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The Rise & Fall of AACW

Posted: Dec 13th 2007 By: mikeiles

Many wrestling companies have come and gone in Oklahoma over the years. Many wrestlers that star in today's feds got their start in one of these bygone feds. Some made major impact over the course of a long stretch of time like World Wrestling Empire or Oklahoma Pro Wrestling. But one fed started off with a bang then limped off with a whimper in just 19 months of existence.

All American Championship Wrestling was the brainchild of Oklahoma City local Tommy D and his cousin Damien Strange, who resides in Las Vegas, NV. Tommy D had been a manager and the commissioner of Mid-South Wrestling Alliance for a while. Tommy and Mike Crawford, owner of MSWA, had a falling out and Tommy struck out on his own bringing Damien Strange with him. Strange had wrestling experience as he had been trained by Mando Guerrero of the famed Guerrero Family. Years of wrestling had taken its toll on Strange and his knees but he was willing to give it a shot with promoting in Oklahoma City. Tommy and Damien contacted the so-called "Godfather of Oklahoma Wrestling" Rick Garrett and they agreed to open the new fed with Rick's theater, The Underground Arena, being its home venue. The first show however was held on April 14, 2006 at the Logan County Fairgrounds in Guthrie. The company's second show was held the next night at The Underground Arena and was held in conjunction with Bill Ash's Arkansas-based Mid-South Pro Wrestling event.

The company then took a little over a month off to regroup as they felt the agreement they had with Ash was not as beneficial to AACW as it was to Ash's group. After retooling the product and the roster, they finally felt they had a good wrestling product and they were ready to bring another wrestling option to Oklahoma. They returned June 9, 2006 at the Goldrush Entertainment Center in Guthrie then the next night back in OKC at the Underground Arena. Their plan was to run 1 or 2 shows per month.

Al Farat, who at the time held the AACW Heavyweight Title, was released from the company on June 30, 2006 due to "philosophical and professional differences". The company never missed a beat and held a Battle Royal at their July 15, 2006 show and Glen Steel was crowned new champion. The company was drawing quite well at The Underground Arena and they were planning on adding a television show. Damien, still acting as commissioner, announced that AACW would hold a supercard called "Wrestlerock" which was going to be held at one of the larger venues in OKC. But those dreams turned out to be bigger than reality.

The company continued to run shows at The Underground Arena and drawing a solid crowd. But sometime in January 2007, Rick Garrett and Tommy D began disagreeing about things with the company. The company announced that the February 3, 2007 show had been cancelled. However, Rick Garrett and a few of the AACW wrestlers ran a show anyway using the name Xtreme Underground Wrestling, before morphing into Sooner World Class Wrestling. The partnership between AACW and Rick Garrett had dissolved.

Now AACW was without a regular venue in which to run shows. So the company hit the road and on February 10, 2007 ran a show in Broken Bow and reportedly drew over 1000 fans. They returned to Broken Bow on April 21, 2007 and again drew over 1000 fans. When the company returned to Broken Bow for a third show on October 20, 2007 the attendance was reportedly under 500. Damien and Tommy tried one last time to recapture the magic they had when the company called The Underground Arena home.

The show was entitled "Hostile Takeover" and originally was scheduled for November 16, 2007 but was changed as to not coincide with the Oklahoma Centennial Celebration that was being held in OKC at the Ford Center. Originally, the company was going to bring in Nick Dinsmore, who had recently been released from his WWE contract where he was known as Eugene. With the date change, Dinsmore was off the card. The show was held at Farmer's Market in OKC and Damien and Tommy had high hopes. They brought in wrestlers from the West Coast that had some WWE dark match experience like Oliver John, KAFU the Brazilian Beast, Cheerleader Melissa, and Mschif. They also used some wrestlers with Oklahoma experience like Slam Shady, Havoc, Jack Dalton, and Jason Jones. They also brought in Skandar Akbar. It could have been a great show. But the show was almost shut down by the Oklahoma Boxing Commission reportedly because the ring was too small. After ironing things out with the Boxing Commission, the show was underway. But basically anything that could go wrong, went wrong. The ring announcer had cancelled last minute. The DJ that was supposed to play the entrance music no-showed. The power for the PA system was lost midway through the show. Commissioner Strange acted as ring announcer and did as good a good as he could have possibly done under the circumstances. After the show he reported to Oklafan that although he didn't announce it, three previously vacant AACW titles were now filled. Jack Dalton defeated Jason Jones for the AACW Mid-American Light Heavyweight Title, although Jones weighs well above the 225 pounds maximum for the title, Cheerleader Melissa defeated Mschif for the AACW Women's Title, and Oliver John defeated KAFU for the newly created AACW Internet Title. In addition, Strange said that he felt that Oklahoma, and in particular Oklahoma City, had too many wrestling feds for any company to thrive. He and Tommy D announced that AACW was finished in Oklahoma but would continue in Las Vegas and touring through Montana. As of the writing of this story no new AACW dates have been announced for any state. When contacted for this story, Strange said that he is no longer affiliated with AACW and Tommy D is now sole owner of AACW.

AACW is not the last wrestling fed to drop off the Oklahoma radar. But they should not be considered a flash in the pan either. In the opinion of this reporter, AACW was a victim of early success, big plans, and big egos that could not be kept in check.

Tags: AACW, WWEmp, OPW, Tommy D, Damien Strange, Mike Crawford, MSWA, Rick Garrett, Al Farat, Glen Steel, XUW, SWCW, Slam Shady, Havoc, Jack Dalton, Jason Jones, Skandar Akbar