American Wrestling Association
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American Wrestling Association was a professional wrestling organization, based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The AWA started in the early 1960s. The AWA was mainly based in the midwestern United States and Canada. From 1957 to 1991 it was owned by Verne Gagne.
The AWA was influential in Pro Wrestling USA, an attempt to establish a national federation to compete against the WWF, in 1984. Abroad it had working agreements with Japan-based promotions International Pro-Wrestling (1969 to 1980), then All Japan Pro Wrestling (1980 to 1988), and, near its end, New Japan Pro Wrestling.
The AWA lost momentum as Verne Gagne overemphasized his son Greg in AWA storylines, and the promotion folded in the early 1990s after most of its talent had left for the World Wrestling Federation, now World Wrestling Entertainment.
Currently, all copyrights and footage for AWA is owned by World Wrestling Entertainment
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AWA Super Cards & PPV's
- PPV: AWA SuperClash III, December 13, 1988
- Super Card: AWA Wrestlerock '86, April 20, 1986
AWA Wrestlers
- Adrian Adonis
- Road Warrior Animal
- Wayne Bloom
- Nick Bockwinkel
- Jim Brunzell
- Dennis Condrey
- The Crusher
- Col. DeBeers
- Paul Diamond
- Bill Dundee
- Mike Enos
- Manny Fernandez
- Greg Gagne
- Verne Gagne
- Jimmy Garvin
- Terry Gordy
- Chavo Guerrero
- Hector Guerrero
- Mando Guerrero
- Scott Hall
- Stan Hansen
- Road Warrior Hawk
- Michael Hayes
- Curt Hennig
- Hulk Hogan
- Marty Jannetty
- Teijho Khan
- Jerry Lawler
- Rick Martel
- Sherri Martel
- Wahoo McDaniel
- Madusa Miceli
- Shawn Michaels
- Diamond Dallas Page (as a manager)
- Ken Patera
- Brad Rheingans
- Wendi Richter
- Buddy Roberts
- Buddy Rose
- Randy Rose
- Sgt. Slaughter
- Doug Somers
- Pat Tanaka
- The Trooper (AKA The Patriot)
- Soldat Ustinov
- Jesse Ventura
- Baron Von Raschke
- Leon White
- Larry Zbysko
- Boris Zhukov
- Buck "Rock N Roll" Zumhoffe
The following wrestlers were active in the A.W.A. in the 1970s especially in the Chicago area:
- Bobby Heenan
- Dick the Bruiser
- Reggie Lisowski (The Crusher)
- Rock Rogowski (Ole Anderson)
- Moose Cholak
- Seaman Art Thomas
- Bobo Brazil
- Bob Luce (Chicago promoter)
- Sam Menaker
- Scrap Iron George Gedasky
- Prince Pullins
- Paul Christy
- Spike Huber
- Angelo Poffo
- Johnny Kace
- Ernie Ladd
These wrestlers often performed at the International Amphitheater in Chicago.
The AWA was restarted in 1996 with new owners as an independent promotion called AWA Superstars. Their version of AWA stands for "American Wrestling Alliance". On April 4, 2005, the owners changed its history books and named Hulk Hogan a two time AWA World Champion.
AWA Titles
- AWA World Heavyweight Championship
- AWA United States Championship
- AWA International Heavyweight Championship
- AWA International Television Championship
- AWA America's Championship
- AWA Omaha Heavyweight Championship
- AWA Midwest Heavyweight Championship
- AWA Southern Heavyweight Championship
- AWA Light Heavyweight Championship
- AWA Women's Championship
- AWA World Tag Team Championship
- AWA Midwest Tag Team Championship
- AWA Southern Tag Team Championship