Wrestling History Message Forum

by **Dan Poutsma** on Wed Sep 24, 2003 8:26 pm

[QUOTE=SpirituXBomba]Wanz was a part of the American Wrestling Association. He was the AWA World Champion there for a minute. & when He started promoting cards in Germany for Continental Wrestling Association/Alliance, He Brought Leon Big Van Vader White Over there to work for him.[/QUOTE]

He also allegedly paid Verne $50,000 for that stint with the belt too.

by **BadNews** on Thu Sep 25, 2003 1:16 pm

Spiritu, the CWA of Europe was Wanz's own organisation and it stood for Catch Wrestling Association. It had nothing to do with Alabama's Continental. Not everything in wrestling descends from America. There used to be an Australian version of World Championship Wrestling long before there was the 'original'.
And I'm not sure if he was an AWA member, did the AWA have such a structure.

by **Dan Poutsma** on Thu Sep 25, 2003 1:54 pm

Although they claimed to have a membership, the AWA was really nothing more than Verne Gagne's company brand name. Memphis claimed to be a "member" of it at one time, but then again, they claimed to be a member of several different organizations, including the NWA, WWA (Dick The Bruiser's promotion), and the CWA (their own in-house creation).

by **SpirituXBomba** on Thu Sep 25, 2003 4:02 pm

[QUOTE=Dan Poutsma]He also allegedly paid Verne $50,000 for that stint with the belt too.[/QUOTE]

That is true. & that was common during the those days. Plus he did it to give his promotion & himself credebility.

by **SpirituXBomba** on Thu Sep 25, 2003 4:05 pm

[QUOTE=BadNews]Spiritu, the CWA of Europe was Wanz's own organisation and it stood for Catch Wrestling Association. It had nothing to do with Alabama's Continental. Not everything in wrestling descends from America. There used to be an Australian version of World Championship Wrestling long before there was the 'original'.
And I'm not sure if he was an AWA member, did the AWA have such a structure.[/QUOTE]

Bad news, thanks for the correction.

by **edgehead1984** on Thu Sep 25, 2003 4:17 pm

[QUOTE=Dan Poutsma]He also allegedly paid Verne $50,000 for that stint with the belt too.[/QUOTE]

I wouldn't put it past Gagne, Bockwinkel and Wanz to make such a deal.

Also seeing the way that match ended, with a backdrop, I think this story has credibility.

by **BadNews** on Tue Sep 30, 2003 9:43 am

are we talking about a guarantee here or do u mean Wanz 'bribed' Gagne into giving him the belt?

by **Dan Poutsma** on Tue Sep 30, 2003 10:13 pm

It could've been used as a deposit ala the NWA champ, but who really knows for sure. I wouldn't put anything past Verne. Here's a guy who stiffed just about everybody out of their share of the profits from the SuperClash III PPV, and a man who was willing to put the AWA title on Hulk Hogan insofar as he received a percentage of his earnings in Japan and also allegedly wanted to keep all of the pie with regard to any merchandise he sold. So I wouldn't be surprised at all to hear that he accepted bribes and would sell the belt to the highest bidder.

by **SpirituXBomba** on Wed Oct 01, 2003 1:59 pm

[QUOTE=BadNews]are we talking about a guarantee here or do u mean Wanz 'bribed' Gagne into giving him the belt?[/QUOTE]
I think that Wanz truly wanted some credibilty to become a big star. unfortunatly I did not have the honor to see the match. But as political as the Ganges where, they did what they can to compete w/ the same system that The NWA Board of directors used.

by **SpirituXBomba** on Wed Oct 01, 2003 2:03 pm

[QUOTE=Dan Poutsma]It could've been used as a deposit ala the NWA champ, but who really knows for sure. I wouldn't put anything past Verne. Here's a guy who stiffed just about everybody out of their share of the profits from the SuperClash III PPV, and a man who was willing to put the AWA title on Hulk Hogan insofar as he received a percentage of his earnings in Japan and also allegedly wanted to keep all of the pie with regard to any merchandise he sold. So I wouldn't be surprised at all to hear that he accepted bribes and would sell the belt to the highest bidder.[/QUOTE]

True, but He was also trying to capitalize off of Hogan's Screen success from his cameo apperance in Rocky 3 as well. But when he was asking for a piece Hogan's NJPW earnings, I would like to know which tour was it? Was it before or after Hogan won the IWGP Tournament prior to Hogan sigining w/Mcmahon for the second time in 83?

by **Dan Poutsma** on Wed Oct 01, 2003 6:37 pm

I think it was for the very last tour he did over there before heading off to Titan.

by **Black_Flag_Of_Ulster** on Thu Oct 02, 2003 7:37 am

weird how this discussion turned from 'Why was the NWA not in Europe?' to 'What did Hogan do in 1983?'

by **jimi rotton** on Wed Nov 17, 2004 9:00 am

i think the irish are joining the fad

by **Hisaharu Tanabe** on Wed Nov 17, 2004 10:05 am

There are NWA UK and NWA Ireland, but this board is only for pre-1990s topics.

by **shanangough** on Thu Dec 02, 2004 5:42 pm

I don't really think the different rules in the UK would have been the main reason they were never part of the NWA. Here in New Zealand, we were still using rounds in 1972 when Steve Rickard gained membership in the NWA. I'd say the NWA probably just wasn't needed in Europe at the time. From what I've read they were doing great business without it.

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