The American Wrestling Association (AWA) was an American professional wrestling promotion based in Minneapolis, Minnesota that ran from 1960 until 1991. It was founded by Verne Gagne and Wally Karbo. The promotion was born out of the Minneapolis Boxing & Wrestling Club, originally founded in 1933, which served as the Minnesota-based territory of the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) from 1948 onward, before breaking away from the NWA and becoming an independent territory in 1960.
Curtis Michael Hennig, better known by the ring name Mr. Perfect, was an American professional wrestler. Considered one of the greatest professional wrestlers of all time by many peers, critics, and fans, he performed under his real name for promotions including the American Wrestling Association (AWA), the World Wrestling Federation, World Championship Wrestling (WCW), and NWA Total Nonstop Action. Hennig was the son of wrestler Larry "The Axe" Hennig and the father of wrestler Curtis Axel.
Buddy Rogers, better known by the ring name "Nature Boy" Buddy Rogers, was an American professional wrestler who was one of the biggest professional wrestling stars in the beginning of the television era. His performances influenced future professional wrestlers, including "Nature Boy" Ric Flair, who used Rogers's nickname, as well as his look, attitude and finishing hold, the figure-four leglock. He was also known for his rivalry with Lou Thesz, both in and out of the ring.
Laverne Clarence Gagne was an American amateur and professional wrestler, football player, wrestling trainer and wrestling promoter. He was the owner and promoter of the Minneapolis-based American Wrestling Association (AWA), the predominant promotion throughout the Midwest and Manitoba for many years. He remained in this position until 1991, when the company folded.
Harley Leland Race was an American professional wrestler, promoter, and trainer.
Erik Watts is an American semi-retired professional wrestler. He is best known for his appearances with World Championship Wrestling and the World Wrestling Federation in the 1990s. He is the son of wrestler Bill Watts.
Anthony White better known by his ring name Tony Atlas is an American bodybuilder, powerlifter, and professional wrestler who has held multiple titles and championships in each sport. He is also known by his bodybuilding title, "Mr. USA", the nom de guerre the "Black Superman", as well as an alter ego named Saba Simba. He returned as an on screen manager for WWE, appearing on its now-defunct ECW brand. He re-signed with WWE on a legends contract in mid-2012.
James W. Ware Jr., better known by his ring name Koko B. Ware, is an American retired professional wrestler. He debuted in 1978 and became widely popular in 1986. He later went on to the World Wrestling Federation, where he went from strong mid-carder to jobber to the stars. "The Birdman" came to the ring with a blue-and-yellow macaw named Frankie, both flapping and dancing before and after his matches. Before joining the WWF, he was in several tag teams, most notably with Bobby Eaton in Memphis and with Norvell Austin in several promotions. In 1993, during the premiere episode, he lost the first Monday Night Raw match to Yokozuna. In 2009 he was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame. His Hall of Fame induction has been critiziced over the years, since he was inducted before world champions like Randy Savage or Ivan Koloff, pointing him as the "floor for inductees".
Delbert Alexander "Del" Wilkes, Jr. was an American professional wrestler and college football player, better known by his ring names, The Trooper and The Patriot. Over the course of his ten-year career, Wilkes wrestled for the American Wrestling Association, the Global Wrestling Federation, All Japan Pro Wrestling, World Championship Wrestling, and the World Wrestling Federation.
Thomas Erwin Zenk was an American professional wrestler and bodybuilder. He was best known for his appearances with the World Wrestling Federation from 1986 to 1987, American Wrestling Association (AWA) 1988 to 1989 and with World Championship Wrestling from 1989 to 1994, as well for his tours of Japan with All Japan Pro Wrestling.
The GWF Tag Team Championship was the tag team title in the Global Wrestling Federation in Texas. The title existed from 1991 until 1994, when GWF closed. The title was featured on the promotion's show that aired nationally on ESPN. It is known as the first tag team title that Harlem Heat won. In its early days, the GWF pretended on television that it was part of a larger worldwide promotion. In 1991, it was announced that a tag team known as the "English lords" had been injured in a car wreck and that the GWF was organizing a tournament to award the vacated title in Dallas. No other team as the English Lords ever existed.
Wayne Bloom is an American retired professional wrestler. He is best known for his appearances with the American Wrestling Association (AWA) and World Championship Wrestling (WCW) under his birth name and with the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) as Beau Beverly. For much of his career, Bloom teamed with Mike Enos as the Destruction Crew / the Beverly Brothers.
Nicholas Warren Francis Bockwinkel was an American professional wrestler. He is best known for his appearances with the American Wrestling Association (AWA) in the 1970s and 1980s.
Scott Keegan Irwin was an American professional wrestler. He was best known for his tag team with his brother Barney "Bill" Irwin.
Stephen Paul Keirn is an American retired professional wrestler. He is best known for his appearances in multiple National Wrestling Alliance territories as Steve Keirn as one-half of the tag team The Fabulous Ones, as well as his appearances with the World Wrestling Federation under the ring name Skinner.
Michael Morgan is a former professional wrestler from New Zealand who competed in the National Wrestling Alliance, World Championship Wrestling and World Class Championship Wrestling as Rip Morgan. He is perhaps best known as one half of the New Zealand Militia in WCW with Jack Victory. Morgan also wrestled in WCW/NAWA/SAPW with Victory as "The Royal Family". He was the last flag bearer for the original New Zealand Sheepherders. He was formerly the CEO of the now defunct Wellington-based professional wrestling promotion Kiwi Pro Wrestling.
Masanori Saito was a Japanese professional wrestler better known as Mr. Saito or Masa Saito (マサ斎藤), who wrestled for 33 years around the world. He had success as a singles wrestler, winning the AWA World Heavyweight Championship in 1990, and as a tag team wrestler with multiple partners in various National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) territories.
The 1980s professional wrestling boom, more commonly referred to as the Golden Era or the Rock 'n' Wrestling Era, was a surge in the popularity of professional wrestling in the United States and elsewhere throughout the 1980s. The expansion of cable television and pay-per-view, coupled with the efforts of promoters such as Vince McMahon, saw wrestling shift from a system controlled by numerous regional companies to one dominated by two nationwide companies: McMahon's World Wrestling Federation and Ted Turner's World Championship Wrestling (WCW). The decade also saw a considerable decline in the power of the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA), a cartel which had until then dominated the wrestling landscape, and in the efforts to sustain belief in the kayfabe of wrestling.
AWA Championship Wrestling is a professional wrestling television series that aired on cable sports network ESPN from 1985 to 1990. It was a continuation of the earlier ESPN program Pro Wrestling USA, the co-operative venture between the American Wrestling Association (AWA) and several National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) affiliates. On February 26, 2008, ESPN Classic began reairing AWA Championship Wrestling episodes. Along with the ownership of the AWA intellectual property by the WWE, all episodes are available on the WWE Network.
The Bound for Glory Series is an annual professional wrestling tournament held by Impact Wrestling in which 12 wrestlers compete in a series of matches over the course of several months to determine who receives a match for the Impact World Championship at Bound for Glory, which is Impact Wrestling's premier yearly PPV event. In 2016 TNA announced the Bound for Glory Playoffs which took place in a tournament format instead of the original round robin format.
