Tri-State Wrestling Alliance

Tri-State Wrestling Alliance was founded by Joel Goodhart, pictured below, in 1989 and produced live events in the Philadelphia, New Jersey and Delaware markets. Tri-State Wrestling Alliance used names such as Cactus Jack, Eddie Gilbert, Owen Hart, Terry Funk, Jerry Lawler, Abdullah The Butcher, Manny Fernandez, Buddy Landel and the Original Sheik with a local crew including Tony Stetson, Larry Winters, Johnny Hot Body, JT Smith, Glen Osbourne, Michael Bruno, Jimmy Jannetty, Rockin' Rebel, D.C. Drake, Crybaby Waldo and Don E. Allen. The promotion saw Cactus Jack, Eddie Gilbert and Sabu develop their local followings.

Joel Goodhart, pictured, is the founder of Tri-State Wrestling Alliance, which opened in 1989. The promotion would close it's doors two years later in 1991 due to poor financial decisions made regarding talent pay and lack of resources.

Eddie Gilbert-Cactus Jack feud brought the modern tradition of independent hardcore wrestling now associated with Philadelphia and the rest of the United States in 1990 and 1991 with their legendary matches in Goodhart's promotion, including a legendary best 2 out of 3 falls match.

TWA ended in January 1992 and led to the formation of Eastern Championship Wrestling (later known as Extreme Championship Wrestling. It was TWA's style (and promoter Tod Gordon) that laid the groundwork for what would later become the most unique promotion in North American wrestling history.

Later on in ECW a character by the name of "Joel Hartgood" was introduced as a jobber character with a wink and nod towards Goodhart, who notoriously closed down TWA without letting anyone know with workers and fans alike finding out when they turned on Goodhart's morning pro wrestling talk show on the local radio station in Philly that he worked for.

On October 24th, 2009, TWA had a reunion show in New Jersey and since then has ran several more shows throughout 2009-2011.

TWA Returning For 'One-Night-Only' in May 2025:

It was announced in late-2024 that Joel Goodhart would be running a special Tri-State Wrestling Alliance reunion event called "One and Done", which is set to take place May 3rd, 2025 from the former ECW Arena (2300 Arena) in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

The same day, Bay Ragni (aka Chubby Dudley) is set to host a special meet and greet wrestling convention just prior to the One and Done event on May 3rd called "RassleCon".

Also, there will be an induction ceremony for the Hardcore Hall of Fame where Goodhart, Tony Stetson, Johnny Hotbody, DC Drake and Larry Winters will receive their inductions into the arenas Hall of Fame. A banner ceremony will take place if a petition online that already has over 720 signatures reaches the 1,000 signature mark.

CHECK OUT: Actual letter that was sent out by TWA after the promotion closed it's doors. This letter was sent out to some newsletters following the announcement of the closure of Tri-State Wrestling Alliance: