The Upstate of South Carolina, even more so the entire Carolinas and Georgia have always been hotbed areas for professional wrestling. For decades, the National Wrestling Alliance was the promotion leading the way for pro wrestling in this part of the world.
I like many other people who were raised in the Upstate grew up going to NWA events at the old Greenville Memorial Auditorium. In the 1990's the NWA began to start to fade while WWF (now WWE) and WCW became nationally prominent. The NWA brand managed to survive but on a much smaller and less noticeable scale.
After the National Wrestling Alliance faded into obscurity, Smashing Pumpkins front man Billy Corgan bought the iconic brand with a revision to relaunch. Corgan who is a lifelong wrestling fan had been part of the ownership group in TNA Wrestling, but that relationship soured and eventually devolved into a lawsuit.
It was then he purchased the rights to the NWA and relaunched the iconic brand in 2019. Five years after that relaunch the company has seen growth in various aspects and recently has landed a partnership with the CW Network for its flagship TV program.
Part of that growth has seen the NWA start to revive the old territory system. While they have not established a partnership with an affiliate territory in the Carolinas or Georgia yet, the company has ran shows in Charlotte and Atlanta.
With that territory system revival in mind, the NWA will hold its "Back To The Territories" event this Saturday, June 1st in Knoxville, Tennessee. A place where they have established a partner territory titled NWA JCP Southeast, which is ran by 3rd generation promoter Joe Cazana, who's Grandfather Jon Cazana was instrumental in making local wrestling a staple of the culture in East Tennessee, decades ago.
Joe Galli serves as the Chief Operating Officer for the National Wrestling Alliance under Billy Corgan's ownership. Galli has a steep background in news journalism and in addition to being the COO of the NWA is also their Play-By-Play Announcer for their TV programming and Premium events. He joined Rob Jones to talk about the upcoming events for the NWA and the rekindling of territory wrestling. That interview is below.