My understanding of Verne holding the title so often is that it was a trust issue. He was the only one, aside from Nick and Larry Zbysco( Verne's son in law) not to run out of the territory with the belt or screwing the promotion somehow.
I remember it was a HUGE deal seeing the Road Warriors jump to the AWA....automatically made that promotion must see TV. Martel was a good baby face champ but then the AWA fizzled out
That's what I don't like about Verne. He defected from NWA bc they wouldn't give him the title but he did the same to alot of wrestlers like Hulk Hogan and was upset when they left. Verne wouldn't even put anyone over when he retired. He just retired as champion.
Supposedly,Zybsko has the original AWA title on his fireplace mantle. He was given the belt after AWA folded because he was the last official champion. It also helped that Larry married one of Verne's daughters,word round the campfire is that's one of the reasons Hogan never got the belt,he refused to marry one of the owner's daughters.
I believe that is correct. It seems to me I heard Hogan talking about that in an interview a few years back. He said she had a killer body, but that her face looked like Greg.
@@wallypalmer4704 Also, when Verne was considering letting Hogan win the title, Verne wanted a percentage of Hogan's bookings in New Japan. That was the nail in the coffin for Hulk's AWA tenure, which later caused many wrestlers and others to head to either WWE or NWA.
@@justinhillenburg9286 Yup plus Verne was also trying to screw over Hogan on merchandising. So when you have Verne trying to screw over Hogan on merchandising,trying to get a cut of what Hogan was doing in Japan,plus AWA's reluctance to make Hogan their world champ(even though he was their most popular star). It's easy to see why Hogan told Verne to pound sand.
JDX That’s what rubbed me the wrong way in TNA, Jeff would either be the champion or be in all of the next matches to get it back. Once you’re a promotion’s champion like 3 times can’t you help others get over?
@@colindaniels945 Indeed. And from pretty much the same scenario. As Vince Sr remained on the NWA Board I would not be surprised if the original understanding was that the titles would eventually be reunified.
@@pigs18 The scenario as I understood it with Vince Senior breaking with NWA was the manner in which Buddy Rogers lost his NWA World Championship to Lou Theisz. At that time,World title matches were done under best of 3 falls rules(meaning that whoever got 2 falls 1st won),well this particular match was only scheduled for 1 fall. As a result,Vince Senior and many of the Northeast NWA promoters didn't recognize Theisz as NWA World Champion as the match wasn't contended under normal NWA rules for a World title match,so they broke away from NWA and created what we now know as WWE.
@@colindaniels945 That is indeed the kayfabe reason. Behind the scenes, Buddy Rogers was a huge draw in the Northeast (Philly, NYC, Boston.) There was some friction between promoters who wanted Thesz, who was a bigger draw in the Midwest and Southeast, to be champion and the promoters in the NY region who wanted Rogers. Now there is precedent here. The NWA's first big angle featured Thesz losing the title in a disputed finish with the rematch making big money (The opponent's name escapes me. Leo something.) They would do it again with Ed Carpentier but this time with another "Dusty Finish" which would have set up another huge rematch. Only Carpentier's home promotion split from the NWA and Carpentier continued his claim as World Champion. (Paul Heyman didn’t invent that move.) Carpentier would lose in several promotions including a match to Verne Gagne which is where the AWA title gets its claim. So it's not remotely outside the realm of reason to believe that the 1 fall match was set up as a way, at least temporarily, to give everyone what they wanted. Edit: Also lending credence is the fact that the NWA and WWWF champions met several times, each ending in a draw with the most recent time being a match between Flair and Backlund before Vince Jr took over.
If memory serves,during one of Nick's runs,Hogan "won" the belt from him a couple of times,only for the decision to be reversed and Nick gets the belt back.
If they would of officially recognized Hogan beating Bockwinkel for the title which he did, then he would have the sole distinction of being the only one to be world heavyweight champ in all of the big 3 promotions.
And now is the Pro Wrestling Zero 1 Championship
Awesome to see a fellow Austrian on that list. Big Otto Wanz!
My understanding of Verne holding the title so often is that it was a trust issue. He was the only one, aside from Nick and Larry Zbysco( Verne's son in law) not to run out of the territory with the belt or screwing the promotion somehow.
And he was still salty at the NWA not wanting him to have the NWA world title
So basically Verne holding the title for years. Shocker
with the bullshit "Everyone is going to new york" speal
Crazy thing about it is. Verne held the title so many times but did not put the title on Greg at least once.
Who was Dr X?
@@baliw33 Dick beyer I think it has been years
@@aceisking Thanks!
Wow I don’t think Verne Gagne had the belt enough!
I THOUGHT VINCE McMAHON HAD AN EGO HE'S GOT NOTHING ON VERNE
I remember it was a HUGE deal seeing the Road Warriors jump to the AWA....automatically made that promotion must see TV. Martel was a good baby face champ but then the AWA fizzled out
That's what I don't like about Verne. He defected from NWA bc they wouldn't give him the title but he did the same to alot of wrestlers like Hulk Hogan and was upset when they left. Verne wouldn't even put anyone over when he retired. He just retired as champion.
@@danielvrodriguez81 and now he's dead
Supposedly,Zybsko has the original AWA title on his fireplace mantle.
He was given the belt after AWA folded because he was the last official champion.
It also helped that Larry married one of Verne's daughters,word round the campfire is that's one of the reasons Hogan never got the belt,he refused to marry one of the owner's daughters.
That sounds nice
I believe that is correct. It seems to me I heard Hogan talking about that in an interview a few years back. He said she had a killer body, but that her face looked like Greg.
@@wallypalmer4704 I remember that Verne had 2 daughters,I know Larry married Kathy.
@@wallypalmer4704 Also, when Verne was considering letting Hogan win the title, Verne wanted a percentage of Hogan's bookings in New Japan. That was the nail in the coffin for Hulk's AWA tenure, which later caused many wrestlers and others to head to either WWE or NWA.
@@justinhillenburg9286 Yup plus Verne was also trying to screw over Hogan on merchandising.
So when you have Verne trying to screw over Hogan on merchandising,trying to get a cut of what Hogan was doing in Japan,plus AWA's reluctance to make Hogan their world champ(even though he was their most popular star).
It's easy to see why Hogan told Verne to pound sand.
Would love to watch awa show chronologically
Basically, this was Verne having 29 title reigns.
He was in charge of the company and booked himself as its top star. Kinda like what Jarrett did in TNA and Fritz did in WCCW.
Vachon, Bockwinkle, and Zbyszko had long reigns also. And it doesn't matter who the belt is on as long as it brought the fans in.
@@JDXWrestling don't forget Jerry the King Lawler and HHH did it too.
JDX That’s what rubbed me the wrong way in TNA, Jeff would either be the champion or be in all of the next matches to get it back. Once you’re a promotion’s champion like 3 times can’t you help others get over?
@@princeofcupspoc9073 Larry brought fans in? When was this. WWF 1980?
笑いを取りに行ってますね。無音声とバーンガニアにツボりました(笑)
I knew Vern had quite the ego but holy shit, had no idea it was THIS bad.
And then Hogan got that ego from Verne for screwing him in the AWA. Ego's are always passed down & Verne got his from the NWA
My Pick 5 Best AWA Champions
5. Curt Henning
4. Da Crusher
3. Mad Dog Vachon
2. Verne Gagne
1. Nick Bockwinkel
Worst IMO
Jerry Lawler
Larry Zbyszko
In Lawler and Zbysko's defense, they were AWA champs when the promotion was dying. If that's the case, then Mr. Saito was a worse champion than both
I got to put Rick Martel in the top 5. Great technician in the ring.
The end of AWA was actually some great wrestling!
No it wasn't!!
Didn't know wwe owned AWA rights as well..
the title length at 2:25 though
That is a long ass reign. But that means *NOTHING* compared to Bruno Sammartino's WWE title reign, which was 2,803 days.
One of the few titles that had a direct lineage back to the disputed NWA title. (Think "Summer of Punk" but Punk doesn't return.)
The WWE title also has a direct lineage to the NWA title
@@colindaniels945 Indeed. And from pretty much the same scenario. As Vince Sr remained on the NWA Board I would not be surprised if the original understanding was that the titles would eventually be reunified.
@@pigs18 The scenario as I understood it with Vince Senior breaking with NWA was the manner in which Buddy Rogers lost his NWA World Championship to Lou Theisz.
At that time,World title matches were done under best of 3 falls rules(meaning that whoever got 2 falls 1st won),well this particular match was only scheduled for 1 fall.
As a result,Vince Senior and many of the Northeast NWA promoters didn't recognize Theisz as NWA World Champion as the match wasn't contended under normal NWA rules for a World title match,so they broke away from NWA and created what we now know as WWE.
@@colindaniels945 That is indeed the kayfabe reason. Behind the scenes, Buddy Rogers was a huge draw in the Northeast (Philly, NYC, Boston.) There was some friction between promoters who wanted Thesz, who was a bigger draw in the Midwest and Southeast, to be champion and the promoters in the NY region who wanted Rogers.
Now there is precedent here. The NWA's first big angle featured Thesz losing the title in a disputed finish with the rematch making big money (The opponent's name escapes me. Leo something.)
They would do it again with Ed Carpentier but this time with another "Dusty Finish" which would have set up another huge rematch. Only Carpentier's home promotion split from the NWA and Carpentier continued his claim as World Champion. (Paul Heyman didn’t invent that move.) Carpentier would lose in several promotions including a match to Verne Gagne which is where the AWA title gets its claim.
So it's not remotely outside the realm of reason to believe that the 1 fall match was set up as a way, at least temporarily, to give everyone what they wanted.
Edit: Also lending credence is the fact that the NWA and WWWF champions met several times, each ending in a draw with the most recent time being a match between Flair and Backlund before Vince Jr took over.
I bought a 2000 F-150 from Greg Gagne.. when Greg was the used car manager at Freeway Ford.. Greg was certainly no Verne.
The only reason pat o'connor was given the belt so verne could say "haha i beat your champion" to the NWA
If memory serves,during one of Nick's runs,Hogan "won" the belt from him a couple of times,only for the decision to be reversed and Nick gets the belt back.
Verne Gagne.. this is a recording
i feel verne wanted the title and beat pat o'connor and thats why pat was awarded the title
the belt Ric Flair never won..ORIGINAL BIG GOLD
Christian Nerey it was best he never won it lol
And he was a Minnesota guy too!
If Flair had stayed in AWA he never would have become the Nature Boy we all know and love (to hate).
音はなし？
Id just start with verne
I hate to say this, but they should have give the belt the Hogan.
Their logic was:
We do it and Hogan loses popularity.
If they would of officially recognized Hogan beating Bockwinkel for the title which he did, then he would have the sole distinction of being the only one to be world heavyweight champ in all of the big 3 promotions.
ハンセンまでだなぁ
バーンガニアのタイトル。
鶴田と斎藤がいる。
二人ともバックドロップの名手。
Uh...Bobby "The Brain" Heenan was never AWA world title holder ? 🤔
I didn't see hulk Hogan on the list
Or Herb Abrams decided to put the belt on himself throughout the 90s in his UWF ?
That would have been funny
What if Vince McMahon decided to put the belt on himself throughout the 80's? Tsk Tsk Verne.
No black champions ever AWA?