The Era of NWA Dominance

[Shocky]

What to expect from this sub-forum, mostly a focus on the NWA and it's world titles centering around guys like Lou Thesz and Harley Race. Now knowing that this is a WWE heavy forum, no doubt the WWWF will get it's recognition to with guys like Bruno Sammartino, Billy Graham, Andre the Giant, and Bob Backlund. Also the AWA with Verne Gagne and Nick Bockwinkle as well.

This sub-forum is meant to discuss these not so distant pioneers that used television to revolutionize the business as we see it today. In Ring ability with shooter/hooker styles gave way to teh colorful and flashier gimmicks that define the modern Era of professional wrestling.

The center piece of all of this is the NWA and the creation of it's NWA World championship. A source of great pride in this era, but also a source of great controversy. While Orville Brown was the first NWA Champion, Lou Thesz was certainly the man that legitimized said title.

However, Politics reared it's ugly head, and certain promotors thought men from their territory were worthy of being world champion. From being slighted, the AWA and WWWF branched off and formed their own world titles.

This Era ends with the dawn of cable television and the rise of two men to lead the respective big two into a new era. I tend to go with Ric Flair's title reign at Starrcade as the starting point. Yes I know he had a title reign before this. However, the only reason Race won the title back was to put flair over on a new, grand stage in Starrcade. Coincidentally at the same time the WWF ends Bob Backlunds multi year title run to gear the world for what was to come next.

 

[It's...Baylariat!]

Flair made the NWA in the 80's. We all knew that. He traveled from town to town, beat their star, then went back to TBS, on national TV to brag about it. He was cool before there was cool.

It was also great how he was able to make anyone seem like a viable candidate to beat him for the belt. Ricky Morton, Jimmy Garvin, and Nikita Koloff come to mind. It also helped having the Horsemen in the fold. Arn, Tully, Ole, and Ric were the hardest working, most entertaining guys in the NWA.

Also, giving teams like the Road Warriors, the Rock 'n Roll Express, and the Midnight Express did a lot to bring tag team wrestling back into the fore front. The NWA did it right. No one had to ever tell the audience it was personal. They believed it was personal. Why? Because the wrestlers sold it with their promos. Anyone who wants to become a wrestler needs to watch some old NWA Jim Crockett matches. Especially their promos.

 

[Jack-Hammer]

One guy that never really gets his due is someone that wasn't a wrestler, but a promoter. Sam Muchnick, sometimes thought of as the father of the NWA, is really the glue that held the NWA together.

Everyone in the industry respected Muchnick, not only because he was a god businessman, but because he was that rarest of rare birds in pro wrestling: an honest promoter that did right by his workers. Sam spent most of his time serving as NWA President and didn't really get to devote as much time as he wanted to his own company, the St. Lous Wrestling Club. It's probably best that he didn't because, without him, I truly feel that the NWA would have collapsed upon itself.

Things were going pretty smoothly when he took over the Presidency in 1950, though things started to go sour by around the middle of the decade. Promoters were at each other's throats, some actually coming into the territories of others, some making deals with each other for their own benefit while leaving the other affiliates out in the cold, etc. But, everybody trusted Muchnick. He had a very cool and level head, he was a born negotiator that would listen to all sides of the story and whatever grievances were coming about. And, more often than not, he'd come up with a solution that would make everyone at least satisfied.

After he finally refused the office in 1975, he was getting older and the industry was changing. By the dawn of 1980, the NWA was starting to crumble and would be a mere shadow of its former self by 1985. I truly believe that if not for Muchnick, the NWA would have dissolved before it had the chance to reach it's 10th anniversary.

 

[Real Lucha Guy]

Let's not forget Bill Watts and Mid South, the most watch NWA promotion in the 80s before they went out of business. Mid South change the way television and angles were done. ECW and the Attitude era got HUGE influence from Mid South.