The Catch Wrestling Association (CWA) was a
professional wrestling
Professional wrestling, often shortened to either pro wrestling or wrestling,The term "wrestling" is most often widely used to specifically refer to modern scripted professional wrestling, though it is also used to refer to Real life, real- ...
organization based in
Austria
Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...
and
Germany
Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...
that was founded as the Internationalen Berufsringer Verbandes (IBV) in 1973. Since the late 1980s it has been known as the CWA in honour of the promotion's
World Heavyweight Championship (originally claimed to be sanctioned by the fictitious Canadian Wrestling Association with previous lineage in North America.) This has since become a common retronym for the entire history of the organisation. It was founded by Nico Selenkowitsch and run by him until the late 1980s when he was succeeded by long-term champion
Otto Wanz and Peter Wilhelm.
The CWA featured a traditional brand of mat wrestling mixed with various “Strong Man” competitions. During the late 1970s the then IBV overtook the old
Verband der Berufsringer to become the dominant promotion in the German/Austrian wrestling territory, maintaining a high profile even after the invasion of
WWF circa 1990. After its closure it was replaced in 2000 by the European Wrestling Promotion (EWP), which was renamed the Catch Wrestling Promotion (CWP) in 2023.
The company was engaged in talent-share agreements with other wrestling promotions, including
New Japan Pro-Wrestling
(NJPW) is a Puroresu, Japanese professional-wrestling Professional wrestling promotion, promotion founded on January 13, 1972, by Antonio Inoki, and based in Nakano, Tokyo. It is currently majority owned by card-game company Bushiroad, with TV As ...
(NJPW) and the
American Wrestling Association (AWA). These agreements expanded the opportunities given to many European wrestlers. CWA's biggest card was the
Euro Catch Festival, which was held twice a year (it was held in
Graz, Austria in the summer, while in the winter, it was held in
Bremen, Germany).
Matches were fought using
European rules, including dividing matches into three-minute rounds and having the possibility of a victory by
knockout
A knockout (abbreviated to KO or K.O.) is a fight-ending, winning criterion in several full-contact combat sports, such as boxing, kickboxing, Muay Thai, mixed martial arts, karate, some forms of taekwondo and other sports involving striking, ...
. One distinct feature of the CWA, later bequeathed to EWP, was the playing of pop music records during the breaks between rounds. Rings were noticeably larger than in other European territories and often were covered in advertising/sponsorship messages. The CWA World Heavyweight Championship was recognized as the legitimate European World Championship as counterpart to the AWA,
NWA and WWF titles in North America, the
Universal Wrestling Association
The Universal Wrestling Association (UWA) was a Mexican ''Lucha Libre'' or professional wrestling promotion based in Naucalpan, Mexico State that operated from 1975 until 1995. The name of the actual promotion was Promociones Mora y Asociados and ...
title in Mexico, NJPW's
IWGP Heavyweight Championship
The was a professional wrestling world heavyweight championship owned by the New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) promotion. "IWGP" is the acronym of NJPW's governing body, the . The title was introduced on June 12, 1987, in the final of an IW ...
in Japan and the Mountevans "WWA" World Heavyweight title in the UK. A championship claimed to be the CWA version was contested between
Kendo Nagasaki
Kendo Nagasaki is a professional wrestling stage name, used as a Glossary of professional wrestling terms#Gimmick, gimmick of that of a Japanese Samurai warrior with a mysterious past and even supernatural powers of hypnosis. The name derives from ...
and
Giant Haystacks at
Fairfield Halls Croydon
Croydon is a large town in South London, England, south of Charing Cross. Part of the London Borough of Croydon, a Districts of England, local government district of Greater London; it is one of the largest commercial districts in Greater Lond ...
in 1991 before
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...
cameras for the documentary "Masters of the Canvas" screened the following year. (although at the time the actual holder was
Rambo).
Until the launch of
Eurosport
Eurosport is a group of pay television networks in Europe and parts of Asia, owned and operated by Warner Bros. Discovery through its WBD Sports unit, it operates two main channels—Eurosport 1 and Eurosport 2—across most of its territorie ...
's ''New Catch'' programme which it shared with the French EWF, the promotion did not have its own TV show but nonetheless from 1980 taped many of its matches for the home video market using highly professional multi camera arrangements. Inspired by this, rival VDB also released home videos in rougher setups using single handheld cameras. Some of the CWA matches were aired in Wales, United Kingdom, on
Orig Williams Welsh language wrestling show ''Reslo'' on
S4C. Many have since been uploaded to YouTube. CWA bouts were also included on ''
Catch Up'', a German TV programme on
RTL Television 1989-1991 focused mainly on American wrestling news, primarily
WCW.
Championships
Alumni
*
André the Giant
*
Chris Benoit
Christopher Michael Benoit ( ; May 21, 1967 – June 24, 2007) was a Canadian Professional wrestling, professional wrestler. He worked for various pro-wrestling promotions during his 22-year career, but is notorious for Chris Benoit double-murd ...
*
Ludvig Borga (Tony Halme)
*
Robbie Brookside (Robert Brooks)
*
Duke Droese/Marshall Duke (Mike Droese)
*
Dave "Fit" Finlay[
* Tatsumi Fujinami
* John Hawk (John Layfield)
* Ulf Herman (Ulf Nadrowski)
*]Barry Horowitz
Barry Horowitz (born March 24, 1959) is an American Professional wrestling, professional wrestler, best known for his time in the WWE, World Wrestling Federation (WWF).
Early life
Horowitz attended Florida State University, where he studied spo ...
* Don Leo Jonathan (Don Heaton)
* Marty Jones
* Owen Hart
* Texas Scott (Scott Hall)
* Takayuki Iizuka
* Fuji Yamaha (Michiyoshi Ohara)
* Jean-Pierre Lafitte/Carl Wallace (Carl Ouellet)[
* Chris Jericho (Chris Irvine)
* Joe E. Legend (Joe Hitchen)
* Bob Orton Jr.
* Baron von Raschke
* Rhino Richards (Terry Gerin)
* Road Warrior Hawk (Michael Hegstrand)
* Paul Roma (Paul Centopani)
* Lance Storm (Lance Evers)
* Hiro Yamamoto (Hiroyoshi Yamamoto)
* Bull Power (Leon White)][
* Otto Wanz][
* Ultimate Warrior (Warrior)
* Papa Shango (Charles Wright)
* Larry Cameron]
See also
* List of professional wrestling promotions in Europe
References
External links
Catch Wrestling Association
at Online World Of Wrestling
Catch Wrestling Association
on Pro-Wrestling Title Histories
{{Professional wrestling in Germany
Entertainment companies established in 1973
German professional wrestling promotions
1973 establishments in Austria
Entertainment companies of Germany
Professional wrestling in Germany
Professional wrestling in Austria
Defunct professional wrestling promotions