Milkman Norm
Fry's dog Seymour
Go Cubs Go!
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Post by Milkman Norm on Dec 24, 2021 12:02:10 GMT -5
I don't know. Because the AWA wasn't a territory in the traditional sense but rather a Minneapolis based promotion that ran in & had TV in several major markets. As soon as Vince was able to undercut Verne by offering better deals to run WWF syndicated programming on stations that had been showing AWA programming it was over.
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Post by buckethead on Dec 24, 2021 16:15:43 GMT -5
Regardless of how good the match was... WWF Champion: Hulk Hogan NWA Champion: Ric Flair AWA Champion: Stan Hansen One of those doesn't fit. In the mid 1980s, Stan Hansen does not need to be the World Champion of one of the big 3 wrestling promotions. He's a National or tag team champ at best. You simply can't build your company around Stan Hansen. It is a fair point. I love Stan Hansen and he was a great draw in Japan. But when we stack him up against Hulk Hogan and Ric Flair, well he's just not quite in that rarified air. But that's part of the problem. Ric Flairs and Hulk Hogans don't exactly grow on trees. Verne's best bet may have been one of Vince's top stars getting fed up with the company and leaving to be someone else's top dog. But leaving the white hot WWF to go work for that sinking ship in Minnesota would've been like Jeff Jarrett going to WCW during the Attitude Era, which he did but it is still shocking all these years later for a reason. Only at least with Jarrett despite the decline, in 1999 WCW was still doing great business, especially by today's standards. Being a hot commodity in 1980's WWF and leaving to be the top dog in the AWA would've been a thousand times worse. There were a lot of drugs in the 1980s. But no top guy was coked up or dumb enough to make that jump. Another problem they had..and it quickly became evident with Hansen...they have no solid angles/feuds to make it look major league and to keep the audience invested. Hell..they had this problem with The Road Warriors..the top tag team in the world at that point. Off the top of my head... The Hennigs Greg Gagne and Jim Brunzell The Fabulous Ones Sgt. Slaughter and Jerry Blackwell It was like musical chairs..and they end up dropping the belts to Garvin and Regal of all people. The best feud they had as AWA champs was their feud in the NWA with the Russians! I really need to rewatch this period. I frequently watch 80s NWA, WWF, and sometimes World Class. Next time I'll watch some 1985 AWA. I can't even remember like half the roster.
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Post by The Summer of Muskrat XVII on Dec 24, 2021 17:06:49 GMT -5
When WWF came in to Manitoba, and Winnipeg specifically, they killed AWA dead here and Winnipeg was a big city for them. Verne’s finger was so f***ing far from the pulse of 80’s culture he never stood a chance against Vince. I'm not disagreeing just pointing out the odd juxtaposition that that was true but also that he knew he needed to and successfully got on cable and had action figures almost as quickly, and some say quicker!, than the WWF. That is a very good point about the action figures, he was definitely ahead of the curve on that one. However, I’m not sure how much credit he should get for the cable move, because that started as a joint venture between Verne, Crockett and Jarrett to fight Vince and when it fell apart Verne kept the time slot. So, maybe Verne was ahead of the curve and pushed for cable or maybe he was along for the ride. Plus, Verne never really dialled in how to maximise the benefits of being on cable. Almost feels like an “if you build it they will come” assumption that never panned out.
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Post by ThankGodForSidJustice on Dec 24, 2021 17:28:17 GMT -5
I think a lot of the problem was in their final years they lacked that babyface ace that they could put the belt on and build around which I've always believed is what you need to have a successful wrestlign product that's going to draw and do big business. Although it wouldn't have mattered as Verne like the NWA/WCW liked building around heel champions which is a formula that never works and yet for some reason even to this day is done to death despite ratings being at an all time low.
I do remember watching a lot of their TV from around 1986 when they were showing them on ESPN Classic years ago and one thing I noticed was they actually had a pretty good roster with a nice mix of young up and comers with a lot of upside (Hennig, Hall, Michaels, Jannetty, Leon White, Nord The Barbarian) and good veterans (Hansen, Slaughter, Snuka, Zybsyzko). Problem was none of those guys were what I would consider face of the company long term champion at that point. I probably would've put the belt on Slaughter instead of the useless America's title since he probably had the most name value and still had a little left in the tank. In the mean time I would've built up Hall before eventually putting the belt on him and making him the AWA's Hogan as he had the size and the look and while he was green his WWF run showed that he definitely had talent so there was potential there. Would've made a lot more sense then putting the title on 53 year old Nick Bockwinkle.
Also I would've booked the TV a lot better. Nothing ever happened on them angle wise and while they would do a lot more full length star against star matches then WWF did they would always end in some lame DQ or count out because they didn't want anyone to job and potentially hurt house show business.
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