NWA Wildside

NWA Wildside was an American professional wrestling company based in Cornelia, Georgia. It operated between September 1999 and April 2005. While in operation, NWA Wildside was one of the main associates of the National Wrestling Alliance and was one of the most-watched wrestling companies in the United States. Wildside was at first named National Championship Wrestling in 1997 and was owned by Steve Martin. In December 1999 NCW merged with NWA Georgia to form NWA Wildside under the ownership of Bill Behrens.
World Championship Wrestling hired NWA Wildside to be its development territory, and sent their training wrestlers like Shannon Moore, Jamie Noble, Sean O'Haire, Mark Jindrak and Elix Skipper to compete there. Soon, World Championship Wrestling hired some NWA Wildside wrestlers for their shows including A.J. Styles, Frank Paris, Onyx, David Young and Rick Michaels appearing on World Wrestling Federation.
With Total Nonstop Action Wrestling, some NWA Wildside stars such as Styles, Abyss, Young, Onyx, Slim J, Hotstuff Hernandez, Jason Cross, Jimmy Rave, Altar Boy Luke, Matt Sydal, Delirious and Tony Mamaluke appeared for the company. Wildside's weekly wrestling show aired nationally in the U.S. and was available to as much as 40% of the United States.
In 2004, Wildside was shown by The Wrestling Channel in the United Kingdom giving them a bigger audience. Two of the main sellers of Wildside were the fact that their wrestlers were allowed to be more creative in the ring, and the announcers gave a correct showing to the product rather than treating it as a joke.
NWA Wildside closed down after 300 weeks of television because owner Behrens accepted a job with WWE. He then worked with Jody Hamilton, the owner of DSW, a former WWE developmental territory in McDonough, Georgia. Behrens left DSW after getting the promotion ready to show TV but before TV production began due to creative differences with Hamilton, and was employed by TNA as Director of Third Party Bookings.