Post by Booker Thee on Jan 18, 2005 2:10:08 GMT -5
A major shift occurred on the professional wrestling landscape in the summer of 2001. Top Rope Championship Wrestling, an offshoot of the Canadian Wrestling Federation and run by wrestler Bobby Jay, was spearheading a resurchence in the business. Promoting weekly events at The Palladium Nightclub, TRCW was garnering large crowds in the 100-200 person range on the back of strong talent and even stronger ‘smart’ storylines.
In Spring of 2001, a minor struggle for power behind the scenes in TRCW resulted in Michael Davidson rising to the position of booker. He took TRCW in a different direction, pushing entertainment and athleticism and creating new stars. The heel turn of “The Mecca” Shane Madison and his subsequent feud with super-over babyface TJ Bratt became a white hot program and hooked new fans into becoming regular viewers of Indy wrestling.
Local wrestling became a hotbed of political activity with the competition heating up. By Summer 2001, more mainstays of the CWF were jumping ship to join TRCW and Davidson and Bobby were engaging in their own struggle for power. Bobby felt since it was his company, his vision should be respected while Davidson took credit for the rise in attendance and wanted to be left alone to continue his success. Eventually the dispute became too much to overcome and Bobby fired Davidson. This decision clearly impacted the show. As soon as the fans in attendance found out, they revolted against Bobby who at the time was a babyface, and turned him into the company’s top heel. With little choice, Bobby asked Davidson back to host the shows, but he would have little to no creative input.
As a result of these developments, Davidson turned his attention to starting his own promotion. He knew he had support of many of the top talent in Winnipeg, including Shane Madison, “Playboy” Will Damon and Adam Knight, who would all eventually stop working for Bobby as they awaited the formation of Mike’s new vision.
With the talent and the vision, all Mike needed was the money and the venue. At the time, Mike, as well as Madison and Damon all worked for a company called NIC, owned by millionaire John Nguyen. John was very close with Damon and Madison and they repeatedly suggested to him that he get involved in the professional wrestling business.
It was late summer 2001 when John met with Davidson. John was supportive of his idea, but without a more solid business plan and a main venue, he was reluctant to invest any money.
Enter Andrew Shallcross. He worked in a security and promotions capacity for The Palladium Nightclub and was a lifelong wrestling fan. Becoming close friends with Davidson, Shallcross shared his desire to see a strong, sports entertainment-based independent promotion succeed in Manitoba. Having just been laid off from the Royal Bank and with plenty of time on his hands, Shallcross set out to put together the business plan that they required.
Shallcross was confident he could have The Palladium as their main venue. He had a close relationship with nightclub manager Tom Manos and TRCW’s attendance had continued to drop as they injected an over abundance of hardcore antics into the shows. Manos was an honourable man and would not commit to kicking TRCW out of the venue, but he told Shallcross and Davidson to get the ball rolling and they would look at it again in the future.
In November 2001, The Palladium closed for renovations and as a result removed TRCW, telling Bobby if they chose to bring wrestling back, he would be their first choice, but they had not made the decision to bring wrestling back. In fact, the venue’s general manager was 100% opposed to wrestling.
With several guys not actively wrestling, Davidson took a position with Wayne Stanton’s River City Wrestling, a promotion he had worked for previously. He became their interim booker as RCW shifted their loyalty from the rapidly deteriorating CWF to TRCW. Davidson and Stanton knew the position would be temporary as Mike and Shallcross continued to pursue their goal of starting their own promotion.
Shallcross completed the business plan and presented it to several banks in the hopes of getting a small business loan. Two banks expressed an interest, but they would eventually not be needed. John Nguyen once again requested a meeting.
Shallcross, Davidson, Madison and Mike Silver (not in the wrestling business) met with John at the Round Table on Pembina Hwy over Grey Cup Weekend 2001. Now sporting an acceptable business plan and with a semi-firm commitment of a weekly venue, John offered to invest. Davidson and Shallcross had wanted $20,000 to start the company. John doubled that amount and wanted to start immediately. With Davidson already working at NIC, John offered Shallcross a position there as well to make it easier for all three to discuss the wrestling project.
A follow-up meeting on Monday had John spell out in more detail his expectations for revenue and spending. Shallcross and Davidson were confident in their vision and felt they were positing themselves to make a profit by the end of the year 2002. John, a successful businessman urged them to be cautious, advised them that advertising must always be a large part of the budget and to expect losses for the first couple of years. Davidson and Shallcross were excited – they had a backer with a lot of money who was actually expecting to lose money in the first two years.
The first order of business was a name. Davidson had been partial to All Action Wrestling, or AAW (pronounced Double ‘A’, Double U’). Shallcross felt that sounded too regional and suggested something on a grander scale like Canadian Championship Wrestling. Davidson nixed the idea as it too closely resembled the Canadian Wrestling Federation.
In a strange, but utterly true story, the name arose out of a dream Shallcross had. In the dream, Shallcross and Davidson were discussing how their company was the premier wrestling promotion. Immediately, Shallcross awoke and had the new name – Premier Wrestling Alliance. Davidson supported it, but Madison rejected the use of the word Alliance as he felt it would invoke memories of the failed WWE Alliance angle. Palladium manager Manos was also not a fan of the letters PWA being used together.
Davidson, Shallcross and Madison met to discuss this and other issues at the apartment of Madison. It took only a moment to agree on the brand. Determined to keep the word ‘Premier’, Shallcross suggested a new name and everyone agreed.
Premier Championship Wrestling was born.
Next, they needed to officially announce their roster. Davidson knew he had most of the guys he wanted, but there were still more he needed to flesh out his roster. They called a meeting at The Holiday Inn Fort Richmond and invited the best of the best in Manitoba wrestling. The majority of guys there were working for TRCW at the time.
In attendance were:
Will Damon
Kenny Omega
Mentallo
Rawskillz
Shane Madison
Adrianna
Adam Knight
Moses Luke
Big O
Greg Romijn
Jamie Love
Scotty Bowman
Chris Parys
TJ Bratt
Jade
Pete Moss
Ronnie Attitude
Wayne Stanton
Chris Stevens
Zack Mercury
Darren Dalton
Chad Tatum
Donnie Dicaprio
David Dixon
Absent were several top level local talents including Davidson’s cousin Vance Nevada and Robby Royce, who was not included as a result of the political turmoil in the business. He and Davidson had heat and he was not invited. That was the same basic reason Nevada was not included. Nevada was a TRCW loyalist and even as the meeting was happening, he was contacting guys in an effort to sway their opinion and keep them with TRCW.
In Spring of 2001, a minor struggle for power behind the scenes in TRCW resulted in Michael Davidson rising to the position of booker. He took TRCW in a different direction, pushing entertainment and athleticism and creating new stars. The heel turn of “The Mecca” Shane Madison and his subsequent feud with super-over babyface TJ Bratt became a white hot program and hooked new fans into becoming regular viewers of Indy wrestling.
Local wrestling became a hotbed of political activity with the competition heating up. By Summer 2001, more mainstays of the CWF were jumping ship to join TRCW and Davidson and Bobby were engaging in their own struggle for power. Bobby felt since it was his company, his vision should be respected while Davidson took credit for the rise in attendance and wanted to be left alone to continue his success. Eventually the dispute became too much to overcome and Bobby fired Davidson. This decision clearly impacted the show. As soon as the fans in attendance found out, they revolted against Bobby who at the time was a babyface, and turned him into the company’s top heel. With little choice, Bobby asked Davidson back to host the shows, but he would have little to no creative input.
As a result of these developments, Davidson turned his attention to starting his own promotion. He knew he had support of many of the top talent in Winnipeg, including Shane Madison, “Playboy” Will Damon and Adam Knight, who would all eventually stop working for Bobby as they awaited the formation of Mike’s new vision.
With the talent and the vision, all Mike needed was the money and the venue. At the time, Mike, as well as Madison and Damon all worked for a company called NIC, owned by millionaire John Nguyen. John was very close with Damon and Madison and they repeatedly suggested to him that he get involved in the professional wrestling business.
It was late summer 2001 when John met with Davidson. John was supportive of his idea, but without a more solid business plan and a main venue, he was reluctant to invest any money.
Enter Andrew Shallcross. He worked in a security and promotions capacity for The Palladium Nightclub and was a lifelong wrestling fan. Becoming close friends with Davidson, Shallcross shared his desire to see a strong, sports entertainment-based independent promotion succeed in Manitoba. Having just been laid off from the Royal Bank and with plenty of time on his hands, Shallcross set out to put together the business plan that they required.
Shallcross was confident he could have The Palladium as their main venue. He had a close relationship with nightclub manager Tom Manos and TRCW’s attendance had continued to drop as they injected an over abundance of hardcore antics into the shows. Manos was an honourable man and would not commit to kicking TRCW out of the venue, but he told Shallcross and Davidson to get the ball rolling and they would look at it again in the future.
In November 2001, The Palladium closed for renovations and as a result removed TRCW, telling Bobby if they chose to bring wrestling back, he would be their first choice, but they had not made the decision to bring wrestling back. In fact, the venue’s general manager was 100% opposed to wrestling.
With several guys not actively wrestling, Davidson took a position with Wayne Stanton’s River City Wrestling, a promotion he had worked for previously. He became their interim booker as RCW shifted their loyalty from the rapidly deteriorating CWF to TRCW. Davidson and Stanton knew the position would be temporary as Mike and Shallcross continued to pursue their goal of starting their own promotion.
Shallcross completed the business plan and presented it to several banks in the hopes of getting a small business loan. Two banks expressed an interest, but they would eventually not be needed. John Nguyen once again requested a meeting.
Shallcross, Davidson, Madison and Mike Silver (not in the wrestling business) met with John at the Round Table on Pembina Hwy over Grey Cup Weekend 2001. Now sporting an acceptable business plan and with a semi-firm commitment of a weekly venue, John offered to invest. Davidson and Shallcross had wanted $20,000 to start the company. John doubled that amount and wanted to start immediately. With Davidson already working at NIC, John offered Shallcross a position there as well to make it easier for all three to discuss the wrestling project.
A follow-up meeting on Monday had John spell out in more detail his expectations for revenue and spending. Shallcross and Davidson were confident in their vision and felt they were positing themselves to make a profit by the end of the year 2002. John, a successful businessman urged them to be cautious, advised them that advertising must always be a large part of the budget and to expect losses for the first couple of years. Davidson and Shallcross were excited – they had a backer with a lot of money who was actually expecting to lose money in the first two years.
The first order of business was a name. Davidson had been partial to All Action Wrestling, or AAW (pronounced Double ‘A’, Double U’). Shallcross felt that sounded too regional and suggested something on a grander scale like Canadian Championship Wrestling. Davidson nixed the idea as it too closely resembled the Canadian Wrestling Federation.
In a strange, but utterly true story, the name arose out of a dream Shallcross had. In the dream, Shallcross and Davidson were discussing how their company was the premier wrestling promotion. Immediately, Shallcross awoke and had the new name – Premier Wrestling Alliance. Davidson supported it, but Madison rejected the use of the word Alliance as he felt it would invoke memories of the failed WWE Alliance angle. Palladium manager Manos was also not a fan of the letters PWA being used together.
Davidson, Shallcross and Madison met to discuss this and other issues at the apartment of Madison. It took only a moment to agree on the brand. Determined to keep the word ‘Premier’, Shallcross suggested a new name and everyone agreed.
Premier Championship Wrestling was born.
Next, they needed to officially announce their roster. Davidson knew he had most of the guys he wanted, but there were still more he needed to flesh out his roster. They called a meeting at The Holiday Inn Fort Richmond and invited the best of the best in Manitoba wrestling. The majority of guys there were working for TRCW at the time.
In attendance were:
Will Damon
Kenny Omega
Mentallo
Rawskillz
Shane Madison
Adrianna
Adam Knight
Moses Luke
Big O
Greg Romijn
Jamie Love
Scotty Bowman
Chris Parys
TJ Bratt
Jade
Pete Moss
Ronnie Attitude
Wayne Stanton
Chris Stevens
Zack Mercury
Darren Dalton
Chad Tatum
Donnie Dicaprio
David Dixon
Absent were several top level local talents including Davidson’s cousin Vance Nevada and Robby Royce, who was not included as a result of the political turmoil in the business. He and Davidson had heat and he was not invited. That was the same basic reason Nevada was not included. Nevada was a TRCW loyalist and even as the meeting was happening, he was contacting guys in an effort to sway their opinion and keep them with TRCW.