Heartland Championship Wrestling is an imagined territory, set in the early 1980's Midwest, circa 1982. The style is a loosely imagined hybrid of the AWA, Mid-South, and World Class. All of the Edits in this collection are fantasy, though some are loosely inspired by real life wrestlers, as you will be able to tell.

Background: Heartland Championship Wrestling (usually just called "Heartland") is a wrestling territory that was established in 1955, and headquartered in Kansas City, Missouri. The promotion has always been a member of the worldwide "International League of Wrestling", the ILW. The current owner of the promotion is semi-retired wrestler and former star of the territory, "Buster" Billy Hughes. Longtime announcer Grant McGuire is the host of the weekly syndicated television program, which airs throughout the Midwest, as well as parts of the Mid-South and Texas.

The once successful territory has fallen on hard times. Starting in early 1982, the upstart Empire State Wrestling (re-christened as Empire World Wide Wrestling) has started raiding various territories for their upper talent. One such acquisition was then reigning Heartland Heavyweight Champion and top drawing babyface, "Super" Steven Straight. Several other key roster members went with Straight, leaving Heartland with a decimated roster, mostly of older and past-their-prime workers. The territory had already not been drawing like it had historically, as the in-ring style had become somewhat stale and plodding.

Facing mounting debts, owner Billy Hughes was forced to re-invent his promotion. He brought in four younger workers (who he previously would not have considered ready) that he has decided to build around: Ricky Reno, a young and energetic babyface, "Maniacal" Mike Zane, a despicable heel who has just come off a successful tour of Japan, Steve Pullman, who is a former college football standout, and Diego Rodriguez, a flashy import from Mexico. Further, he has called in some veterans not seen in the territory on a regular basis before, including the masked Texas Twister, "Cool" Ken Davis (a fairly seasoned worker who was dissatisfied with the Canadian promotion he was working for), and the journeyman veteran Cajun Red, as an occasional performer. Further, Hughes has emphasized that while the in-ring action will still have plenty of mat-based work, there needs to be more high spots and a quicker pace to the matches.

Will Heartland be successful and live on throughout the rest of the 1980's? Time will tell.