{{Professional wrestling in the United States Independent professional wrestling promotions based in Tennessee American Wrestling Association Entertainment companies established in 1977 Companies disestablished in 1989 National Wrestling Alliance members 1977 establishments in Tennessee 1989 disestablishments in Tennessee