Steel City Wrestling (SCW) was 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 o ...

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 ...

that was founded in

Latrobe, Pennsylvania Latrobe is a city in Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, in the United States and part of the Pittsburgh metropolitan area. The city population was 8,338 as of the 2010 census (9,265 in 1990). It is located near Pennsylvania's scenic Chestnut Rid ...

in 1994 by Norm Connors. It was the top promotion in the

Pittsburgh metropolitan area Greater Pittsburgh is a populous region centered around its largest city and economic hub, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The region encompasses Pittsburgh's urban core county, Allegheny, and six adjacent Pennsylvania counties: Armstrong, Beaver, ...

during the 1990s, along with the

National Wrestling Alliance The National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) is an American professional wrestling professional wrestling promotion, promotion and former professional wrestling governing body operated by its parent company Lightning One, Inc. Founded in 1948, the NWA ...

-affiliated

Pro Wrestling eXpress Pro Wrestling eXpress (PWX, also known as NWA East) is a professional wrestling promotion that was founded in North Versailles, Pennsylvania in 1994 by Jim Miller and Sean "Shocker" Evans. It is the longest-running promotion in the Pittsburgh met ...

, and was regarded by many in the industry as one of the best

independent promotions In professional wrestling, the independent circuit or indie circuit is the collective name of independent professional wrestling promotions which are smaller than major televised promotions. It is roughly analogous to a minor league for pro wres ...

on the

East Coast of the United States The East Coast of the United States, also known as the Eastern Seaboard, the Atlantic Coast, and the Atlantic Seaboard, is the coastline along which the Eastern United States meets the North Atlantic Ocean. The eastern seaboard contains the coa ...

. For many years, SCW was the home promotion of Pittsburgh "legends" such as

Lord Zoltan Ken Jugan (born October 16, 1957), better known by the ring name Lord Zoltan, is a semi-retired American professional wrestler, manager, promoter, referee, and trainer. Jugan has been a mainstay in the Pittsburgh Tri-state area (Pennsylvania, Oh ...

and T. Rantula as well as many prominent indy stars in the region including

Cueball Carmichael Chris Jackson (born June 10, 1960) is an American professional wrestler, trainer and promoter, known by his ringname Cueball Carmichael, who competes in the Mid-Atlantic and East Coast independent circuit. He has wrestled and won titles in the ...

, Dennis Gregory,

Lou Marconi Lou Marconi (born June 19, 1973Pro Wrestling Illustrated. "Statistics for Professional Wrestlers." ''PWI 2001 Wrestling Almanac and Book of Facts''. Vol. IV. No. 1. Fort Washington, Pennsylvania: London Publishing Co., 2001. (pg. 46)) is an Amer ...

Jimmy Cicero Matthew Bowman (born January 2, 1969) is an American professional wrestler, best known by his ring name "Wiseguy" Jimmy Cicero, who has worked for the United States Wrestling Association, Extreme Championship Wrestling, the World Wrestling Federa ...

Frank Stalletto Frank Stalletto (born November 5) is an American professional wrestler. He was a mainstay of the East Coast and Mid-Atlantic independent circuit for much of the 1990s and early 2000s. One of the most popular stars of Pittsburgh's Steel City Wr ...

Tom Brandi Thomas Brandi (born July 9, 1966) is an American professional wrestler. He is best known for his appearances in the World Wrestling Federation from 1996 to 1998 under the ring name Salvatore Sincere. Brandi is also known for his appearances with ...

Mike Quackenbush Michael Spillane (born March 18, 1976), is an American podcaster, author, professional wrestling trainer, professional wrestling promoter, and retired professional wrestler, better known by his ring name Mike Quackenbush. He has hosted several p ...

Reckless Youth Thomas Carter (born September 18, 1974) is an American professional wrestler, better known by his ring name Reckless Youth. He has competed in numerous North American independent promotions including the East Coast Wrestling Association, Comba ...

, and

The Bad Street Boys The Bad Street Boys was a professional wrestling tag team in the independent circuit. It was initially formed as a stable, consisting of Gregory Helms, Shannon Moore, Joey Matthews and Christian York. The stable later became a tag team when Hel ...

(

Joey Matthews Adam Birch (born July 18, 1979), better known by the ring names Joey Mercury and Joey Matthews, is an American professional wrestler who is best known for his two tenures in WWE. Birch was most recently signed to Ring of Honor, where he worked ...

and

Christian York Jason Spence (born April 13, 1977) is an American professional wrestler, better known by his ring name, Christian York. He is best known for his appearances with World Championship Wrestling, Extreme Championship Wrestling and Impact Wrestling. C ...

). The promotion also regularly featured talent from

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 ...

. Future ECW stars

Julio Dinero Brian Wohl (born April 14, 1972) is an American retired professional wrestler, better known for his ring name Julio Dinero. His real name is sometimes mistakenly given as Brian Wall. Professional wrestling career Wohl debuted in 1994 after tra ...

Stevie Richards Michael Stephen Manna (born October 9, 1971), better known by his ring name Stevie Richards, is an American professional wrestler. Over the course of his career, Richards has performed for major professional wrestling promotions including Easte ...

, and

The Blue Meanie Brian Heffron (born May 18, 1973), better known by his ring name The Blue Meanie, is an American professional wrestler. He is best known for his appearances with Extreme Championship Wrestling and the World Wrestling Federation between 1995 and 2 ...

all started their careers in SCW. Unlike its Philadelphia counterpart, however, the promotion had a much more "

family friendly A family-friendly product or service is one that is considered to be suitable for all members of an average family. Family-friendly restaurants are ones that provide service to families that have young children. Frequently, family-friendly produc ...

" atmosphere. In addition, SCW co-hosted the original

Deaf Wrestlefest Deaf Wrestlefest is a professional wrestling supercard, produced annually in late April or early May by Lord Zoltan, a longtime wrestler and sports promoter based in Western Pennsylvania. It is considered a major fundraiser for the Western Pennsy ...

benefit shows with Lord Zoltan for the

Western Pennsylvania School for the Deaf The Western Pennsylvania School for the Deaf (WPSD) is a school for deaf and hard of hearing children in Edgewood, Pennsylvania. It was established in 1869. The school is listed as a Pittsburgh History and Landmarks Foundation Historic Landmar ...

from 1994 to 2000.

History

Early years

Steel City Wrestling was started by Norm Connors in the fall of 1994. On October 8, 1994, the promotion crowned its first

heavyweight champion At boxing's beginning, the heavyweight division had no weight limit, and historically the weight class has gone with vague or no definition. During the 19th century many heavyweights were 170 pounds (12 st 2 lb, 77 kg) or less, thou ...

Connellsville, Pennsylvania Connellsville is a city in Fayette County, Pennsylvania, United States, southeast of Pittsburgh and away via the Youghiogheny River, a tributary of the Monongahela River. It is part of the Pittsburgh Metro Area. The population was 7,637 at th ...

when T. Rantula defeated

Shane Douglas Troy Allan Martin (born November 21, 1964) is an American professional wrestler and promoter, better known by his ring name Shane Douglas. He is best known for his tenures in Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW), World Championship Wrestling (W ...

in a 4-man tournament final.

also beat Scott McKeever for the SCW Light Heavyweight Championship. Two weeks earlier, at an ACW show in Munhall, Lou Marconi and Dereck Stone had won the

SCW Tag Team Championship The SCW Tag Team Championship was a professional wrestling tag team championship in Southern Championship Wrestling (SCW). It remained active until November 20, 2004 when SCW was closed. The inaugural champions were The Rat Pack ( Jimmy Cicero an ...

after defeating Beauty & The Beast (

and Futureshock). That same year, SCW co-hosted the first of Lord Zoltan's

shows for the

in Edgewood, Pennsylvania. The event would become an annual

supercard In sports, a card lists the matches taking place in a title match combat-sport event. Cards include a main event match and the undercard listing the rest of the matches. The undercard may be divided into a midcard and a lower card, according to ...

for the promotion, attracting many former

and

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 vario ...

alumni, as well as top indy stars, and became the school's most important fundraiser during its original 6-year run. Connors, who had performed as "heel" manager Notorious Norm on the local independent circuit, was able to use his connections to bring in legendary WWF wrestlers such as

King Kong Bundy Christopher Alan Pallies (November 7, 1955 – March 5, 2019) was an American professional wrestler, actor and stand-up comedian, better known by his wrestling gimmick and ring name, King Kong Bundy. Under this gimmick, he portrayed a pugnacious, ...

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 ...

Virgil Publius Vergilius Maro (; traditional dates 15 October 7021 September 19 BC), usually called Virgil or Vergil ( ) in English, was an ancient Roman poet of the Augustan period. He composed three of the most famous poems in Latin literature: t ...

, and "Superfly" Jimmy Snuka and pitted them against local stars. Bundy, and future WWE Superstar Mick Foley in particular, would agree to wrestle on SCW shows at a reduced cost due to their personal friendship with Connors. This was critical to SCW's early success as "big name" wrestlers could often bring in thousands of dollars for an independent show.

Cooperation with Extreme Championship Wrestling

SCW often cooperated with

, another local up-and-coming promotion out of Philadelphia, and regularly featured ECW talent. SCW was among the early independent promotions Cactus Jack wrestled for, in between ECW and Japan, and ended T. Rantula's first title reign in New Castle on March 19, 1995. A number of ECW wrestlers were directly involved in SCW storylines. On October 21, 1995, Stevie Richards turned on Frank Stalletto, attacking him with

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 ...

, immediately after winning the SCW tag team titles from Black & Blue (Black Cat and Lou Marconi) in Connellsville. SCW mainstays Marconi and Stalletto won the titles from Stevie Richards and Brian Rollins in St. Mary's, Pennsylvania a month later. They would go on to become one of SCW's most successful tag teams."The PWI 500." ''

Pro Wrestling Illustrated ''Pro Wrestling Illustrated'' (''PWI'') is an American internationally sold professional wrestling magazine that was founded in 1979 by publisher Stanley Weston. ''PWI'' is headquartered in Blue Bell, Pennsylvania, and published by Kappa Publish ...

''. Fort Washington, Pennsylvania: London Publishing Company. (Holiday 1998): pg. 60.

Mikey Whipwreck John Michael Watson (born June 4, 1973), better known by his ring name Mikey Whipwreck, is an American semi-retired professional wrestler working for All Elite Wrestling (AEW) as a trainer, and global ambassador. He is best known for his career w ...

and Pablo Marquez also battled each other during the show to earn a title shot at light heavyweight champion Lord Zoltan. That same year,

attracted the attention of Raven and Stevie Richards while working at a 2-day SCW event in Pittsburgh. Raven had the idea that the unusual-looking wrestler would be perfect as a "lackey" of Stevie Richards, who was his own comic sidekick in ECW, and brought him to Philadelphia as a member of

Raven's Nest Raven's Flock was a professional wrestling stable led by Raven that was present in Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW) between 1995 and 1997. Later, Raven created other incarnations of the group in World Championship Wrestling (WCW) such as Th ...

. The Blue Meanie and Richards continued appearing in SCW and regained the SCW Tag Team Championship at Deaf Wrestlefest 1996. They held the belts for nearly two years before the title was vacated due to an injury suffered by Richards.

Connors-Lazarchik partnership

These early SCW shows ran sporadically due to Connors activity as a

wrestling manager In professional wrestling, a manager is a supporting character paired with a wrestler (or wrestlers) for a variety of reasons. A physically attractive woman accompanying, or "seconding", a male wrestler to a match is sometimes referred to as a v ...

on the

independent circuit In professional wrestling, the independent circuit or indie circuit is the collective noun, collective name of independent professional wrestling promotions which are smaller than major televised promotions. It is roughly analogous to a minor lea ...

and, specifically, his commitments to the

-affiliated

. In April 1996, Connors met Andrew Lazarchik, then a student at LaRoche College, at a wrestling show Carlynton High School. This chance meeting would be the beginning of a four-year partnership between the two men. Lazarchik joined Connors in PWX as a

color commentator A color commentator or expert commentator is a sports commentator who assists the main (play-by-play) commentator, typically by filling in when play is not in progress. The phrase "colour commentator" is primarily used in Canadian English and t ...

on its late-night television show. On September 21, 1997, an interpromotional PWX-SCW show was held at Pittsburgh's Sullivan Hall. At the end of that year, Connors and Lazarchik left the company due to

creative differences ''Creative Differences'' is a studio album by American hip hop group Living Legends. It was released in 2004. The album cover is a reference to ''The Brady Bunch''. It peaked at number 28 on the ''Billboard'' Independent Albums chart. Critical r ...

with PWX management. They decided to run SCW full-time and began promoting shows in January 1998. Connors, still retaining ownership of the promotion, was the head booker and wrote the majority of the storylines. As vice president, Lazarchik handled the promotional side of the company by overseeing advertising and designing promotional material. Both men were also active SCW performers. Connors, continuing his "gimmick" as manager Notorious Norm, had an on-air role as SCW President while Lazarchik became "heel" manager "Hot Shot" Drew Lazario. Their "home arena" was the SCW Arena in

Irwin, Pennsylvania Irwin is a borough in Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, southeast of Pittsburgh. Some of the most extensive bituminous coal deposits in the State are located here. In the past, iron foundries, flour mills, car shops, facing and planing mills, e ...

. SCW held shows throughout the

, especially the Mon Valley, before branching out to

Ohio Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Of the fifty U.S. states, it is the 34th-largest by area, and with a population of nearly 11.8 million, is the seventh-most populous and tenth-most densely populated. The sta ...

and

West Virginia West Virginia is a state in the Appalachian, Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States.The Census Bureau and the Association of American Geographers classify West Virginia as part of the Southern United States while the Bur ...

. In 1998 alone, with its weekly shows drew over 300 wrestling fans, SCW held 25 shows of which 21 made a profit and 4 broke even. Additionally, the company's

mailing list A mailing list is a collection of names and addresses used by an individual or an organization to send material to multiple recipients. The term is often extended to include the people subscribed to such a list, so the group of subscribers is re ...

increased from 100 to 600. Lazarchik partially attributed wrestling's popularity in the region during this period to the

's sold-out shows at the

Pittsburgh Civic Arena The Civic Arena, formerly the Civic Auditorium and later Mellon Arena, was an arena located in Downtown Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The Civic Arena primarily served as the home to the Pittsburgh Penguins, the city's National Hockey League (NHL) ...

that year. During a time when the WWF's "

Attitude Era The Attitude Era was a term used by the World Wrestling Federation (WWF, now known as World Wrestling Entertainment or WWE) to describe the company's programming from November 9, 1997 to May 6, 2002. It started during the Monday Night Wars, a pe ...

" influenced the 1990s wrestling boom, the promoters prided themselves on being a "

" company boasting that "some of our biggest fans are senior citizens and little kids". Younger wrestling fans especially had the opportunity to interact with wrestlers during SCW shows. SCW also held wrestling shows to raise money for local schools and fire departments. Charitable organizations would pay them a "set fee" for the costs setting up the show, such as purchasing insurance for the venture and turning over 5% to the Pennsylvania Athletic Commission, while the charity would collect proceeds from the ticket sales. One of these benefit shows, "Brawl at Sullivan Hall" in

Mount Washington Mount Washington is the highest peak in the Northeastern United States at and the most topographically prominent mountain east of the Mississippi River. The mountain is notorious for its erratic weather. On the afternoon of April 12, 1934, ...

, became one of the promotion's annual supercards. On February 8, 1998, Cactus Jack and The Blue Meanie captured the vacant tag team titles from Lou Marconi and Frank Stalletto in Irwin, Pennsylvania. That same show also saw

end the three-year reign of Lord Zoltan as SCW Junior Heavyweight Champion. SCW was among the battlegrounds during Reckless Youth's feuds with Christian York and

. On May 1, 1998, Stevie Richards returned to SCW after a six-month absence to help Lou Marconi beat

for the SCW Heavyweight Championship. In one of his first matches after undergoing neck surgery, Richards defeated Frank Stalletto at an SCW show later that month. On May 23, SCW co-hosted an interpromotional show with MAPW in

Medina, Ohio Medina ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Medina County, Ohio, United States. The population was 26,094 at the 2020 Census. It lies about 33 miles (53 km) south of Cleveland and 23 miles (37 km) west of Akron within the Clevelan ...

. The following night, SCW held a show at Ainsworth Field in

Erie, Pennsylvania Erie (; ) is a city on the south shore of Lake Erie and the county seat of Erie County, Pennsylvania, United States. Erie is the fifth largest city in Pennsylvania and the largest city in Northwestern Pennsylvania with a population of 94,831 a ...

featuring

The Pitbulls The Pitbulls (sometimes written as The Pit Bulls) were a professional wrestling tag team that consisted of "Pitbull #1" Gary Wolfe and "Pitbull #2" Anthony Durante. They were best known for their tenure in Extreme Championship Wrestling, where ...

( Pittbull #1 and Pitbull #2) and

The Bushwhackers The Bushwhackers are a professional wrestling tag team who competed first as the New Zealand Kiwis and then as The Sheepherders during their 36-year career as a tag team. They wrestled in the World Wrestling Federation, Jim Crockett Promotions, ...

(

Bushwhacker Butch Robert Miller (born 21 October 1944) is a New Zealand retired professional wrestler. He is best known for his appearances in the World Wrestling Federation under the ring name Bushwhacker Butch, where he teamed with Bushwhacker Luke as The Bushw ...

and

Bushwhacker Luke Brian Wickens (born 8 January 1947) is a New Zealand professional wrestler. He is best known for his appearances in the World Wrestling Federation under the ring name Bushwhacker Luke, where he teamed with Bushwhacker Butch as The Bushwhackers. ...

). Stevie Richards served as

special guest referee In professional wrestling, a referee is an authority figure present in or near the ring during matches. The referee's purpose is similar to that of referees in combat sports such as boxing or mixed martial arts, that is, as an arbiter of the rul ...

in a match between Tom Brandi and Corporal Punishment. The promotion also began airing a weekly Friday night television show, ''Steel City Wrestling TV'', on WNPA. On October 18, 1998, Don Montoya was crowned the first SCW Television Champion following his victory over Joey Matthews in the finals of a one-night 8-man championship tournament. At the end of the year, The Bad Street Boys (Joey Matthews and Christian York) captured the SCW Tag Team Championship from Blue Meanie and

Super Nova A supernova is a powerful and luminous explosion of a star. It has the plural form supernovae or supernovas, and is abbreviated SN or SNe. This transient astronomical event occurs during the last stellar evolution, evolutionary stages of a mass ...

in Irwin, Pennsylvania. On February 21, 1999,

Cody Michaels Mark Keenan, better known by his ring name Cody Michaels, is an American former professional wrestler. After suffering a serious neck injury, Michaels retired and has worked behind the scenes as a booker and promoter. Professional wrestling c ...

won the SCW Heavyweight Championship from Dennis Gregory at the SCW Arena with the help of longtime friend Shane Douglas."The PWI 500." ''

''. Fort Washington, Pennsylvania: London Publishing Company. (Holiday 1999): pg. 64. On May 15, 1999, SCW was one of twelve independent promotions from across the country to participate in the '' Break the Barrier''

at Philadelphia's Viking Hall. The promotion was officially represented by Mike Quackenbush, Lou Marconi, and Don Montoya who wrestled in a Three Way Dance for the SCW "Lord of the Dance" Championship. Jay Kirell of CagesideSeats.com called their bout "by far the match of the night" and is credited for greatly enhancing the early career of Quackenbush. The title was created specifically to be defended in Three Way Dance matches. A week later at a SCW show in

Cambridge, Ohio Cambridge is a city in and the county seat of Guernsey County, Ohio, United States. It lies in southeastern Ohio, in the Appalachian Plateau of the Appalachian Mountains 74 miles east of Columbus. The population was 10,635 at the 2010 census. I ...

Mankind Humans (''Homo sapiens'') are the most abundant and widespread species of primate, characterized by bipedalism and exceptional cognitive skills due to a large and complex brain. This has enabled the development of advanced tools, culture, an ...

was the special referee in a wild brawl between T. Rantula and Lou Marconi. He and Notorious Norm got into an altercation near the end of the match which saw the WWF superstar attack Connors (and subsequently Marconi) with Mr. Socko allowing T. Rantula to win the bout.

Feud with High Society

In his role as SCW President, Notorious Norm was often challenged by various heel factions attempting to "take over" the company. The most serious "threat" to the promotion was High Society (Tom Brandi, Cueball Carmichael, and

) who managed to gain control of 40% of SCW by the summer of 1999. On June 5, SCW made its debut in

Jeannette, Pennsylvania Jeannette is a city in Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, United States. Jeannette was founded in 1888. The city got its name from one of the original city fathers, who wished to honor his wife, Jeannette McLaughlin, by giving the new town her fi ...

where Cody Michaels lost the SCW Heavyweight title to Cueball Carmichael. Carmichael won the bout due to outside interference from Dennis Gregory who had lost the belt to Michaels four months earlier. In the main event,

WWF Light Heavyweight Champion The WWF Light Heavyweight Championship was a professional wrestling championship in the World Wrestling Federation (WWF, now WWE) promotion. The title was challenged by light heavyweights at a maximum weight of 215 lbs (before deactivation, ...

Gillberg defeated Rich Myers. High Society would temporarily win control of SCW when Carmichael defeated Notorious Norm in a singles match on September 19, 1999. Little Jeannie also defeated Lexi Fife during the show to become the first SCW Women's Champion; she had defeated manager Drew Lazario in the semi-finals earlier that night. SCW was profiled by the ''

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette The ''Pittsburgh Post-Gazette'', also known simply as the PG, is the largest newspaper serving metropolitan Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Descended from the ''Pittsburgh Gazette'', established in 1786 as the first newspaper published west of the All ...

'' that same month.

Demise

In the spring of 2000, Connors decided to close SCW. Although the promotion was still highly popular, Connors chose to focus on his regular career as a funeral director. He had been able to promote wrestling events on the weekend while at mortuary school, however, he felt his work schedule significantly limited his time to book shows. Connors had been struggling with both since his graduation the previous summer. The promotion's final show was held that summer. Connors addressed the crowd at the conclusion of the show to thank the fans, wrestlers, and Lazarchik. SCW was regarded by many in the industry as one of the top promotions on the East Coast at the time of its close.

Reunions

On October 25, 2000, Lazarchik booked an "unofficial" reunion show in T. Rantula's Far North Wrestling. It was held at Blazer's Family Fun Center in Irwin with Don Montoya, Mike Quackenbush, and Reckless Youth in a Three Way Dance for the main event. Lazarchik planned another similar show in Irwin on December 13, 2000.

International Wrestling Cartel

In the spring of 2001, Norm Connors resumed promoting wrestling events. He partnered with B94 morning radio host Bubba The Bulldog to form the International Wrestling Cartel in

West Mifflin, Pennsylvania West Mifflin is a borough in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, United States, located southeast of downtown Pittsburgh. The population was 20,313 at the 2010 census. It is named after Thomas Mifflin, 1st Governor of Pennsylvania, signer of the Un ...

. The promotion used many former Steel City Wrestling stars, as well as younger indy wrestlers, and was considered the successor of SCW. Connors ran the IWC for eight years before selling the promotion to Chuck Roberts and retiring once again.

Steel City Wrestlefest

On May 24, 2008, the International Wrestling Cartel and Pro Wrestling eXpress hosted an interpromotional supercard entitled "Steel City Wrestlefest" at the

Rostraver Ice Garden The Rostraver Ice Garden is a 5,000-seat multi-purpose arena in the Pittsburgh suburb of Belle Vernon, Pennsylvania, USA at exit 43, 43a and 43b on

Belle Vernon, Pennsylvania Belle Vernon is a borough in Fayette County, Pennsylvania. It is situated along the Monongahela River abutting two other counties, Westmoreland to the north and Washington across the river. As of the 2020 census Belle Vernon had a population of ...

. It was held as a charity event for the

Cystic Fibrosis Foundation The Cystic Fibrosis Foundation (CFF) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization in the United States established to provide the means to cure cystic fibrosis (CF) and ensure that those living with CF live long and productive lives. The Foundation prov ...

. The main event was a Tables, Ladders, and Chairs match between Justin Idol and CJ Sensation, which Idol won. Two featured bouts were scheduled on the undercard, including a "Best of Pittsburgh" Three Way Dance involving Dennis Gregory, Bad Boy BA, and Jimmy Vegas, with

Dominic DeNucci Domenico A. Nucciarone (January 23, 1932 – August 12, 2021) was an Italian-American professional wrestler and trainer better known under his ring name of Dominic DeNucci. He held over a dozen championships around the world in the 1960s and 197 ...

, and a first-ever singles match between Sterling James Keenan and

Chris Masters Christopher Todd Mordetzky (born January 8, 1983) is an American professional wrestler, currently signed to National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) under the ring name Chris Adonis as a member of Strictly Business. He is a former two-time National Ch ...

. The rest of the card involved a mix of SCW alumni as well as top indy stars from throughout the country. Both

Kurt Angle Kurt Steven Angle (born December 9, 1968) is an American retired professional wrestler, Wrestling at the 1996 Summer Olympics – Men's freestyle 100 kg, Olympic gold medalist in American freestyle wrestling, and former Collegiate wrestling, ...

and

Bruno Sammartino Bruno Leopoldo Francesco Sammartino (October 6, 1935 – April 18, 2018) was an Italian-born American professional wrestler, best known for his work with the World Wide Wrestling Federation (WWWF, now WWE). There, he held the WWWF World Heavywei ...

were also scheduled to appear at the show, with Angle to meet local radio host Bubba the Bulldog in a wrestling match.

Championships and programming

Championships

Programming

References

External links

*
Steel City Wrestling at Cagematch.netOfficial Steel City Wrestling message board (defunct)
{{Professional wrestling in the United States 2000 disestablishments in Pennsylvania Entertainment companies disestablished in 2000 Entertainment companies established in 1994 1994 establishments in Pennsylvania American independent professional wrestling promotions based in Pennsylvania Sports in Pittsburgh