| Old Line Wrestling | |
|---|---|
| Abbreviation | OLW |
| Bi-Weekly show | Outrage (Sunday) |
| Time open | November 2004 - September 2008 |
| Owner(s) | Jeff Clark |
| Based in | Maryland |
| Federation type | Competitive |
| Pay-per-views | none |
| Website | Click here |
Old Line Wrestling (OLW for short) was an e-federation formed by Jeff Clark in November 2004. OLW was formed from the combined rosters of three recently-closed Coalition of Affiliated Leagues federations - the Innovative Wrestling Alliance, Big West Wrestling Alliance, and the Mid-South Wrestling Alliance. OLW closed its doors in September 2008. It held one final card, "Farewell Fix", in 2009.
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In 2004, the Coalition of Affiliated Leagues was experiencing hard times. The Mid South Wrestling Alliance, returning from a long period of inactivity, found its fanbase scattered to the four corners, and was on the verge of bankruptcy. The Big West Wrestling Alliance as well was on the verge of bankruptcy, having spent too much on large contracts bringing in outside talent, and extravagent production values usually reserved for CAL PPVs and global promotions. And worst of all, the Innovative Wrestling Alliance, the CAL's cornerstone since 2002, had departed the CAL on such bad terms that the CAL President retaliated by killing IWA via buying out its television deals and arena bookings.
The CAL was in a sad state, but where most saw wreckage and no hope for the future, one man saw opportunity. This man was Kai Scott. Aside from being a top notch wrestler, he was smart. And so from the shattered rosters of the MSWA, BWWa and IWA, he built OLW - Old Line Wrestling. OLW opened its doors on November 14th, 2004.
OLW was based in Maryland, and named after Maryland - the Old Line State. Pulling the biggest stars from three territories together, Scott put together one of the brightest rosters known to the CAL.
When the CAL closed in mid 2005, OLW was the only long standing fed within the organization to remain open. After running as an independent federation for a year and a half, it joined the World Wrestling Alliance in late 2006. It has remained with the WWA ever since, and while it has yet to win the WWA World Title, it has held a virtual stranglehold on the other WWA Titles.
OLW closed not after an extended down period, but during a major boom. The final OLW Commissioner, Cito Conarri, stated that "It is obvious that upper management's heart is no longer in the promotion. I would prefer that OLW be remembered as what it was in its prime, not what it became after months of slow stagnation as did the old Innovative Wrestling Alliance. As such, OLW is closing its doors effective immediately."
OLW's ownership is unknown. Kai Scott, after swearing he would never appear on camera when he came out as the owner of OLW, returned to the ring in 2007, and has yet to attempt to use the authority an owner would have. OLW's commissioner is Robert Lancaster. Formerly known as Avarice, Lancaster was a former member of the roster and a long-reigning OLW Heavyweight Champion. However, his activity level has decreased. Most day-to-day management concerns are dealt with by OLW's main trainer and play by play commentator, Cito Conarri, who is both high-ranked and respected enough by the roster that he is able to do this.
Former commissioners have included Dawn, the commissioner of OLW's predecessor IWA. Heidi, an OLW wrestler who took the job on a temporary basis when Dawn was attacked and injured by Ultra Raptor. Keep It Real Kid, who owned one of IWA's predecessors and was the only commissioner to truly take a face/heel stance. KIRK took a heel stance and formed the stable The Unforgiven II. This lasted until Avarice forced him to hand the commissionership over to him due to KIRK's increasing inability to control the roster.
Avarice would retire as a wrestler and revert to his given name Robert Lancaster. He spent less and less time in the offices, and as such, Cito Conarri acted as the commissioner in his stead. Several months afterwards, Conarri's position as Comissioner was made official. He opted to remain behind the commentary desk and keep all his Commissionary acts off-screen, right up until he decided to close the promotion.
OLW was created by Jeff Clark. In 2004, Jeff's first efed, the IWA, was forced to close due primarily to the top talent not RPing. Two other CAL feds, just like in the in-character backstory, were closing at the same time. Jeff managed to get the abandoned rosters of the feds together and open OLW.
OLW was initially a hybrid fed, with several handlers acting as voters. As time went on, the handlers in favor of heavy focus on angles began to drop out, and the voters began to get slower about handing their votes in. Also, angled criteria aside, the votes almost invariably went to the person who was voted to have won the RP battle, and in one of the cases it didn't, the fedhead had to use executive priveledge to override the vote anyway. Eventually the voting system was pushed back to only close contests. Later, it was simply done away with, and OLW became more or less a straight competitive fed.
Jeff closed OLW in September 2008 due to lack of motivation to produce timely results and the desire to put the fed down while it was running strong rather than to let it slowly die.
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