Catch Wrestling Association

The Catch Wrestling Association (CWA) was a professional wrestling organization based in Austria and Germany that was founded in 1973. It was run by Otto Wanz. The CWA featured a traditional brand of mat wrestling mixed with various “Strong Man” competitions. The company was engaged in talent-share agreements with other wrestling promotions, including New Japan Pro-Wrestling and the American Wrestling Association. These agreements expanded the opportunities given to many European wrestlers. CWA's biggest card was the Euro Catch Festival, which was held twice a year (it was held in Graz, Austria in the summer, while in the winter, it was held in Bremen, Germany).

Catch Wrestling Association
AcronymCWA
Founded1973
Defunct1999
HeadquartersAustria
Germany
Founder(s)Otto Wanz
Owner(s)Otto Wanz

Matches were fought using European rules, including dividing matches into three-minute rounds and having the possibility of a victory by knockout. The CWA World Heavyweight Championship was recognized as the legitimate European World Championship as counterpart to the AWA, NWA and WWF titles in North America and NJPW's IWGP Heavyweight Championship in Japan.

Alumni
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Championships
Championship Date of entry First champion(s)
(Tag team name)		 Date retired Last champion(s)
(Tag team name)		 Years active
CWA World Heavyweight Championship August 14, 1973 Otto Wanz December 4, 1999 Rambo 1973–1999[8]
CWA Intercontinental Heavyweight Championship December 21, 1991 Bull Power December 4, 1999 Tony St. Clair 1991–1999[9]
CWA World Tag Team Championship November 23, 1988 Mile Zrno and Tony St. Clair December 4, 1999 Black Navy Seal and Ricky Santana 1988–1999[10]
CWA British Commonwealth Championship October 11, 1992 Tony St. Clair December 4, 1999 Tony St. Clair 1992–1999
CWA German Championship October 10, 1998 Christian Eckstein December 4, 1999 Christian Eckstein 1998–1999
CWA Submission Shootfighting Championship September 21, 1997 Osamu Nishimura December 4, 1999 Tony St. Clair 1997–1999
CWA World Junior Heavyweight Championship July 3, 1993 Hiroyoshi Yamamoto September 1, 2000 Eric Schwarz 1993–2000[11]
CWA World Middleweight Championship December 22, 1984 Tony St. Clair December 4, 1999 Franz Schumann 1984–1999[12]

Tournaments
Tournament Current winner(s) Date won Previous winner Reference
VDB European Heavyweight Tournament Charles Verhulst 3 March 2016 Hermann Iffland [13]
Hanover Tournament Ecki Eckstein 10 October 2015 Dave Taylor [14]
Bremen Catch Cup Big Tiger Steele 4 December 1999 Tony St. Clair
Graz Catch Cup Franz Schumann 4 July 1997 August Smisl
Vienna Catch Cup Viktor Krüger 3 October 1998 Cannonball Grizzly

References
  1. "Catch Wrestling Association". Online World Of Wrestling. Retrieved 2008-02-12.
  2. "Larry Cameron". Archived from the original on 2011-11-22. Retrieved 2011-03-29.
  3. "Mile Zrno". Archived from the original on 2011-11-22. Retrieved 2011-03-29.
  4. "Randy Culley". Archived from the original on 2011-11-16. Retrieved 2011-03-29.
  5. "Dan Collins". Archived from the original on 2012-03-03. Retrieved 2011-03-29.
  6. "Mike Anthony". Archived from the original on 2011-11-14. Retrieved 2011-03-29.
  7. Kreikenbohm, Philip. "Matches « Mark Mercedes « Wrestlers Database « CAGEMATCH - The Internet Wrestling Database". www.cagematch.net.
  8. "Catch Wrestling Association Heavyweight Title". Wrestling-Titles.com. Retrieved 2009-09-26.
  9. "Catch Wrestling Association Intercontinental Heavyweight Title". Wrestling-Titles.com. Retrieved 2009-09-26.
  10. "Catch Wrestling Association World Tag Team Title". Wrestling-Titles.com. Retrieved 2009-09-26.
  11. "Catch Wrestling Association World Junior Heavyweight Title". Wrestling-Titles.com. Retrieved 2009-09-26.
  12. "Catch Wrestling Association World Middleweight Title". Wrestling-Titles.com. Retrieved 2009-09-26.
  13. "GWA/VDB European Heavyweight Championship Tournament". Wrestling-Titles.com.
  14. "Hanover Tournament". Wrestling-Titles.com.
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