== Introduction ==

ACW-Utah is an abbreviation for American Championship Wrestling, a small and struggling professional wrestling promotion based out of Salt Lake City, Utah. Founded in 2003 by professional wrestler Nic Hardy (alias "Psycho"), ACW should not be confused with ECW (Extreme Championship Wrestling), OCW (Ohio Valley Wrestling), the WWE (World Wrestling Entertainment), or any other similar-sounding name or organization.
Though ACW-Utah's primary territory is Utah, they also have the capability to hold house shows in Idaho, Nevada, & Wyoming.

Since their inception in 2003, ACW-Utah has established three main title championships:

ACW Heavyweight Championship

ACW Junior Heavyweight Championship

ACW U.S. Tag Team Championship

All other matches have been loosely based on a varity of factors, among them the financial status of the organization, scheduling conditions within both roster & venue, and fan attendance & public reaction.

Public Reaction

Public reaction to ACW-Utah has been mixed at best. While fan attendance has depended on the event and the venue in which it is held, ACW-Utah is still considered a fledgling organization by professional wrestling standards. Officially, they are classified as an independent, or "indy" wrestling organization.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indy_ Unfortunately, most independent professional wrestling organizations like ACW have very short lifespans, lasting an average of only one to five years --sometimes longer, sometimes shorter, depending mostly on the area where events take place and how well the organization is able to keep itself together internally.

Some critics of their organization have argued that ACW-Utah is nothing more than a medium-profile backyard wrestling organization, holding matches with a poorly-trained roster of unknown individuals in scattered locations while exaggerating its results in an attempt to increase ticket sales. While this is still only personal opinion, when contacted to respond to such allegations, representatives of ACW-Utah have been less than forthcoming with their responses.

ACW-Utah has also received occassional criticism from fans for poor storylines & bad booking.

For now, ACW-Utah continues to hold matches throughout the Salt Lake City area on a monthly basis, showcasing talent such as Dink Cain, "Iceman" Jon Frost, Billy Bob, Khan Cussion, & "Mr. Syclon" Mach Martinez .

Controversy

Since its early beginnings in 2003, ACW-Utah has seen its share of controversy. On December 11,2004, an incident involving a match during a house show at the Magna Fitness & Recreation Center in Magna, Utah, caused the fire alarm inside the Center to go off, resulting in the overhead sprinklers being set off and flooding the floor of the Center with two inches of water. This resulted in the event ending early and several fans demanding a refund due to dissatisfaction with the night's activities. ACW-Utah later agreed to pay the city an undisclosed amount of money for the money, time, and labor necessary to clean up and investigate the damages.

In February 2005 ACW-Utah became embroiled in a legal battle with "Hacksaw" Jim Duggan after they received word from his attornies to ceast and decist using Derek Duggan's name and likeness within their organization. Derek Duggan had been signed onto the ACW-Utah roster in early 2004 and had been wrestling under the storyline that he was Jim Duggan's bastard son from a relationship Duggan had with his mother in the 1970s. Derek Duggan (along with ACW) went so far as to shoot on the subject in an interview with ACW stating that he wished his father no ill-will and only wanted to continue to wrestle as Derek Duggan. Despite this, "Hacksaw" Jim Duggan refused to back down and in mid 2005 the Derek Duggan name was dropped for another gimmick. Hacksaw has also issued a public statement on his website citing evidence of a DNA test allegedly taken by him in 2001 proving that he is not Derek Duggan's father.

Much of the controversy centering over Derek Duggan's parentage was as a result of the instigation of , an ACW-Utah referee and the webmaster of their official website, continually claiming in the capacity of an ACW-Utah representative that Derek Duggan was Jim Duggan's illigitimate son, and that Derek would continue to wrestle under the identity until such time as he felt he would no longer need to do so. It was only after Hacksaw's threat of a civil suit against Mr. Bryant, Nic Hardy, & ACW-Utah that the shoot was dropped and the gimmick discontinued.

The Future

The Future of ACW-Utah seems uncertain. While they are one of very few independent wrestling organizations within the Salt Lake City area and the entire State of Utah, it remains to be seen whether or not they can continue to survive under the sting of disgruntled fans, potential lawsuits, and low fan turnout. For now they continue to hold a house show from month to month within the Salt Lake City area.

External links

Official "Hacksaw" Jim Duggan website

ACW-Utah website

Indy Wrestling