Pacific Northwest Wrestling
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| Pacific Northwest Wrestling | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Details | |
| Acronym | PNW |
| Established | 1925 |
| Style | American Wrestling |
| Location |  Portland, Oregon |
| Founder(s) | Herb Owen |
| Owner(s) | Herb Owen (1925-1942) Don Owen (1942-1992) Dutch Savage (1976-1981) Sandy Barr (1992-1997) UNKNOWN (2001-2003) Frank Culbertson Jr. (2003-Present) Don Coss (2006-Present) |
Pacific Northwest Wresting (PNW), also known as Portland Wrestling (PW), is the common name used to refer to different Portland, Oregon based professional wrestling companies, both past and present. The first such company was founded by Herb Owen in 1925.[1] It became the Northwest territory of the National Wrestling Alliance from the Alliance's inception in 1947 until 1992.[2] The area was brought to its prime by Herb's son, Don Owen, and this version of Pacific Northwest Wrestling saw many of the top names in the business come through on a regular basis and was considered one of the main territories from the 1960s to the 1980s.
Following a slowdown in the wrestling business during the early 1990s, and a declaration of bankruptcy by their television show's main sponsor (which led to their show ending production in December 1991 and being replaced by syndicated WWF programming), Pacific Northwest Wrestling, as it had been known for 67 years, was forced to close its doors in July 1992.[2]
PNW promoter Sandy Barr purchased the company from the Owen family in 1992 and attempted to continue the tradition of professional wrestling in the Pacific Northwest under the name "Championship Wrestling USA." Finding moderate success, Barr eventually closed the company completely in 1997.[2]
A new promotion popped up in 2000 calling itself "Portland Wrestling" and claiming to be a new version of the old Pacific Northwest/Portland Wrestling and stressing a "title linage" to the old NWA PNW Championships. Unlike the previous version of PNW/Portland Wrestling, however, the current incarnation of PW is not an NWA member. In addition, the promotion has taken on a more "extreme" style in the vein of ECW and CZW.
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[edit] The early years
[edit] The beginning of the PNW
Pacific Northwest Wrestling wrestling started in the early 1920s when a wrestler and former World Middleweight and World Light Heavyweight (Australian Version) Wrestling Champion[3] by the name of Ted Thye came to Portland, Oregon with the plans of promoting both boxing and wrestling. Thye hired a man by the name of Herb Owen as his assistant. While Thye was on a trip home to Australia, Owen had the ownership of the company put in his name. Due to rules in effect within the state of Oregon at that time, Owen now had sole rights to sponsor all boxing and wrestling within the state.[1]
Herb Owen started out just promoting boxing matches, but soon began promoting wrestling matches as well, focusing on light-weights. During this time Herb's sons Don and Elton began helping their father in the family business helping set up and even stepping into the ring on occasion to box or wrestle.[1][4]
During the early years, Herb brought in boxer Jack Dempsey.[4] According to Herb's grandson Barry Owen, Dempsey even refereed some wrestling matches for Owen.[2] An unknown to many at the time, George Wagner worked for Owen early in his career. Wagner spent his time in the PNW developing the character he would become famous for, Gorgeous George. Wagner is reported to have even married his first wife in the ring before a match in Eugene, OR.[2]
In 1942, following his death, Herb's son Don took over the company.[5] In 1944 Don Owen promoted several cards with Women Wrestlers on it until female wrestling was outlawed in Oregon (as it remained until 1975).[2]
[edit] Don Owen Sports
[edit] The Golden Years
The National Wrestling Alliance was formed in 1947 with Don Owen as one of the founding members.[2] This started the beginning of what became known as NWA Pacific Northwest.
In 1948, Don Owen started what was the first regular professional wrestling program on television.[6] Pacific Northwest Wrestling aired a weekly 90 minute live program called Portland Wrestling.[4] The show was initially broadcast on KPTV until 1955 when the show moved to KOIN.
The 1950s were good for Pacific Northwest Wrestling, seeing wrestlers such as Ed Francis, Gory Guerrero and Tony Borne come to the territory.[3] During this time Harry Elliott, a former Oregon State University wrestling champion, and later OSU Wrestling Coach, began working for Don Owen as a referee and putting on spot shows in the territory. In 1958, Elliott obtained a contract with CBS Television in the Northwest to broadcast wrestling taped in Seattle throughout all of Washington and parts of Oregon, Idaho, Montana, Utah, Wyoming, Colorado, Alaska, California and parts of British Columbia.[7] Elliott promoted these matches, as well as spot matches throughout Washington, Idaho and Northeastern Oregon while Don Owen continued to do the booking for these matches.[8]
After the opening of the Portland Memorial Coliseum in 1961, Don Owen occasionally promoted wrestling cards at the venue that drew good crowds.[2] In 1966 Harry Elliott promoted, and Don Owen booked, one of the biggest matches ever in Seattle, packing out the Coliseum with 15,500 fans to see Lou Thesz beat Gene Kiniski.[7][8]
1966 was also the year that Portland Wrestling returned to KPTV.[2] The next year management changed within CBS Television and PNW's regionally broadcast wrestling show was dropped which subsequently led to Harry Elliott's retirement in 1968.[7] Local sportscaster Frank Bonnema took over the play-by-play duties in 1967 and would continue to hold that spot until his untimely death on October 15, 1982.
Despite losing their regionally broadcast television program in 1967, PNW was still doing well, and in 1968 Owen bought and renovated a bowling alley which eventually became the Portland Sports Arena and the new home of Pacific Northwest Wrestling.[2] The 1970s continued to be good to Pacific Northwest Wrestling with the addition of such future superstars as Buddy Rose, Ed Wiskowski, Roddy Piper, Jesse Ventura, Lonnie Mayne, Jimmy Snuka and Stan Stasiak.[3] In 1976 Dutch Savage bought into Don Owen Sports and began promoting PNW cards in the state of Washington.[9] The Owen's promotion faced opposition from several "outlaw promotions" throughout the '70s, but continued on strong. For several years during the seventies and eighties PNW Portland Wrestling program was syndicated in an edited 60-minute version known as Big Time Wrestling and was shown on stations throughout the Pacific Northwest.
[edit] The 1980s
Wrestling on television became a hot commodity during the 1980s. Dutch Savage retired in 1981 and sold his part in the company back to Don Owen,[9] and Don's son Barry Owen began the promoting in Washington.[2] In 1982 Elton Owen, who had continued working in the family business as his brother Don's right hand man, retired, and Barry took over his duties as well.[2] On October 19, 1982, KPTV sportscaster Don Coss officially took over play-by-play duties after Frank Bonnema's death days earlier.
On May 21, 1985, in honor of the Owen family's 60 years of promoting in the PNW, they held a supercard called 60th Anniversary Wrestling Extravaganza at the Portland Memorial Coliseum.[6][9] It was an incredible show with representatives from the NWA, AWA and WWF, including the World Champions of both the NWA and AWA and the World Tag Team Champions of the AWA all defending their titles.[9] The PNW did in this event something Vince McMahon and the WWF have never been able to do, sell out the Coliseum. Barry Owen claims that this event had the highest attendance ever for a sporting event at the Coliseum.[2]
On January 21, 1986, Pacific Northwest Wrestling held follow up to the supercard called Superstar Extravaganza, also at the Portland Memorial Coliseum. While this was a great card with many superstars, it was limited to NWA talent and was not as large and successful as the first supercard.
[edit] The decline of Pacific Northwest Wrestling
A combination of things began hurting the PNW in the late eighties. Changes to a centralized Oregon Boxing and Wrestling Commission began to affect the industry through new rules and fines levied at wrestlers and promoters.[2] Additionally, the expansion of the WWF and WCW into national promotions with nationwide television deals ran most companies and territories out of business, leaving few territories for wrestlers to develop their skills, especially early in their careers; thus leaving very green talent for the non-national promotions. By 1987 Don Owen was the only remaining member of the original NWA group.[2]
In 1987, Len Denton (aka The Grappler), working for Don Owen, took over the booking duties for the PNW.[2] While still developing what would become stars of the future such as Art Barr, Raven, Steve Dunn and Timothy Well, business continued to slide as the 1990s came around.
In 1991 Pacific Northwest Wrestlings main television sponsor declared bankruptcy. Despite remaining the highest rated locally produced show on Portland Television, Portland Wrestling was canceled in December 1991 after 43 continuous years on television as a weekly program.[10] When the show was canceled it was the longest running non-news show on Television and the third longest overall behind Meet the Press and CBS Evening News. It still is one of the top 20 longest running shows on television.
Don Owen continued to run wrestling shows throughout Oregon and Washington until July of 1992 when he decided to retire and sold the entire company, minus the Sports Arena, to PNW promoter Sandy Barr.[2] The Portland Sports Arena was sold to a local church.[10]
[edit] Championship Wrestling USA
[edit] Trying to rebuild
Sandy Barr continued promoting wrestling in the Pacific Northwest under the company name of Championship Wrestling USA creating new titles for the promotion and abandoning the previous titles.[2][3] Barr ended up having problems with the state wrestling commission and thus moved the promotion to Washington state. Barr's promotion found moderate success but was never able to establish a stable television time slot. In June 1997 Barr closed down the promotion for good.
In 1998 Extreme Canadian Championship Wrestling joined the NWA and became the new Pacific Northwest representative of the NWA.
[edit] Portland Wrestling
[edit] A new page in Northwest Wrestling
In late 2000, wrestling returned to Portland with the opening of Portland Wrestling. This new promotion claimed their Heavyweight and Tag Team title lineage was the same as the old NWA PNW (Don Owen Sports) era, only they were not an NWA member promotion.
Early on Portland Wrestling had programing aired on WB32. Frank Culbertson Jr., a WB32 Ad Salesman, began working with Portland Wrestling as their play-by-play announcer, and later as their show's Executive Producer. In December 2002 WB32 was sold and the new ownership was making changes to the station, dropping local programming. This, along with problems the station encountered with the State of Oregon Boxing and Wrestling Commission and the State's Attorney General's Office,[11] Portland Wrestling lost it's television programing. Around the time that WB32 dropped Portland Wrestling from their programing lineup, the Oregon State Legislature deregulated wrestling in the state, and Frank Culbertson quit his job with the TV station and took over Portland Wrestling.[12] Culbertson was able to get PW airtime on KPTV, and then later had their programming aired on local cable access television station CNW14.
[edit] First PPV & Culbertson indictment
In 2006 Culbertson transferred majority ownership of the company to former Portland Wrestling Announcer Don Coss in exchange for Coss taking on debts the company owed.[13] On November 11, 2006 Portland Wrestling taped their first ever Pay Per View, Total Chaos. The PPV was available on Comcast PPV throughout the month of December 2006. Following the PPV, their programming and house shows reportedly went on a hiatus while they sought out a new TV deal and it was reported on their website that they would return in the spring of 2007[14]
On May 10, 2007, Culbertson, who was still the running the operations of the promotion, was arraigned on charges of aggravated theft for allegedly embezzling at least $10,000 from Portland, Oregon based Broadway Cab Company, where he had been working in the company's accounting department as a controller.[13] This event came as a surprise to Coss who, in light of Culbertson's criminal charges, has expressed uncertainty about Portland Wrestlings future.[13]
[edit] Championships
[edit] Portland Wrestling Championships (current)
| Title | Current champions |
| Pacific Northwest Heavyweight Champion | Dr. Luther |
| Pacific Northwest Tag Team Champions | The Cartel Big Ugly and Vinny Massaro |
| Pacific Northwest Light Heavyweight Champion | Timothy Thatcher |
[edit] Early Championships
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- World Heavyweight Championship (Northwest Version)
- World Light Heavyweight Championship (Northwest Version)
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- Pacific Coast Heavyweight Championship
- Pacific Coast Junior Heavyweight Championship
- Pacific Coast Light Heavyweight Championship
- Pacific Coast Middleweight Championship
- Intermountain Junior Heavyweight Championship
[edit] NWA Regional Championships (Don Owen Sports era)
[edit] Championship Wrestling USA Championships
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- Championship Wrestling International Alliance World Heavyweight Championship
- Championship Wrestling International Alliance International Heavyweight Championship
- Championship Wrestling International Alliance International Tag Team Championship
- Championship Wrestling USA Television Championship
- Championship Wrestling USA Northwest Tag Team Championship
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ a b c Kayfabe Memories (06 July 2004). Retrieved on 2007-05-07.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r Kayfabe Memories (06 July 2004). Retrieved on 2007-05-07.
- ^ a b c d Royal Duncan & Gary Will (4th Edition 2006). Wrestling Title Histories. Archeus Communications. ISBN 0-9698161-5-4.
- ^ a b c Owen legacy strong in Pacific Northwest (23 September 1999). Retrieved on 2007-05-07.
- ^ Ancestry.com. Oregon Death Index, 1903-98 database on-line. Provo, UT, USA: The Generations Network, Inc., 2000. Original data: State of Oregon. Oregon Death Index, 1903-1998. Salem, OR, USA: Oregon State Archives and Records Center.
- ^ a b Kayfabe Memories: 60th Anniversary Show. Retrieved on 2007-05-14.
- ^ a b c Seattle promoter Harry Elliott dead at 101 (26 June 2006). Retrieved on 2007-05-07.
- ^ a b The History of the Seattle Promotion. Retrieved on 2007-05-07.
- ^ a b c d Kayfabe Memories. Retrieved on 2007-05-07.
- ^ a b Tom Zenk in Pacific North West: An interview with Barry Owen. Retrieved on 2007-05-07.
- ^ R.I.P. Portland Wrestling. Retrieved on 2007-05-05.
- ^ Wrestling renaissance (2006-02-17). Retrieved on 2007-05-05.
- ^ a b c Portland Tribune: Wrestling impresario indicted (2007-05-18). Retrieved on 2007-05-23.
- ^ Portland Wrestling Website. Retrieved on 2007-05-05.
[edit] External links
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