Thank you for posting this video. The I.W.A will always be near and dear to me, as this was my first exposure to the professional wrestling game. Summer of 75, And this became my primary focus for many years. Of course, the telecast lasted only a few months before the WWWF took over the time slot. But I was sucked in by then. What an introduction too ! Mascaras, Ladd, Brower, Koloff (last time I ever saw him that bulked up) and so many others. Being a wrestling fan was one of the safer this I did in my life. Thanks again friend, for your efforts. Be well, JB
I grew up watching IWA, they had great stars like Ernie Ladd, Ox Baker, Dick the Brower, Mighty Igor, Argentina Apollo, and Mil Massacras.............. I also remember when they came to Nigeria in 82, that was epic.
For a while in the 1970s I got a treat. I watched Mid Atlantic Championship Wrestling on weekends and IWA came on the scene real late, about 1:00 in the morning. Some other names who worked IWA were Argentino Apollo, Louis Martinez and Dino Bravo. I seem to recall a tag team... the Love Brothers? I had to do some scheming in order to stay up so late to watch the IWA but I loved "wreslin".
This channel is needed for the entire wrestling community! Therefore we’ll be watching every video on repeat each night when we go to sleep to ensure maximum algorithm support! ❤🎉 Grateful you exist human.
Very nostalgic to me. I remember as a young boy in GA finding the IWA television show purely by chance searching through UHF channels on a Saturday morning. GCW on Saturday night on WTCG (later WTBS) was a must-see and I was aware of the WWWF via wrestling magazines but I loved simply having an alternative to watch. That was something the GA fans didn’t have after Ann Gunkel’s Live Atlanta Wrestling stopped airing years before. I found the Mascaras high-flying as well as the Ernie Ladd and Koloa brawling styles fascinating to watch even if they were mostly squash matches with those stars. Thanks for the deeper back story on some great memories.
I remember one squash match with Ladd where he didn't take his hat off his head or the cigar out of his mouth' kicked the guy in stomach pounded him for tem seconds then just put his foot on the guy for the pin while smiling into the camera, lol ... loved the big cat .. IWa was on Saturdays midnight in NYC .. I was 12 in '75 and I got to stay up late to watch it because my grandma loved her rasslin' :-)
OWG here ... old wrestling guy lol ... Idk what made me look up IWA, but I've always thought about the very first wrestling tv show I got into as a 12 year old ... ... back then in NYC you had wwwf on the spanish uhf channels ( I can still sing those spanish commercial jingles lol ) late at night on school nights before it moved to weekends day time later a couple of years later. I remember Eric the Red and his bone... I remember the first time I saw Ox Baker after reading about him in wrestling magazines and people thought Mighty Igor and Ivan Putski were the same person... thank you for bringing back childhood memories !
It's kind of interesting to see I.W.A. was first established in the 70's and on top of all that there's been several other versions of the promotions after this Original, the only one that I ever known was Victor Quiñones IWA Puerto Rico which was Spinoffed by Quiñones first established IWA Japan...
Thank you for posting. I noticed you said The Mongols were the only Tag Team Champions. Actually, my late father Kurt Von Hess and Karl Von Stroheim captured the titles March 1976.
I remember watching this on channel 20 in Washington D.C. on Friday nights. Channel 20 would then carry the WWWF show Saturday mornings. Also remember watching the scaled down IWA from Winston Salem before it folded. Seemed like they still had Dick Brower. Recall him giving Don 'The Fonz' Fargo a severe beating.
The IWA used to air here in Los Angeles late at night on KHJ (now KCAL) 9. What wasn't mentioned was the fact that the shows were syndicated through Einhorn's TVS, which syndicated various sporting events throughout America. In fact, in January 1968 Einhorn was responsible for showing the first nationally televised college basketball game; the legendary basketball game between UCLA (featuring Lew "Kareem Abdul Jabbar" Alcindor) the University of Houston (featuring Elvin Hayes) in what was billed as "The Game of the Century".
Brian Washington interesting stuff for someone like me who grew up in L.A. When I started watching WWF was petty much all we had. Loved it when I got cable and came across WTBS and public access channels would also show small promotions from around the states.
The only thing I hated was that it came on late at night and I was only about 8 years old when it was airing out here. However, it was the first time I saw wrestlers outside of the LaBelle promotion like Ivan Koloff, Thunderbolt Patterson, Dino Bravo and so many more.
I loved seeing wrestlers from other promotions when I could. I also remember when Prime Ticket would air ECW late night. I would set my VHS tape to record before I went to sleep and watch it the next day after work/school. I like that I can catch some of the feel of the territories through RUclips since I missed that era.
If I had billion dollars I'd invest 40 million in rebuilding the IWA start 2 TV shows . One would be called IWA "Clash" and it would be a 2 hour regional show or try to get it on BET Friday nights . The second show is IWA "Power hour" . Probably get on the 8am to 12 am time slot on Saturday morning and run it on Mondays on RUclips . The show would be used to show matches from live event and dark matches as well have a ten minute segment reviewing last episode of Clash. I can so be a wrestling promoter . Just need 30 fully signed guys and 30 part time signed guys possibly international talent. Rest would be unsigned enhancement talent . 5 years later I'd open up IWA wrestling dojo . Hire a few old japanese wrestlers or american legends to run it .
Thanks for doing this. IWA's as far as I know the only somewhat well known territory to come through my town. Mid Atlantic came into my county a few times but they stayed to the south of us sadly (one of my Football coaches went and said he met Baby Doll. when she was with Blanchard) . Anyways the IWA came through my hometown quite a bit in my parent's teen years.. my mom and uncle went to 2 of their shows at the Reeves YMCA center (a bill from a show here is on on the left between the logo at 0:59.) She said Might Igor was her fave and she despised Brower.. good times. Your doing a lot of good with these docs buddy.. keep them up.
There were title changes other than the North American title change. Kurt von Hess and Karl von Strohein were tag champions before the Mongols. Ernie Ladd held the world title before they folded.
The Mongols lost the tag title to Victor Rivera & Dino Bravo at the 4:00 minute mark you say the the Mongols were the only tag team Champions not so The Mongols, Victor Rivera & Dino Bravo were the only two tag champions in the Federation. The match can be found here on RUclips
I remember watching the IWA but after awhile it got so boring cause all they showed were squash matches. Once in a great while they would show Brower and Mascaras mix it up but most of the time it was the top stars against no name wrestlers.
They had some great stars like Ladd,Koloff.Brower and Mascaras but to me, TV shows were boring with not much excitement nor too many angles. Could have been much better.
It was a good product for the time , but you're right alot of other territories were alot more exciting. Mil Mascaras was good but even back in those days wasnt good at selling for his opponent.
Agreed....they could have done more with what they had I guess. TV was very paint by the numbers type stuff. They needed more wild brawling and angles like some territories like Georgia,Florida,and Mid South use to have.
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Thank you for posting this video. The I.W.A will always be near and dear to me, as this was my first exposure to the professional wrestling game. Summer of 75, And this became my primary focus for many years. Of course, the telecast lasted only a few months before the WWWF took over the time slot. But I was sucked in by then. What an introduction too ! Mascaras, Ladd, Brower, Koloff (last time I ever saw him that bulked up) and so many others. Being a wrestling fan was one of the safer this I did in my life. Thanks again friend, for your efforts. Be well, JB
I grew up watching IWA, they had great stars like Ernie Ladd, Ox Baker, Dick the Brower, Mighty Igor, Argentina Apollo, and Mil Massacras.............. I also remember when they came to Nigeria in 82, that was epic.
I was actually at the Roosevelt Stadium in Jersey City those IWA shows...I remember Mascaras vs Ladd...and Brower,Igor etc...
I was raised a fe miles from the stadium
For a while in the 1970s I got a treat. I watched Mid Atlantic Championship Wrestling on weekends and IWA came on the scene real late, about 1:00 in the morning. Some other names who worked IWA were Argentino Apollo, Louis Martinez and Dino Bravo. I seem to recall a tag team... the Love Brothers? I had to do some scheming in order to stay up so late to watch the IWA but I loved "wreslin".
At 3:12 the announcer pictured is Ron Martinez, not Rick Gattone.
This channel is needed for the entire wrestling community! Therefore we’ll be watching every video on repeat each night when we go to sleep to ensure maximum algorithm support! ❤🎉 Grateful you exist human.
Growing up near Cleveland we saw the NWF on Channel 43, and NWA Detroit on Channel 61.
This is actually the first wrestling tv show I ever saw as a kid. It originated out of Winston Salem. Loved Mil, Ernie, Bulldog, Tex, Igor.
Very nostalgic to me. I remember as a young boy in GA finding the IWA television show purely by chance searching through UHF channels on a Saturday morning. GCW on Saturday night on WTCG (later WTBS) was a must-see and I was aware of the WWWF via wrestling magazines but I loved simply having an alternative to watch. That was something the GA fans didn’t have after Ann Gunkel’s Live Atlanta Wrestling stopped airing years before. I found the Mascaras high-flying as well as the Ernie Ladd and Koloa brawling styles fascinating to watch even if they were mostly squash matches with those stars. Thanks for the deeper back story on some great memories.
Thanks for watching!
I remember one squash match with Ladd where he didn't take his hat off his head or the cigar out of his mouth' kicked the guy in stomach pounded him for tem seconds then just put his foot on the guy for the pin while smiling into the camera, lol ... loved the big cat .. IWa was on Saturdays midnight in NYC .. I was 12 in '75 and I got to stay up late to watch it because my grandma loved her rasslin' :-)
OWG here ... old wrestling guy lol ... Idk what made me look up IWA, but I've always thought about the very first wrestling tv show I got into as a 12 year old ... ... back then in NYC you had wwwf on the spanish uhf channels ( I can still sing those spanish commercial jingles lol ) late at night on school nights before it moved to weekends day time later a couple of years later.
I remember Eric the Red and his bone... I remember the first time I saw Ox Baker after reading about him in wrestling magazines and people thought Mighty Igor and Ivan Putski were the same person... thank you for bringing back childhood memories !
It's kind of interesting to see I.W.A. was first established in the 70's and on top of all that there's been several other versions of the promotions after this Original, the only one that I ever known was Victor Quiñones IWA Puerto Rico which was Spinoffed by Quiñones first established IWA Japan...
Thank you for posting. I noticed you said The Mongols were the only Tag Team Champions. Actually, my late father Kurt Von Hess and Karl Von Stroheim captured the titles March 1976.
Rick Gattone the Announcer here.
Lots of memories!
Are you writing down or recording your memories anywhere?
I remember watching this on channel 20 in Washington D.C. on Friday nights. Channel 20 would then carry the WWWF show Saturday mornings. Also remember watching the scaled down IWA from Winston Salem before it folded. Seemed like they still had Dick Brower. Recall him giving Don 'The Fonz' Fargo a severe beating.
Very interesting but also a bit confusing. Thanks for this.
The IWA used to air here in Los Angeles late at night on KHJ (now KCAL) 9. What wasn't mentioned was the fact that the shows were syndicated through Einhorn's TVS, which syndicated various sporting events throughout America. In fact, in January 1968 Einhorn was responsible for showing the first nationally televised college basketball game; the legendary basketball game between UCLA (featuring Lew "Kareem Abdul Jabbar" Alcindor) the University of Houston (featuring Elvin Hayes) in what was billed as "The Game of the Century".
Brian Washington interesting stuff for someone like me who grew up in L.A. When I started watching WWF was petty much all we had. Loved it when I got cable and came across WTBS and public access channels would also show small promotions from around the states.
The only thing I hated was that it came on late at night and I was only about 8 years old when it was airing out here. However, it was the first time I saw wrestlers outside of the LaBelle promotion like Ivan Koloff, Thunderbolt Patterson, Dino Bravo and so many more.
I loved seeing wrestlers from other promotions when I could. I also remember when Prime Ticket would air ECW late night. I would set my VHS tape to record before I went to sleep and watch it the next day after work/school. I like that I can catch some of the feel of the territories through RUclips since I missed that era.
Those Championship Belts look Fantastic!
The belts were made by alex malkovitz.
I brought them in.
Rick Gattone announcer
Remember watching when it was a kid
Just a note my father, wrestling legend Kurt Von Hess and Karl Von Stroheim (Von Brauner)won the IWA Tag Team Championship in late February 1976.
while IWA was closing in 1978 Poffo's ICW was starting up in 1978
I loved the IWA, Great action and wrestlers.
I had one of their shows on some cheap cash in vhs I picked up in the late 80s.
I appreciate the history lesson, but the narration needs to be cleaned up. Some points get repeated three times.
You gotta do Bruiser's Indianapolis territory WWA and and you should also do WCW Australia. Also I could have sworn you had one on New Japan
There was another IWA in Puerto Rico founded by Victor Quinones in 1999.
Is it the same IWA where Cactus Jack and Terry Funk had that death match in Japan (IWA King of the Death match tournament)
@@dropkick0129 No. That's Japan
@@DrJReefer Quinones was heavily involved in the IWA:Japan. They were the same.
@@plushdocuments798 Today I learned.
Thanks
The roll call on their intros was very unique to that group.
Yes, I remember that.
I loved Eric The Red & Mighty Igor.
Mil Mascaras still have and still doing defenses to the IWA heavyweight championship
Yep. I think Mascaras is still defending that belt.
Brian Washington yes, of course
The last time I saw him defending it here in the States when he defended it as Superclash in Chicago in 1985 against Buddy Roberts of the Freebirds.
Brian Washington good memories
Brian Washington i think that he has a defense in Japan last mont
Love the 70s porn music.
If I had billion dollars I'd invest 40 million in rebuilding the IWA start 2 TV shows .
One would be called IWA "Clash" and it would be a
2 hour regional show or try to get it on BET Friday nights .
The second show is IWA "Power hour" .
Probably get on the 8am to 12 am time slot on Saturday morning and run it on Mondays on RUclips .
The show would be used to show matches from live event and dark matches as well have a ten minute segment reviewing last episode of Clash.
I can so be a wrestling promoter .
Just need 30 fully signed guys and 30 part time signed guys possibly international talent.
Rest would be unsigned enhancement talent .
5 years later I'd open up IWA wrestling dojo .
Hire a few old japanese wrestlers or american legends to run it .
Got some good ideas there. BET is a great channel choice too.
👍🏻
That would be a great idea
Thanks for doing this. IWA's as far as I know the only somewhat well known territory to come through my town. Mid Atlantic came into my county a few times but they stayed to the south of us sadly (one of my Football coaches went and said he met Baby Doll. when she was with Blanchard) . Anyways the IWA came through my hometown quite a bit in my parent's teen years.. my mom and uncle went to 2 of their shows at the Reeves YMCA center (a bill from a show here is on on the left between the logo at 0:59.) She said Might Igor was her fave and she despised Brower.. good times.
Your doing a lot of good with these docs buddy.. keep them up.
There were title changes other than the North American title change. Kurt von Hess and Karl von Strohein were tag champions before the Mongols. Ernie Ladd held the world title before they folded.
Well, here's hoping any surviving tapes of the IWA end up available to watch on the WWE.com vault. Because that would be so cool.
Same Eddie einhorn who owned the Chicago white Sox?
Sure is
The Mongols lost the tag title to Victor Rivera & Dino Bravo at the 4:00 minute mark you say the the Mongols were the only tag team Champions not so The Mongols, Victor Rivera & Dino Bravo were the only two tag champions in the Federation. The match can be found here on RUclips
I remember watching the IWA but after awhile it got so boring cause all they showed were squash matches. Once in a great while they would show Brower and Mascaras mix it up but most of the time it was the top stars against no name wrestlers.
Good video
i'm sorry but I'd get sick of ol Tex putting his hands on me if I was Jack Marshall..I do remember watching these matches as a kid
Perdo, Who's your daddy? Lol these guys, I swear. Also, Mil basically probably never lost his title lol
Confusing
Too Laud sound track
They had some great stars like Ladd,Koloff.Brower and Mascaras but to me, TV shows were boring with not much excitement nor too many angles. Could have been much better.
It was a good product for the time , but you're right alot of other territories were alot more exciting. Mil Mascaras was good but even back in those days wasnt good at selling for his opponent.
Agreed....they could have done more with what they had I guess. TV was very paint by the numbers type stuff. They needed more wild brawling and angles like some territories like Georgia,Florida,and Mid South use to have.
Mil MasarASS Champion ? Get real, he could only wrestle 5 mins before he couldn't hold his gut in anymore. But the videos are Great !!!
Try something intelligent for once. Bring the territories back.
Absolutely I agree with you
needed to pad out the run time so you keep repeating information.