User:Randycresswell
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| Acronym | TAJJ |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1997 |
| Defunct | 2004 |
| Style | American Wrestling |
| Headquarters | Memphis, Tennessee |
| Founder(s) | Adam Dunn |
| Owner(s) | Adam Dunn |
| Parent | Memphis Mobile Media |
| Formerly | TAJJ Wrestling |
TAJJ Championship Wrestling (TAJJ) was an American professional wrestling promotion based in Memphis, Tennessee that ran from 1997 to 2004. It was owned and founded by Adam Dunn. The initials TAJJ stood for the original four founders (Tyler, Adam, Jeremy, Jason) with Adam Dunn retaining Ownership of the promotion. The promotion was originally a backyard wrestling promotion from 1997 to 2001 until Adam Dunn purchased a new 16x16 wrestling ring from Ebay and moved operations to "Dunn Arena", his father's Transmission Shop showroom on 2525 Summer Ave. From there, TAJJ Championship Wrestling began running weekly TV shows on Memphis CPN Channel 17 on Time Warner Cable, which later would become Comcast Cable. The show ran from December 2001 until April 2004 when TAJJ Championship Wrestling ceased operations. TAJJ Championship Wrestling will be having a One Night Only Reunion show in Southaven, Mississippi later this year.
History
[edit]Before Television
[edit]TAJJ Wrestling originally started in the bedroom and backyard of Adam Dunn's grandmother's house with mattresses laid out on the floor or a trampoline used in the backyard. Early on, Adam Dunn knew they had something he wanted to continue. Even at age 12, he had already had set up a multi-camera switcher and used it to re-create some of the big angles he saw on early USWA Wrestling TV shows.
The Beginning of TV | The Rise of TAJJ Championship Wrestling
[edit]TAJJ Championship Wrestling submitted its Pilot show, a "Best Of", to Time Warner Cable's CPN Channel 17 in August 2001. By December 2001, it was approved and a new episode was shot to air with new content and wrestling matches recorded specifically for the debut show. TAJJ Wrestling's TV show was aired in a 30 minute time slow at 11:30AM. The Original TAJJ Wrestling crew consisted of Adam Dunn, Mr. Wrestling 3, Tyler Gibson, Overdose, Jeremy Killz, Redd, Brittney, Josh Campbell, and DJ Armed Robbery. Due to such a small crew, the wrestlers who were not wrestling, would be either referees or production crew. When Adam Dunn would wrestle, either Overdose or DJ Armed Robbery would run the switcher.
The show was shot live to tape with little to no post editing needed. The show was produced in a way that it could of been aired on Live Television if the capability had been there.
In January 2002, Adam Dunn and his crew decided that more wrestlers and talent were needed to continue the show and reached out to various independent and backyard promotions. TAJJ Wrestler Redd ended up coming across a promotion called F.A.K.E. (Fantastic Ass Kicking Entertainment) Wrestling and from that group came Scotty C, Calypso, Blade, Memphis J aka Jeremy Blaze, Dave Anthony, Marcus O'Neil, The Machine, Crazy Tha Cobra, Steven Pound, and Hank Russell aka Smack Daddy Hank as an announcer.
MACW Invasion
[edit]During this time, MACW, a promotion out of Dyersburg, Tennessee, began scouting talent from TAJJ. The MACW talent included former Power Pro Wrestling stars Derrick King and Chris Rocker, Flex, Brian Bump, Tim Grind, Alex Krisis, Mean Mike Murphy, and referee William Gibson. A 6 week program was put together involving MACW and TAJJ feuding with Derrick King who had joined announcer Tyler Gibson at the desk. The feud ended in a 6 man Tag Team match that involved Memphis J, Redd, and their recruited MACW star V-Man, taking on Mean Mike Murphy, Alex Krisis, and Derrick King. TAJJ was victorious and MACW ended up scouting Memphis J to go on to become a professional wrestler in Dyserburg, TN under the name "Jeremy Blaze".
FOX13 Story
[edit]During one of the TV Tapings at Dunn Arena, wrestler Marcus O'Neil (under the name Tech-9), broke and dislocated his right arm during a tag team match. After the injury, one of the wrestlers, Steven Pound (under the name MKV), acted as if he "beat him up" to get him backstage. At the time, kids emulating wrestling moves and dying as a result was a big news topic and the story of Marc's arm being broke caught the attention of FOX13. They arrived with their investigative reporter, Allison Triarsi, for an "I-Team" Investigation. Adam Dunn, Adam's dad Danny Dunn, Scotty C, Steven Pound, and The Machine were interviewed for the story.
The station aired topical promos that included "Violence" and "Fight Club" like material and even aired thr footage included Marc's arm being broke, footage that to this day, TAJJ has refused to show on television out of respect to Marc and the Edwards Family. Also during the piece, it was stated that Marc and his family had no interest in him returning to a TAJJ ring. Marc returned 2 months later to TAJJ Championship Wrestling at their big "Battle at Elliston" event and continues to wrestle to this day, including appearances at Chikara and IWA Mid-South.
Though the I-Team Investigation shed a negative light on the accident, it resulted in a positive outcome for TAJJ. In studio crowds went from a few fans a week to over 30 a week and it continued to grow. Many new wrestlers also came and joined TAJJ Wrestling to help continue improving the product and grow it as a serious contender in the Memphis market.
First Big Event | Road Show
[edit]After the FOX 13 story, wrestlers Marq Brian Smith and Jason Skyler had recently joined TAJJ Championship Wrestling and had suggested that the promotion speak with their school, Elliston Baptist Academy in Memphis, TN about running a road show. Adam Dunn, Brian Smith, and Jason Skyler met with school officials and it was decided that a show would be promoted in April as a fundraiser for the school. For the next month and half, TAJJ Championship Wrestling devoted it's entire broadcast and online media to promote the event, under the name, "Battle At Elliston". Promoted matches included a 30 Minute Iron Man match for the TAJJ Heavyweight Championship between Memphis J and Redd, a Hardcore Title match between Machine and Crazy Tha Cobra, a "Final Confrontation" match between Owner Adam Dunn and Commissioner Scotty C (known as Kid Wicked), Dave Anthony Vs a debuting Tony Dee, a Chain Match between Elliston Academy's own Brian Smith and Jason Skyler, a Tag Team match between the debuting Criminyle and DJ Armed Robbery Vs "Thrillz and Killz" Jeremy Killz and "Thrilla" Josh Campbell, a Battle Royal that featured the return of Marcus O'Neil from his Arm Injury, and the opening match between Mighty Mike and the debuting Chris Lexx.
Earlier that day, a free show was held in the gymnasium for the student body with three matches, all promoting the fundraiser later on that night. The show was deemed a success drawing 150 paid to the school that night.
Temporary Shut Down | TV Continues
[edit]After the Battle at Elliston show, issues and tension between Adam Dunn and Scotty C came up that caused Scotty C to leave TAJJ, taking with him over half the talent used for TV, to start his own promotion. At this time, there was not enough talent to continue a weekly in ring show, so a new program called "TAJJ Ringside" was hosted by long time friend and assistan producer Marvin Adams to keep the time slot current until talent negotiations could happen between new and former talent.
TAJJ Wrestling Returns | Roster Grows
[edit]One month later, TAJJ Championship Wrestling returned to tv with a mix of old and new talent that included Memphis J (Now Jeremy Blaze), Redd (Now NOS), Tommy Drama, Titanic, Chris Lexx, Charlie Laird (Former TV-5 Enhancement Talent), "Ruthless" Ron McLarity, KaOs Tha Man, and more. The promotion continued to operate with this roster and Jeremy Blaze as booker, until much of the former talent came back to TAJJ after Scotty C's promotion closed. It was during this time period that Tony Myers (Former TV-5 Enhancement Talent), came in to replace Jeremy Blaze as booker of TAJJ. With Myers came Lacey Lane, Johnny Morton, talent from St. Louis, and two apperances from Moondog Spot shortly before his tragic passing. Also at this time, talent from IWA Championship Wrestling showed an interest in becoming involved. It was at this time the need for more TV time became apparent.
TAJJ Championship Wrestling started a second television program called TCW Primetime, that aired Tuesday Nights at 9PM. TAJJ Championship Wrestling underwent a unique roster split that had the more veteran talent on TAJJ's Saturday Morning program and the younger talent on the second program. New championship titles were created so that both shows would have champions. TAJJ also decided during the summer to move the shows outside into the parking lot, so that more people could see the action on Summer Ave. This series of shows was dubbed the "Showdown on Summer". During this series, Guy Coffee came to the show in person to check it out.
Now with the two TV shows, TAJJ promoted multiple road events in Memphis, TN that included Kingsbury High School, Georgian Hills, Treadwell, and Frayser High. The roster split stayed in effect for over 6 months until Tony Myers returned the booking duties back to Adam Dunn and left the promotion along with the much of the "veteran" talent. The IWA Talent stayed to help further the TAJJ Talent in its training. During this time, TAJJ had the distinction of being the only wrestling promotion in Memphis, TN on Television and running weekly Saturday Morning shows. They also had the distinction of being the only wrestling promotion to run the Center for Southern Folklore 16th Annual Memphis Music and Heritage Festival. The show drew high numbers and was even visited by Jimmy Hart to see the wrestling action that lasted over Three Days.
The decline of TAJJ Championship Wrestling
[edit]As the end of 2003 came around, crowds had dropped and talent had moved on to working various weekend promotions around the Mid-South. Scotty C, who had by this time had become a very well known Play by Play announcer in the Mid-South, came back to TAJJ to help Adam with production and serve as a Co-Booker and on screen commissioner of TAJJ. Scotty and Adam both tried to bring in extra talent to spice up the promotion, but by the last week of 2003, an insurance issue came up that caused TAJJ to move its show from the indoor "Dunn Arena" to the outdoor "First Choice Auto" venue. With it being during the winter months at the beginning of 2004, the crowds never returned as they once were and the decline had taken full effect.
The end of the the promotion came when the TAJJ Ring was "stolen" by another wrestler who said he had permission to use it at his Friday Night show. The TAJJ Crew showed up Saturday Morning to set up the ring that was held in a storage bay at First Choice Auto Sales. Upon opening the bay, the ring was gone. When the staff was asked what haapened, they stated a wrestler came up there yesterday afternoon and said he had permission to use the ring and bring it back Saturday Morning. The ring was later found at Frayser High School where a show had been promoted by "Showstopper" James Kentrell. Adam Dunn decided at that point that the promotion was not viable, the talent was out of hand, and once the ring was recovered he ended the TAJJ Championship Wrestling promotion.
Notes
[edit]Former TAJJ Talent worked with local wrestling promoter KC Gold to have have the last champions of TAJJ crowned at an event at the New Daisy Theater in Memphis, TN. The matches were not sactioned by TAJJ Championship Wrestling are considered held up to this day.
Attempts at "Rebooting" TAJJ
[edit]Former TAJJ talent attempted to bring back the promotion by running it as "Total Chaos Wrestling", using the same talent and promoting spot shows throughout Memphis. Only a handful of events were held before the promotion failed.
TAJJ Rewind
[edit]In 2007, Adam Dunn and Scotty C aka Randy Cresswell began a new show taped at the Comcast Studios in Memphis, TN showcasing classic TAJJ Wrestling matches. The program also had exclusive interviews with former TAJJ talent and local wrestling personalties who were fans of the product. The show was used to push other promotions in the area and retain the Comcast time slot that had been held since 2001. Shortly after the program started, the show had ended due to both Adam Dunn and Randy Cresswell no longer living in Memphis, TN.
One Night Only
[edit]Recently announced on TAJJWrestling.com and TAJJ Championship Wrestling on Facebook, a date and venue will be announced this September to give a proper ending to the story of TAJJ Wrestling. The is being dubbed "One Night Only" and are in negotiations on getting new TV shows added to CPN Channel 17 starting soon.
TAJJ Championships
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