International Championship Wrestling was an independent

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 mana ...

based in

Lexington, Kentucky Lexington is a city in Kentucky, United States that is the county seat of Fayette County. By population, it is the second-largest city in Kentucky and 57th-largest city in the United States. By land area, it is the country's 28th-largest ...

that operated from 1978 until 1984. It was run by Angelo Poffo, the father of

Randy Savage Randall Mario Poffo (November 15, 1952 – May 20, 2011), better known by his ring name "Macho Man" Randy Savage, was an American professional wrestler best known for his time in the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) and World Championship Wrestl ...

and "The Genius" Lanny Poffo. Throughout its history, ICW was considered an "outlaw" promotion, as it was not a member of the

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

and promoted shows in direct competition against NWA regional territories.

History

The promotion was founded in 1978 as a rival to Ron Fuller's '' Southeastern Championship Wrestling'' and Nick Gulas ''NWA Mid-American'' territory, extending into

Verne Gagne Laverne Clarence Gagne (February 26, 1926 – April 27, 2015) was an American amateur and professional wrestler, football player, wrestling trainer, and wrestling promoter. He was the owner and promoter of the Minneapolis-based American Wrestl ...

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 ...

and Dick Afflis' World Wrestling Association territories by 1981. Later on they'd come in direct competition with

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 ...

and Jerry Jarrett's

Continental Wrestling Association 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 re ...

as well, operating in their territories and even managed to get several wrestlers to leave Southeastern and the CWA to join ICW. This, among other issues, would result in a series of lawsuits between Poffo and other NWA-affiliated organizations during the late 1970s and early 80s. The main stars of ICW were Poffo's sons

Randy Randy is a given name, popular in the United States and Canada. It is primarily a masculine name. It was originally derived from the names Randall, Randolf, Randolph, as well as Bertrand and Andrew, and may be a short form (hypocorism) of the ...

(better known as "Macho Man" Randy Savage) and Lanny (better known as "Leaping" Lanny Poffo) who frequently traded the promotion's heavyweight title between each other; in fact only two other men (

Ronnie Garvin Roger Barnes (born March 30, 1945) is a Canadian former professional wrestler, better known by his ring name, "Rugged" Ronnie Garvin. He is best known for his appearances with Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling and the World Wrestling Federat ...

and Paul Christy) held the

ICW Heavyweight Championship The ICW World Heavyweight Championship was a professional wrestling world heavyweight championship of International Championship Wrestling. Many title defenses featured matches between Randy Savage and his real-life brother Lanny Poffo. After th ...

in the 6 years the title existed. While Randy and Lanny were the focus of the federation, it did feature many other stars such as The Original Sheik (Ed Farhat),

, Crusher Broomfield (later known as One Man Gang and Akeem),

Bob Orton, Jr. Robert Keith Orton Jr. (born November 10, 1950), better known by the ring name "Cowboy" Bob Orton, is an American semi-retired professional wrestler. He is the son of professional wrestler Bob Orton Sr., the brother of professional wrestler Bar ...

Bob Roop Robert Michael Roop (born July 22, 1942) is an American retired amateur wrestler and professional wrestler whose career spanned high school, college, the United States Army, amateur and professional wrestling. He was an American heavyweight Grec ...

, Rip Rogers, "Pistol" Pez Whatley,

Ox Baker Douglas Albert Baker Sr. (April 19, 1934 – October 20, 2014) was an American professional wrestler and actor, better known professionally as Ox Baker. He was famous for his distinctive eyebrows and finishing move, the Heart Punch, sometimes c ...

, George Weingeroff, and the Devil's Duo (Jeff Sword and Doug Vines) with their manager Izzy Slapawitz. Elizabeth Hulette, who would later gain fame in the WWF and WCW as Miss Elizabeth, got her start in professional wrestling as an on-camera host (using the name "Liz Hulette", as she was known to her friends while growing up) of ICW's weekly TV show where she also started her romance with Randy Savage. They were later married. In 1984 the promotion closed down due to dwindling attendance and its assets were bought by Jerry Jarrett and Jerry Lawler. Due to the fans' knowledge of the extremely bitter rivalry between ICW and CWA, Randy Savage was able to migrate to the CWA and begin a memorable feud with Jerry Lawler that established Randy Savage as a world-class superstar.

Same name, different promotions

Paul Christy, the wrestler who had ended Randy Savage's final reign as ICW World Champion, started a new ICW when Poffo's promotion folded. He ran the promotion for a few years with little publicity or success before closing it down in the late 1980s. Another promotion called ''International Championship Wrestling'' operated out of Boston in the late 1980s, promoted by

Angelo Angelo is an Italian masculine given name and surname meaning "angel", or "messenger". People People with the given name *Angelo Accattino (born 1966), Italian prelate of the Catholic Church * Angelo Acciaioli (bishop) (1298–1357), Italian Ro ...

and Mario Savoldi, and Mario's son

Joe Savoldi Joseph Anthony Savoldi Jr., (born Giuseppe Antonio Savoldi; March 5, 1908 – January 25, 1974) more commonly known by his nickname "Jumping Joe" Savoldi, was an Italian-American professional wrestler, football player, and Special Ops agent f ...

. After forming a working agreement with

World Class Championship Wrestling World Class Championship Wrestling (WCCW), later known as the World Class Wrestling Association (WCWA) (1986–1991) was an American professional wrestling promotion headquartered in Dallas and Fort Worth, Texas. Originally owned by promoter Ed ...

, the Boston-based ICW was renamed '' International World Class Championship Wrestling'' (IWCCW). It included such stars as: The Russian Brute, Tom Brandi, Mike Kahula,

Tony Rumble Anthony David Magliaro (November 6, 1956 – November 13, 1999) was an American professional wrestler and manager, known by the ring name Boston Bad Boy Tony Rumble. He competed on the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic independent circuit during the ...

, and Nikolai Volkoff. ''International Championship Wrestling'' (ICW) is also a lesser known promotion based in Cloverdale, BC. Past wrestlers include

Buddy Wayne Buddy may refer to: People * Buddy (nickname) * Buddy (rapper), real name Simmie Sims III (1993–Present) * Buddy Rogers (wrestler), ring name of American professional wrestler Herman Gustav Rohde, Jr. (1921–1992) *Buddy Boeheim (born 1999), A ...

, and Chico Alvarez.

Tournaments

International Championship Wrestling held a variety of professional wrestling tournaments between 1980 and 1982 that were competed for by wrestlers that were a part of their roster.

ICW Television Championship Tournament (1980)

The ICW Television Championship Tournament was a single-elimination tournament to crown the first-ever ICW Television Champion. It was held in the fall, with the finals occurring on September 9, 1980.

ICW U.S Tag Team Championship Tournament (1982)

The ICW U.S. Tag Team Championship Tournament was a one-night tag team tournament held in

Johnson City, Tennessee Johnson City is a city in Washington, Carter, and Sullivan counties in the U.S. state of Tennessee, mostly in Washington County. As of the 2020 United States census, the population was 71,046, making it the eighth largest city in Tennessee. Jo ...

on January 5, 1982, for the vacant ICW United States Tag Team Championship.

Championships

Alumni

Wrestlers

Appolo Gold Nzema, also known as Nzima or Appolo, is a Central Tano language spoken by the Nzema people of southwestern Ghana and southeastern Ivory Coast. It is partially intelligible with Jwira-Pepesa and is closely related to Baoulé. Although it i ...

* Barry O *

(Also worked as "The Best") *

Boris Malenko Lawrence J. Simon (June 28, 1933 – September 1, 1994), better known by the ring name, Boris Malenko ( rus, Бори́с Маленко́, p=bɐˈrʲis mɐlˈɛnko, pron), was an American professional wrestler and professional wrestling trainer. ...

* Buddy Landel * Chief Tapu * Crusher Broomfield *

Doug Vines Doug is a male personal name (or, depending on which definition of "personal name" one uses, part of a personal name). It is sometimes a given name (or "first name"), but more often it is hypocorism (affectionate variation of a personal name) which ...

Ernie Ladd Ernest Ladd (November 28, 1938 – March 10, 2007), nicknamed "The Big Cat", was an American professional football player and professional wrestler. A standout athlete in high school, Ladd attended Grambling State University on a basketball s ...

* Gary Royal * George Weingeroff * The Great Kabuki * The Great Tio * Izzy Slapawitz * Jeff Sword * Lanny Poffo *

MAX THUNDER Max Thunder(맥스 선더) is a joint U.S.–South Korean military exercise that began in 2009. In 2017, it began on 21 April 2017. North Korea responded with the largest ever live fire exercise on 26 April 2017 in Wonsan. In May 2018, North Korea ...

* Mike Doggendorf * Mr. Wrestling I *

The Miser ''The Miser'' (french: L'Avare; ; also known by the longer name ''L'Avare ou L'École du Mensonge,'' meaning The Miser, or the School for Lies) is a five-act comedy in prose by the French playwright Molière. It was first performed on September ...

* Paul Christy *

Pez Whatley Pezavan Whatley (January 10, 1951 – January 18, 2005) was an American professional wrestler best known for his time with NWA Mid-America. Professional wrestling career Whatley played football and wrestled for Notre Dame High School in Chatta ...

* Ratamyus * "Hustler" Rip Rogers * Ron "The One Man Gang" Garvin * Ron Wright *Super Duper Mario * The Sheik * Tojo Yamamoto * Tony Falk *

Tony Peters Anthony Lemont Peters (born April 28, 1953) is an American former professional football player who was a safety for 10 seasons in the National Football League (NFL) for the Cleveland Browns and Washington Redskins. He played college football ...

* Willie Monroe * Jeff Turner Dr. X *Sam Diamond (Spiderman) *Bill Martin (1981 rookie of the year) * Rick Conner * Don Wright *Hoot Gibson * Devay Brunson *Terry Gibbs *

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 ...

*Chief Black Eagle * Masked Assassin *Big Boy Williams * Johnny Wilhoit Terry Harris * Pamela Watson *Julia "BlackWidow" Hoskins *Sidney Bakabella

Tag teams

* The Batten Twins – (Brad Batten and Bart Batten) * The Convertible Blondes - (

, Rip Rogers and Gary Royal) * Devil's Duo – (Doug Vines and Jeff Sword) *The Samoans - (The Great Tio and Chief Tapu)

Announcers

* Tim Tyler * Edgar Wallace * Liz Hulette *Robert Phillips Jr. (timekeeper)

Referees

*Sam Diamond aka Jack Barnett *Jim Davis *Emmitt Couch *George Hill

References

External links

ICW Poffo Universe

{{Professional wrestling in the United States 1978 establishments in the United States 1984 disestablishments in the United States Independent professional wrestling promotions based in the Southern United States Professional wrestling in Kentucky