NWA & WWF

[mattitude]

Hello,

I am in the process of redoing my title history site (yes been on going for almost 6 month) and I am double checking all information. What I am having trouble with is the WWF & NWA relationship and or membership.. can someone come on to my page and check that my information is correct. You can find it at <a href='http://vault.mattitude.ca/titlehistory/wwe/nwa.html' target='_blank'>http://vault.mattitude.ca/titlehistory/wwe/nwa.html</a>

Thankin' You In Advance
Matthew Dykstra
<a href='http://www.mattitude.ca' target='_blank'>www.mattitude.ca</a>
<a href='http://www.mjsd.ca' target='_blank'>www.mjsd.ca</a>

[Dan Poutsma]

The match between Flair and Backlund in 1982 at the Omni was actually promoted by Georgia Championship Wrestling. In addition to the title vs. title matches, I also know that Harley Race defended the NWA title against Dusty Rhodes at MSG in December 1979 on the same card where Hulk Hogan debuted.

It should also be noted that while Capitol Wrestling Corporation, the parent business entity of the World (Wide) Wrestling Federation, was an NWA member and Vincent J. McMahon was on the NWA Board of Directors, it was "under the table" so to speak and not publicly acknowledged, as the W(W)WF was presented as a body entirely separate from the NWA.

[The Crowbar King]

I've always been curious as to the reasoning behind that. Why would it be an under the table deal? Was the NWA World title just not accepted in the northeast?

[Dan Poutsma]

My understanding is that, aside from Rogers, the NWA champion didn't traditionally draw in the Northeast. So that may explain why they never brought him in except once in a blue moon. Plus, they already had their own champion that they could use whenever they wanted (without having to pay a fee to the NWA) and whom their fans were already conditioned to believe was the best, so why all of a sudden cause confusion by claiming it's somebody else?

[The Crowbar King]

To draw big money in title vs. title matches?

[Dan Poutsma]

Yeah, but how much did the NWA title really mean in New York? That's kinda the point. Aside from the one match between Backlund and Race at MSG, all of the other matches took place in Florida and Flair-Backlund was in Georgia. And Flair even mentions in his book that the NWA champion was pretty much a foreigner in the Northeast while the WWF champion was considered the same in the NWA territories, although I think he got quite a bit of publicity in Florida because of the strong relationship between Eddie and Vince. But really, how are you supposed to draw big money for a title vs. title match when the people have hardly if ever seen the other guy and are of the opinion that he isn't on the same level as their own champion?

[Torgo]

The close relationship of Vince and Eddie also explains the 26 plus Title defenses of the WWWF tittle when Billy Graham held it. Florida was already very familiar with Billy who had just held the Florida title, Florida Tag title, and Southern Title all in 1977, before Billy won the WWWF title. I think Billy in his 10 month reign has more title defenses in other areas than any other WWWF champion.

[clawmaster64]

Yeah, but how much did the NWA title really mean in New York? That's kinda the point. Aside from the one match between Backlund and Race at MSG, all of the other matches took place in Florida and Flair-Backlund was in Georgia.

Dan,

You're forgetting about the match between Backlund and Race in St. Louis.

11/7/80 St Louis
NWA champion Harley Race beat WWF champion Bob Backlund dq
Dory Funk Jr (sub Ted DiBiase) beat Baron Von Raschke
Pat O'Connor and Rufus R Jones beat Bob Sweetan and Mike George
Dick the Bruiser beat Buzz Tyler
Kevin Von Erich beat Billy Howard
Spike Huber (sub King Kong Brody) beat Takachio
Bulldog Bob Brown and Leilani Kai beat Akio Sato and Betty Torres

[Dan Poutsma]

Cool. Thanks for the info.