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 as the Minnesota-based territory of the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA), breaking away from the NWA and becoming an independent territory in 1960.
Harley Leland Race was an American professional wrestler, promoter, and trainer.
Rocky Johnson was a Canadian professional wrestler. Among many National Wrestling Alliance titles, he was the first Black Georgia Heavyweight Champion as well as the NWA Television Champion. He won the World Tag Team Championship in 1983, along with his partner Tony Atlas, to become the first black champions in WWE history. He was the father of actor and current WWE wrestler Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson and the grandfather of Simone Johnson.
Alan Robert Rogowski, better known by the ring name Ole Anderson, was an American professional wrestler, booker, and promoter.
Lawrence Whistler, better known by the ring name Larry Zbyszko, is an American retired professional wrestler. He is perhaps best known for his feud with his mentor, Bruno Sammartino, during the early 1980s as well as his work as a wrestler and color commentator for World Championship Wrestling. Among other accolades, he is a two-time world champion having twice held the AWA World Heavyweight Championship. Zbyszko was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame on March 28, 2015, by Sammartino.
Eugene Avon Anderson was an American professional wrestler and professional wrestling manager. He is best known for being one-half of the tag team the Minnesota Wrecking Crew, first with Lars Anderson, then with Ole Anderson.
The Minnesota Wrecking Crew, also known simply as the Andersons, was originally a professional wrestling tag team that was formed by Gene and Lars Anderson but since then has featured a number of wrestlers who wrestled under the Anderson family name despite not being blood related.
Nicholas Warren Francis "Nick" Bockwinkel was an American professional wrestler. He is best known for his appearances with the American Wrestling Association (AWA) in the 1970s and 1980s.
Fanene Leifi Pita Maivia, better known as Peter Maivia, was a Samoan-American professional wrestler, actor and stunt coordinator. Maivia was the grandfather of Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson via adoption, and was also part of the famous Anoaʻi family via blood brother pact. He was also the promoter of the National Wrestling Alliance member Polynesian Pro Wrestling in Hawaii.
Scott Keegan Irwin was an American professional wrestler. He was best known for his tag team with his brother Barney "Bill" Irwin.
Don Stansauk was an American professional wrestler and actor, known by his ring name, Hard Boiled Haggerty. He was previously a professional American football player, and he became a successful character actor after his wrestling career.
John L. Sullivan was an American professional wrestler and manager, better known by his ring name, Johnny Valiant. He competed in the World Wide Wrestling Federation (WWWF), which became the World Wrestling Federation during his time with the promotion. He won the World Tag Team Championship two times. The first run was with his first and most famous storyline brother Jimmy Valiant over Tony Garea and Dean Ho on May 8, 1974; his second title run was with his second storyline brother Jerry Valiant over Tony Garea and Larry Zbyszko on March 6, 1979.
Carl Raymond Stevens, better known as Ray "the Crippler" Stevens or Ray "Blond Bomber" Stevens, was an American professional wrestler. Stevens was a wrestling superstar since the early years of the television era until his retirement during the early 1990s.
Larry Hennig was an American professional wrestler. He was the father of "Mr. Perfect" Curt Hennig, and the grandfather of Curtis Axel and Amy "Ms. Perfect" Hennig. He worked in the American Wrestling Association, National Wrestling Alliance, and the World Wide Wrestling Federation. Hennig was known by the nickname, "The Axe", a nickname he had because of his signature, often finishing move of dropping a full weight elbow onto his prone opponents.
The Anderson family is a group of professional wrestlers, a part fictional, part real, extended family largely consisting of brothers, cousins and children.
Les Wolff was an American football player and professional wrestler, known by his ring name "Beautiful" Buddy Wolfe, who competed in North American regional promotions including the American Wrestling Association, National Wrestling Alliance and the World Wide Wrestling Federation during the 1970s and 80s.
Ramón S. Torres was an American professional wrestler. Primarily a babyface throughout his career, he was a part of 'The Famous Torres Brothers' with Alberto & Enrique Torres and was a major star in the 1950s and 60s as a both a tag team and singles competitor. He wrestled primarily within the National Wrestling Alliance, where he was a multi-time NWA World Tag Team Champion and NWA World Junior Heavyweight Champion and also wrestled in the American Wrestling Association and Worldwide Wrestling Associates.
Roy Lee Albern, known by the ring name Ripper Collins, was an American professional wrestler, who primarily wrestled for 50th State Big Time Wrestling, also known as NWA Hawaii.
A Hot Summer Night: The '85 World Invitational Wrestling Spectacular was a professional wrestling supercard produced by NWA Polynesian Pro Wrestling (NWA-PPW), which took place on August 3, 1985, at the Aloha Stadium in Honolulu, Hawaii. An interpromotional show, it featured wrestlers from the American Wrestling Association, Jim Crockett Promotions and New Japan Pro-Wrestling.
A Hot Summer Night II was a professional wrestling supercard produced by NWA Polynesian Pro Wrestling (NWA-PPW), which took place on August 9, 1986, at the Aloha Stadium in Honolulu, Hawaii. Like the original show, this was an interpromotional event and featured representatives from All Star Pro Wrestling, the Continental Wrestling Association, Championship Wrestling from Florida, New Japan Pro-Wrestling and Stampede Wrestling.
