Southern Wrestling Alliance is formed in 1953

         On Saturday May 2, 1953, a group of southern wrestling promoters gathered in Atlanta, Georgia. It was there that this group formed the Southern Wrestling Alliance. Jim Crockett was elected as the first President. On September 1, 1953 the Smith brothers, John and Al won the Southern tag team trophy and jackets from Herb and Roy Welch in Nashville, TN. More than six thousand fans saw the September 8, 1953 rematch at the Fairgrounds Coliseum in Nashville, TN. The referee that night was Jack Dempsey. After winning the tag team trophy and jackets, John and Al Smith began defending their title throughout the area covered by the Southern Wrestling Alliance. There were times when newspapers referred to the Alliance as Association. The last reference I have been able to find is from Florida in 1969.

June 27, 1956 in Asheville, NC

Tiny Mills and Jim Austeri defeated Leo and Chick Garibaldi for the Southern Tag Team Trophy on June 27, 1956. The match took place on that Wednesday night in the Asheville City Auditorium. The Garibaldi's had won the trophy at the same venue a week earlier, June 20, 1956 from Kinji Shibuya and Mr. Moto. Tiny Mills and Jim Austeri would later lose the trophy to George Becker and Jack Witzig on September 17, 1956 in Charlotte, NC.