CyberSpace Wrestling Federation Billy Firehawk, a semi-retired Canadian-born wrestler, founded the CyberSpace Wrestling Federation in
Staten Island,
New York in 2001. His wife Daisy was the principal owner of the promotion while Firehawk took care of the general running of the company. Booking duties and talent scouting went to David Levy, who was also a wrestler on the roster. Firehawk and David Levy put together the foundation & groundwork for what the CSWF & NWA Cyberspace would become. In October 2002, Firehawk began promoting wrestling shows in
Central New Jersey and, on October 19, the promotion crowned its first heavyweight champion when Smokey M defeated
Danny Doring, Kidd USA and Sinister X in a 4 Way Dance at its at "Halloween Horror '02" show in
Flemington, New Jersey; also appearing on the show were independent wrestlers
Brian Fury,
Don Montoya,
Mike Quackenbush and
Gran Akuma. Three months later at "Legendary Breakout", the heavyweight title was unified with the USWF Heavyweight Championship after the New York-based United States Wrestling Federation folded. Firehawk and many other mainstays had previously competed in the USWF during the last decade. Firehawk was able to bring in stars from
World Championship Wrestling following its close the previous year, due in part to his friendship with WCW announcer
Mike Tenay, as well as from
Total Nonstop Action Wrestling. These were eventually followed by Ariel,
Tracy Brooks, Firehawk's relationship with TNA allowed the promotion to not only use TNA wrestlers but also have some of its storylines be played out in the CSWF Tenay would eventually become a "heel" manager and de facto leader of the growing TNA faction within the promotion. By the end of the year,
Larry Zbyszko,
D-Lo Brown,
Shark Boy,
Michael Shane and America's Most Wanted (
Chris Harris &
James Storm) were also competing for the CSWF. The high costs of running shows with such high-profile stars, however, took its toll on the company during its first year. Among the more serious issues were that the small crowds they were bringing in were not enough to justify running highly expensive shows as was Firehawk's tendency to overpay its talent. JAPW's show featured
Vader and
Mike Awesome while JCW had
Kamala,
Chris Candido and
Bam Bam Bigelow. On October 30, 2004,
Vince Russo appeared as leader of "Team TNA" and fired Julio Dinero and Miss Michelle from the group. He also threatened to fire Crowbar if he lost his match against Abyss which he did.
Lex Luger also wrestled on the show, defeating Danny Jaxx, and later brawled with Ron Killings following his match with Matt Striker. Luger cut a bizarre promo on "Shockwave TV" in which he delivered a rant against both Killings and Firehawk prior to his appearance at the upcoming "Superbrawl Saturday" show. This interview has become widely popular on
YouTube and social networking sites such as
Facebook and
MySpace. Luger was scheduled wrestle in a 6-man tag team match with The Youngbludz (Matt Striker and Nick Berk) against Ron Killings & America's Most Wanted at CSWF's "Fatal Attraction" on January 8, 2005, however, he suffered a back injury in preparation for his match and was instead replaced by then
NWA World Heavyweight Champion Jeff Jarrett. The event also marked the final appearance of Vince Russo, who announced his retirement from the wrestling industry. Jarrett also filled in for Luger in his bout against Ron Killings at "Superbrawl Saturday III" a month later.
NWA: Cyberspace On that same day, during "Superbrawl Saturday III", Billy Firehawk announced that the promotion had officially joined the
National Wrestling Alliance and was being renamed NWA: Cyberspace. By this time, the promotion was arguably considered one of the two top promotions in the New Jersey area, the other being
Jersey All Pro Wrestling.
Frankie Kazarian wrestled his final match in NWA Cyberspace before going to
World Wrestling Entertainment. After a near lengthy revamping of their website, the CSWF began broadcasting full events via its "Shockwave TV" webcast on March 25, 2005. A day later, it held another major show which saw Slyck Wagner Brown defended the NWA CyberSpace Championship against the former champion Ron Killings,
Abyss and Mana the Polynesian Warrior in a dog collar match and a match between Triple X and America's Most Wanted. Jarrett would continue to defend his NWA title in the promotion, including "champion vs. champion" bouts against then CSWF Heavyweight Champion Slyk Wagner Brown, Other stars who wrestled for NWA Cyberspace that year included Mike Kruel,
Rodney Mack, In spite of this, the promotion held its most successful show that year when over 400 fans attended "Superbrawl Saturday IV" in
Kearny, New Jersey, on January 21, 2006. A minor disturbance occurred at the show when Wayne Ploghofft, an employee of National Wrestling Superstars, was accused of attempting to take away objects he deemed as "weapons" from fans waiting to enter the building and forcibly eject others from attending the show. When Firehawk and other officials heard what was happening, Firehawk left the building with security members to confront Ploghofft but found he had left before their arrival. Several of Whipwreck's students, including Ken Scampi, Mike Spinelli,
Mason Raige, Quiet Storm, Tara Charisma and
Trinity, had been regulars in the promotion since its early years. On March 26, 2006, the promotion held its "Disturbing The Peace" supercard at the former home arena of Jersey City Wrestling, the Boys & Girls Club, in
Garfield, New Jersey.
NWA Shockwave NWA Cyberspace changed its name to NWA Shockwave on June 6, 2006, to reflect its Internet show, the aforementioned "Shockwave TV." Less than six weeks later, Billy Firehawk died on July 17, 2006, due to complications stemming from diabetes. He was 40 years old. Following the death of Firehawk, principle management of the federation was given to Derek Gordon, the former WCW producer and director of operations of NWA Shockwave. Gordon had been usually credited for the content driven plotlines of the federation over the year. The promotion went on a brief hiatus that summer. Upon its return, it promised new and unique storylines as well as bringing in fresh talent from other NWA affiliates in the United States and the United Kingdom. Stripped of the championship, the belts were discontinued when the promotion went on a brief hiatus starting on December 1, 2006. The Cruiser X and Women's titles were similarly scrapped. On January 13, 2007, Gordon held "NWA Shockwave: A New Beginning" at the sold-out Elks Lodge in
Boonton, New Jersey. Serving as a memorial show for Firehawk, the show brought back regulars such as Mike Tobin, Bobby Fish, Rob Eckos, Ken Scampi, Cindy Rogers and others. Havok won a Gauntlet Match defeating Devon Storm, Sinister X, Paul E. Normous, Boogalu Washington, Cindy Rogers and Slyk Wagner Brown to win the vacant NWA Shockwave Heavyweight Championship. Papadon beat Grim Reefer, Mike Tobin and Josh Daniels in a 4 Way Dance for the NWA Shockwave Internet title. Four months later, it was announced that NWA Shockwave and NWA Pro East would co-promote the NWA's first national television taping on the East Coast to be held at the Italian-American Family Association in
Clifton, New Jersey, on April 28. The show featured Crowbar, Damian Dragon, the Devil's Rejects (Paul E Normus & Sinister X) and NWA Shockwave Heavyweight Champion Havoc. Havoc and NWA Shockwave Internet Champion Pappadon defended their titles a May 5 NWA Pro East-Bodyslam Wrestling Organization show at the Knights of Columbus Hall in
Lodi. The promotion also signed an exclusive contract with the American Legion Hall to tour the Jersey Shore and included holding its inaugural “Beach Blanket Bodyslam” supercard. Havoc defended his heavyweight title on NWA Pro East cards for two months until losing the belt to Papadon in Clifton on June 2, 2007. The match was a 3 Way Dance involving then Internet Champion Josh Daniels and saw Papadon defeat each man in a
best of three falls to win both titles. This was the last recorded title defence of the heavyweight championship and the promotion quietly closed down shortly afterwards. ==Roster==