Post by ideamark on Oct 6, 2006 15:39:54 GMT -5
Great article from Matt Krumie at TheWrestlingMall
www.thewrestlingmall.com/htmls/news.asp?Cat=3&View=13382
The National Wrestling League: A Historical Look at a Pro Wrestling League Formed in the Late '80's
Printer Friendly Version
Email this article
10/5/2006 8:27:00 PM
Before RealProWrestling, another professional wrestling league was started. The National Wrestling League was formed in the late 1980’s behind Chicago businessman and visionary Wayne Gerenstein. Gerenstein recently shared historical information about the league that discussed his plan and just how tough it was to get a pro league up and running.
In the end, the league failed because investors didn’t come through as promised and the league couldn’t pay wrestlers like originally planned. This is the first of two articles covering the history of the NWL. This article takes a look at how it got started and how the media covered it, with various insight and comments from a number of stories. The next article will include comments, memories and thoughts from the wrestlers that competed and people involved in getting the league started.
By Matt Krumrie – TWM Freelance Writer
Real Pro Wrestling recently announced plans for Season II. Among the features will be four regional qualifiers throughout the country, allowing wrestlers a chance to earn a spot in the second-year professional league. The first season of Real Pro Wrestling took place in the spring of 2005 and featured many top-level American wrestlers - among them Olympians, NCAA champions and All-Americans – competing for monetary prizes. Among them were a who’s who of household wrestling names - Joe Williams, Jared Lawrence, Chris Bono, Eric Akin, Lindsay Durlacher, Dennis Hall, T.C. Dantzler, Daniel Cormier, Mo Lawal and Doug Schwab, among others, who all competed for teams like the Minnesota Freeze, Iowa Stalkers, Oklahoma Slam, New York Outrage, Texas Shooters, Chicago Groove, Pennsylvania Hammers and California Claw.
This story sponsored by:
Omega Sports Products
Great 2006-07 custom team packages from us!!!
Call 1-800-435-8801 for details
Flashback to 1989, when another “real” pro wrestling league was formed – the National Wrestling League (NWL). This included teams such as the California Quake, Chicago Blaze, Cleveland Cougars, Iowa Stalkers, Minnesota Grizzlies, Oklahoma Bison and Pennsylvania Stallions.
The league was headquartered in Chicago and founded by Wayne Gerenstein, then 37, and a former Elmwood Park High School (Illinois) wrestling coach. Gerenstein kept records of the press clippings and newspaper and magazine articles covering the NWL. He recently shared that information to give an inside look at what was a valiant attempt to bring a real professional wrestling league to the American sporting scene. Here is what was being said about the NWL nearly 20 years ago (Note: complete rosters and NWL rules listed below):
• In an October 14, 1988 Chicago Pressnewspaper article, Gerenstein said the NWL is for serious wrestlers only.
“There won’t be any Hulk Hogans out there,” Gerenstein said. “This is legitimate wrestling as opposed to theatrical wrestling.
Craig Brueske, who wrote the article, added “In other words, don’t look for any sleeper holds, atomic elbows or claws.”
• Gerenstein formed the idea while attending the Illinois high school state wrestling tournament years before. His theory? He figured of the 10,000 fans at the event, about 3,000 were family and friends. That means about 7,000 wrestling fans with no connection to the teams or families came to watch wrestling for entertainment value.
“I felt it was a viable product so I began working on the project during summer months,” Gerenstein told the Press. “Since I was a teacher, my summer months were usually free.”
• Gerenstein left teaching in 1987 and began working on forming the NWL on a full-time basis. Gerenstein said the timing for a new professional league at that time was right because it was starting right after the 1988 Olympics, and interest levels were high among the American public. A market research study showed that wrestling was the fastest-growing sport in the country over the last 20 years
“Wayne’s idea is a good one with the team concept” said Ken Kraft, the former Northwestern coach who was the associate athletic director at Northwestern at the time. “The team concept gives it another dimension. You can still have great individuals, but people can get involved with the team competition. I’ve seen a number of attempts to make wrestling a pro sport, but the difference here is the team concept.”
In fact, in the previous year two separate dual meets at Penn State attracted crowds of 8,200, while 14,760 fans turned out to watch Iowa State wrestle Iowa. In addition, a pre-Olympic wrestling meet at Northwestern University attracted over 6,000 fans.
• The schedule called for a 28-meet schedule from January to April with a mid-season All-Star break. The draft didn’t allow current college wrestlers to be selected, and all wrestlers had to be at least 22 years old.
Base salary for each wrestler was set at $15,000-$20,000. In addition, 40 percent of all revenue were to be applied to the athletes’ salary.
“If we can draw 6,000-7,000 fans the first year would be a success,” said Gerenstein.
• Following the dual meet season, two postseason tournaments were to be held in late June, one to determine individual weight class champions, and one to determine an overall champion. Bouts were held in eight weight classes (125, 130, 140, 150, 160, 170, 185, 200 and 290 pounds. Folkstyle and freestyle rules were applied, with rules modifications made to insure the matches offered constant action.
“We’ll create our own stars,” said Gerenstein. “Does the average American even know who our Olympic wrestlers are outside of the wrestling community? We’ll have good teams and good quality wrestlers.”
• One issue the league had to deal with was the United States Olympic Committee, which didn’t budge from its stance that prospective Olympic athletes would lose their amateur status by turning pro and competing in the NWL.
“The athletes who are concerned about their eligibility, we will make them aware of their options,” said Gerenstein. “Yes we might jeopardize their eligibility and they will have to make a decision. We feel there are enough good wrestlers out there, All-Americans who didn’t make the Olympics.”
• An article in The Wall Street Journal by Frederick C. Klein covered and wrote about opening night of the NWL – where a crowd of about 1,100 watched the Chicago Blaze take on the Minnesota Grizzlies. The writer was more focused on the outside issues, not the actual event, and seemed to have a negative experience – to say the least.
“Indeed, it’s doubtful that any of the hodgepodge of new sports leagues that have blossomed (and, mostly soon withered), in this land in recent years have had a more fitful commencement than the NWL,” Klein wrote (the World Football League and American Basketball Association were two other leagues that were formed and failed in that era). “Its schedule was to begin in November, then in January. As recently as a week before the opening, officials talked about a half-dozen corporate sponsors anteing up about $5 million or $6 million, but on Tuesday only one – a camera maker – was on board as a “supplier.”
Klein continued.
“The confusion extended right up to mat time. Wrestlers who were listed in the program didn’t show, and others who weren’t did. Who was grappling with whom was in doubt even after some buzzers sounded because the public-address announcer must have been recruited from a bus depot.”
• In Colorado Springs, USA Wrestling executive director David Miller was stated as applauding “anything that promotes legitimate wrestling and keeps top-level competitors in training.”
The current Olympic team coach was listed as a 185-pounder on the Iowa Stalkers roster.
Klein then says that Miller “rumbles on about scheduling conflicts between the NWL and his national teams, whose members are being paid this year for the first time.
Miller also commented on the athlete’s eligibility.
“That’s up to FILA, and it hasn’t ruled” said Miller. “Until it does we can only warn that anyone who signs a NWL contract may be endangering his Olympic status.”
Klein then added, “some in the NWL suspect that USA Wrestling is being disingenuous on the eligibility question.”
Here are some other news and notes from Klein’s article:
• If matches drags or a wrestler gets hurt, NWL rules allowed a team to make one mid-bout substitution a meet. “That’s to keep things moving,” says Gerenstein.
• Wrestlers wore matching team singlets and sweatshirts, but had to supply their own sweatpants, and those of various colleges were in evidence, Klein wrote.
• The first match between the Blaze and Grizzlies was recapped like this, according to Klein – who never did give the final score in his summary:
Zalesky was a coach and competitor for the Minnesota Grizzlies in the National Wrestling League. After competing against the Chicago Blaze in the inaugural match in Chicago, Zalesky said “This was kind of slapped together, but it will get better. It’s great to wrestle again, it’ll be nice to be paid for it. I hope.”
“The Blaze captured the first three bouts to take a 12-0 lead in team points and elate their instant faithful, but lost the next four and needed a last-bout win in the 185-pound finale, but the sub was a 160-pounder who fought earlier and he was thrown around smartly.”
Jim Zalesky, competing for Minnesota, commented in the article. “This was kind of slapped together, but it will get better,” he said. “It’s great to wrestle again, it’ll be nice to be paid for it. I hope.”
What others said:
• “From a marketing aspect, our main job is to educate people about the sport,” said Robert Cycon, president of Cycon Communications, which was in charge of setting up marketing strategies, public relations and promotions for the NWL.
• “Wayne’s idea is a good one with the team concept” said Ken Kraft, the former Northwestern coach who was the associate athletic director at Northwestern at the time. “The team concept gives it another dimension. You can still have great individuals, but people can get involved with the team competition. I’ve seen a number of attempts to make wrestling a pro sport, but the difference here is the team concept.”
• Kraft again, “This is certainly a positive thing for the sport, whether it will make it or not, we won’t know for a while.
All in all, it appears the NWL was a great idea that failed like so many other pro leagues do – because of a lack of financial backing. Look for comments from Gerenstein, Kraft, Zalesky, Tim Flynn and others in the second article of this two-part series.
Below is a look at the rosters and unique rules:
NATIONAL WRESTLING LEAGUE ROSTERS AND RULES
California Quake
130: Mike Erb, Joe Gonzalez
140: Mel East, Bill Nersian
150: Doug Parise, Paul LaBanc
160: Murray Craws, Jesse Reyes
170: Marty Kistler, Roy Oliver
185: Greg Okorian, Jeff Steubing
200: Jon Lundberg
Hwt: Dan Lewis, Rocco Liasce
Chicago Blaze
Head coach: Randy Conrad
130: John Azevedo, Tom Herring, Scott Hinkle, Todd Sterr
140: Dale Eggart, Bill Kelly, Bob McGuinn
150: Kirk Azinger, Phil Rembert, Rich Townsell
160: Tom Draheim, Jeff Jordan
170: Bob Gruner, Lionel Keyhes, Ed Urbano
185: Greg Evans, Rich Miller, Todd Yde
200: Laurent Soucie, Jim Williamson
Hwt: Mike Jones
Cleveland Cougars
130: Andy Daniels, Dave Rowan
140: Tom Herring, Rob Johnson
150: Pat Milkovich, Dave Zoransky, Burt Kennedy
160: Jim Akerly, Jude Skove
170: Mike DeAnna
185: Dave Mariola, Jamie Milkovich
200: Eli Blazoff, Charlie Dombrowski, Charlie Heller
Hwt: John Heropoulos, Harold Smith
Iowa Stalkers
130: Steve Knight, Mike Schwab
140: David Ray, Gil Sanchez
150: Joe Gibbons, Kurt Shedenheim
160: Larry Jackson, Vince Silva, Lenny Zalesky
170: Stewart Carter, Dave Ewing, Mike McGivern
185: Daryl Gholar, Kevin Jackson
200: Mark Cody, Jeff Weatherman
Hwt: Rod Severn , Mike Perez
Minnesota Grizzlies
Head Coach: Craig Warrick
130: Orlando Caseris, Kenny Johnson, Tom Mooney
140: Kevin Darkus, Gary Lefebvre
150: Jim Caughey, Jim Martinez, Dalen Wasmund
160: Jim Johnson, Tim Manning
170: Jim Zalesky, Mark Richmond
185: Eric Lehrke, Rod Sande
200: Mike Foy, Jim Williamson
Hwt: Gary Albright, Jay Balcom, Mark Miller, Chuck Vavrowski
Oklahoma Bisons
130: Mike Clevenger, Mark Perry
140: Clint Burke, Keith Walton, Kevin Steidley
150: Darin Higgins, Paul Morris
160: Glen Lanham, Junior Taylor
170: Israel Sheppard
185: Mike Sheets
200: Pete Davidson
Hwt: Mark Tatum
Pennsylvania Stallions
130: Al Aires, Rick Bonomo, Tony Catromeo
140: Matt Avery, John Detore, Tim Flynn
150: Lenny Bernstein, Derek Glenn, Gene Nigham
160: Jack Effner, Tim Quigney, Rich McIntyre
170: Jody Karam, John Leon, Chris Catalfo
185: Wayne Catan, John Hanrahan
200: Tim Catalfo, Charlie Gadson, Lelan Rogers
Hwt: Bernie Brown, Bill Hyman, Ron Ippolite
NWL SCORING AND RULES MODIFICATIONS
In general, the rules for NWL matches will be based on the same structure used by high school and collegiate programs across the country. The following NWL modifications will provide fast-moving, action-packed matches:
Individual Match Scoring
Takedown – 2 points
Escape – 1 point
Reversal – 2 points
Near Fall – 2 or 3 points
High Amplitude Throw* - 2 points
* Must have a wrestler from the neutral position throw his opponent to his back; wrestler must elevate his opponent’s hips higher than his own.
Penalty points for stalling:
Fall – 6 points
Forfeit – 6 points
Default – 6 points
Disqualification – 6 points
Technical Fall – 5 points
Decision (by 8-14 points) - 4 points
Decision (by fewer than 8 points) – 3 points
Draw – 2 points
Length of Periods
• Two-minute periods with one minute break between periods.
• Two-minute overtime/sudden death period (all points, cautions and warnings for stalling carry over into sudden death).
Substitution Rules
• A team will be allowed one substitution per meet. A substitution can be made anytime during a match when there is insignificant action.
• A coach may move a wrestler up two-weight classes for a substitution
• If a match goes into sudden death overtime, the wrestlers who finish the third period must wrestle in overtime. No substitutions in sudden death.
Placing a Wrestler on the Mat
• The visiting team must place its wrestler on the mat first
Wrestler’s Position
• Wrestlers may use a folkstyle or Olympic style start. Folkstyle/Olympic-style start will occur anywhere in the middle circle of the mat, in the bottom position, hands must be in front and not touching the knees.
Boundary Lines
• Any move that is started on the mat can be finished off the mat, as long as it is the same move (consistent with Olympic rules)
• As long as any part of either wrestler’s body is in bounds, wrestling will continue.
• Near fall points and a fall can be scored off the edge of the mat as long as any part of either wrestler’s body remains in bounds.
Matt Krumrie accepts feedback on his articles at mattkrum@yahoo.com
www.thewrestlingmall.com/htmls/news.asp?Cat=3&View=13382
The National Wrestling League: A Historical Look at a Pro Wrestling League Formed in the Late '80's
Printer Friendly Version
Email this article
10/5/2006 8:27:00 PM
Before RealProWrestling, another professional wrestling league was started. The National Wrestling League was formed in the late 1980’s behind Chicago businessman and visionary Wayne Gerenstein. Gerenstein recently shared historical information about the league that discussed his plan and just how tough it was to get a pro league up and running.
In the end, the league failed because investors didn’t come through as promised and the league couldn’t pay wrestlers like originally planned. This is the first of two articles covering the history of the NWL. This article takes a look at how it got started and how the media covered it, with various insight and comments from a number of stories. The next article will include comments, memories and thoughts from the wrestlers that competed and people involved in getting the league started.
By Matt Krumrie – TWM Freelance Writer
Real Pro Wrestling recently announced plans for Season II. Among the features will be four regional qualifiers throughout the country, allowing wrestlers a chance to earn a spot in the second-year professional league. The first season of Real Pro Wrestling took place in the spring of 2005 and featured many top-level American wrestlers - among them Olympians, NCAA champions and All-Americans – competing for monetary prizes. Among them were a who’s who of household wrestling names - Joe Williams, Jared Lawrence, Chris Bono, Eric Akin, Lindsay Durlacher, Dennis Hall, T.C. Dantzler, Daniel Cormier, Mo Lawal and Doug Schwab, among others, who all competed for teams like the Minnesota Freeze, Iowa Stalkers, Oklahoma Slam, New York Outrage, Texas Shooters, Chicago Groove, Pennsylvania Hammers and California Claw.
This story sponsored by:
Omega Sports Products
Great 2006-07 custom team packages from us!!!
Call 1-800-435-8801 for details
Flashback to 1989, when another “real” pro wrestling league was formed – the National Wrestling League (NWL). This included teams such as the California Quake, Chicago Blaze, Cleveland Cougars, Iowa Stalkers, Minnesota Grizzlies, Oklahoma Bison and Pennsylvania Stallions.
The league was headquartered in Chicago and founded by Wayne Gerenstein, then 37, and a former Elmwood Park High School (Illinois) wrestling coach. Gerenstein kept records of the press clippings and newspaper and magazine articles covering the NWL. He recently shared that information to give an inside look at what was a valiant attempt to bring a real professional wrestling league to the American sporting scene. Here is what was being said about the NWL nearly 20 years ago (Note: complete rosters and NWL rules listed below):
• In an October 14, 1988 Chicago Pressnewspaper article, Gerenstein said the NWL is for serious wrestlers only.
“There won’t be any Hulk Hogans out there,” Gerenstein said. “This is legitimate wrestling as opposed to theatrical wrestling.
Craig Brueske, who wrote the article, added “In other words, don’t look for any sleeper holds, atomic elbows or claws.”
• Gerenstein formed the idea while attending the Illinois high school state wrestling tournament years before. His theory? He figured of the 10,000 fans at the event, about 3,000 were family and friends. That means about 7,000 wrestling fans with no connection to the teams or families came to watch wrestling for entertainment value.
“I felt it was a viable product so I began working on the project during summer months,” Gerenstein told the Press. “Since I was a teacher, my summer months were usually free.”
• Gerenstein left teaching in 1987 and began working on forming the NWL on a full-time basis. Gerenstein said the timing for a new professional league at that time was right because it was starting right after the 1988 Olympics, and interest levels were high among the American public. A market research study showed that wrestling was the fastest-growing sport in the country over the last 20 years
“Wayne’s idea is a good one with the team concept” said Ken Kraft, the former Northwestern coach who was the associate athletic director at Northwestern at the time. “The team concept gives it another dimension. You can still have great individuals, but people can get involved with the team competition. I’ve seen a number of attempts to make wrestling a pro sport, but the difference here is the team concept.”
In fact, in the previous year two separate dual meets at Penn State attracted crowds of 8,200, while 14,760 fans turned out to watch Iowa State wrestle Iowa. In addition, a pre-Olympic wrestling meet at Northwestern University attracted over 6,000 fans.
• The schedule called for a 28-meet schedule from January to April with a mid-season All-Star break. The draft didn’t allow current college wrestlers to be selected, and all wrestlers had to be at least 22 years old.
Base salary for each wrestler was set at $15,000-$20,000. In addition, 40 percent of all revenue were to be applied to the athletes’ salary.
“If we can draw 6,000-7,000 fans the first year would be a success,” said Gerenstein.
• Following the dual meet season, two postseason tournaments were to be held in late June, one to determine individual weight class champions, and one to determine an overall champion. Bouts were held in eight weight classes (125, 130, 140, 150, 160, 170, 185, 200 and 290 pounds. Folkstyle and freestyle rules were applied, with rules modifications made to insure the matches offered constant action.
“We’ll create our own stars,” said Gerenstein. “Does the average American even know who our Olympic wrestlers are outside of the wrestling community? We’ll have good teams and good quality wrestlers.”
• One issue the league had to deal with was the United States Olympic Committee, which didn’t budge from its stance that prospective Olympic athletes would lose their amateur status by turning pro and competing in the NWL.
“The athletes who are concerned about their eligibility, we will make them aware of their options,” said Gerenstein. “Yes we might jeopardize their eligibility and they will have to make a decision. We feel there are enough good wrestlers out there, All-Americans who didn’t make the Olympics.”
• An article in The Wall Street Journal by Frederick C. Klein covered and wrote about opening night of the NWL – where a crowd of about 1,100 watched the Chicago Blaze take on the Minnesota Grizzlies. The writer was more focused on the outside issues, not the actual event, and seemed to have a negative experience – to say the least.
“Indeed, it’s doubtful that any of the hodgepodge of new sports leagues that have blossomed (and, mostly soon withered), in this land in recent years have had a more fitful commencement than the NWL,” Klein wrote (the World Football League and American Basketball Association were two other leagues that were formed and failed in that era). “Its schedule was to begin in November, then in January. As recently as a week before the opening, officials talked about a half-dozen corporate sponsors anteing up about $5 million or $6 million, but on Tuesday only one – a camera maker – was on board as a “supplier.”
Klein continued.
“The confusion extended right up to mat time. Wrestlers who were listed in the program didn’t show, and others who weren’t did. Who was grappling with whom was in doubt even after some buzzers sounded because the public-address announcer must have been recruited from a bus depot.”
• In Colorado Springs, USA Wrestling executive director David Miller was stated as applauding “anything that promotes legitimate wrestling and keeps top-level competitors in training.”
The current Olympic team coach was listed as a 185-pounder on the Iowa Stalkers roster.
Klein then says that Miller “rumbles on about scheduling conflicts between the NWL and his national teams, whose members are being paid this year for the first time.
Miller also commented on the athlete’s eligibility.
“That’s up to FILA, and it hasn’t ruled” said Miller. “Until it does we can only warn that anyone who signs a NWL contract may be endangering his Olympic status.”
Klein then added, “some in the NWL suspect that USA Wrestling is being disingenuous on the eligibility question.”
Here are some other news and notes from Klein’s article:
• If matches drags or a wrestler gets hurt, NWL rules allowed a team to make one mid-bout substitution a meet. “That’s to keep things moving,” says Gerenstein.
• Wrestlers wore matching team singlets and sweatshirts, but had to supply their own sweatpants, and those of various colleges were in evidence, Klein wrote.
• The first match between the Blaze and Grizzlies was recapped like this, according to Klein – who never did give the final score in his summary:
Zalesky was a coach and competitor for the Minnesota Grizzlies in the National Wrestling League. After competing against the Chicago Blaze in the inaugural match in Chicago, Zalesky said “This was kind of slapped together, but it will get better. It’s great to wrestle again, it’ll be nice to be paid for it. I hope.”
“The Blaze captured the first three bouts to take a 12-0 lead in team points and elate their instant faithful, but lost the next four and needed a last-bout win in the 185-pound finale, but the sub was a 160-pounder who fought earlier and he was thrown around smartly.”
Jim Zalesky, competing for Minnesota, commented in the article. “This was kind of slapped together, but it will get better,” he said. “It’s great to wrestle again, it’ll be nice to be paid for it. I hope.”
What others said:
• “From a marketing aspect, our main job is to educate people about the sport,” said Robert Cycon, president of Cycon Communications, which was in charge of setting up marketing strategies, public relations and promotions for the NWL.
• “Wayne’s idea is a good one with the team concept” said Ken Kraft, the former Northwestern coach who was the associate athletic director at Northwestern at the time. “The team concept gives it another dimension. You can still have great individuals, but people can get involved with the team competition. I’ve seen a number of attempts to make wrestling a pro sport, but the difference here is the team concept.”
• Kraft again, “This is certainly a positive thing for the sport, whether it will make it or not, we won’t know for a while.
All in all, it appears the NWL was a great idea that failed like so many other pro leagues do – because of a lack of financial backing. Look for comments from Gerenstein, Kraft, Zalesky, Tim Flynn and others in the second article of this two-part series.
Below is a look at the rosters and unique rules:
NATIONAL WRESTLING LEAGUE ROSTERS AND RULES
California Quake
130: Mike Erb, Joe Gonzalez
140: Mel East, Bill Nersian
150: Doug Parise, Paul LaBanc
160: Murray Craws, Jesse Reyes
170: Marty Kistler, Roy Oliver
185: Greg Okorian, Jeff Steubing
200: Jon Lundberg
Hwt: Dan Lewis, Rocco Liasce
Chicago Blaze
Head coach: Randy Conrad
130: John Azevedo, Tom Herring, Scott Hinkle, Todd Sterr
140: Dale Eggart, Bill Kelly, Bob McGuinn
150: Kirk Azinger, Phil Rembert, Rich Townsell
160: Tom Draheim, Jeff Jordan
170: Bob Gruner, Lionel Keyhes, Ed Urbano
185: Greg Evans, Rich Miller, Todd Yde
200: Laurent Soucie, Jim Williamson
Hwt: Mike Jones
Cleveland Cougars
130: Andy Daniels, Dave Rowan
140: Tom Herring, Rob Johnson
150: Pat Milkovich, Dave Zoransky, Burt Kennedy
160: Jim Akerly, Jude Skove
170: Mike DeAnna
185: Dave Mariola, Jamie Milkovich
200: Eli Blazoff, Charlie Dombrowski, Charlie Heller
Hwt: John Heropoulos, Harold Smith
Iowa Stalkers
130: Steve Knight, Mike Schwab
140: David Ray, Gil Sanchez
150: Joe Gibbons, Kurt Shedenheim
160: Larry Jackson, Vince Silva, Lenny Zalesky
170: Stewart Carter, Dave Ewing, Mike McGivern
185: Daryl Gholar, Kevin Jackson
200: Mark Cody, Jeff Weatherman
Hwt: Rod Severn , Mike Perez
Minnesota Grizzlies
Head Coach: Craig Warrick
130: Orlando Caseris, Kenny Johnson, Tom Mooney
140: Kevin Darkus, Gary Lefebvre
150: Jim Caughey, Jim Martinez, Dalen Wasmund
160: Jim Johnson, Tim Manning
170: Jim Zalesky, Mark Richmond
185: Eric Lehrke, Rod Sande
200: Mike Foy, Jim Williamson
Hwt: Gary Albright, Jay Balcom, Mark Miller, Chuck Vavrowski
Oklahoma Bisons
130: Mike Clevenger, Mark Perry
140: Clint Burke, Keith Walton, Kevin Steidley
150: Darin Higgins, Paul Morris
160: Glen Lanham, Junior Taylor
170: Israel Sheppard
185: Mike Sheets
200: Pete Davidson
Hwt: Mark Tatum
Pennsylvania Stallions
130: Al Aires, Rick Bonomo, Tony Catromeo
140: Matt Avery, John Detore, Tim Flynn
150: Lenny Bernstein, Derek Glenn, Gene Nigham
160: Jack Effner, Tim Quigney, Rich McIntyre
170: Jody Karam, John Leon, Chris Catalfo
185: Wayne Catan, John Hanrahan
200: Tim Catalfo, Charlie Gadson, Lelan Rogers
Hwt: Bernie Brown, Bill Hyman, Ron Ippolite
NWL SCORING AND RULES MODIFICATIONS
In general, the rules for NWL matches will be based on the same structure used by high school and collegiate programs across the country. The following NWL modifications will provide fast-moving, action-packed matches:
Individual Match Scoring
Takedown – 2 points
Escape – 1 point
Reversal – 2 points
Near Fall – 2 or 3 points
High Amplitude Throw* - 2 points
* Must have a wrestler from the neutral position throw his opponent to his back; wrestler must elevate his opponent’s hips higher than his own.
Penalty points for stalling:
Fall – 6 points
Forfeit – 6 points
Default – 6 points
Disqualification – 6 points
Technical Fall – 5 points
Decision (by 8-14 points) - 4 points
Decision (by fewer than 8 points) – 3 points
Draw – 2 points
Length of Periods
• Two-minute periods with one minute break between periods.
• Two-minute overtime/sudden death period (all points, cautions and warnings for stalling carry over into sudden death).
Substitution Rules
• A team will be allowed one substitution per meet. A substitution can be made anytime during a match when there is insignificant action.
• A coach may move a wrestler up two-weight classes for a substitution
• If a match goes into sudden death overtime, the wrestlers who finish the third period must wrestle in overtime. No substitutions in sudden death.
Placing a Wrestler on the Mat
• The visiting team must place its wrestler on the mat first
Wrestler’s Position
• Wrestlers may use a folkstyle or Olympic style start. Folkstyle/Olympic-style start will occur anywhere in the middle circle of the mat, in the bottom position, hands must be in front and not touching the knees.
Boundary Lines
• Any move that is started on the mat can be finished off the mat, as long as it is the same move (consistent with Olympic rules)
• As long as any part of either wrestler’s body is in bounds, wrestling will continue.
• Near fall points and a fall can be scored off the edge of the mat as long as any part of either wrestler’s body remains in bounds.
Matt Krumrie accepts feedback on his articles at mattkrum@yahoo.com