Bridgeview Wrestling Association
From Bywpedia
| Bridgeview Wrestling Association | |
| |
| Details | |
| Acronym | BWA |
| Established | 2005 |
| Creator(s) | Shooter |
| Style | Athletic and technical wrestling |
| Wrestling base | 16X16 Base/Professional ring |
| Location | Bridgeview/Justice, Illinois |
| External links | |
Bridgeview Wrestling Association (BWA) is a backyard wrestling federation based in Illinois that formed in 2005, founded by John Steele (Tornado) and Joe Shue (Blaze). BWA is also a member of Global Backyard Wrestling Nation.
Contents |
History
BWA started out as a basement wrestling league with no name in about 2003. It was founded my John “Tornado” Steele and Joe “Blaze” Shue and was held in Shue’s basement. Gradually, more people began to join, such as Marc “Scorpion” Denson, Mike “Inferno” Neri and others. They eventually moved all Steele’s yard in the summer of 2005 and began to wrestle on his trampoline. Still with no name, more people began to join. We saw the debuts of Shooter, Sam “Ambition” , James “Extreme” Thomas, and Mike “X” Rodriguez. At this time Shue and Denson were rarely wrestling and John Steele and Shooter took over as co-owners and came up with the name AAW (All-American Wrestling). After some time, AAW moved all operations to Rodriguez’s yard and his trampoline. AAW then celebrated their 1st Year Anniversary, which was main evented by Shooter and X in a Bridgeview Death Match for the AAW Heavyweight Championship. Soon after this, Steele left the company leaving full ownership to shooter. Then, soon after this, he decided to change the name of AAW, as to not confuse people with the Chicago Independent wrestling promotion of the same name. Then in the summer of 2006 he changed the name to BWA (Bridgeview Wrestling Association). With the new name Shooter new he had to add more people to his roster. With that we saw the addition of people like Kyle “Ace” Watson, Paul “Grande Pablo” Ferfecki, Dominic “Domi” , AO, Brad “ Social Hazard” Shear, Justin “J-Ash” Ashley, Dan “Phoenix” Leja, Dan “ Wicked Hatchet Dan” Rodriguez, Shane “Shane O’Mac” Schmitt and Kyle “ The Impact Player” Freiberg. Then in the summer of 2007 they celebrated their 2nd Anniversary which was main evented by Domi and X for the BWA Heavyweight Championship. Also at the show, there was a performance by an up and coming local band, The Forgotten Saints. BWA then celebrated their 3rd Anniversary titled BWA 3rd Anniversary: A New Era, on July 19th, 2008. It took place at the Justice Park District and was done in a real ring rented from the NWA Underground promotion in southwestern Michigan. The shows main event was Shooter defending his BWA Heavyweight Championship against Domi in a 2 out of 3 falls match. Also on the show saw NWA Underground wrestler, Hardcore Harry wrestle X. As BWA entered 2009, they were looking to make a big impact. They joined forces with another Chicagoland fed, FWA (Freelance Wrestling Alliance) and put together some great events. Then with MSW and FWA, BWA created NIWA (Northern Illinois Wrestling Alliance) and put together some of the best events in the midwest. Together they held events with DWA (Davenport Wrestling Alliance) and went to supershows in Indiana for ICW (Indiana Championship Wrestling), St. Louis for X2X (Xtraordinary 2 Xtreme), and DWA in Iowa. BWA along with FWA, hosted two more supershows in the year, "BWA/FWA: Fuck Your Fed, Come Fight Ours" in August and "BWA/FWA: Trick or Trapperkeeper" on Halloween. Now into 2010, BWA has already gone to one supershow, CBYW's Just Another Supershow 4 on January 30th and 31st. They are expected to attend more supershows in the future.
On the November 25, 2009 edition of Backyard Wrestling Weekly, BWA/FWA was inducted into Global Backyard Wrestling Nation.
Global Domination
BWA is credited with hosting the very first GBYWN Supershow on June 5th and 6th, 2009 titled BWA 4th Anniversary: Global Domination. It gained huge support and interest in the BYW community and the federations who participated are FWA, CCW, ICW, MSW, FWA, X2X, JWA, CWA, UWA, and ACW.
Current Roster
- Shooter-
- AO
- Domi- Final BWA Heavyweight & BWA Middleweight Champion and GBYWN Pure Wrestling Champion
- Social Hazard - Final BWA Tag Team Champion
- James Extreme
- El Diablo Verde
- El Asso Wipeo
- General Joe
- Axel
- Black Wolf
- X
- Jason Witzel
- Twisted Outkast
- Chris Breakdown - Current FWA All Timers Champion
- Rockin Rivera - Current FWA Heavyweight Champion
- Livewire
- Jason Fierce
- Ace McCree
- Wicked Hatchet Dan - Final BWA Tag Team Champion
- Pauly Richards
Current Champions
| Championship: | Wrestler: | Date Won: | Won From: | Location: | Notes: |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | Was the final Champion when he defeated Shooter and Unified it with the BWA Middleweight Title. | ||||
| | Knicks gave the title to Domi after winning the GBYWN World Heavyweight Championship. | ||||
| | Returned to BWA after a long absence to win the titles. |
Retired Championships
- BWA Championship (July 1, 2005 to September 27, 2007)
- BWA Lightweight Championship (July 1, 2005 to June 27, 2009)
- BWA Intercontinental Championship (July 1, 2005 to July 19, 2008)
- BWA United States Championship (July 1, 2006 to July 19, 2008)
- BWA Mexico Championship (July 1, 2005 to July 1, 2006)
- BWA Pure Wrestling Championship (February 4, 2005 to July 1, 2006)
- BWA Hardcore Championship (November 25, 2006 to August 13, 2008)
