SAPW Heavyweight Championship
 |
|
| Acronym | SAPW |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1990 |
| Defunct | 1992 |
| Style | Rasslin' |
| Headquarters | Charlotte, North Carolina |
| Founder(s) |
George Scott John Ringley Mike Lamberth |
| Owner(s) |
Paul Jones Frank Dusek |
| Formerly | North American Wrestling Association |
South Atlantic Pro Wrestling (SAPW, formerly known as the North American Wrestling Association) was a professional wrestling promotion founded by George Scott, John Ringley and Mike Lamberth in Charlotte, North Carolina in 1990, and later taken over by Paul Jones and Frank Dusek. It was the last effort to revive the NWA's Mid-Atlantic wrestling territory.
The North American Wrestling Association was founded by George Scott, John Ringley and Mike Lamberth in January 1990. The first event and TV taping was held in Sumter, South Carolina on February 8, 1990. Matches from these shows were first shown in March and April 1990.
The first North American Heavyweight Champion, Robert Fuller, won the championship in an 18-man tournament by defeating Ricky Steamboat in the finals on June 30, 1990, in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. The first North American Tag Team Champions were crowned in a tournament final that same month, also in Winston-Salem, when The Nasty Boys defeated Danny Allen and Bob Emery.
Scott and Ringley, as former Jim Crockett Promotions employees, recognized the importance of television exposure. The group purchased all the old JCP market stations in the Carolinas along with the original timeslots. In July 1990, Paul Jones and Frank Dusek took over the promotion and negotiated a deal with the America One Network to air "South Atlantic Pro Wrestling" on Friday nights later that year.
George Scott and his partners hoped to revive the National Wrestling Alliance's old Mid-Atlantic wrestling territory which traditionally covered Virginia, North Carolina and South Carolina. After securing key television markets in the Carolinas, the promotion signed contracts with all the old Crockett arenas to hold pro wrestling shows on a regular basis. Within the first year of operation, house shows and TV tapings were held at the Columbia Township Auditorium, Grady Cole Center, Greenwood Civic Center, Limestone College Gym, and the Winston-Salem Memorial Coliseum. SAPW tours also included high school gyms, rec centers, and fairs in cities throughout Georgia, Mississippi, Virginia, and the Carolinas. In August 1991, SAPW held a benefit show in Wentworth, North Carolina for Operation Family Shield, a support group established by then Governor Jim Martin, that provided financial assistance to military families of North Carolina National Guardsmen and U.S. Army reservists stationed in the Persian Gulf.
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