In 1960, Verne Gagne formed the American Wrestling Association. However, times were quickly changing, and the AWA fell behind in favor of a glitzier and better-produced product. Verne Gagne - an amateur wrestling champion who represented the United States in the 1948 Summer Olympics - was a long-time preserver of kayfabe and tried presenting wrestling more as a legitimate sport than as entertainment like the WWF was doing. Now devoid of name wrestlers, the AWA could not bank on their young and upcoming talent such as Todd Becker, The Russian Brute, The Trooper ( Del Wilkes), The Destruction Crew (Wayne Bloom and Mike Enos), Paul Diamond, Tommy Jammer, The Terminator, Derrick Dukes, Jake “The Milkman” Milliman, Larry “The Butcher” Cameron, DJ Peterson, and “Illustrious” Jonnie Stewart. “The Patriot” Del Wilkes wrestled as “The Trooper” in the AWA. Jerry Lawler became one of his harshest critics as a result. It is said that after the AWA’s only pay-per-view, many top talent wrestlers refused to work for Verne Gagne’s promotion again due to refusing to pay them. In 1989, the AWA was limping badly after the financial disaster that was SuperClash III.
The once-thriving organization that began in 1960 had lost much ground to Vince McMahon’s WWF, and they were searching for ways to survive. This mass exodus of stars weighed heavily on the AWA. Gone were the likes of Hulk Hogan, Curt Hennig, Stan Hansen, Jimmy Snuka, Ricky Steamboat, Ric Flair, The Rockers, Baby Bull/Bull Power ( Vader), Andre The Giant, The Road Warriors, Rick Martel, Bobby Heenan, The Fabulous Freebirds, Tommy Rich, Wahoo McDaniel, Tom Zenk, Jesse Ventura, Ray Stevens, Adrian Adonis, and even announcer Gene Okerlund.Įven AWA pillar Nick Bockwinkel was mainly retired by this point. If you were to glimpse the AWA roster in late 1989, it would hardly look familiar to the significant player that it once was.
#Awa wrestling ring series
It all went downhill from there! AWA Team Challenge Series and the AWA’s Fall From Grace Verne Gagne’s AWA Tag Team Challenge Series kicked off with lingerie-clad cheerleaders. It caused a whirlwind of confusion and later vanished along with the AWA. Thus the AWA Team Challenge Series was born. In the dying days of the AWA, to weaken the growing dominance of WWF, they had to do something different that would again attract wrestling fans’ hearts.
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