The year of 1985 proved to be a bittersweet time for the fans in Dothan, Alabama of Southeastern Championship Wrestling. As had been the case not only in 1984, but since 1978 when Ron Fuller brought his exciting brand of wrestling to the Alabama-Florida panhandle, Southeastern brought plenty of action to the fans in the area. In 1985 men such as Austin Idol, Bob Armstrong, Mr. Olympia, Bobby Cash, Jimmy Golden, Ron Fuller and more continued to provide hot action on both television and in the arenas. However, in the late summer of 1985 Ron Fuller made a change in the direction of the company. For many years WTVY Ch. 4 from Dothan had not only been the home of studio wrestling for Southeastern Wrestling, but before that Gulf Coast Wrestling. The decision was made for a change from studio wrestling to an arena type show that was already popular with other promotions across the country such as WWF, Crockett, UWF and others. With the change in format came a change in location as well. Rather than the small studio's of WTVY Fuller decided on using Boutwell Auditorium in Birmingham, Alabama instead. At the time B’ham was a hot town for Southeastern, so with large crowds in the 5000 seat arena it looked big time on television. Ron also brought in veteran announcer Gordon Solie to do the new TV show to replace longtime host Charlie Platt. Also during this period Southeastern Wrestling had began appearing in the Knoxville, Tennessee area after many years absent. With the larger area covering from Tennessee through the Florida panhandle, the name Southeastern just didn't seem to fit either, so the name of the promotion was changed to Continental Championship Wrestling. This also meant that Dothan was no longer the host to weekly Saturday night house shows at the Houston County Farm Center, rather every other Saturday. For us fans that had backed the promotion every Saturday since 1978, it was a bitter pill to take, but business IS business.

Now with that out of the way, lets get down to the nuts and bolts of the action of Southeastern / Continental in 1985.

As was the case in late 1984, 2 men were the focal point in the battles for this title. Bill Ash and Scott Armstrong. When Armstrong suffered a legit broken wrist in the spring of '85 veteran Ted Oates was brought into the area as his replacement to battle Ash. Once Armstrong had clearance to compete he was once again the top challenger for Ash's title. NWA World Jr. Heavyweight Champion Denny Brown also made several title defenses in the area as well.  More...