Weekly television matches were taped at the Tampa Sportatorium, a "cozy" outlet that sat approximately 75 -100 fans, mostly in bleacher type seating. The setting made fan proximity to the action an added unique element to the show and its environment. Like most of the televised wrestling of the time that used this "studio" approach the result was usually an atmosphere thick in electricity, elation, and hostility (depending on the occurrences and storylines) that lent a true sense of urgency and intensity to the matches and angles being carried out.  

Needless to state, pyrotechnics were non-existent, musical entrances were limited to extremely rare occasions that I can recall (the Pretty Young Things, a tag team of Norvell Austin and Koko B. Ware, would bring an early 80's version of a "boom box" with them, if that counts!), and verbal hysteria and hyperbole from the announcers was absent, with appropriate and timely voice inflections when necessary in its place.

Solie's eloquent delivery and call of a match however, was for many fans what best exemplified and captured the CWF "flavor" and any given time during its existence.  His descriptions of the in-ring action, often sprinkled with anatomical references that pinpointed what areas of an opponent's body a wrestler was attacking or concentrating on, would have easily been mistaken for a radio-worthy effort with regards to detail. In professional wrestling in the year 2000, where the actual match and its development probably appear at least halfway down the page of an announcer's priority list, an approach like Solie's is probably considered antiquated, out of touch, and boring television, the antithesis of what we now know as the "sports entertainment" approach. And what of the art of successfully conveying or "selling"of an angle by an announcer ? Any video tape of a CWF broadcast will exemplify Solie's assortment of priceless and on-target reactions to wrestler interviews, actions, and commentary.

Over the years, the roster of the organization, many of whom I will get into further detail about in subsequent installments, included stars such as Dusty Rhodes, Jack and Jerry Brisco, Dory and Terry Funk, Johnny Valentine, Eddie Graham, Wahoo McDaniel, Kevin Sullivan, Jake Roberts, Super Destroyer, Don Muraco, the Fabulous Kangaroos, Superstar Billy Graham, Billy Jack Haynes, Blackjack Mulligan, Dick Slater, Dick Murdoch, Bobby Duncum, Sr., Paul Jones, the Masked Assassins, the Mongolian Stomper, Ernie Ladd, Pak Song, Nikolai Volkoff, and Ivan Koloff, with an even more sizeable list that goes unmentioned.  More...