The History of NWA Heat Wave Pro Wrestling

January 19th 2005 two of Florida's premier professional wrestling promoters found themselves discussing the sad state of "pro-wrestling" in America today and decided to do something about it. Sitting in the smoke filled Karaoke room of Blarney's Irish Pub in Altamonte, Florida drinking ice cold Bud Lite from bottles, The Eliminator Clyde Benefield and Rick Love decided that it was time to save real old fashioned pro-wrestling. I mean, come on, who really likes that crap that the other shows have been putting on TV these days anyway? But they had one major problem. How do you find enough wrestlers who were really trained the right way??? 

They would dig far into their past to find the men that they needed to make this happen. But the first step would be to partner with the world's oldest pro-wrestling sanctioning body, The National Wrestling Alliance. So over the next  few hours talking between Karaoke singers and downing cold beer among the  smoke and noise of this crowded Irish Pub, The Eliminator and Rick Love laid out a plan to give traditional pro-wrestling a rebirth. With Florida being the hot bed of Pro-Wrestling in America they started by televising some of the greatest matches ever put on by NWA Florida Pro Wrestling.

The Eliminator Clyde Benefield and his coach, Milo Steinborn.

The Eliminator was sharing his views on all that was wrong with the late night semi-pornographic shows that had become modern pro-wrestling. The Eliminator wanted a real friggin wrestling show with real friggin wrestlers. A fan and supporter of pro-wrestling for over 40 years, The Eliminator, who had started his early health training with the late Milo Steinborn, wanted to see pro-wrestling make a comeback. He wanted to make it a tribute to his former coach and friend. Henry "Milo" Steinborn. 

Henry "Milo" Steinborn (1893-1989) was a 5'8" 205 lb German who first started weightlifting as a military prisoner during World War I. It was during this time that he also became the first man to ever squat 500 pounds. After returning to Germany, Steinborn became his country's national weightlifting champion in 1920 and also set a world record in the squat of 553 lbs. This poundage would not be officially exceeded until the early 1950's by Douglas Hepburn. In 1921 he migrated to the United States and was largely responsible for popularizing the deep knee bend as a training adjunct to weightlifting. He taught this at his Orange Avenue Gym starting in 1952. In addition, Steinborn was celebrated as both a professional wrestler and strongman until his retirement in 1963. The Eliminator did not want to see the strong history of weight lifting and pro-wrestling disappear into the garbage bin that was  now being called pro-wrestling.

Having been the senior official for NWA Championship Wrestling From Florida, The Eliminator had access to a few very talented pro wrestlers who were trained in the old school Southern style of pro wrestling and thought that if they could put together a roster of men who were trained the old school style of pro-wrestling that he and Rick Love could start a promotion that gave the fans something that they had not seen in nearly 25 years. Real, old school pro-wrestling like the original National Wrestling Alliance promoted in the old days. So The Eliminator and Rick Love joined forces to put together a roster of real, pro-wrestlers. These are the guys who train in the dojo and gym to wrestle. They are NOT sports entertainers, has been football players or other so called celebrities who want to jump in a ring do a few moves and call themselves professional wrestlers.