Golden Wrestling Revolution (GWR)

**Golden Wrestling Revolution**, Inc., also known as **GWR**, is an American integrated media & entertainment company famous for professional wrestling. GWR has branched out into fields including literature, music, film & various other business ventures.

## Bio

### More Info.

The GWR name also refers to the professional wrestling promotion itself, which was formed in 1952 as The New York Wrestling Federation. It is currently the largest wrestling promotion in the world, holding over 475 live events a year, with the roster primarily divided into six globally travelling brands, and is available to over 950 million homes worldwide in 28 languages. The company's global headquarters is located in Buffalo, New York, with offices in Orlando, Los Angeles, Texas, Mexico City, London, Bern, Tokyo, Seoul & Sydney.

### Product-Base

As in other professional wrestling promotions, GWR's 4 biggest brands (Inferno, Collision Course, Pandora's Box & Pandora's Box UK) are not legitimate contests but entertainment-based performance theatre, featuring storyline-driven, scripted & partially-choreographed matches. On the Other hand GWR's fifth & sixth shows, The Asylum & Zero Gravity! focus less on the enjoyment factor & more on the wrestlers' in-ring abilities.

### Majority Owners

The company's majority owner & CEO, third-generation wrestling promoters Phillip & Steven McCartney, retain 67% ownership of the company's outstanding stock & 73.5% of the voting power.

## Eras

### The Early Years

#### Deadly Debut (1952)

GWR's origins can be traced back as far as the 1950s, when on the 14th of February 1952, the first show took place in Buffalo, New York. The show was advertised as *'Deadly Debut'.* The show was founded by brothers Clifford & Hugh McCartney who always had a love for the sport. They always wanted to bring professional wrestling to Buffalo, so with a small production budget and only a dozen wrestlers, they produced a show which went down in history as the beginning of the biggest wrestling company in the world.

#### The New York Wrestling Foundation (1952-1956)

The McCartney brothers continued expanding their company under the name The New York Wrestling Foundation. They grew slowly & surely and in just a few years they were getting the recognition they wanted, but it wasn't enough for Clifford, even though his brother wasn't sure about leaving the state, he wanted to expand outwards of New York, and maybe even The USA.

#### All American Wrestling Alliance Application, Denial & Acceptance (1955,-1956)

So, on the 6th of May 1955, Clifford sent an application form to the prestigious All American Wrestling Alliance (AAWA) but it didn't go through, but Clifford knew he couldn't give up he and his brother work tirelessly to get what they wanted.

After many failed attempts, Clifford and Hugh sent one more application form on the 3rd of January 1956 and after waiting impatiently for 12 days they were accepted and the deal was finalised by the 8th of April.

### The 'Rough Years'

#### Rebrand (1956)

In the next few months, The New York Wrestling Foundation went through a total rebrand. First, they changed the company's name, they wanted to change the name to something more universal, so they decided on Golden Wrestling Revolution, Secondly, they changed the product base, changing it from legitimate contests to more storyline-driven shows. New titles were also introduced like the Director's Chair (TV title), The Silver Screen Championship (mid-card title), and the Entourage Tag Team Championship. They also renamed their two pre-existing titles, The NYWF Championship was changed to The Platinum Championship, while The Women's NYWF Championship was renamed The Show Biz Championship.

#### Show-Stopping Return (1956)

After a 6 month break, the newly renamed GWR was back in action. Under the new name, their first show was held in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, and was promoted as 'The Show-Stopping Return'. The show wasn't show-stopping, to say the least.

The 90-minute show went down in infamy for being one of the worst wrestling events ever.

The opening match was a nine-minute match between 4 new tag teams (plus 2 managers) for The Entourage Tag Team Championships. The match was extremely messy with no introduction to the new faces, multiple no-sells from the 'superstars' and a horrible botch that turned what was supposed to be a special debut for Bradley Ford into his first and last professional wrestling match.

Many fans were turning their backs on the company, saying that they lost their charm and uniqueness was lost with the rebrand, but still, GWR didn't give up.

#### The Downfall (1957-1960)

During the end of the 50s, GWR's popularity began to decrease at a steady rate. They went from being a new spark of light in the wrestling industry into becoming just like the others, a big, money-hungry business that isn't interested in producing quality. For a while, the arena wouldn't even be half-filled. It was a living nightmare for management and they knew something had to be done.

### The Renaissance

#### Adrenaline (1961)

The McCartney brothers wanted to bring the spark that had brought so many eager fans in their first years, but they had to do something bigger, grander and more spectacular than the rest. So on Sunday 4th of 1961, GWR held its first official pay-per-view known as 'Adrenaline'. It was to feature loads of title defensives, new superstars, amazingly cut promos and breathtaking matches. It was also to be ninety minutes longer than GWR's regular house shows. A lot was riding on this one event, many fans had tuned back in to see what this was all going to be about, GWR's only job was to keep them hooked.

Adrenaline, well went down as legendary, it was full of everything promised and more. Soon people were captivated by the magic all over again, they saw just before their eyes how striking this was, and with the owners' promises the fans were expecting more, and more was what they were given.