Nick Bockwinkle, Baron Von Raschke, Ray “The Crippler” Stevens, Larry Hennig and Mad Dog Vachon were used over younger, hungrier talent and their age showed. Instead of investing into the future of the AWA with pushing younger talent…Gagne was satisfied with sticking with older talent he trusted. Despite the the AWA fans clamoring for Hogan as champion…Gagne reused and the Hulkster finally walked away to the WWF….where a month later, would become WWF champion. Instead, he did a series of screw job finishes where he would tease a Hogan title win…but would later reverse the decision. Verne Gagne refused to put the AWA title on Hogan because he wasn’t necessarily a legit wrestler. Hot on the heels of Hulk Hogan’s appearance in the hit movie Rocky III, Verne never fully capitalized on the young wrestler’s momentum. Below is a list of reasons that I feel ended the extraordinary run of the American Wrestling Association… He just didn’t get it….or refused to get it. For example, Verne Gagne was not a big fan of pairing up the young upstarts Shawn Michaels and Marty Jannetty. It wasn’t so much greed that was his downfall, but his unwillingness to adapt to a changing, evolving sport….and his own paranoia. The man who ran the company and brought it to prominence, was also the man who brought it down. So what happened? What went wrong? Two words….Verne Gagne. The AWA also has a national syndicated TV deal with ESPN. As a matter of fact, the AWA’s “WrestleRock” card in 1986 at the Metrodome in Minneapolis, Minnesota drew over 22,000 fans….outdrawing the 2 infamous Crockett Cup shows at the Louisiana Superdome combined. He had an eye and a knack for developing young stars like Leon White ( Big Van Vader ) Curt Hennig, Ken Patera, Madusa Miceli and countless others….The AWA sold out arenas and stadiums across the mid-west. The AWA became a breeding ground for some of the biggest names in the sport. Their talents inside the ring should be the selling point…substance over flash. The AWA was owned and operated by a man named Verne Gagne….a wrestler himself…who believed that wrestlers should wrestle gimmick free. They were collectively known as the “Big 3.” The Big 3 consisted of the NWA/WCW down south….the WWF up north and the AWA (The American Wrestling Association ) in the middle. Once upon a time, not so long ago, the wrestling world had not one, not two, but three major wrestling organizations.
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