Championship Wrestling Organization (CWO) [1] is a wrestling organization that has been in existence since 1995. Founded by the Alles family (primarily Brent and Gordy), CWO (originally standing for "Cyberspace Wrestling Organization", based on the sponsor, a local BBS service known as Cyberspace) started as a regional federation in Grand Rapids, MI. CWO quickly rose to a national prominence in 1996. They have managed to promote shows every year since 1995. The current president of the CWO is Chris Foley.
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The CWO had its beginnings in 1995, when the first wrestling cards were promoted on the local Cyberspace BBS in Grand Rapids, MI (telnet bbs.grnet.com), as the "Cyberspace Wrestling Organization." (This is why the main CWO headquarters remains in Grand Rapids to this day. The CWO International headquarters is located in Canada.)
In 1996, the promotion was taken "national" by the Alles family (Gordy, Brent, Kent, and Mary), with Brent notably leading the charge and advancement of the regional wrestling organization into its international model. (For storyline purposes, the CWO does have its root in Midwest regional wrestling promotions of the 1970s and 1980s that involved Gordy Alles, Lord Hile Troy, Gold Kard, and others as active competitors.) In 1996, the name was changed from “Cyberspace Wrestling Organization” to “Championship Wrestling Organization," which is the name they continue under today.
Although there have been "bumps" here and there as far as running the organization on a consistent basis, the CWO has promoted cards relatively consistently since 1995, giving it quite a "rich" history as far as wrestling organizations go.
Although many entities have tried to "control" the CWO over the years (and wrest it from the guiding hands of the Alles family), one of the more notable struggles was the attempted take-over by the EWA in 2002. Luckily, Brent Alles and other CWO stalwarts were able to save the CWO from ultimately being absorbed into that other wrestling organization.
The CWO had an informal training program before 2002, but in 2002, a formal wrestling training facility was opened in a renovated warehouse in downtown Grand Rapids, MI. The HARD KNOX program began not only training future wrestling superstars but also providing opportunities for those who had been in "the game" for a while to polish their skills as well. HARD KNOX even operated its own wrestling promotion, known as the "CWO HARD KNOX WRESTLING FEDERATION" (CHKWF) from 2002 to 2004. The CHKWF was on hiatus after that, but they returned to promoting cards in Grand Rapids and the Great Lakes area in 2006. (The promotion is again currently on hiatus, though future CWO wrestlers are still being trained in the facility in Grand Rapids.)
After surviving the EWA, a new member was added to the CWO Board of Directors in 2003 by the name of Chris Foley. When the Alles family temporarily relinquished power over the day-to-day operations of the CWO in late 2004, Chris Foley took over as President and kept the CWO going. However, despite this, Foley grew increasingly unpopular with the fans, largely due to the accusations of his insistence of "pushing" (promoting) wrestlers that were "cronies" of his. Unable to gain control of the CWO back from Foley, Brent Alles in late 2005 attempted to create an oppositional organization to the CWO called the "OWC," but that was an ill-fated move that met a quick demise.
Brent returned to the CWO soon after that and warred with Foley, who wanted to destroy "The Ace" in the eyes of the CWO fans but was ultimately unsuccessful in doing just that. Foley's obsession would ultimately lead to his dismissal as CWO President by a reorganized CWO Board of Directors that included Gordy Alles (head trainer / founder), Kent (CFO), and Mary Alles (head of the AMAZONS Division) along with Col. Flynn Taggart as newly elected President and three other as-yet undisclosed new members (FEVER General Manager, EXTREME General Manager, and a new "Enforcer" to be in charge of the referees and match decisions). Having four members of the BoD who were not "Alleses" was put into the guidelines to ensure there would be equal if not slightly more "non-Alles" representation for the wrestlers of the CWO. Therefore, Brent was unable to serve on the Board of Directors, as this would have given an "Alles majority." Brent was actually happy about that at the time, preferring to concentrate on being an active competitor in the ring.
However, in late 2006 the Board of Directors were bought out by Chris Foley, with a still as yet unknown financial conglomerate backing him, and Chris Foley once again finds himself President (and Chairman of the Board) of the CWO.
The CWO now is in its second decade of promoting wrestling excitement to its fans in the United States and around the world.
Comprises of:
CWO on the Web [2]
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