National Wrestling Association

Last updated
National Wrestling Association of America, LLC [1]
AcronymNWA
FoundedSeptember 16, 1930 [2]
DefunctSeptember 1980
Style American wrestling
Headquarters New Orleans, Louisiana (home office)
Parent National Boxing Association

The National Wrestling Association (NWA) was an early professional wrestling sanctioning body created in 1930 by the National Boxing Association (NBA; now the World Boxing Association, WBA) as an attempt to create a governing body for professional wrestling in the United States. The group created a number of "World" level championships as an attempt to clear up the professional wrestling rankings which at the time saw a number of different championships promoted as the "true world champion". The National Wrestling Association's NWA World Heavyweight Championship was later considered part of the historical lineage of the National Wrestling Alliance's NWA World Heavyweight Championship when then National Wrestling Association champion Lou Thesz won the National Wrestling Alliance championship, folding the original championship into one title in 1949.

Contents

With the creation of the National Wrestling Alliance and Thesz winning the Alliance's world title, the National Wrestling Association would officially recognize the champions of the National Wrestling Alliance at their annual conventions but no longer promote their own separate championships. The governing body would continue to hold conventions through at least the 1960s and officially disband in September 1980 but had no significant impact on professional wrestling past 1949.

History

In 1921 the National Boxing Association (NBA) was formed in New York City to help regulate and create order in the world of professional boxing in the United States. [3] In January 1930 the NBA attempted to introduce the same sort of regulations and structure on professional wrestling, motivated by the fact that there were a multitude of "World Champions" all over the country, all claiming to be the top wrestler. The NBA required wrestlers who wanted to participate in the inaugural championship tournaments to post a bond, ranging from USD $1,000 to USD $5,000 in the heavyweight division, used to ensure their participation and their willingness to defend the championship against NBA designated challengers. [4] [5] In the heavyweight division Jim Londos and John Pesek posted the bonds and were set to fight each other but due to various political moves by the people behind Londos and Pesek the match itself did not take place. [2] [5] On September 13, 1930 the NBA founded the National Wrestling Association (NWA) to deal exclusively with professional wrestling while the NBA focused on Boxing. The NWA named Colonel Harry J. Landry the president and opened up their main office in New Orleans, Louisiana. [2] After the formation of the NWA they finally decided to recognize Jim Londos, [6] a move that was not popular with everyone, leading to NWA vice president Harry Davis resigning. [2] The Association would held annual conventions where the various member states of the NWA would meet and vote on who should be the world champions in the various divisions, with Londos being recognized for several years. [7]

in 1948 a number of wrestling promoters across the country decided to form the National Wrestling Alliance, a counterpart to the Association implementing a territory system amongst its Alliance members. The Alliance also consolidated the various "World Champions" in their territories, although unlike the Association the Alliance only regulated the NWA World Heavyweight Championship, allowing various territories to create their own versions of other "World titles," such as the NWA World Tag Team Championship, which were left to each territory to determine, leaving multiple World Tag Team champions across the country. [8] In 1949 the Association's World Heavyweight Champion Lou Thesz was chosen by the Alliance to become their World Heavyweight Champion as well, after previous champion Orville Brown was forced to vacate the title after a car accident. [6] On November 27, 1949 the Association version of the championship was abandoned, folded into the National Wrestling Alliance's World Heavyweight Championship to help clear up the world title picture. [6] The Association also decided to fold the NWA World Junior Heavyweight Championship into the National Wrestling Alliance's World Junior Heavyweight Championship. [9] [10]

By 1950 the National Wrestling Association no longer promoted their own specific championships, instead choosing to recognize several of the National Wrestling Alliance championships, including the NWA World Light Heavyweight Championship, NWA World Middleweight Championship and the NWA World Welterweight Championship promoted by the Mexican Empresa Mexicana de Lucha Libre (EMLL) promotion. [11] [12] [13] The Association continued to hold conventions through the 1960s, [7] but by the end of the decade the National Wrestling Association existed in name only. The National Wrestling Association was officially abandoned in 1980. [1]

Championships

Championship namePeriod of recognitionNotes
NWA World Heavyweight Championship 1930–1949Folded into the National Wrestling Alliance's World Heavyweight Championship [6]
NWA World Junior Heavyweight Championship 1936–1949Folded into the Los Angeles version of the National Wrestling Alliance's World Junior Heavyweight Championship [9] [10]
NWA World Light Heavyweight Championship 1930–1960sFolded into the National Wrestling Alliance's World Light Heavyweight Championship [11]
NWA World Junior Light Heavyweight Championship1937–1940Weight class abandoned by the National Wrestling Association [14]
NWA World Middleweight Championship 1930–1960sFolded into the National Wrestling Alliance's World Middleweight Championship [12]
NWA World Junior Middleweight Championship1934Weight class abandoned by the National Wrestling Association [15]
NWA World Tag Team Championship1939Credited as wrestling's first world tag team championship [16]
Championship is later abandoned by the National Wrestling Association
NWA World Welterweight Championship1930–1960sFolded into the National Wrestling Alliance's World Welterweight Championship [12]

Related Research Articles

From January 8, 1957, through August 1960 the NWA Minneapolis Wrestling and Boxing Club promoted the Minneapolis version of the NWA World Tag Team Championship as the main professional wrestling championship for tag teams on their shows held in and around Minneapolis. The Minneapolis Wrestling and Boxing Club was a member of the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) from its formation in 1948, but left the group in 1960 to help form the American Wrestling Association (AWA). The NWA Board of Directors allowed each member, referred to as a NWA territory, to create and control its own individual "NWA World Tag Team Championship" to be defended within its territory. At one point in 1957, no less than 13 different versions of the NWA World Tag Team Championship were recognized across the United States.[Championships] As with all professional wrestling championships, this championship was not contested for in competitive matches, but in matches with predetermined outcomes to maintain the illusion that professional wrestling is a competitive sport.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jim Londos</span> Greek professional wrestler (1894–1975)

Christos Theofilou, better known as "The Golden Greek" Jim Londos, was a Greek American professional wrestler. Londos was one of the most popular stars on the professional wrestling circuit in the 1930s and 1940s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">World Light Heavyweight Championship (National Wrestling Association)</span>

The National Wrestling Association World Light Heavyweight Championship was a professional wrestling championship originally sanctioned by the National Boxing Association (NBA) and subsequently sanctioned by the National Wrestling Association (NWA), an offshoot of the NBA. The championship had an upper limit of 175 lb (79 kg), anyone above that limit was considered a heavyweight. The championship was created in 1930 and abandoned in the early 1960s.

NWA United States Tag Team Championship <i>(New Jersey version)</i> Professional wrestling tag team championship

The New Jersey version of the NWA United States Tag Team Championship was a professional wrestling tag team championship contested for in the New Jersey–based National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) promotion. The title was only contestable by tag teams in tag team matches. The title was established on February 3, 1996, by NWA Jersey, in which The Lost Boys won a Triangle tag team match against The Greek Connection and Bad Attitude. This title is one of at least five championships that share the same name under the NWA's supervision. On April 7, 2000, the final champions The Pitbulls lost the titles to Chris Candido and Tommy Cairo; however, the NWA reversed the decision and instead of returning the titles to The Pitbulls, the promotion retired the championship for unknown reasons.

The NWA United States Tag Team Championship is a name used for several secondary tag team championship used by various National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) members since 1958. There are eleven different versions of the NWA United States Tag Team Championships have been promoted in various regions across the United States, starting with the Midwest Wrestling Association version in 1950, to the NWA Lightning One version that is active today.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gus Kallio</span>

Gustav Kallio was a Finnish born professional wrestler known under the ring name Gus Kallio or Gust Kallio. Kallio's wrestling career peaked in the 1920s and 1930s where he was known as the "King of the Welterweights" and later on "King of the Middleweights" as he held multiple world titles in those two weight divisions.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">NWA Mid-America</span> Former professional wrestling promotion

NWA Mid-America was a professional wrestling promotion territory under the umbrella of the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) that promoted shows in Tennessee, Kentucky and Alabama from the 1940s until 1981. The company was founded in the 1940s by Nick Gulas and Roy Welch and was one of the first promotions to join the NWA after it was founded in 1948. From 1953 until late 1974, John Cazana promoted the Knoxville area and Joe Gunther promoted the Birmingham area from around 1940 until some point in the 1970s. In 1977, promoter Jerry Jarrett and wrestler Jerry Lawler broke away from NWA Mid-America, breaking the Memphis area off to start on the own under the name the Continental Wrestling Association (CWA). Mid-America stopped promoting in 1981 and the CWA took over most of their territory as well as some of the championships promoted by NWA Mid-America

1956 in professional wrestling describes the year's events in the world of professional wrestling.

1950 in professional wrestling describes the year's events in the world of professional wrestling.

1952 in professional wrestling describes the year's events in the world of professional wrestling.

1953 in professional wrestling describes the year's events in the world of professional wrestling.

1954 in professional wrestling describes the year's events in the world of professional wrestling.

1955 in professional wrestling describes the year's events in the world of professional wrestling.

1959 in professional wrestling describes the year's events in the world of professional wrestling.

1960 in professional wrestling describes the year's events in the world of professional wrestling.

1961 in professional wrestling describes the year's events in the world of professional wrestling.

1963 in professional wrestling describes the year's events in the world of professional wrestling.

1964 in professional wrestling describes the year's events in the world of professional wrestling.

1967 in professional wrestling describes the year's events in the world of professional wrestling.

1968 in professional wrestling describes the year's events in the world of professional wrestling.

References

  1. 1 2 "Officially closed in 1985/10" (PDF). Wrestling-title.com. Retrieved January 5, 2015.
  2. 1 2 3 4 Hornbaker, Tim (January 2, 2011). "National Wrestling Association history" . Retrieved January 5, 2016.
  3. ↑ Mullan, Harry (1996). The Ultimate Encyclopedia of Boxing. London: Carlton Books. p. 121. ISBN   0-7858-0641-5.
  4. ↑ Hornbaker, Tim (2007). National Wrestling Alliance: The Untold Story of the Monopoly That Strangled Pro Wrestling. Toronto, Ontario, Canada: ECW Press. ISBN   978-1-55022-741-3.
  5. 1 2 ""Matmen must post forfeit for sanction"" . Retrieved January 5, 2016.
  6. 1 2 3 4 Gary Will and Royal Duncan (2006). "(United States: 19th Century & widely defended titles – NWA, WWF, AWA, IW, ECW, NWA) National Wrestling Association World Heavyweight Title". Wrestling Title Histories. Archeus Communications. ISBN   0-9698161-5-4.
  7. 1 2 "National Wrestling Association Conventions" . Retrieved January 5, 2016.
  8. ↑ Gary Will and Royal Duncan (2006). "(United States: 19th Century & widely defended titles – NWA, WWF, AWA, IW, ECW, NWA) National Wrestling Alliance World Tag Team Title". Wrestling Title Histories. Archeus Communications. ISBN   0-9698161-5-4.
  9. 1 2 Gary Will and Royal Duncan (2006). "(United States: 19th Century & widely defended titles – NWA, WWF, AWA, IW, ECW, NWA) National Wrestling Association World Junior Heavyweight Title". Wrestling Title Histories. Archeus Communications. ISBN   0-9698161-5-4.
  10. 1 2 Gary Will and Royal Duncan (2006). "(United States: 19th Century & widely defended titles – NWA, WWF, AWA, IW, ECW, NWA) National Wrestling Alliance World Junior Heavyweight Title". Wrestling Title Histories. Archeus Communications. ISBN   0-9698161-5-4.
  11. 1 2 Royal Duncan and Gary Will (2006). "Mexico: EMLL NWA World Light Heavyweight Title". Wrestling Title Histories (4th ed.). Archeus Communications. p. 389. ISBN   0-9698161-5-4.
  12. 1 2 3 Royal Duncan & Gary Will (2006). "Mexico: EMLL NWA World Middlweight Title". Wrestling Title Histories (4th ed.). Archeus Communications. pp. 389–390. ISBN   0-9698161-5-4.
  13. ↑ Royal Duncan and Gary Will (2006). "Mexico: EMLL NWA Welterweight Heavyweight Title". Wrestling Title Histories (4th ed.). Archeus Communications. p. 390. ISBN   0-9698161-5-4.
  14. ↑ Gary Will and Royal Duncan (2006). "(United States: 19th Century & widely defended titles – NWA, WWF, AWA, IW, ECW, NWA) National Wrestling Association World Junior Light Heavyweight Title". Wrestling Title Histories. Archeus Communications. ISBN   0-9698161-5-4.
  15. ↑ Gary Will and Royal Duncan (2006). "(United States: 19th Century & widely defended titles – NWA, WWF, AWA, IW, ECW, NWA) National Wrestling Association World Junior Middleweight Title". Wrestling Title Histories. Archeus Communications. ISBN   0-9698161-5-4.
  16. ↑ Gary Will and Royal Duncan (2006). "(United States: 19th Century & widely defended titles – NWA, WWF, AWA, IW, ECW, NWA) National Wrestling Association World Tag Team Title". Wrestling Title Histories. Archeus Communications. ISBN   0-9698161-5-4.
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