RPW was formed in 1994 by Preston Holt, one of the United States' earliest successful wrestling promoters, having run California Pro Wrestling from the early 1960's until the company's demise in 1983, along with being its top babyface superstar (Holt, however, considered himself long retired as an active competitor, and did not set foot in the ring in RPW). RPW was the third of the four East Coast promotions founded. It was the only one of the four promotions not to have its principal fan base in the Tri-State area, instead settling further south in the Mid-Atlantic region. It was also the only non-hardcore promotion involved in the East Coast Wars. Old-school promoter Holt did not follow his competitors into what he saw as disgraceful and dangerous promotional tactics focusing on raunchy