combatmedic
07-05-2009, 05:35 PM
http://nibtempfile.ign.com/diverson2/article/840132/nwa_logo.jpg
Credit: Wikipedia
The National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) is a governing body for a group of independent professional wrestling promotions and sanctions various NWA championships in the United States. The NWA has been in operation since 1948. Prior to the 1980s, it acted as the sole governing body for most of professional wrestling, operating as a talent and brand name franchiser for the inter-regional "territory" system.
1940s
Before the NWA was founded in 1948, there existed many regional professional wrestling promotions across North America (each promoting its own "World" champion). None of them, however, had backing or recognition outside of their own respective geographic base-areas. The concept of the NWA was to consolidate the championships of these regional companies into one true world championship of pro wrestling, whose holder would be recognized worldwide.[1] In 1948, Paul "Pinkie" George, a promoter from the Midwest, founded the original version of the National Wrestling Alliance with the backing of five other promoters (Al Haft, Tony Strecher, Harry Light, Orville Brown, and Sam Muchnick). This newly-formed NWA Board of Directors wanted Brown to be the first-ever NWA World champion. During the reign of the second NWA World Heavyweight Champion, Lou Thesz (1949–1956), the title was further unified with several more previously-competing "World" titles, such as those recognized jointly by the National Wrestling Association and the American Wrestling Alliance (in Boston), plus another version promoted from the Los Angeles Olympic Auditorium. This legitimized the NWA's claim that its title was a "Unified World Title," and its lineage continues to this day.
The NWA members divided up North America, as well as Japan, into territories that each promoter would "own" and operate in. Having a territory meant that no other NWA member could promote wrestling in that area unless special arrangments were made between the promoters involved. If non-NWA promoters tried to promote their show in an NWA territory, then the other member groups were obliged to send stars to help force the intruder out. Reportedly, threats of violence or physical retaliation were used against any promoters (and/or talent) who disregarded the territory system. If any member territory broke the NWA's rules, it faced expulsion, and thus risked missing out on having nationally-known wrestlers appear on their local shows. For most promoters under the NWA umbrella, the benefits of membership were well worth the dues. Usually, the NWA President's territory was the main territory of the entire alliance.
Beyond the benefit of having other promotions to draw on in case of an intruder, each territory also received periodic guest visits from the NWA World Heavyweight Champion. The champion did not have a "home territory" as such, but instead traveled from territory to territory, defending the title against the top stars of each territory. A number of former NWA World Champions often remarked that their primary goal was to make the top stars of each territory "look good" and give crowds the impression that those "local heroes" had the potential of being the champion by almost winning the title. Many promoters would build up to the appearance of "The NWA World Heavyweight Champion" weeks or months in advance, making the local World title matches that much more special, and the shows they headlined more lucrative. In addition, each NWA member promotion usually produced a TV show that aired in their territory only, meaning that the local fans only saw the World champion when he came to their area, not year-round. It was not just the champion that would travel the territories; often, wrestlers from a different area would come into a territory (often the heels / "bad guys"), and run an angle or two with its top local faces ("good guys"). Also, if the local fans ever tired of a wrestler, he could go to a whole new area and perform the same act for new audiences, who would think the act was brand-new.
1950s–1960s
Upon becoming the booker for Lou Thesz in 1950, Muchnick, who was the head of the St. Louis Wrestling Club, became the new NWA President and maintained that position until 1960.
In the mid-1950s, serious disputes broke out within the NWA. There were antitrust problems with the government and there were a number of competing factions who wanted to replace Thesz as champion with different wrestlers such as Verne Gagne. There were also disputes over the number of dates wrestled by the champion in various parts of the country. The first break within the organization occurred in 1957 when Montreal promoter Eddie Quinn walked out of the August NWA meeting in St. Louis. Quinn had fallen out with Sam Muchnick over a number of issues. Quinn was a partner in the St. Louis territory and disagreed with how it was being run. Quinn was also angry that Muchnick had business dealings with rogue promoter (and Quinn rival) Jack Pfefer. At the time Quinn walked out, a wrestler of his named Edouard Carpentier was involved in an angle where he and Lou Thesz were both being presented around the NWA as champion. This occurred after Carpentier had a disputed win over Thesz on June 14, 1957, and some of the NWA promoters considered it a legitimate title change, while others did not.[2] The original idea was to build the idea of the "disputed" NWA title into a high profile rematch. When Quinn left the NWA, Muchnick announced that Carpentier had never been an official champion and had no claim on the title.
In 1957, the American Wrestling Association (AWA) broke away from the National Wrestling Alliance due to a dispute over the booking of the world champion.[2] Lou Thesz was scheduled to win back the championship, despite the popularity Pat O’Connor had attained after winning it in 1959 and successfully starting the television program Wrestling At The Chase.
Afterward, Quinn saw the financial possibilities in the Carpentier situation and began to negotiate with factions within the NWA. He offered to have Carpentier lose a title match to their prospective champion thus giving them if they decided to break away a legitimate claim on the world title. In 1958, it was arranged that Carpentier would drop his title to Gagne in Omaha. But at the same time, Quinn also arranged for Capentier to drop his title in Boston to Killer Kowalski which formed the basis for the AAC/Big Time Wrestling (Boston) title which lasted until 1975. Gagne tried for two more years to work things out with the NWA but finally in 1960 left the organization forming the American Wrestling Association. Gagne's win over Carpentier was used to legitimize the world championship status of the AWA title.
In 1959, Quinn began negotiating with the Los Angeles NWA affiliate. The promotion recognized Carpentier as NWA champion in 1959. In June 1961, Carpentier dropped the title for a third time to Fred Blassie. The promotion then left the NWA officially and became the World Wrestling Association (WWA) until it returned to the NWA in 1968.
Muchnick's replacement at the NWA's helm in 1960 was Toronto's Frank Tunney; he in turn was succeeded by Fred Kohler, who was the main booker for the new NWA World champion, "Nature Boy" Buddy Rogers. October 1962 saw Rogers defeat Kowalski, a match which was promoted by Doc Karl Sarpolis, the NWA member promoter in Amarillo, Texas. As a result, Sarpolis rose to the NWA presidency. In 1962, the NWA World Heavyweight Champion was, again, Rogers. Vincent J. McMahon began planning to take Rogers away from the NWA to start a new promotion. The NWA, however, stripped Rogers of the NWA title in Toronto in 1963. After the loss, McMahon withdrew from the NWA and created the World Wide Wrestling Federation (now World Wrestling Entertainment) with Rogers as the star performer. The WWWF recognized Rogers as its first World champion in April 1963.[3] The promotion claimed that Buddy Rogers won a title tournament in Rio De Janeiro, a tournament that did not in fact exist. Although both Verne Gagne and McMahon promoted their own World champions, their promotions continued to have representatives on the NWA Board of Directors and regularly exchanged talent with NWA promotions.
Decline of the territory system
In the 1980s, video tape trading and cable television paved the way for the eventual death of the NWA's inter-regional business model, as fans could now see for themselves the plot holes and inconsistencies between the different regional storylines. Also, the presence of stars like Ric Flair on TV every week made their special appearances in each region less of a draw. Vince K. McMahon, who had bought the WWWF from his father and renamed it the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) in 1982, used these gathering trends, as well as raids of competing promoters' talent pools, to turn his Northeastern territory into the first truly national promotion. To compete against this threat, various NWA promoters, along with the AWA, attempted to co-promote shows under the Pro Wrestling USA banner. Internal disputes over power and money, however, caused this deal to eventually fall apart. The AWA ended up owning the group's ESPN timeslot, and used it to broadcast its own weekly shows
MACW: Teh Showtime
For over a half a century, Charlotte was synonymous with the wrestling office founded in 1948 by Jim Crockett Sr. A longtime member of the NWA, this promotion served as the "home base" for the NWA.
Owner: Jim Crockett Jr.
MAIN EVENT:
Ric Flair (F) (NWA Heavyweight Champion)
Wahoo McDaniel (F)
Jack Brisco (F)
Harley Race (H)
UPPER MIDCARD:
Roddy Piper (F)
Jay Youngblood (F)
Jerry Brisco (F)
Ricky Steamboat (F)
Johnny Weaver (F)
Sgt. Slaughter (H) (1/2 NWA Tag Team Champions)
Ivan Koloff (H)
Greg Valentine (H) (NWA US Heavyweight Champion)
MIDCARD:
Jimmy Valiant (F)
Pvt. Jim Nelson (H)
The Assasian (H)
The Great Kabuki (H)
Nikita Koloff (H)
Angelo Mosca (H)
Don Kernodle (H) (1/2 NWA Tag Team Champions)
LOWER MIDCARD:
Angelo Mosca Jr. (F)
Bugsy McGraw (F) (1/2 MACW US Tag Team Champs)
Mark Youngblood (F)
Rufus R. Jones (F) (1/2 MACW US Tag Team Champs)
Assasian 2 (H)
ENHANCEMENT:
Bill Mulkey (F)
Randy Mulkey (F)
George South (H)
SEMI ACTIVE:
Paul Jones (H)
**** The MACW Heavyweight Championship is currently VACANT
ANNOUNCERS:
Bob Caudle
Tony Schiavone
COLOR COMMENTATOR:
David Crockett
REFS:
Tommy Young
Nick Patrick
Teddy Long
Stu Schwartz
Pee Wee Anderson
AGENTS:
George Scott
GCW: 4horsemanfan
GCW was one of the more exciting regional promtions in the history of wrestling. The Georgia promotion was around for several years, but didn't hit it's stride until the late 1970's
OWNER: Jim Barnett
MAIN EVENT:
Tommy Rich (F) (National Heavyweight Champ)
Mr. Wrestling #2 (F)
Ole Anderson (F)
Buzz Sawyer (H)
Larry Zbyszko (H)
UPPER MIDCARD:
Bob Armstrong (F)
Ronnie Garvin (F) (National TV Champ)
Thunderbolt Patterson (F)
Paul Orndorff (F)
The Spoiler (H)
Jake Roberts (H)
MIDCARD:
Animal (H)
Hawk (H)
Les Thorton (H) (GCW Junior Heavyweight Champion)
Arn Anderson (H)
LOWER MIDCARD:
Bret Wayne (F)
Bruno Sammartino Jr. (F)
Johnny Rich (F)
Tim Horner (F)
Brad Armstrong (F)
Pez Whatley (H)
OPENER:
Joe Lightfoot (F)
Scott Armstrong (F)
Rick McGraw (F)
ENHANCEMENT:
Mike Starbuck (F)
Italian Stallion (F)
*** The National Tag Team Championships are VACANT
MANAGER:
Paul Ellering (H)
ANNOUNCER:
Gordon Solie
COLOR COMMENTATOR:
Freddy Miller
REF:
Scrappy McGowen
Ronnie West
AGENTS:
Gene Anderson
Mr. Wrestling
WCCW: Buck44f
A longtime mecca of prowrestling, the Dallas/Ft. Worth area is best known as the home base for Southwest Sports Inc., the promotion owned by longtime NWA member Fritz Von Erich.
OWNER: Fritz Von Erich
MAIN EVENT:
David Von Erich (F) (Texas Heavyweight Champ)
Kerry Von Erich (F)
Micheal PS Hayes (H) (1/2 Texas Tag Team, 1/3 WCCW 6 Man Champ)
Terry Gordy (H) (1/2 Texas Tag Team, 1/3 WCCW 6 Man Champ)
Kamala (H)
UPPER MIDCARD:
Kevin Von Erich (F) (WCCW American Heavyweight Champ)
Jimmy Garvin (H)
The Great Kabuki (H)
Buddy Roberts (H) (1/3 WCCW 6 Man Champ)
Black Gordman (H)
MIDCARD:
Chris Adams (F) (WCCW TV Champ)
Sweet Sugar Brown (F)
Iceman Parsons (F)
Mike Von Erich (F)
King Kong Bundy (H)
The Missing Link (H)
LOWER MIDCARD:
One Man Gang (H)
OPENER:
Johnny Mantell (F)
Brian Adias (F)
Frank Dusek (H)
John Tatum (H)
SEMI ACTIVE:
Jose Lothario (F)
MANAGERS:
Precious (H)
Skandar Akabar (H)
Sunshine (H)
Arman Hussien (H)
Gary Hart (H)
ANNOUNCER:
Bill Mercer
COLOR COMMENTATOR:
Marc Lowrance
REFS:
James Beard
Bronko Lubich
David Manning
AGENT:
Ken Mantell
AJPW: Combatmedic
The godfather of Japanese wrestling, Rikidozan, had two underlings. Antonio Inoki went on to form NJPW, while The Giant Baba formed AJPW. Baba's promotion is more traditional than Inoki's, and also relies more on foriegn wrestlers.
OWNER: Motoko Baba
MAIN EVENT:
Jumbo Tsuruta (F)
Giant Baba (F)
Genichiro Tenryu (F)
Dory Funk Jr. (F)
Terry Funk (F)
Bruiser Brody (H)
Stan Hansen (H)
UPPER MIDCARD:
Masanobu Fuchi (F)
Mighty Inoue (F)
Takashi Ishikawa (F)
The Great Kabuki (F)
Umanosuke Ueda (H)
MIDCARD:
Akio Sato (F)
Atsushi Onita (F)
Chavo Guerrero Sr. (H)
Ashura Hara (H)
LOWER MIDCARD:
Rocky Hata (F)
Shiro Koshinaka (F)
Motoshi Momota (F)
Magic Dragon (F)
Hiromichi Fuyuki (H)
Great Kojika (H)
Goro Tsurumi (H)
OPENER:
Apollo Suguhara (F)
Shinji Sasazaki (F)
Toshiaki Kawada (F)
SEMI ACTIVE:
Mil Mascaras (F)
The Destroyer (H)
ANNOUNCER:
Takashi Yamada
COLOR COMMENTATOR:
Kousuke Takeuchi
REFS:
Matsumichi Suchara
Joe Higuchi
Kyohei Wada
AGENTS:
Yoshihiro Momota
Ryu Nakata
Motoka Baba
WRESTLING NEWS
WWF: Released Pat Patterson, Howard Finkle, and Joey Marrella
AWA: Released Gene Okerlund
CWF: Released Hiro Matsuda
MSW: Released Jim Cornette
CWA: Released JJ Dillion
Credit: Wikipedia
The National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) is a governing body for a group of independent professional wrestling promotions and sanctions various NWA championships in the United States. The NWA has been in operation since 1948. Prior to the 1980s, it acted as the sole governing body for most of professional wrestling, operating as a talent and brand name franchiser for the inter-regional "territory" system.
1940s
Before the NWA was founded in 1948, there existed many regional professional wrestling promotions across North America (each promoting its own "World" champion). None of them, however, had backing or recognition outside of their own respective geographic base-areas. The concept of the NWA was to consolidate the championships of these regional companies into one true world championship of pro wrestling, whose holder would be recognized worldwide.[1] In 1948, Paul "Pinkie" George, a promoter from the Midwest, founded the original version of the National Wrestling Alliance with the backing of five other promoters (Al Haft, Tony Strecher, Harry Light, Orville Brown, and Sam Muchnick). This newly-formed NWA Board of Directors wanted Brown to be the first-ever NWA World champion. During the reign of the second NWA World Heavyweight Champion, Lou Thesz (1949–1956), the title was further unified with several more previously-competing "World" titles, such as those recognized jointly by the National Wrestling Association and the American Wrestling Alliance (in Boston), plus another version promoted from the Los Angeles Olympic Auditorium. This legitimized the NWA's claim that its title was a "Unified World Title," and its lineage continues to this day.
The NWA members divided up North America, as well as Japan, into territories that each promoter would "own" and operate in. Having a territory meant that no other NWA member could promote wrestling in that area unless special arrangments were made between the promoters involved. If non-NWA promoters tried to promote their show in an NWA territory, then the other member groups were obliged to send stars to help force the intruder out. Reportedly, threats of violence or physical retaliation were used against any promoters (and/or talent) who disregarded the territory system. If any member territory broke the NWA's rules, it faced expulsion, and thus risked missing out on having nationally-known wrestlers appear on their local shows. For most promoters under the NWA umbrella, the benefits of membership were well worth the dues. Usually, the NWA President's territory was the main territory of the entire alliance.
Beyond the benefit of having other promotions to draw on in case of an intruder, each territory also received periodic guest visits from the NWA World Heavyweight Champion. The champion did not have a "home territory" as such, but instead traveled from territory to territory, defending the title against the top stars of each territory. A number of former NWA World Champions often remarked that their primary goal was to make the top stars of each territory "look good" and give crowds the impression that those "local heroes" had the potential of being the champion by almost winning the title. Many promoters would build up to the appearance of "The NWA World Heavyweight Champion" weeks or months in advance, making the local World title matches that much more special, and the shows they headlined more lucrative. In addition, each NWA member promotion usually produced a TV show that aired in their territory only, meaning that the local fans only saw the World champion when he came to their area, not year-round. It was not just the champion that would travel the territories; often, wrestlers from a different area would come into a territory (often the heels / "bad guys"), and run an angle or two with its top local faces ("good guys"). Also, if the local fans ever tired of a wrestler, he could go to a whole new area and perform the same act for new audiences, who would think the act was brand-new.
1950s–1960s
Upon becoming the booker for Lou Thesz in 1950, Muchnick, who was the head of the St. Louis Wrestling Club, became the new NWA President and maintained that position until 1960.
In the mid-1950s, serious disputes broke out within the NWA. There were antitrust problems with the government and there were a number of competing factions who wanted to replace Thesz as champion with different wrestlers such as Verne Gagne. There were also disputes over the number of dates wrestled by the champion in various parts of the country. The first break within the organization occurred in 1957 when Montreal promoter Eddie Quinn walked out of the August NWA meeting in St. Louis. Quinn had fallen out with Sam Muchnick over a number of issues. Quinn was a partner in the St. Louis territory and disagreed with how it was being run. Quinn was also angry that Muchnick had business dealings with rogue promoter (and Quinn rival) Jack Pfefer. At the time Quinn walked out, a wrestler of his named Edouard Carpentier was involved in an angle where he and Lou Thesz were both being presented around the NWA as champion. This occurred after Carpentier had a disputed win over Thesz on June 14, 1957, and some of the NWA promoters considered it a legitimate title change, while others did not.[2] The original idea was to build the idea of the "disputed" NWA title into a high profile rematch. When Quinn left the NWA, Muchnick announced that Carpentier had never been an official champion and had no claim on the title.
In 1957, the American Wrestling Association (AWA) broke away from the National Wrestling Alliance due to a dispute over the booking of the world champion.[2] Lou Thesz was scheduled to win back the championship, despite the popularity Pat O’Connor had attained after winning it in 1959 and successfully starting the television program Wrestling At The Chase.
Afterward, Quinn saw the financial possibilities in the Carpentier situation and began to negotiate with factions within the NWA. He offered to have Carpentier lose a title match to their prospective champion thus giving them if they decided to break away a legitimate claim on the world title. In 1958, it was arranged that Carpentier would drop his title to Gagne in Omaha. But at the same time, Quinn also arranged for Capentier to drop his title in Boston to Killer Kowalski which formed the basis for the AAC/Big Time Wrestling (Boston) title which lasted until 1975. Gagne tried for two more years to work things out with the NWA but finally in 1960 left the organization forming the American Wrestling Association. Gagne's win over Carpentier was used to legitimize the world championship status of the AWA title.
In 1959, Quinn began negotiating with the Los Angeles NWA affiliate. The promotion recognized Carpentier as NWA champion in 1959. In June 1961, Carpentier dropped the title for a third time to Fred Blassie. The promotion then left the NWA officially and became the World Wrestling Association (WWA) until it returned to the NWA in 1968.
Muchnick's replacement at the NWA's helm in 1960 was Toronto's Frank Tunney; he in turn was succeeded by Fred Kohler, who was the main booker for the new NWA World champion, "Nature Boy" Buddy Rogers. October 1962 saw Rogers defeat Kowalski, a match which was promoted by Doc Karl Sarpolis, the NWA member promoter in Amarillo, Texas. As a result, Sarpolis rose to the NWA presidency. In 1962, the NWA World Heavyweight Champion was, again, Rogers. Vincent J. McMahon began planning to take Rogers away from the NWA to start a new promotion. The NWA, however, stripped Rogers of the NWA title in Toronto in 1963. After the loss, McMahon withdrew from the NWA and created the World Wide Wrestling Federation (now World Wrestling Entertainment) with Rogers as the star performer. The WWWF recognized Rogers as its first World champion in April 1963.[3] The promotion claimed that Buddy Rogers won a title tournament in Rio De Janeiro, a tournament that did not in fact exist. Although both Verne Gagne and McMahon promoted their own World champions, their promotions continued to have representatives on the NWA Board of Directors and regularly exchanged talent with NWA promotions.
Decline of the territory system
In the 1980s, video tape trading and cable television paved the way for the eventual death of the NWA's inter-regional business model, as fans could now see for themselves the plot holes and inconsistencies between the different regional storylines. Also, the presence of stars like Ric Flair on TV every week made their special appearances in each region less of a draw. Vince K. McMahon, who had bought the WWWF from his father and renamed it the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) in 1982, used these gathering trends, as well as raids of competing promoters' talent pools, to turn his Northeastern territory into the first truly national promotion. To compete against this threat, various NWA promoters, along with the AWA, attempted to co-promote shows under the Pro Wrestling USA banner. Internal disputes over power and money, however, caused this deal to eventually fall apart. The AWA ended up owning the group's ESPN timeslot, and used it to broadcast its own weekly shows
MACW: Teh Showtime
For over a half a century, Charlotte was synonymous with the wrestling office founded in 1948 by Jim Crockett Sr. A longtime member of the NWA, this promotion served as the "home base" for the NWA.
Owner: Jim Crockett Jr.
MAIN EVENT:
Ric Flair (F) (NWA Heavyweight Champion)
Wahoo McDaniel (F)
Jack Brisco (F)
Harley Race (H)
UPPER MIDCARD:
Roddy Piper (F)
Jay Youngblood (F)
Jerry Brisco (F)
Ricky Steamboat (F)
Johnny Weaver (F)
Sgt. Slaughter (H) (1/2 NWA Tag Team Champions)
Ivan Koloff (H)
Greg Valentine (H) (NWA US Heavyweight Champion)
MIDCARD:
Jimmy Valiant (F)
Pvt. Jim Nelson (H)
The Assasian (H)
The Great Kabuki (H)
Nikita Koloff (H)
Angelo Mosca (H)
Don Kernodle (H) (1/2 NWA Tag Team Champions)
LOWER MIDCARD:
Angelo Mosca Jr. (F)
Bugsy McGraw (F) (1/2 MACW US Tag Team Champs)
Mark Youngblood (F)
Rufus R. Jones (F) (1/2 MACW US Tag Team Champs)
Assasian 2 (H)
ENHANCEMENT:
Bill Mulkey (F)
Randy Mulkey (F)
George South (H)
SEMI ACTIVE:
Paul Jones (H)
**** The MACW Heavyweight Championship is currently VACANT
ANNOUNCERS:
Bob Caudle
Tony Schiavone
COLOR COMMENTATOR:
David Crockett
REFS:
Tommy Young
Nick Patrick
Teddy Long
Stu Schwartz
Pee Wee Anderson
AGENTS:
George Scott
GCW: 4horsemanfan
GCW was one of the more exciting regional promtions in the history of wrestling. The Georgia promotion was around for several years, but didn't hit it's stride until the late 1970's
OWNER: Jim Barnett
MAIN EVENT:
Tommy Rich (F) (National Heavyweight Champ)
Mr. Wrestling #2 (F)
Ole Anderson (F)
Buzz Sawyer (H)
Larry Zbyszko (H)
UPPER MIDCARD:
Bob Armstrong (F)
Ronnie Garvin (F) (National TV Champ)
Thunderbolt Patterson (F)
Paul Orndorff (F)
The Spoiler (H)
Jake Roberts (H)
MIDCARD:
Animal (H)
Hawk (H)
Les Thorton (H) (GCW Junior Heavyweight Champion)
Arn Anderson (H)
LOWER MIDCARD:
Bret Wayne (F)
Bruno Sammartino Jr. (F)
Johnny Rich (F)
Tim Horner (F)
Brad Armstrong (F)
Pez Whatley (H)
OPENER:
Joe Lightfoot (F)
Scott Armstrong (F)
Rick McGraw (F)
ENHANCEMENT:
Mike Starbuck (F)
Italian Stallion (F)
*** The National Tag Team Championships are VACANT
MANAGER:
Paul Ellering (H)
ANNOUNCER:
Gordon Solie
COLOR COMMENTATOR:
Freddy Miller
REF:
Scrappy McGowen
Ronnie West
AGENTS:
Gene Anderson
Mr. Wrestling
WCCW: Buck44f
A longtime mecca of prowrestling, the Dallas/Ft. Worth area is best known as the home base for Southwest Sports Inc., the promotion owned by longtime NWA member Fritz Von Erich.
OWNER: Fritz Von Erich
MAIN EVENT:
David Von Erich (F) (Texas Heavyweight Champ)
Kerry Von Erich (F)
Micheal PS Hayes (H) (1/2 Texas Tag Team, 1/3 WCCW 6 Man Champ)
Terry Gordy (H) (1/2 Texas Tag Team, 1/3 WCCW 6 Man Champ)
Kamala (H)
UPPER MIDCARD:
Kevin Von Erich (F) (WCCW American Heavyweight Champ)
Jimmy Garvin (H)
The Great Kabuki (H)
Buddy Roberts (H) (1/3 WCCW 6 Man Champ)
Black Gordman (H)
MIDCARD:
Chris Adams (F) (WCCW TV Champ)
Sweet Sugar Brown (F)
Iceman Parsons (F)
Mike Von Erich (F)
King Kong Bundy (H)
The Missing Link (H)
LOWER MIDCARD:
One Man Gang (H)
OPENER:
Johnny Mantell (F)
Brian Adias (F)
Frank Dusek (H)
John Tatum (H)
SEMI ACTIVE:
Jose Lothario (F)
MANAGERS:
Precious (H)
Skandar Akabar (H)
Sunshine (H)
Arman Hussien (H)
Gary Hart (H)
ANNOUNCER:
Bill Mercer
COLOR COMMENTATOR:
Marc Lowrance
REFS:
James Beard
Bronko Lubich
David Manning
AGENT:
Ken Mantell
AJPW: Combatmedic
The godfather of Japanese wrestling, Rikidozan, had two underlings. Antonio Inoki went on to form NJPW, while The Giant Baba formed AJPW. Baba's promotion is more traditional than Inoki's, and also relies more on foriegn wrestlers.
OWNER: Motoko Baba
MAIN EVENT:
Jumbo Tsuruta (F)
Giant Baba (F)
Genichiro Tenryu (F)
Dory Funk Jr. (F)
Terry Funk (F)
Bruiser Brody (H)
Stan Hansen (H)
UPPER MIDCARD:
Masanobu Fuchi (F)
Mighty Inoue (F)
Takashi Ishikawa (F)
The Great Kabuki (F)
Umanosuke Ueda (H)
MIDCARD:
Akio Sato (F)
Atsushi Onita (F)
Chavo Guerrero Sr. (H)
Ashura Hara (H)
LOWER MIDCARD:
Rocky Hata (F)
Shiro Koshinaka (F)
Motoshi Momota (F)
Magic Dragon (F)
Hiromichi Fuyuki (H)
Great Kojika (H)
Goro Tsurumi (H)
OPENER:
Apollo Suguhara (F)
Shinji Sasazaki (F)
Toshiaki Kawada (F)
SEMI ACTIVE:
Mil Mascaras (F)
The Destroyer (H)
ANNOUNCER:
Takashi Yamada
COLOR COMMENTATOR:
Kousuke Takeuchi
REFS:
Matsumichi Suchara
Joe Higuchi
Kyohei Wada
AGENTS:
Yoshihiro Momota
Ryu Nakata
Motoka Baba
WRESTLING NEWS
WWF: Released Pat Patterson, Howard Finkle, and Joey Marrella
AWA: Released Gene Okerlund
CWF: Released Hiro Matsuda
MSW: Released Jim Cornette
CWA: Released JJ Dillion