Violent Championship Wrestling

**Hardcore Hustle Organization LTC. d/b/a Violent Championship Wrestling (VCW)** is a American professional wrestling promotion that was founded in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania by a Scarsdale, New York native and businessman Paul Heyman made VCW as Vanguard Championship Wrestling before becoming "Violent" Championship Wrestling.

## History

### **Tri-State Wrestling Alliance and NWA Vanguard Championship Wrestling (1989–1994)**

VCW had its origins in 1989 under the banner Tri-State Wrestling Alliance owned by Joel Goodhart. VCW would, in fact, continue to use the former Tri-State Heavyweight championship belt to represent its own Championship, although the VCW title was not considered a continuation of that title. In 1992, Goodhart sold his share of the company to his partner, Paul Heyman, who renamed the promotion **Vanguard Championship Wrestling**. When Vanguard Championship Wrestling was founded, it wasn't a member of the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA). At the time, "Hot Stuff" Owen Gibson, the lead booker of Vanguard Championship Wrestling, had managed to secure television time on SportsChannel Philadelphia starting in March 1993. Gibson, after a falling out with Paul Heyman.

### **Secession from the NWA (1994)**

In 1994, Jim Crockett's non-compete agreement with Eric Senerchia, who purchased World Entertainment Wrestling (WEW) from Crockett in November 1988, was up and he decided to start promoting with the NWA again. Crockett went to Paul Heyman and asked him to hold a tournament for the NWA's top prize, the NWA World Heavyweight Championship, in VCW's home area of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on August 27, 1994. NWA President Dennis Coralluzzo alleged that Crockett and Gordon were going to try to monopolize the title (akin to Crockett's actions in the 1980s) and stated Crockett did not have the NWA board's approval, which resulted in Coralluzzo personally overseeing the tournament. Gordon took offense at Coralluzzo for his power plays and began contemplating a plan to secede VCW from the NWA through a controversial and public manner that would attract attention to VCW and insult the NWA organization. Heyman planned to have Shane Douglas, who was scheduled to face 2 Cold Scorpio in the tournament finals, throw down the NWA World Heavyweight Championship belt upon winning as an act of defiance.

### **VCW Arena and television syndication (1994–present)**

The bulk of VCW's shows remained at the VCW Arena, a former warehouse secluded under a section of Interstate 95. Seating comprised simple folding chairs and four sets of portable bleachers, with the unconventional scene reflective of the gritty style of the promotion itself. Shows were broadcast on a Philadelphia local cable sports station (SportsChannel America's local affiliate, SportsChannel Philadelphia) on Tuesday evenings. After Sports Channel Philadelphia went off the air in 1997, the show moved to WPPX-TV 61. It later moved to a former independent broadcast station (WGTW 48) in Philadelphia on either Friday or Saturday night at 1 or 2 a.m. Shows were also aired on the MSG Network in NYC on Friday nights (Early Saturday morning) at 2 a.m. Due to the obscurity of the stations and VCW itself, as well as the lack of FCC oversight at that late hour, many times expletives and violence were not edited out of these showings, along with extensive use of copyrighted music and music videos.

### **Catfished in Australia (1997)**

On January 1, 1997, in a Pay-Per-View of a local promotion in Australia, Deep Impact Wrestling was not expecting that VCW will invade. In the middle of the invasion, Sandman opened a beer can, he drank and spit it to the ring until Lori, a manager in the promotion invited Sandman and Dreamer to her locker room, The Sandman and Tommy Dreamer would say "later" and they would hop to the ring and attack the Pinn LTC., a stable in the promotion, and after Sandman and Dreamer attacked, Sandman and Dreamer would go to Lori's locker room with Lori. Lori would start handcuffing both men and Lori would start stripping to them. While Lori was stripping, Both men went unconscious by hitting their head in the chairs, Lori would take photos on her camera and posting them on Both men's blogs and changing the passwords of the Blogs.