Interesting find

[GhettoV1]

Saw the AWA press kit online https://wrestlingmemorabilia.blogsp...omment=1518625166927&m=1#c4555880693726179416

And they even say the AWA has held shows at MSG and Shea Stadium.

 

[Makaveli31]

Interesting. It just proves Verne Gagne had a vision of going national before Vince Jr., Crockett, or Watts. He could see that the future of the pro wrestling business was tied into marketing his product to cable TV stations and broadcasting nationally. He sold his product not as a "pro wrestling" territory but rather a pro sports franchise. An experienced front office, a stacked roster, and advertisers lining up to associate themselves with the AWA.

What I found particularly interesting was the quote "only pro football has a growth pattern equal to pro wrestling." Those words would prove prophetic as both pro football and pro wrestling exploded exponentially in the 1980's with WrestleMania and the Super Bowl drawing in millions of fans and laying the foundation for the behemoths that would become the NFL and WWF. Verne saw all this a good two years before McMahon was able to capitalize on this.

What is also found interesting is he marketed his "wrestlers" as "stars". Sound familiar? Andre the Giant, Hulk Hogan, Jesse Ventura, Tito Santana those guys didn't look like 'rasslers they looked like movie stars. This is one of the first press kits I've seen and they portray the AWA and basically the NFL of pro wrestling. I think they added the MSG and Shea shows just to show how profitable pro wrestling can be.

 

[GhettoV1]

Basically the blueprint for the WWF to use for their expansion.

 

[FromGlasgow]

If they talked about it I don't know why they never done it as it was in 1982 so they had a little time before Vince, They also had the talent around this time during the 80's with names like Hogan, Andre, Bockwinkel, Heenan, Ventura, Road Warriors, Rockers, Hennig, Hall, Vader. Their equivalent of Wrestlemania 1 could have been Hulk Hogan beating Nick Bockwinkel for the AWA title, I think it was a huge missed oppertunity but what was Verne's loss was Vince's gain.