Carolina Wrestling Federation Mid-Atlantic (CWF Mid-Atlantic, formerly known as the Carolina Wrestling Federation and FWA-Carolinas) was an American independent professional wrestling promotion founded by Jeff Rudd in 2000. The promotion is based in the southeastern United States, largely covering the Carolinas and Virginia, with its headquarters in Burlington, North Carolina. It is one of the oldest "indy" groups in North Carolina, succeeding Count Grog's Southern Championship Wrestling as the state's top promotion shortly before its close in 2004.
CWF Mid-Atlantic was one of 32 territories affiliated with AWA Superstars from 2005 to 2007, officially representing the mid-Atlantic region, until Dale Gagne was forced by a court order to cease licensing under the American Wrestling Association name. Many of the top wrestlers in the Southeastern independents have competed for the promotion including C. W. Anderson, Caprice Coleman, Shane Helms, Shannon Moore, Cham Pain, Rob "The Bull" McBride, Otto Schwanz, The Dupps (Bo and Stan Dupp), and Team MACKtion ("Krazy K" Kirby Mack and T.J. Mack). It also had a working relationship with the UK's Frontier Wrestling Alliance bringing in such stars as "The Anarchist" Doug Williams, Jodie Fleisch, Jonny Storm, Alex Shane, Flash Barker, Drew McDonald, British Women's Champion Sweet Saraya, and FWA-UK Commissioner Victoria Demonfort.
The promotion enjoyed a long association with Mid-Atlantic wrestling legend Johnny Weaver, who was a commentator and presenter of the annual Johnny Weaver Invitational tournament until his death in 2008. Rocky and Don Kernodle, Sandy Scott, Jimmy Valiant, Ivan and Nikita Koloff, Boris Zhukov, "Rowdy" Roddy Piper, manager J. J. Dillon, announcers Bob Caudle and Rich Landrum, and referee Tommy Young, all fellow Mid-Atlantic stars in the 1970s and 80s, have appeared for CWF Mid-Atlantic as well as Ring of Honor's Ricky Reyes and the World Wrestling Federation's D-Lo Brown and "Dr. Death" Steve Williams.
CWF Mid-Atlantic is also an important organization for women's wrestling in the Southeast. Its women's division has included former WWF Women's Tag Team Champions Desiree Petersen and Leilani Kai, and younger wrestlers Brandi Alexander, Lexie Fyfe, Jazz, Alexis Laree, Lorelei Lee, MsChif, Amber O'Neal, and Special K (later known as Krissy Vaine).
On November 15, 2019, all future shows for the promotion were postponed, leaving the federation's future operation in doubt. The federation did go forward with its Battlecade XX event on December 28, 2019.
History
Formation and early years Jeff Rudd, who wrestled under the name "The Gemini Kid", founded the Carolina Wrestling Federation in Burlington, North Carolina, in 1996. Rudd had previously wrestled in Eddie Gilbert's Continental Wrestling Federation with Mike Howell, who also had some involvement in the Alabama-based organization, and named their new promotion the "Carolina Wrestling Federation" (CWF) to honor Gilbert (who had died the previous year). They began running shows in Durham and other parts of North Carolina off and on during the late 1990s, though the promotion was run on a part-time basis due to their work for OMEGA and other local independents.
Following the close of OMEGA in 1999, with Matt and Jeff Hardy joining the World Wrestling Federation, Rudd decided to begin running the CWF again. Rudd hoped the promotion would fulfill OMEGA's previous role to showcase younger talent in North Carolina as well as to recreate the "fun atmosphere" enjoyed by former OMEGA stars. The following year, the promotion crowned its first champions; David Taylor, The Gemini Kid, and The Dupps (Bo Dupp and Stan Dupp), as the CWF Mid-Atlantic Heavyweight, Cruiserweight and Tag Team Champions, respectively.
Territorial reach CWF Mid-Atlantic was initially based in Durham, North Carolina. It later moved to Burlington, where it established the Carolina Sports Arena (renamed the Mid-Atlantic Sportatorium in 2009), an industrial building near the Burlington-Alamance Regional Airport, as its home arena and official wrestling school. In spite of the large number of promotions in the state, they were eventually able to expand the CWF to cover a sizable area of the southeastern United States, based primarily in the Carolinas and Virginia. Though most of its supercards are run out of the Carolina Sports Arena in Gibsonville, CWF Mid-Atlantic event tours have also included national guard armories, high school gyms and fairs in cities including Asheboro, Bear Creek, Cameron, Clayton, Elkin, Graham, Liberty, Mount Airy, Oxford, Pfafftown, Pleasant Garden, Ramseur, Roxboro, Seagrove, Statesville, Thomasville, Wentworth, and Wilson in North Carolina; Manning, Myrtle Beach, and Sharon in South Carolina; and Martinsville, Virginia. Also, a few shows were held at Ace Speedway in Altamahaw, North Carolina, and the Greensboro Coliseum and Proehlific Sports Complex in Greensboro, North Carolina.
Its weekly television series, "CWF Championship Wrestling", was carried by Adelphia Cable, Charter Communications, Lexcom, Piedmont Cable, and Time Warner and syndicated throughout the region. By 2003, the series was being broadcast locally on then-UPN affiliate WUPN (now MyNetworkTV affiliate WMYV) and PAX station WGPX-TV, then the highest rated PAX affiliate in the country, reaching an audience of 1,500,000 in the Piedmont area alone and seen in at least 16 counties in North Carolina and Virginia. A year later, it was airing in over 50 cities and towns. It was later broadcast on the internet as well via Highspots.TV and CWF's official YouTube channel. CWF Mid-Atlantic additional exposure though its involvement in numerous fundraisers for charities, school clubs, civic groups, and similar organizations such as ARC of Alamance, American Red Cross and the Special Olympics. One of its most notable efforts was helping raise money for the Red Cross and Salvation Army, along with Don Kernodle, in the days following the September 11 terrorist attacks. They also held events for individuals in need of financial assistance to pay for medical expenses. On August 20, 2005, CWF Mid Atlantic held a benefit show in King, North Carolina, for an 11-year-old wrestling fan, Stephen Arrowood, who was left paralyzed from the waist-down following emergency surgery to remove a cancerous tumor from his spinal cord.
The following year CWF Mid Atlantic promoted a lucha libre-themed event for Burlington's annual International Cultural Festival held at the Downtown Amphitheatre. The card featured Marcellus King and Señor Sábado Noche in a "lighting" (Relámpago) match and a Best 2 out of 3 Falls Trios match pitting Ultra Dragon, the Kamakazi Kid, and Brass Munkey against El Gemini, El Sucio, and Double K which lasted nearly an hour. The promotion had appeared at last year's festival and the success of the lucha libre show led to CWF Mid Atlantic becoming a regular attraction."Results From CWF Mid-Atlantic Live Events Held On September 2nd In Manninc, SC And Burlington, NC." DeclarationofIndependents.net. Ed. Sean McCaffrey. N.p., Sept. 2004. Web. Oct. 5, 2011. <www.declarationofindependents.net/doi/pages/cwf92.html>.
Notable talent The promotion featured some of top wrestlers in the Southern independents and provided an environment for younger talent, including C. W. Anderson, Caprice Coleman, Shane Helms, Tank Lawson, Rob "The Bull" McBride, Shannon Moore, Cham Pain, Scotty Sabre, Seymour Snott, The Dupps (Bo and Stan Dupp), The Naturals (Andy Douglas and Chase Stevens), and Team MACKtion ("Krazy K" Kirby Mack and T.J. Mack). Ricky Reyes of Ring of Honor,"CWF Mid-Atlantic Results From July 29th & 30th AWA World Light Heavyweight Title Tournament Held In Burlington, NC." DeclarationofIndependents.net. Ed. Sean McCaffrey. N.p., Aug. 2005. Web. Oct. 5, 2011. <www.declarationofindependents.net/doi/pages/cwfawa.html>. World Wrestling Entertainment's D-Lo Brown and "Dr. Death" Steve Williams have also made appearances for the promotion. It later enhanced its roster through working agreements with the Frontier Wrestling Alliance and AWA Superstars.
Johnny Weaver had a long association with CWF Mid-Atlantic, working as a guest commentator and presenter of the annual Johnny Weaver Invitational tournament up until his death in 2008. The 2007 Johnny Weaver Tournament was his last public appearance at a professional wrestling event. Other former Mid-Atlantic stars to appear in the promotion included brothers Rocky and Don Kernodle, Sandy Scott, Jimmy Valiant, Ivan and Nikita Koloff, Boris Zhukov, The Barbarian, "Rowdy" Roddy Piper, manager J. J. Dillon, announcers Bob Caudle and Rich Landrum, and referee Tommy Young. David Flair, the oldest son of former 7-time NWA World Heavyweight Championship "The Nature Boy" Ric Flair, also wrestled for the promotion on occasion.
Rusty Loudermilk was a CWF mainstay, occupying a number of roles including sports agent and manager (under his alter-ego Rusty James).
Affiliation with other independent promotions In February 2001, CWF Mid-Atlantic became an official affiliate promotion for the Frontier Wrestling Alliance based in the United Kingdom. This was part of an association of independent wrestling groups in North America and Europe headed by the FWA. It was one of two promotions in the United States, along with FWA Texas, and subsequently changed its name to "FWA-Carolinas". This new international working agreement saw the sharing of talent and interpromotional events. "The Anarchist" Doug Williams, Jodie Fleisch, Jonny Storm, Alex Shane, Flash Barker, Drew McDonald, British Women's Champion Sweet Saraya, and FWA-UK Commissioner Victoria Demonfort were among the FWA stars to appear for the CWF during the next three years.
It was around this time that state legislation which put professional wrestling under the jurisdiction of the state's boxing commission threatened to shut down many, if not all, of the independent promotions operating in North Carolina. The cost of promoters to put on a wrestling show was tripled due to state regulation and put severe financial burdens on an industry which was already in a recession in the years following the "Attitude Era". CWF Mid-Atlantic was heavily involved in the campaign to stop the H-232 bill. The promotion's website provided fans with up-to-date information and encouraged them to contact their representatives. The efforts of Jeff Rudd in particular, through Senator Hugh Webster, helped eventually remove pro wrestling from the bill.
Count Grog's Southern Championship Wrestling, widely regarded as the state's top indy promotion, closed down in 2004. Many other promotions were forced to cease operations during this period which were absorbed by CWF Mid-Atlantic to some extent. The same year that SCW closed, it jointly promoted the final shows for Alternative Championship Wrestling (January 31, 2004) and South Atlantic Wrestling (November 27, 2004) in which both promotions were formerly merged with CWF Mid-Atlantic. East Coast Pro Wrestling, another closely associated promotion, was also incorporated into the CWF.
AWA Superstars The promotion had a three-year association with AWA Superstars (AWA), one of 32 territories across the continental United States, with CWF Mid-Atlantic officially representing the Mid-Atlantic United States. Their membership in the AWA allowed the promotion to use its talent and many of its world champions, among those including CWF's own wrestlers, made title defenses on CWF live events when touring the region. Their own titles were renamed "AWA Mid-Atlantic" with all their events sanctioned by the organization.