[NWA Bracket] Round 1 Match 5: Verne Gagne Vs Tully Blanchard

[Hyorinmaru]

Verne Gagne

The owner and promoter of the biggest promotion throughout the Midwest and Manitoba, Canada for many years (The AWA). He has held to many titles for me to name them all here. He is a 10x AWA World Champion and is a member of the WWE, WCW, WON and the Pro Wrestling HoF.




Tully Blanchard

A member of the Original 4 horsemen he wrestled for the top promotions in the U.S. (NWA, WCW and WWE) His Legendary feud with 'The American Dream' came about when Blanchard slapped a his manger Baby Doll in the face and Rhodes came to hr defense. He left for the WWE with Arn Anderson and they Became the WWF World Tag Team Champions by defeating Demolition. Despite not appearing on TV since Ric Flair's retirement celebration he has a Legends Contract with the WWE.
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[Monkey_Mania]

Are we talking about in the ring here. Cause if we are then Tully trumps Verne in every facet of this match. But since I am not handling it like that. I am giving my vote to Verne. Simply based on all the careers that he had a hand in starting or elevating. Curt Hennig, Hulk Hogan, The Von Erichs, Nick Bockwinkel, Larry Zybysko. All these names are names people remember. They also came from the AWA which Gagne owned.

Don't discount Tully though, he was a member of the most influential group in wrestling history. He was also part of one of the greatest tag teams with Arn Anderson. If Tully goes over Verne I wont be upset at all. I just looked at this one from a different angle.

 

[klunderbunker]

I'll take Gagne as well. He's equal in the ring to me, and did it on his own. Tully latched onto the Horsemen and that's about all he ever did. His time in WWF with Arn was a team effort, but to be fair he more than pulled his own weight. Verne, as Monkey said, is a legendary trainer/promoter. The AWA was a mainstream promotion but at the same time the Ultimate minor leagues. How many peoplecame from there? There's others that Monkey didn't even list, but the point is, Gagne is more of a legend overall.

 

[Hyorinmaru]

I'm also voting for Gagne. The fact that he owned and ran The biggest Indy promotion at the time is a huge plus for him. Also the likes of Hulk Hogan, Jerry Lawler, Scott hall and coutless others who are inthis tournament makes this vote easy for me. Don't get me wrong Tully has accomplished alot in his career as well Verne wins this match easy.

 

[Shocky]

Not a Gagne fan. Promoters that push themselves tot he top of the card to carry the title, become out of touch with the crowd, and ultimately hold the title too long and run their company out of business a good wrestler does not make. Verne Gagne was a helluva trainer, but far from a great world champion.

Tully blanchard was successful with everythign that he did in his career at every level. Sure, he never got the shot to run with the major championships, but I enjoyed his US title run far more then I did any of Gagnes AWA championship runs.

 

[48.7 is Approximately 49 Times Better Than You]

I, too, am picking Tully here. Like Shocky said, not a big fan of promoters who put themselves at the top. Gange still was great. He helped push people like Hogan and Zybsko, but I can't pick him over Tully.

Tully was just great. He is one of he original horsemen. That alone is almost enough for me to put him over Gagne. He was wonderful to watch in the ring. I'm a sucker for good wrestlers. It's a shame, I think, that he was stuck in the mid-card as a singles wrestler. Ah well.

 

[Hyorinmaru]

Re****ls: Verne Gangne wins 9-3 and foes onto face El Santo in round 2.

My thoughts: Verne Gangne owned & promoted the biggest 'Indy' fed off all time the AWA. When you think of some of the people that came through the AWA (Hulk Hogan, Dusty Rhodes, & Jerry Lynn to name a few) you get a feeling on how big it actually was. So he held the AWA title 10x you can't say you wouldn't have done the same thing if you owned the company.