In August of 2006, Hakeem Johnson created a promotion called ACW, Anime Championship Wrestling. It is a promotion where anime characters of old and new compete in a wrestling format. As of today, Anime Championship Wrestling is the number one anime wrestling promotion in the CAW League. ACW was once a part of the Anime CAW Big 4 alongside PAWL, RKDA and Pride AC.
History
1st ACW logo
Hakeem Johnson has been an anime fan since the days of Dragonball Z and Pokemon. When he grew up, however, he got very distant from Anime. However, one summer day, as his brother were watching an anime music video on Vegeta, Hakeem Johnson thought about wrestling as well and figured if he would be able to make a promotion with anime AND wrestling. He told his brothers to write down twenty anime characters he can use for a promotion called Anime Wrestling Federation (at the time).
  The initial plan was to do a weekly typed show. This would mean Hakeem would type the action and post it on his website. The plan :was set for so but then, one day, Hakeem Johnson stumbled across a promotion called NoDQ CAW on YouTube. He had never seen it before and watched and then became an avid viewer. Hakeem has a Day of Reckoning 2 game for Gamecube and thought that he could be able to do that. So now, plans had changed and AWF was going to be a video promotion show like NoDQ.
Current logo
On July 1, 2006, Hakeem started to hype AWF by posting titantrons for Gaara, DX (Naruto & Gohan), and Sasuke Uchiha. Hakeem, a week later, changed the name Anime Wrestling Federation to Anime Championship Wrestling, known as ACW. This was due to another anime promotion with the name already.
ACW Shows
ACW has two shows: ACW Excel and ACW Impulse. These shows, for the most part, are only for 30 minutes. However, certain episodes require an overlap of time of 10 to 15 minutes after the hour. The shows are filled with wrestling matches, backstage segments, in ring segments, and commercials.
ACW Excel
The new and current ACW Excel logo.
On July 29, 2006, Hakeem Johnson posted a show called ACW Excel. On this article posted, it had over 5,000 views on YouTube on it's old, former, and defunct channel.
From July 29, 2006 to May 6, 2007, Excel used the WWE RAW arena on Day of Reckoning 2. From June 15, 2007 to around 2008, ACW Excel used the WWE Velocity arena to add it's "green" and "adredaline" feel towards everything. Around 2008 with Excel's move to Smackdown v. RAW 2008, it started using the No Mercy arena. Now beginning in April of 2014, it uses the WWE RAW '03 arena as it was during its first run with some modificiations.
The first previous theme song for ACW Excel is Across the Nation by Union Underground. The game used for Excel was Day of Reckoning 2 for the Nintendo Gamecube console and then with Excel on Smackdown vs. RAW 2008 for the Playstation 2 console. Now Excel will be run on WWE 13 for the Playstation 3 console starting in May 2014. The current theme song is Same Direction by Hoobastank.
Roster
| Superstar | Name | Finisher |
|---|---|---|
 |
"General Manager of Excel" & "The Negociator" Roger Smith |
|
 |
"The Avatar" Aang |
Airbender (Reverse Twist of Fate) |
 |
Akuma | Brimstone (Tombstone Piledriver) |
 |
"Mr. MVP" Dan Hibiki |
Most Valuable Move [MVM] (Arm Twisting DDT) |
 |
Davis | Energy Blast (Gordbuster) |
 |
Donkey Kong | Jungle Shuffle (Spear), Jungle Hyjinks (Angle Slam Driver) |
 |
"Rave Master" Haru Glory | Rave of Destiny (Schwein) |
 |
Hibiki Tokai | Point Blank (Karate Kick to the face) |
 |
Hiei | Third Eye (Styles Clash) |
 |
Ikki | Pegasus Plunge (One Leg-Holded Spinebuster) |
 |
Kakashi Hatake | Sharigan (Double Arm Powerbomb Pin) |
 |
Kazuki Muto | German Suplex Pin |
 |
Ken Masters | Sidekick |
 |
Kinnikuman | Kinniku Buster (Mustle Buster), Kinniku Driver (Jumping Piledriver) |
 |
"The Monk" Miroku |
Monk Bottom (Rock Bottom), Peasant's Elbow (People's Elbow) |
 |
Momochi Zabuza | Kenjutsu (Powerbomb), Clothesline from Hell |
 |
Neji Hyuga | 64-Fold (Tajiri Combo) |
 |
Rock Lee | Rock Solid (Shining Wizard), Cloverleaf |
 |
Sasuke Uchiha | Chakra Knock Out [CKO] (RKO) |
 |
Seiya | Pegasus Plunge |
 |
Solid Snake | Foxhound (Enzinguri) |
 |
Straight Cougar | Radical Good Speed (Running Face Wash) |
 |
Takuya Kanabara | N/A |
 |
Ultraman Tiga | Tigarana (Yoshi Tonic Roll) |
 |
Woody | Tiger Sleeper (Dragon Sleeper), Tiger Dash (Running Double Knee to Corner) |
 |
"Blue Spirit" Zuko |
Dancing Dragon (Pedigree), Vice of Fire (Anaconda Vice) |
Champions
- ACW Excel Champion - Haru Glory
- ACW Intercontinental Champion - Sasuke Uchiha
- ACW Excel Road to Destiny Champion - Zuko
- ACW Excel Tag Team Champions - Little Fighters (Davis & Woody)
Title History
ACW Impulse
The new and current ACW Impulse logo.
On August 4th, 2006, Hakeem launched another show for the ACW promotion called Impulse. This was to give ACW a "Raw vs. Smackdown" feel and to see if he could grab more audiences with two shows.
From August 4th, 2006 to present, Impulse has used the WWE Smackdown arena to give it a "blue" and "cool" feel. From August 4th, 2006 to May 10th, 2007, Impulse was operated on Day of Reckoning 2 as well. However, to expand the promotion and to bring in new people to ACW, Impulse had to move to Smackdown vs. RAW 2007 for the PS2 console, starting on June 29th, 2007 to present.
The first theme song for ACW Impulse was Deadly Game by Theory of a Deadman. Shortly following Impulse's move to SVR 07, the theme song then became To Be Loved by Papa Roach. As of right now, the current theme song for ACW Impulse is Out of Control by Hoobastank.
Roster
| Superstar | Name | Finisher | |
|---|---|---|---|
 |
"General Manager of Impulse" & "The Iconic Saiyan" Goku |
||
 |
Ash Ketchum | ||
 |
Brock | ||
 |
"The Legendary Saiyan" Broly | Omega (F5) | |
 |
Choji Akimichi | Gore | |
 |
Cloud Strife | Final Fantasy (Spinning Body Suplex) | |
 |
Dennis | Whirlwind Kick (Spinning Kick) | |
 |
"Full Metal Alchemist" Edward Elric |
Alchemy (Double Arm DDT), Spear | |
 |
"The Sand Shinobi" Gaara |
Sand Claw (Iron Claw) | |
 |
Gohan | Masenko (Spinning DDT) | |
 |
Joe Higashi | Capture Suplex, Armbar | |
 |
Kai Hiwatari | ||
 |
Kankuro | Gore | |
 |
KYO | Mizuchi (Double Arm Sit Down Powerbomb) | |
 |
Luc
as |
Mother Earthbound (Fameasser) | |
 |
Monkey D. Luffy | Gum Gum Blast (Combination Punch) | |
 |
"The Japanese Rattlesnake" Mugen |
Kendo (Stunner) | |
 |
Naruto Uzumaki | Shonen Jump (Double Arm Facebuster) | |
 |
Ness | Mother Earthbound (Fameasser) | |
 |
Rai Chou | Gatlin Claw (Mandible Claw) | |
 |
Rei Kon | Gatlin Claw (Mandible Claw) | |
 |
Roronoa Zoro | Double Jeopardy (Leg Tarantula) | |
 |
"The Prince of Tennis" Ryoma Echizen |
Game Set Match (Spinning Tornado DDT) | |
 |
Ryu | Hadou (Tazzmission) | |
 |
Sagat | Tiger Destruction (Shining Knee Wizard), Tiger Bomb | |
 |
Trunks | T-Driver (Rikishi Driver/Fire Thunder) | |
 |
Tyson Granger | ||
 |
Vegeta | Final Flash (Sister Abigail) |
Champions
- ACW Impulse Champion - Gohan
- ACW Television Champion - Mugen
- ACW Impulse Tag Team Champions - Earthbound (Ness & Lucas)
- ACW Cruiserweight Champion - Joe Higashi
Title History
- ACW Impulse Championship
- ACW Television Championship
- ACW Impulse Tag Team Championships
- ACW Cruiserweight Championship
ACW Turbo
Current ACW Turbo logo
On the ACW website during August 2007, a new section was opened titled ACW Turbo. Folks were starstrucked as to whether it was another show, another CPV, another feature. This mystery would last for days until ACW announced three weeks later that ACW Turbo would be another brand for the ACW promotion. This new brand would have an "ECW" and "extreme" feel to it.
On September 16, 2007, ACW Turbo had made it's debut on YouTube. The arena it used wass the WWE RAW arena. Turbo wass operated on Smackdown: Here Comes the Pain for the PS2 console.
Cancellation
Hakeem Johnson made the announcement that due to substandard expectations of interest and the imminent return of Excel, ACW Turbo would be canceled. The final mega event where Turbo was represented as a full active brand was at Royal Rumble 2008. The final mega event where Turbo held their last match was at Animania II. Turbo's future is uncertain other than it being offcialy cancelled.
It's theme song wass Beautiful People by Marilyn Manson.
Roster
- Choji Akimichi - Gore
- Cloud Strife - Final Fantasy (Spinning Body Suplex)
- Hibiki Tokai - Point Blank (Karate Kick to the face)
- Hiei - Third Eye (Styles Clash), Falcon Arrow
- Inuyasha - Inudriver (Piledriver), Dragon Slayer (Knee breaker to the back of the head)
- Jaden Yuki - N/A
- Kankuro - Master Spear (GORE)
- Kazuki Muto - German Suplex Pin
- KYO - Samurai Deeper Bomb (Double Arm Sit Down Powerbomb)
- Momochi Zabuza - Zabuza Bomb (Powerbomb), Clothesline from Hell
- Raimundo Pedrosa - Dragonsault (Lionsault), 450 Splash
- Roy Mustang - Obelisk DDT (Snap DDT)
- Takeshi Jin - IGPX Special
- Takuya - Roll Up Pin
- Yusuke Urameshi - Shotgun
- Zane Truesdale - Obelisk DDT (Snap DDT)
Champions
- ACW Turbo Champion - Kazuki Muto
- ACW Turbo Tag Team Champions - Obelisk (Roy Mustang & Zane Truesdale)
Title History
- Momochi Zabuza - Def. Cloud Strife at ACW Turbo 1
- Kazuki Muto - Def. Momochi Zabuza & KYO at ACW Animania II
- ACW Turbo Tag Team Championship
- Hibiki Tokai & Kazuki - Def. Obelisk at ACW Anime Revolution
- Obelisk - Def. Hibiki Tokai & Kazuki at ACW Royale Rumble 2008
ACW Mega Events
ACW Mega Events tend to be super shows/special shows for the company. The non-Big 4 mega events tends to have a duration of almost two hours, being ten to fifteen minutes early or late ending. The Big 4 mega events (Fusion, Royale Rumble, Anime Revolution, Animania) get an extra hour by ending within three hours or more, being ten to fifteen minutes early or late ending. Animania, being the biggest mega event of Anime Championship Wrestling, gets an extra two hours thus making his length almost four hours. In September 2006, ACW produced and showed their first mega event, Fusion. It was a double brand show (Excel & Impulse).
Due to personal lives, computer malfunctions, and delays, ACW sometimes does not follow and guarantee to follow the PPV order in a year but cycles through it nonetheless. Every year, after ACW presents Animania, ACW will take a two to three month hiatus. This is a way to think of new storylines, new characters, to check up on ACW's status, and to refresh the creative direction.
Mega Event Schedule
- Anime Revolution (All)
- Royale Rumble (All)
- Animania (All)
- HIATUS
- Genesis (Excel)
- Victory (Impulse)
- Fusion (All)
- Ground Zero (Excel)
- Apocalypse (Impulse)
- High Voltage (Excel)
- No Boundaries (Impulse)
ACW Elite Tournament
Redirecting to: ACW Elite Tournament
ACW Newscast
The ACW Newscast Logo
From time to time, most times weekly, Hakeem Johnson will come out with a newscast. The ACW Newscasts are audio shows that give the viewers highlights, updates, news, interactive participation, and commentary on everything that is ACW and, sometimes, even topics and subjects that aren't ACW, anime, or wrestling related.
Controversy
Jaden Yuki/Yugi Moto Backstage Fight
Before the inaugral debut of ACW Excel and Impulse took place, ACW had signed many superstars. Yugi Moto had alreay been signed before the debut. Jaden Yuki was signed next to compete on Impulse. But about a week before the debuts, there was some reports that Yugi and Jaden Yuki got into a backstage fight.
Jaden Yuki was reported to be very selfish, above others, and said he's waiting on NoDQ to "scoop him up". Yugi came in and told him that people like him will never make it far in the business. Jaden was said to have been insulted, got in Yugi's face, and said that "you're nobody just like your grandfather." Yugi told him to back off but Jaden pushed Yugi. Yugi then swung two left hooks on Jaden before wrestlers and staff could pull the two apart.
Two days after the fiasco, ACW released news on their website that Yugi Moto had been released from ACW and to wish him in his future endevours.
After the Impulse debut, ACW was not impressed with Jaden's presence in the ring in his match and backstage and was released shortly as well.
However, on August of 2007, ACW Turbo General Manager, Roger Smith, quietly signed Jaden Yuki back into ACW and into his brand.
World Wrestling Entertainment
To promote ACW, ACW posted titantrons of Gaara, Sasuke Uchiha, and Naruto & Gohan, representing DX, on YouTube. They reached a total of over 15,000 views together.
A week after Excel and Impulse debuted, ACW got two letters from the World Wrestling Entertainment. It basically stated that they took down the DX and Sasuke titantrons due to "copyright terms". Sauske's song was Stone Cold's Alliance song while Naruto/Gohan has DX's song.
Gaara's titantron, whose song has Samoa Joe's from TNA, still remains.
ACW vs. Other Anime Wrestling Feds
During ACW's early days, ACW had some competition during it's mainstay on YouTube.
It's first competitior was AGX, Anime Gaming to the Xtreme. It consisted characters of Final Fantasy (Cloud Strife), Kappa Mikey (Mikey, Zulu), Tiny Toons (Babs, Buster), and others.
People posted on both shows, anxious to see a "Monday Night War" to burst between the two. However, AGX suddenly closed when DanteBunny, the creator, had his account closed. He tried again with TCW, Tiny Toons Championship Wrestling, but stopped overall.
Others who saw ACW as the number one anime wrestling promotion wanted to compete with it and wanted to take it down. Other promotions like AWA, Anime Wrestling Association, and EAW, Extreme Anime Wrestling, were created as trying to have the same success as ACW and even tried competing with it. Just like AGX, EAW stopped posting shows. AWA hasn't been produced yet but is to be debuting in 2008.
DCW, Digital Championship Wrestling, and ACW have their competiton but a friendly one. Hakeem and Triple R are great friends and are even working on a Supershow between the two in the future.
When ACW moved to CAW Underground, it found another anime promotion called PAWL, Professional Anime Wrestling League. Hakeem considers PAWL his favorite anime wrestling promotion. PAWL has the same visuals ACW did in it's early days and has unknown superstars on it's roster. PAWL's creator is Kyle_Snyder.
RKDA Calling Out ACW
Current RCWF logo
Around the mid year of 2007, another anime wrestling promotion had been made. RKDA, Random Kickass Destruction Association, at the time known as RCWF, Rockin' Championship Wrestling Federation, and the creator, Keiro Starr, have "called out" ACW on a few things:
- Apparently, Keiro was not happy how Hakeem and ACW launched ACW Turbo, which had Inuyasha in it's roster. This is a quote from Keiro:
- "You Know, Turbo Is just going to be like ECW is to WWE. And dude, I don't mind but next time let me know when you are going to use certain anime characters. Inuyasha had already signed a year long contract to my fed, RKDA and now I hear he's going to be on Turbo? Man that's f***ed up. you're taking my superstars. All I'll have left are the divas, unless you're going to take them too." Apparently this was not meant as a threat as he was referring to Vintage ECW. Since the owner of RKDA was new to CAW wrestling, he did not realize that there were "repeat superstars", meaning that some anime superstars also appeared in other CAW federations.
- Also, Keiro has interviewed it's superstars they have signed and some have talked on ACW. Here is part from an interview with RKDA Original/R-Factor Leader DJ Rocket:
- "Well, if they want to pick a fight with us, I say bring it. ACW is one of the best anime leagues out there and if they want to prove it, then I say bring it. But you see ACW can’t compete with RKDA, PAWL, DCW or any other Anime CAW fed, for one reason and one reason only: The complete and utter lack of a divas division. I mean PAWL has their divas headed up by their champ Ten-ten, DCW has Stripperella, Kim Possible and others, RCWF signed Sakura Haruno, Mai Shiranui, Rainbow Mika, and a ton of others, and what divas does ACW have? Just one and she rarely even appears. I’m talking of course about Terra. Terra, if you’re reading this, GET OUT OF ACW. You don’t even compete there, you just hide in the shadows. Do something useful and call Starfire and Raven and sign to RKDA or PAWL or something, you’re not doing s*** in ACW. Either convince ACW management to put in some more divas or get the f*** out, cause there’s no point in you staying there if you aren’t doing anything. Besides that fact Erika, ACW would be a worthy opponent for us."
- DJ Rocket launched a challenge to the Champions of ACW:
- "You guys are great champions and I'm sure you didn't make it to the top by halfassing it. But I want to see if you guys can take it to the next level. I'll talk to my guys, you talk with yours, and see if one day, we can have ourselves a Champion of Champions Match."
- Another RKDA Superstar, Tenna Harasamma (who was the unofficial RKDA Doujinshi Champion at the time) launched a more subtle challenge to ACW Impulse's Terra.
- "Terra, I respect you and I would like to see what you're made of. You and me for the Doujinshi Championship. Just name the place and the date."
- ACW wrestler Gohan has stated in an interview his concerns on RKDA:
- "RKDA has been, ya know, shooting bullets at us, like as the younger brother poking at the big busy brother. RKDA looks very good but I need to see a show before I pass judgment. I think RKDA needs to focus on themselves rather than being ACW-lite or else it'll be like Coke compared to Diet Coke."
RKDA Owner Keiro Starr released the following statement a few months after: "I wish to address the challenges made by my superstars. Unfortunately I have no control over what our superstars might say regarding other federations. Personally I think rivalry is healthy, but some of our superstars have made it personal. We wish to apologize for any misunderstandings or any people offended. We wish good luck to ACW and any other Anime CAW Promotion in this ratings race for anime supremacy."
Nowadays there is a friendly rivalry between RKDA and ACW. Rumors are that a Megashow between the 2 leagues is in the works. In the meantime, the rivalry between the 2 was put to the test at Eclipse Xtremo as ACW's Ryoma Echizen faced off against then RKDA wrestler, The Associate.
YouTube
During ACW's hiatus in 2009, the "afircan15" account was unexpectedly closed and shut down from YouTube. Fans and viewers alike were outraged and shocked that the ACW channel had been closed for good. Some speculated that it was Hakeem that either asked for the account to be closed or he closed it himself, which would mean that the supposed hiatus would actually be the final days of ACW saying goodbye for good.
All of that speculation was false, however. Hakeem was told about this news by fellow RCWF (now RKDA) owner and good friend Edgar and, in an instant, Hakeem looked to take on YouTube. Hakeem, in a Newscast, stated that he would do everything in his power to bring back ACW and was more determined and hungry than ever to do so. Fans were ecstatic over the news that the number one Anime CAW league was looking to make it's comeback.
On December 13th, 2010, ACW returned to YouTube by opening up a new account called TheAnimeCW. Also, he has kept his ACW Veoh account in tact while opening up another alternative (some say main) account for ACW on Blip.Tv. Hakeem explained in his Newscast, returning from his year long absence, that Toei Animation were the culprits who ordered his previous account shut down.
On August 29th, 2011, a video was posted on all his video accounts and his newly updated webiste that stated the Anime Championship Wrestling would be making it's return to YouTube, Veoh, and debuting on Blip.TV in December of 2011. ACW Genesis, an Excel branded mega event, would mark the return of ACW after a two and a half year hiatus.
References
You can watch and find ACW by clicking these websites: