WCW Power Plant

WCW Power Plant
IndustryProfessional wrestling school
Founded1989
FounderJody Hamilton
Defunct2001
Fateceased operations when WCW was purchased by WWE
Headquarters
Atlanta, Georgia
,
United States
Key people
Jody Hamilton (director)
Paul Orndorff (manager)
DeWayne Bruce (lead trainer)
Debrah Miceli (trainer)
Bill Goldberg (trainee)
OwnerTime Warner
ParentWorld Championship Wrestling

The WCW Power Plant was a professional wrestling school in Atlanta, Georgia, owned and operated by World Championship Wrestling (WCW), a subsidairy of Time Warner.

The school was founded by wrestler Jody Hamilton, who opened the training center in 1989 in Lovejoy, Georgia. In 1991, it became the official school of WCW and relocated to Jonesboro, Georgia. By 1995, the school became known as the WCW Power Plant and relocated again, this time to Atlanta where Turner Broadcasting (the parent company of WCW) was headquartered. The school closed in March 2001 when WCW's assets were sold to the World Wrestling Federation (now known as WWE).

While the school had several successful trainees—including Bill Goldberg, Kevin Nash and Diamond Dallas Page—it was not a highly regarded training center in the wrestling industry.[1][2][3] Wrestler Bret Hart, who was injured by Goldberg during a match, characterized the training at the Power Plant as dangerous to your opponent.[4] Journalist Dave Meltzer wrote in 1999 that the school was "a total flop" because of their training emphasis on physical appearance over personality.[2] In 2001, wrestler Molly Holly told Live Audio Wrestling, "the Power Plant focused on push-ups, running, sit-ups, squats, and people yelling at you."[3] Other trainees, including William Regal and Bob Sapp, had positive experiences at the Power Plant.[5][6]

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  3. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference molly was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
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  6. ^ Cite error: The named reference Sapp was invoked but never defined (see the help page).