The Rise and Fall of the AMERICAN WRESTLING ASSOCIATION 

Yeah

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 .

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.

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 !

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

Dick The Bruiser & The Crusher were the most popular wrestlers in Chicago.

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.

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!

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

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.

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.

That is a great memory to have

Thank you so much for saying so

Go to South Milwaukee and see "da Crusher's'" statue

Thanks for appreciating and taking the time to say so

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.

@@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

Thank you so much for taking the time to share the kind words. And ahh yes, the good old days of the 1980s

Thanks so much for saying so. I appreciating you taking the time

I was watching AWA at the time. Both were great feuds.

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...

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.

Thank you so much for saying so

@@DaveKnowsWrestling everytime you said nwa I think of dr Dre and ice cube

Thank you so much for saying so

Thank you

Thanks Ben

Thank you for taking the time to say so

@@DaveKnowsWrestling nada problemo, amigo.thanks for putting the effort into the content.

Thank you for appreciating it!

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.

Ah good times

It is interesting to think about for sure

Pro Wrestling USA was a good idea, it's too bad they couldn't get along

I was hoping some ppl would catch that

@@DaveKnowsWrestling I got Shawn's autograph early in the midnight rockers run in Amery, WI.

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

Stampede is clutch no doubt

ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-CXCh0aRmG6Q.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

@@chrischar9428 Or better yet, give us your picks so we can rip yours apart and tell you how awful they are.

Buck Z is in Prison.

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.

Yeah those were some of the major reasons

Thank you so much Oliver

@@DaveKnowsWrestling You're welcome.

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

Yeah, it must be like what it is for young fans seeing ROH from years ago and seeing KO and Seth Rollins

@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.

I have no strong opinion one way or the other when it comes to the ESPN deal. And I answer that question a bit more in the World Title video, I have a graph

The ESPN deal wasn't as a big a thing as it would seem today. It was for little money and ESPN was a new channel itself just in its infancy unlike the geoliath it is today. Plus they were out of primetime in like a year or so and ended in late night slots and eventually the 4pm weekday slot

How can you tell when Greg Gagne is lying? His lips are moving. Listen to his shoots he give himself credit for everything. Hes hard to listen too and I dont trust anything he says.

I talked about it in the JCP video too, it's like you get pieces of it from the different sides

@@DaveKnowsWrestling been so long since I saw that video I didn’t even recall

Well glad you caught it and glad that you are here

The old location is no longer available, can't be around each other for the past year, the female cast members keep moving on to bigger and better things. I miss it too although I am glad to hear you are a fan

@@DaveKnowsWrestling man if I was rich, I would donate to your channel just for you to find a way to do MNW again.

BZ did a great job with that for sure