Formation and early years Jeff Rudd, who wrestled under the name "The Gemini Kid", founded the Carolina Wrestling Federation in Burlington, North Carolina, in 1996. Rudd had previously wrestled in
Eddie Gilbert's
Continental Wrestling Federation with Mike Howell, who also had some involvement in the Alabama-based organization, and named their new promotion the "Carolina Wrestling Federation" (CWF) to honor Gilbert (who had died the previous year). They began running shows in
Durham and other parts of North Carolina off and on during the late 1990s, though the promotion was run on a part-time basis due to their work for
OMEGA and other local independents. Following the close of OMEGA in 1999, with
Matt and Jeff Hardy joining the
World Wrestling Federation, Rudd decided to begin running the CWF again. Rudd hoped the promotion would fulfill OMEGA's previous role to showcase younger talent in North Carolina as well as to recreate the "fun atmosphere" enjoyed by former OMEGA stars. in 2009), an
industrial building near the
Burlington-Alamance Regional Airport, as its home arena and official
wrestling school. In spite of the large number of promotions in the state, they were eventually able to expand the CWF to cover a sizable area of the southeastern United States, based primarily in the Carolinas and Virginia. Though most of its supercards are run out of the Carolina Sports Arena in
Gibsonville, CWF Mid-Atlantic event tours have also included
national guard armories, high school gyms and fairs in cities including
Asheboro,
Bear Creek,
Cameron,
Clayton,
Elkin,
Graham,
Liberty,
Mount Airy,
Oxford,
Pfafftown,
Pleasant Garden,
Ramseur,
Roxboro,
Seagrove,
Statesville,
Thomasville,
Wentworth, and
Wilson in North Carolina;
Manning,
Myrtle Beach, and
Sharon in South Carolina; and
Martinsville, Virginia. Also, a few shows were held at
Ace Speedway in
Altamahaw, North Carolina, and the
Greensboro Coliseum and
Proehlific Sports Complex in
Greensboro, North Carolina. Its weekly television series, "CWF Championship Wrestling", was carried by
Adelphia Cable,
Charter Communications,
Lexcom,
Piedmont Cable, and
Time Warner and syndicated throughout the region. By 2003, the series was being broadcast locally on then-
UPN affiliate WUPN (now
MyNetworkTV affiliate
WMYV) and
PAX station
WGPX-TV, then the highest rated PAX affiliate in the country, reaching an audience of 1,500,000 in the Piedmont area alone and seen in at least 16
counties in North Carolina and
Virginia. A year later, it was airing in over 50 cities and towns. It was later
broadcast on the internet as well via Highspots.TV and CWF's
official YouTube channel. CWF Mid-Atlantic additional exposure though its involvement in numerous fundraisers for charities, school clubs, civic groups, and similar organizations such as ARC of Alamance,
American Red Cross and the
Special Olympics. One of its most notable efforts was helping raise money for the Red Cross and
Salvation Army, along with
Don Kernodle, in the days following the
September 11 terrorist attacks. They also held events for individuals in need of financial assistance to pay for medical expenses. On August 20, 2005, CWF Mid Atlantic held a
benefit show in
King, North Carolina, for an 11-year-old wrestling fan, Stephen Arrowood, The following year CWF Mid Atlantic promoted a
lucha libre-themed event for Burlington's annual International Cultural Festival held at the Downtown Amphitheatre. The card featured Marcellus King and Señor Sábado Noche in a "lighting" (Relámpago) match and a
Best 2 out of 3 Falls Trios match pitting Ultra Dragon, the Kamakazi Kid, and Brass Munkey against El Gemini, El Sucio, and Double K which lasted nearly an hour.
Notable talent The promotion featured some of top wrestlers in the Southern independents and provided an environment for younger talent, including
C. W. Anderson,
Caprice Coleman,
Shane Helms, Tank Lawson, Rob "The Bull" McBride,
Shannon Moore,
Cham Pain,
Scotty Sabre, Seymour Snott,
The Dupps (Bo and Stan Dupp),
The Naturals (
Andy Douglas and
Chase Stevens), and
Team MACKtion ("Krazy K"
Kirby Mack and T.J. Mack).
Ricky Reyes of
Ring of Honor,
World Wrestling Entertainment's
D-Lo Brown and
"Dr. Death" Steve Williams have also made appearances for the promotion. It later enhanced its roster through working agreements with the
Frontier Wrestling Alliance Other former Mid-Atlantic stars to appear in the promotion included brothers Rocky and
Don Kernodle,
Sandy Scott,
Jimmy Valiant,
Ivan and
Nikita Koloff,
Boris Zhukov,
The Barbarian,
"Rowdy" Roddy Piper, manager
J. J. Dillon, announcers
Bob Caudle and
Rich Landrum, and referee
Tommy Young.
David Flair, the oldest son of former 7-time
NWA World Heavyweight Championship "The Nature Boy" Ric Flair, also wrestled for the promotion on occasion.
Affiliation with other independent promotions In February 2001, CWF Mid-Atlantic became an official affiliate promotion for the
Frontier Wrestling Alliance based in the
United Kingdom. This was part of an association of independent wrestling groups in North America and Europe headed by the FWA. It was one of two promotions in the United States, along with FWA Texas, and subsequently changed its name to "FWA-Carolinas". This new international working agreement saw the sharing of talent and interpromotional events.
"The Anarchist" Doug Williams,
Jodie Fleisch, It was around this time that state legislation which put professional wrestling under the jurisdiction of the state's boxing commission threatened to shut down many, if not all, of the independent promotions operating in North Carolina. The cost of promoters to put on a wrestling show was tripled due to state regulation and put severe financial burdens on an industry which was already in a recession in the years following the "
Attitude Era". CWF Mid-Atlantic was heavily involved in the campaign to stop the H-232 bill. The promotion's website provided fans with up-to-date information and encouraged them to contact their representatives. The efforts of Jeff Rudd in particular, through Senator
Hugh Webster, helped eventually remove pro wrestling from the bill. and his subsequent feud with
Steve Corino over the title. Both Xsiris and T.J. Mack held the
AWA World Light Heavyweight Championship and The New Generation Dynasty (Ric Converse and Xsiris) held the
AWA World Tag Team Championship. On December 2, 2006, CWF Mid Atlantic hosted a major AWA supercard at the Carolina Sports Arena with many of its fellow AWA affiliates AWA Apex Wrestling (
West Virginia), AWA Slam (
Chicago), AWA Brew City Wrestling (
Wisconsin), AWA World Star Wrestling (
Connecticut,
Pennsylvania, and
Ohio), AWA North Atlantic (
Maine), and AWA Power Pro Wrestling (
North Carolina). The semi-main event featured T.J. Mack interfering in a title unification
ladder match between Kirby Mack and Xsiris to win the AWA World Light Heavyweight title, and Rob McBride and Tank Lawson defeating the Old School Blondes (Steve Corino and
Ricky Landell) to win the AWA World Tag Team titles. While champions, Converse and Xsiris defended the belts in a four-way "title vs. career" match against AWA Mid-Atlantic Tag Team Champions Rob McBride and Tank Lawson, AWA Mid-Atlantic Heavyweight Champion Joey Silvia and AWA Mid-Atlantic Television Champion "Simply" Steve Greene, and Neon Lions (Chris Collins and Lee Valiant) at CWF's "Absolute Justice" on June 16, 2007. It was during this time that Dale Gagne, owner of AWA Superstars, was involved in a lawsuit with
World Wrestling Entertainment over the use of the AWA name. Many affiliate promotions were dropped by the organization in early-2007 with the AWA officially terminating the sanctioning rights with CWF Mid-Atlantic as of July 29, 2007. On November 14, 2009, a PWI event involving CWF Mid-Atlantic, Premier Wrestling Showcase, and Rider's Championship Wrestling was held at the Mid-Atlantic Sportatorium in Burlington, North Carolina. On April 1, 2011, the PWI International Heavyweight Championship changed hands between Ric Converse and
Shane Helms at the Mid-Atlantic Sportatorium in Burlington, North Carolina.
Postponement of all future events On November 15, 2019, a post was made on the official website for CWF Mid-Atlantic announcing that all future events were postponed. The announcement suggested that "Our future is now going to be much different." The federation did go forward with its Battlecade XX event on December 28, 2019. No announcement or events have happened since, however, leaving the future of the federation in doubt. ==Women's wrestling==