MCW Pro Wrestling (formerly known as Maryland Championship Wrestling) is a regional independent wrestling promotion based in

Joppa, Maryland Joppa is a former colonial town and current planning region of Harford County, Maryland, United States. Joppa was founded as a British settlement on the Gunpowder River in 1707 and designated as the third county seat of Baltimore County in 1712. T ...

. It has regularly run events in the Mid-Atlantic region since the late 1990s.

History

Maryland Championship Wrestling (MCW) was originally established by wrestlers Dan McDevitt and Mark Shrader as an extension of the wrestling school Bone Breakers Training Center. MCW held its first card at Baltimore's Patapsco Arena on July 19, 1998, featuring

Jerry Lynn Jeremy Lynn (born June 12, 1963), better known by the ring name Jerry Lynn, is an American retired professional wrestler currently signed with All Elite Wrestling as a producer and coach. He has worked for promotions such as World Championship ...

Devon Storm Christopher Ford (born March 4, 1974) is an American professional wrestler, best known for his tenure in World Championship Wrestling under the ring name Crowbar, where he was a one time Hardcore Champion, a one time World Tag Team Champion wi ...

Little Guido James Maritato (born March 12, 1972) is an American professional wrestler, best known for his work in Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW) and World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) under the ring names Little Guido and Nunzio. A high-school footb ...

Balls Mahoney Jonathan Rechner (April 11, 1972 – April 12, 2016), better known by his ring name Balls Mahoney, was an American professional wrestler. He is perhaps best known for his appearances with Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW) during the late 199 ...

, manager

Jim Cornette James Mark "Jim" Cornette (born September 17, 1961) is an American author and podcaster who has previously worked in the professional wrestling industry as an agent, booker, color commentator, manager, promoter, trainer, and occasional prof ...

and

The Headbangers The Headbangers are a professional wrestling tag team consisting of Mosh (Charles Warrington) and Thrasher (Glenn Ruth). As the name of the team implies, their gimmick is that they are a pair of metalheads, complete with heavy metal related T-sh ...

. During that event, MCW held a six-man match to crown the first ever Light Heavyweight Champion. The winner of the match was Shane Shamrock and due to his shooting death by police the following month, MCW named him as the lifetime Light Heavyweight Champion and replaced it with the Cruiserweight Championship. Throughout the next year, the promotion featured veteran wrestlers such as

Ricky Steamboat Richard Henry Blood Sr. (born February 28, 1953), better known by his ring name Ricky "The Dragon" Steamboat, is an American retired professional wrestler best known for his work with the American Wrestling Association (AWA), Jim Crockett Promot ...

Ricky Morton Richard Wendell Morton (born September 21, 1956) is an American professional wrestler, currently performing on the independent circuit. He is the current GCW Television Champion, after pinning Matt Cardona at GCW Say You Will. For most of his care ...

Bobby Eaton Bobby Lee Eaton (August 14, 1958 – August 4, 2021) was an American professional wrestler best known as "Beautiful" Bobby Eaton. He was most famous for his work in tag teams, especially as one-half of The Midnight Express. Under the managem ...

Tito Santana Merced Solis (born May 10, 1953), better known by the ring name Tito Santana, is a retired American professional wrestler and middle school teacher. Santana has stayed a babyface his entire career and he is best known for his appearances with ...

The Iron Sheik Hossein Khosrow Ali Vaziri ( fa, حسین خسرو علی وزیری, romanized: Hossein Xosrô 'Ali Vaziri; born March 15, 1942), better known by his ring name the Iron Sheik, is an Iranian retired professional wrestler, amateur wrestler and ...

Sherri Martel Sherry Schrull (née Russell; born February 8, 1958 – June 15, 2007) was an American professional wrestler and manager, better known by her ring names, Sherri Martel and Sensational Sherri. Martel began her professional wrestling career in the ...

The Road Warriors The Road Warriors, also known as the Legion of Doom, were a professional wrestling tag team composed of Road Warrior Hawk (Michael Hegstrand) and Road Warrior Animal (Joseph Laurinaitis).. They performed under the name "The Road Warriors" in t ...

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, ...

and

Jerry "The King" 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 ...

, the latter two winning the promotion's heavyweight championship. Longtime mainstays such as

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 ...

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 ...

Judas Young Judas Iscariot (; grc-x-biblical, Ἰούδας Ἰσκαριώτης; syc, ܝܗܘܕܐ ܣܟܪܝܘܛܐ; died AD) was a disciple and one of the original Twelve Apostles of Jesus Christ. According to all four canonical gospels, Judas betraye ...

and Mickie James also began gaining popularity in the promotion. On March 27, 2002,

Steve Wilkos Steven John Wilkos (; born March 9, 1964) is an American television personality, a veteran of the United States Marine Corps and a former law enforcement officer with the Chicago Police Department. He has been hosting '' The Steve Wilkos Show'' s ...

of ''

The Jerry Springer Show ''Jerry Springer'' is an American scripted syndicated tabloid talk show that aired from September 30, 1991 to July 26, 2018. Produced and hosted by its namesake, Jerry Springer, it aired for 27 seasons and nearly 5,000 episodes. The television ...

'' made a one night appearance teaming with Gillberg to defeat The Slackers (

Chad Bowman Chad Slivenski (born September 15, 1972) is a semi-retired American professional wrestler, known by his ringname Chad Bowman, who competed in East Coast and Mid-Atlantic independent promotions during the 1990s and 2000s. Early in his career, Sli ...

and

Dino Devine Dino may refer to: Prefix * dino-, a common prefix in taxonomy, meaning "terrible", "formidable" **Dinosaur People * Dino (given name), a masculine given name and a nickname * Dino (surname), a surname found in Albania and Turkey * Diño, a surn ...

) in a tag team match in

Glen Burnie, Maryland Glen Burnie is an unincorporated town and census-designated place (CDP) in Anne Arundel County, Maryland, United States. It is a suburb of Baltimore. The population of Glen Burnie was 67,639 at the 2010 census. History In 1812, Elias Glenn, a di ...

; the 1,267 in attendance setting a new record for its home arena Michael's Eighth Avenue ballroom. After holding its final card, ''The Last Dance: Shane Shamrock Memorial Cup'', on July 16, 2003, MCW announced its intentions to merge with its longtime rival the

Mid-Eastern Wrestling Federation The Mid-Eastern Wrestling Federation was a Mid-Atlantic independent professional wrestling promotion based in Essex, Maryland. Founded by promoter Dennis Wippercht and wrestler Tim "Lucifer" Burke in 1991, the MEWF was one of the leading independ ...

. McDevitt and Shrader had originally left Mid-Eastern due to a business dispute with half its roster subsequently leaving for the newly established MCW. Although operations officially ceased in 2003, McDevitt continued holding occasional cards exclusively at

Fort Meade Fort George G. Meade is a United States Army installation located in Maryland, that includes the Defense Information School, the Defense Media Activity, the United States Army Field Band, and the headquarters of United States Cyber Command, the ...

under the "Fort Meade Wrestling" banner during the next several years before returning booking regular MCW events again. MCW made Baltimore headlines in October 2006, with the booking of

WIYY WIYY (97.9 FM, "98 Rock") is a commercial radio station in Baltimore, Maryland. It is owned by Hearst Communications and broadcasts a mainstream rock radio format. WIYY shares studios and offices with sister stations WBAL and WBAL-TV on T ...

morning show personalities Kirk McEwen and Mark Ondayko as part of an eight-man tag match. Participating would have been a breach of their contract with their radio station, however, in the ensuing controversy, the longtime DJs left WIYY for rival WHFS. On April 22, 2016, it was announced that the promotion was changing its name from Maryland Championship Wrestling to MCW Pro Wrestling.

''Rage TV''

The promotion also has a syndicated television show, ''Rage TV'', which is also broadcast via the internet. Episodes of ''Rage TV'' have also been released on DVD. In December 2000, local television producer Natasha Small filed a complaint to city officials in

Bowie, Maryland Bowie () is a city in Prince George's County, Maryland, United States. Per the 2020 census, the population was 58,329. Bowie has grown from a small railroad stop to the largest municipality in Prince George's County, and the fifth most populous c ...

in which she claimed she and her daughter had been subject to harassment stemming from a verbal confrontation with ''Rage TV'' host Jeff Jones during a television taping at the Bowie Community Television station on October 1, 2002. Although a written response by the city manager's office condemned both parties, no criminal or civil charges were filed against Jones or Maryland Championship Wrestling. Small's claims were supported by former studio director Milly Hall who had previously filed a complaint accusing Jones of using the studio to produce tapes for sale over the internet and what she described as "pornographic-like images" appearing on the show's official website. Maryland Championship Wrestling denied these charges however and, while city officials admitted the possibility of the promotion using the show to "assist a commercial venture", the city notified producers of new policy updates to guard against such assistance. In April 2011, ''Rage TV'' taped shows at Duane "Gillberg" Gill's Professional Wrestling Academy in

Severn, Maryland Severn is a census-designated place (CDP) in Anne Arundel County, Maryland, United States. As of the 2020 U.S. census, the population of Severn is 57,118, a 22.6% increase from 44,231 according to the 2010 census. The zip code is 21144. Geograp ...

. The show was hosted by country music singer Mark Bray and Gill.

Shane Shamrock Memorial Cup

The Shane Shamrock Memorial Cup is an annual tournament held since 1999. The format of the tournament sees twelve wrestlers competing in six one-on-one matches, with the six winners advancing to an elimination match finale. The tournament is named in honor of Shane Shamrock, the inaugural MCW Light Heavyweight Champion who was shot and killed during an altercation with police officers in 1998. When MCW closed its doors in 2003, an arrangement was made with Ring of Honor (ROH) that when ROH made its debut in the Baltimore area, it would carry on the tradition of the Shane Shamrock Cup. At ROH's ''The Last Stand'', it was announced ROH would continue the Shane Shamrock Cup on June 24, 2004. In March, however, Rob Feinstein was forced to step down as owner of ROH. Less than a week before the tournament, Feinstein sold his share of ROH to

Cary Silkin Cary may refer to: Places ;United States * Cary, Illinois, part of the Chicago metropolitan area * Cary, Indiana, part of the Indianapolis metropolitan area * Cary, Miami County, Indiana * Cary, Maine * Cary, Mississippi * Cary, North Carolin ...

, causing Maryland promoter Dick Caricofe to pull out of the show. ROH was forced to move the show to

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, largest city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the List of United States cities by population, sixth-largest city i ...

and renamed the show '' Survival of the Fittest''. When MCW reopened in February 2006, it was announced that they were bringing back the Shane Shamrock Cup.

Shamrock Cup X (2010)

MCW held its 10th annual Shane Shamrock Memorial Cup (branded as "MCW Shamrock Cup X") on July 31, 2010.

Shane Shamrock Cup (2013)

The 13th MCW Shane Shamrock Cup was held on August 10, 2013.

Shane Shamrock Memorial Cup (2014)

The 14th Shane Shamrock Memorial Cup was held on July 19, 2014 in

Shane Shamrock Memorial Cup XV (2015)

The 15th annual Shane Shamrock Memorial Cup took place on July 18, 2015 at the MCW Arena in

Shane Shamrock Memorial Cup XVI (2016)

The 16th annual Shane Shamrock Memorial Cup took place on July 16, 2016 at the MCW Arena in Joppa, Maryland.

Shane Shamrock Memorial Cup XVII (2017)

The 17th annual Shane Shamrock Memorial Cup took place on July 14 and 15, 2017 at the MCW Arena in Joppa, Maryland. ;Day 1 ;Day 2

Shane Shamrock Memorial Cup XVIII (2018)

The 18th annual Shane Shamrock Memorial Cup took place on July 13 and 14, 2018 at the MCW Arena in Joppa, Maryland. ;Day 1 ;Day 2

Shane Shamrock Memorial Cup XIX (2019)

The 19th annual Shane Shamrock Memorial Cup took place on July 13, 2019 at the MCW Arena in Joppa, Maryland.

Shane Shamrock Memorial Cup XX (2021)

The 20th annual Shane Shamrock Memorial Cup took place on November 12, 2021 at the MCW Arena in Joppa, Maryland.

Championships

Active

As of ,

Retired

Shane Shamrock Memorial Cup winners

Hall of Fame

The MCW Hall of Fame is an American

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

hall of fame. It was established in 2009.

Media

* MCW: Xtreme Measures II DVD. Maryland Championship Wrestling, 2007. * MCW: Shane Shamrock Tribute Show, 9/20/98. DVD. Maryland Championship Wrestling, 2007. * MCW: Aggravated Assault. DVD. Maryland Championship Wrestling, 2007. * MCW: Anniversary 2007. DVD. Maryland Championship Wrestling, 2007. * MCW: 6th Shane Shamrck Memorial Cup DVD. Maryland Championship Wrestling, 2006. * MCW: Guerrilla Warfare. DVD. Maryland Championship Wrestling, 2006. * MCW: Holiday Homecoming. DVD. Maryland Championship Wrestling, 2006. * MCW: March Madness. DVD. Maryland Championship Wrestling, 2006. * MCW: Monster Mash. DVD. Maryland Championship Wrestling, 2006. * MCW: Phenomenal Final Four. DVD. Maryland Championship Wrestling, 2006. * MCW: Red, White, Black & Bruised. DVD. Maryland Championship Wrestling, 2006. * MCW: Resurrection. DVD. Maryland Championship Wrestling, 2006. * MCW: Tribute to the Legends. DVD. Maryland Championship Wrestling, 2006. * MCW: Xtreme Measures. DVD. Maryland Championship Wrestling, 2006. * MCW: The Last Dance. DVD. Maryland Championship Wrestling, 2003.

References

External links

Maryland Championship WrestlingMaryland Championship Wrestling
at

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{{Professional wrestling in the United States American independent professional wrestling promotions based in Maryland Companies based in Baltimore Dundalk, Maryland American companies established in 1997 1997 establishments in Maryland