WCW Power Plant

The WCW Power Plant was a former professional wrestling school located at 1530 Carrol Drive in Atlanta, Georgia. It was owned and operated by World Championship Wrestling. The Power Plant was in operation throughout the 1990s. It stopped holding contests in December 1999 and closed in March 2001 when WCW's assets were sold to the World Wrestling Federation. It was used for training wrestlers.

Gym

The Power Plant was World Championship Wrestling's training gym located in a warehouse in Atlanta, Georgia.[1] It was in operation as early as 1995.[2] In February 1998, Paul Orndorff began managing the Power Plant.[3]

Criteria for entry

The Power Plant was advertised on WCW Monday Nitro. Once a month, open tryouts were held for applicants between the ages of 18 and 29.[1] If the applicants were suitably impressive, they would earn an invitation to join the school at a cost of $3,000 for six months training. Male applicants had to be at least 5 ft 9 in (1.75 m) tall and 180 lb (82 kg) in weight.

Training routine

To succeed at the Power Plant, a trainee was required to display very little strength and stamina, with more focus on basic wrestling skills. Bret Hart, who was forced to retire when a stiff kick from Power Plant graduate Bill Goldberg tore a muscle in his neck and gave him post-concussion syndrome, blamed the end of his career on the Power Plant training regime, saying "I don't think it was a priority to protect your opponent."[4]

While researching professional wrestling for a BBC documentary, journalist Louis Theroux visited the Power Plant. He volunteered to take part in some training in an effort to show some respect for the business, but as he had asked DeWayne Bruce some questions about kayfabe, he was forced into very hard exercise. At one stage, Bruce encouraged the other trainees to call him a cockroach while Theroux was struggling to regain his breath. Theroux was later shown vomiting on camera.[5]

Trainers

Male trainers

Female trainers

Graduates

Male graduates

Female graduates

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 "The Incredible Sinking Hulks". The New York Times. February 16, 1997. Retrieved 2009-10-19.
  2. 1 2 Milner, John M. and Richard Kamchen (October 6, 2004). "Paul Wight". SLAM! Wrestling. Retrieved 2009-10-19.
  3. 1 2 3 Powell, John (January 17, 2001). "Mike Sanders, a superstar in the making". SLAM! Wrestling. Retrieved 2009-10-19.
  4. ↑ Hart, Bret. "School of Joe". SLAM! Sports. Retrieved 2008-08-06.
  5. ↑ "Wrestling". Louis Theroux's Weird Weekends. Season 2. 1999-07-06. BBC Two.
  6. ↑ Pearlman, Jeff (April 19, 1999). "Slam! Bam! Goldberg!". Sports Illustrated. Retrieved 2009-10-19.
  7. ↑ Oliver, Greg (January 10, 2001). "The early days of WCW star Ernest Miller". SLAM! Wrestling. Retrieved 2009-10-19.
  8. ↑ Milner, John M. (October 21, 2005). "Kevin Nash". SLAM! Wrestling. Retrieved 2009-10-19.
  9. ↑ Milner, John M. (October 23, 2005). "Sonny Siaki". SLAM! Wrestling. Retrieved 2009-10-19.
  10. 1 2 Stinson, Thomas (June 27, 2007). "Benoit a hero to fans, colleagues". Cox News Service. Retrieved 2009-10-19.
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