To me, Southwest Championship Wrestling will always be the true definition of professional wrestling. My love of the sport grew out of this little promotion from west Texas and I will always cherish its memory. While all of my friends, and for that matter most of the world, were parading around in their red and yellow, I was struggling to stay awake every Sunday night so I could watch a wrestling program that most of the fans in my area didn't even know existed. That program was of course Southwest Championship wrestling (SWCW). It only took one night of sneaking up late behind my mothers back with a little 13' inch black and white television to hook me for the rest of life.

SWCW was awesome! It had better matches, interviews and their top stars almost always faced each other on TV compared to the headliner vs. jobber matches that I had grown accustomed to watching on World Wrestling Federation (WWF) programming. For a small promotion that hardly ever traveled out of the state of Texas, SWCW was able to draw you in from the start and you never wanted it to end. Originally a part of the Dallas booking office for the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA), SWCW came into being when longtime wrestler/promoter Joe Blanchard broke away to form his own wrestling promotion. Based out of San Antonio, Texas, Blanchard with his son Tully at his side purchased an old supermarket that only held 300-400 people to tape their television shows. He brought in announcers Gene Kelly (Kelly would soon be replaced with Steve Stack, who stayed with the promotion until it's demise) and Rapido Rodriguez who provided commentary for the Spanish outlets. As well, SWCW had some of the best talent that the business had to offer. With a roster that at different times consisted of Abdullah The Butcher, Adrian Adonis, Tony Atlas, Tully Blanchard, Killer Brooks, Bruiser Brody, Rick and Scott Casey, Tiger Conway Jr., Eric Embry, Manny Fernandez, Dory And Terry Funk, Stan Hanson, Gino Hernandez, the Iron Sheik, Buddy Landel, Wahoo McDaniel, Bob Orton Jr., Al Perez, Tito Santana, Brett and Buzz Sawyer, Bob Sweetan, the Sheepherders and Jonathan Boyd, Dick Slater and so many more. Nick Bockwinkel would be brought in from time to time to defend his American Wrestling Association (AWA) world heavyweight title and six time former world champion Lou Thesz was named acting commissioner.  More...