March 23rd, 2002. The birth of the Alternative Wrestling Show would come with a co-promoted event with Fuerza Mexicana de Lucha Libre. The launch came at a very competitive time in Southern California Wrestling, active wrestling promotions at the time were Xtreme Pro Wrestling, Ultimate Pro Wrestling, Revolution Pro, Empire Wrestling Federation, World Pro Wrestling, West Coast Wrestling Alliance, Golden State Championship Wrestling, Car-Consumer Pro Wrestling, and seemingly more and more promotions opening up every day. The first event featured a total of six matches. “The Hardcore Kidd” Aaron Aguilera defeated King Jackal. B-Boy defeated Lil’ Cholo. Profeta & Dr. Muerte defeated Principe Unlimited & Acero Dorado. Essa Rios bested Piloto Sucida. And in the Main Event, La Parka teaming with Shocker defeated Super Boy and Capitian Oro. A pretty impressive first showing for Bart. The year would be 2005 when Bart’s Alternative Wrestling Show would join NWA Pro Wrestling along with the Inoki Dojo. The AWS would host the tournament to crown the first ever NWA Heritage Heavyweight Champion. After over a hundred events and a little over seven years of promoting events, Bart Kaptizke has decided to close the AWS Store and the Alternative Wrestling Show. What Bart has given to the wrestling fans of Southern California will continue to impact this area for years to come, be it something as simple as merchandise, a venue to train, or a venue to host a show. The things Bart has done for this scene are both tangible and intangible. Everyone from Alliance-Wrestling.com would extend our deepest gratitude to Bart. The last event from AWS will be this Saturday 7:30pm and you should make plans to attend this event. The Finale from AWS will feature over 120 Wrestlers in a Three Ring Battle Royal. Also scheduled are title defenses for Johnny Paradise, Peter Avalon, and the Ballard Brothers.
Here is the official statement from the NWA Executive Director Bob Trobich:
“The National Wrestling Alliance would like to congratulate Bart Kapitzke on his incredible run at AWS as a part of the NWA family. In honor of his attempt to close his operations with a record setting Battle Royal we would like to announce that all retired professional wrestlers are allowed to participate in one battle royal event per calendar year without losing their retired status.”
On Monday of this week, I spoke to NWA Worlds Champion Adam Pearce for Alliance Radio. The interview was about several topics involving the National Wrestling Alliance, but also focuses quite a bit on Pearce’s upcoming defenses in SoCal Pro Wrestling and Millennium Pro Wrestling. Adam also shares his gratitude for Bart and AWS. If you’d like to listen follow the link http://www.blogtalkradio.com/alliance-wrestling. Of course, I would be remiss if I didn’t mention the great job that Lalo Ramirez did talking to Bart on Empire Wrestling Radio Saturday. You can still find the show here http://kcaaradio.celestrion.net/kcaa-podcasts/wrestling/20100612.html. Check it out, it is a great listen and gives you a little bit of history of SoCal.
