The Rise and Fall of the AMERICAN WRESTLING ASSOCIATION
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- Опубліковано 10 лют 2021
- DAVE KNOWS that the AWA, the American Wrestling Association is one of the best wrestling organizations that there ever was, it was even the most successful at one point in time. However, a lot of modern wrestling fans are not quite as familiar with Verne Gagne and the AWA promotion as they ought to be. And while the AWA had its ups and downs, it serves as great example of what makes wrestling good and also some common mistakes that bring wrestling companies to a close. So let's revisit Verne Gagne and the American Wrestling Association.
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Hard to feel bad for AWA's demise when they had a Red Hot Hulk Hogan after Rocky III and St. Slaughter when he was the face of G.I. Joe and Verne refused to put the belt on them.
As Bryan Zane once said “Who needs your newer popular guys when you can have the old guard forever. And ever. And Ever. AND Ever. AND EVER!”
The pink room of doom looks to be the precursor to Covid-era wrestling lol
Yeah
If promoting old, past their time wrestlers and giving them the world title is a sign of a failing promotion, that doesn't bode well for WWE.
There are A LOT of things WWE should take note of. Those who forget the past...
@@DaveKnowsWrestling ...are condemned to repeat it! WWE, as I've said in the past, is just another old & blind Tyrannosaurus Rex, stumbling it's way into the nearest LaBrea Tarpit. It's just a matter of time, until they are no more.
@@ronaldshank7589 They've been saying that since 1991 and still are around. WWE is going nowhere whether you like it or not
It's a much different time now. We're talking about a company now in the world of billion dollar deals. The money and the business is 180 degrees different.
@@Messiah717Vastly successful Companies Blockbuster and Poloroid have folded ,nba and NFL organizations have relocated because of a lack of financial gain to either build or adequately refurbish a arena . Nothing stays forever , eventually all things tenure ends ,every major world empire in History has succumbed to another empire .
Weird compliment, but damn the AWA had an amazing logo.
Yeah that logo is pretty clutch
Ironic after WWE purchased AWAs library and merchandise rights, they made a john cena shirt that copied the AWA logo ...
@@michaelmoser7863 WWE is a big business, they know good branding when they see it.
Losing Hulk Hogan was the beginning of the end for AWA.
Yeah, it wasn't so much that it hurt the AWA as much as it was that it just really helped WWF
There wasn't really much the AWA could do about that either.
Hulk started as bad guy in Winnipeg in 1980 for a couple of weeks and then they made him babyface. Verne was infatuated with the so called scientific wrestling and was terrified Hulk would be more popular than Verne, so Verne decided Hulk would never be champ. Same thing with the Road Warriors, and theyl they also left AWA on bad terms
@@rustystove8410 Verne was in his late 50's by then and all but retired as a wrestler. And no, Hogan was being groomed for a world title run but left because WWE was greener pastures. AWA had zero control over that.
@@Kfowlkes09 Can you be more vague? Why would Hogan go to greener pastures? To eat more grass? Do you smokepot all day long, or are you naturally low IQ?
Wrestling Fanatic Bernkastel
Highlighted reply
Wrestling Fanatic Bernkastel
11 minutes ago
@Rusty Stove Verne was in his late 50's by then and all but retired as a wrestler. And no, Hogan was being groomed for a world title run but left because WWE was greener pastures. AWA had zero control over that.
The A.W.A. : that was MY territory! Started watching in the early 1970's. Verne Gagne, Nick Bockwinkel, The Crusher and The Bruiser, Dr. X., Superstar Billy Graham, and of course Marty O'Neil with the interviews. SUCH a great time to be a wrestling fan. Thanks for the memories!
Thank you for enjoying the video
& Yukon Moose Cholak with the El Squasho. Also Ox Baker, Sailor Art Thomas, Ernie Ladd,
I watched all the AWA 🎬action from the late 1960's to the mid 1980's. My father's shirt-tail relation ( there's an old term too) came over every Saturday night and we watched the AWA religiously. Besides the memorable names you've mentioned; I have several others to add also. Ahead of time, forgive 🙏any misspelling of the character names. Remember the Fabulous Freebirds, Pepper 🌶Gomez, Larry " the ax " Henning ( Curt's 👨dad), his tag-team partner, Lars Anderson, Ivan Kohloff ( a bad-guy Russian; he always wore the Soviet red hat and had the Russian national song ), Baron Von Rascke ( he would " goosestep around when he was getting ready to apply his finishing hold, da claw " ). Verne tried to make him look like a Nazi without wearing 😉the Nazi symbol. Instead , it was just a Iron Cross. Verne had great and funny character names, props and personalities for their characters. Bull Bulinkski was a " Chicago 🚚truck-driver who wore dirty jeans 👖and carried a air-horn to the ring. The Vachon Brothers, Mad-Dog and the Butcher, both were scarred, missing front teeth and had a 🤪crazy-look in their eyes. One of their favorite " holds " were poking in the eyes, raking their sharpened nails across the opponents' back or biting 😳their faces. How about the " Super Destroyer" ( 1, 2 or 😁3) with his manager, Lord Alfred Hayes. LOD ( Legion of Doom with manager Paul Ellering ) was there too. They had so many politically incorrect characters (but everyone knew it was an 🎬 act). They had " Wahoo McDaniels or Chief Billy Red ☁️Cloud; who both wore the fancy Indian headdress and would do a " wardance in a circle while shouting, woo-woo-woo when mad. Their finishing moves was the " tomahawk chop" with their fingers together. Jesse " the body " Ventura was there too in his big sunglasses 🕶, wearing a boa and his tie-dye tights on. Jerry " crusher " Blackwell ( I remember when " Da Crusher " had a match as to who " the real crusher was") who would go back and forth from a " bad-good-bad guy" depending upon if Verne thought they needed to " freshen up " their character. Ken Pantera, " the world's strongest man", was there. As was " Japanese " Mr Siato with his manager, Mr Fuji. Mr Siato dressed like a Samaria warrior, would bow and throw salt in the corner of the ring to pay homage to his ancestors 🙄( or throw the salt in his opponents' 👀eyes). Black Jack Lanza with Black Jack Mulligan, along with their manager, Bobby " the weasel " Heenan. I also enjoyed watching the resident " jobbers ( their "job" is to lose every match and make their opponent look as strong as possible ) get a " squash " match. That's where someone like Jerry " Crusher " Blackwell will dominate and pin them in a short match. I can't remember all of the " jobbers " except for the regular ones. Like Kenny " Sodbuster " Jay , George " Scrap Iron " Gwadaski, Barry Horowitz ( I loved him; he would always pat himself on the back when they announced his name) or Buck " Rock-n-roll " Zumhoff ( whose stick was to bring an actual boom box to the ring playing rock music 🎶). Scrap Iron Gwadaski never won a match to my knowledge. I saw Sodbuster Jay's only victory on TV 📺. He " rolled-up " Jesse Ventura for a pin count. Of course, after the match, Jesse Ventura and his tag-team partner beat the crap out of the " Sodbuster ". They could never admit that Verne Gagne owned the whole operation 🙄( jeez I wonder if that's the reason he was the heavy weight champion 🏆of the world off and on until he was almost 🤔🙄 60 ) so they invented an " AWA official named Wally Karbo " who wore a tacky suit with a clip-on tie. He would come on TV and rant-n-rave about the actions of the " bad guys " . He would " suspend them " or set-up special matches. I think Verne's big mistakes were trying to make a star out of his son, Greg Gagne and his tag-team partner, " Jumping " Jim Brunzell. Greg was rail-thin (look -up his old wrestling matches) and looked like he didn't even weigh 🙄200 lbs. They claimed he weighed 210 lbs but you could never believe the announced weights. He looked between 175- 185 lbs. He should have been a " good-guy " jobber who would put up a good fight and then lose. And not putting the belt on Hogan. At that time , both Verne and Nick Bockwinkle were too up in years to be still believable as champ. Sorry for the extremely- long post but to me, that was the " golden age " of wrestling. Great stories, characters and an entertaining product without being boring like today's " wrestling ". Rant over !! LOL
Mine, too! Incredible array of talent!!
I remember going to my first pro wrestling show when I was about 12 or 13. I knew that it was fake but just enjoyed it for entertainment. What hit me though were all of the "adults " sitting around me who were under the impression that this was real ! Taught me a valuable lesson that so called grownups could be really stupid !
When I was growing up, it was the Big Three...NWA, AWA, WWF. Being a wrestling fan in the eighties was awesome. I'm from Kingston, Ontario Canada originally...I watched WWF, AWA, Lutte Internationale, Stampede and because my grandfather had a satellite dish, NWA. You would buy the Apter mags like Pro Wrestling Illustrated to keep track of the rest. Great times.
What did you think about World Class Championship Wrestling with the Von Erichs/ Freebirds/Brody/Rude/Warrior/Hernandez/Adams/& Tatum?... Except for the overexposure of the Von Erichs',I thought that was just as good as AWA or Stampede.
@@robdykejr most of these promotion were aired in limited States not others that's how territory system worked. I'm assuming he never saw it only wwe started airing nationally
@@ShubhamMishrabro : He stated his grandfather had a satellite dish...I was able to watch stations in Mexico from Canada to California from Ohio. Back in the 80's depending on the size and strength of the dish,the possibilities of watching anything you wanted were endless.
@@robdykejr you could watch other promotions on dish I didn't knew it
@@ShubhamMishrabro : Satellites back in the day weren't like dish networks today. You were just able to watch analog(over air)channels from different areas including local uhf signals from different states/countries. Cool sh!t back in the day if you had 1.
"I'm Curt Henning, and Big Scott Hall. As tag team champs, we'll take on them all..."
Yeah, I'm old enough to remember that, and you can blame the 84 Chicago Bears, and their "Superbowl Shuffle".
My last memories of AWA was a few Big Daddy matches, mostly tag matches where the younger partner would do most of the work, and take all the bumps.
I vaguely remember a few Henning matches and sadly at that time, that was about as good as AWA was ever going to be from that point on.
I DO remember both Verne and Greg. Greg was not Verne and it showed. I put him in the same category as Jeff Jarett. "You're only working here, because of who your daddy is."
Verne's shortsightedness was letting Hogan go and not making him the face of the company, like Vince did. Who knows? If he had, we might be watching AWA Raw or AWA Smackdown!
No one should know the words to that song... I'm sad that I do
@@DaveKnowsWrestling Fortunately, those are all I remember. The thing I remember most about those years of AWA was that "It just wasn't WWF" WWF had all the excitement. Hogan, Andre, Piper, on and on. That was were the fun was. AWA was giving us Nick Bockwinkle and Greg Gagne.
I'm Greg Gagne and I'm in a rage...I want Brody and I want him in a cage
85 bears not 84
@@superstarreviews9937 See? That rap was so bad, I cant count anymore! Brain damage.
My favorite AWA story is one Road Warrior Animal told about Baron Von Rashke. Sometimes during matches, Rashke would entertain himself and his opponent by making sound effects for the punches and chops like the old Batman TV show.
Living in NY in the 70s, I would buy every wrestling magazine that came out. I loved seeing the guys from the NWA and AWA (whom I rarely, if ever, saw on TV). I remember seeing Verne Gagne in them all the time and thinking, "Who is this old man?" lol
Being a northeasterner who didn't get cable until 92 and never saw anything but Vinnie Jr wrestling until then, this history is good to see and learn.
Thanks so much for saying so, glad I could help
@@DaveKnowsWrestling I grew up in Chicago born in early 60s and even then we hated Vern Gagne as kids, throwing himself in the championship when he was a boring old man and then later replacing himself w Nick Bockwinkel, another boring younger version of himself. and later trying to shove his kid down our throats. Chicago was an interesting mix, we had Bob Luce Wrestling which was a mixture of Verne's Minnesota AWA and Bruiser's Indianapolis territory so we got to see lots of talent. Dick The Bruiser & The Crusher were huge in Chicago. And like the WWF in the North, we also wanted Superstar Graham to be champion instead of Verne.
My biggest memory of the AWA was a TV match (on ESPN) between the Road Warriors and a couple of jobbers. The Road Warriors were leaving (can't remember if this was before their WWE run or their return to NWA/WCW) so they had a quick squash match. Animal runs to the ring with Hawk slowly walking behind him. The match was so quick: Animal runs in , double clothesline, press slam, 1-2-3. The match ends right about the time Hawk makes it to the ring 😂 😂😂
I only knew AWA from ESPN in the 1980s it was hit or miss with me I always preferred NWA related ones especially Jim Crockett Promotions.
You and I are on the same page! I saw AWA Wrestling once in awhile, here and there, but I had wondered what happened to that Wrestling Organization after awhile. Then, WCW seemed to fall in ways that were, to a point, similar to the AWA...or so it seemed. Now, in 2021, we're watching the seemingly slow-motion demise of WWE. We'll have to wait and see if that happens, though.
Disney would have keep AWA Alive.
You missed some good stuff
The peak years for the AWA was in the 70s.
NWA didn't have the star power in the 70s because we had Billy Robinson who in 1971 had beaten the Japanese champion Strong Kobyashi on TV.
The Crusher and Mad Dog were the main event brawlers delight and as a co-main Verne would defend his title against the likes of Ivan Koloff who had just beaten Bruno for the strap in the Garden.
We also had "The Superstar Billy Graham who would wrestle Wahoo in an Indian strap match. And a young and on fire Dusty Rhoads and Dirty Dick Murdoch would via for the tag team titles against Larry Hennig and Lucious Lars Anderson.
As a special feature match, I watch a newcomer called Lonie Kealoha wrestle his first match (Jimmy Snuka)
And before Vince got him, long-time french great and former NWA champ Edwardo Carpetier brought Andre Rusimov to wrestle a 300 6'5 Larry the ax Hennig who Andre pressed him set him on his head and slide down the front of his body into a Tombstone piledriver. Never saw that move before and never saw anyone press Hennig over their head.
The NWA never had a card like this in their life and most of the people who know wrestling would salivate over such legends performing at one time in one place.
The best part was it all happened less than 2miles away from me at the Minneapolis Auditorium and tickets started at $3 -5 and 10 dollars for ringside.
I remember, play Georgio Muraders, record the Chase..
It's the opening song ,also the song for the Midnight Express entrance theme
Still remember hearing that Hansen ran over the AWA belt with his truck in Japan before sending it back to Verne! Beautiful!
THE WRESTLEROCK RUMBLE WAS AMAZING
... ok really I just love how Nick Bockwinkle has more rhythm than anyone else in the video.
It's simple... he was a genius
Watch Greg's part and tell me it's still amazing
When your rap song is worse than the 84 Chicago Bears "Superbowl Shuffle", you know you're holding a turd.
Bockwinkle was great in it and so was Larry Zbyszko
@@polarbear138 Both of those guys were legends, no doubt, but as a kid, Hulk Hogan and the WWF roster just had more to offer than they did. If AWA had survived, or if I had been older, I would have appreciated them / it more.
AWA did better business than WWWF in the 70's and early 80's as they had Chicago, Milwaukee, Denver, Winnipeg, San Fran, Omaha, Minneapolis with Heenan, Billy Robinson, Bockwinkel, Mean Gene, Hogan, the Road Warriors their business was huge. Its a shame Verne didn't get with the times and treat his talent better before they all left for Vince.
Dick The Bruiser & The Crusher were the most popular wrestlers in Chicago.
AWA not putting the belt on Hogan is the wrestling equivalent of Blockbuster not buying Netflix
Actually that’s the perfect analogy
Or the record company that turned down the Beatles.
@@ajdynon Eh, not really. Decca went on to sign the Rolling Stones, Rod Stewart, and the Moody Blues just a couple of years later. Not to mention becoming the sole European distributor for Elvis records around the same time they turned down the Beatles. This would be more like the WWE never making a big move to sign Sting prior to his showing up in TNA.
or kmart not buying walmart
@@ajdynon beatles still suck
I am a 70s baby from Chicago. The AWA (and the little known Indianapolis-based WWA) was our local promotion.
Thank you for this, Dave!
Thank you for enjoying the video
Loved Bob Luce Wrestling as a kid and those Bens Auto Sales commercials.
@@johnkolko5199 Don't forget One Stop! ;-)
@@Backpackfiles & Moo & Oink!
@@johnkolko5199 Yes Sir!
Dave you're the most underrated wrestling UA-camr out there. Your respect and deference to the old school in service of education on the state of the business is always so insightful. Can't wait for the next upload. You know
I grew up with AWA and live in Milwaukee. The Crusher was a nice guy. Many stars were created in AWA
When u have hulkamania but refuse to put the belt on him and get behind him Vern dug his hole staying in the past
To be fair, until Hogan showed up in Rocky 3, he really wasn't much more than other guys Gagne created in Billy Graham and Jesse Ventura. By the time Hogan began to show promise as an international, mainstream attraction... he was already in negotiations with Vince Jr.
But still, it is pretty baffling that Vern guessed so wrong... and not only with Hogan, but half of his main event scene.
@@Unlitedsoul it really is he had first dibs on a lot of amazing talent that showed promise from day one and still put himself and his lack luster son over many stars
@@adriandowney4394 Hogan, Road Warriors, Adrian Adonis, the Rockers, Curt Hennig, Lawler (after the Kauffman incident on Letterman), Heenan, Okerlund, Otto Wanz, Ken Patera, Midnight Express, Bruiser Brody, Brad Rheingans, Ventura, Jimmy Garvin, Steve Regal, Ray Stevens, Scott Hall, Pat Patterson... and of course the working agreement with CWA and WCCW.
That doesn't work for me, brother.
Actually Verne wasn't blind, he knew Hogan was money and wanted to put the belt on him but politics ruin everything. Verne had a deal with All Japan and the AWA World Champion appeared for them. Hogan meanwhile had a deal with New Japan. That is why Verne didn't put the belt on him. Vince slid in and offered Hogan a deal and allowed him to continue with New Japan and be World Champion. Although the New Japan part only lasted a year or so.
I used to love watching AWA every Saturday late night!
60/70's to early 80's AWA was a great promotion
I grew up watching the AWA as a kid in the 70s and 80s. It was a great promotion, we really got into it and went to a few matches, even got to see Hulk Hogan and Andre the Giant tag team before their WWWF days.
That is a great memory to have
When i was growing up in the 80's we watched AWA NWA and WWF and channel flicked between them way before the monday night wars.
Gagne’s refusal to push Hogan was the begging of the end of the AWA
Living in Minnesota, the AWA was the best in the 80’s. The only issue was the owner. Vern Gagne really had a stranglehold on that title and it really killed the promotion. I understand at that time it was hard to trust other wrestlers not to leave but his ego really killed AWA. It is too bad because the wrestling was top Notch and at that time he had Shawn Michaels, Scott Hall, Curt Hennig, Hulk Hogan Just to name a few. It is too bad because it was wrestling done right.
yeah I REALLY wish things went differently than they did for the AWA, WCCW and a few other of the cool and well run family promotions of the territory era. An I live on the Maryland and PA line right in between the two surviving wrestling promotions/territories. An companies that battled in the mid to late 80's as well as the 90's monday night wars
As an older wrestling follower, I can't really find anything to contradict someone's claim that the AWA had the best ecto-WWF locker room.
Awa was the last remnant of what I call "The Apter-Mags" era. Cause when I grew up it was NWA,WWF and The AWA as the main companies with smaller guys like WCCW ,Don Owens, and Florida. And then it became WWF,WCW and ECW aka The Monday Night Wars era
@@chrischar9428 very true. WCCW and Don Owens WERE members I don't know when and if Florida left before the big consolidation and the JCP era is its own different story,but point definitely taken
Da Crusher made Milwaukee Famous!
Go to South Milwaukee and see "da Crusher's'" statue
Excellent work on the video once again dude
Thank you so much for saying so
This is why I love your channel man. Great history lesson in wrestling and nice hints to future videos
Great video, great channel! I had just watched the vice territories episode on the AWA & this was a great companion piece to frame the history...
The AWA when they were on ESPN introduced the world to one of the greatest tag teams of all, a young Booker T and Stevie Ray(Harlem Heat)..
Hey Dave knows wrestling keep up the good work man you're very knowledgeable respect as a person who grown up when wrestling started his popularity in 1984 where I was only 7 years old is glad to see somebody knows a lot about wrestling also and enjoys the stories
Thank you so much for taking the time to share the kind words. And ahh yes, the good old days of the 1980s
I live a mile from Verns old house. 1000 feet of shoreline and 58 acres. It’s a beautiful park with a boat launch. His old house is the park headquarters. I think Hennepin county did not want to see the banks foreclose on it and sell it to developers.
Hey Dave,
I wish you get more subscriber this year, you are so underrated as a wrestling youtuber.
I want to thank you for doing a good job in telling a story many wrestling fans may not know about.
Thanks for appreciating and taking the time to say so
A couple of really good matches were, one that involved Curt Hennig and Nick Bockwinkel, a bloody brawl on ESPN; and a series of tag team matches between Playboy Buddy Rose and Pretty Boy Doug Summers vs The Midnight Rockers for the belts. Look them up!
I was watching AWA at the time. Both were great feuds.
Great Video, I loved the design of the AWA title. And Nick Bockwinkel was a fantastic promo.
Dave Knows Wrestling.
Another great video.
I always dig your videos Dave but I really enjoyed this one. I've always found wrestling history interesting and anytime you speak on it you always deliver because... Dave knows.
Thanks so much for saying so. I appreciating you taking the time
I'd be interested to hear the story behind that picture with Verne, Andre and Bruno at 6:07
No joke. All it's missing is Buddy Rogers for the top draws of that era.
Verne appeared at MSG twice. Once in a singles match & another time tagging with Andre
@@KofCFrank06511 Bruno worked all over the place for a good portion of his career as well. Back when the elder Vince was willing to work with other promotions if you swapped big draws for a few weeks, or paid him a little something to "rent" one of his big draws.
@@Unlitedsoul You are correct.. "Andre" was his biggest rental & Vince Sr had a good working relationship with Verne. Verne would send Adonis & Ventura to "NY" a few times & Vince would send Tito Santana, Rick Martel to "MN" We (the fans) were the winners in that era when they all worked together. I am sure it will be that way again once Vince departs.
@@KofCFrank06511 Indeed. Plus, I think Vince Sr knew that you had to keep Andre moving. If he stayed in one market too long, eventually you have to either give him the belt... or you have to beat him. Both could potentially kill his drawing power. Give him the belt, and he gets stale after a while. Beat him, and the mystique vanishes.
You can walk that line now with some of the bigger guys, but back then, all you had was Andre in that gigantic range.
Growing up the WWF was like the Transformers and the AWA was like the Gobots. I also felt like they were propping up the wrong talent, just seemed dated at times. But I shouldn't talk since I feel like today's product should take on more of the 80's approach. Haha
My favorite moments: the Road Warriors, 1983.
Great video as always
Thank you so much for saying so
@@DaveKnowsWrestling everytime you said nwa I think of dr Dre and ice cube
Terrific video as always, Dave 👍
Thank you so much for saying so
Who woulda thunk it?!? The once-mighty WWE, formerly known as the WWF, is going into the same Tarpit that the once-mighty AWA stumbled into nearly 30 years ago. Ha ha ha!!! Serves ya right, Vince McMahon!!!
When it comes to wrestling history... those who do not learn from it...
😂😂
NO it isn't. WWE is currently worth 6 billion dollars and just scored another billion dollar deal for streaming rights. They are in no way stumbling into that same tarpit. They are raking in the money.
@@DaveKnowsWrestling Except that WWE has learned from it because they are raking in billions.
@@chriskay1449 Well, if that's the case, then let's both you and I hope that WWE Creative doesn't, yet again, find a way to screw that up! We'll see, though, won't we? Maybe there's a chance for Creative to develop something brilliant. We'll see...
Dave knows .. excellent work thank you
Vince McMahon to Verne Gagne:- I DONT NEGOTIATE
Good video Dave! I love seeing history pieces like this!
Although technically, WWF/WWE has been around longer. Although the WWWF initials didn't come until they left the NWA 1963, WWE/Capital Wrestling was founded in the early 1950s...Not to mention for many years before that, Toots Mondt & the McMahon Family were promoting wrestling shows at MSG & the NYC are since the 1920s...
Love how you did not even mention the douchebag.
I do feel for Vern when it comes to his property dispute, the Mayor at the time REALLY wanted that park made and had been pressuring Vern to sell for years. The dude sandbagged Vern's attempts to refinance and even cost Vern some hefty money from fighting it in court.
Yeah that sounds like a shame he couldn't keep his property
@@DaveKnowsWrestling from what I can gather Vern's bad rep of shorting the boys started around the same time as his property battle started.
Still no excuse for shorting or out right not paying the boys but I do hate it when some jack0ff in office abuses their power.
@@mariotrujillo8860 Well...if you do rotten things to those around you, don't be surprised when somebody more rotten than you shows up, and sinks you! That's what Verne Gagne should've been thinking about a long time ago!
@@ronaldshank7589 Verne's rep as far as payouts go, was pretty good before AWA started to tank. He was known to not push new talent, and like most territory owners could be a bit of a @$$ at times.
Awesome Video Dave
Thanks Ben
Very insightful ,kudos !
Thank you
Ray Stevens' face turn was very well done.
killer work, pal. love this vid.
Thank you for taking the time to say so
@@DaveKnowsWrestling nada problemo, amigo.thanks for putting the effort into the content.
Good video, but would have been nice to hear more about Slick Nick, and how he managed to be the face of the promotion longer than anybody that didn't own it.
This was the lineup on Saturday nights when I was young: WWF, NWA, AWA, GLOW and POW. I was up until 2am every weekend.
Ah good times
I loved the AWA, but it lost steam in 1985. It fell apart after Wrestle Rock. The television was inconsistent. They'd advertise matches, which never happened, despite the same wrestlers were on the card. They'd bring in big names, only for them to lose to AWA veterans. Then, for some reason, they stopped showing up. They relied too much on Blackwell, Rashke, Shielk Adnan, Robinson, and other veterans the fans got sick of years ago. When The Road Warriors, Brody and Hansen left, they had no drawing power. Later, whenever it looked like they'd get traction, the wrestlers would leave for better money. Gagne just couldn't hold things together. Wrestle Rock was their last hurrah.
It was still OK for a very short time after that. It was funny because I'd watch AWA and then they'd be on WWF Superstars a little later haha.
Verne kept putting the belt on himself, didn't go all in on Hulkamania, and Vince kept getting his best talent. All that equals the end of the AWA.
Yeah those were some of the major reasons
Ultra mega thanks. Tons of stuff I never knew about AWA.
Thank you for appreciating it!
I remember watching the AWA on t.v, I was sad to see it collapse. It was one of the greatest promotion of all time, it had the greatest stars.
I was watching world class and awa when they were on ESPN, when you think back to the fact these promos were on ESPN and how they managed to still fail, it boggles my mind
Often, looking at the history of the AWA, I feel that Verne Gagne's handling of the promotion was up there with Jackie Moon in the movie "Semi-Pro." Consider how he ran the AWA between making himself and his son champion over the years and not doing much with his stacked locker room. He had Hulk Hogan and he let Hulkamania slip by.
I watched the latter days of the AWA when they were still on ESPN like one watches a train wreck. When all their stars went to the WWF, it became like a college football team in a "rebuilding" year. They had two choices: either get try to make "lemonade" out of "lemons"--i.e., try to make the scrubs they had left, like Mike Enos and Mitch Snow into stars--or recruit some "junior college" transfers from Memphis like Jerry Lawler and Pat Tanaka to revitalize the roster. And to some extent, they did, but not enough to completely extinguish the "dumpster fire" that was AWA wrestling
Excellent stuff as always! Always good to hear about organisations from the past. I wonder what would have happened if they'd managed to retain Hogan?
It is interesting to think about for sure
Remember the Warning at 9.54,don't,DON'T,DOOOOON'T !!!.
Legend/rumor had it that the fallout with the crockets was over Jim and David in the locker room trying to snipe talent
I've heard about the Wrestle Rock via Wrestling With Wregret, and I've seen the AWA World title that Lawler had through the 2K games on the PS3, but I never knew of the history of the AWA until I heard this clip. It's a shame really that they ended up going under really.
I watched a lot of AWA when I was younger. From like 2005-2010 when I had the internet but still wasn’t in the IWC, I would watch whatever I could get my hands on. The AWA was very accessible with its marathons on ESPN classic. I probably watched more AWA & WCCW than anything outside of TNA & WWE at the time
2 of my favorite and most viable territories to of potentially had a different outcome, with some different moves, luck, or even better team work. Think Pro Wrestling USA really had a legit chance in 1985 if they banded together and worked together. Laid out a few guaranteed contracts to a few guys you couldn't or at least shouldn't let walk without a fight. An used ESPN as a hugely growing national platform to rival and help off set the advantages in National exposure that TBS gave JCP and USA network gave Vince. Fritz and Verne were old school respected other promoters and family business's and there word likely made more than a national take over. By the time they tried to band together a few years later it was sadly too late without the large number of stars that had gone to WWF or JCP.
Imo, Verne had the same problem Vince eventually succumbed to, he tried to sell the audience the product HE wanted to watch rather than the product THEY wanted.
10:08 I found it hilarious that Dave doesn’t mention Shawn Michaels.
I was hoping some ppl would catch that
@@DaveKnowsWrestling I got Shawn's autograph early in the midnight rockers run in Amery, WI.
Verne just wanted himself or Bockwinkle to be champion for life. That took precedent over the person who put fannies in the seats
Nice job. Thanks. Pro Wrestling USA was a great idea. I miss the territory days of the 70'd and 80's. Both the AWA and WCCW had a chance to have national cable TV, before the WWF. It could have changed everything. I believe the NWA has the first pay per view.
Pro Wrestling USA was a good idea, it's too bad they couldn't get along
Not putting the title on Hogan was the ULTIMATE trickle down effect. If he puts the belt on Hogan AT THE RIGHT TIME, Hogan doesn't get pissed at Verne. From there, maybe Hogan doesn't join Vince INITIALLY in late 1983. Which could mean Mean Gene, Heenan, Patera, and Ventura don't leave either at that time. From there in 1984, Brody, Abby, and Road Warriors all hit the AWA. The Freebirds and Hansen come soon after in early 1985. That gives Hogan an AWESOME array of new and exciting feuds if he stay through 1985.
I'm sure the AWA would have been kicking ass at the box office like they had been doing with Hogan before. BUT Hogan would still be looking at the things Vince was doing to change the game. Knowing Hogan, he would have DEMANDED that Verne start changing with the times. OR he leaves for the WWF when able. Looking at all the money Hogan would have been making as AWA World Champ, that might have been the thing to make Verne AT LEAST try to really change with the times.
So the two questions would have been does Hogan as the AWA World Champ RESPECT AND TRUST Verne enough to stay with him EVEN THOUGH Vince wants Hogan to be his top dog. And would Verne RESPECT Hogan enough to heed his advice and change the AWA and make them more appealing to a mainstream national audience. The AWA started a toy line and got on ESPN WITHOUT Hogan. IF Hogan sticks around, NO QUESTION that puts the AWA in a much better place. BUT how long does Hogan push Vince away.... Verne would have been on the clock to revamp AWA and make it worth Hogan's while to stay.
Most important promotions imo were WWF/WWWF, ran from Maine to as far south as South Jersey. Georgia Championship Wrestling, Florida Championship Wrestling, AWA, World Class, Memphis, with a honorable mention to Calgary.
Calgary never had someone as over as Dusty Rhodes or a feud as hot as Lawler/Kaufman, Von Erichs/Freebyrds. But they had a lasting impact because of Dynamite, Owen, Bret, Bad News, and Benoit.
@@chrischar9428 Or better yet, give us your picks so we can rip yours apart and tell you how awful they are.
Considering the games Verne played with Terry, it is not shocking to see him return to the WWF in December of 1983.
I really miss Monday Night Wrongs. It was a awesome mini yall did.
Thank you.. no place to film it anymore, can't be around each other. I appreciate it and I do want to do it again... maybe some day
That Super Clash card sounds insanely good! If I may suggest a future video topic, 5 types of moves you're tired of.
ua-cam.com/video/CXCh0aRmG6Q/v-deo.html your welcome. Incidentally, if you youtube 'awa clash', they are all available.
Just 5?! Couldn't narrow it down enough
@@sickboy6663 Thank you!
@@DaveKnowsWrestling Okay, maybe 7 or 10
I actually got my photo taken with the AWA world heavyweight championship. If my memory serves me right it’s on the third floor and in the final room to the left in the Minnesota history museum
Amazing Episode Dave (I Still Prefer Stampede Wrestling ) But Still Amazing Video. I Also Have A Video Or Series Idea What if you "create" You Own Promotion Then Fantasy Booking Us A Full Calender Year
Stampede is clutch no doubt
All WWF's were once in the AWA. It was great. Loved the AWA
Even Verne back then knew that Greg Gagne wasn't good enough to be the world champion............. but at least he knew his job was secure.
I just don't know why Verne gagne did not see the writing on the wall when it came to the mid-80s. You have to push for younger wrestlers
Thanks for taking me back to my childhood. I always wondered what happened to the AWA the claw master Baron Von Roshki Jerry Blackwell Rock n Roll Buck Zumehoff Ravishing Rick Rude the Olympian Brad Rhengans the high flyers and many more
Buck Z is in Prison.
Another instant like. Now to the video.
Thank you so much Oliver
@@DaveKnowsWrestling You're welcome.
I’ve heard the wrestlerock rumble. I’m still in therapy 😳
I was at the show in Davenport Iowa in 1975 when the belt was stolen from ringside. LOL.
Dave, what about the match between AWA champ Rick martell vs NWA champ Rick flair that went double countout
In my mind that was a chance to really do something if they unified those Championships even in the short term to spark interest in the involved promotions could of done a series of matches and of course brought it down to the last match and likely put over Flair. Whom was an experienced traveling champion and more used to working heel which is better for a traveling champion most of the time
Yes sir shout to Verne and Greg G
I was 5 when all this whent down. I remember over that time period being confused about all of the movement around the wrestling business. But with in a year or two it was pretty much WWF that had all the good talents and TV shows.
@Tiger I do but it's very vague. I remember bits of the opening, bits of intevews. Think I remember it becoming WCW some how but not completely clear if that was the Turner WCW or the other one called wcw. I grew up in Colorado and Dever market and it's kibda no man's land or wild west or something. They all ran shows in town often on the same night's. T.V. was the same way with 3 different cable providers and stuck in the mountain zone. We got some weird programming.
Excellent video.
***ATTENTION EVERYONE READING THIS***
Dave is not wrong. DO NOT look up the Wrestlerock shuffle or whatever it was called. I sadly remember turning on AWA one Sat or Sunday only to have my eardrums assaulted
by what can only be described as the audio equivalent of a dumpster fire mixed with a train wreck. It's not even "FUN/BAD". It's embarrassing. It didn't make me want to change the channel, it made me want to
channel my inner Keith Moon and throw the TV out the window.
I liked the AWA wrestling rings. The wrestlers would get some good bounce off those ropes.
i watched Wrestling With Wregret review both the Wrestle Rock Rumble ad the show said song was hyping. One of the big stand out moments from each was someone in the comments section making his own line for the Wrestle Rock Rumble from LeDuex's (AWA Referee) perspective. "I'm LeDeux and I'm the Ref. All our best talent goes to WWF."
BZ did a great job with that for sure
I’ve only seen some of the Awa stuff when it was on espn classic and through the network honestly it’s interesting to see some of the stars of the early wwf run before they got to New York
Yeah, it must be like what it is for young fans seeing ROH from years ago and seeing KO and Seth Rollins
No mention of training in the hay loft of the barn near Chaska? Rick Flair was there, as was most of the younger wrestlers. Buck Zumhof was training with AWA in 74 and 75. I know because I seen him at Industrial Louvers in Delano, he drove their small truck moving products to a finisher in Mpls. The AWA also had many programs in Las Vegas with Greg Gagne commenting on the mic, I could hear him talk about the capacity crowds.
I remember the Team Challenge Series when it happened. Sergeant Slaughter left, so he was replaced by Col. Debeers as Team Captain. Didn't matter as Larry's Legends won anyway when perennial enhancement talent Jake "The Milkman" Milliman won the battle royal to give Larry's team the win and the million dollar check. The celebration was hilarious, as Larry and the rest of the team just pushed Jake our of the picture and celebrated without him, saying "Thanks a million" in the post match interview lol.
The AWA was both sad and hilarious when they started to burn out.
In my opinion Verne Gagne was too stubborn and stuck in his ways. But he was a damn damn good wrestler.
I thought a classy move of Verne was allowing jumbo tsuruta to become awa champion.
All Japan paid Verne for that title reign.
I was watching the wrestlerock AWA wrestling with regret I agreed with Brian saying and I probably say this with you the traditional rules with the over-the-top and other reasons to have a disqualification or no contest really hurt older companies it did the same thing but WCW Cowboy Bill Watts in charge