The American Wrestling Association (AWA) was an American professional wrestling promotion based in Minneapolis, Minnesota, that ran from 1960 until 1991. It was founded by Verne Gagne and Wally Karbo. The promotion was born out of the Minneapolis Boxing & Wrestling Club, originally founded in 1933, which served as the Minnesota-based territory of the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) from 1948 onward, before breaking away from the NWA and becoming an independent territory in 1960.

History

Pre-AWA years (1933–1960)

Anton Stecher, brother and manager of former World Heavyweight Champion Joe Stecher, was a founding member of the NWA in 1948 and had promoted wrestling in Minneapolis since 1933 through his Minneapolis Boxing and Wrestling Club. In 1952, he sold a one-third interest in the promotion to his son Dennis and Wally Karbo. Stecher died on October 9, 1954, and control of the promotion passed to Karbo and Dennis. Verne Gagne, an amateur wrestling champion, had become a well-known and popular wrestler nationally in the 1950s as a result of his appearances on the DuMont Network. He aspired to become NWA World Champion, but political sentiment within the NWA prevented it. In 1959, Dennis sold his majority stake in the Minneapolis Boxing and Wrestling Club to Karbo and Gagne. They then became co-owners of the promotion.

Breaking from the NWA (1960)

In 1960, after unsuccessfully lobbying the NWA for a title match between Gagne and the NWA World Champion Pat O'Connor, Gagne and Karbo led certain territories out of the NWA forming the AWA. The AWA unilaterally recognized NWA World Champion Pat O'Connor as AWA World Champion and gave him 90 days to defend the AWA title against Gagne. The NWA ignored the challenge. O'Connor was stripped of the AWA title and it was awarded to Gagne on August 16, 1960. While O'Connor was considered the first AWA Champion, he didn't wrestle in the AWA until later in the 1960s (when he teamed with Wilbur Snyder to win the AWA World Tag Team Championship).

Gagne was an amateur wrestling champion who had earned a spot on the U.S. team at the 1948 Summer Olympics; he ran the AWA with a conservative sensibility, firmly believing that sound technical wrestling should be the basis of a pro-wrestling company. Starting in the 1970s, Gagne trained his newcomer wrestlers from his farm in Chanhassen, Minnesota.

Expanding the territory (1960s–1980s)

thumb|left|[[Ken Patera, Verne Gagne and Chris Taylor in 1974]]

Under Gagne and Karbo, the AWA became one of the most successful and expansive single territories in North America, promoting shows in such major cities as Minneapolis, St. Paul, Milwaukee, Chicago, Omaha, Winnipeg, Denver, Salt Lake City, Las Vegas, San Francisco, Phoenix and throughout the Midwest region. Relationships were also developed with existing promotions in Houston, Memphis and San Antonio. Gagne's westward expansion into traditional NWA territories was made possible due to relationships and business partnerships he had forged for decades—more the result of other promoters struggling to survive rather than by purchase or hostile takeover by Gagne. The AWA would also benefit from, among other things, the profits which was made from matches that occurred in 1973 and 1974 between Superstar Billy Graham and Wahoo McDaniel.

The promotion was briefly affiliated with International Championship Wrestling (ICW), which had broken away from NWA Tri-State in 1977, and recognized then AWA World Heavyweight Champion Nick Bockwinkel as the "real" world champion. Bockwinkel, accompanied by then manager Bobby "The Brain" Heenan, traveled to Mississippi several times to defend his title.

Nick Bockwinkel vs. Hulk Hogan (1982–1983)

thumb|250x250px|[[Nick Bockwinkel (left) and Hulk Hogan during an AWA match, 1982]]

After Gagne's retirement in 1981, he focused the promotion on Nick Bockwinkel, a loyal employee of several years who was a mat-wrestling technician like Gagne had been. Bockwinkel faced numerous challengers for the title during the early 1980s including eventual champions Rick Martel and Otto Wanz, champion Mad Dog Vachon, and perennial contenders Wahoo McDaniel, and Brad Rheingans, but perhaps his most famous opponent would be Hulk Hogan. Starting in 1982 and accelerated by a role in the hit film Rocky III, Hogan rapidly caught on as a babyface with AWA fans, and became the AWA's top draw. But even as his popularity grew to unprecedented levels, Gagne refused to make him the AWA World Heavyweight Champion, as Hogan was a powerhouse wrestler. He recognized Hogan's showmanship and charisma and was well aware of his potential drawing power, but still believed a wrestling company should be built around one of its best technical wrestlers (e.g., himself and Bockwinkel). DVD, Gagne denied bias against Hogan and defended his actions by reasoning that he believed that Hogan's pursuit of the title was the draw for the audience and that "we really didn't need him to be champion".

On two occasions, Gagne went so far as to tease AWA title wins for Hogan, only to return the title to Bockwinkel via technicalities. The first was on April 18, 1982. Hogan defeated Bockwinkel with the help of a foreign object that Bockwinkel's manager Bobby "the Brain" Heenan had interjected into the match. After the three count, the belt was awarded to Hogan and he was announced as the new champion. Heenan informed the referee of the object and the referee questioned Hogan about this, but the blood on Hogan's face was evidence that the object had also been used on him. The ref stood by his decision and Hogan left the arena as the new AWA World champion. Six days later on AWA television, AWA President Stanley Blackburn stripped Hogan of the title and returned it to Bockwinkel.

The second such occasion was on a AWA Super Sunday card in St. Paul in 1983. Hogan again pinned Bockwinkel, was awarded the belt and announced as the new champion. This time, Blackburn came to the ring moments after the match and tried to have Hogan retroactively disqualified for throwing the champion over the top rope a few minutes before the pinfall occurred. However, this match had been booked as a no disqualification match, which prevented this, so Blackburn simply stripped Hogan of the title and once again handed it back to Bockwinkel. The crowd (which had exploded in cheers when Hogan appeared to have won) almost rioted when learning that Hogan was once again cheated out of the title, and Bockwinkel later had to do damage control with the rabid crowd, telling the audience to calm down afterwards as well. Outraged at being strongarmed, Hogan refused, but nonetheless offered a 50/50 split instead.

Talent jumps to the WWF (1983–1984)

As McMahon and his Connecticut-based WWF attempted to end pro wrestling's regional era in the mid-1980s (by establishing the WWF as a national promotion), Gagne made several decisions that caused his AWA to lose momentum in the emerging wrestling promotion war, including overemphasizing his son Greg Gagne in AWA storylines (which led to charges of nepotism within the company) and failing to make Hogan the top star of his company when he had the chance.

Frustrated by Gagne's business decisions, Hogan accepted an offer from rival promoter McMahon to wrestle for the WWF, in December 1983. One month later, Hogan became the WWF World Heavyweight Champion. He and the WWF soon became a mainstream media phenomenon and virtually synonymous with professional wrestling in much of the national consciousness, vaulting past the AWA and NWA as the premier promotion in wrestling. Hogan wasn't alone in leaving the AWA. Some of the AWA's other top talent, including announcer "Mean Gene" Okerlund, manager Heenan, and wrestlers Adrian Adonis, Ken Patera, Tito Santana, Jim Brunzell, David Schultz, Wendi Richter and Jesse Ventura also jumped to the WWF. As the AWA required talent to place a six-week notice upon leaving the company for booking and syndication-based reasons, most of the talent reportedly told Gagne that McMahon offered them more money to not work out their notices and previously scheduled appearance dates, which has been disputed by McMahon. Of the talent to leave AWA for the WWF in this time, only Heenan worked out his notice in good faith to the Gagne family.

The sting of the WWF expansion was not shouldered by the AWA alone. The Mid-Atlantic, Georgia, and Florida territories of the NWA also lost top stars such as "Rowdy" Roddy Piper, Greg "The Hammer" Valentine, Jack Brisco, Jerry Brisco, Ricky "The Dragon" Steamboat, "Cowboy" Bob Orton, Barry Windham, and Mike Rotunda to the WWF during that same time.

Pro Wrestling USA (1984–1986)

Despite this talent raid, the AWA went on to have another successful year in 1984, mainly because of the arrival of The Road Warriors and an angle uniting longtime heel Jerry Blackwell with Greg and feuding with former manager Sheik Adnan El-Kaissey. Gagne promoted three more AWA events in Red Wing that year, and a final event on January 22, 1995 that saw Zbyszko defeat Wahoo McDaniel.

In an interview during the late 1990s with Minneapolis-St. Paul television station KARE, Gagne spoke of the devoted fan base in Minnesota and joked about how he may promote again some day, but nothing ever materialized.

Purchase by World Wrestling Entertainment (2003)

In 2003, World Wrestling Entertainment purchased the assets of the AWA from the Gagnes, with its programming and archives being added to the company's library.

WWE released The Spectacular Legacy of the AWA on November 21, 2006. The DVD includes a documentary on the amateur and professional career of Verne Gagne, the rise and fall of the AWA over its 30-year history, along with numerous interviews and features with Gagne, Hulk Hogan, Jim Brunzell, Michael Hayes, Baron von Raschke, Greg Gagne, Eric Bischoff, Bobby Heenan, Gene Okerlund and Nick Bockwinkel.

International working agreements

Abroad, the AWA had working agreements with Japanese promotions International Wrestling Enterprise (1969 to 1980), then All Japan Pro Wrestling (1980 to 1988, although the relationship was strained in 1986 by the AWA Title debacle surrounding Stan Hansen), and, near the end, New Japan Pro-Wrestling.

On June 29, 1986, in Denver, Colorado, Hansen refused to lose the AWA World Title to Bockwinkel prior to a tour of Japan and left with the championship belt. Hansen argued that he was booked as AWA Champion in Japan and was therefore fulfilling his commitment. Gagne disagreed and awarded the AWA Championship to Bockwinkel, using one of the tag team title belts on a temporary basis. Gagne threatened legal action if Hansen continued to keep the belt and it was returned to the AWA as a result (although according to Bockwinkel on The Spectacular Legacy of the AWA, Hansen had run over the belt with his truck before returning it).

The AWA also had a brief relationship with the European promotion Catch Wrestling Association, through which its promoter, wrestler Otto Wanz, was given a brief AWA World Title reign in 1982.

Events

Television

Throughout the 1960s and 1970s, AWA television production was headquartered at Minneapolis independent station WTCN-TV, then owned by Metromedia. The ring announcer was longtime Minneapolis–Saint Paul sports broadcaster Marty O'Neill, who also conducted the post-match interviews. O'Neill announced the matches for the local WTCN audience. But fans watching the syndicated version of the show heard commentary provided by Rodger Kent. In the mid-1970s, during a prolonged illness, O'Neill was occasionally replaced as ring announcer by program producer Al DeRusha and interviews were conducted by both Kent and Gene Okerlund. By 1979, Okerlund had permanently replaced O'Neill, who died a couple of years later, and production was transferred to Minneapolis station KMSP-TV. During the AWA's existence, it produced or had a hand in production of several TV programs:

  • AWA All-Star Wrestling, the promotion's syndicated program, which aired from 1960 until 1991.
  • AWA Championship Wrestling, which aired on cable sports network ESPN from 1985 to 1990; it was a continuation of the earlier ESPN program Pro Wrestling USA, the co-operative venture between the AWA and several NWA affiliates (most notably Jim Crockett Promotions).
  • AWA Major League Wrestling, a Canadian program produced in Winnipeg, Manitoba, for that city's station, CKND, and syndicated across Canada during the 1980s.

In 1985, Gagne began airing weekly programming on ESPN, hoping to help the promotion compete with the national exposure already enjoyed by the WWF on USA Network and the NWA member Jim Crockett Promotions on TBS. The pay-per-views ceased following the acquisition of the AWA tape library by World Wrestling Entertainment.

Supercards

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Tournaments

AWA World Tag Championship Tournament (1962)

The AWA World Tag Team Tournament was a one-night single elimination tag team tournament held in Saint Paul, Minnesota, on January 15, 1962, for the vacant AWA World Tag Team Championship.

AWA World Tag Championship Tournament (1989)

The AWA World Tag Team Tournament was a one-night single elimination tag team tournament held in Rochester, Minnesota, on October 1, 1989, for the vacant AWA World Tag Team Championship.

Team Challenge Series

In 1989, with the AWA weakened by a fluctuating and weakened roster, and the promotion seeking to find ways to revive viewer interest, a concept known as the "Team Challenge Series" was developed; the promotion's talent would be divided into three teams competing in a league, and earn points for their team by winning matches. At some unspecified point, the highest scoring team would share a (kayfabe) $1 million prize. Concurrently, the promotion was also developing a new syndicated television program featuring the Team Challenge Series, hoping to capitalize on the slate of sports entertainment-based shows entering the syndication market at the time (such as American Gladiators and RollerGames) in response to the success of the WWF's televised specials.

An unsold pilot for the new series—publicly released for the first time in 2018 by WWE Network's "Hidden Gems"—featured Ralph Strangis and Greg Gagne hosting and commentating from the WTCN-TV studio in Minneapolis (referred to as the "Satellite Base"). The matches were recorded in an empty studio with artificial crowd noise; entrances were conducted in front of a green screen "tunnel" with stock footage of fans reacting in restaurants, while the matches were also intercut with this footage. The pilot promoted the use of technology such as in-match instant replay and new types of camera angles, and also included a segment featuring foxy boxing from the Beverly Hills Knockouts. In a move to sidestep WWE, former AWA wrestler Jonnie Stewart trademarked the name "American Wrestling Alliance" but the United States Patent and Trademark Office later indicated that the request was abandoned in February 2008.

In October 2008, the lawsuit against Gagner was settled. The court ruling prohibits Dale Gagner and his associates from certain uses of the AWA name or any other derivatives. As a result, the organization was renamed to "Wrestling Superstars Live".

See also

  • List of independent wrestling promotions in the United States

References

  • Wrestling-Titles.com