Elite Canadian Championship Wrestling

Elite Canadian Championship Wrestling (ECCW) (formerly known as NWA: Extreme Canadian Championship Wrestling and Extreme Canadian Championship Wrestling) is a Western Canada-based professional wrestling promotion and a former member of the National Wrestling Alliance. By 2014 it was Canada's largest wrestling promotion.[1] It was the focus of the 2010 documentary This Wrestling Life, and was used as the scene for the independent movie Kayfabe.[2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12]

Elite Canadian Championship
Wrestling
AcronymECCW
Founded1996
StyleAmerican Wrestling
HeadquartersVancouver, British Columbia, Canada
Founder(s)Dave Republic
Owner(s)ECCW Entertainment, Ltd.
FormerlyExtreme Canadian Championship Wrestling
Merged withTop Ranked Wrestling

History

Beginning

Extreme Canadian Championship Wrestling (ECCW) began promoting its first shows in January 1996 under the ownership of veteran wrestler/promoter "Gorgeous" Michelle Starr, with assistance from Terry Joe Silverspoon who had started with West Coast Championship Wrestling in 1993 . The promotion initially operated solely on Vancouver Island in British Columbia, Canada, running shows in towns such as Port Alberni, Nanaimo, and Campbell River. The last WCCW Heavyweight champion was The Bodyguard. The newly promoted ECCW Heavyweight title was held as a cage match between "Superfly" Jimmy Snuka and John Rambo. Rambo would win the title before settling for longer periods of time with Michelle Starr and Mike Roselli and Juggernaut. With people clamoring for the new ECCW on the mainland, it was decided to bring it to there in late 1996. There had been wrestling at The Carpenters Hall in New Westminster some time back and a recent promotion had run the Eagles Hall, but had limited success.

In September 1996, ECCW moved its home base to New Westminster, British Columbia. In doing so it would directly compete with rival International Championship Wrestling (based in Cloverdale, British Columbia).at the Products Building renamed the Alice McKay building The promotion held its main house shows at the Eagles Hall (the former Columbia Theatre, now the Burr Theatre). In late 1996, full control of ECCW was given to Silverspoo as Starr moved his family to California. ECCW continued to operate out of New Westminster but had yet to reach its cult status. When Michelle Starr returned to Canada approximately six months later, ECCW which had started the turn to a more violent based group, had come full course and had now reached the cult status, being the place to be. The shows were mostly standing room only and Main Events frequently found themselves not only out of the ring, but out of the building. It wasn't uncommon for many of the last matches to go down Columbia Street and into the intersection of 6th Street and Columbia, but return to the venue, prior to authorities seeing the craziness. The big battles usually saw Dr Luther from FMW and Abbadon or Leviathan as the Army of Darkness (AOD) vs Gorgeous Michelle Starr and Johnny Canuck known as the Glamor Order of Discipline (GOD)

Joining the NWA

In late 1997, Dave Republic assumed controlling interest of the promotion and announced that it had become a member of the National Wrestling Alliance, operating under the NWA Pacific Northwest banner. This change resulted in a separation of the talent, with half the roster aligning itself with Republic and the NWA, and the other half with Starr, thumbing their collective noses at the more traditional wrestling mindset the NWA adopted at the time.

It was during this time that the company adopted a rigorous touring schedule, often running up to 15 shows a month across British Columbia. Playing in towns of all sizes in the province, many of these touring shows were fundraisers for various schools or charities. A collection of one of these tours, The Northern Hell Tour, was made available as a multiple volume set of VHS video cassettes. The company also began running an annual summertime event at the North Surrey Rec Centre in Surrey, British Columbia, the first of which saw then-NWA World Heavyweight Champion Dan Severn defeat "Ironman" Mike Roselli in the main event. During this period of the company's history, they heavily relied on rabid fans and a blend of hardcore-style veterans such as Billy Two Eagles and "Maniac" Matt Borne, young up-and-comers such as Tony Kozina, El Antorcha, Strife, and Chance Beckett, and wrestling purists such as "Rocket" Randy Tyler and Doby Gillis. Other talent used during this period included Louie Spicolli, Tommy Rogers, and Dan Severn as touring NWA World Heavyweight Champion. Owing to the promotion's very name, which was a means to ride on the success Extreme Championship Wrestling was having across the Northeastern United States, it was not rare to see chairs, tables, and barbed wire at ECCW events.

In 2000, with their main building having been sold to the Raymond Burr Society, ECCW relocated its main monthly shows to Surrey, BC's Bridgeview Hall. To this day, it splits its main shows between Surrey and the Russian Community Centre in Vancouver, BC. During this period, ECCW brought in such outside stars as Christopher Daniels, Nova, Steve Corino, Sabu, and Tommy Dreamer. They also expanded into Washington State, occasionally running simultaneous shows in the U.S. and Canada with separate crews of wrestlers. It was around this time that ECCW entered into a working relationship with the IWA Japan organization, exchanging talent. IWA wrestlers Leatherface, Freddie Kruger and Jason the Terrible would often appear for ECCW, as well as IWA freelancer Asian Cougar, while Michelle Starr, Juggernaut, Disco Fury, and Buffy appeared in Japan for IWA.

Expansion

On December 8, 2005, ECCW announced that they had purchased independent group Top Ranked Wrestling (TRW), which had a program on KVOS (Channel 23 in Vancouver) on Saturday afternoons. ECCW's take over of the Top Ranked Wrestling program (renamed NWA Top Ranked Wrestling or NWA-TRW following the purchase) took effect on January 7, 2006, in time for the promotion's tenth anniversary celebrations. However, the first TV tapings under ECCW ownership took place at its "Season's Beatings" event on December 23, 2005. TRW star Vid Vain, who was the promotion's heavyweight champion at the time of the ECCW purchase, then joined ECCW, and his title was renamed by the company as the TRW Television Championship; that title was rarely defended on NWA-TRW, however, and the belt was shelved after a brief run. Also during the run of NWA-TRW, ECCW's top two championships, the NWA/ECCW Pacific Northwest Heavyweight and Tag Team titles, began to be referred to on the TV program as the NWA Top Ranked Heavyweight and NWA Top Ranked Tag Team Championships, respectively, although the titles otherwise retained their official names in promotional material.

ECCW later announced that NWA-TRW had been picked up for a second season. ECCW constantly had a rating of around .3, which is high for an independent promotion, and given the time slot, it was one of the highest ranked wrestling shows outside of World Wrestling Entertainment and Total Nonstop Action Wrestling. Originally a one-hour show, NWA-TRW was cut to a 30-minute program in the spring of 2006. Despite being picked up for a second season, NWA-TRW aired its last episode on November 4, 2006. It is unknown whether the show was canceled by KVOS or by ECCW. Mauro Ranallo, who got his start on-camera with All Star Wrestling's CHAN-TV program in the late-1980s, was the original host of the program (starting with the then-independent TRW), with heel commentary provided by The Count and later Ladies' Choice (and occasionally Vance Nevada); after Ranallo left, ECCW ring announcer Scotty Sweatervest became the new TV host and held that job until NWA-TRW ended its run.

Following the cancellation of NWA-TRW, former color commentator Ladies' Choice was named as the new General Manager of ECCW on December 16, 2006 in Vancouver. Not surprisingly, following the lead of previous heel authority figures in major promotions like World Wrestling Entertainment and Total Nonstop Action Wrestling, LC has shown blatant favoritism toward heel wrestlers and abused the power of his office, in particular actively attempting to protect the title reign of NWA/ECCW Champion Randy Tyler (who had held the title since January 27, 2006, when he was awarded the belt without wrestling for it, after tricking Sweet Daddy Devastation into signing a contract giving the championship to Tyler if SDD defeated then-champion Juggernaut) from the challenges of popular contenders like Aaron Idol by doing all in his power to prevent those contenders from receiving title shots. LC's luck in keeping the championship on Tyler finally ran out on June 22, 2007 when Idol defeated Tyler in a steel cage match in Surrey to win the title, thanks in part to the involvement of the returning Sweet Daddy Devastation, who slammed the cage door into the escaping Tyler as payback for Tyler's duplicity. Not long after Idol's title win, Ladies' Choice resigned as General Manager and left ECCW.

Change in ownership

In 2010, Republic decided to focus on outside interests and sold the company to Scotty Mac, Mary Diaz, and The Natural who formed the company ECCW Entertainment, Ltd.. From November 2010 till April 2012, Michael Sweetser took the role as owner in a storyline as part of "The Administration" with Scotty Mac, but he was not an actual owner of the company. Scotty Mac currently owns 99% of the company.

Renaming

On January 7, 2012, Scotty Mac and Michael Sweetser announced that ECCW had been renamed to Elite Canadian Championship Wrestling, and unveiled a new ECCW championship belt. The belt is similar in design to the vanity "Elite championship" used by the Elite faction in DOA Pro Wrestling in Portland in 2011, of which Sweetser was also a member. The new ECCW logo is a modified version of the Elite logo. The previously used NWA/ECCW heavyweight championship belt was symbolically dropped into a trashcan, signifying the end of the "Extreme" era.

International success

Many of Western Canada's brightest and best young talents have either started with ECCW, or used the promotion as a proving ground to build on their own skills and abilities.

Harry Smith (2006, 2014), Tyson Kidd, (2005, 2006), Natalya (2005, 2006), & Becky Lynch (2005-2006) spent time with ECCW before eventually signing on with the WWE, as did Tyler Breeze (as Mattias Wilde, 2009-2010) and Emma (Tenille Tayla, 2009-2011), with Natalya briefly holding the SuperGirls championship (now the ECCW Women's Championship) and Tayla holding the belt on two occasions.

Former NXT Women's Champion and Raw Women's Champion Bayley appeared in ECCW in 2012 as "Davina Rose", losing to then-ECCW Women's Champion KC Spinelli. Tayla and Rose appeared against each other in a 6-Woman tag on the April 4th, 2017 edition of WWE Raw, with Tayla returning from a hiatus and Rose the current WWE Raw Women's Champion.

Kyle O'Reilly appeared in the 2010 edition of the CHIKARA Young Lions Cup before signing a contract with Ring of Honor, where he is a 3-time Tag Team Champion (2013, 2014 w/ Bobby Fish), and former ROH World Champion (December 2, 2016). He and Fish also held the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championships in 2014 and 2015, and won the Super Jr. Tag Team Tournament in 2014. O'Reilly is a PWG Battle of Los Angeles Winner (2013), and former PWG World Champion (May 23, 2014). In 2016, Pro Wrestling Illustrated rated Kyle O'Reilly at #32 out of the top 500 singles wrestlers in the PWI 500.

Nicole Matthews is a former SHIMMER Champion, and faced then-NXT Women's Champion Asuka in the opening match of the November 30th 2016 edition of NXT.

The Bollywood Boyz defeated Reno Scum in the finals of the GFW Tag Team Championship tournament on October 23, 2015, held in Las Vegas, to become the first GFW Tag Team Champions On June 13, 2016, Gurv and Harv were announced as participants in WWE's upcoming Cruiserweight Classic tournament. On June 23, both Sihras were eliminated from the tournament in their first round matches with Gurv losing to Noam Dar and Harv losing to Drew Gulak. The Bollywood Boyz debuted in the WWE developmental territory NXT at the September 15 tapings. They took part in the second annual Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic; however, they were eliminated by The Authors of Pain in the first round. On the premiere episode of 205 Live, The Bollywood Boyz debuted and defeated Tony Nese and Drew Gulak in a tag team match. They were repackaged as The Singh Brothers, joining Jinder Mahal as he entered his first WWE title run. They made their first WWE PPV appearance at Backlash on May 21, 2017.

KC Spinelli and Tayla were featured on the wrestling-based World of Hurt television show's first season, with KC Spinelli, Bishop, Nick Price, "Ravenous" Randy Myers, and Sammy Hall being featured in the second season with WWE Hall of Famer "Rowdy" Roddy Piper. Hall has credited her nickname "Bambi" coming from her time with Piper. Taya Valkyrie also appeared on both seasons. Valkyrie left for Mexico in 2012, eventually debuting with AAA in November 2012. Valkyrie debuted in Lucha Underground on February 24, 2016 as Taya.

KC Spinelli and Veronika Vice appeared on the Wipeout Canada game show.

Throughout 2014-2015, Nick Price, The American Gunz, Kenny Lush, and referee Scooter Q. Hanson all appeared on West Coast Wrestling Connection (Portland) and their television show that aired statewide, and Paragon Pro Wrestling in Las Vegas airing internationally across the United States and Canada.

In 2015, Scotty Mac, KC Spinelli, Drexl, and Jason Sullivan were regarded as some of the founding members and stars of the first season of Luchando, filmed and aired in Paraguay.

Kenny Lush competed for Irish Whip Wrestling in Dublin, Ireland, as well as Ring of Honor.

Cat Power defended (and eventually lost) her ECCW Women's Championship in Japan to Syuri, which she regained in February 2016.

Chelsea Greene competed in WWE Tough Enough in 2015, finishing in 7th place. Later that year she signed with Impact Wrestling (Laurel Von Ness).

El Phantasmo debuted in Revolution Pro Wrestling in the United Kingdom on June 6, 2017 and went on to join New Japan Pro Wrestling in 2019 as a member of Bullet Club.

Championships and accomplishments
Championship Champion Previous Date won Days held Location
ECCW Championship Judas Icarus Bandido January 18, 2020 360+ Vancouver, British Columbia
ECCW Tag Team Championship The Voros Twins Sid Sylum & Bishop January 17, 2020 361+ Vancouver, British Columbia
ECCW Women's Championship Christina Von Eerie Bambi Hall January 18, 2020 360+ Vancouver, British Columbia
ECCW Canadian Championship Travis Williams Artemis Spencer September 9, 2019 491+ New West, British Columbia
Pacific Cup Champion Judas Icarus Nicole Matthews March 16, 2019 New West, British Columbia

Defunct
Championship Final champion
NWA Top Ranked Television Championship Vid Vain
NWA Canadian Junior Heavyweight Championship Nick Price
NWA Pacific Northwest Junior Heavyweight Championship Harv Sihra
ECCW Jobber Championship Danni Deeds
ECCW "Classic Tag Team Championships" The Greedfather & Red Dinero

Roster

Male wrestlers
  • Andy "the Dreadful" Bird
  • Artemis Spencer
  • Bae Blade
  • Billy Suede
  • Bishop
  • "Beef Boy" Elliot Tyler
  • Coco Flash
  • Chris Voros
  • Daniel Adonis
  • Daniel Makabe
  • Draven Andrews
  • Drexl
  • Eddie Osbourne
  • Eli Surge
  • Eric Strange
  • El Phantasmo
  • Evan Rivers
  • Fergie
  • Grant Sayle
  • Jacky Lee
  • Jacub Somius
  • Judas Icurus
  • Ladies Choice
  • Matt Bronson
  • Miles Deville
  • Nick Pesky
  • Patrick Voros
  • "Ravenous" Randy Myers[13][14][15]
  • Scotty Mac
  • Sebastian Wolfe
  • Sid Sylum
  • Sonico
  • Suge Smash
  • Tony Baroni


Women wrestlers

Tag Teams
  • Millennial Most Wanted (Miles and Dray)
  • Re-Loaded (Shareef Morrow and Jacky Lee)
  • The Booyah Wrecking Crew (Coco Flash and Suge Smash)
  • The Gentleman Of Distinct Superiority (Bishop & Sid Sylum)
  • The Moonshine Mafia (Eddie Osbourne and Judas Icarus)
  • The Program (Nick Pesky and Grant Sayle)
  • The Riot (Ravenous Randy and Andy Bird)
  • The Vörös Twins (Chris and Patrick Vörös)
  • The Wisemen (Tony Baroni, Billy Suede and Travis Williams)

Referees
  • Scooter Q Hanson
  • Aubrey Edwards
  • Parm

Ring announcers
  • Scotty Sweatervest

Additional personnel
  • Paige O'Connell

Alumni

Male wrestlers

SuperGirls/Women

Other

See also

References
  1. "In Photos: Wrestlers after the bell". Retrieved 2018-01-22.
  2. "Vancouver-made film takes a comical look at the world of backyard wrestling". CBC News. Retrieved 2018-01-22.
  3. "Steel Cage set for ECCW show in Abbotsford - Abbotsford News". Abbotsford News. 2017-06-17. Retrieved 2018-01-22.
  4. McManus, Theresa. "New West man combines his two passions as Mr. India". New West Record. Retrieved 2018-01-22.
  5. "Fundraiser for diabetes research tonight in Pitt Meadows - NEWS 1130". NEWS 1130. 2017-12-01. Retrieved 2018-01-22.
  6. "In pictures: The Elite Canadian Championship Wrestling event Seek and Destroy". Retrieved 2018-01-22.
  7. "ECCW back in Abbotsford on Saturday night - Abbotsford News". Abbotsford News. 2017-11-11. Retrieved 2018-01-22.
  8. "VIDEO: ECCW action invades Abbotsford - Abbotsford News". Abbotsford News. 2017-11-12. Retrieved 2018-01-22.
  9. "Danny Mac presents a pro wrestling pipe dream in new film, Heel Kick! | Vue Weekly". www.vueweekly.com. Retrieved 2018-01-22.
  10. "64 things to do in Metro Vancouver on Saturday, January 20". Georgia Straight Vancouver's News & Entertainment Weekly. 2018-01-19. Retrieved 2018-01-22.
  11. "Nicole Matthews battles for ECCW championship at Ballroom Brawl III". Georgia Straight Vancouver's News & Entertainment Weekly. 2015-01-15. Retrieved 2018-01-22.
  12. Schneider, ,Jenelle. "Photos: The stars of ECCW blitz the Commodore Ballroom". www.theprovince.com. Retrieved 2018-01-22.
  13. Mitchell, Max (June 9, 2017). "Meet Vancouver's Wrestling Champs. We step into the ring with the stars of Elite Canadian Championship Wrestling". Vancouver Magazine. Retrieved August 19, 2017.
  14. http://www.abbynews.com/sports/wrestling-in-abbotsford-for-a-good-cause/
  15. http://slam.canoe.com/Slam/Wrestling/2014/07/10/21797831.html
  16. Staff, DH Vancouver (2016-05-16). "ECCW: Redemption 2016 review | Daily Hive Vancouver". Daily Hive. Retrieved 2018-01-22.
  17. "Roster : Elite Canadian Championship Wrestling – ECCW". archive.fo. 2013-11-06. Archived from the original on 2013-11-06. Retrieved 2018-01-22.
  18. "ECCW: Ballroom Brawl 6 Recap - Daily Hive". Daily Hive. 2016-07-20. Retrieved 2018-01-22.
  19. Staff, DH Vancouver (2016-04-27). "ECCW Entrance Song Power Rankings (April 2016) | Daily Hive Vancouver". Daily Hive. Retrieved 2018-01-22.
  20. Staff, DH Vancouver (2016-03-28). "ECCW: Seek and Destroy recap | Daily Hive Vancouver". Daily Hive. Retrieved 2018-01-22.
  21. Arndt, Wyatt (2016-07-20). "ECCW Ballroom Brawl Six Review". Daily Hive. Retrieved 2018-01-22.
  22. "July 12th is ECCW Day in Vancouver". canoe.com. Retrieved 2018-01-22.
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