Continental Wrestling Association (CWA)

[9.0] "Really enjoying watching the CWA in the 1980's. Here is a yearly review. 1982: Instantly hooked with the Midnight Express. Good fued between Lawler & Dutch Mantel. Jimmy Hart was a natural, just so good. Young Morton, Gibson, Eaton & Lane. Pushing the Fabulous Ones and making vignettes you can tell they were appealing to a young audience. Wrestler of the Year: The Midnight Express 1983: This territory was ahead of most other territories in terms of using vignettes, and relying on storylines. In ring they used smaller athletic wrestlers who utilized their speed. The Fabulous Ones and Lawler were so over. Lawler was money on the mic. Year begins with Koko Ware turning face against the First Family, even posing as Stagger Lee similar to JYD in Mid-South. The Fabulous Ones win a feud with the Sheephearders forcing them to leave the territory, but then the Moondogs arrive to ignite a feud with them over the Southern Tag Titles. So cool seeing the origins of the Rock n' Roll Express. Unlike other territories that did not televise key matches that took place at house shows, CWA does a great job of showing footage of the important matches in order to keep the continuity of their storylines. Wrestler of the Year: Stan Lane 1984: The year begins with absolute anarchy as Jimmy Hart's First Family is at war with the face locker room. The first big turn is Norvell Austin turning face by saving Stagger Lee from Hart's Bruise Brothers, but in a strange storyline, Austin and Lee become the PYT and rejoin Hart's Family. Great storyline between Austin Idol and Rick Rude, both were tremendous characters and worked so well together. The Fabs leave the CWA for the AWA, and in a pitiful attempt to recreate the tandem, they pair Tommy Rich and Eddie Gilbert together as the New Fabs, and try to push the New Generation, which went nowhere. Gilbert turns heel against Rich, and the two have the feud of the year in the CWA. The best incarnation of the First Family was when they had Bundy, Rude, Gilbert and the Dirty White Boys together, and pitted them against the anti-hero Randy Savage. They rushed the story, should have put the Mid-American title on Rude, with Bundy as the Southern Champ and Gilbert as the International Champ, and let it play out longer, prior to Rude and Bundy feuding. Lawler wins the Southern title for the 38th time, and by year's end Gilbert is the top heel. ICW closing allowed Savage and Lanny Poffo to have a strong run in CWA. Savage's work was incredible. Wrestler of the Year: Randy Savage."

[9.0] "Continental Wrestling Association is one of the best professional wrestling territory promotion of the 70s and 80s. They dominated Tennessee for years with extremely consistent cards, big matches and programs and one of the biggest feuds in wrestling with Jerry Lawler vs. Andy Kaufman. They produced some of the most innovate forms of television that are still seen by pro-wrestling fans to this day! So many future stars laced their boots here and went on to have the biggest careers that a pro wrestler can have. Overall, CWA was innovative and created history anywhere it went. [****1/2]"

[10.0] "The Memphis territory is definitely my favorite territory of all time, it's an unbelievable reunion of talent, aligned with a wrestling style that I enjoy very much, with emphasis on selling, and a lot of brawls, punches and blood. In Memphis kayfabe was sacred, you couldn't break it, even in real life, and that made the characters super interesting and captivating, the heroes and villains were always well defined, which indicates the minimalist style that I love so much about CWA. Lawler, Kaufman, Jimmy Hart, Cornette, Funk, Lance Russell... Memphis had a lot of people that are GOAT contenders for what they do, it's unbelievable, the quality is almost unmatched, and we also had very good and important guys like Dundee, Idol, Mantel, Rude, Koko Ware, Midnight Express, Rock 'n' Roll Express, and many more... guys like Ric Flair and Randy Savage had interesting appearances too, it's a barn of legends, Jerry Jarrett's company will forever live on, and the stories they told are absolutely immortalized in the wrestling world, long live the Rasslin'."

[10.0] "Jerry Jarrett's CWA promotion may be the most innovative wrestling promotion ever in pro wrestling history. Jerry Jarrett is a master genius at his bookings. It literally went from CWA to USWA to OVW in a 25 year span. Some good angles, and some really good matches. This promotion also helped establish the early careers of Shawn Michaels, Jeff Jarrett, Jerry Lawler, Bill Dundee, Randy Savage, Hulk Hogan, King Kong Bundy, and Ron Bass. Just so many careers were started or helped by the CWA. Just like the guy said below me "It was NXT before NXT." Indeed it was."

[10.0] "A territory that has produced some of the all-time greats. It was NXT before NXT. I know that's a stretch, but I feel that's the case."

[8.0] "Great classic territory, one of the best when it came to pure entertainment. It gets an 8 for their tendency to push crazy gimmick wrestlers with limited ring skills though."

[10.0] "Whether it be red-hot angles, heated feuds, bloody brawls, or all-time classic matches, Memphis Wrestling has it all. They stood the test of time and had tons of fingerprints on a variety of wrestling nowadays (or even decades ago). Their stacked roster, which consisted of a broad range of talents, is amazingly only one of the numerous wonderful things about them. Simply the GOAT of all wrestling territories."

[10.0] "Maybe the best territory ever. The wrestling was incredible and the roster was great.many of the best matches ever happened in the cwa"

[10.0] "You 'member when a believable wrestling product wasn't a pipe dream? When they were allowed to bleed and junk?"

[10.0] "Jerry Jarrett's CWA might be the best promotion of the Territory Era, full of great matches, innovative angles and an excellent talent roster."

[10.0] "Of all the territories of the classic territory system, the CWA was the most derided. And yet the most innovative and copied. The CWA has been the blueprint of the ECW and the WWE ofr decades."

[10.0] "Possibly the greatest promotion of all time. The roster, headed by Jerry Lawler, featured Bill Dundee, Tommy Rich, Jeff Jarrett, and many more. It also included, from time to time, Shawn Michaels, Marty Jannetty, Sting, Randy Savage, and countless others. It had great feuds, sold out nearly every show it held, had wild stipulations, and had that good ol' brawling style."