German Wrestling Federation

German Wrestling Federation (GWF) is a professional wrestling promotion which has been founded and is based in Berlin, Germany.

German Wrestling Federation
AcronymGWF
Founded1995
HeadquartersBerlin, Germany
Founder(s)Ahmed Chaer,
Crazy Sexy Mike
Owner(s)Ahmed Chaer,
Crazy Sexy Mike
Websitehttps://gwf-wrestling.com/
https://www.wearegwf.com

While the promotion has toured through Germany and has held events in Bochum,[1] Rostock,[2] Lübeck,[3] Hennigsdorf[4] and Hamburg[4] among other cities, most of the GWF events are being held at their homebase in Germany.

Aide the monthly events, the German Wrestling Federation also runs a wrestling school in Berlin-Neukölln since 1997. The most famous graduates of this school are the current WWE superstars Alexander Wolfe[5] and Ilja Dragunov,[6] as well as Wesna Busic,[7] Blue Nikita,[8] Jazzy Gabert[9] and Lucky Kid.[10]

Not only the students of the wrestling school compete in the shows, but also renowned international superstars entered the ring. Among the most famous names are wrestlers like A-Kid, "Headshrinker" Alofa, Aoife Valkyrie, Atsushi Aoki, Bram, Brian Cage, Cannonball Grizzly, Carlito, Chris Masters, Chris Raaber, Christopher Daniels, CIMA, Colt Cabana, Dalton Castle, Da Mack, Dominik Dijakovic, Doug Williams, Drago, Fabian Aichner, Jamie Hayter, Jody Fleisch, Joe E. Legend, Joe Hendry, Jonny Storm, Kenny Williams, Killer Kelly, Killian Dain, Marcel Barthel, "Session Moth" Martina, Matt Riddle, El Phantasmo, Robby Brookside, Saraya Knight, T-Hawk, Tom La Ruffa, Tommy Dreamer, Toni Storm, Veda Scott, WALTER and Xia Brookside.[11]

In addition, PJ Black,[12] Matt Cross,[12] Angélico,[12] Oliver Carter,[13] Too Cold Scorpio,[14] Ulf Herman,[14] John Klinger[14] and Moose,[14] among others, won titles in the German Wrestling Federation.

History

The German Wrestling Federation was founded under the name "Graefe Wrestling Federation" by Ahmed Chaer and Crazy Sexy Mike (Hussen Chaer) and their friends, who lived in the Graefestrasse in Berlin-Neukölln. They quickly changed their name to "German Wrestling Federation", following the example of the World Wrestling Federation. The first show called "GWF Winter Slam" took place in December 1995.

The GWF Training School was founded two years later in order to train young people who could compete in the shows. The school still exists today and is coached by Ahmed Chaer and Crazy Sexy Mike as well as Orlando Silver, who started his career as a Luchador in Mexico before moving to Berlin. In 2011 an offshoot of the school was also founded in Dresden. The trainer there was Alexander Wolfe, who trained Ilja Dragunov[15] among others.

Growth and cooperations

In 2010, the German Wrestling Federation worked closely with German Stampede Wrestling (GSW) Thus, the German Wrestling Federation functioned as a development territory and training school of GSW. However, after GSW closed down, the German Wrestling Federation started to hold events on their own again.

There were also cooperation shows with other wrestling promotions. For example in 2015 with westside Xtreme Wrestling (wXw) or in 2003 with Athletik Club Weinheim (ACW). In 2017 GWF collaborated with WhatCulture Pro Wrestling (WCPW) and jointly organized the German qualifying tournament for the Pro Wrestling World Cup in Berlin, which was ultimately won by KUSHIDA[16] later that year.

Expansion

In October 2011 the show "GWF Berlin Wrestling Night 6" was held in the Statthaus Böcklerpark, attracting more than 300 spectators. After the December event, the German Wrestling Federation moved to the "shake", a circus tent at Berlin Ostbahnhof. From then on, the GWF and its events were part of the Berlin party scene and the regular events were always completely sold out.

In addition, in 2014 the GWF started to organize events in Hennigsdorf (GWF Next Step) and in Waren an der Müritz. Other regular locations were Oberhausen, Bad Ems, Lübeck, Hagen, Kiel, Hamburg, Rostock, Herne and Andernach.[17]

After the shows at shake were always completely sold out, GWF was looking for a new home and from 2015 on, the GWF moved to Huxley's Neue Welt - which is not only a well-known concert arena in Berlin, but also a traditional wrestling hall. Traditional wrestling tournaments were held here in the 1970s. In 2017 GWF also held an open-air event at Zitadelle Spandau, where several internationally renowned wrestlers like Christopher Daniels, Drago, Bram, Carlito and Chris Masters competed. In the main event of the show Moose lost the GWF World Title against Pascal Spalter.[18]

In 2019 the GWF moved to Festsaal Kreuzberg, where up to 600 spectators regularly attend the monthly shows.

Tournaments, special events and miscellaneous

In 2016 the GWF organized for the first time the event called "GWF Battlefield", which copies the match principle of the Royal Rumble. The winner receives a chance to challenge for the GWF World Title at the following GWF Anniversary show at the end of the year. Among the most famous winners of the last years are Bram[19] and Angélico.[20]

Also in 2016 the GWF started to promote all-female events under the banner "GWF Women's Wrestling Revolution". During these events the PROGRESS Women's Title was defended for the first time in Germany, when Toni Storm defeated Wesna Busic at GWF Revolution 8 in May 2018 at the first-ever all-female evening event in German history.[21]

In 2017 the GWF started to create a YouTube series called "GWF Who's Next" which was designed like a casting show where rookies from the GWF Training School and other countries presented their characters and had matches infront of a jury consisting of legends (like Ulf Herman, Doug Williams and Al Snow) and current GWF superstars. The first season was won by hungarian wrestler Benji, while the second season was won by GWF trainee Onur Dağlar. The third season was focussed on all-female talents from all over the World but couldn't conclude due to the ongoing corona crisis.[22]

In 2017 and 2018 the German Wrestling Federation released two seasons of a self-produced series called "GWF Three Count" which is available for free on YouTube[23] and Amazon Prime[24] and is a mixture of a daily soap and a traditional wrestling show.

In 2018, the GWF introduced the "GWF Light Heavyweight World Cup", in which eight wrestlers from eight different nations compete against each other in one tournament. The winners of the four preliminary round duels meet in a 4-way match in a final. Among others Tucker,[25] Kenny Williams,[25] Jonny Storm[26] and Matt Cross[26] competed here. The tournaments were won by Angélico,[25] El Phantasmo[26] and Tarkan Aslan.[27]

In 2018 the German Wrestling Federation launched a subscription-based video streaming service called WeAreGWF.com where the viewers can watch all of the events since 2016 with German and English commentary.

Championships
Championship Current champion(s) Reign Date won Days
held		 Notes
GWF World Title John Klinger 1 May 4, 2019 624+ Defeated Tarkan Aslan at GWF Mystery Mayhem 2019[28]
GWF Berlin Title Toni Harting 1 September 12, 2020 127+ Defeated Senza Volto at GWF Summer Smash 5[29]
GWF Tag Team Titles Blutsbrüder (Erkan Sulcani & Orlando Silver) 2 (combined, Sulcani is in his fifth reign) February 8, 2020 344+ Defeated Decent Society (Ahmed Chaer & Crazy Sexy Mike) at GWF Global Warning 2020[30]
GWF Women's Title Laura Di Matteo 1 December 7, 2019 407+ Defeated Ayesha Raymond at GWF Final Countdown[31]
GWF Loserweight Title Slim Jim 1 January 3, 2020 380+ Lost against Kevin Lazar at GWF Strike First, Strike Hard[32]

Notes
1.^ The concept of the GWF Loserweight Titles says that the wearer is the worst wrestler of the German Wrestling Federation. The title is therefore also called the title of shame. To "get rid" of the title, the wearer has to win a fight. With this he passes the title on to the loser.

References
  1. https://www.cagematch.net/en/?id=1&nr=167654
  2. https://www.cagematch.net/en/?id=1&nr=146175
  3. https://www.cagematch.net/en/?id=1&nr=160745
  4. https://www.cagematch.net/en/?id=1&nr=146190
  5. https://www.cagematch.net/en/?id=2&nr=2876&gimmick=Alexander+Wolfe
  6. "Wrestlingdata.com - The World's Largest Wrestling Database". www.wrestlingdata.com.
  7. https://www.cagematch.net/en/?id=2&nr=2313&gimmick=Wesna
  8. https://www.cagematch.net/en/?id=2&nr=2106&gimmick=Blue+Nikita
  9. "Wrestlingdata.com - The World's Largest Wrestling Database". www.wrestlingdata.com.
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  15. https://www.cagematch.net/en/?id=2&nr=13179&gimmick=Ilja+Dragunov
  16. "Wrestlingdata.com - The World's Largest Wrestling Database". www.wrestlingdata.com.
  17. https://www.cagematch.net/en/?id=8&nr=131&page=4
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  23. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nku61bp2p-k&list=PL7oUdQScYXSCZYT0T4wIwqpEysZ9lIzNq
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  32. "Wrestlingdata.com - The World's Largest Wrestling Database". www.wrestlingdata.com.
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