Saturday, May 4, 2013

Saturday Morning Ringside: International Championship Wrestling

International Championship Wrestling, a Northeastern based independent promotion, managed to gain some brief national exposure in the early 90's. Where, you might ask? On the channel which would later become CNBC. Go figure.

ICW, later rechristened International World Class Championship Wrestling during a brief union with the Texas promotion, was run by the Savoldi family, and, at first, "Jumping" Joe was the star of the promotion. Father Angelo was the promoter. In case you wonder, a 3rd Savoldi, Mario, was employed as a referee with the then-World Wrestling Federation during the 70's, and would resurface here. It was here that "Mr. USA" Tony Atlas would win his only World title---albeit as a heel. It was here that some of us got our first exposure to the "Human Suplex Machine", Taz, then known as the Tazmaniac, and Tommy Dreamer, then known as T. D. Madison. However, CNBC, or FNN at the time, dropped the promotion after a short time.

Matto11101 uploaded this sample package, with the late Tony Rumble on color commentary, a poor man's Jesse Ventura wannabe.



Rating: C+.

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