CWC Years

[M.V.W.]

The Capitol Wrestling Corporation (CWC) years of WWE don't get much coverage despite being a significant chunk of WWE's history. Hell, Toots Mondt was just acknowledged last year in the Legacy Wing of the WWE HOF. Spanning from 1952 when Jess McMahon (Vince Jr.'s grandfather) and Toots Mondt founded the company in DC to 1963 when the Thesz-Rogers NWA Title dispute led Vince Sr. and Mondt to leave the NWA and form the World Wide Wrestling Federation (WWWF) it boasts quite a few notables such as Antonino Rocca, Buddy Rogers, Dr. Jerry Graham, Bobo Brazil, Johnny Valentine and Karl Von Hess. At one point tag team wrestling dominated the territory and headlined w/ teams such as The Fabulous Kangaroos, Antonino Rocca & Miguel Pérez, Tolos Brothers, Don Curtis & Mark Lewin and The Graham Brothers.

[Edward_Nesbit]

Toots and Jess founded Capitol Wrestling in 1952, they formed the WWWF in 1963.

[bbo223]

The company name was ALWAYS Capitol Wrestling Corporation. The World Wide Wrestling Federation name came into use when Vince Sr. and Toots Mondt wanted to keep Buddy Rogers as their world champion in '63 and needed some sort of an official-sounding sanctioning body. But it was just a name.

[Ricky Jackson]

Jess McMahon and Mondt started the company with Vince Sr around 1952/53, but Jess didn't live very long after that. Vince Sr and Toots started a TV show in DC that proved very popular and when it got on the air in the New York area around 1956 it basically blew away whatever competition there was, similar to what Vince Jr would do on a larger scale in many parts of NA in the 80s. They were able to secure the Garden after several promoters tried and failed to run consistent money-making shows in the building after it was re-opened to wrestling in 1949. Vince Sr and Toots had Argentina Rocca and drew very well for a few years featuring Rocca and partners (often Miguel Perez) vs a rotating assortment of tag teams, including the Graham's, Lewin/Curtis, the Kangaroos and many others. Around 1959, Vince Sr was muscled out of the Garden by a group of rival promoters and didn't regain control of the arena until late-1960. As the 60s progressed Vince Sr made moves to gain more and more traction in the midwest, including co-promoting in Chicago during a hot time for wrestling in the city, peaking with Rogers vs O'Connor in Comiskey Park in 1961. Vince Sr had by this time become Rogers' booker, which led to problems with other promoters regarding his availability as NWA champion. In 1963, Vince Sr essentially broke away from the NWA and began using "WWWF" as a name for his promotion, even though as the previous poster stated, this was really just a name for a fictional governing body, since they had separated from the NWA, and the name of the company remained Capitol Wrestling Corporation until Vince Jr took over

[Oldschool]

Those were great times I would imagine, wish there was more footage from back then

[Skullbutt]

I began watching wrestling in 1958. While I mostly watched on Thursday nights, there also was a show on Tuesday nights from Sunnyside Gardens in Queens, New York. Its announcer was disc jockey, Lonny Starr. But I will focus on the Thursday show from Capitol Arena in Washington, DC, recognizing that many wrestlers were on both shows.

The ring announcer was Jimmie Lake. He was an elderly man with a flower in his lapel. Decades later I read a Washington Post feature article about him. Lake had been called "The King of Burlesque." Before introducing the first wrestlers, he introduced the time keeper, the "ringside physician," and the referee. Harry Smythe was the usual referee, although there were others.

Ray Morgan was the announcer on Thursdays. Again years later, I read that he was a radio announcer. His most used expression was "Good Night!" when something unexpected happened. Morgan, naturally, supported the Faces.

A couple of things of interest: One was they announced out- of -area scheduled matches. Since Capitol had a pretty wide viewing range, the other sites welcomed the publicity. Another was that they would interview wrestlers between bouts. While occasionally brawls broke out during the interviews, these were somewhat rare.

The overwhelming majority of matches were squashes. I believe that the faces and heels won about the same number of squashes. Each night there was one match that was not a squash. They were referred to as being held "in the dark" and took place before the televised match. Occasionally, there were matches that weren't squashes, and once in a long while tag team championships would be shown. I never remember any individual championship take place on television. It's important to remember that the matches each week were live. There were no pay-for-view events.

[Oldschool]

Thanks so much for sharing your memories

" Before introducing the first wrestlers, he introduced the time keeper, the "ringside physician," and the referee.

I like that idea a lot, in the current state those guys are usually kept as nameless as possible unless involved in a storyline

The overwhelming majority of matches were squashes. I believe that the faces and heels won about the same number of squashes. Each night there was one match that was not a squash. They were referred to as being held "in the dark" and took place before the televised match. Occasionally, there were matches that weren't squashes, and once in a long while tag team championships would be shown. I never remember any individual championship take place on television.

This wouldn't go over too well today, but I can see where it worked extremely well in the given situation, allowing the main guys to get a reputation of being unstoppable - I think perhaps the WWE should go back to basics, but not quite that far

[Skullbutt]

There were numerous tag teams in Capitol. Unlike singles competitions, occasionally they televised competitive tag team matches. The 4 biggest teams were Rocca and Perez, Mark Lewin and Don Curtis, Jerry and Eddie Graham, and the Kangaroos—Heffernan and Costello. The latter 3 teams played musical chairs with the Tag Team Championships which were sometimes televised.

Other top teams that I remember were the Tolos Brothers, Donn Lewin and Johnny Barend, Skull Murphy and Brute Bernard, The Kentuckians, Johnny Valentine and the Sheik, Lou and Red Bastien, Sailor Art Thomas and Sweet Daddy Siki and later on, Buddy Rogers with the Great Scott and with Bob Orton. Interestingly, Lou Albano and Tony Altimore were always squashed in individual matches, but when they teamed did fairly well.

[Oldschool]

Were there ever any squash matches in the tag division?

[Skullbutt]

Were there ever any squash matches in the tag division?

Sure. Most of the time, tag team matches were squashes. The good matches were the rarities.