Territorial principle of the NWA
This article deals with the territorial principle of the NWA and its history. When the National Wrestling Alliance was founded on July 18, 1948 in Iowa, the wrestling organizers present there decided that the autonomy of the individual sub-organizations (English. Affiliates ) of the National Wrestling Alliance was to be guaranteed. The so-called “territorial principle” was introduced for this purpose. A certain area was now headed by a permanent organizer (English booker ), who should monitor this principle and the obligation of the employed wrestlers.
For this, the existing territorial structure of the National Wrestling Association was taken over by the NWA and further expanded. The National Wrestling Alliance now consisted of local representatives who ran a local NWA office and from the NWA regions.
Since its reorganization (June 2012), the NWA only issues licenses and no longer differentiates between member organizations, associated associations (associates) and regional associations (affiliates).
Function of the territorial principle
In the National Wrestling Alliance, the unwritten law was now in force that no sub-organization of the NWA shows were allowed to host in the designated territory of another. These had the official territorial sovereignty in their area . Should an NWA member want to organize in another NWA territory, then this event had to be registered with the relevant regional organization ( major promotion ) and approved by them. This principle was strictly adhered to until the 1980s and also officially applied to non-members of the NWA.
The official NWA World Champion , who had to defend his title both globally and in all member associations , was exempt from this territorial principle . The so-called "NWA World Heavyweight Championship Committee" decided on possible title changes and the associated storylines .
If a sub-organization should not adhere to these verbally agreed rules, severe sanctions were imposed on them, which sometimes ended with exclusion from the NWA. Although the individual member associations were prevented from expanding on their own, for most of them the NWA patronage was probably positive in that they came to well-known wrestlers for their shows .
Local NWA representatives
In order to guarantee and safeguard the territorial principle, the National Wrestling Alliance has now founded so-called NWA offices in various cities. These served as local contact points for the NWA in a region. An NWA region was administratively subordinate to these offices .
Usually one of the main organizers hired this local office. All wrestling events for the subordinate area had to be requested through the NWA offices. The offices were later closed and converted in the course of the reorganization of the NWA.
Table with the NWA offices (1948–1993)
| Surname | Seat | territories covered |
|---|---|---|
| NWA Atlanta Office | Headquarters Atlanta, Georgia | Georgia, Ohio |
| NWA Buffalo Office | Headquarters Buffalo, New York | Upstate, New York |
| NWA Chicago Office | Headquarters Chicago, Illinois | Illinois, Wisconsin |
| NWA Detroit Office | Headquarters Detroit, Michigan | Michigan, Ohio |
| NWA Florida Office | Tampa, Florida | Florida, Puerto Rico |
| NWA Gulf Coast Office | City of Mobile, Alabama | Alabama, Florida, Mississippi, Louisiana |
| NWA Indianapolis Office | Indianapolis, Indiana | Indiana |
| NWA Iowa Office | Waterloo, Iowa | Iowa, Kansas, Missouri |
| NWA Mid-America Office | Birmingham, Alabama | Tennessee, Kentucky, Northern Alabama |
| NWA Minneapolis Office | Minneapolis, Minnesota | Minnesota |
| NWA New Mexico Office | unknown | Colorado, New Mexico |
| NWA Nebraska Office | Omaha, Nebraska | Nebraska |
| NWA San Francisco Office | San Francisco, California | Northern California |
| NWA St. Louis Office | St. Louis, Missouri | Missouri |
| NWA Tri-State Office | Tulsa, Oklahoma | Oklahoma, Louisiana, Arkansas, Mississippi, Texas |
| NWA Utah Office | unknown | Utah |
NWA regions (1948–1993)
The National Wrestling Alliance divided their territories into larger administrative units until 1993, which they called "regions" (English. Regions).
As a rule, a main organizer and thus the most influential promotion in the NWA region represented the respective representative to whom other promotions affiliated to it were subordinate. Under whose name (Engl. Banner ) are then the various shows and tournaments (Engl. Tournaments ) is performed. These NWA regions were also assigned the “States & Dependent Areas”, the US state territory and the states associated with the USA (US overseas territories). These are assigned the local titles (English State Titles).
The National Wrestling Alliance is still regionally structured to this day. From 1948 to 1993 the following regional division was officially in effect, as shown in the table below.
Table with the traditional regions
| region | Covered territory |
|---|---|
| Asia | Japan, South Korea |
| The Carolinas | North Carolina, South Carolina |
| Central States | Missouri, Kansas, Iowa |
| East | Florida, Pennsylvania, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio |
| Europe | France, Great Britain, Ireland |
| Mid-Atlantic | North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia |
| Midwest | Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Wisconsin, Indiana |
| Mid-South | Oklahoma, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi |
| Northeast / New England | Connecticut, New Hampshire, Maine, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Vermont |
| Oceania | Australia, Micronesia, New Zealand, Polynesia |
| Pacific Ocean | Hawaii |
| Pacific Northwest | British Columbia, Oregon, Washington |
| Tri-State / Mid-South | Oklahoma, Louisiana, Arkansas, Mississippi |
With the reorganization of the NWA in the early 1990s, the traditional NWA regions were given up in favor of a new structure. The NWA differentiated their area of activity into eastern regions (Eastern States), the so-called middle states (Central States) and the western regions (Western States) of the USA. In addition there were the regions Canada (Canada) and the other NWA areas (Other Countrys). The following table illustrates the regional policy of the NWA as it was operated up to June 2012.
Table of NWA regions (1993-2012)
| Eastern States | Central States | Western States | Canada | other countries |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alabama | Arkansas | Arizona | Canada-East | United Kingdom |
| Georgia | Illinois | California | Canada-West | Ireland |
| The Carolinas | Indiana | Colorado | Mexico | |
| Kentucky | Iowa | Hawaii | South Korea | |
| North Florida | Kansas | Idaho | ||
| South Florida | Michigan | Nevada | ||
| New Jersey | Mississippi | Oregon | ||
| new York | Missouri | Utah | ||
| Pennsylvania | Oklahoma | Washington | ||
| Tennessee | Texas | |||
| Virginia | Wisconsin | |||
| West Virginia |
The license policy of the NWA between June 2012 and October 2017
In January 2012, Bruce Tharpe (NWA World Class), Chris Ronquillo (NWA Texas) and Fred Rubinstein (NWA New York / New Jersey), three main organizers of the National Wrestling Alliance, decided that the governing body would have to be drastically reorganized if it was against World Wrestling Entertainment should continue to exist.
The three founded a new company in August 2012 with the Pro Wrestling Organization, LCC , which should originally be under the leadership of the three. But until the summer of 2012, the lawyer Tharpe sued the sole leadership position of this company within the NWA and Ronquillo received the post of vice-chairman. The third member, Rubenstein, left the NWA towards the end of the year.
But most wrestling associations did not agree with this change in leadership and left the NWA in June 2012. So also the NWA Pro (David Marquez), which represented the most influential division of the NWA and which was quite successful with the TV format NWA Championship Wrestling from Hollywood .
Since June 2012 there are no more territorial associations within the National Wrestling Alliance in the true sense of the word, as the new leadership switched to converting NWA memberships into licenses, the scope of which is still limited locally. The restriction became necessary because the Pro Wrestling Organization, LCC had decided to reactivate the regional titles that had been discontinued until 1993 and to have them re- fought . The new organization intended to tie in with the old traditions of the original NWA.
Table of former NWA licenses (2012-2017)
| territory | Central League | License |
|---|---|---|
| Cailfornien (Santa Maria) | NWA Vendetta Pro Wrestling | July 2014 - October 2017 |
| Georgia (Atlanta) | NWA Atlanta | August 2011 |
| Illinois (E. St. Louis) | NWA Central States Championship Wrestling | November 201 - October 2017 |
| Indiana (Madison) | NWA Supreme | April 2015 - October 2017 |
| Louisiana (Houma) | NWA Elite Championship Wrestling | October 2012 - October 2017 |
| Louisiana (W. Monroe) | Bayou Independent Wrestling | April 2014 - October 2017 |
| Ohio (Marion) | NWA Midwest Championship Wrestling | 2013 - October 2017 |
| Oregon (Portland) | NWA Blue Collar Wrestling | March 2015 - October 2017 |
| Tennessee (Kingsport) | NWA Smoky Mountain | February 2011 - October 2017 |
| Tennessee (Millersville) | Southern Allstar Wrestling (Tennessee) | December 2012 - October 2017 |
| Tennessee (Union City) | NWA Midsouth | August 201 - October 2017 |
| Texas (Amarillo) | Top of Texas | August 2008 - October 2017 |
| Texas (Austin) | Pro wrestling Texas | October 2012 - October 2017 |
| Texas (Crowley) | Iconic Heroes of Wrestling Excellence | September 2015 - October 2017 |
| Texas (Sherman) | NWA Texoma | September 2012 - October 2017 |
| West Virginia (Beckley) / North Carolina (Powellsville) | NWA Mid-Atlantic Wrestling | November 2011 - October 2017 |
| Australia | All action wrestling | September 2013 - October 2017 |
The license policy of the NWA since October 2017 until today
With the sale of the NWA to the current owner, musician Billy Corgan , who acquired the organization in early 2017, the wrestling organization's licensing policy changed drastically. The new owner either let the existing licenses, which were about to be renewed, expire on October 1, the day when he took up the owner’s activities, or he canceled newly renewed or concluded licenses. Through this license policy of Corgan, interested promoters were deprived of the opportunity to buy into the NWA as before and to influence their business policy.
Corgan currently grants individual licenses to every interested promotion, which take place against payment of a contractually agreed amount of money. The duration of the license is different. It can be designed for one or two shows or for the duration of a certain storyline that is followed in the NWA. For this reason, the hardcore-heavy league Combat Zone Wrestling (CZW), once part of the NWA New Jersey, held an NWA title tournament for the NWA World Heavyweight Championship on December 9, 2017 (during their show event "Cage of Death 19") .
See also
Remarks
- ↑ This office was with the Texas Amarillo Territory associated .
- ↑ Cagematch.de: CZW Cage Of Death 19 , accessed on June 1, 2019.