In the late 1990s, HWA promoted yearly events that gained national attention among the wrestling community. These events were promoted to honor wrestler and Norwood, OH native Brian Pillman, who passed away too early in life. The shows brought together stars from WWE, WCW, and ECW; something that had never happened previously. Through the years, stars, like Steve Austin, Mick Foley, Eddie Guerrero, Chris Candido, Rey Mysterio, Chris Jericho, Ric Flair, and others were featured at the events. Thousands of dollars were raised for the Pillman family and the Pillman Memorial shows are still talked about today.

After a few years of turning out some of the best trained talent in the country, the HWA soon became a developmental territory for Time Warner’s World Championship Wrestling and later World Wrestling Entertainment. During the developmental years, HWA’s finest, like Cody Hawk, Matt Stryker, BJ Whitmer, and Race Steele, went head to head with some of wrestling’s most well-known names, like Raven, Shannon Moore, Charlie Haas, Haku, Hugh Morrus, and Lance Cade.

After budget cuts by WWE, the HWA was no longer a developmental organization and for the first time was no longer under the guidance of Les Thatcher, but it thrived as new stars were created. Jon Moxley, Foreign Intelligence, The Mavericks, Pepper Parks, The GP Code, The Black Militia, and The Irish Airborne stepped up and more than filled the void left by the WWE wrestlers. As HWA’s following grew and had events across the country, HWA went national and was featured on the America One Network and produced HWA Adrenaline.

Today, HWA still operates across the Midwest and features young and exciting stars, like Moxley, Gerome Phillips, The Irish Airborne, and Jesse Emerson, while also mixing in stars, who have competed worldwide, like Bryan Danielson, Drake Younger, and Scotty Vortekz.