Nick Bockwinkel once stated that he only worked 3 and a half days a week in the AWA, the money that Vince offered talent came at a cost in terms of living on the road 300 days of the year. As soon as Vince had Hogan and other talent he could utilize that as leverage with the banks to grow his business nationally, which gave him more and more dollars to pick off the remaining talent. From what I understand Vince rarely took time off and never went on vacation, he outworked and outsmarted the old wrestling business model.
Verne was too behind in the times. He had the pieces before the WWF did not remained stuck in the past. Instead of riding Hulk Hogan he wanted to stick with a fifty year old Nick Bockwinkel. You had a red hot Hogan coming off Rocky 3. Verne could've marketed him and ridden him and the AWA to the moon. He didn't know how and Vince did.
Yeah he could have had Hogan come in off of the Rocky hype and just clobber Bockwinkle. He could have had the Rocky and Bullwinkle.....wait Bockwinkle war.
As for Vince McMahon, I gotta give the Devil his due! Jesse's right-Vince knew how to do things, and Verne Gagne didn't. You don't expect to take a Nick Bockwinkel, and match him up against a younger and much more powerful man like Hulk Hogan! Jesse's right about Warfare, too. You don't go into battle on the enemies turf. You don't know what you're getting into. Financially speaking, the WWF at that time was much better prepared to go to war (so to speak), than the AWA was. Also:Now that I have heard just how greedy Verne Gagne was, taking Money from his own Wrestlers, just so he and his son Greg could go on vacation...what was he thinking?!? You don't take money out of the pocket of somebody like Jesse Ventura, cheat him, and expect him to stay in the AWA. Jesse did the right thing, and went to the WWF. I wonder if there were any other Wrestling Organizations that did their Wrestlers like that by promising them a certain part of the Gate (Money), then went, and ripped off their Wrestlers by taking part of the monies promised to the Wrestlers, and made off with it?!? Verne Gagne apparently wasn't the ""Nice guy" that a lot of people made him out to be. If he did that to his own Wrestlers, then he was a Crook, and he's frying down in Hell now! If Greg knew anything about this, and just went along with it, then that makes him an accessory after the fact! No wonder the AWA went under! I myself would've never wrestled for a guy that, if those rumors were true, was as crooked as a barrel of fishhooks!!!
Verne supposedly wanted to give Hogan the AWA belt only with the latter surrendering part of his revenue from his Japan visits (likely a huge sum) & rumored things like being married to his daughter. Vince comes along and says to Hogan, “here’s money that’s more than what Verne & Japan could ever give you!”, then Verne is still wondering what happened for the past 20 years!
@@ronaldshank7589 Verne was old school. When I watch videos of old matches, they seem boring now. Verne and Greg (who was never convincing) should have been innovators but never saw the writing on the wall.
Verne, thought he was bigger than the business as a whole. 1. Pay your talent 2. Bring in a develop new talent. 3. Hire people smarter than yourself. He promoted himself, his son and guys like Vachon, Von Rascke and Bockwinkle. During this time he had Perfect, Scott Hall, Hogan, Rick Rude, Flair, The Road Warriors all pass through his organization.
Eddie Sharkey ran Verne's school for a time in the 1970s and trained the second wave of Verne's supposed trainees, guys like Bob Backlund and Paul Ellering. He had a falling out with Verne, left the business and became a bartender. The Road Warriors, Rude, Darsow and others came into the business through meeting Sharkey at the bar and were trained in the basement of a church. Despite being in Minnesota, it seemed to me that Sharkey went out of his way to discourage any of them from working for Verne. Most of them got their start either with Ole Anderson or Bill Watts.
@@leomdk939 Verne just didn't understand that the business was evolving and failed to evolve with it. He was stuck in the 1960s business model of wrestling while Vinnie Mac was changing the face of pro wrestling altogether with his own business model.
Bobby Heenan was known as the last one who left Verne Gagne's AWA promotion. Heenan being respectful of business worked all his dates as was written in his contract to fulfil. Then he left in early to mid 1984 for the WWF, mostly lots had already left and had gone to WWF or the NWA. Despite having the Road Warriors and the newly crowned Rick Martel as AWA World Champion (who defeated Jumbo Tsuruta) AWA didn't have too many colourful characters who'd brighten up the company the same way the WWF and NWA adapted to modern times. After the AWA title reigns of Curt Hennig and Jerry 'The King' Lawler many said this was the company's downspiral as mostly everyone either wanted to go to the WWF or NWA/WCW.
@@merleshand2442 Uh no. Jerry Jarrett, who ran Memphis, bought out the Von Erich's, who ran Dallas. There was no merger with the AWA. Verne simply went out of business in January 1991.
One thing that holds true about Gagne - there is absolutely no one in the wrestling business that developed more stars in history . Once guy's wrestled in the AWA or were trained by Verne they were really for any territory (From Florida to Oregon to Japan)
Absolutely true. Ric Flair and Ricky Steamboat ruled MACW 3 years out of Verne’s camp. Why? Because he taught them how to wrestle and they were able to learn the business from a guy who had success as a wrestler and promoter.
W.B. Jones I grew up in the late 70s early 80s in Minnesota. It was the only wrestling I knew until my parents got cable around 1984 and I got exposed Georgia Championship Wrestling and the WWF.
Gene Bone Third largest city in this country is Chicago. Plenty of good markets in that AWA area. I also believe San Francisco was also part of it. And for the record American citizens aren’t moving to NYC or the northeast. Or even California. They are moving to the warmer lower cost states.
Watchin that awa documentary DVD wwe put ut several years back.. awa was practically wwf before wwf was. They had the talent, most of whom would jump to new York. Its amazing to think what they did with the right vision
So when he put the belt on Bockwinkel, were crowd sizes equally as large before Hogan became challenger? And once Hogan's chase of Bockwinkel ended and ultimately failed, did he seriously have Rick Martel or Curt Hennig in line to formally take the belt? Heck, what was the crowd sizes & gates when HE held his own belt? They must keep that data around somewhere!
@MemphoWrasslin1 Vince had vision and declared war before Verne even realized what was happening, as dude was indeed a "little lord" thinking his kingdom was safe from the modern-day PT Barnum.
@MemphoWrasslin1 Nobody tried to "go national" and make it like the circus, ice-skating, boxing, MLB, NBA or NFL, though unlike these leagues, Vinny had daddy's legacy already ready to leverage vs. what he told the ESPN guys as if he defeated those "little lords" like Verne all on his own with just hard work and vision.
@MemphoWrasslin1 At the same time, having substantial capital isn't a guarantee for success, but does give you a headstart. The only time Vinny couldn't simply use money to stifle the competition was when Ted Turner and his billions gave him a taste of his own medicine in the 90's, though looking back, that story of him being a collosal underdog to WCW is likely another WWF "woe is me" given that we now also know that Vince laying ground work to "go public" around the time Bret Hart got screwed.
That happens to the best really. Don Owens in the Pacific Northwest, Nick Gulas in Memphis, Toots Mondt in New York, Bick the Bruiser in Indianapolis, The Sheik in Detroit, and possibly Vince Jr. now, they get too set in their ways, in what worked 30 years ago, they don't see what's happening now.
Jesse I realized that you were a heel but you're one of the better people in the sport as I know that titles would've come your way if injuries didn't cripple your career
Verne was still trying to sell Nick Bockwinkle as Champ in mid 80s. He just didnt have the vision to change and Greg was too weak a personality to take charge of his dad's business.
To be fair....Bockwinkel was getting up there in years by that point (almost 50 years old) but his stature as Champ should not be questioned. He was arguably one of the greatest Champs of any Territory....and yes, I'm including Flair in that comparison. Bock could wrestle anybody no matter what style and still make it believable and good, not to mention he's in the Top 5 of best Promo guys ever. I agree that Verne should have had Bockwinkel drop the title to Hogan and see where Hogan would have taken it, business-wise....would have been interesting. Greg did try to change his Dad's viewpoint near the end of the 80's but by then.....it was too late. I remember Larry Nelson saying something to that effect, anyway. Verne was just too stubborn and too reliant on what made his Territory great in the 60's and 70's. So, I guess I'm agreeing with your statement, although keeping the title on Bockwinkel, although it was a poor decision in hindsight seeing Hogan's Mega-Stardom happen soon afterwards...wasn't exactly the end of the world. Verne's missed opportunity might explain why he eventually put the belt on Rick Martel, who was a great worker and young and handsome and all that stuff.
Nick could still put on an excellent match in 1988 (when he more or less retired). I assumed that the matches were taking a toll on his body and he retired for that reason.
Bockwinkel could work, plus he could trust Nick. Verne had a 30 year run and it was over. Not sure he could have protected Minneapolis, interesting theory though.
Verne and Greg always give off the Narrative that "Everybody Screwed Them" where from Jesse To Hulk Hogan to Eric Bischoff have pretty much said "Verne screwed Verne" no one else
Knowing Jesse's political background and basically how straight forward he is , it's sooo cool and awesome how he talks about his time in the business and how the business works/run like he survived a war that was meant to be loss. Or I how different/unique it was . You know what I'm saying lol you can see it in his face and in the way hes talking . He loves wrestling
@@MiningForPies Its the pretending and shading the truth that Jesse does that is shameful. Its also that he spent so many years in the US military during the Vietnam War and never served in Vietnam,
AWA had Hogan in a great situation to challenge Vince & Jim Crockett, but ultimately never realized he was a territory battling a massive invading force whose home is well-protected, or otherwise Iron Sheik would’ve really broken Hogan’s leg & stolen the WWF belt back to Minnesota.
@@MrSmitty1074 I remember getting WTBS during the 80's and was fasinated by the NWA & WCW, then saw Verne's AWA on ESPN, while Vince's show was on USA along with several terrestrial channels on weekends with low & mid-card stars squashing jobbers usually. This continued in the 90's when I somehow got a few WCCW shows, SMW, USWA, GWF and staying up late night to watch ECW. Besides Hogan, Scott Hall was one of the first performers who made it obviously clear to me that wrestling is a work when he debuted in WCW as Diamond Studd, then became Cuban in WWF as Razor Ramon!
I was a huge AWA fan i started watching wrestling in 1984. I would have loved to see the territories survive. With all due respect it is my understanding that many promoters ruled with an iron first. They could be extremely difficult to work for. Add on to that the talent felt underpaid. maybe some of them wanted to be loyal. However they took a chance with Vince. Ironically, this is just my opinion, it seems to me that almost every promotion is it's own worst enemy. Thank you rant over
From everything I've heard, the best promoters to work for back in the day, were Don Owen in Portland, and Stu Hart in Calgary. They were honest, and fair, for the most part. Treated their guys well. Third, so I understand, was Vince Sr. He could be a real cheapskate at times, but he was fair, and fairly honest. Unlike Vince Jr.
I forget he was a SEAL. You all know you can only be invited to do that. Best of the best in the Navy. The best units in the US military. Explains his confidence and drive. Honour. He wanted to quit f2f but followed orders after a short consideration. Always will be a fan of Jesse the body Ventura
LOL, be invited. I think you have the Navy SEALS confused with Delta Force. SEAL application is open to every male US citizen aged 17-27, including civilians, retirees and former active duty. You can apply on their website ffs. There's nothing mystical about volunteering for SEAL duty; it's the part about being the 20-30% of candidates who pass the training A-Z that gets a little tricky. On the other hand, Delta Force is the program that typically requires recommendation from a CO, prior Special Forces/Rangers experience, and has a 98% washout rate (about 2% of candidates pass training.) You can spot the difference between former SEALs and former Delta Force operatives in that Delta Force retirees don't generally write a series of tell-all biographies they've authored immediately after leaving service, unlike the SEALs.
@@RockandrollNegro why is that. All that join in Australia are considered and chosen to take the tests. I naturally assumed you guys would watch and invite to suffer for the best training like we do. You do come here to train. Regarding that seeing as no-one else wants to say it, The 3 marines including the female captain pilot that crashed and burned in the VTOL should not have happened. That offspray had just been to the gold coast air show and was pulling maneuvers exceeding the engineering tolerances automatically putting it out of service for engineering diagnostics for a month as is required under owhs requirements here in Australia where the law regarding that cannot be broken for safety reasons. Someone ordered those unbreakable rules to be ignored and 3 marines paid with their lives. What excuse can anyone use(it was only training for fucks sake) that allows this. Who ordered it is accountable.
Verne should have put the belt on Hogan. He was really over. He kept pushing guys that were over the hill. He had the Road Warriors and the Freebirds. He didn't change with the times.
Pretty much why Hogan said he left. Verne was insisting on a piece of Hogan's Japan money and the tee shirts Hulk was selling. Verne didn't see what was going on. If he did like Jesse said he wouldn't been giving instead of trying to take.
@@Musiclover19 Verne was a genius in the ring but a mental midget when it came to running a business. Don't pick fights with old guys. They will mess you up if you underestimate them.
@@gopherstate777 Don't know about that, as little Vinny ate repeated beatings by his stepfather to protect his mother, though dude was likely exaggerating at best.
One of my all time favorite stories is Jessie telling Vince that he was going to tell Verne face to face that he was jumping and Vince said to him"Wait Til Our First Show There I Wanna Be Able To See That"lol
@@scottdavidson9963 With good reason his ass would be assassinated. He won't toe the line like all these others do. All of them talk of change until they get into that position then it's a different story. Jesse would bring change, so they would want him out quicker than Kennedy!
I'd put Bobby Heenan im there too. I loved Jesse's commentary because he always called out the hypocrisy of the play by play guy for always siding with the good guy. I loved Bobby's because he was just funny as hell.
Always got a kick out of him calling Tito Santana "Chico", which boggles my mind when people say it's racist. Calling Koko B Ware "Buckwheat" was tasteless though.
I grew up in Minnesota with some descendants of the Gagne family. Freakishly strong guys but unfortunately they also adopted the poor business habits of Verne and the ethical side of things. These guys were actually very close friends of mine (were being the key word) and hearing these stories it all makes sense.
@@Jahn_Pah_Jonz Yes! The freakiest part of them was how strong and muscular they were in 8th and 9th grade. The younger brother could walk into a liquor store and not get carded 9 out of ten times when he was 16. Intimidating and older look.
@@colourfaze86 No the area is way too big and populated. It would be funny though. I've seriously never met a young man like Jeremy. He was an absolute Freak! His mom was Greg's sister. He was bench pressing 225 (free weights two plates) in 8th grade and he was shredded with naturally tan skin. Not a fatty. Girls would rape him. He was one of my best friends for many years and in my wedding party. Sad ending to a lot of these families though. His dad fell of a roof working several years ago and died a week later. 😥🙏My prayers for their family. They really are good hearted people the Riedells!
I’m 54 so I caught most of the end of AWA and the rise of WWF. Vince’s product had a glitz to it! Tuxedos. Cartoony,wasn’t so bloody and puresist. It was fun to watch! Wider appeal. That’s why! Wasn’t better wrestling. Actually the matches became very short....compared to old school. Verne and Nick could go for a long time.....and have 30 moves each,...and they had similar moves! Very fluid matches. Camera was from only one angle. Again WWF was better. But AWA produced the greatest talent. Of any organization. Jesse as you can see understood Verne. No big surprise. He picked his time. Tide was just right! It’s a business....and friendship or at least respect. Tough balance. Dusty Roads said it was abit like the mafia. Nobody came in...Nobody knew exactly who to trust..wild tales! If Jesse could tell ya rumors and story’s......he would be great.......and probably sued. Like many...many fine wrestlers.
This is not exactly accurate. The frogmen were essentially incorporated into the Seal units in 1980. However there was a distinction between the two occupational specialties during the time Jesse served. Having said that, he did graduate from BUDS.
Verne Gagne pushed his son too much, And thought small, I loved to watch all the wrestling programs as a kid, But McMahon thought years down the line, he planned for everything, He was vicious and brutal, Cutthroat... Nobody stood a chance back then.
I grew-up in northern-Illinois watching AWA All-Star Wrestling on Sundays. Always a dimly-lit high-school gym & other production eyesores. But it was awesome .. like punk-rock. Flaws & all. What wrestling became by the mid-80’s was amazing.
@@rosspatterson131 Fake-name, no subscribers … I’m betting you’re a loser of monumental proportions. Have mommy run your meds down to the basement to you. I think you’re cycling-up, spaz.
As much as I didn't care too much for Jesse Ventura, I have to admit, he has a valid point of what went on in the business, I really respect him for that, it was messed up on how he got screwed by the AWA (Verne Gagne).
Verne had such a large territory that he should’ve just accepted losing San Francisco, Vegas, Colorado, and areas like that. He would’ve been more well off to control the Midwest. Keeping a tight control on Chicago and Minneapolis.
Exactly, Jesse's warfare analogy about protecting his own backyard wasn't quite accurate, it'd be more accurate to say you don't take on an Abrams while still relying on a Sherman. You have to move with the times.
Seriously, did Verne just not see the massive payoff with Hogan as champion or did he really thought people were there to see Bockwinkel & his advanced vocabulary to go with his great moveset? The heel eventually needed to be caught & he already had at least two instances of how crowds flocked to the arenas for each Dusty finish with Hogan winning.
Pay them with what money? This is like suggesting that ROH and Impact should be paying guys 7 figure salaries like the WWE does. They don't have that kind of money and neither did Verne at the time.
Probably, by the time that Jesse's talking about, Vern already knew that Jesse was bolting to the WWF and he didn't see any point to cutting him more money. Vern was just trying to hold onto every last dollar before shutting down. Didn't Vince hire Vern in the WWF/WWE after that?
@@tonypuryear1638 Ventura can't do an interview without telling you "I was a Navy SEAL." The guy was a UDT Diver that never served a day on an active duty SEAL team.
I used to love watching awa ,then the talented started leaving, they banned using top rope then they started that whole team thing where you win by points it started getting worse.
Verne had two problems, in this order. He was cheap/greedy as a booker. Because he was cheap/ greedy as a booker, he didn’t trust most of his talent to put the belt on them because he thought they’d leave, which they ended up doing anyway. I can’t recall the name of the event, but Verne did a collaboration crossover with the NWA that could have been something. From what I’ve heard, it failed because Verne played with the money and payouts. When you look at the huge number of future hall of famers that came through Minnesota, there’s no reason that company couldn’t have lasted longer than it did, and been relevant. If Verne treated those guys better and payed them what they deserved, they would have been more loyal and he could have trusted them to do what’s good for the company. He would have had more options in the late 70’s and 80’s to put the belt on other guys whose last name wasn’t Bockwinkle or Gagne.
You are referring to the infamous "SuperClash" cards. SuperClash III was the most notorious since Jerry Lawler entered as AWA Champion, won a unification match with the WCCW Champion Kerry Von Erich, & then never really defended it since Verne never paid Lawler for his services. The CWA & WCCW would merge to create the USWA (recognizing Lawler as their champion), while the AWA would strip Lawler of their World Title & put it on Gagne son-in-law Larry Zbyszko.
Yeah Verne could have had Hogan come in off of the Rocky hype and just clobber Bockwinkle. He could have had the Rocky and Bullwinkle.....wait Bockwinkle war, but Verne kinda of like Vince's father were stuck in the old times. That destroyed the AWA. Now the same is happening with the WWE. Vince is not changing.
Hexkwondo Verne wasn't trying to put the belt on himself towards the end. His list of champions during that time is proof. Now maybe trying to put it on Greg is more like it. Otto Wanz, Jumbo Tsuruta, Rick Martel, Stan Hansen, Nick Bockwinkel, Curt Hennig, Jerry Lawler, Larry Zybyszko, Sgt. Slaughter, Mr. Saito. If Verne wanted it back on him, he would have done it somewhere between those guys.
Bockwinkle was 89 years old and he kept giving him the belt. How long did it take the midnight rockers too get the belts from rose and summers? He had a young girl fan base that could have rivaled those who cheered for the von Erich's and those that cheered for ricky and Robert, and he stuck with the older guys for to long. Yeah it was a great moment when they won, but all that time could Jane been spent growing a younger audiece. I mean their wrestling figures was dope, but the marketing was bad as well yell
As good of a wrestler and promo that Bockwinkel was, by the mid 80's it was time to move on. Bockwinkel should've been done as champion for good after losing to Jumbo Tsuruta.
Seals, Underwater Demolition, Frogmen are all selected out of the same graduating BUDS class and given their assignments post-graduation. Even the guy that busts people online for stolen valor said he has no problem with Jesse Ventura calling himself a Seal?
Grungo Funguy he went through buds training and made it through hell week and graduated seal training so he has the right to call himself a seal. You couldn't do it.
I,sometimes, wonder if Verne and Nick Bockwinkel had some sort of thing going on because he would literally hand Bockwinkel the belt, I looked up the lineage of the title and can only remember one actual time that Nick actually wrestled for the belt every other time it seems like he was awarded the belt, ijs
Verne could trust Nick. He knew that Nick was happy being AWA heel champ when Verne was in contention and great heels draw more money as champs(see Flair). Nick stuck by Verne b/c he was at the tail end of his career. It was just a great business relationship and they respected each other. Nick was a phenomenal talent, but like all wrestlers......he got old and ran out of time as a viable champ.
I've also read where Vern spent too much time and effort putting his son Greg over, who has been described as being built more like a golfer than a wrestler. He never really was a major draw.
@@chriskiser4670 The High Flyers did quite well in the mid to late seventies and had great drawing programs with many tag teams. I wouldn't diminish Greg's role in that era. However when he was a singles wrestler in the mid eighties, it wasn't working that well. Of course the whole AWA at that time was a sinking ship.
@@curthennig9448 I was primarily referring to him in singles. Typically wrestlers that are not very big are much better draw with tag teams than they are in singles. And I totally agree with you about the AWA being a sinking ship in the 80's. The late Jerry Jarrett talked about in an interview with Hannibal.
While I have no doubt Vern probably did short them on the payoff, Jesse seems to be talking out of both sides of his mouth too. He says that’s the final straw, but admittedly was going to jump regardless.
Verne was greedy. Wouldn't pay his guys fairly and even had the nerve to ask for half of Hulk's Japan money. Listen the the Lapsed Fan podcast Awa series for all the details.
smart man, same way company's. should look at it with employee's take care of them... build your company up better product and better production make more money in the long run.
the whole "would this or that territory have lasted if they did x y or z" argument is arbitrary, I think whoever had new york and the northeast was gonna win in the long run regardless, vince just sped up the inevitable
Well said. But at the same time, the AWA had the Chicago, the Twin Cities, Denver... Not one horse towns but formidable media markets. Especially Chicago.
What was remotely inevitable about the WWF taking over? Vince was the only one who had anything close to a team capable of accomplishing that and, even so, the WWF almost drove off the cliff several times...
Kept pushing the older established names while leaving all that terrific young talent to remain on the undercard. Finally the young talent jumped ship to WWF... while the AWA ship sunk. 15 years later, Ted Turner's WCW repeated Verne Gagne's mistake with the AWA.
Verne didn't know a thing about running an organization! All he did was script himself to be the champion all the time. He flip-flopped the title between him and Nick Bockwinkel, back and forth. He had a so-called AWA "President," Stanley Blackburn, and a so-called "promoter," Leo Nomellini, but Verne organized everything. Owning a company and making yourself the champion, 20-something times over and over, was stupid. It's a good thing Vince never did that. He's the ultimate business genius in the wrestling world. That's why he ended up a billionaire who bought out all of the other wrestling organizations, drawing their biggest names from their companies to come wrestle for him.
A lot of Vince's success was ruthlessness, and luck. If you actually look at some of his decisions over the years, even back in his 80s glory days, you'll realize he's not quite the "genius" many want to believe he is. The dude followed up the massive success of WM1, by NOT putting the belt on the hottest heel in the business at the time, Piper, and having Hogan chase Piper for the belt until WM2, where it could have been Hogan vs. Piper in the cage, no holds barred, Hogan gets his belt back, huge business. Sounds like a no brainer, right? Instead, the genius, Vince, booked Hogan vs.......King Kong Bundy, as he WM2 main event. A real clunker, and an idiotic decision. There were many other examples to point out in between, but fast forward to WM8. Randy Savage is back wrestling and a huge babyface again with Miss Elizabeth. Ric Flair is in your company, and a real POS heel with massive heat. Instead of doing the logical thing, which would have your main event be Savage vs. Flair for the belt, Savage wins, fans go wild, feel good ending. No brainer right? Instead, the genius, Vince, booked Hogan vs. Sid Justice, in a worthless non-title bout, with a clusterfuck ending and botched run-ins, as his main event. A real clunker, snore-fest, anticlimactic ending to your show. An idiotic decision. Many more such blunders to point out in between, but fast forward to 1994/5. Your new "guy", after your company almost going under due to your steroid BS, is Bret "The Hitman" Hart, a non-roided, no nonsense, hard working everyman wrestler. And also arguably the greatest technical guy of the modern age. You've literally built him into your new top star (with one really pointless last hurrah for Hogan along the way). You're building your company around Bret, and then out of nowhere, boom, you have Bret get beat by aging legend Bob Backlund. Which is fine on the surface, Backlund could have had a great "Crazy heel" run as champion, before eventually losing the belt back to Bret. But instead of doing that, you turn right around, and disrespect poor Backlund by having him lose the title, within seconds like a total bitch, to Diesel of all people, on a non-televised house show. Vince had his WORLD title, held by a legend of the business, change hands on a house show, in seconds. Then Vince, the genius, decided to keep the belt on Diesel for over a YEAR. A period that saw the lowest money modern WWF ever made. I could go on and on, including pointing out that Vince chose the biggest ego/douchebag in the business, HBK, who couldn't draw for shit as champion in 1996, over his hard working, loyal guy Hart, in 1997. Instead of sticking to the deal HE negotiated with Hart, to keep Hart around for years as a wrestler, and then backstage guy, he reneged and told Hart to take WCW's money. He backed the wrong horse, as Hart could have continued being a valuable top guy in the WWF for a few years, instead going with the go HBK, who was already burning himself out with drugs BEFORE injuring his back and having to retire. Genius move. The point is, Vince McMahon had some good ideas, yes. But he also had a lot of really BAD ones too. He has never been a genius. Far from it.
But technically he is, since in 1980 the UDTs were incorporated into the SEALS and retroactively, all pre-1980 UDTs are also technically considered SEALS because of that.
Favorite awa the Crusher Also saw Dr X broken leg tear through his tights as Stevens and Bockwinkle repeatedly slammed it around a corner post. The scream was loud. Mid 1970s
From what I can gather, Verne sucked his new blood dry and that was why they went to Vince and Verne was unable to keep up with the times. Greg Gagne can say Jesse and Hogan and Mean Gene screwed them all he wants but the Gagnes put themselves out of business.
I think that the Awa had the Minnesota connection. The Anderson Brothers, the Hennings ,rude, road warriors, berserker, Greg gonya, and Rick Flair. Minnesota is where men are made. I even think Brock Lesner is from there
Ventura said in another interview that he didn’t care to call himself a SEAL anymore after the Chris Kyle defamation lawsuit. I know that punch story was a lie but Ventura can’t help himself when it comes to still calling himself a SEAL even though he was actually UDT a Navy Frogman and never saw combat. A fact that he admitted to in a 2002 interview after leaving office in Minnesota.
I could listen to him all day the story he could tell i hear be quite dont talk to the vets but then how am i to learn jesse seem like he be the man in a locker room Jesse The Body venture for president
The Body is dead on. The AWA had the necessary talent to be competitive for a while with the WWF and NWA. I say a while. Eventually it still would have come to what we know today. And thats unfortunate. Both Crockett and Gagne didn't have Vince McMahon insight and drive .
Crockett and Gagne didn’t have the vision that McMahon had. If Crockett stays in the South(mainly the Carolinas) and doesn’t force expansion, he’s got something McMahon can’t touch. Same thing with Gagne In Minneapolis. Reacting to McMahon and trying to promote in NY was a waste of resources. Control your own back yard and it works out.
I have a world of respect for Jessie. I love hearing him talk about this or that. I would trust what he says. And when a Navy SEAL says a guy is tough, you better believe he is.
I used to go to AWA and WWF shows in the San Francisco Bay Area in the mid-80s. AWA would do their shows in the 10,000 seat Cow Palace and draw maybe 1000. WWF would do their shows in the 14,000 Oakland Coliseum Arena and would always sell out.
What’s the difference between the WWF taking AWA guys and WCW taking WWF guys? Answer None yet WWE puts all this bs out crying about WCW taking their talent back in the day and stealing their gimmicks yet WWF did the same thing to the territories.
@@HellsFury-fu3qk Not really, beyond Hogan, actually. WCW, for better and for worse, made big use out of names like Hogan, Savage, Hall, Nash, Luger, etc.
It's funny how the comments on this video people say Vince was good getting with the times then on other vids from midsouth, awa people are upset people Vince "stole talent" and ruined wrestling. Regardless Wrestling would evolve and if Vince didn't do it, someone else would have come in and would do it. The territory model wasn't going to survive with cable tv coming.
Haha I think people like to point out that Vince cried like a bitch when WCW did exactly the same to him many years later. That's probably why so many die hard anti WWE guys go on about this.
Why would he at that point? When your employer was only willing to make your champion if you were willing to take what was effectively a paycut for a belt that’s only famous because the owner held it 10x & Stan Hansen ran over it with his truck because the owner wasn’t very fond of his talent having deals in Japan, why bother when those true colors came out?
@MemphoWrasslin1 yeah that's messed up. I used to watch all that stuff when I was around 7. I remember liking Hogan and he disappeared one day. The AWA was pretty watchable. I thought the production was better, tv wise.and they had good characters. I believe they all got swallowed because they were married to tradition. They all had a code that they lived by. Vince was just a ruthless guy that didnt care about their ethics. When Vince decided to go global, there really wasn't anything anyone couldve offered Hogan. The real question is who gets credit for Hulkamania? 🤣😂
Lot of promoters had the problem of passing the torch to younger talent. HAD awa done and focused on improving the promotion rather than competing with WWF they might still be around.
He’s so pompous and full of himself. I hate how he brings that up in every interview! It’s confirmed on the Military website that he never saw any combat and was stationed in the Philippines throughout the Vietnam war. He always uses that to try and alpha male a people. He’s clearly insecure about his service.
Vern's problem was he believed he could always make other stars, he was one of the best trainers in the business and he was sure he would just stamp out more, after all he had been doing it for 3 decades, but he could not make them as fast as the WWF stole them.
You dont steal people who willingly go elsewhere. That narrative is so dumb. Free agents become available because their previous employers didnt lock them up or have something enticing to re sign. The bitching about McMahon is laughable.
@MemphoWrasslin1 Yes Vince had more resources, however Vern probably had the second best territory outside of the WWWF. Vern had Chicago, Milwaukee, Minneapolis, San Francisco etc. Certainly he had a better territory than the NWA.
@MemphoWrasslin1 He could have focused on entertainment and not just a wrestling exhibition, he could have made more of a "Show", he could have paid people more, he could have secured venues. BUT HE DIDN'T. Vince is a promoter, Verne was a wrestler that promoted.
Wrestlers get paid to wrestle. I’d jump ship too if someone offered me more money and exposure. With no health insurance or guarantee you’ll be able to keep making money from one match to the next, you take the big money. That was one cool aspect of old school wrestling, guys could take their name and talent wherever and it was fun and exciting for wrestling fans too.
That's because while tons of promoters were shady, even underhanded, they all abided by the rules of pro wrestling territories that had existed for decades. IE: don't poach talent, don't try to run shows outside your territory. Vince Jr. had no regard for any of that. He won, because he poached the hell out of talent, and ran whereever he felt like. He practically stole TV deals out from under local territories, so they had nothing and went under. All so he could build his grand empire. Don't get me wrong, in some ways the 80s WWF "Golden Age" was great. In some ways, it was cool to see all of those big stars under one roof (even though he didn't always use all of them like he should have, something he still suffers from). He also undeniably helped bring wrestling more mainstream popularity. But the downside of that, is that he helped kill off a lot of places for wrestlers to work and make decent money. He screwed a LOT of people over (promoters/owners and wrestlers alike), and did a ton of damage along the way. And he also helped proliferate the juiced, jacked up body builder trend in pro wrestling that lasted for years. Vince was no genius, and certainly no saint. He was just ballsy and, frankly, ruthless. He won because he was willing to break tradition and do what no one else dared to do before him.
The AWA failed because Vern was an old school wrestling traditionalist"times and styles were changing and it was becoming entertaining but he refused to evolve.
In 1979, a new pro wrestling publication hit newsstands and magazine racks across the nation. It was Pro Wrestling Illustrated. When the first issue went to press, Verne Gagne was ranked at #2 in the now defunct American Wrestling Association.
any company that tries to compete against wwe. need to listen to that small statement jesse said protect your backyard....any so call" national" promotion need to carve out 3-4 state territory first build a circuit of 28- 32 cities rotate every 21 to 30 days working program the 6-8 biggest rotate every month for a big supershow build up got to flip it back from Tv rating to back to building house shows that can make money. just right venue, and talent development. 6mo to a year. then venture out doing hot spots tours then coming back to your base area for 60- 90 days as a period to get a cap on expenses and not get you talent over worked.....i dont caRE if u wwe dirt league of wrestling you can make money and grow yes its old fashion. but its tried true. wwe the largest in the biz biggest complaint rating down houses down....want big houses have quality shows where something happen....no title changes at arena shows anymore.....if i know for a fact not even the 24 7 title not going to be drop..why watch tv why go to a show..........
Sounds like what you're saying is, keep it interesting. I agree 100%! WWE Wrestling nowadays has gotten too stale and boring. Ratings are dropping, morale is at its lowest point ever...and now, thanks to Coronavirus, there's no one allowed, audience-wise, at any of their events! Let's see how long WWE survives all of this!!!
They can actually go on for years. Thats for sure...but its not theyre too big. They out of balance...vince says he does not promote wrestling but sports entertainment. Well its not been so entertaining. With this multi media age. They can rebound face and quick...wwe sports information dept sucks dirty hyena penis. Also its production. Its last house show should be setting up raw and smackdown should be settin up house shows for the week....
Say what you want about the body but hes a helluva entertainer and will go down as a hall of Famer for his contributions to the awa and commentary in wwf
basically Verne didn't see the writing on the wall in the mid 80's and ran it like a bnusiness like the McMahons is doing and did and how it was run in the South
In the early eighties, the AWA had the best roster. Too bad that Verne Gagne let his ego and greed get the best of him. That's why Hogan, Ventura, Heenan, One round, Sgt. Slaughter and many more of his guys jumped ship over to Vince McMahon and the WWF. And can't blame them one bit.
Nick Bockwinkel once stated that he only worked 3 and a half days a week in the AWA, the money that Vince offered talent came at a cost in terms of living on the road 300 days of the year.
As soon as Vince had Hogan and other talent he could utilize that as leverage with the banks to grow his business nationally, which gave him more and more dollars to pick off the remaining talent. From what I understand Vince rarely took time off and never went on vacation, he outworked and outsmarted the old wrestling business model.
Yes but Bockwinkel got paid! Ventura and others would have stuck around maybe if they had been paid fairly.
Verne was too behind in the times. He had the pieces before the WWF did not remained stuck in the past. Instead of riding Hulk Hogan he wanted to stick with a fifty year old Nick Bockwinkel. You had a red hot Hogan coming off Rocky 3. Verne could've marketed him and ridden him and the AWA to the moon. He didn't know how and Vince did.
Yeah he could have had Hogan come in off of the Rocky hype and just clobber Bockwinkle.
He could have had the Rocky and Bullwinkle.....wait Bockwinkle war.
You are right. Verne and Greg did not keep up with the times.
As for Vince McMahon, I gotta give the Devil his due! Jesse's right-Vince knew how to do things, and Verne Gagne didn't. You don't expect to take a Nick Bockwinkel, and match him up against a younger and much more powerful man like Hulk Hogan! Jesse's right about Warfare, too. You don't go into battle on the enemies turf. You don't know what you're getting into. Financially speaking, the WWF at that time was much better prepared to go to war (so to speak), than the AWA was. Also:Now that I have heard just how greedy Verne Gagne was, taking Money from his own Wrestlers, just so he and his son Greg could go on vacation...what was he thinking?!? You don't take money out of the pocket of somebody like Jesse Ventura, cheat him, and expect him to stay in the AWA. Jesse did the right thing, and went to the WWF. I wonder if there were any other Wrestling Organizations that did their Wrestlers like that by promising them a certain part of the Gate (Money), then went, and ripped off their Wrestlers by taking part of the monies promised to the Wrestlers, and made off with it?!? Verne Gagne apparently wasn't the ""Nice guy" that a lot of people made him out to be. If he did that to his own Wrestlers, then he was a Crook, and he's frying down in Hell now! If Greg knew anything about this, and just went along with it, then that makes him an accessory after the fact! No wonder the AWA went under! I myself would've never wrestled for a guy that, if those rumors were true, was as crooked as a barrel of fishhooks!!!
Verne supposedly wanted to give Hogan the AWA belt only with the latter surrendering part of his revenue from his Japan visits (likely a huge sum) & rumored things like being married to his daughter.
Vince comes along and says to Hogan, “here’s money that’s more than what Verne & Japan could ever give you!”, then Verne is still wondering what happened for the past 20 years!
@@ronaldshank7589 Verne was old school. When I watch videos of old matches, they seem boring now. Verne and Greg (who was never convincing) should have been innovators but never saw the writing on the wall.
Verne, thought he was bigger than the business as a whole. 1. Pay your talent 2. Bring in a develop new talent. 3. Hire people smarter than yourself. He promoted himself, his son and guys like Vachon, Von Rascke and Bockwinkle. During this time he had Perfect, Scott Hall, Hogan, Rick Rude, Flair, The Road Warriors all pass through his organization.
Raice Bannon hell half the stars from the 70s and 80s came through Minnesota. Can’t say he didn’t have an eye of talent or couldn’t train talent.
Eddie Sharkey ran Verne's school for a time in the 1970s and trained the second wave of Verne's supposed trainees, guys like Bob Backlund and Paul Ellering. He had a falling out with Verne, left the business and became a bartender. The Road Warriors, Rude, Darsow and others came into the business through meeting Sharkey at the bar and were trained in the basement of a church. Despite being in Minnesota, it seemed to me that Sharkey went out of his way to discourage any of them from working for Verne. Most of them got their start either with Ole Anderson or Bill Watts.
Pay your talent, yes, but how about at least SIGN your talent???
@@leomdk939 Verne just didn't understand that the business was evolving and failed to evolve with it. He was stuck in the 1960s business model of wrestling while Vinnie Mac was changing the face of pro wrestling altogether with his own business model.
Pretty sure McMahon thought the same about bigger than the whole, in fact he did.
Bobby Heenan was known as the last one who left Verne Gagne's AWA promotion. Heenan being respectful of business worked all his dates as was written in his contract to fulfil. Then he left in early to mid 1984 for the WWF, mostly lots had already left and had gone to WWF or the NWA. Despite having the Road Warriors and the newly crowned Rick Martel as AWA World Champion (who defeated Jumbo Tsuruta) AWA didn't have too many colourful characters who'd brighten up the company the same way the WWF and NWA adapted to modern times.
After the AWA title reigns of Curt Hennig and Jerry 'The King' Lawler many said this was the company's downspiral as mostly everyone either wanted to go to the WWF or NWA/WCW.
Bobby was a stand up man
MGSBigBoss77, hadn’t AWA and NWA merged at one point? Wasn’t that when the Freebirds were there and feuding with the Road Warriors?
@@willieholmes1483 AWA merged with Memphis and Dallas but it was too little too late
@@willieholmes1483
Uh no.
@@merleshand2442
Uh no. Jerry Jarrett, who ran Memphis, bought out the Von Erich's, who ran Dallas. There was no merger with the AWA. Verne simply went out of business in January 1991.
One thing that holds true about Gagne - there is absolutely no one in the wrestling business that developed more stars in history . Once guy's wrestled in the AWA or were trained by Verne they were really for any territory (From Florida to Oregon to Japan)
Absolutely true. Ric Flair and Ricky Steamboat ruled MACW 3 years out of Verne’s camp. Why? Because he taught them how to wrestle and they were able to learn the business from a guy who had success as a wrestler and promoter.
Buddy Rose, Ken Patera, Iron Sheik
What also holds true is that he is still one of the most egotistic in wrestling, second only to hogan.
@@popeyedoyle6360 Sargeant Slaughter(Super Destroyer II)
@@popeyedoyle6360 Hulk Hogan
Back in the day the AWA had a loaded roster
W.B. Jones I grew up in the late 70s early 80s in Minnesota. It was the only wrestling I knew until my parents got cable around 1984 and I got exposed Georgia Championship Wrestling and the WWF.
Gene Bone Third largest city in this country is Chicago. Plenty of good markets in that AWA area. I also believe San Francisco was also part of it. And for the record American citizens aren’t moving to NYC or the northeast. Or even California. They are moving to the warmer lower cost states.
Arguably the greatest roster ever assembled
Watchin that awa documentary DVD wwe put ut several years back.. awa was practically wwf before wwf was. They had the talent, most of whom would jump to new York. Its amazing to think what they did with the right vision
Ya man. Good times. Good old days
A lot of wrestlers said the same thing about Verne, too old school, wouldn't change. That's the only reason why he failed.
So when he put the belt on Bockwinkel, were crowd sizes equally as large before Hogan became challenger? And once Hogan's chase of Bockwinkel ended and ultimately failed, did he seriously have Rick Martel or Curt Hennig in line to formally take the belt?
Heck, what was the crowd sizes & gates when HE held his own belt? They must keep that data around somewhere!
@MemphoWrasslin1 Vince had vision and declared war before Verne even realized what was happening, as dude was indeed a "little lord" thinking his kingdom was safe from the modern-day PT Barnum.
@MemphoWrasslin1 Nobody tried to "go national" and make it like the circus, ice-skating, boxing, MLB, NBA or NFL, though unlike these leagues, Vinny had daddy's legacy already ready to leverage vs. what he told the ESPN guys as if he defeated those "little lords" like Verne all on his own with just hard work and vision.
@MemphoWrasslin1 At the same time, having substantial capital isn't a guarantee for success, but does give you a headstart. The only time Vinny couldn't simply use money to stifle the competition was when Ted Turner and his billions gave him a taste of his own medicine in the 90's, though looking back, that story of him being a collosal underdog to WCW is likely another WWF "woe is me" given that we now also know that Vince laying ground work to "go public" around the time Bret Hart got screwed.
That happens to the best really. Don Owens in the Pacific Northwest, Nick Gulas in Memphis, Toots Mondt in New York, Bick the Bruiser in Indianapolis, The Sheik in Detroit, and possibly Vince Jr. now, they get too set in their ways, in what worked 30 years ago, they don't see what's happening now.
I watched this video
Now I'm a sexual tyrannosaurus
“Puts big wad of Tobacco in mouth”
Jesse I realized that you were a heel but you're one of the better people in the sport as I know that titles would've come your way if injuries didn't cripple your career
And a wonderful person as well. Go Navy
Verne was still trying to sell Nick Bockwinkle as Champ in mid 80s. He just didnt have the vision to change and Greg was too weak a personality to take charge of his dad's business.
To be fair....Bockwinkel was getting up there in years by that point (almost 50 years old) but his stature as Champ should not be questioned. He was arguably one of the greatest Champs of any Territory....and yes, I'm including Flair in that comparison. Bock could wrestle anybody no matter what style and still make it believable and good, not to mention he's in the Top 5 of best Promo guys ever.
I agree that Verne should have had Bockwinkel drop the title to Hogan and see where Hogan would have taken it, business-wise....would have been interesting. Greg did try to change his Dad's viewpoint near the end of the 80's but by then.....it was too late. I remember Larry Nelson saying something to that effect, anyway. Verne was just too stubborn and too reliant on what made his Territory great in the 60's and 70's.
So, I guess I'm agreeing with your statement, although keeping the title on Bockwinkel, although it was a poor decision in hindsight seeing Hogan's Mega-Stardom happen soon afterwards...wasn't exactly the end of the world. Verne's missed opportunity might explain why he eventually put the belt on Rick Martel, who was a great worker and young and handsome and all that stuff.
Nick could still put on an excellent match in 1988 (when he more or less retired).
I assumed that the matches were taking a toll on his body and he retired for that reason.
Greg was too weak period. Dude was maybe 215 pounds soaking wet. And Bockwinkle looked like he was in his late 50s back in the eighties.
Anyways we all know Rock N Roll Buck Zumhofe should have been champ.
Bockwinkel could work, plus he could trust Nick. Verne had a 30 year run and it was over. Not sure he could have protected Minneapolis, interesting theory though.
Verne and Greg always give off the Narrative that "Everybody Screwed Them" where from Jesse To Hulk Hogan to Eric Bischoff have pretty much said "Verne screwed Verne" no one else
Knowing Jesse's political background and basically how straight forward he is , it's sooo cool and awesome how he talks about his time in the business and how the business works/run like he survived a war that was meant to be loss. Or I how different/unique it was . You know what I'm saying lol you can see it in his face and in the way hes talking . He loves wrestling
Jesse Ventura never served in any war.
@@Jim-Tuner you say that like it’s shameful.
@@MiningForPies Its the pretending and shading the truth that Jesse does that is shameful.
Its also that he spent so many years in the US military during the Vietnam War and never served in Vietnam,
Scott Hall said it best: “I don’t wanna be the captain of a sinking ship”.
AWA had Hogan in a great situation to challenge Vince & Jim Crockett, but ultimately never realized he was a territory battling a massive invading force whose home is well-protected, or otherwise Iron Sheik would’ve really broken Hogan’s leg & stolen the WWF belt back to Minnesota.
@@rlouie05 Hogan getting the belt would have really sparked the AWA. He was that guy.
@@MrSmitty1074 I remember getting WTBS during the 80's and was fasinated by the NWA & WCW, then saw Verne's AWA on ESPN, while Vince's show was on USA along with several terrestrial channels on weekends with low & mid-card stars squashing jobbers usually. This continued in the 90's when I somehow got a few WCCW shows, SMW, USWA, GWF and staying up late night to watch ECW.
Besides Hogan, Scott Hall was one of the first performers who made it obviously clear to me that wrestling is a work when he debuted in WCW as Diamond Studd, then became Cuban in WWF as Razor Ramon!
I was a huge AWA fan i started watching wrestling in 1984. I would have loved to see the territories survive. With all due respect it is my understanding that many promoters ruled with an iron first. They could be extremely difficult to work for. Add on to that the talent felt underpaid. maybe some of them wanted to be loyal. However they took a chance with Vince. Ironically, this is just my opinion, it seems to me that almost every promotion is it's own worst enemy. Thank you rant over
From everything I've heard, the best promoters to work for back in the day, were Don Owen in Portland, and Stu Hart in Calgary. They were honest, and fair, for the most part. Treated their guys well. Third, so I understand, was Vince Sr. He could be a real cheapskate at times, but he was fair, and fairly honest. Unlike Vince Jr.
I forget he was a SEAL. You all know you can only be invited to do that. Best of the best in the Navy. The best units in the US military. Explains his confidence and drive. Honour. He wanted to quit f2f but followed orders after a short consideration. Always will be a fan of Jesse the body Ventura
LOL, be invited. I think you have the Navy SEALS confused with Delta Force. SEAL application is open to every male US citizen aged 17-27, including civilians, retirees and former active duty. You can apply on their website ffs. There's nothing mystical about volunteering for SEAL duty; it's the part about being the 20-30% of candidates who pass the training A-Z that gets a little tricky.
On the other hand, Delta Force is the program that typically requires recommendation from a CO, prior Special Forces/Rangers experience, and has a 98% washout rate (about 2% of candidates pass training.) You can spot the difference between former SEALs and former Delta Force operatives in that Delta Force retirees don't generally write a series of tell-all biographies they've authored immediately after leaving service, unlike the SEALs.
@@RockandrollNegro why is that. All that join in Australia are considered and chosen to take the tests. I naturally assumed you guys would watch and invite to suffer for the best training like we do. You do come here to train. Regarding that seeing as no-one else wants to say it, The 3 marines including the female captain pilot that crashed and burned in the VTOL should not have happened. That offspray had just been to the gold coast air show and was pulling maneuvers exceeding the engineering tolerances automatically putting it out of service for engineering diagnostics for a month as is required under owhs requirements here in Australia where the law regarding that cannot be broken for safety reasons. Someone ordered those unbreakable rules to be ignored and 3 marines paid with their lives. What excuse can anyone use(it was only training for fucks sake) that allows this. Who ordered it is accountable.
Verne should have put the belt on Hogan. He was really over. He kept pushing guys that were over the hill. He had the Road Warriors and the Freebirds. He didn't change with the times.
Steve Smith you know your history,awa was loaded but Vern was stuckin his old ways.
Classic example of missing the boat, eh? My god Verne had a better chance of winning than Ted Turner and let it all go to hell.
Jim Crockett too
Old school wrestling is the best. WWE is trash.
Verne also tried pushing Road Warriors as bad guys, they were the most over good guy tag team in history.
Pretty much why Hogan said he left. Verne was insisting on a piece of Hogan's Japan money and the tee shirts Hulk was selling. Verne didn't see what was going on. If he did like Jesse said he wouldn't been giving instead of trying to take.
Verne wanted his "Taste"of monies not contractually owed to him. Now that's dirty on Verne's part!
Yeah Verne didn’t realize that he couldn’t rule with an iron fist like he had for decades
Sadly Awa and WCW had the Same problem because they only promoted people who were over the hill.
@Ryan Sondalle AEW isn't much better lol
Verne did his deals with a handshake. He didn't keep up with the current times and couldn't compete with a showman like Vince.
Current times meant an AHole from the east coast
toben42 Verne could legit choke Jesse out
Cray Ray. 1) I highly doubt that and 2) What the fuck does that have to do with anything?
@@Musiclover19 Verne was a genius in the ring but a mental midget when it came to running a business.
Don't pick fights with old guys. They will mess you up if you underestimate them.
@@gopherstate777 Don't know about that, as little Vinny ate repeated beatings by his stepfather to protect his mother, though dude was likely exaggerating at best.
Watch the Full Jesse Ventura Shoot Instantly 🔥
Become a Title Match Master Today ⬇
ruclips.net/channel/UCL-SpA6XXf282YMAelest8wjoin
There it is! "I was a Navy SEAL."
Haha. No interview with Jesse would be complete without it. 😉
"¡¡¡Always take care of your OWN backyard BEFORE you venture into the enemies territory!!!"
Jessie Ventura
😎👉
@@supermanbatman4992 Yeah. Jesse spent the whole Vietnam war guarding the backyard and not venturing into enemy territory.
@@Jim-Tuner LOL. I'm sure though that if they tried to invade his territory... JESSIE WOULD'VE GAVE THEM A WHOOP ASS!! 😆👉
Greg invented the Navy Seals.
One of my all time favorite stories is Jessie telling Vince that he was going to tell Verne face to face that he was jumping and Vince said to him"Wait Til Our First Show There I Wanna Be Able To See That"lol
Ventura actually debuted with Vince about a month prior to that June 17 card in Bloomington, Minnesota.
He was a good governor of MN
@Wardfish1150 He will NEVER run.
@@scottdavidson9963 With good reason his ass would be assassinated. He won't toe the line like all these others do. All of them talk of change until they get into that position then it's a different story. Jesse would bring change, so they would want him out quicker than Kennedy!
@@Demerest003 U got it.
1:22 ----> A Good Gem that all people need to learn here. 💯💯💯💯💯
"Always take care of your own Backyard, before you venture into the Enemy Territory."
Jesse is the best wrestling announcer of all time with all respect to Solie and Ross. Jesse was the guy with charisma and voice
I'd put Bobby Heenan im there too. I loved Jesse's commentary because he always called out the hypocrisy of the play by play guy for always siding with the good guy. I loved Bobby's because he was just funny as hell.
@@TRivera13 The Brain is my favorite!
Always got a kick out of him calling Tito Santana "Chico", which boggles my mind when people say it's racist. Calling Koko B Ware "Buckwheat" was tasteless though.
@@rlouie05 "Chico" is Spanish for "little boy", literally. But it's in the same context as when Black men are called "boy". So yes it is racist.
@@rlouie05 Jesse went to Koko and asked if it was okay to call him Buckwheat. Koko didn't mind.
I grew up in Minnesota with some descendants of the Gagne family. Freakishly strong guys but unfortunately they also adopted the poor business habits of Verne and the ethical side of things. These guys were actually very close friends of mine (were being the key word) and hearing these stories it all makes sense.
Were they good wrestlers or athletes in school?
@@Jahn_Pah_Jonz Yes! The freakiest part of them was how strong and muscular they were in 8th and 9th grade. The younger brother could walk into a liquor store and not get carded 9 out of ten times when he was 16. Intimidating and older look.
@@salvitoripopadillo4539 They probably knew he was a Gagne lol
@@colourfaze86 No the area is way too big and populated. It would be funny though. I've seriously never met a young man like Jeremy. He was an absolute Freak! His mom was Greg's sister. He was bench pressing 225 (free weights two plates) in 8th grade and he was shredded with naturally tan skin. Not a fatty. Girls would rape him. He was one of my best friends for many years and in my wedding party. Sad ending to a lot of these families though. His dad fell of a roof working several years ago and died a week later. 😥🙏My prayers for their family. They really are good hearted people the Riedells!
I’m 54 so I caught most of the end of AWA and the rise of WWF. Vince’s product had a glitz to it! Tuxedos. Cartoony,wasn’t so bloody and puresist. It was fun to watch! Wider appeal. That’s why! Wasn’t better wrestling. Actually the matches became very short....compared to old school. Verne and Nick could go for a long time.....and have 30 moves each,...and they had similar moves! Very fluid matches. Camera was from only one angle. Again WWF was better. But AWA produced the greatest talent. Of any organization. Jesse as you can see understood Verne. No big surprise. He picked his time. Tide was just right! It’s a business....and friendship or at least respect. Tough balance. Dusty Roads said it was abit like the mafia. Nobody came in...Nobody knew exactly who to trust..wild tales! If Jesse could tell ya rumors and story’s......he would be great.......and probably sued. Like many...many fine wrestlers.
Verne Gagne was also an underwater demolition team (now called the SEALs), and Gagne was also from MN. These 2 have a lot in common.
This is not exactly accurate. The frogmen were essentially incorporated into the Seal units in 1980. However there was a distinction between the two occupational specialties during the time Jesse served. Having said that, he did graduate from BUDS.
@@ahf5471 And retroactively, the frogmen pre-1980 are now considered SEALS, so yes, he is a Navy SEAL.
Verne was?
Verne Gagne pushed his son too much, And thought small, I loved to watch all the wrestling programs as a kid, But McMahon thought years down the line, he planned for everything, He was vicious and brutal, Cutthroat... Nobody stood a chance back then.
Turner did, for about a decade...
I grew-up in northern-Illinois watching AWA All-Star Wrestling on Sundays. Always a dimly-lit high-school gym & other production eyesores. But it was awesome .. like punk-rock. Flaws & all.
What wrestling became by the mid-80’s was amazing.
What a lamo.
@@rosspatterson131 You’re mom finds me exciting, incel.
@@rosspatterson131 Fake-name, no subscribers … I’m betting you’re a loser of monumental proportions.
Have mommy run your meds down to the basement to you. I think you’re cycling-up, spaz.
As much as I didn't care too much for Jesse Ventura, I have to admit, he has a valid point of what went on in the business, I really respect him for that, it was messed up on how he got screwed by the AWA (Verne Gagne).
"You be the judge."
I can see where Sasso gets his material with The Body
"I know how to fight wars."
Says the man that legitimately passed the BUDS, but never saw combat.
Jesse Ventura looks like if Larry David and Coach had a kid together
Phenominal athlete, Great Actor, Smart guy, and a dang interesting Governor. Who could ask for more..
Verne had such a large territory that he should’ve just accepted losing San Francisco, Vegas, Colorado, and areas like that. He would’ve been more well off to control the Midwest. Keeping a tight control on Chicago and Minneapolis.
And Milwaukee and Omaha.
Denver and SLC were good AWA towns. The AWA never really caught fire in SF and Oakland.
@@ruckanitepreacher5618 Winnipeg.
Jesse was smart.
I don't blame Jesse leaving the awa.
Awa had talent, Verne seemed cheap and pushed older guys.
Adapt or perish! That's what happened to the AWA! They had the talent, should have paid them, adapted to the times and who knows....
Exactly, Jesse's warfare analogy about protecting his own backyard wasn't quite accurate, it'd be more accurate to say you don't take on an Abrams while still relying on a Sherman. You have to move with the times.
Exactly my ass, you clowns don't have a clue.
Seriously, did Verne just not see the massive payoff with Hogan as champion or did he really thought people were there to see Bockwinkel & his advanced vocabulary to go with his great moveset?
The heel eventually needed to be caught & he already had at least two instances of how crowds flocked to the arenas for each Dusty finish with Hogan winning.
Pay them with what money? This is like suggesting that ROH and Impact should be paying guys 7 figure salaries like the WWE does. They don't have that kind of money and neither did Verne at the time.
Probably, by the time that Jesse's talking about, Vern already knew that Jesse was bolting to the WWF and he didn't see any point to cutting him more money. Vern was just trying to hold onto every last dollar before shutting down.
Didn't Vince hire Vern in the WWF/WWE after that?
Wait.......... Jesse Ventura was a Navy Seal????? Get right out of town!!!!! Next I'll find out he was a governor!!!
Hey was mayor and governor of Minnesota
Also Sargent at arms of the Mongols Motorcycle club.
@@tonypuryear1638 Ventura can't do an interview without telling you "I was a Navy SEAL." The guy was a UDT Diver that never served a day on an active duty SEAL team.
@@173rdskysoldier5 Military ragging on military. Same ol' song and dance.
@@AxelLaw Yeah they ALWAYS have to measure their dicks.
I always liked Jesse "I skipped Leg Day" Ventura.
Jesse left the WWF in June of 82 and returned in the summer of 1984. It was NOT 6 months like he stated . He has his dates mistaken. 0:14
Jesse the Body one of the greatest of all time. Thanks for the upload
Presley 17 raided that talent dry as hell
That's what they said at Plato's Retreat. A wife swapping legend.
"I'm a navy seal" was that Will Sasso?! LOL
When Jesse mentioned Mr Saito, I thought immediately of that “smoking jacket” promo botch
I would love a complete sit down with him about the business and all that
There are plenty all over RUclips.
Say what you want to about The Body but I think he's a straight up man who needs to be respected!
I used to love watching awa ,then the talented started leaving, they banned using top rope then they started that whole team thing where you win by points it started getting worse.
Verne seemingly wrecked the AWA.
Verne had two problems, in this order. He was cheap/greedy as a booker. Because he was cheap/ greedy as a booker, he didn’t trust most of his talent to put the belt on them because he thought they’d leave, which they ended up doing anyway. I can’t recall the name of the event, but Verne did a collaboration crossover with the NWA that could have been something. From what I’ve heard, it failed because Verne played with the money and payouts.
When you look at the huge number of future hall of famers that came through Minnesota, there’s no reason that company couldn’t have lasted longer than it did, and been relevant. If Verne treated those guys better and payed them what they deserved, they would have been more loyal and he could have trusted them to do what’s good for the company. He would have had more options in the late 70’s and 80’s to put the belt on other guys whose last name wasn’t Bockwinkle or Gagne.
You are referring to the infamous "SuperClash" cards. SuperClash III was the most notorious since Jerry Lawler entered as AWA Champion, won a unification match with the WCCW Champion Kerry Von Erich, & then never really defended it since Verne never paid Lawler for his services. The CWA & WCCW would merge to create the USWA (recognizing Lawler as their champion), while the AWA would strip Lawler of their World Title & put it on Gagne son-in-law Larry Zbyszko.
Vince did much worse to AWA then he bitched and moaned about WCW doing to him..
Yeah Verne could have had Hogan come in off of the Rocky hype and just clobber Bockwinkle.
He could have had the Rocky and Bullwinkle.....wait Bockwinkle war, but Verne kinda of like Vince's father were stuck in the old times. That destroyed the AWA. Now the same is happening with the WWE. Vince is not changing.
Bingo
ventura is a class act
AWA died because Verne was too busy trying to put the belt back on himself.
Hexkwondo Verne wasn't trying to put the belt on himself towards the end. His list of champions during that time is proof. Now maybe trying to put it on Greg is more like it. Otto Wanz, Jumbo Tsuruta, Rick Martel, Stan Hansen, Nick Bockwinkel, Curt Hennig, Jerry Lawler, Larry Zybyszko, Sgt. Slaughter, Mr. Saito. If Verne wanted it back on him, he would have done it somewhere between those guys.
Bockwinkle was 89 years old and he kept giving him the belt. How long did it take the midnight rockers too get the belts from rose and summers? He had a young girl fan base that could have rivaled those who cheered for the von Erich's and those that cheered for ricky and Robert, and he stuck with the older guys for to long. Yeah it was a great moment when they won, but all that time could Jane been spent growing a younger audiece. I mean their wrestling figures was dope, but the marketing was bad as well yell
As good of a wrestler and promo that Bockwinkel was, by the mid 80's it was time to move on. Bockwinkel should've been done as champion for good after losing to Jumbo Tsuruta.
Hexkwondo true but AWA is better then most promotions...top 5 of all time
Don't matter... I'm personally going to take Vince to Hell and steam iron his face daily.
Jesse manages to drop his SEAL experience into every conversation. I love him tho!
Wouldn't you lol?
Jesse was UDT, only technically a seal on paper.
I scrolled the comments because i wanted to say the same thing.
Seals, Underwater Demolition, Frogmen are all selected out of the same graduating BUDS class and given their assignments post-graduation.
Even the guy that busts people online for stolen valor said he has no problem with Jesse Ventura calling himself a Seal?
Grungo Funguy he went through buds training and made it through hell week and graduated seal training so he has the right to call himself a seal.
You couldn't do it.
I,sometimes, wonder if Verne and Nick Bockwinkel had some sort of thing going on because he would literally hand Bockwinkel the belt, I looked up the lineage of the title and can only remember one actual time that Nick actually wrestled for the belt every other time it seems like he was awarded the belt, ijs
Verne could trust Nick. He knew that Nick was happy being AWA heel champ when Verne was in contention and great heels draw more money as champs(see Flair). Nick stuck by Verne b/c he was at the tail end of his career. It was just a great business relationship and they respected each other. Nick was a phenomenal talent, but like all wrestlers......he got old and ran out of time as a viable champ.
@@ptothej100 I guess 😎😎😎😎😎
I've also read where Vern spent too much time and effort putting his son Greg over, who has been described as being built more like a golfer than a wrestler. He never really was a major draw.
The High Flyers weren't a draw?
@@curthennig9448 I would argue the draw to that team was mostly Jim Brunzell. I was quoting from an article I read about the demise of AMA.
@@chriskiser4670 The High Flyers did quite well in the mid to late seventies and had great drawing programs with many tag teams. I wouldn't diminish Greg's role in that era. However when he was a singles wrestler in the mid eighties, it wasn't working that well. Of course the whole AWA at that time was a sinking ship.
@@curthennig9448 I was primarily referring to him in singles. Typically wrestlers that are not very big are much better draw with tag teams than they are in singles. And I totally agree with you about the AWA being a sinking ship in the 80's. The late Jerry Jarrett talked about in an interview with Hannibal.
@@chriskiser4670 Not even Rambo Greg Gagne could lift the AWA to greater heights in the summer of 1985.
Jesse Ventura always an interesting interview.
While I have no doubt Vern probably did short them on the payoff, Jesse seems to be talking out of both sides of his mouth too. He says that’s the final straw, but admittedly was going to jump regardless.
I think he meant it cemented to him that he had made the right decision
Verne was greedy. Wouldn't pay his guys fairly and even had the nerve to ask for half of Hulk's Japan money. Listen the the Lapsed Fan podcast Awa series for all the details.
I don't think it was half.
Came face to face with Ventura in Winnipeg arena 1975,or shall I say his face my neck as I am 6' 4" .
smart man, same way company's. should look at it with employee's take care of them... build your company up better product and better production make more money in the long run.
I love listening to the The Body talks
Jesse gives fantastic shoots.
the whole "would this or that territory have lasted if they did x y or z" argument is arbitrary, I think whoever had new york and the northeast was gonna win in the long run regardless, vince just sped up the inevitable
Well said. But at the same time, the AWA had the Chicago, the Twin Cities, Denver... Not one horse towns but formidable media markets. Especially Chicago.
What was remotely inevitable about the WWF taking over? Vince was the only one who had anything close to a team capable of accomplishing that and, even so, the WWF almost drove off the cliff several times...
Kept pushing the older established names while leaving all that terrific young talent to remain on the undercard. Finally the young talent jumped ship to WWF... while the AWA ship sunk. 15 years later, Ted Turner's WCW repeated Verne Gagne's mistake with the AWA.
TNA kinda did the same thing lol
I have a question for Former Gov. Ventura. Why do you not put your name in for President? You would have my vote!
Verne didn't know a thing about running an organization! All he did was script himself to be the champion all the time. He flip-flopped the title between him and Nick Bockwinkel, back and forth. He had a so-called AWA "President," Stanley Blackburn, and a so-called "promoter," Leo Nomellini, but Verne organized everything. Owning a company and making yourself the champion, 20-something times over and over, was stupid. It's a good thing Vince never did that. He's the ultimate business genius in the wrestling world. That's why he ended up a billionaire who bought out all of the other wrestling organizations, drawing their biggest names from their companies to come wrestle for him.
Dumbfuck what Company did you run
A lot of Vince's success was ruthlessness, and luck. If you actually look at some of his decisions over the years, even back in his 80s glory days, you'll realize he's not quite the "genius" many want to believe he is. The dude followed up the massive success of WM1, by NOT putting the belt on the hottest heel in the business at the time, Piper, and having Hogan chase Piper for the belt until WM2, where it could have been Hogan vs. Piper in the cage, no holds barred, Hogan gets his belt back, huge business. Sounds like a no brainer, right? Instead, the genius, Vince, booked Hogan vs.......King Kong Bundy, as he WM2 main event. A real clunker, and an idiotic decision.
There were many other examples to point out in between, but fast forward to WM8. Randy Savage is back wrestling and a huge babyface again with Miss Elizabeth. Ric Flair is in your company, and a real POS heel with massive heat. Instead of doing the logical thing, which would have your main event be Savage vs. Flair for the belt, Savage wins, fans go wild, feel good ending. No brainer right? Instead, the genius, Vince, booked Hogan vs. Sid Justice, in a worthless non-title bout, with a clusterfuck ending and botched run-ins, as his main event. A real clunker, snore-fest, anticlimactic ending to your show. An idiotic decision.
Many more such blunders to point out in between, but fast forward to 1994/5. Your new "guy", after your company almost going under due to your steroid BS, is Bret "The Hitman" Hart, a non-roided, no nonsense, hard working everyman wrestler. And also arguably the greatest technical guy of the modern age. You've literally built him into your new top star (with one really pointless last hurrah for Hogan along the way). You're building your company around Bret, and then out of nowhere, boom, you have Bret get beat by aging legend Bob Backlund. Which is fine on the surface, Backlund could have had a great "Crazy heel" run as champion, before eventually losing the belt back to Bret. But instead of doing that, you turn right around, and disrespect poor Backlund by having him lose the title, within seconds like a total bitch, to Diesel of all people, on a non-televised house show. Vince had his WORLD title, held by a legend of the business, change hands on a house show, in seconds. Then Vince, the genius, decided to keep the belt on Diesel for over a YEAR. A period that saw the lowest money modern WWF ever made.
I could go on and on, including pointing out that Vince chose the biggest ego/douchebag in the business, HBK, who couldn't draw for shit as champion in 1996, over his hard working, loyal guy Hart, in 1997. Instead of sticking to the deal HE negotiated with Hart, to keep Hart around for years as a wrestler, and then backstage guy, he reneged and told Hart to take WCW's money. He backed the wrong horse, as Hart could have continued being a valuable top guy in the WWF for a few years, instead going with the go HBK, who was already burning himself out with drugs BEFORE injuring his back and having to retire. Genius move.
The point is, Vince McMahon had some good ideas, yes. But he also had a lot of really BAD ones too. He has never been a genius. Far from it.
@@Retrorevelations Right on brother!
I refuse to believe that Vince would tell JV to send Gagne a telligram.
He wasn't a SEAL. He was an underwater demolition expert, which was a precursor to the SEALS.
But technically he is, since in 1980 the UDTs were incorporated into the SEALS and retroactively, all pre-1980 UDTs are also technically considered SEALS because of that.
The talent AWA had basically built the WWF in the 80s.
Favorite awa the Crusher
Also saw Dr X broken leg tear through his tights as Stevens and Bockwinkle repeatedly slammed it around a corner post. The scream was loud. Mid 1970s
this is a very telling interview. this is why the awa went down the drain.
From what I can gather, Verne sucked his new blood dry and that was why they went to Vince and Verne was unable to keep up with the times. Greg Gagne can say Jesse and Hogan and Mean Gene screwed them all he wants but the Gagnes put themselves out of business.
I think that the Awa had the Minnesota connection. The Anderson Brothers, the Hennings ,rude, road warriors, berserker, Greg gonya, and Rick Flair. Minnesota is where men are made. I even think Brock Lesner is from there
Ventura said in another interview that he didn’t care to call himself a SEAL anymore after the Chris Kyle defamation lawsuit. I know that punch story was a lie but Ventura can’t help himself when it comes to still calling himself a SEAL even though he was actually UDT a Navy Frogman and never saw combat. A fact that he admitted to in a 2002 interview after leaving office in Minnesota.
Over 50% of a good wrestler, all come from Minnesota
I could listen to him all day the story he could tell i hear be quite dont talk to the vets but then how am i to learn jesse seem like he be the man in a locker room Jesse The Body venture for president
The Body is dead on. The AWA had the necessary talent to be competitive for a while with the WWF and NWA. I say a while. Eventually it still would have come to what we know today. And thats unfortunate. Both Crockett and Gagne didn't have Vince McMahon insight and drive .
Crockett and Gagne didn’t have the vision that McMahon had. If Crockett stays in the South(mainly the Carolinas) and doesn’t force expansion, he’s got something McMahon can’t touch. Same thing with Gagne In Minneapolis. Reacting to McMahon and trying to promote in NY was a waste of resources. Control your own back yard and it works out.
Here's a drinking game: watch 30 minutes of Jesse Ventura videos and everytime he says navy seal, drink
But I don't want to die of alcohol poisoning.
I have a world of respect for Jessie. I love hearing him talk about this or that. I would trust what he says. And when a Navy SEAL says a guy is tough, you better believe he is.
I used to go to AWA and WWF shows in the San Francisco Bay Area in the mid-80s. AWA would do their shows in the 10,000 seat Cow Palace and draw maybe 1000. WWF would do their shows in the 14,000 Oakland Coliseum Arena and would always sell out.
Give me some dates on WWF selling out the Oakland Arena.
What’s the difference between the WWF taking AWA guys and WCW taking WWF guys? Answer None yet WWE puts all this bs out crying about WCW taking their talent back in the day and stealing their gimmicks yet WWF did the same thing to the territories.
My guess is that WWE wound up doing more with the talent poached from AWA
@@HellsFury-fu3qk Not really, beyond Hogan, actually. WCW, for better and for worse, made big use out of names like Hogan, Savage, Hall, Nash, Luger, etc.
@@Retrorevelations besides Hogan and Andre the Giant
It's funny how the comments on this video people say Vince was good getting with the times then on other vids from midsouth, awa people are upset people Vince "stole talent" and ruined wrestling. Regardless Wrestling would evolve and if Vince didn't do it, someone else would have come in and would do it. The territory model wasn't going to survive with cable tv coming.
Haha I think people like to point out that Vince cried like a bitch when WCW did exactly the same to him many years later. That's probably why so many die hard anti WWE guys go on about this.
Hogan was never gonna stay with the AWA, whether he was champion or not. Verne was also trying to take all the merch money too.
Why would he at that point? When your employer was only willing to make your champion if you were willing to take what was effectively a paycut for a belt that’s only famous because the owner held it 10x & Stan Hansen ran over it with his truck because the owner wasn’t very fond of his talent having deals in Japan, why bother when those true colors came out?
@@rlouie05 I wasnt criticising Hogam for that. I just read all the comments saying that Hogam wouldve stayed if he had been champion.
@MemphoWrasslin1 I think a lot of it was Verne wanting a bigger cut of the merch
@MemphoWrasslin1 yeah that's messed up. I used to watch all that stuff when I was around 7. I remember liking Hogan and he disappeared one day. The AWA was pretty watchable. I thought the production was better, tv wise.and they had good characters. I believe they all got swallowed because they were married to tradition. They all had a code that they lived by. Vince was just a ruthless guy that didnt care about their ethics. When Vince decided to go global, there really wasn't anything anyone couldve offered Hogan. The real question is who gets credit for Hulkamania? 🤣😂
When I say the production was better, I meant than most.
Lot of promoters had the problem of passing the torch to younger talent. HAD awa done and focused on improving the promotion rather than competing with WWF they might still be around.
1:30 "I'm a Navy SEAL, I know how to fight wars," says the guy who was not a Navy SEAL and saw no action at all.
He’s so pompous and full of himself. I hate how he brings that up in every interview! It’s confirmed on the Military website that he never saw any combat and was stationed in the Philippines throughout the Vietnam war. He always uses that to try and alpha male a people. He’s clearly insecure about his service.
¡¡¡Always take care of your OWN backyard BEFORE you venture off into the enemies territory!!!
Vern's problem was he believed he could always make other stars, he was one of the best trainers in the business and he was sure he would just stamp out more, after all he had been doing it for 3 decades, but he could not make them as fast as the WWF stole them.
You dont steal people who willingly go elsewhere. That narrative is so dumb. Free agents become available because their previous employers didnt lock them up or have something enticing to re sign. The bitching about McMahon is laughable.
@MemphoWrasslin1 He lost Hulk Hogan because he wouldn't share Hulk merchandise revenue 50/50.
@MemphoWrasslin1 Yes Vince had more resources, however Vern probably had the second best territory outside of the WWWF. Vern had Chicago, Milwaukee, Minneapolis, San Francisco etc. Certainly he had a better territory than the NWA.
@MemphoWrasslin1 THAT was Vern's fault.
Vince put on a better show, while Vern was stuck in the past.
@MemphoWrasslin1 He could have focused on entertainment and not just a wrestling exhibition, he could have made more of a "Show", he could have paid people more, he could have secured venues. BUT HE DIDN'T.
Vince is a promoter, Verne was a wrestler that promoted.
Wrestlers get paid to wrestle. I’d jump ship too if someone offered me more money and exposure. With no health insurance or guarantee you’ll be able to keep making money from one match to the next, you take the big money. That was one cool aspect of old school wrestling, guys could take their name and talent wherever and it was fun and exciting for wrestling fans too.
No one was ready or prepared for vince’s art of war . Everyone was doomed when Vince pulled his sword .
Ted Turner was the only guy to seriously challenge Vince, but little did he know that his checkbook was what would kill WCW of all things.
That's because while tons of promoters were shady, even underhanded, they all abided by the rules of pro wrestling territories that had existed for decades. IE: don't poach talent, don't try to run shows outside your territory. Vince Jr. had no regard for any of that. He won, because he poached the hell out of talent, and ran whereever he felt like. He practically stole TV deals out from under local territories, so they had nothing and went under. All so he could build his grand empire.
Don't get me wrong, in some ways the 80s WWF "Golden Age" was great. In some ways, it was cool to see all of those big stars under one roof (even though he didn't always use all of them like he should have, something he still suffers from). He also undeniably helped bring wrestling more mainstream popularity.
But the downside of that, is that he helped kill off a lot of places for wrestlers to work and make decent money. He screwed a LOT of people over (promoters/owners and wrestlers alike), and did a ton of damage along the way. And he also helped proliferate the juiced, jacked up body builder trend in pro wrestling that lasted for years.
Vince was no genius, and certainly no saint. He was just ballsy and, frankly, ruthless. He won because he was willing to break tradition and do what no one else dared to do before him.
😆
@@rlouie05 🙄
The AWA failed because Vern was an old school wrestling traditionalist"times and styles were changing and it was becoming entertaining but he refused to evolve.
Jesse Ventura was never more that a mid-card wrestler - even when being pushed.
In 1979, a new pro wrestling publication hit newsstands and magazine racks across the nation. It was Pro Wrestling Illustrated. When the first issue went to press, Verne Gagne was ranked at #2 in the now defunct American Wrestling Association.
any company that tries to compete against wwe. need to listen to that small statement jesse said protect your backyard....any so call" national" promotion need to carve out 3-4 state territory first build a circuit of 28- 32 cities rotate every 21 to 30 days working program the 6-8 biggest rotate every month for a big supershow build up got to flip it back from Tv rating to back to building house shows that can make money. just right venue, and talent development. 6mo to a year. then venture out doing hot spots tours then coming back to your base area for 60- 90 days as a period to get a cap on expenses and not get you talent over worked.....i dont caRE if u wwe dirt league of wrestling you can make money and grow yes its old fashion. but its tried true. wwe the largest in the biz biggest complaint rating down houses down....want big houses have quality shows where something happen....no title changes at arena shows anymore.....if i know for a fact not even the 24 7 title not going to be drop..why watch tv why go to a show..........
Sounds like what you're saying is, keep it interesting. I agree 100%! WWE Wrestling nowadays has gotten too stale and boring. Ratings are dropping, morale is at its lowest point ever...and now, thanks to Coronavirus, there's no one allowed, audience-wise, at any of their events! Let's see how long WWE survives all of this!!!
They can actually go on for years. Thats for sure...but its not theyre too big. They out of balance...vince says he does not promote wrestling but sports entertainment. Well its not been so entertaining. With this multi media age. They can rebound face and quick...wwe sports information dept sucks dirty hyena penis. Also its production. Its last house show should be setting up raw and smackdown should be settin up house shows for the week....
Say what you want about the body but hes a helluva entertainer and will go down as a hall of Famer for his contributions to the awa and commentary in wwf
True. Sure, he came across as an arrogant ass......but that’s who he was. And is. Same as Flair, Superstar Graham, Shawn Michaels etc.
basically Verne didn't see the writing on the wall in the mid 80's and ran it like a bnusiness like the McMahons is doing and did and how it was run in the South
In the early eighties, the AWA had the best roster. Too bad that Verne Gagne let his ego and greed get the best of him. That's why Hogan, Ventura, Heenan, One round, Sgt. Slaughter and many more of his guys jumped ship over to Vince McMahon and the WWF. And can't blame them one bit.
Jesse "see, Im a navy seal, (cough), I know how to win wars", meaning, joining the side who is winning?
Pretty crummy if he took another man's prize for a vacation. That's bad.