American Wrestling Association
| American Wrestling Association | |
|---|---|
| shape | Wrestling Federation |
| Establishment date | 1919; Reactivated May 1960 |
| Location | Minneapolis, Minnesota |
| Territories | Global |
| founder | George Tuohey |
| owner | Verne Gagne |
| management | Verne Gagne Wally Karbo |
| Branch | Pro wrestling |
| Further information | |
| Inactive since | December 1990 |
| Closed since | 1991 |
| Adopted on | 1991 |
| Taken over from | World Wrestling Federation |
American Wrestling Association , or AWA for short , is the name of a former US wrestling promotion that was based in Minneapolis , Minnesota . Promoters were Verne Gagne and Wally Karbo .
Since 1996, Dale Gagne has held global events under the banner of the former promotion. In October 2008 the federation had to be renamed " Wrestling Superstars Live " due to a legal dispute over the naming rights .
history
The history of the AWA begins around 1919 in Boston, Massachusetts when the Promotion American Wrestling Association was founded there by George Tuohey . Paul Bowser acquired the AWA as early as 1922 and expanded its sphere of influence over the entire east coast.
The AWA World Heavyweight Championship
The AWA created its own World Heavyweight Wrestling Championship on February 21, 1928 , when Ed "Strangler" Lewis defeated his opponent Joe Stecher in St. Louis, Missouri and was allowed to win the wrestling title now known as the Independent World Heavyweight Wrestling Championship .
But already on April 29, 1929 Lewis had to hand over the title to Gus Sonnenberg in Boston, Massachusetts , who transferred the title to the National Wrestling Association and created its own World Heavyweight Wrestling Championship .
The AWA as an affiliate of the National Wrestling Association
On June 27, 1935, the AWA was incorporated into the National Wrestling Association, which she was a member until November 27, 1949. Already on July 30, 1935, both titles were combined when NWA champion Danno O'Mahoney was allowed to win the AWA title in Boston, Massachusetts.
The AWA World Heavyweight Wrestling Championship was reactivated on December 29, 1937 and continued as a regional title in which Lou Thesz in St. Louis, Missouri was allowed to win the NWA title from his opponent Everette Marshal . In February 1938, the National Wrestling Association's sphere of influence expanded into neighboring Canada when promoter Eddie Quinn and his Montreal Athletic Commission joined the AWA.
The wrestler Don Eagle won on August 31, 1950 in Columbus, Ohio as the last, the AWA World Heavyweight Wrestling Championship . The championship was now declared vacant in November 1952 and replaced by the AWA Eastern Heavyweight Title , which existed between December 2, 1952 to February 3, 1953, and the AWA World Heavyweight Wrestling Championship - Ohio version . The latter was held from June 27, 1945 to April 9, 1953. Following this, the vacant AWA World Heavyweight Wrestling Championship was discontinued alongside the local variants and combined with the NWA World Heavyweight Wrestling Championship .
The AWA as an affiliate of the National Wrestling Alliance
On November 27, 1949, the AWA joined the National Wrestling Alliance after the National Wrestling Association was absorbed into it. Paul Bowser became the NWA representative for the New England Territory and was now running the promotion under the banner of the NWA American Wrestling Association .
The Promoter Tony Stecher , who since 1933 in Minnesota promotion Minneapolis Boxing & Wrestling Club led was in July 1948 founding member of the National Wrestling Alliance . At the September meeting in 1948, Stecher was transferred to the state of Minnesota ( NWA Territory of Minnesota ) and he led the so-called National Wrestling Alliance Minneapolis Office in Minneapolis .
The rise of the AWA to an independent doctorate
The break with the National Wrestling Alliance took place in 1957 when Paul Bowser did his doctorate independently under the name Atlantic Athletic Commission . A little later, on July 15, 1957, NWA co-founder Max Clayton also left the NWA, closed the NWA Omaha office and the Nebraska Territory was independent again.
The Chicago promotions Ray Fabiani and Leonard Schwartz took over the name NWA American Wrestling Association for the Chicago area at short notice.
On August 9, 1958, Verne Gagne defeated the then NWA champion Edouard Carpentier in Omaha, Nebraska . He was stripped of the title, however, as it was promised by Eddie Quinn to the wrestler killer Kowalski . Verne Gagne tried for almost two years to get the title awarded.
In January 1960, Tony Stecher's son Dennis withdrew from the NWA and wrestlers Wally Karbo and Verne Gagne bought into the Minneapolis Boxing & Wrestling Club .
Dennis Stecher, Wally Karbo and Verne Gagne were now equal organizers in this NWA affiliate . These three reactivated the AWA World Heavyweight Wrestling Championship , which had been discontinued in 1953 in February 1959 , in which Pat O'Connor was declared the first AWA champion.
O'Connor was NWA champion since January 9, 1959 and thus the reactivated AWA title was derived from the existing NWA title. Verne Gagne and Wally Karbo gave O'Connor a 90-day ultimatum to hand over the title to Gagne, in which he lost a match required by the AWA. But the NWA World Heavyweight Championship Committee , which decided on the title change, let this ultimatum pass unanswered.
As a result, after their ultimatum, Karbo and Verne closed the NWA Minneapolis Office in May 1960 and the Minneapolis Boxing & Wrestling Club's exit from the NWA was legally completed.
On August 16, 1960 Gagne was subsequently declared AWA World Heavyweight Wrestling Champion after Pat O'Connor refused to lose the NWA title and thus the original AWA championship to this.
The AWA as the umbrella organization for the independent scene
Under Gagne, the Minneapolis Boxing & Wrestling Club was now registered as a promotion under the name American Wrestling Association with the State Athletic Commission of Minnesota .
In a short time it became one of the largest wrestling promotions in the USA and rose to become a serious competitor of the NWA, since the AWA had a fixed TV format in Minnesota with the AWA All-Star Wrestling show . This TV format was to run until 1991 and was later expanded nationwide to include the formats AWA Championship Wrestling and AWA Major League Wrestling ; the latter TV format was produced for neighboring Canada .
In the early days of the AWA, numerous organizers joined the independent scene . Among other things, the Atlantic Athletic Commission joined the renewed AWA on July 17, 1960, and Gagnes AWA was therefore also considered by the public to be the legitimate successor to the original AWA. Verne Gagne also managed to take over the former NWA territory of Nebraska.
The AWA as a global alternative to the NWA and WWF
Verne Gagne wore the AWA World Heavyweight Championship since August 16, 1960 and for a period of 22 years, interrupted by brief title losses . This should develop into one of the most important wrestling titles between the 1960s and 1980s.
He had the AWA World Heavyweight Championship held not only in the USA, but also in Spain and Japan .
In the mid-1980s, however, Gagne's age and his conservative attitude towards the sport made themselves felt. As a result, fans and superstars migrated in droves to the more interesting competitors NWA and WWF . Well-known names among them were the Road Warriors , Stan Hansen , Rick Martel , Jesse Ventura , Mean Gene Okerlund and Bobby "the Brain" Heenan . A special turning point here is that Gagne refused to let Hogan win the World Heavyweight title despite the enormous popularity of the young Hulk Hogan . After an unsuccessful feud with AWA World Heavyweight Champion Nick Bockwinkel, he finally rejoined the WWF in December 1983. Hulk Hogan and the personality cult around him (" Hulkamania ") developed into the driving force behind the national and international popularization of the WWF.
In order to be able to counteract a migration of fans to the overwhelming WWF, the American Wrestling Association founded the new promotion Pro-Wrestling USA in 1984 with numerous affiliates of the NWA . Through the cooperation of the leagues based in different territories, war should be declared on the national level for the WWF. This doctorate started successfully, but subsequently developed into a financial failure, which was closed in May 1990.
In 1985 the AWA started a national television program on ESPN that was first broadcast under the name "Pro Wrestling USA", but soon as "AWA Championship Wrestling". This opened up a larger audience for the AWA, as the broadcast AWA All-Star Wrestling , which had been produced since 1960, ran in syndication , i.e. was purchased and broadcast under license by regional broadcasters and therefore could not be received nationwide. The contract with ESPN was not renewed in 1990.
Despite the diminishing importance compared to WWF and NWA, the AWA was able to build up some future stars. Particularly noteworthy is Curt Hennig, who began his career in 1982 in the promotion and after a reign as AWA World Tag Team Champion together with Scott Hall even won the AWA World Heavyweight Championship from Nick Bockwinkel in 1987 and was established as the new top star of the promotion. Furthermore, the "Midnight Rockers" Shawn Michaels and Marty Jannetty received their first big push and were allowed to win the AWA Southern and AWA World Tag Team titles twice. Despite these successes, Hennig, Michaels and Jannetty also left the AWA in 1988 for WWF. Scott Hall joined the NWA in 1989.
In 1989, when the end of pro-wrestling USA was already in sight, the AWA merged with the CWA and numerous independent promotions to form the USWA .
In 1990 the AWA broke away from the USWA and became inactive in December for financial reasons. The wrestlers under AWA contract were taken over by the World Wrestling Federation , unless they insisted on competing in the Independent or in the National Wrestling Alliance .
In 1991, Verne Gagne declared the American Wrestling Association promotion bankrupt and the promotion has now officially closed after he had given up all rights to existing film material in favor of the WWF in order to pay off part of his debts.
Major events
Another measure against the up-and-coming WWF and its success with the first Wrestlemania were its own large events of a similar design, called "Supercard" in English. The first and largest of these AWA events was the Superclash on September 28, 1985. Around 21,000 spectators followed the spectacle live with AWA and NWA stars in Comiskey Park in Chicago , Illinois . Although this event was actually a result of the "Pro-Wrestling USA" cooperation, it took place under the AWA banner.
The heavily advertised event "WrestleRock 86" on April 20, 1986 was even bigger. 23,000 fans attended the event at the Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome in Minneapolis , Minnesota , the AWA stronghold; it was to be the last promotion event in a large stadium. As a special advertising measure, a rap music video had previously been recorded in which the AWA wrestlers and Verne Gagne raped personally. The actual show was top-class, and Gagne himself stepped into the ring again for a cage match against Sheik Adnan El Kassey . Country musician Waylon Jennings performed after the event .
On April 28, 1986, the AWA and NWA hosted a joint tournament in East Rutherford, New Jersey, called Rage In A Gage .
On May 2, 1987, the "Superclash II" was held at the Cow Palace in Daly City , California . The show, organized by the AWA alone, attracted considerably fewer visitors than the previous one with 2,800 spectators.
On December 13, 1988, the Superclash III took place in the UIC Pavilion in Chicago. The World Class Wrestling Association from Texas and the Championship Wrestling Association from Tennessee were also involved in this event . Superclash III was also the only AWA event that was ever broadcast via pay-per-view , so reception of which on TV was subject to a charge. Both the number of spectators present in the arena (1,500) and the sales figures for the PPV broadcast were very low.
The fourth and final Superclash took place on April 8, 1990. In front of the 2,000 visitors at the Civic Center in St. Paul, Minnesota , in the middle of the ancestral AWA territory, Larry Zbyszko was in a match against Mr. Saito for the vacant AWA World Heavyweight championship the last title holder of the promotion.
Video and film rights
The rights to the film and video material from Verne Gagne's AWA were among the organizers of some time World Wrestling Entertainment , Vince McMahon , who secured the rights when he took over the AWA wrestler Verne Gagne. He released a DVD in 2006 called The Spectacular Legacy of AWA . In a two-hour documentary, Verne and Greg Gagne, officials and commentators like Al DeRusha , Eric Bischoff and Gene Okerlund, but also wrestlers like Hulk Hogan , Baron Von Raschke and James Brunzell have their say.
Others
In his endeavor to stand up to the WWF in every respect, Verne Gagne not only pushed for a national TV presence and major events, he also arranged a series of AWA toys . The figures were made by the Remco company and are nowadays extremely valuable because of their rarity. From 1985 to 1986 Remco produced AWA action figures , a ring, a cage and "thumbsters" (small wrestling figures that you pull over your thumb). The action figure and the thumbster by Ric Flair are a curiosity, as this last competed in 1974, 11 years before the toys for the AWA were released.
See also
Individual evidence
- ↑ http://www.wrestleview.com/news08/1225314623.shtml
- ↑ http://www.cagematch.de/?id=8&nr=41
- ^ The sensational history of AWA. wwe.com, accessed October 6, 2016 .
- ↑ http://prowrestling.about.com/b/2008/03/06/awa-on-espn-classic.htm
- ↑ http://www.kayfabememories.com/Regions/awa/awa43-2.htm
- ↑ http://www.kayfabememories.com/Regions/awa/awa5-2.htm
- ↑ http://www.cagematch.de/?id=1&nr=3107
- ↑ http://neverhandover.blogspot.com/2011/06/awa-wrestlerock-86-co-review.html
- ↑ http://www.cagematch.net/?id=1&nr=3110
- ↑ http://www.kayfabememories.com/TapeReviews/awappv/superclash3.htm
- ↑ http://www.cagematch.de/?id=1&nr=3117