From the Podium VIII: The Legacy of Championships (The AWA Edition)

[Leonard]

Once again, I’ve stepped up to the podium to conduct another championship title critique. My plan was to look at the counterpart to the World Tag Team Championship (the WWE Tag Team Championship), but it seems like the rumored title unification match will be happening, indeed. I thought, then, it would be best to hold off on that article until it is absolutely clear what will be happening with those accolades. As for today’s analysis, let me be the first to recognize that many of the things that happened in the early days leading up to the eventual creation of the AWA have been a bit oversimplified by yours truly, simply for increased readability. I believe you’ll get the general idea by reading below, without giving you a dissertation on the history of the AWA.

Here we go…

The noticeable beat of a conductor’s pattern.

AWA World Championship

First Champion: Pat O’Connor (awarded)

Last Champion: Larry Zbyszko (defeated Masa Saito)

The American Wrestling Association finds its roots in the Minnesota Boxing and Wrestling Club, which promoted wrestling in the state since the ‘30’s. The MBWC’s promoter, Tony Stecher, co-founded the National Wrestling Alliance in 1948. He then sold a share in his part of the ownership to his son Dennis and Wally Karbo. When Stecher died, full control over his share went to the two. In June 1957, Edouard Carpentier successfully captured the NWA World Championship from Lou Thesz in Chicago. The NWA Board of Directors later reversed the decision (awarding the title back to Thesz), but several territories refused this decision, instead continuing to recognize the title change. Carpentier eventually lost his championship to Verne Gagne, making him the NWA Champion, but only to the territories that recognized Carpentier. This pseudo-NWA Championship would become known as the World Heavyweight Championship (Omaha version), and would later be unified with the AWA World Championship.

In 1959, Dennis Stecher sold his share of the MBWC to Karbo and Gagne, an act that can be considered the true beginning of what would become the AWA. Since Gagne was arguably one of the most popular wrestling stars when the age of television began (thanks to many appearances on the DuMont Network—commonly referred to by historians as “the forgotten network”—and several endorsements), several promoters lobbied for him to become the next (and would be “undisputed”) NWA World Champion. Many of the more powerful promoters were behind Thesz keeping the title, so this never materialized. In response, Verne and Wally formed their own organization, along with a few other promotions, to officially create the American Wrestling Association. To be completely fair and offer a “compromise” of sorts, the AWA recognized Pat O’Connor (the official NWA World Champion) as the first AWA World Champion. They gave O’Connor 90 days to defend the championship; when he refused (he didn’t even really “accept” this accolade), he was stripped of the title and it was awarded to (YOU GUESSED IT!) Verne Gagne.

The creation of the AWA World Championship changed the wrestling business, in my humble opinion, just as much as Vince McMahon’s attempt (and success) at nationalizing the wrestling industry. For many years, the NWA World Championship was the only wrestling title in the world to have “world championship” status. With the introduction of the AWA World Championship, this status was challenged, as there were suddenly two major world titles in existence. This paved the way for other world championships, notably the WWWF World Championship in the 1960’s. Additionally, I think the notion of “too many cooks and not enough eggs” got old for not only Verne and Wally, but eventually Vince Sr. and Toots Monds, as the “single booker” approach was better suited for those with disputes on title holders. If you ask me, Verne and Wally opened up a whole can of worms with this one, and their withdrawal from the NWA deeply planted a seed that would eventually lead to the demise of the Alliance (and, conversely, the AWA itself). The deep ramifications that one can attribute to this information makes these events, and the lineage of the title, almost flawlessly important to the history and the evolution of professional wrestling. Lineage=9.5/10

Looking at the list of champions since the inception of the AWA World Championship in 1960 to its deactivation in 1990, here are the facts:

-19—Unique Champions
-38—Championship Reigns
-50—Percentage of First-Time Champions
-293.34—Average Title Reign (in days)
-10—Most Reigns (Verne Gagne)
-2625—Longest Reign (in days) (Verne Gagne)
-7—Shortest Reign (in days) (Verne Gagne, Mighty Igor Vodic, and Dick The Bruiser)

The statistics that are shown here are very reminiscent of the days of “traditionalist” wrestling at its best. I don’t really consider myself a “true” traditionalist, but my tastes (if you haven’t noticed…) lean towards that tendency. Only 38 reigns in a span of 40 years is very significant, especially after the “Modern Era” began, and a penchant for shorter and more “entertainer” types of champions began to pop up in the WWF (and to a lesser extent, in regards to the NWA Championship). Verne stayed the course until the bitter end, and the stats listed above are evidence of that.

The average title reign, I imagine, is affected a bit by the 2625 day reign of Verne Gagne, but with many of the reigns, the man behind the booker’s desk stuck with a champion and ran with him. Just over half of the reigns listed stretch past the 100 day mark, and many of these stretch much beyond that. Seven of these reigns last significantly longer than a year, and these reigns are spaced throughout the history of the championship. This leads to an average of under a year average for title reigns, even with some shorter reigns interjected. To the AWA World Championship’s credit, however, the shortest reign is a week, which is on par with other world championships in the pre-Modern Era.

In my “statistician mind,” there are two things that slightly hurt this title. The first point is ten title reigns for Gagne. While I do feel he was a mainstay in the AWA for a long, long time, the fact is that he came back to himself much too often. While I understand that, especially in the early days, there was sometimes nobody you could trust but yourself to carry your promotion, I feel like this eventually hurt the company. Many stars that should have been escalated to the top of the AWA (such as Hulk Hogan, for example) weren’t because of the habit of going back to the same old guy (in Hogan’s case, Nick Bockwinkel). Can you imagine the wrestling world today had Hulk been booked to win the AWA World Championship? We may be living in a very different world, indeed. The second point I wanted to bring up is that of the percentage of first-time reigns is only half of the championship reigns altogether. Again, much like Verne’s ten reigns show, there was a general inability to book champions that were young, fresh and exciting (until it was too late, in my opinion). However, the other beefed up stats do award this title a certain “old-school” feel that I believe cannot be ignored. Statistics=8/10

The 19 individuals who held this championship, for the most part, were all wrestlers. Very few of these individuals could be considered pure “sports-entertainers,” akin to the likes of Hulk Hogan and Ultimate Warrior. By the way, we need to make something clear here: Hulk Hogan is not recognized as a two-time AWA World Champion. In 1996, Dale Gagne(r) opened “AWA Superstars of Wrestling,” a promotion which tried to build off the traditional style of the original AWA. They also tried to recognize Hulk Hogan as a two-time champion, because of the controversy that surrounded his victories (and subsequent strippings) of the title. Realistically, Gagner had no authority to do this, as the AWA was, by this time, owned by the WWF. AWA Superstars of Wrestling, because of a lawsuit (finally) filed by the WWE, is now known as Wrestling Superstars Live. Just for the record, folks.

The bottom line here, folks, is that the majority of AWA World Champions didn’t have to resort to whacked-out gimmicks (for the most part) to portray what the title was all about. If you ask me, above all other world championships at the time, the AWA World Championship was all about wrestling (I realize I make a pretty grandiose statement here, and this is definitely open to opinion). Almost all of the champions were pure athletes, which helps the rating here.

What hurts the rating here, however, is the general lackluster champions in the latter half of the title’s history. With the loss of Hulk Hogan (perhaps the biggest star the AWA ever made…yes, I am suggesting that Verne planted the seed to make Hulk so successful—again, open to opinion), the promotion in general began going downhill, as many wrestlers followed suit to New York (or in some cases, down South). Unfortunately, no champion that carried the title by this point was able to help pull the AWA out of the rut it fell into. Champions like Rick Martel, Stan Hansen, Curt Hennig, Jerry Lawler, and Larry Zybszko, while extraordinary athletes and personalities, were not built up well enough to rival (on a national scale) the likes of Hulk Hogan, Randy Savage, Ric Flair and Dusty Rhodes (just a few examples). At the end of the day, the reason the AWA lost the bid for professional wrestling dominance is because of its lack of star power in its dying days. One cannot discount, however, the pure wrestling ability that was possessed by the majority of this wrestling title’s holders. History of Champions=6.75/10

There is only one vacancy of this championship during its time of existence, which occurred after Jerry Lawler and the Continental Wrestling Association split from the AWA (the CWA, and the AWA World Championship, was also merged with World Class Championship Wrestling, and its title, to create the United States Wrestling Association, and the “unified” championship for this new organization). The title was subsequently won in a battle royal, by Larry Zybszko. On the same token, I have a problem with the titles being “awarded” simply because of status as a previous champion. Examples of this happen for Gagne’s first reign (the Pat O’Connor issue) and Bockwinkel’s second and fourth reigns (when Gagne retired as champion, and when Stan Hansen left the AWA as champion). Personally, I have a bigger problem with this than I do with vacancies followed by matches to determine a new champion.

There’s also the issue of Stan Hansen to begin with. I’m not sure I understand his title reign on two grounds, the first being why Hansen even accepted the gig when he had a great thing going in Japan. I guess late in his title run, he realized this, and decided to no-show events in order to defend the AWA title in Japan. If you’re the champion of a company, Stan, you have to defend the title in that organization first and foremost. The second aspect I don’t understand here is that the AWA brought in a wildman (they knew this from the get-go, mind you), to be the face of the company, when the name value didn’t really illicit all that much response from the viewing audience (although, again, he was huge in Japan). The trade-off was not profitable at all for the AWA. However, it should be noted that Hansen has since denounced the way he handled this World Championship situation (in which he reportedly ran over the championship belt with his truck, and sent it back to Verne Gagne—effectively killing some of its prestige). These factors certainly contribute to a final preliminary rating, but do not cause too much detriment. Prestige=6/10

I think the aspect of this title that keep its final rating so relatively high is the fact that legitimately talented wrestlers competed for a wrestling title. Even when the moniker “sports entertainment” became popular among all of the Hulkamaniacs, Gagne stuck to his guns and delivered quality wrestling (granted, the popularity of those athletes involved dwindled, but he still delivered what the AWA had always been known for). I have always been an advocate for the current product to give a bit of a throwback to the days of old, and feature a little more quality wrestling action (and, in essence, be more true to the “wrestling” aspect of their initials). After averaging my ratings:

LEGACY OF THE AWA WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP=7.56/10

“LEGACY” RANKINGS:

FIRST TIER:
1. World Heavyweight Championship=8/10
2. AWA World Championship=7.56/10
3. WCW World Championship=5/10

SECOND TIER:
1. Intercontinental Championship=7.37/10
1. United States Championship=7.37/10

TAG TEAM:
1. World Tag Team Championship=6.62/10

OTHER (GENDER, WEIGHT, GIMMICK):
1. Hardcore Championship=5.12/10
2. ECW Championship=4.75/10


TOP THREE:

3. Curt Hennig (1 reign, 373 days)
I think that if Verne Gagne had it his way, Curt Hennig would have been the future of the AWA. Although Curt had quite the in-ring talent, even before his legendary matches for the Intercontinental Championship as “Mr. Perfect,” he wasn’t really appealing to the majority of fans who went crazy for “saying your prayers and eating your vitamins.” If Hulk hadn’t been so popular, would Curt Hennig be revered as one of the most talented and gifted WORLD champions rather than just the top of the midcard? Well, you can never tell, but unfortunately the AWA had been doomed well before Hennig took the reins (as in “horse reins”). Also, unfortunately for the AWA, Curt found greener pastures in New York, and left shortly after his title reign ended (as was with several of the last of the AWA World Champions).

2. Nick Bockwinkel (4 reigns, combined 2990 days)
When you think AWA, this is the second name that should come to mind. Nick Bockwinkel, although not known by those who aren’t familiar with the AWA, is a professional wrestling institution. His four reigns are very healthy, and he took great pride in not only being the top wrestler in the promotion during his runs, but also working for the AWA in general. If you’ve never seen the WWE’s Digital Video Disc “The Spectacular Legacy of the AWA,” you should watch it, if for no other reason, simply to hear what this man has to say. He obviously was (and still is) a student of the game. Additionally, he was a very charismatic and intelligent wrestler, and always presented himself as a champion.

1. Verne Gagne (10 reigns, combined 4690 days)



I think it’s no coincidence that all three of these men are in the WWE Hall of Fame. Verne was a wrestler’s wrestler, and can be thought of as the Kurt Angle of yesteryear. He was an extremely accomplished amateur wrestler, going so far as to being an alternate for the 1948 Olympic freestyle team. He was also an accomplished football player, but, when forced to choose, permanently went down the path of professional wrestling. Gagne was also one of the first true wrestling stars, constantly appearing on the DuMont Network in the ‘50’s, and receiving multiple sponsorship deals (reminds me of what Hulk Hogan and, now John Cena, would become in terms of mainstreaming). Verne was very popular in the general public, and should be commended for helping to bring wrestling to the public view. He was also a very gifted athlete in the squared circle, and he took on all comers, eventually winning the AWA World Championship ten times (an issue discussed earlier, but impressive, nonetheless). Verne is very important to the overall evolution of the wrestling business, and was a pretty good wrestler, too.

HONORABLE MENTION: MAD DOG VACHON, JERRY LAWLER


BOTTOM TWO:

2. Rick Martel (1 reign, 595 days)
Of course, this is not to say that I didn’t like Rick Martel, but in terms of “world champion” being a prefix to his name…I don’t know. When the AWA and Verne Gagne were trying to come up with a plan to boost ratings and compete with their stronger competitors, I can’t really imagine how Rick Martel’s name came up. Martel was a very good athlete, and a good worker as well, but I don’t think (with all due respect to Martel) that he was every going to be the “saving grace” that the organization needed. While he did hold the title for close to two years, I think that may have been simply to try to find a better route to go. As we’ll see in the next section, they didn’t exactly strike gold…

1. Stan Hansen (1 reign, 181 days)



Again, I think Stan Hansen was a very talented and gifted performer, and may be the closest that the AWA World Championship ever came to “sports entertainment.” However, it wasn’t right for the AWA, who needed a more recognizable name to carry the torch. It wasn’t right for Hansen either, who had a huge following in Japan and made more money over there than he had any chance of making in the AWA. Of course, push eventually came to shove, and Hansen no-showed dates (as mentioned above). In this regard, he didn’t carry himself much like a true champion. A champion is supposed to take on all comers; when the champion doesn’t do this, and deliberately trades this off for a bigger payday, it really hurts the prestige of that title. (There is a rumor regarding his stripping of the title: Hansen was in the building when Gagne informed him that he would be losing the title to Bockwinkel, and the Japanese promoter Giant Baba told Hansen this was not acceptable—Baba had already lined up challengers. Hansen refused to lose the belt, and took off to Japan. Bockwinkel actually had to use one of the tag team championship belts for a while. Mind you, this is all hearsay.)

UN-HONORABLE MENTION: LARRY ZYBSZKO


MY FAVORITE AWA WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP MATCHES:

Verne Gagne (c) v. Baron von Raschke, May 10, 1981
This match was the epitome of what the American Wrestling Association was all about. All throughout, you can hear the crowd, and they seem very appreciative of the wrestling match that is occurring in front of them. I often think that Raschke is overlooked for his competitive nature in the ring, as he reminds me of a Kane of the olden days (not in height, mind you, but in the exceptional way he worked and was willing to put over other athletes). If you want the AWA at some of its finest, watch this match.

Nick Bockwinkel (c) v. Curt Hennig, SuperClash II, May 2, 1987
Although I did sort of trash the AWA during its later days, they still had some quality matches. Hennig was an up-and-comer who was ready for his time in the limelight, and Bockwinkel was the wily veteran who wasn’t ready to let that limelight go away just yet. What occurred was a match that I would consider one of the best examples of psychology in wrestling ever. Many years into his career, Nick did a great job keeping up with the future “Mr. Perfect” (although he was pretty darn close during his AWA days, too), and the two put on a fantastic match that I feel, again, captured the feel of what the AWA was all about.

HONORABLE MENTION: LAWLER/VON ERICH, AWA/WCCW CHAMPIONSHIP UNIFICATION MATCH, SUPERCLASH III

Secondary gestures to signal certain moments or instruments in a piece of music.

Two quick things here before I let you all go back to perusing the Columns Forum. I wanted to quickly address the issues of “negativity” in the Internet Wrestling Community. In the music education profession, we are sometimes lampooned for often taking a negative approach to pinpointing and correcting mistakes (for example, “make the quarter note longer” most often becomes “don’t make that quarter note so short”). Also, there is a tendency to make note of all of the bad things happening, rather than pointing out the good. This is human nature, and, while we music teachers are always working on this aspect, it is inevitably there. The same goes for critiquing the wrestling business. Most often, instead of pointing out all of the good things that happen in the world of professional wrestling (and there are good things, I feel), we comment on the negative aspects of professional wrestling. Again, this is human nature.

I get really irritated when somebody lampoons the IWC for its negativity. It is natural to critique things that you feel aren’t so good when you love something so much. This is why I sometimes come off as negative (or even angry at times) in regard to how championships should be (or should have been) handled. Let’s face facts here; what if all we did was talk about how great everything is, and only the things that are good, rather than never talk about what is terrible and what needs improved? Well, in my profession, teachers would never get better, and here, we would likely not have any topics to write columns about. Also, I think it is natural to disagree with opinions that others put forth, as it is also a natural part of improvement, and usually provides a meaningful and intelligent discussion. If you want to read more about the Internet Wrestling Community, read MyLeeCyrus’s “Seven Things I Hate About You #3,” as I feel like this column makes several good points as well, and partially influenced my rant here. It is also very well done, both in a satiric sense and otherwise (although I do read the “Industry News” section…)

Point two of business is in preparation of “From the Podium XI: The Legacy of Championships (The WWE Edition)” in which I will finally tackle the WWE Championship. For this special edition, I’d like to ask you all to vote for (in your opinion) the top three WWE Champions (keep in mind, I’m not looking for who is the best EVER period, but who was the best to be the torch-bearer for the WWE). Below I have a link to every WWE champion, along with days held, and any circumstances behind that victory (thanks, Wikipedia!) to help with your selections, followed by a “form” you can use to submit your choices, along with point values assigned to each choice. Feel free to validate your choices, if you so desire. You can leave your choices in feedback, or send them to me via Private Message.

List of WWE Champions (please click me)

1. [Your top choice, receiving 2 points]
2. [Your penultimate choice, receiving 1 point]
3. [Your third choice, receiving .5 point]

ONLY CHAMPIONS WHO HELD THE TITLE LONGER THAN A WEEK CAN BE CONSIDERED! This means no Andre the Giant, Kane, or Vince McMahon (I know, you were all dying to show your love for Vinnie Mac!). Results will be featured in “From the Podium XI,” and if successful, polling will take place for subsequent editions. Thanks for voting!

The last additional note (mostly in marches) that signals the end of a piece.

I will be looking at the ECW Television Championship next time, going with my trend of analyzing defunct titles. I have my next ten columns planned out, so it should be smooth sailing for quite a while. Edition VI+IV should be exciting, as (just a reminder!) it is a temporary deviation from my normal routine here. Please don’t hesitate to leave feedback, good or bad, and share your opinions on AWA World Champions, or the AWA in general. Also, as an aside, good luck to Sean_Taylor and Mazza, who are tearing it up in the Column Series Invitational finals!

Until the next downbeat…

[cicero]

Great, I don't have much else to say, except perhaps that there is a difference between sarcasm and satire.

edit- oh and those three champions;

[1] Bruno Sammartino
[2] Hulk Hogan
[3] The Rock

[Jason Boy]

1) Triple H
2) John Cena
3) Eddie Guerrero

[The Maz]

Originally Posted by cicero

Great, I don't have much else to say

Cici nailed it in one... Despite the difference in style and subject, the similarities between From the Podium and Sean Taylor's Mania series on the main page are all too clear. You are both knocking it out the park on each and every outing which means there is very little that can be said in your feedback (Don't know if you history is always 100% acurate but I am not going searching through the archives just to say huh, got you). For that reason alone, I love the fact that you are going for a bit of reader interaction (I will PM my choices shortly) and maybe it is something you can do each time a "big" title is on the way. I particularly enjoyed your views on Hennig here. This is easily my favourite series in the CF right now.

[Cult Icon]

you know you have are doing great work when you make a column about the awa heavyweight title incredibly interesting. im not knocking the title or the promotion, but many people like myself have never really seen an awa match. despite this, i thought this column was great, and i think your points are both well drawn out and excellent. mazza is right, this is becoming a very nice series.

get that next column out soon. ill be here waiting

[Leonard]

Feedback to the feedback:

cicero: I read it back, and I'm pretty sure I meant irony (because he was doing the exact things that he was writing negatively about?). Thanks for reading and voting, sir.

Jason: Thanks for the votes, sir.

Mazza: I don't know if I can handle being compared to Sean_Taylor...those are some big shoes to fill. But I take it as a huge compliment, so thank you sir. I also take it as a major compliment that you enjoy this series. Curt Hennig is one of those guys you classify as "the best to never win the WWE Championship," along with the likes of Ted DiBiase, Davey Boy Smith, and Owen Hart. Thanks for reading.

Cult Icon: Thanks for the comments. I had only discovered the AWA about two or three years ago (probably coincided with the AWA-heavy Hall of Fame ceremony a few years back), and have been hooked ever since. You should go look it up if you've ever got spare time...I promise you it's worth it.

Not to be a hound, here, but please submit votes to the "Top WWE Champions" poll, even if you choose not to leave feedback, as I would like the reader interaction to be in top form for my eleventh edition. Thanks to all.

--Leonard