Turnbuckle Championship Wrestling

Turnbuckle Championship Wrestling was a Southeastern independent professional wrestling promotion based in Marietta, Georgia. It was founded by retired wrestler and former NWA World Heavyweight Champion Dusty Rhodes^[1][2] in 2000 and, during its three years in operation, held events throughout the Southern United States in Virginia, Tennessee, Florida, Georgia and Alabama;^[3] it was especially popular in Atlanta, Georgia and Dothan, Alabama where the promotion regularly held events. TCW also cooperated with rival independent promotions by holding interpromotional shows with Florida Championship Wrestling. The promotion, at its height, had a successful weekly television series in the Atlanta-Macon, Georgia area and had planned to air one live pay-per-view event before its closure in 2003.

TCW later became home to many high-profile wrestlers after the closure of World Championship Wrestling and later Extreme Championship Wrestling in 2001. Among the former WCW roster included Sean Evans, Disco Inferno, David Flair, Lodi,^[4] Daffney^[5][6] Glacier, Ron Reis,^[7][8][9] Sonny Siaki,^[10] Scotty Riggs,^[11] Larry Zbyszko,^[12] Scott Hall,^[13] and The Public Enemy (Rocco Rock & Johnny Grunge), all of whom would win championship titles. Dusty's son Dustin Rhodes, who at the time was also wrestling for World Wrestling Entertainment as Goldust, also had a central role in the promotion and briefly held the TCW Heavyweight Championship in early 2002.^{[14][15][16][17][18]}

From ECW, Yoshihiro Tajiri and Super Crazy continued their long-running feud. The "heel stable" The Extreme Horsemen was formed by ex-ECW stars Steve Corino, Barry Windham^[17][19][20] and C. W. Anderson.^[21][22][23] Windham's brother, Kendall, also made occasional appearances for the promotion.^[8]

Older stars such as father and son Bob and Scott Armstrong, Manny Fernandez, Bobby Eaton, Ricky Morton, female wrestlers Leilani Kai, Malia Hosaka and Kim Nielsen, and independent wrestlers Jorge Estrada, Jason Sugarman and Steve Lawler were part of the roster as well.^[24] Damian Steele, one-half of Ebony & Ivory with Ray Gordy in Deep South Wrestling, got his start in Turnbuckle Championship Wrestling.^[25] Erik Watts^[17] and Chad Fortune, who previously teamed together in the World Wrestling Federation as Tekno Team 2000, also competed in the promotion.^[26]