Editors Note: Over the course of this piece you'll read about Rocco & Dominic Lozzio of the well respected Lozio wrestling family and their promotion "Kings of The Coast". While not shown in this particular piece, the Lozios later chose to respectfully decline feeling that with the bulk of the AWC territories being located on the east coast and through the midwest that it'd be too expensive to bring talent across country. Their promotion would later be replaced by Jack Donie (pronounced Donnie/Donny) and American Championship Wrestling in Minneapolis Minnesota.
The Following Is All Off Camera
The American Wrestling Coalition. A Name in professional wrestling that at one time held a lot of weight. It stood for credibility, respect and prestige. When the heart of the NWA finally died out in the early 90s after Jim Crockett sold out to Ted Turner and NWA: Eastern Championship Wrestling denounced the NWA and their title before rebirthing themselves as Extreme Championship Wrestling, a completely separate entity from the NWA (or anybody else from that matter), the door was open for a new standard in professional wrestling. It was in 1995, two years after the NWA/ECW Fiasco, that a group of Indy wrestling promoters came together looking for a way to elevate the Indy scene during a time when the World Wrestling Federation, World Championship Wrestling and Extreme Championship Wrestling were garnering all of the attention. It was then that they created the “American Wrestling Coalition.”.
The AWC May have never gotten the recognition that a WWF, or WCW or ECW got but, it never intended to. It was designed to be the elite brand in Independent wrestling. And to the diehard fans and Indy fans around the continent, it was recognized as just that. During it’s peak there were AWC promotions in 43 different states and more than half a dozen AWC Promotions through out Canada.
It was smooth sailing until the mid 00s. Then, much like everybody in the wrestling game, the AWC felt the pain of the vastly diminished interest in professional wrestling. Wrestling’s always been a business of steady ups and downs and back arounds and the mid 00s was as big a down as the business had seen in quite some time. AWC Companies dropped like flies. Finally in 2011 the few remaining AWC Promotions left voted to sell their trademarks and copyrights to the short lived Global Championship Wrestling. Unfortunately for them, GCW would go out of business before completing the deal.
And so, the AWC was inactive and on the market with no takers. Until recently. At a Legends Fest in Charlotte North Carolina in August of 2012 Florida State Wrestling promoter Nick Hudson was chatting with Southern Pro Wrestling promoter Stan Biehn and former AWC and ICWA Personality RJ Ryan. It didn’t take long before they were seriously discussing the prospect of pooling their resources to purchase the AWC and bringing it back to life.
However, with the end of the Legends Fest convention, so too seemed to be the end of those discussions. Until around January when Hudson and Biehn began talking again. This time Brandon Marks, the owner of “The Rebirth Of Wrestling” in Kansas City Missouri was involved in the discussions. They plotted and contemplated and debated but everybody’s idea of how things should pan out didn’t quite mesh. ROW’s second in command Alex Bradford wanted to kick things off later in the year if they were going to do it… Biehn began to get his hands full with non-wrestling related issues… And so, Hudson decided that if the AWC was going to come about, he needed to find other options. That’s when he called up RJ Ryan again and, the two of them invested a good chunk of change and finally purchased the copyrights, trademarks, video library and lineage of the American Wrestling Coalition.
But, without any other partners involved, that was just a pricey collection of video files and the right to use them as they so desired. So, RJ Ryan took to the lands to find potential AWC territories and that, brings us to The Meeting that could forever change Independent Wrestling.
Monday February 4, 2013 Miami Florida Ramada Inn Conference Room – 10:45am
The room was larger than needed but, the one thing that the FSW Facility was missing was a conference room. With FSW always being a family business, there was never a need for a “board meeting” type of scenario. Rick Masterson, Charlie Hudson, Kevin Hudson and Diamond Clarke and Nick Hudson would all either pile into Nick’s office or go out and grab a table at a local restaurant and discuss business over lunch. However, that simply wouldn’t do today. There was a large table and at the head of that table sat Nick Hudson in a tan suit with a white collared shirt, a purple tie and his hair combed back neatly. Beside him say RJ Ryan in a navy suit with a white shirt and a navy and white striped tie.
Nick, “So, What do you think?”
RJ Ryan, “I think for the amount of money we have in this, that it better pan out.”
Nick laughs, “Yeah… I meant about the promoters coming in today.”
RJ Ryan, “Oh… They all seemed really interested. There’s a couple I couldn’t convince to get in on the ground floor but, they wanted to exchange information and keep in touch if things looked like they were taking off.”
Nick, “I think they will. I called up Terry yesterday and talked to him about booking him and Bunny on our iPPV in April… He told me he’d keep that weekend open as long as I could tell him for sure by the end of the month. So as long as everything goes well here, I think I have that covered. He even offered to reduce his normal rate if we end up going with Van Dam as his opponent because he said he’s just always wanted to be able to work with Van Dam.”
RJ Ryan, “I think that’s the biggest possible match we could run. It just makes all the sense in the world to go that route.”
Nick, “Yeah, We just gotta make it all click today.”
“And I said Hell… Does a Fat puppy hate fast cars?!”'
“Heh-heh-ha-ha…”
That was the Nick and RJ glanced toward the open door as two men walked through. The First…
…Was Stan Dillinger. Stan Dillinger was an old time veteran out of the Dallas/Fort Worth area of Texas. After years of putting in blood and sweat on the territory system, Stan retired. However, in the late 90s Stan’s brother convinced him to get back in the game on a promotional level. Stan’s kids were getting older and talking about learning the business and his brother was ready to stop traveling the world and settle down back in the Lone Star state… So, Stan decided to go for it and opened up RoC… Return of Class. With him was his right hand man and his little brother…
“Outlaw” Marty Reign. Of course his real last name was Dillinger but he’d adopted the Reign name when he first broke into the business in an effort to create his own identity, separate from his older brother Stan’s. While Marty still laces up the boots and get’s in the ring from time to time, now a days he’s primarily working as the booker for RoC.
As they walked in, Nick and RJ stood up from their seats, heading over to shake their hands.
Nick Hudson, “Marty… How ya been buddy?”
Marty nods, “Been well buddy, been well.”
Marty and Nick had worked together a few times back during the territory days. However, Stan was a little before Nick’s time and he’d never had the pleasure.
RJ, “Stan Dillinger… This is Nick Hudson. He’s the owner and operator of Florida State Wrestling. Nick, this is Stan Dillinger… He the patriarch of “Return Of Class” in Dallas.”
Nick and Stan shake hands as Nick says, “It’s a pleasure.”
Stan nods, “Likewise.”
Before they can begin to converse, two more men walk through the door. The first…
Andrew Madison. Andrew Madison didn’t have a wrestling background but, in 2005 he went from a lifelong fan to a promoter when he opened “Great Lakes Wrestling” in Cleveland Ohio. Sometimes in our business, somebody just has a natural knack for it despite a lack of time in the business and as a promoter, Andrew Madison showed he had that very knack. Andrew built Great Lakes into the top Independent company in his area, drawing close to two thousand fans at their weekly TV Tapings and, briefly serving as a developmental territory to the short-lived mainstream promotion “GWA”. With him was…
Devon James. Once upon a time, Devon was donned a red and black mask and competed for the ICWA and then various promotions in Japan as the monster “Mystical”. A nearly seven foot, evil entity. Now a days however, Devon rarely puts on his gear. He’s worked in the past as a road agent for the ICWA and a couple of years ago he took over the booking of Great Lakes Wrestling from their previous booker, Al Snow. The group introduces themselves to one another and as they do, another pair of individuals come through the door.
First…
Rob Steinbrenner. In Philadelphia and the Tri State area (Philly, NYC and Jersey) One name was synonymous with hardcore, ass kicking wrestling. ECW. Then, a new name became synonymous with wrestling in that area… IRX. But with ECW being reduced to a video library and some copyrights that are held at WWE Headquarters and IRX closed, a new promotion has gained traction in that area, operating out of the old Bingo Hall that was once known as the ECW arena… Their name is Blood Flow Pro (B.F.P.) And the man who created Blood Flow Pro is none other than Rob Steinbrenner. Steinbrenner is originally from South Philadelphia and he originally trained to be a wrestler. However, he’s found much more success as a manager / personality than he ever did wrestling. And now, he’s running Blood Flow Pro and with two years under his belt and a growing audience in the tri-state area, it seems he’s doing quite well. With him is…
Harold “Huggy Bear” Higgins. Harold was a color personality for Bare Bones Wrestling in Ohio until the company drew to it’s conclusion a few months ago. In it’s absence, Huggy joined former IRX commentator Sammy Daniels as the voices of Blood Flow Pro. However, Huggy quickly proved he had more to bring to the table than just charisma and has become a primary advisor to Steinbrenner in Blood Flow Pro.
Next into the room is…
Wyatt Smith. Wyatt Smith is originally from Oklahoma. Another Territory Wrestler, Wyatt spent time in various promotions throughout the united states however, the last territory he was in was Mid Atlantic Wrestling based out of Charlotte North Carolina. Something just clicked for Wyatt in North Carolina and he’s been there ever since. Based in Raleigh North Carolina, Wyatt’s been running the entire Mid Atlantic area from Virginia to South Carolina for the last few years under with his promotion “Mid Atlantic Wrestling Again “ (MAWA). Although generally, it’s just referred to as “Mid Atlantic Wrestling”. With him is…
Commentator and right hand man, Glenn Matthews. Glenn Matthews has notable fame from becoming an ICWA commentator and interviewer when the ICWA rebuilt themselves in North Carolina in 2008. Matthews has stayed a regular part of the ICWA since then however, with the ICWA going on Hiatus in August of 2012, Matthews went back to his native North Carolina and replaced their re-locating play by play man. Because of Matthews’ mainstream experience, it didn’t take him long to become the right hand man to Wyatt Smith.
Next in is…
Keith Holdren. Keith Holdren was a wildly successful business man in St. Louis Missouri. A Furniture store kingpin in the area. Then he decided to fulfill a lifelong dream and enter the wrestling business. He opened Missouri State Wrestling in 2009, a company that was briefly associated with the ICWA. It had a rocky start but, it smoothed out and is a staple in the St. Louis area today. With him is…
Burt Busch. Burt Busch is the long time voice of the ICWA and has been the President of Talent Relations for the ICWA and GWA as well as an on air personality for PWT. Burt’s been a voice in the business since 1982 and being native to the St. Louis area, it just made sense for Burt to get involved with Missouri State Wrestling. Burt serves not only as the voice of Missouri State Wrestling but, also as the booker for territory.
Next in is…
Winston Douglas. Originally from New York, Winston Douglas struck it big in Real Estate and relocated to Nevada where he re-invested his real estate wealth into the Casino/Hotel scene. Winston created the W.D. World Casino and Hotel. In doing so though, he wanted his own brand of entertainment to be showcased. He didn’t want to be just another casino hosting Little Richie one week and Tom Jones the next. Sports Entertainment Xtreme, or S.E.X. Sure, he had to shell out some money to TNA to buy the copyright on the name but, he was sure it’d be worth it. Now Winston promotes a very flashy, edgy, Sex, Glamour and Entertainment first style of product that’s found exclusively at the W.D. World Casino and Hotel. And with him is…
Frankie Flash. Frankie Flash is only in his late twenties but he’s been on the Indy scene for the last ten years. Not necessarily the greatest in ring worker to ever come down the pike, Flash manages to do well for himself anyway because of his ultra charismatic, over the top personality. Frankie Flash is the embodiment of what S.E.X. Is all about.
Next in is…
Rocco Lozio. Like many of the guys here today, Rocco Lozio was also an old territory wrestler. In his later years he trained all of his sons and created “Kings of the Coast” wrestling. A territory centered around the success of the Lozio family. And in the spirit of family, with him is…
His younger brother Dominic Lozio. Once upon a time Rocco and Lozio were a fierce tag team in the wrestling world. Now they’re a fierce duo in the front offices of Kings of the Coast.
The duos appear to have stopped but filing in by himself comes…
Jonathan Brooks. Jonathan Brooks is most well known as the former president of Professional Wrestling Today (PWT). Recently, however, Brooks has found success with his very own “Memphis Championship Wrestling Association” in Memphis Tennessee. Brooks does it all… He Promotes, he books, and he even does commentary alongside former PWT Color man Eddie Styles.
And finally…
Brandon Newcastle. Brandon Newcastle is the booker and in a non-financial sense, the promoting force behind Wrestle Art Revolution in Indianapolis Indiana. W.A.R. Has been around for at least a decade and has served on several occasions as a developmetal territory for the ICWA. Owned by the world famous David Van Dam, Newcastle is the man Van Dam entrusts with the everyday running of the promotion. Van Dam at this point pays the taxes and invests the profits while Newcastle does the rest and has full authority over the product.
Everyone get’s introduced and the sixteen visitors eventually find their seats as too does RJ Ryan while Nick Hudson stands at the head of the table.
Nick Hudson, “Firstly I’d just like to welcome everybody. I’m thrilled that all of you could make it. Now I know that Roger has spoken to all of you and given you the broad strokes. The reason we’re here today is to answer any questions anybody might have and, hopefully, to make this whole deal official. Several different areas are represented here today… We have with us Stan and Marty Dillinger of Dallas Texas… Andrew Madison and Thomas Reagan of Cleveland Ohio… Rob Steinbrenner and Harold Higgins of Philadelphia Pennsylvania… Wyatt Smith and Glenn Matthews of Raleigh North Carolina… Keith Holdren and Burt Busch of St. Louis Missouri… Jonathan Brooks of Memphis Tennessee… Brandon Newcastle of Indianapolis Indiana… Rocco and Dominic Lozio of Los Angeles California… And Winston Douglas and Frankie Flash of Reno Nevada. It is an absolute pleasure to have each of you here with us today. Now what I’d like to talk to all of you about is… The American Wrestling Coalition.”
Hudson pauses for a moment.
Hudson, “As many of you are well aware, the American Wrestling Coalition was born in nineteen ninety five during a time when the NWA had lost its credibility and the WWF, WCW and ECW were ruling the wrestling world. The American Wrestling Coalition was created with the American Independent wrestling scene specifically in mind. The idea was to create a governing body… An image... an idea, that seemed larger than any one promotion. The hope was, that if several promotions joined together under the AWC moniker, and advertised the AWC as a huge deal, that it’d begin to draw money. People would begin to buy into the idea that seeing special AWC events and supercards featuring AWC talents from across the country was a big deal. If Brooks’ top guy from Memphis went to Cleveland and faced Madison’s top guy ordinarily… Eh, so what? Nobody in Cleveland would have a reason to know who the guy from Memphis was or to think he’d have a chance against their recognized top guy. But when you bill it as ‘AWC Super Powers Collide…’ And advertise Brooks’ top guy as being a hot shot in a fellow AWC territory, then the match could draw a boat load of money. And of course… The centerpiece of the whole thing… Having one World’s Champion who was advertised and hyped as the top guy in all of wrestling by each territory so that every time he came to your territory to defend the belt, it’d be a guaranteed sell out. It’s an idea, my friends, that worked tremendously for close to a decade.”
Hudson, “However… by two thousand three, two thousand four, the industry was starting to slump and the AWC was as effected as anybody else was. Add to that, the fact that the egos had grown enormous inside the AWC and the infighting began to build and the territories began dropping like flies. Obviously, things went downhill.”
Hudson nods in a conceding fashion.
Hudson, “Today, however, Roger and I feel that we can bring back the American Wrestling Coalition and revive its legacy… Putting each person who invests in this concept in a position to make some real money off it over the course of time. Now, one of the issues the old AWC had was that everybody at the table wanted what was best for them. Which is fine. Each of you should be interested in what’s best for your promotion. However, there has to be a certain sense of what’s best for the AWC because, if we’re doing what’s best for the AWC, Then we’ll be doing what’s best for each of our bottom lines… Because that my friends, is the whole concept. Rebuild the AWC to a point where using its name draws us more money than we’d make without its name. But, the previous group of promoters got short sighted and it was impossible for them to agree on anything because none of them were willing to see past their own home base. This was something I thought about long and hard before deciding to invest in the AWC. And then the solution occurred to me… There has to be an investor involved who is not connected to any one particular promotion. Which is why Roger was such a great choice to get on board in the early going. Not only does he know all of the AWC History and lineage having been a traveling manager with the AWC from 1995 all the way until he got signed by the ICWA in 2011… But, he’s not a promoter. He has money invested in the AWC and only the AWC, so therefore his only goal will be to make the AWC as profitable as possible. Hence, we have a built in voice of reason to stop any of us from getting blind to the big picture.”
RJ nods, “And I don’t wanta go broke any more than anybody else so a voice of reason I shall be.”
There’s some laughs amongst the table.
Nick Hudson, “So the deal is this… Each one of you can buy into the American Wrestling Coalition for a one time fee of a thousand dollars.”
There’s immediately some “Whoa” and “Ehh” sounds from the table.
Nick Hudson, “Hold on now… I promise ya, RJ and I spent a whole lot more than that to get the intellectual properties and the video library for the AWC… We are still in the negative after all of you pay this one time thousand dollar fee… BUT, We’re so confident in the money that’s to be made down the road that we don’t mind bringing you guys in at a cheaper rate than we paid… But here’s the thing… That thousand dollars? That’s it. That’s all you’ll ever pay to be affiliated with the new American Wrestling Coalition. When this thing catches on… And trust me, it’s going to catch on… All the people that come in later? They’re gonna be paying regular dues. They’re gonna have to re-up every six months or a year and every time they’ll be throwing money in the pot. Money that will get spread amongst the founding promoters… The people at this table today. Now your thousand dollars… It’s an investment. That money will go to creating AWC Title belts… It’ll go to advertising… It’ll be spent on the AWC. It’s not going in anybody’s pocket. The dues we get… A Portion of those dues will be put into the AWC Treasurey to pay for meetings like this… Whatever various expenses we as a coalition make incur. And of course, the rest of the dues will find their way into our pockets.”
Jonathan Brooks pops up, “What were you thinking as far as a launch date?”
Nick Hudson, “April. I have a two day internet pay per view event planned. Presently working shows for us is David Van Dam. I think you’d all agree, he’s a name that carries weight and can sell out a house anywhere in the country.”
There’s nods and general words of agreement.
Nick Hudson, “Yesterday I spoke with Tommy Bennett who I assume you’re all familiar with from his time on top in New York.”
More nods and words of agreement.
Nick Hudson, “Prior to the ICWA’s off season, Tommy Bennett was their World’s champion. I talked to Tommy about bringing the belt down with him and working a match with Van Dam. We’ll put the AWC Strap on one of those two and let em put asses every eighteen inches in Miami… Indianapolis… St. Louis… Memphis… California… Texas… the Mid Atlantic, the North East Tri-State area… Nevada and anywhere else we decide to throw shows because that’s what guys like Tommy and David do… They put asses in seats. And with us having the ICWA World’s champion involved and a guy with a golden resume like Van Dam involved, there’s instant credibility and legitimacy to the AWC belt regardless of who we put over. Aside from RJ, I have the most money invested and I’ve put in a lot of work in getting this group of promoters together… We were very particular in deciding who should be brought in on the ground level for this thing. So, I feel like it’s fair that the first title match occurs in Florida. But after that? We’ll all work together… RJ will be dealing with the actual booking of the champion and serving as the champion’s agent so to speak. So he’ll keep track of who get’s the champ where and what dates go to which promotion as they best suit each of you.”
Rob Steinbrenner speaks up, “At Blood Flow Pro, we champion a very extreme style. Van Dam or Bennett… They gonna be willing to work the kinda matches our fans are expecting to see?”
Nick Hudson, “Well, if you want em to set themselves on fire and jump three stories through barbwire and glass then no, I don’t suspect that they would. But these guys are masters of their crafts. Even your audience will appreciate having them there whether they’re getting maimed and mutilated or not.”
Rocco, “How’s payment for the champion’s travel work?”
Nick Hudson, “A hundred dollars to the AWC Treasury for booking the champion. Then routine travel expenses and a thousand dollars to the champion. Whether it’s Tommy or Dave, you’ll make that at least a half a dozen times over as long as you advertise and promote right and by the time we have the first champ drop the belt to somebody else, we’ll have built the title to mean enough that it won’t matter who holds the belt, it’ll draw big money.”
Stan Dillinger speaks up, “What if it doesn’t work… What if six months from now the AWC never got off the ground. Are we stuck holding our cocks, out a thousand dollars?”
Nick Hudson, “Absolutely not. If for any reason over the next year the AWC doesn’t produce and doesn’t pan out, each of you will be reimbursed your full thousand dollars. But I’m absolutely confident that this thing is going to work out tremendously.”
Brandon Newcastle, “How are you going to decide who goes over in the Van Dam / Bennett match for the strap?”
Nick Hudson, “Once we know who’s on board, we’ll take a vote.”
That draws some positive reactions amongst the table.
RJ Ryan, “And, what Nick hasn’t really touched on yet is that we have the AWC Library at our disposal too. A lot of you are already booking guys who have been in the AWC before. There’s some serious DVD distribution possibilities there too. Plus, down the road we can start looking at “The Best Of” DVDs like “The Best of AWC Title matches” and everybody’d be getting a cut of those types of DVDs where matches are being pulled from every territory. We may not be able to sell our DVDs at Wal Mart or Best Buy but, between the merch tables at everybody’s shows and the various internet avenues available to us, there’s definitely some serious distribution possibilities. Plus for those of you who have training programs… How much more credibility will your program have once we rebuild the AWC name and these kids see that your school’s an AWC Approved school. If you’re creative with this thing, the sky’s the limit. We can get milk out of this cow for a long time.”
Nick Hudson, “He’s right… So what do you guys say… Moment of Truth… Are you in, or are ya out…?”
And the rest, as they say, is history. | 
