NWA: Restoring the Glory (MCD August 10)

[MasterJ]

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.[2] 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.[2] During the reign of the second NWA World Heavyweight Champion, Lou Thesz (1949–1956),[2] 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 arrangements 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.

 

[edit] 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. The antitrust case led the infamous NWA Consent Decree of 1956 in US v. National Wrestling Alliance.[3] 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 Édouard 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.[4] 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.[4] 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.[4] But at the same time, Quinn also arranged for Carpentier 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.[4] 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.[5] The NWA, however, stripped Rogers of the NWA title in Toronto in 1963.[5] After the event, Vincent J. McMahon withdrew from the NWA and created the World Wide Wrestling Federation (now World Wrestling Entertainment) with Rogers as the star performer.[5] The WWWF recognized Rogers as its first World champion in April 1963.[5] 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.

 

[edit] 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 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.

 

In the 1980s, NWA member Georgia Championship Wrestling (GCW) was sold to McMahon and merged into the WWF, with the WWF taking over GCW's long time TV slot on TBS.[6] Meanwhile, to hold off the threat of the WWF, Charlotte, North Carolina-based Jim Crockett Promotions decided to unify certain NWA territories and "go national" itself. Accordingly, Jim Crockett, Jr. began buying out some of the other NWA member promotions or, in some cases, allowed them to quietly die and just absorbed their rosters. Because of his acquisition spree, and because he failed to consistently match the WWF's ambitious marketing, TV production values, and merchandising, Crockett was facing bankruptcy by the late 1980s. In turn, Ted Turner bought Jim Crockett Promotions (JCP) and renamed it World Championship Wrestling (WCW).[7] With the backing of Turner’s money, it grew into a national promotion. With time, WCW became the main NWA territory with the JCP versions of the Tag-Team, United States, and Television Champions being recognized on a national scale. Up until this point only the NWA World Heavyweight Championship and NWA World Junior Heavyweight Championship had had national recognition. WCW was still a member of the NWA, but with time felt that the NWA needed WCW more than WCW needed the backing of the NWA, especially since both WCW and the WWF toured the entire country instead of staying within a confined territory. To make matters even more confusing, WCW spent much of 1992 and 1993 recognizing and promoting both WCW-brand World Champions and NWA-brand World Champions.

 

Another promotion that withdrew from the NWA to operate on their own was Mid-South Sports. Originally owned by Leroy McGuirk (who booked the NWA World Junior Heavyweight Champion for the NWA), the promotion was sold to Bill Watts in 1979. Watts changed the name of the promotion to Mid South Sports and declined to join the NWA. Watts did have a working agreement and exchanged talent with Jim Crockett Jr., allowing him to book the NWA World Champion. In 1986, Watts renamed the promotion the Universal Wrestling Federation in a bid to expand nationally, but was eventually bought out by Jim Crockett Promotions in March 1987, after going bankrupt.[8]

In 1986, promoter Fritz Von Erich withdrew World Class Championship Wrestling (WCCW) from the NWA in a bid to become a national promotion. They joined up with another former NWA member, the Continental Wrestling Association (CWA) and the AWA to try to compete with WCW and the WWF, but soon fell apart due to interpromotional politics. WCCW and the CWA later merged to form the United States Wrestling Association, which folded in 1997. Abroad, the defections of Empresa Mexicana de Lucha Libre, All Japan Pro Wrestling and New Japan Pro Wrestling in the mid-1980s was mostly regionalized as not many American fans followed or even knew about these promotions.

 

NWA today

See also: NWA Hall of Fame

Today, there is still a group of promoters which hold membership in the NWA and continue to use the NWA name, although no members are holdovers from the membership of the promotion's "glory days" of the 1940s–1980s.

 

-Wikipedia

[MasterJ]

Starting Roster (edited)

 

Main Event (faces)

Bryan Danielson

Charlie Hass

Sean Waltman

 

Main Event (Heels)

Shane Helms

Lance Cade

 

Upper Mid Card (Faces)

Blue Demon Jr.

Christopher Daniels

 

Upper Mid Card (Heels)

Chris Hero

Davey Richardson

Trevor Murdoch

 

Mid Card (Faces)

Chase Stevens

Mike Quackenbush

Shark Boy

 

Mid Card (Heels)

Adam Pearce

Keith Walker

Kevin Northcutt

Rasche Brown

 

Lower Mid Card (Faces)

Caprice Coleman

 

Lower Mid Card (Heels)

Antonio Thomas

Shaun Ricker

The Sheik

 

Opening/ET

Phil Shatter

Sid Sylum

Craig Classic

[MasterJ]

NWA Weekly preview

The NWA World Heavyweight championship has been vacated as the new era in NWA begins on Monday. Monday will start a NWA World Title Tournament, and here’s what going down. The American Dragon Bryan Danielson will face Trevor Murdoch, Sean Waltman will face Shane Helms, Blue Demon Jr. will face a mystery opponent, and The Fallen Angle Christopher Daniels will go head to head with the self proclaimed best in the world Davey Richards. All this and a special apperance by the new NWA Head of The Board live Monday.

 

Quick Picks

Bryan Danielson V. Trevor Murdoch

Sean Waltman V. Shane Helms

??? V. Blue Demon Jr.

Christopher Daniels V. Davey Richards

[MasterJ]

NWA Weekly

 

Bryan Danielson V. Trevor Murdoch

This match is the opening bout, both men lock up in the center of the ring which leads to Dragon taking Murdoch down to the mat with an arm bar turn into a sit down head lock. Dragon then whips Murduch into the corner and starts to go at him with lefts and rights with some knees mixed in with it. Dragon steps away as Murdoch falls to the ground. Dragon goes to drop a knee but Murdoch rolls out of the way and starts on the attack. Murdoch hit’s an elbow drop followed but a simple head lock which lead to Dragon powering out and hitting an arm drag. Dragon then takes the legs out from under Murdoch and locks in a cross face. Murdoch struggles he tries to get to the ropes but he goes limp he looks like he is about to tap but gets to the bottom rope right in time he then rolls out of the ring and Danielson follows. The fight out side is short lived as Dragon rolls Murdoch in the ring and as soon as Murdoch’s up Dragon hit’s the Dragon Suplex and goes for the cover, 1...2...3. The winner and the first person to advance into the second round of the NWA World Title Tournament Bryan Danielson.

 

We cut to the back as we see Chris Daniels sitting in his locker room.

 

Daniels: Tonight marks a moment in NWA history, a moment were a fallen angel makes his way into the NWA World Championship race see I’ve worked for so called “Major Promotions” that have had a good history but none come close to the NWA it self, but latly the NWA has fallen off the map but that is going to change, no more of the political BS that goes on in those other companies this is what wrestling is supposed to be this is where wrestling as we know it began and tonight marks the first step to making me a name in the history books as the guy who helped bring back the greatest company wrestling has ever seen and Richards you are just one stepping stone in my way and tonight I kick you out of my path.

 

We go back to the ring as the next match is about to start.

 

Shane Helms V. Sean Waltman.

As Waltman makes his way to the ring Helms sneaks up and attacks him laying him out with a chair shot. Helms continues the beat down outside of the ring before rolling him into the ring. Helms picks Waltman up and hits him with a snap suplex and a quick cover 1..2..Waltman kicks out to the surprise of Helms. Waltman gets up and sends Helms into the corner and drops a drop kick to the knees of Helms which sets him up for what looks to be an attempt at the Bronco Buster but Helms slides out of the way as Waltman meets the Turnbuckle post. Helms hit’s a monster spinning neck breaker as Waltman is stuck in the middle ropes on the turnbuckle and goes for the pin 1...2...3. Helms advances into the second round and will face Danielson next week.

 

The next match is about to start as Blue Demon Jr. makes his way to the ring he has a big disadvantage as he has no idea who his opponent will be, he is in the ring when the ligs dem and loud music strats with POUNCE POUNCE POUNCE. As the Alpha Male Monty Brown makes his way to the ring.

 

Blue Demon Jr. V. Monty Brown

The match starts off as Demon and Brown lock up, Brown pushes Demon down and poses after. Demon gets up and starts at Brown with a load of kicks which knocks Brown down to one knee Demon then hit’s a DDT on Brown laying him out on the mat and goes for the pin, 1..Brown powers out of the pin attempt. Brown lefts Demon up for a gorilla press but Demon counters into a spinning head scissors which he follows up with a leg drop on Brown Demon goes for another pin 1..Brown gets out at one again, Demon runs the ropes and hit’s a a flip leg drop on Brown he then picks Brown up runs the ropes and POUNCE Brown hit’s the pounce he then goes for the win. 1...2...3, Monty Brown advances into the second round and will face the winner of the main event.

 

After both men have left the ring the former NWA World Champion Adam Pearce comes out to the ring with a mic in his hand.

 

Pearce: So, I’ve heard that the NWA is under new management? They say they are going to restore the NWA to greatness but I have one question, how in the hell can you do that with out Adam Pearce as your World Champ? I got the new two days ago that I was being stripped of the belt, that I was not a suitable Champion for the direction the NWA was headed to, and the I find out that I have been left out of the NWA World Title Tournament which is for the title I never lost its still my belt damn it, and I want and deserve to be in this tournament.

 

Unknown Music hits as the Jumbo Screen read NWA Head of the Board as Jim Cornett makes his way to the ring with a huge pop from the crowd.

 

Cornett: Boohoo cry me a river Pearce I’m the new head of NWA and yes I have told the board to strip you of the title, the reason we are moving in a better more entertaining direction that you cant fulfill, sorry Pearce but if want to have a shot at the North American title that’s a more suitable for you in my humble southern opinion. Cuz that me send a message to the whole locker room and the whole wrestling world we will not be giving title to people who are friends of the top guys in the company like other big companies do now a days. You will earn every shot a title and Pearce next week you will face Chase Stevens and if you win you will get a shot at the NWA North American Championship not the World.

 

Pearce: That’s Crap I’m the one who can lead this company to the promise land I’m the one who has put interest back in the company I’m the one who…

 

Cornett: Sorry Pearce I cant listen to you any more I have business to tend to

.

 

Christopher Daniels V. Davey Richards

The match starts of as Richards whips Daniels into the ropes and hit’s a quick arm drag followed by a quick belly to belly suplex. Richards picks up Daniels and sends him to the turnbuckle and runs for a clothesline but Daniels gets out of the way and hit’s a reverse DDT followed by Daniels climbing on to the top rop and hitting a leg drop Daniels goes for the pin 1..2..Richards kicks out, Daniels kicks Richards in the back two times followed by a flipping jaw breaker. Daniels picks up Richards up over his head and goes for a Death Valley Drop but Richards reverses and hit’s a spinning DDT. Richards locks in an ankle lock on Daniels in the middle of the ring Daniels struggles to get out he uses his elbows to get to the ropes to break the hold. Richards stomps on the ankle that was just in the ankle lock and then drops a knee on it. Daniels starts to fight back while on one knee, he connects with a couple of lefts and rights followed by a jaw breaker. Daniels then gets on his feet he makes his way to Richards, his ankle is really hurting him he can barley walk on it. He gets to Richard he the drops him with a European Upper Cut he then lifts Richards up and hits with a Snap Suplex and follows it up with a Angles Wing and goes for the pin 1..2..3. Daniels has advanced into the next round of the NWA World Championship Tournament, and he will face Monty Brown next week.

 

Show Rating: 55

MOTN: Daniels V. Richards 66

Worst MOTN: Monty Brown V. Blue Demon Jr. 39