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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.
William Fritz Afflis was an American professional wrestler, promoter, and National Football League player, better known by his ring name, Dick the Bruiser. During his NFL days he played four seasons with the Green Bay Packers. In addition to that he was also hugely successful in professional wrestling, being a sixteen-time world champion, having held the AWA World Heavyweight Championship once, the WWA World Heavyweight Championship thirteen times, the World Heavyweight Championship once, and the WWA World Heavyweight Championship once. He also excelled at tag-team wrestling, having won 20 tag team championships, having held the AWA tag team championship five times and the WWA tag team championship a record 15 times in his career. Eleven of these championships were won alongside his long-time tag-team partner Crusher Lisowski.
The NWA Detroit United States Heavyweight Championship was a version of the NWA United States Heavyweight Championship contested in Big Time Wrestling from 1959 until 1980. It was first introduced as the Chicago version of the championship and contested on shows produced by Fred Kohler Enterprises before moving to Big Time Wrestling in Detroit six years later. While the National Wrestling Alliance recognized only one World Heavyweight Champion, there were multiple "NWA United States Heavyweight Champion"s, as many NWA-affiliated promotions/"territories" across the U.S. each had its own version of an "American" or "United States" championship. For most such territories -- including Detroit -- the U.S. Title was the promotion's primary singles championship. Over its history, the title was held by stars including Bobo Brazil, The Sheik, Wilbur Snyder, Johnny Valentine, and multi-time AWA World Heavyweight Champions Verne Gagne and Dick the Bruiser.
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.
Patrick John O'Connor, was a New Zealand/American amateur wrestler and professional wrestler. Regarded as one of the premier workers of his era, O'Connor held the AWA World Heavyweight Championship and NWA World Heavyweight Championship simultaneously, the latter of which he held for approximately two years. He was also the inaugural AWA World Heavyweight Champion. He is an overall two-time world champion.
Reginald Lisowski was an American professional wrestler, better known by his ring name, The Crusher. In his obituary, The Washington Post described him as "a professional wrestler whose blue-collar bona fides made him beloved among working class fans for 40 years". One of the biggest-drawing performers in the history of the American Wrestling Association (AWA), he was known as "The Wrestler Who Made Milwaukee Famous", and found his greatest success in the American Midwest, often teaming with Dick the Bruiser.
John Mortl Lanzo was an American professional wrestler, better known by his ring name, Blackjack Lanza. Along with his long-term tag team partner, Blackjack Mulligan, Lanza was one-half of The Blackjacks: "black cowboy hat-wearing, cowboy boot-stomping, rugged hombres who drew money wherever they went".
Houston Harris was an American professional wrestler, better known by his ring name Bobo Brazil. Credited with breaking down barriers of racial segregation in professional wrestling, Harris is considered one of the first black professional wrestlers.
Steve Regal is an American retired professional wrestler. He is best known for his appearances with the American Wrestling Association.
James Grady Johnson was an American professional wrestler, best known by his ring name, "Crazy" Luke Graham. As Luke Graham, Johnson was part of the Graham family, a stable of wrestlers. All members were billed as kayfabe brothers. He worked extensively for various National Wrestling Alliance territories as well as the World Wide Wrestling Federation, where he was a three-time tag-team champion and the inaugural WWWF World Tag Team Champion.
John Steele Hill was a Canadian professional wrestler best known under the ring names Guy Mitchell, The Stomper and "Gentleman" Jerry Valiant. During his career, he held the top singles titles in Australia and Vancouver, and competed in the World Wide Wrestling Federation (WWWF) where he won the WWWF World Tag Team Championship.
Michael DiBiase was an American professional wrestler, also known by his ring name "Iron" Mike DiBiase. The adoptive father of professional wrestler "The Million Dollar Man" Ted DiBiase, he was married to Ted's mother Helen Hild, and was the grandfather of Mike, Ted Jr., and Brett DiBiase.
James Edward Barnett was an American professional wrestling promoter and executive. During his career, he was at times one of the owners of the Indianapolis National Wrestling Alliance promotion, Australia's World Championship Wrestling, and Georgia Championship Wrestling, as well as serving as an executive with the World Wrestling Federation and Jim Crockett Promotions/World Championship Wrestling. He also served as a member of the National Council on the Arts during the Presidency of Jimmy Carter. Barnett was inducted into the Wrestling Observer Newsletter Hall of Fame in 1996, the NWA Hall of Fame in 2005, and the WWE Hall of Fame in 2019.
The NWA United States Heavyweight Championship is a name used for several secondary championships used by various National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) members since 1953. At least twelve different versions of the NWA United States Heavyweight Championships have been promoted in various regions across the United States. The NWA's bylaws allowed any NWA member, also known as an NWA territory, to create and control their own version of the NWA United States Heavyweight Championship. The most well known version was the Mid-Atlantic Wrestling version, which later became the WCW United States Heavyweight Championship, and is still active as the WWE United States Championship.
Wilbur Snyder was an American football player and professional wrestler.
Frederick Koch, known professionally as Fred Kohler, was an American professional wrestling promoter. The owner of Fred Kohler Enterprises, Kohler produced the popular DuMont Television Network program Wrestling From Marigold (1949-1955). Kohler promoted matches in Chicago, Illinois for close to 40 years and was responsible for such talents as Verne Gagne and promoter Jim Barnett. He was also president of the National Wrestling Alliance from 1961 to 1962.
Mack Mitsukazu Arakawa was an American professional wrestler. He is best known for his appearances with the Minneapolis, Minnesota-based NWA Minneapolis Boxing & Wrestling Club/American Wrestling Association.
Fred Kohler Enterprises, Inc. was a company established by businessman Fred Kohler (1903–1969) to promote professional wrestling in Chicago, Illinois, in the United States.
Robert Ellis, is an American retired professional wrestler. He wrestled under the ring name, Cowboy Bob Ellis for over 20 years in various wrestling promotions in the States, Canada and Australia. He was a two-time WWA World Heavyweight Championship in Indianapolis. He is known as the inventor of the bulldog.
References
- Lentz III, Harris M. (2003). Biographical Dictionary of Professional Wrestling (2 ed.). McFarland. ISBN 0786417544.
