History
The Heartland Wrestling Association was started in 1995 by Les Thatcher and Brady Laber, in association with his wrestling school Main Event Pro Wrestling Camp, and held the first annual Brian Pillman Memorial Show in 1998.
The promotion served as the developmental territory for both World Championship Wrestling (WCW) and World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE), with alumni including wrestlers such as Mike Sanders, Shannon Moore, Victoria, the Hardy Boyz and brothers Charlie and Russ Haas, as well as former WCW veterans Bill DeMott and Elix Skipper. Among the top independent wrestlers to have competed in the promotion are Nigel McGuinness, BJ Whitmer, Matt Stryker, Shark Boy, Cody Hawk and Chad Collyer. Although WWE pulled out of the HWA to cut their budget, HWA continues to have a working relationship with the promotion. The HWA was once featured in an episode of MTV's True Life in the episode "True Life: I'm A Professional Wrestler".
HWA airs a weekly TV program "Adrenaline" nationally on the America One television network. As of early-2007, HWA has produced three online pay-per-view events: "CyberClash" from the HWA Arena in Evendale, Ohio, on March 17, 2006, "Road to Destiny" from the Dayton Gym Club in Dayton, Ohio on June 10, 2006, and "CyberClash 2.0" from the HWA Arena in Evendale, Ohio on March 10, 2007.
In August 2007, the HWA seemed to be shut down, with Cody Hawk launching a new promotion called EGO Pro Wrestling. However, it wound up being a split, as the HWA found new investors and began running live events and producing new episodes of "HWA Adrenaline." The first "HWA Reborn" event occurred on November 9, 2007, with subsequent live events being announced through 2008. Starting in September 2008, HWA performed at The Sorg Opera House in Middletown, Ohio. In August 2009, Jake Crist became the longest reigning heavyweight champion in HWA history. After a brief hiatus from weekly shows HWA returns starting on May 31,2011 at the Great Miami Event Center in Hamilton, Ohio on a weekly basis known as "Adrenaline" which is every Tuesday. In addition to these events HWA runs weekend events regularly in Norwood, OH and at its home in Hamilton, OH respectively.
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