As 1982 rolled around, Hamilton Graham, Terry Shane Jr., and Karl O’Connor had shocked long-time fans in the Midwest by announcing a split from their wrestling home at the St. Louis Wrestling Office in order to form their own promotion – Central States Wrestling.
At an “Opening Day” press conference, O’Connor promised a “return to basics” for wrestling in the state of Missouri. A brash Graham also made a promise – that his former employer would be out of business before 1985 was finished.
The territory set up shop in Kansas City, reaching an agreement with a local small arena to feature live shows at least two nights a month. Graham, O’Connor, and Shane Jr. also signed commitments to one another, promising to not work for other promotions for a minimum of three years. O’Connor also signed his son Cameron to a “first look” contract – promising Central States Wrestling a chance to book Cameron before any other promoters – a move that angered other promoters throughout the United States.
Cameron O’Connor, who was the reigning Missouri State Champion for the St. Louis Wrestling Office before jumping ship, was instantly awarded the Central States Title. Terry Shane Jr., still the IWA World Champion, was kept out of action for several months until his contractual agreements with the IWA could expire. Hamilton Graham, however, swore to win the Central States title from the younger O’Connor before the year was out.
Karl O’Connor immediately set out to create a master plan of expansion – starting with negotiations with the IWA. O’Connor offered to let Terry Shane Jr. and Cameron O’Connor tour four months out of the year with the IWA in exchange for regular appearances of the IWA World Title in Central States Wrestling. In a major coup, he also negotiated that the IWA would officially recognize Central States Wrestling as the IWA territory for Kansas and Missouri – a move that forced the IWA to kick the St. Louis Wrestling Office out of their alliance. The strategy was sound, hitting their former employer with a major body blow but many promoters around the nation saw the tactic as underhanded and swore not to work with the new group.
On Super Bowl weekend in 1982, Central States Wrestling hosted their first show, headlined by Cameron O’Connor defending the Central States title against local Kansas City wrestler Bobby “Blues” Moody.
Moody was a ten year veteran of wrestling, primarily working for a territory that ran the northern plains states with their major hotseat being Omaha. A non-IWA affiliate, Ricky Miller, the promoter, made very few ventures into Kansas City in fear of the IWA’s ire.
Moody was a local favorite in KC. He inadvertently pioneered fan accessibility. Moody could usually be found at Moody’s Blues & BBQ (run by his brother), chowing down on some great local food, slinging back a few drinks, or up on stage warbling off the blues. Moody never turned away a kid who wanted an autograph or a fan looking for a photo opportunity.
Miller rarely ran KC, Moody was looking to get more bookings in his hometown. Enter Central States Wrestling, with a great opportunity for both men.
Moody was never the fittest wrestler, he sported a gut. He lacked the finesse of his colleagues. Moody was a brawler, who’s skills had started to dwindle with age. What he lacked in in-ring ability, he more than made up for with charisma and charm.
It was a sold out crowd on opening night with the Kansas City fans turning out in droves, hoping to see their hometown hero knock off the national superstar, O’Connor, in his first defense of the title. Moody’s brawling skills had the champion on the ropes throughout the early part of the match but a mis-timed clothesline attempt had him sail over the ropes, splitting his head on the concrete floor at the fifteen minute mark. O’Connor would move into control at that point and never relinquish it, finally putting Moody away with the famed O’Connor sleeperhold at the twenty-three minute mark.
The post-match melee that ensued is one that Kansas City wrestling fans still talk about with Hamilton Graham entering the ring to make an official challenge for the Central States title. O’Connor accepted the challenge, shaking Graham’s hand… who pulled him into a suckerpunch before eventually executing his dreaded piledriver THREE times before Moody came rushing back to the ring, fighting off severe blood loss to chase Graham from the ring.
O’Connor was taken from the ring on a stretcher, the crowd at a near riotous mood as Graham fought his way back to the locker room. Karl O’Connor had to take control of the mic to promise that Graham would “get his” before the fans would leave the building that night.
The February show saw Moody and Graham battle to a double countout, brawling all over ringside to the thrill of the fans. Moody split open Graham with a slam into the ring post, leaving him a bloody mess as he celebrated with the fans. But after the match, Karl O’Connor announced that his son would be violating doctor’s orders to return at the end of February to face Graham in a two out of three falls match for the Central States title.
On that cold February night, many believed that Hamilton Graham would walk out as the new champion and for one and a half falls, it appeared to be the truth. He punished O’Connor for the first fall, submitting him with a Boston Crab at the ten minute mark. He continued to work over the back and neck, setting for a piledriver at the twenty-four minute mark but O’Connor was able to secure a Boston Crab of his own for a submission. All tied at one fall apiece, the two battled for another twenty minutes before O’Connor took advantage of a missed headbutt off the middle role to hook in a sleeperhold on the downed Graham for the victory.
Graham suffered an arm injury during the match, taking him out of action for a few months. With Graham sidelined due to injury and Terry Shane Jr. still fulfilling IWA contractual obligations, Central States found themselves in the unusual position of being short on headliners just two months into their promotion’s life.
Desperate for someone to fill the gap, Karl O’Connor worked the phones like a madman over a weekend in mid-March, searching for someone to bring in to challenge his son. Ultimately, he found his man in the form of Kai Alana who had ignited the box office in the Northeast five years prior. The angle was laid out to Alana who made the trip from his home in Hawaii to the very next TV taping. On that taping, Cameron O’Connor was promoting the upcoming arena event where he was scheduled to take part in a 20-man St. Patrick’s Day Battle Royal for a “pot of gold.” O’Connor was in the middle of his promo promising to win the whole thing when Kai Alana came out of the crowd, stormed the ring, challenging O’Connor to join him. Never one to back down from a fight, Cameron O’Connor climbed inside the squared circle. An impromptu brawl broke out… one that O’Connor appeared to have gotten the better of when he hooked in his trademark sleeper. But Alana grabbed the ropes, pulling them both over the top to the floor. O’Connor took the brunt of the fall which put Alana in control at which point he rammed O’Connor’s head into the ringpost, splitting him wide open. He dragged him back into the ring, holding a bloodied O’Connor up by the hair as the fans screamed bloody murder and Karl O’Connor caught a great big whiff of money. Pure money.
As the St. Patrick’s Day show came around, O’Connor was held out of action for medical reasons and Alana was awarded his spot in the match. To the fury of the fans, Alana dominated the match, winning with relative ease. He was celebrating with the “pot of gold” when Cameron O’Connor came charging out from the back, his head heavily bandaged from the attack just a few days ago. O’Connor fought bravely but Alana again got the edge and used the metal pot to split O’Connor open again. He followed up with three big splashes off the top, leaving O’Connor bloodied and broken in the ring and setting up a big grudge title match for the April event.
However, Alana’s splash did more damage than anticipated and O’Connor had to back out of his April title defense. Demanding that O’Connor defend his title or forfeit it since he would go past 30 days without a defense, Alana called Karl O’Connor to the ring, accusing him of “protecting his baby boy.” A fired-up Karl got in Alana’s face, shoving him back into the corner. Alana came out strong but the Strangler was quicker, hooking his trademark sleeper to a huge reaction from the crowd. This set up an April clash between the veteran O’Connor and Alana… and somehow made everyone forget that Cameron hadn’t defended the title which was the goal to begin with. After weeks of television of Alana destroying his opposition, Karl O’Connor swore that he was going to make Alana bleed all over the building… in a First Blood match. There was rampant speculation that O’Connor and Alana couldn’t come to an agreement on the booking of the match. Neither man wanted to take a pinfall so the First Blood match was what they could agree on.
Predictably, the match ended when Alana split open Karl O’Connor. The match was short and many in the crowd weren’t happy with it but the return of Cameron O’Connor to fight off Alana, defending his father from further assault, popped the crowd and when Cameron made a post-match challenge for Memorial Day, the next show was nearly sold out before the building had emptied that night.
<GAP IN HISTORY>
In 1999, a young man named Scott Davis (who would later come to be known as “Hotshot” Stevie Scott) went to a tryout for CSW. Davis was not a follower of pro wrestling but still shined head-and-shoulders above the others at the tryout, catching the attention of promoter Jack Franklin. Franklin made Davis an offer and after some convincing, he accepted. Davis began his career in CSW as the Masked Maniac, learning the ropes to eventually become “Supersonic” Scotty Fields, a high-energy, high-flying fan favorite.
Fields captured the CSW Missouri State Championship in October of 2000 – a win that caught the eye of Michael Yinessa, the promoter of Knoxville Championship Wrestling, who offered Fields a spot in his promotion. With CSW in some financial trouble, Fields gave his notice and by the end of the year, he was on his way to KCW.
Central States Title History
Cameron O’Connor was awarded the title as the promotion began.
Missouri State Title
“Supersonic” Scotty Fields won the title in October of 2000