World Wrestling All-Stars
| Company type | N/A |
|---|---|
| Industry | Professional wrestling Sports entertainment |
| Founded | 2001 |
| Defunct | 2003 |
| Headquarters | Brisbane, Australia [1] |
Key people | Andrew McManus, World Manager and Director [2] Jeremy Borash, Director of Talent [2] |
| Parent | International Touring Company [2] McGhee International [2] |
The World Wrestling All-Stars (WWA) was a professional wrestling promotion founded by Australian concert promoter Andrew McManus in 2001. The promotion was operated by McManus' International Touring Company.[1] WWA was one of several promotions to come into existence shortly after the closings of Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW) and World Championship Wrestling (WCW). The company was in existence from October 2001 to May 2003.
History
WWA recruited current TNA ring announcer Jeremy Borash as booker and head of talent for its shows. He also acted as ring announcer and commentator for their shows. Borash was recommended to the WWA by Vince Russo, who was not able to work with the company as originally planned. WWA focused on signing the wrestlers that did not get signed by the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) after the WWF-WCW merger. They aimed to fill the gap left by the demise of WCW and ECW and provide an alternative to the WWE.
Many popular former WWF and WCW wrestlers wrestled for the company during its nearly two year existence. These included Jeff Jarrett, Road Dogg, Scott Steiner, Sting, Psicosis, Juventud Guerrera, Rick Steiner, Jerry Lynn, Shane Douglas, Buff Bagwell, Lex Luger, Stevie Ray, Sabu and Disco Inferno.
They also brought in relatively unknown wrestlers, many of whom went on to make names for themselves for other promotions like TNA. These included A.J. Styles, Christopher Daniels, Frankie Kazarian, Shark Boy and Nathan Jones.[2] Further big names like Kevin Nash, Scott Hall, and Randy Savage were scheduled to appear for WWA at some point but their appearances did not happen. The promotion had three in ring commissioners during it time, these were Bret Hart, Sid Vicious and Mike Sanders.[3]
First Tour and the Inception PPV
The WWA held its first tour in October 2001, covering dates across Australia. During this time the Road Dogg defeated Jeff Jarrett to become the first WWA World Champion. However the title was then vacated to allow for it to be competed for during a title tournament at their first PPV, the Inception. This tournament involved 4 quarter finals matches (one of which was a battle royal), 2 semi finals and a final held inside a steel cage.
This debut PPV can be considered a decent effort for the WWA's first show. The event was held inside a full sized arena in Sydney and production values were of a decent standard. However the event was universally panned by the critics. The event was generally rather short at 2 hours and a number of the matches were too short to be able to allow them to run to their full potential. The use of WCW style comic story lines also did little to endure themselves to the viewing public as a serious alternative to the WWF.
Some such comic storylines involved Australian kids TV performers, The Fruits in suits, interfering in matches and former WCW joke team Lenni and Lodi being allowed to compete in the semi final after an injury. The final of the title tournament predictably saw the Road Dogg face Jeff Jarrett. Commissioner Bret Hart was at ringside for the match and interfered on a number of occasions to prevent anyone winning the match using his sharpshooter move. In the end Jarrett won the match with his trademark guitar shot and became the champion.
UK Tour
Next the WWA toured the UK in December 2001. This tour largely included the same line up as the Inception PPV tour. Additions to the card were former WCW World Heavyweight Champion Scott Steiner and former WWF tag team competitor Brian Christopher. Although wrestling is well supported in the UK, this new organization failed to draw big crowds for this tour. The main event on this tour was usually Jeff Jarrett v Road Dogg vs. Scott Steiner for the title in a three way dance. Jarrett successfully defend his title each time.
Revolution PPV
In February 2002 the WWA held its second PPV, the Revolution. This took place in the Aladdin Casino in America. This was a smaller venue, which reflected upon the look and style of the show. However this can be considered as WWA's best event in terms of the matches and the longest at 2 hours 50 minutes. A number of high quality matches took place at this event, including a 6 way Cruiserweight survival match, a three way dance for the cruiserweight title and a hardcore match between Sabu and Devon Storm.
However erratic booking continued to have an effect on the company. The event was originally to see the return of Kevin Nash and Scott Hall, however this did not happen. Then Randy Savage was advertised to be appearing, this was only canceled shortly before the show. This led to some fans feeling cheated. A significant amount of talent was underutilized on the show. Former WCW World Tag Team champions KroniK wrestled an unknown gimmick tag team and Scott Steiner only attacked the Disco Inferno instead of being used in the main event.
The main results of the show saw Eddie Guerrero winning the Cruiserweight Title and Jeff Jarrett successfully defending the WWA title against Brian Christopher.
Eruption PPV and Australian Tour
In April the WWA returned to Australia for a tour and to film its third PPV, the Eruption. During this tour Nathan Jones won the WWA title after winning a 4 corners match against Jeff Jarrett, Scott Steiner and Brian Christopher. It is believed this happened before the PPV as Jarrett was not available for the PPV due to TNA commitments.
The Eruption PPV was held at the Rod Laver Arena in Melbourne, Australia. The show started with Jeff Jarrett being escorted away from the building proclaiming he'll be back (Jarrett never appeared after this). It presumed this was prerecorded earlier in the week. A new Cruiserweight Champion was crowned at the show after Eddie Guerrero had returned to the WWF. A.J. Styles defeated Jerry Lynn in the tournament final to win the title. Another match of note was a cage match between Sabu and Devon Storm. Sabu won the match after leaping from the top of the cage onto Devon Storm, who was laid on top of a double deck of tables. In the main event Scott Steiner defeated Nathan Jones to win the title. He would later give up the title to sign with the WWF.
A further UK and European tour was planned for after this event. The WWA canceled this, citing injuries to its major stars as the reason. However it is believed that poor ticket sales was the more likely explanation.
Retribution PPV and European Tour
The WWA toured the UK in December 2002, filming the Retribution PPV in Glasgow Scotland. The WWA title remained vacant for the first half of the tour, with it being held up to be decide at the PPV. Mike Sanders took over as commissioner for this tour and fought Joe E. Legend each night. Memorable matches on this tour included a three way hardcore match including Sabu, Perry Saturn and Simon Diamond.
The Fourth PPV, the Retribution was filmed in Glasgow in Scotland in early December 2002. This was later broadcast in February 2003. The card included 9 matches and two title matches (WWA and TNA), however it only ran for 1 hour 45 minutes. This was in fact 15 minutes shorter than the house show in Newcastle the night before, which only included 6 matches and no title matches. The most memorable part of the PPV was the reception the Scottish crowd gave to Sabu. "Sabu, Sabu, Sabu" was chanted throughout his entire match.
This tour included a infamous dispute with a seemingly badly out of shape Lex Luger. He reportedly missed shows due to illness and refused to wrestle more than 5-minute matches despite being in the main events. He faced Sting for the vacant WWA title at the PPV. This was very poor 7 minute match, which largely involved Luger pacing around and avoiding wrestling[who?]. In true bizarre WWA tradition Luger won this match and became WWA Champion after a trademark interference from Jeff Jarrett with his guitar. He lost this title to Sting a few days later at a house show in Zurich, Switzerland.
Final Tour and The Reckoning PPV
In May 2003, the WWA embarked on its final tour. This visited Australia and New Zealand. The Reckoning PPV was held in Auckland in front of a vocal crowd. This show was actually the best in terms of production values from the WWA. It was the first to include replays and split screen shots. Before the PPV the decision had been made to fold the WWA, hence the titles were to be unified with the TNA titles. Chris Sabin won an excellent four corners cruiserweight match to unify the TNA X Division and WWA Cruiserweight titles. In the main event Sting was defeated by TNA champion Jeff Jarrett to reunify their two world titles.
During its short history the WWA may not have achieved its goal of establishing itself as an alternative to the WWE, a mantle which TNA has also strived for several years to achieve. However it did provide the chance to see many former favorites from WCW/WWE/ECW again and provide a number of high quality matches and humorous moments.
Championships
- WWA World Heavyweight Championship – last held by Jeff Jarrett; unified with Jarrett's NWA World Heavyweight Championship
- WWA International Cruiserweight Championship – last held by Chris Sabin; unified with Sabin's TNA X Division Championship
- WWA Hardcore Championship – Crowbar defeated Danny Dominion in a tables match to win the title on October 25, 2001 in Wollongong, Australia. Title was then abandoned.
See also
References
- ^ a b "Andrew McManus Presents". AMPresents.com. 2007. Retrieved 2007-08-11.
- ^ a b c d e Borash, Jeremy (2001). WWA World Wrestling All-Stars Official Souvenir Programme. England: Quadracolor.
- ^ Eck, Kevin (2002). "Going global: the WWA is looking to find its niche by spanning the world, but will American audiences buy into the "Ice Capades" concept?". Wrestling Digest. FindArticles.com. Retrieved 2007-10-05.
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