The Rise And Fall Of The AWA

on the list of American wrestling promotions that made a sizable Dent nationally the American wrestling Association doesn't seem to get a lot of credit these days but that's understandable more than three decades have passed since Verne gagne's minnesota-based Powerhouse last ran an event and those last few gasps were pretty painful to watch if anything a fan is more up to remember the AWA for the dizzy in Decline that is genuine glories and there were plenty of glories for a period in the 1970s and even in the early 80s the AWA boasted an embarrassment of riches from a talent standpoint and its supercards Drew large crowds too blood feuds colorful characters high quality in-ring action you name it the AWA could proudly boast it among their finest assets but for every asset there seemed to be a pronounced flaw the protracted limp towards the grave came as AWA felt more and more out of touch with each passing year while the People's Choice in mainstream wrestling the WWF evolved with the times the AWA took a Divergent path settling into a confused rut eventually the once impressive roster whittled away when faced with better opportunities conflicts with the boss or both leaving garnier's group as a hollowed out Shell by the end the AWA was left with Amiga locker room next to no audience and plenty of time to ponder out loud what the hell happened I'm Ross twaddle from cultaholic wrestling and this is the rise and fall of the AWA foreign [Music] [Applause] in 1933 a man by the name of Anton Stecker brother of three-time world champion Joe Stecker promoted cards under the banner of the Minneapolis boxing and wrestling club in 1952 he sold one-third interest in his promotion to his son Dennis as well as a promoter named Wally Cabo two years later Stecker passed away allowing Dennis and Cabo to assume full control of the Minneapolis territory which had been a part of the national resting Alliance since the nwa's 1948 Inception the gem of the territory was local star athlete Vern Garnier a pro wrestler since 1949 and a bona fide television star with impressive Collegiate and Olympic credentials as a wrestler Garnier hit the airwaves via the now defunct Dumont Network which broadcast matches from Chicago's Marigold Arena Garnier became a star on account of his clean-cut earnestness and his Superior athleticism the sort of hard-working salt of the earth star athlete that American audiences of the day greatly appreciated qualities like this made it seem inevitable the Garnier would one day hold the NWA World title and serve as its long-term Champion it never came to pass however as while Garnier did hold his own in hour long draws with incumbent Champion Luthers the expected Changing of the Guard never did get that rubber stamp the tiresome political games played by promoters had won on Garnier who in 1959 bought out Dennis Decker share of the Minneapolis group alongside Cabo the following year after Garnier unsuccessfully lobbied for a title match with then NWA world champion Pat O'Connor he and Cabo made the decision to seed from the NWA somewhat incredibly the session was pain-free as Garnier remained on good terms with the NWA governing body and still attended the group's meetings as something of an independent friend of the family with that the American wrestling Association was officially born and while I did mention that the AWA and the NWA were on friendly terms the AWA kicked off its World title lineage with a bit of a grandstanding that reflected how Garnier probably felt about the nwa's handling of its own 10 pounds of gold particularly the part where the board said no you can't have it Garnier and Company he recognized NWA world champion O'Connor as the AWA world champion even though O'Connor hadn't any plans at the time to ever set foot inside of an awa ring O'Connor was then given 90 days to defend the belt he'd never won or probably ever seen a picture of against gonya and of course that wasn't going to happen garnier's demand never aired outside of his TV Market in Minnesota and the neighboring Dakota's anyhow so this was strictly to boost vernier's credibility among his local constituency after those 90 days lapsed in August of 1960 NWA AWA world champion O'Connor was stripped of the belt and Garnier was Crown Champion due to the no-show most wrestler promoters would just Crown themselves champion on day one or win a fictitious tournament on another continent but oh no not Vern he decided to write an egregious wrong first then Crown himself Champion the belt allowed garnier's local Legend to grow but the aw way wasn't going to remain local in the coming years the AWA expanded from its northern Outpost Adam Wisconsin Nebraska Iowa and Colorado to its circuit a partnership with wrestlers Wilbur Snyder and Dick the Bruiser allowed Vern to expand into Indiana while he also purchased the Chicago territory given him access to America's third biggest media Market the AWA did strong if steady business in the 1960s but things got hot at the dawn of the 70s thanks to a TV angle that didn't quite go according to plan perhaps the biggest star in awa's history was Reginald lisowski the Legendary Crusher the beard guzzling fight to the death Crusher was a hero to Legions of blue collar fans and remains a Mythic figure in his native Milwaukee hence the nickname the wrestler who made Milwaukee famous crush's status as a major box office draw was unquestioned especially in the beer capital of the world but while it's nice to have a major drawing card in your locker room it's even nicer when he's involved with an enticing blood Feud that's what the AWA got in 1971. treacherous siblings Mad Dog and butcher Vashon had just vanquished the duo of Edward Carpentier and the future buddy Roberts and were administering a post-match Beatdown when Crusher hit the ring for the save as mad dog was in the midst of blading during the fraccar crusher stomped a little too snuggly on Mad Dog's head unwittingly causing the blade to embed two deeply cutting one of Fashion's arteries the amount of blood loss was near catastrophic and the studio where the match was filmed looked like a horrific crime scene gruesome as that melee was it was responsible for further and interest Crusher vs Mad Dog became a must-see whenever the two came to town resulting in record business in the awa's biggest markets in this period the AWA freshed out a highly impressive roster of vibrant characters in addition to Crusher and the vashons there were the regular tag team champions of Nick bockwinkle and tripler Ray Stevens contrasting buckwinkle's snooty confidence and eloquanda with Wildman Stevens's pawn shop for exuberant bump taking together they were managed by Bobby The Brain Heenan who was well on his way to establishing himself as almost inarguably the greatest manager in wrestling history there was Billy Robinson technical Master extraordinaire former and future respectively wwwf Champions Ivan Koloff and Superstar Billy Graham were also major stars in the AWA there was also the Fearsome Baron von rashke boasting his perilous clawhold veteran high flyer Red Bus team was also a star in this period as was the Towering Blackjack Lanza managed by Heenan a young Dusty Rhodes was also highly active for the AWA in the early 70s as was the ever popular Wahoo McDaniel point being the AWA was certainly not short on talents rich in either map mechanics or distinct personality or both in the case of bokwane by the dawn of the 70s Verne gagne had been AWA world champion nine times dropping it to the likes of Crusher or mad dog or even Fritz Von Erich and the Destroyer before winning it back quickly enough some might scuff but it wasn't an uncommon place for the promoter to put the big belt on themselves after all in the territory days the only wrestler that could be trusted not to run off with the belt was the one that owned the place garnier's ninth Reign began on August 31st 1968 and this was going to be the long one he ended up holding on to the title for over seven years holding off all comers during the first half of the 70s this included Koloff bockwinkle Stevens Mad Dog the baron Robinson Harley Race strong Kobayashi and many many others in this era despite raining as near Eternal Champion Garnier didn't wrestle a full schedule letting his promotional duties take Center Stage he tended to wrestle a little more than a handful of times per month making himself special in the eyes of the fans the AWA did great business at Chicago's Comiskey Park drawing 21 000 fans for a 1970 bout between Vern and the baron four years later agonya Robertson title match Drew 18 000 to the same venue the crusher was responsible for a slew of sellouts at the Milwaukee Arena where he almost always Main evented and when Vern wasn't making his occasional in-ring appearances he was putting lots of equity into the wrestling industry as he helped trade a number of future Champions alongside Robinson in the 70s alone the awa's grueling camps produced the likes of rookie Steamboat the Iron Sheik Sergeant Slaughter Ken Patera Paul ellering Jim brunzell Buddy Rose Wild Bill Irwin Kurt henig and some guy by the name of Rick Flair Vern also trained his son Greg who will discuss a little more later on the crop that survived Garnier School generally fit the mold of what he envisioned for all the awas Upper Crust genuine athletes with legitimate credentials after all Patera and Chic were both Olympians brunzell was a champion high jumper Steamboat was a state champion wrestler and so forth this was the spirit of what Vern wanted for the AWA to populate his upper card with credible athletes that even skeptical customers would see the validity of verm believed while there was always room for gimmicks and novelties there needed to foremost be believability at the top of the card what better way to argument that believability than by producing marvelous physical talents with impressive resumes in legitimate sport this would partially explain why vom was still the world champion in 1975 at age 49 having held the belt since he was 42 Olympic wrestling alternate professional football Prospect and a large audience that respected those credentials Vern fit the bill of what Vern wanted in a champion Garnier did drop the title in late 1975 to buckwinkle who went onto rain for nearly five years as Champion himself before losing it back to Garnier in the summer of 1980. on May the 10th 1981 Vern garnier's 10th and final reign as AWA world champion came to an end at 55 years old the AWA founder was hanging up the boots and with his retirement came the dropping of the world championship mind you he didn't lose it in the ring he just vacated it after beating buckwinkle one more time before 16 000 fans in Saint Paul buckwinkle was simply awarded the title one week later following Vern's vacancy while one can bristle and Vern's going out without doing the honors especially for someone the caliber of buckwinkle AWA business was hot enough to render any bitterness mostly Moot and business was expanding in 1981 the AWA started promoting cards at the Coliseum in Oakland 12 years after Garnier unsuccessfully tried promoting in Los Angeles a year later the AWA moved into San Francisco's Cow Palace a year and a half after promoter Roy Shire ended his occupancy of the region Utah followed shortly thereafter while the AWA hit up Las Vegas in early 1983 giving Garnier a large swath across the U.S that extended from Indiana and Illinois all the way to the Pacific coast with a firm anchor in Minnesota and its neighboring states the AWA was cast by this time with an exotic blend of aging holdovers and dynamic youngsters the latter of whom indicated a promising future for Vern's growing Empire in addition to Camp graduates like Patera bronzel and Greg gagne there was Brad renkins a former Greco-Roman wrestler that came out of the AWA Camp the well-traveled Tito Santana worked the top of AWS card in this period as did Future tag partner and rival Rick Martel on the heel side of the fence was Jesse Ventura the bombastic posturing muscle head that claimed Hollywood as home despite a noticeably thick Minnesota accent another top heel was the imposing Jerry Crusher Blackwell a competitor in strongman contests that looked like a rounder more Super heavyweight version of Mick Foley then there was Dr D David Schultz who some conscious of the prototype for Stone Cold Steve Austin boisterous and intimidating Schultz combined blunt rhetoric with a lawless brawling style to become a top villain standing out in this Vivid Fray was the tall town and muscular Hulk Hogan in 1981 then WWF performer Hogan ran a foul of vincenia when he filmed his scenes for Rocky III against seniors wishes this led to Hulk jumping to the AWA where his star presence and rare Charisma galvanized the fan base along with occasional appearances from a barnstorming Andre the Giant as well as the residents of legendary figures like Mad Dog Crusher Baron and bockwinkle one could certainly make a case that in the early 80s the AWA had the best roster in all of American wrestling along with an arena and televised presence that stretched over much of the United States the AWA looked like it was positioned well for years to come of course Van Garnier wasn't the only American promoter that was all too eager to expand in 1983 Vince McMahon withdrew his Northeast base WWF from the national wrestling Alliance since buying out his father's group the previous year McMahon immediately began looking for ways to grow his territory Beyond being well a territory he bought out Los Angeles from promoter Mike LaBelle in 1982. meanwhile the WWF began slowly encroaching onto other promoters Turf as Vince pushed his product into Ohio and Virginia ruffling a few feathers along the way once he pulled out of the NWA Vince's subterfuge did away with any subtlety 1983 and 1984 were spent promoting the WWF in territories that were firmly NWA grounds some attempted takeovers worked others didn't but but McMahon was all about persistence he had the television Savvy plus the expanding roster to eventually charm most of these markets into siding with his product understandably McMahon's aggressive approach cast Vern Garnier as a rival but if Vince had his way verm would have been a business partner in the summer of 1983 around the time the WWF withdrew from the NWA McMahon met with Vern and Greg gagne he wanted to buy the AWA and it makes perfect sense given the awa's presence in Minneapolis Chicago Denver Las Vegas and San Francisco controlling with the AWA markets would have given the WWF control of much of the continental United States with New York LA and Philadelphia already in Pocket the WWF game in Chicago and San Fran would have given them control of the top four U.S media markets five out of the top six and with DC and Boston as WWF Outlets seven out of the top 10 as Greg Garnier recalls he and his father were at least willing to hear Vince out but there was no real urge to sell the meeting apparently went cordially enough and when it was over the garnias took Vince back to the airport as the legend goes when they dropped Vince off he turned to the Garnier men and emphatically stated I don't negotiate now the death of the U.S territory system and the WWF subsequent Monopoly are often laid squarely at the feet of Vince's bullish tactics it is true that McMahon wasn't afraid to fight dirty when it came to prevailing the WWF over any and all rival groups but for the death of the AWA Vince's strong arming was really only secondary indirect cause of death the real cause of death was administered internally this issue became evident during the early 80s when Champion buckwinkle matched up with wildly popular Hogan the hulkster was like no other baby face in AWA history Vern was a super athlete albeit one rooted in in an assiduous Humanity Crusher was a little more Larger than Life but could still be characterized as the baddest bloke down at local Watering Hole In other words Crusher was a human that led an interesting life but Hogan was a revelation his magnetic speech his impossible physique his compelling Aura Hogan was a comic book hero come to life occupying space with mere mortals two AWA fans there was no more perfect foil to buckwinkle's condescending arrogance and manager healing's underhandedness than a heavy dose of Hulkamania on April the 18th 1982 before 19 000 fans it's in Paul Civic Center Hogan challenged buckwinkle for the AWA World title to those 19 000 on hand they seemingly witnessed Hogan capture the title ending butt Winkle's 11-month reign in Grand fashion and for the week that followed they believed Hogan was the champion on April the 24th however it was announced that the decision was being reversed due to buckwinkle introducing a foreign object into the match the altered result was a Hogan win via DQ which kept the title with bockwinkle Hogan continued to chase the title throughout 1982 but the matches always ended with some screwy finish Austrian Powerhouse auto advance briefly and randomly got to hold the AWA World title later in the year before dropping it back to buckwinkle Meanwhile Hogan remained unable to get an actual reign with the belt maybe he should have paid Vern money to become the champion which is exactly what Vance did a year after the reverse decision in Saint Paul Hogan was going to get another crack at the gold on April the 24th 1983 in the same building as an event dubbed AWA Super Sunday Hogan wants more challenge botwinkle for the title after a year plus of chasing the champ this had to be Hogan's moment to shine and he got that moment for a few minutes anyway Hogan won the title with his patented leg drop and got to celebrate in front of a radio rental crowd for about a millisecond as it turned out though during a late match ref bump Hogan illegally threw buckwinkle over the top rope when things were sorted out during Hogan's celebration the decision was reversed and buckwinkle was given the DQ Victory a crowd of twenty thousand at the Civic Center responded with some of the loudest chance of BS you'll ever hear fans threw trash into the ring I rate that the AWA would jerk them around in consecutive years just like this part of the problem was in Vern's thinking though he understandably valued Hogan as a star attraction he apparently just couldn't bring himself to make Hogan Champion as Hogan didn't possess the legitimate athletic background that he unofficially required from his title holders as the awa's world expanded Hogan was apparently two out of this this world far too removed from the gritty lunch bucket reality to be its Champion Minnesota cards with Hogan headlining averaged 16 000 fans a night the awa's ongoing business boom was a result of Hogan emerging as its Fantastical star it mystifies many that Hogan never got the belt but it actually isn't so simple the awa's deal with all Japan called for allowing old Japan to book awa's world champion Hogan meanwhile had a lucrative deal with rival New Japan so there was a political conflict there Hogan wasn't willing to give up his new Japan money to work all Japan instead wherever exactly the biggest roadblock was situated on Hulk's road to the gold the result was the same for the Fed Up fans no belt for Hogan meant no satisfaction for the masses later in 1983 Hogan took the path that many valuable wrestlers were just starting to travel down he was going to New York to work full time for Vincent K McMahon the biggest factor that drove Hogan away from the AWA was the belt but rather his cut of merchandise sales Hogan wanted a substantial cut and Vern bulked it readjusting the balance or perhaps in Balance he had in place and if you think not making Hogan the AWA Champion was short-sighted consider how dumb it looks to not let your biggest star have a bigger merch cut when his presence at Arenas was just going to continue paying for itself but no matter McMahon was more than interested in merchandising the man his father once chased out of New York and the rest is history Hogan wasn't the only AWA star to take issue with money Jesse Ventura routinely quarreled with Vern over his pay and even walked out a few times over it in Dave meltz's 2015 obituary for Vern he cites an example given by occasional announcer Larry madisic in which marasek witnessed Ventura angrily storm out after learning how meager his payoff was for a match that was compared to what Vern's son Greg gagne was paid marasik asked Vern what he was going to do now that Ventura had apparently quit Vern's response was to laugh and say nothing he'll be back in two days according to Ventura the last straw was when he and partner Mr Saito took an unexpected pay cut for a main event match where the house Drew more money than usual that's because per the body the garnis had just gone on a skiing trip to Colorado and need a way to pay it off so Vern docked it from the boys but one day Ventura wouldn't be back two days after leaving with the promise of big money and bigger opportunity Ventura jumped to the WWF in 1984 along with other AWA regulars like Schultz Vashon Adrian Adonis dick Murdoch Mean Gene Oakland and Heenan meanwhile Andre cut out all other American groups like the AWA to work exclusively for Vince his only outside excursions coming in Japan and Mexico the AWA wasn't the only promotion that struggled against the WWF Blitz as numerous NWA territories watched their biggest talents pick up and leave for New York but for the AWA exodies there was a little extra pleasure in bolting from the Twin Cities stories about diminished chaos and royalty imbalances illustrate the contentiousness that existed between Vern and his wrestlers Garnier wasn't used to being dictated to by wrestlers seeking better payoffs and in a suddenly competitive Marketplace he was far too hesitant to try and match the ascending price tags and if it wasn't money it was more generalized hostility as Meltzer later wrote McMahon took advantage of the fact that Garnier was hated by much of his talent Ventura conquered writing he was a yeller and a screamer and he didn't treat people right according to Heenan after Schultz left Vern tried to save face by firing Dr D this prompted a heated shows to show up to the TV studio and confront Vern nearly resulting in a fight but while Vern nearly ended up in a brawl with the bad doctor there was a much more serious turf war going on in Minnesota in the summer of 1984 McMahon sent his tanks into Vern's backyard earlier that year McMahon managed to usurp the AWS TV contract out in San Francisco but actually promoting cards in Minnesota well that literally hit home on June the 17th the WWF ran at the Met Center in Minneapolis drawing 11 000 fans for their first ever card in the city naturally the event was headlined by Hogan vs Schultz providing the locals with some familiar faces the fact that the WWF had a strong presence on cable at this time complete with production value that lap the AWS smaller Studio shows caused younger fans to begin switching to Vince's product in response to McMahon's calculated expansion the AWA entered into an agreement with several NWA groups including Jim Crockett promotions Mid-South pnw in Oregon Dallas's world class and memphis's Continental to form pro wrestling USA a super loose League of the last remaining Powers not controlled by Vince the a AWA acquired stars like Sergeant Slaughter and Bob Buckland to Aida roster still heavy on the old timers but also boasted promising youngsters like Martel kurtenick Scott Hall the Freebirds Larry zabisco and the Road Warriors they also had legendary Wildman Bruiser Brody at times but he made his own rules and could come and go on a whim and at the time the AWA was apt to fight back when the WWF beamed out the first WrestleMania on closed circuit in March 1985 the AWA low bridge the Federation Chicago airing by running a card before 10 000 fans at the Rosemont Horizon on the same day in the months ahead the WWF and AWA staged events days apart in cities like Minneapolis and Chicago where incredibly the AWA actually managed to soundly thwart the WWF offerings in the early going Vern came out of retirement for some of those cards to try and Curry local favor but McMahon had the brilliant idea of getting Arena exclusivity taken away San Francisco's Cow Palace the WWF managed to kill off the awa's exclusivity at the Rosemont Horizon forcing AWA to share the building from that point on the WWF began overtaking the awa's grip on the windy city by the end of 1985 the WWF had started out drawing AWA in Minneapolis as well the AWA however was still in decent shape they picked up a time slot on ESPN in August of 1985. giving Vern's group a foothold on cable along with an excellent roster and reasonably strong attendance figures the AWA may have been losing ground to the WWF but they were still a sturdy outfit plus the AWA was working in conjunction with pro wrestling USA and the group had a major event coming up super Clash pro wrestling USA's answer to WrestleMania that took place on Saturday September the 28th as Chicago's kamisky Park and boasted a whopping 13 matches many of them for the various promotions championships more than twenty thousand fans attended a card that included Ric Flair defending the NWA World title against Magnum TA and now AWA world champion Rick Martel taken on Stan Hansen but there were major issues Verne and Jim Crockett had a dispute over the show's gate while it was rumored that Jim's Brother David tried to sign away a number of AWA stars during the course of the evening the pro wrestling USA faction only lasted a few more months before Crockett pulled out and the operation disintegrated one of the final joint efforts was an event at New Jersey's Meadowlands at the end of 1985 where Hanson ended martel's 19-month reign as Champion things really started returning for the worst in 1986. Wally Cabo got out of the AWA selling his ownership to Garnier Blackjack Lanza left as well moving to the WWF as a backstage agent Lanza was of quick use to the WWF as he apparently helped the Federation take over the awa's TV slot and local arena in Winnipeg TV and Arena takeovers continued in the awa's Home Market as The wws Rock and wrestling Blitz was far too tempt in a bandwagon for station and building managers to not climb aboard seven months after super Clash Vern attempted another Mania level Extravaganza with wrestle Rock a 16-match mega card at the Metro dome in Minneapolis to promote the event the AWA put together a music video in the vein of the Chicago Bears popular Super Bowl Shuffle the knockoff entitled the wrestle Rock Rumble really there's nothing I could say that could adequately mock whatever the bloody hell this thing is it mocks itself with each passing second if you've never heard 60 year old Vern Garnier rap know that he was less moth deaf and more probably death shout out to buckwinkle for actually having Rhythm man can wrestle cutter promo and drop some Rhymes wrestlerock drew a healthy 23 000 to the Dome though it had the dubious distinction of settling for an ill-fitting musical guest instead of getting their first choice of the Hometown hero Prince the AWA instead went with the country star Waylon Jennings only a tenth of the audience stayed for his post show concert the event did Mark another huge exit as the Road Warriors finished up with the AWA following their cage match victory over the Freebirds but there remained plenty of viable young Talent among them Hall Hennig Martel North the Barbarian and the future Vader there were also the midnight rockers Marty jannetti and early 20s Sean Michaels but it was perhaps telling when according to Michael's Vern wasn't quite sold on genetic suggestion for a tag team name fearing the fans might confuse them with rocking chairs but Vern had bigger problems than an inability to discern music parlance he had issues with his world champion after the Hogan ship sailed 49 year old buckwinkle was dropping the Bell to jumbo suruta who seated it three months later to Martel good-looking an athlete as Martel was he was no Hogan nor was he flare and it was fair to position the Future model as the number three world champion Stateside rambunctious ornery Stan Hansen was a reasonable choice to end the year and a half reign of benign modest Martel between his believable presence and his hard-hitting style Hansen could certainly anchor the AWA as a heal Champion but Hansen wasn't happy with how he was booked being given a laundry list of squash wins over locals instead of somebody substantial he could draw with already in a sour mood when Hanson was informed he would be dropping the AWA belt to buckwinkle he walked out of the company taking the belt with him on a tour of all Japan the AWA ended up stripping him off the belt for no showing a planned title bout in Denver with buckwinkle while demanded that Hanson returned the belt and he did after running it over repeatedly with his pickup truck reportedly when handsomemail backed the title to the AWA officers there were still mud caked on the plates Hansen has since expressed regret with how he handled the situation but that didn't really do AWA a lot of good at the time already losing its audience and its outlets now his credibility was fading as well shockingly the wrestle Rock Rumble video didn't Aid the AWA in The credibility Department speaking of credibility Wars the ESPN program was downright primitive compared to the glossier WWF broadcasts whereas Vince's show had spectacle and Glitz especially Saturday night's main event on NBC AWA felt cavernous and Sullen by comparison attendance was dropping and so too were payoffs Jim brunzell openly admits that while he was grateful to Vern for giving him his start and putting his faith in him he had to move to the WWF in order to make good money and he wasn't the only wrestler deferring to economics unable and or unwilling to invest more money in keeping his roster well stocked Garnier allegedly put the AWA up for sale in 1986 for three million dollars reportedly one of the sale conditions was a shearing long-term if not lifetime employment for his son Greg mind you other promoters and wrestlers would get up in arms whenever then tried putting the AWA World title on his kid so guaranteeing Greg some kind of Lifetime job had potential to be a bit of a hang up and it wasn't that Greg was a bad wrestler by any means he was a reasonably solid technician and acquitted himself well as one half of the High Flyers with Brunsell but unlike his dad Greg's wrestling Prime came in the colorful gaudia 80s and Greg was anything but Gordy or colorful an attempt to repackage Greg as a rambo-like character under Slaughter's tutelage was the finest military comedy this side of Sergeant Bilco shame it was unintentional comedy regarding the possible sale Vern even reportedly spoke to Vince for several weeks about a possible purchase but it didn't materialize Vince didn't get the AWA but he did get the Saint Paul Civic Center the awa's main building after the WWF sound exclusivity rides for the venue in late 1986 the AWA was left without a venue in their home base for the first time then there were more escapees it had to be jarring to see the crusher make the move to the WWF in 1986 though Crusher really only worked House shows he did so in the awa's old haunts showing the locals that grew up on the AWA where their Heroes would rather be the following year buckwinkle ended his 17-year association with the AWA jumping to the WWF after dropping the world title to 29 year old Kurt enig bokwinkle was reportedly once under consideration to play the million dollar man in the WWF but he instead retired and became a backstage official for the record hennig's Wing over buckwinkle took place at Super Clash 2 in San Francisco which drew a miserable 2800 fans to San Francisco's Cow Palace also making the move to the WWF in this period where former Champion Martell Boris zukov and Sensational Sherry the midnight rockers jumped in mid-1987 but eventually returned to the AWA after getting fired one day into their WWF tenure damn bar fight the Rockers eventually returned to new York in 1988 while hennik also made the jump after dropping the AWA belt to Jerry Lawler the baron turned up briefly as the manager for the powers of pain even announcer Ron Tron guard was brought on board because why the hell not Vince seemed to be making a game out of plucking away anything that belonged to the AWA and why not then wasn't exactly putting up a fight at this point it was a disheartening sign of the times when in February 1988 Garnier presented a card at the due to be demolished Minneapolis Auditorium where he began his career and only 1700 fans showed up to see the venue off but badly wounded Vern did try to circle the wagons with other surviving territories a venture with Memphis and world-class held promise but everything fell apart with super Clash 3 the awa's only ever pay-per-view at the end of 1988 less than 1700 fans showed up in Chicago's UIC Pavilion to witness a muddled card complete with a screw finish in a title unification in match pitting AWA champ Lawler against world-class title holder Kerry Von Erich Not only was the show poor but issues between Garnier and co-promotor Jerry Jarrett as well as Garnier reportedly not paying the visiting performers led to the destruction of their Cooperative it also led to former devaluation of the AWA belt as Lola was stripped of the title when Memphis pulled away from Vern's group as 1989 came around the AWA was firmly on life support Larry zabisco then son-in-law won the vacant belt in a Battle Royal aging stars like Patera McDaniel Colonel De Beers and Sergeant Slaughter occupied space with young hopefuls like Coquina Maximus the future Yokozuna Tom zenk the destruction Crew bad company and the trooper Dell Wilkes Who Would One Day become the Patriot office worker Eric Bischoff became a TV personality giving him more experience in a business he would briefly sit atop of perhaps erroneously Bischoff has been credited or blamed with coming up with a concept for the AWA called The Team Challenge Series the series was a confusing poorly constructed competition in which what was left of the roster was divided into three teams and the participants faced off in a series of random gimmick matches all for the purpose of one million dollars the pilot episode of the Team Challenge Series has been uploaded to the WWE Network and believe me it makes the wrestle Rock Rumble seem Lucid by comparison it has to be seen to be believed by 1990 the writing on the wall had been underlined several times and was eventually replaced by a sizzling neon sign about the only good news was that sebisco's dropping off the title to Mr Saito took place in front of over 60 000 fans though that's only because it occurred on the undercard of a new Japan event at the Tokyo Dome it was far less prestigious when sabisco regained the belt of that April in front of Just 2 000 fans at Super Clash 4 in Saint Paul though that was practically WrestleMania when compared to many of the final TV tapings which were held in an empty TV studio the final TV taping occurred in August 1990. after a few more House shows that year Champions obisco jumped to WCW causing the Bell to be vacated one last time the WWF plugged Slaughter in 1990 as well as Paul Diamond the following year they brought in North the Barbarian to become the Berserker and the destruction crew to play the Beverly Brothers AWA officially closed up shop in 1991. the money losses were just too much Bischoff later explained that one of the reasons Vern had to pull the plug was the loss of awa's Main Financial Resources that being property Vern owned near Lake Minnetonka that the government seized in an eminent domain case when the monetary pipeline was shut off AWA had next to no fuel left across its 30-year history the AWA ran the gamut between pro wrestling hotbed and shambling also ran so many the important Stars got their start or found their first taste of success in Vern gangier's American wrestling Association through some Savvy business moves Garnier grew the territory from its Twin City roots to something genuinely resembling a National Power with access to outside regions thanks to Friendly co-ops the AWA had a cable TV deal and was home to Hulk Hogan's first big baby face push they drew big crowds to outdoor stadiums and could have been the consensus pick for the best American promotion in different years during the 70s and 80s but when things go south they go south quickly losing Hogan was more than just a crucial gain on Vince's part it was a tight turning happening that came to define the rise of one promotions Mojo and the fall of another's when Vince reconfigured the WWF to fit into trendy 80s pop culture Vern's company stumbled at gate unwilling to evolve or were at least Unsure how to McMahon did pluck away many valuable AWA talents and did run Vern's strongholds with increased fervor but honestly this was a case where Vince can't really be blamed for destroying another company the most damaging thing Vince did to the AWA was put on a superior show one that the AWA looked laughably inferior against when viewed through the same lens Vern had a pawn chant for alienating good talents particularly when it came to money he was used to calling the shots so when the Hogans and the Venturas of the world felt they deserved more they found a boss willing to give them more others made the jump for money but another motivation was perception the expanding WWF was the place to be while the stagnating AWA was not audience and talent erosion killed the metrics dead and Vern found himself throwing money into the fire year after declining yeah strategic alliances quickly failed leaving the AWA as a dead-end business awaiting the inevitable a fair look at history will show that the AWA had a mostly incredible three-decade run and was responsible for so much valuable wrestling history but when times changed the AWA didn't and the final years were a painful limp into Pro wrestlings Beyond

Channel: Cultaholic Wrestling

Views: 332,928

Keywords: awa, american wrestling association, wrestling, wrestling documentary, wrestling documentaries, hulk hogan, rick martel, otto wanz, nick bockwinkel, mad dog vachon, wahooo mcdaniel, bobby heenan, bobby the brain heenan, wwf, vince mcmahon, vince mcmahon snr, vince mcmahon senior, greg gagne, mean gene okerlund, adrian adonis, ken patera, wrestling history, jim brunzell, david schultz, wendi richter, jesse ventura, vincent k mcmahon, road warriors, baron von raschke

Id: t580hujuYc4

Length: 39min 54sec (2394 seconds)

Published: Sun Apr 23 2023