Shining a Spotlight 6.07.07: National Wrestling Alliance

First, at the risk of sounding like horn-tooting, I have to say I’m as surprised as anyone that I was pretty much the one guy in the ONS round-table to predict RVD would beat Orton. Still, he found a way to go out on his back after all. Sorry if I sound sarcastic but my appeal for the guy went down a while ago.

One would think that with the long history of professional wrestling and it’s incredibly wide range of subjects, there would be enough wrestling books to fill a couple of shelves at the local library. However, it’s only been in recent years that such volumes have started to come out. A reason for that long delay is of course the fact that up until the mid 1990’s, the business was still deep in kayfabe and weren’t willing to admit their secrets. Another reason is the long-standing misconception that wrestling fans are automatically not as intelligent as other people and thus there was no reason to publish for such low minds.

Thankfully, this trend has been broken in recent years with the rise of several books examining the business. Of course, there has been the unfortunate trend that several writers insert their own opinions into the histories. The most common one is to criticize Vince McMahon for rewriting history to make himself sounds better but then turn around and do the same thing to make Vince sound worse. There are also times they insert too much personal opinion that undermines their words rather than let the events stand on their own.

But there are signs of hope. Between the Ropes managed to talk about the more recent years of WWE without reducing to sarcasm or name-calling. Turning the Tables was a great unbiased look at the history of ECW. And now a book comes that puts under an incredibly deep microscope one of the most famous parts of wrestling history.

The first thing that strikes you about National Wrestling Alliance: The Untold Story of the Monopoly That Strangled Pro Wrestling (ECW Press, $19.95) is its size. At 366 tightly printed pages with only a single photo at the start of each chapter (with a photo insert in the middle), it’s one of the largest non-biography wrestling books around. But with a subject matter like this, that length is needed and author Tim Hornbaker makes sure to get the most out of every page. The result is one of the most well-written and detailed wrestling books ever and one that shines a new light on the pre-expansion world of the business.

How in depth does this book go into the past? Just consider that Shane Douglas throwing down the NWA title to give birth to Extreme Championship Wrestling, one of the most important moments of the last fifteen years, is summed up in a paragraph on page 362. Hornbaker is determined to shine light on the less well covered era of the 1940’s—1970’s and does so in fine style.

If ever there was a story just waiting to be told, it was the true history of the NWA. The major story is known to most: In 1948, seven of the major promoters of Midwest wrestling gathered at a hotel in Waterloo, Iowa. They didn’t like each other or trust each other but they were bound by that one thing that can bring together the most bitter of rivals: Money.

Basically, they came up with an agreement that would create an alliance meant to regulate the business, letting them work together with a common goal and one champion. This, in theory, meant that they would enjoy the benefits equally and thus earn more money. From that meeting grew the NWA, which would have a worldwide influence of more than 50 different promotions and maintain a standard of excellence in wrestling that, while weakened, still echoes today.

That’s the official story. But like so much in wrestling, there’s another layer of truth behind the veneer. It’s been touched on many times but Hornbaker is the first to fully detail the political chaos, ego battles and courtroom wars that turned what was meant to be a boon to the business into a instrument that almost ruined it. Moreover, it’s an eye-opener as to how wrestling worked in the time when everyone, even some of its own workers, believed it to all be real.

For years, I’ve heard people complain over how Vince McMahon destroyed the old ways of wrestling, the territories and the cooperation, how he messed up the classic old-style fighting for his circus like atmosphere. But Hornbaker’s book may surprise a lot of McMahon’s critics as compared to many of his “victims,” Vince McMahon is up for sainthood.

The tactics used by the old-style promoters in the 1930’s and ‘40’s are unbelievable. I tried to count all the huge in-ring double-crosses but gave up as there were just too many of them. It almost seems like a common practice for a wrestler going into a big match thinking he was going to win only to end up getting screwed. Ed “Strangler” Lewis, a major star of the ‘30’s was victim to not one but two double-crosses that make the 1997 Survivor Series look like a minor disagreement. Each of these pretty much served to push Lewis out of booking power and his rivals took over.

That’s a great theme that runs throughout the entire book regarding the old territory system. Even when the Alliance was formed, the various promoters just didn’t get along very well and were constantly battling for position with talent raids a normal practice. Instead of working together, most promoters openly hoped for the demise of another financially so they could sweep in and take his territory. They would also go out of their way to make that happen with the aforementioned talent raids and running shows in the same towns.

What this meant was that the Alliance at times resembled the Mafia in its structure and power battles. Indeed, I’ve long heard some guys (like in the Heroes of World Class DVD) openly refer to the NWA as the costa nostra. Like the Mob, the promoters kept things tight to themselves, blocked all outsiders from their business and if someone crossed them, there would be hell to pay.

The book opens with a brief look at the origins of the Alliance with wrestling rising in the post-WWII years thanks to television which increased competition among the main promoters. While there have been several versions of that first meeting, Hornbaker shows the true list of who attended and the original minutes of the meeting with the rules they set up. He sells how it was Pinkie George who really was the driving force behind the agreement Tom Packs was also a big help but his own financial constraints would force him under only six years after the Alliance was formed.

An intriguing tidbit is that originally, there was a proposal to create a health care system of sorts for wrestlers in the Alliance with insurance and benefits for injured workers. But by unanimous vote, the promoters shot it down, putting their own profits ahead of the health of workers. So for those who think that anti-union sentiment is wholly Vince McMahon, think again.

The detail Hornbaker packs into this book is simply amazing. It’s not just the real names of wrestlers but also their childhoods, their histories, how they got into the sport and more. Hell, he even gives the name of the boat Lou Thesz’s father traveled to America on and the date he arrived! This incredible detail can be a bit dense at times with all the names dropped but is still a enthralling read.

Hornbaker helps put a lot of the business at the time in perspective. For one, there was a difference between being a “member” of the NWA and a “promoter.” A member paid dues and was often the heart of their territory while a promoter was just a local guy, usually handling just one city, with little real influence in the Alliance. He also showcases how, in the beginning, it seemed more promoters than fans were intrigued by the NWA concept and most old-timers thought it preposterous. “If a regional cluster of promoters could be dragged down by double-crosses and selfishness, how could one believe in a national institution with numerous thriving elements?” In a way, that very mindset would turn out to be the NWA’s ultimate undoing.

One surprise to readers may be that the man so closely associated with the NWA was originally one of their biggest opponents. While the idea of streamlining wrestling, doing away with secondary “World” championships and increasing profits appealed to some, Lou Thesz disagreed. The star wrestler waged a bitter battle against Stan Muchnick for control of the St. Louis territories but the rise of the NWA cost him several key promoters so he eventually adopted a “if you can’t beat them, join them” mentality which would pay dividends.

The early chapter “International Expansion” details the rise of the NWA in power, growing to 52 promotions around the globe by 1952. It also shows how the organization went out of their way to strangle any of the independent promoters They even went so far as to create a “blacklist” to punish those who dared oppose them but it soon became clear that even they didn’t have enough power to enforce such a rule. The rise of television did lead to some problems between territories who wanted to take advantage and show off their own stars so a special committee was formed to try and streamline things.

Hornbaker spends a lot of the book with chapters focusing on major figures of the NWA. Naturally, Thesz is first, detailing his rise as a superstar and how his tough style helped command crowds. Something that may be a surprise is the revelation that technically, Thesz only held the NWA title three times, not the seven long reported. While Thesz’s reputation was powerful, it was during his reign in the 1950’s that the NWA twice attempted to split the title, first with Leo Nomellini and later Edouard Carpentier, each match ending with each man declared the champion. Thesz would go on an international tour as NWA champion while Nomellini and Carpentier would defend it in America. To the NWA, this was a perfect idea to sell tickets. But in both cases, the crowds were completely against the idea and the expected revenues did not come. So, both reigns were erased from the record books, although they would be counted as part of Thesz’s record. As Hornbaker points out, this marked a turning point for the Alliance with their willingness to turn their sacred single world title into a prop to sell more tickets, a sign of things to come.

Sam Muchnick is highlighted as “the backbone of the Alliance.” With his terrific gift for promoting, Muchnick controlled St. Louis and was a key champion for the Alliance’s existence and power. With his “Wrestling at the Chase” TV show showcasing that talent, Muchnick was great at smoothing out problems within the Alliance and it’s no coincidence that it was after his retirement in 1982 that the organization started to break apart. Also covered is Ed Lewis who stands as an example why the NWA might have been needed. While a huge star in the 1930’s, “the Strangler” fell prey to several double-crosses (not that he wasn’t above shooting on other wrestlers in the ring as well) and, coupled with his own personal problems, fell into bankruptcy. However, Thesz, who’d long admired Lewis when he started, took him on as a manager with the NWA making him a “goodwill ambassador” to travel around the territories and help sell the Alliance which helped Lewis remain one of the most well-liked guys of his time.

A forgotten figure of wrestling who gets a long-overdue spotlight in the book is Fred Kohler. Arguably one of the best promoters ever, Kohler controlled Chicago through the 1950’s and early ‘60s, establishing it as a major power base of wrestling. It was Kohler who was the first to realize how beneficial TV could be for wrestling and soon was drawing big ratings with his shows on the WGN network that could be seen in New York. Kohler also pushed for Verne Gagne as a big star, creating the US title for him, which annoyed many others in the NWA. Kohler also had problems with the business tactics of other promoters who he felt were putting their own interests over the NWA as a whole. He even threatened to resign at one point but stayed on, serving as president for a year. However, by the early 1960’s, with prime-time TV wrestling fading, Kohler’s power base began to wither and the once-powerful man who introduced wrestling to TV was forced out of the business he loved.

Joe “Toots” Mondt is another highlighted figure due mostly to the fact that he was one of the first to get into the storyline aspects of wrestling, a new twist that actually rankled most of the old-timers but would prove to be a lifeblood for the business. Hornbaker devotes the next chapter to the 1952 title match between Thesz and “Baron” Leone which became wrestling’s first $100,000 gate. It’s terrific to read about the expert build-up both before the crowds and behind the scenes although the match itself came off as rather stiff. Also not helping was the fact that the undercard talent were totally nickel-and-dimed despite the massive gate, showing once again how it was the promoters reaping the benefits of their workers.

Just as everything was going great for the NWA, they were hit by two court cases that each threatened to destroy the organization. The first came in 1956 when the United States Federal Government filed a federal indictment on the NWA. Frankly, it was probably going to be inevitable. After all, attempting to create a virtual monopoly on all wrestling in North America could be construed as a violation of the Sherman Antitrust Act. The NWA had managed to skim aside such accusations, aided by the fact many sportswriters confused them with the National Wrestling Association a more beaurcratic and smaller organization of the time. But after complaints by rival promoters of the NWA’s bullying tactics, the government finally took notice and made their case.

Hornbaker really does his research here, supplying the full list of charges on the indictment, primarily how Alliance members would suck up to the state athletic boards in order to escape stricter controls on wrestling. In Indiana, only four promoters were given wrestling licenses and anyone who wanted to do a show in the state had to work through them. Anyone who tried to run against the NWA was quickly shut down and wrestlers soon knew that working against the Alliance could mean an end to one’s livelihood. Like I said, the Mafia parallels were pretty strong.

The Alliance put on a brave front but were naturally worried about the lawsuit. It wasn’t just the possibility of fines or being forced to break up the Alliance. What terrified them was that, if this went all the way to court, then under oath, they’d have to break their most sacred rule and admit wrestling was pre-planned. Indeed, a few promoters, seeking to cut deals, did go on record talking about how fixed results were. Muchnick tried to urge the Alliance to relax some of their holds on territories to avoid the charges but was voted down, shaking his faith in the Alliance.

The NWA did put out a decree stating they were no longer going to make such moves to crush any opposition (such as running cards in the same town without permission, refusing non-Alliance members the chance to run shows, etc) and were thus able to avoid the federal case. But they weren’t so lucky in 1958 when Sonny Myers brought a lawsuit against them. A rising star wrestler/promoter, Myers charged that he had been unable to find success due to the NWA’s blackballing methods. The Alliance fired back that Myers had worked for several of their bookers and even held a few titles recognized by the NWA. In this case, Myers did manage to get the Alliance into court and once again Hornbaker provides the transcripts from the trial. It’s a good thing too because otherwise you’d never believe it.

From the start, Judge Edwin R. Hicklin made it clear he felt it a complete embarrassment to preside over a trial involving wrestling. Hicklin constantly interjects himself into testimony, asking insulting questions, sarcastically telling Myers, when the man claims to not have much education, “I think that’s common.” Even Muchnick is pulled into the fun with him talking about founding the Northwest territory and Hicklin dryly observing it was Lewis & Clark who really found that territory. The jury eventually found for the NWA and Hicklin thanked them in a statement, stating this whole thing had no business being in a court of law. It’s like reading an episode of Boston Legal.

The appeals court agreed, finding that Hicklin influenced the jury and a new trial was held with Myers showing how his income had faded in 1954, the year he refused to join the Alliance. This time, he won and was awarded $50,000. But another appeal was made, this time by the NWA that dismissed the whole case. While Myers may not have won in the end, he did hurt the NWA as this, combined with the federal threat led to the exodus of several NWA members. Pinkie George resigned with a letter stating that it was he who was the father of the Alliance and hated what it was turning into, which led to another ugly court battle.

It makes perfect sense that Hornbaker chooses here to examine the rise of Vincent James John McMahon Sr. For so many years, people have talked about how Vince Sr. was an old-timer guy with a classic territory mindset who wouldn’t have approved of what his son was planning to do. Vince Jr. himself has said that if his father knew what he was planning, he’d of never sold the company. But as Hornbaker illustrates, when it came to pushing the envelope, doing an end-around with friends and allies and spinning the press, the apple really didn’t fall far from the tree. McMahon’s New York shows began to enhance the violence, so much so that many marks complained to the police. Vince also began to break further from the NWA as he got Buddy Rogers to be given the world title but then, while still serving as NWA vice president, broke away to form the WWWF. While considered an inconvenience at the time, this would of course help lead to the NWA’s ultimate downfall.

By this point in the book, one can notice how so much of the time, the chapters seem more like stand-alone articles, complete with a summary of the subject at the end of each. Hornbaker also tends to repeat himself a bit such as Orville Brown’s career-ending car crash that paved the way for Thesz to rise as champion, which is talked of in detail at four different times. That really comes to the fore with chapter thirteen, which gives a listing of every man to hold the NWA title from 1948-1975. Each gets an in-depth biography of their birth, childhood, early years in the sport and what they brought to the title reigns. As Hornbaker points out in his intro, a champion had to put up with the most grueling traveling and wrestling schedule around, adapting to different styles of workers from territories and always give the idea that he could drop the belt to hometown crowds. “Broadways”, or one hour matches, were quite common (and indeed, two hour bouts weren’t unheard of either) but as the decades went on, the storylines and personalities started to take precedence over the in-ring action.

As the title was essentially voted on by the NWA board, politics and personal influences could often effect the choices, taking away from the luster of the belts. Still, the highlight of the champions is good with not only the more famous names like Thesz, Pat O’Connor and the Funks but others forgotten. For example, Richard Hutton was a fine technical worker but also colorless and his being put over Thesz for the title in 1957 never caught on with crowds. Also, there’s talk of how Harley Race technically won eight world titles but one trade with Giant Baba was never recognized. From there, Hornbaker looks to other champions, going into a nice examination of how regional belts worked in the NWA. While the World title was regulated by the top dogs, the light heavyweight and other regional champions would often refuse to work with other wrestlers, causing more ego problems. An intriguing tidbit is that the NWA actually debated whether to have a World tag team title as many of the old-time promoters just didn’t like the idea of tag team wrestling and refused to give it the same credit as the singles belts.

This chapter too looks at several workers like groundbreaking junior heavyweights Leroy McGuirck and Dan Hodge. There was also Denny McShain, the first NWA champion to be double-crossed in the ring, a swerve so blatant that the NWA had to step on in and strip “winner” Henry Harell of the title with Harrell basically becoming an exile for it. Verne Gagne is covered with his constant failure to be given the NWA title leading him to create the AWA and Dick the Bruiser is marked for his groundbreaking tough guy character. Bobo Brazil is recognized for blazing the trail for black wrestlers (even winning the NWA title only to have it go unrecognized by the Alliance due to politics) and Fritz von Erich is noted for his wicked Nazi heel character that led him to become a star in Texas.

But the following chapter is even more enlightening. Called “Promotional Wars,” it lives up to its title by showcasing how the NWA was all too willing to adopt brutal tactics to take on outsiders…or even their own members. Sterling Davis applied for a wrestling license several times but was blocked by everything from a false jail conviction to three fires in his home and businesses, which he all put on the head of promoter Morris Siegel. Siegel was also involved in a war with Dallas promoter Edward McLemore that culminated with McLemore’s Sportatorium being burned to the ground by arsonists. Say what you will about McMahon or Russo but they haven’t commited a class-A felony to take down a rival. As I read of all the hard-knuckle tactics these guys would use, I kept waiting for the Corleone family to show up.

And again, Hornbaker shows how these old-time promoters could be truly vicious. Jack Pfefer may have been liked by many who knew him but pretty much everyone else hated the guys guts for stuff like casting wrestlers in roles that mimicked other superstars (like Bruno Sanmartino) and seemed to go out of his way to pick fights. In yet another amazing chapter, Hornbaker spotlights most of the promoters of the NWA’s glory years, an intriguing mix of men who talked of the honor the sport but would use such underhanded methods to keep themselves on top. Billy Wolfe, for example, helped champion women’s wrestlers like Mildred Burke but could sometimes be seen as using his female grapplers for his own personal harem and didn’t go as much to bat for them with the NWA. It was just his luck this was a time before sexual harassment lawsuits and such. But not all of them were bad with Jim Crockett Sr. showing concern for his workers and Don Owen being a guy so nice even his most bitter business rivals couldn’t really hate him. Eddie Graham helped make Florida a hotbed of wrestling but his own business and personal problems would lead to suicide while Bob Giegl was pretty much the last face the NWA had before the rise of Crockett and WCW.

There’s another listing of champions from the big guys like Jack Brisco, Dusty and of course Ric Flair, to even quickie champs like Tommy Rich and Ronnie Garvin. Interestingly, while most everyone has run down Garvin’s reign as champion, Hornbaker paints it as a reward for a veteran for his years or service, ignoring how Garvin’s career went downhill afterward. As I noted, even when discussing the worst of behavior, Hornbaker still manages to avoid accusations and name-calling.

The final chapter focuses on the NWA from 1975 to 2006 (I should note here that the book was going to be published last December but delayed) and shows the decline of the Alliance’s power. As Hornbaker puts it “There wasn’t a specific incident that could be seen as the turning point in the history of the NWA, rather there were a series of small decisions that altered the path.” The big problem, according to Hornbaker, was too many of the older promoters refused to let go of their power or groom a successor who could follow their vision. So as more and more of them passed on or retired, they left their territories in the hands of others who didn’t understand how to run it. There was also the constant problems of members putting their own interests above the collective, particularly Fritz Von Erich when he became NWA president and Texas suddenly started to get a rise. Tennessee’s Jerry Jarrett broke away and, after a few rough years, managed to maintain a successful promotion that would run for several decades. For those wondering how Tommy Rich earned his five day run as champ, it was because the NWA wanted to reward promoter Jim Barnett for his years of service. So rather than benefiting the Alliance as a whole, the title was being bounced around as a goodwill gift.

It was clear by this point that the NWA’s power up North was fading as more and more of the cards were in the South. When Harley Race failed to show up for some shows for Paul Boesch, Boesch pulled Houston, a member in standing since 1949, out of the NWA and allied with the AWA. Bill Watts would follow suit to form Mid-South in Oklahoma while Jim Crockett Jr started to take control of Georgia and Florida. And of course, it was during all this that Vince McMahon Jr began his wide expansion of wrestling that would change the entire landscape and destroy the entire territory system.

The differences between McMahon and the NWA promoters is telling. While Vince had problems, he was capable and surrounded himself with people he could rely on. The Alliance promoters, on the other hand, were constantly suspicious of each other and any cooperation was wary due to the fear of double-crosses and talent raids. The big problem was that the old guard just couldn’t accept that Vince’s bold new way of thinking was going to take hold and figured he’d fizzle out fast. Instead, Vince rose with the advent of pay-per-view and more and more of the old territories were fading out which only served Vince’s interests. Also a help was that Crockett, in his attempt to become like Vince, was using his TBS show to sell the idea that the NWA meant his own promotion, which didn’t serve the rest of the Alliance well.

The book skims over most of the last 15 years which isn’t surprising as it’s been well-documented elsewhere. There’s Crockett selling to Turner to create WCW; Don Owen’s retirement in 1992 with the end of Pacific Northwest spelling the end of the old-guard of the NWA; the very ugly mess with Flair leaving WCW with the World title belt followed two years later by WCW pulling out of NWA; and the ECW double-cross. Hornbaker talks over the “forgotten period” between ’94 and 2002 with Dan Sevrein holding the belt but the NWA basically a dozen small promotions. That leads to TNA’s creation which causes a boost in the NWA’s fortunes. The final paragraphs state that to recognize the changing times, the NWA finally dropped its old “officer” system for a more corporate mentality that would lead to a better alliance with TNA. That last part is quite ironic now seeing as how the two have broken ties.

As noted, the book does repeat itself at times and may come off as a bit too dry. The sheer amount of information can be overwhelming but Hornbaker must be credited for such in-depth research. I do have to admit that it doesn’t seem that Hornbaker did much interviewing but then that’s understandable as most of the participants are long dead. What Hornbaker does have is a stunning amount of transcripts, newspaper article excerpts and personal notes sent through the NWA that helps bring the tale to life. Moreover, that he maintains an impartial eye through it all makes this stand out among other wrestling books as he doesn’t try to alter history one way or another but just presents what happened. And with a story like this, that’s all that can be done.

With its incredible detail and excellent writing, National Wrestling Alliance is one of the best wrestling books ever written, detailing the classic promotion but also an eye-opening look at how the business was once run. As I noted, Vince McMahon actually comes off good compared to some of these guys and those who complain how bad workers have it now may be jarred by how rough it was there. In the days of kayfabe and the public believing it was all for real, it was the men in the office who controlled almost everything. But as Hornbaker illustrates, their attempt to extend their control beyond the grasp led to them losing that precious power. For his terrific insight to how the most famous organization of all rose and fell, I highly recommend this book for any wrestling library.

Also around 411mania:

Ripple Effect looks at the one-year anniversary of the new ECW.

Just S’Pose has an interesting take on the McMahon expansion.

The Shimmy continues its look at Shawn Michaels since his comeback.

Quick Talkdown talks about how ONS influences the draft lottery.

Evolution Schematic and Can They Be Champ also talk about the draft.

Fink’s Payload imagines WWE stars in TNA. Please, this is the company that made Kurt Angle vs Samoa Joe dull, they can mess up any golden opportunity.

Julian counts down the Top 10 hardcore matches.

Don’t forget Column of Honor, 3 R’s, Triple Threat, Navigation Log, Ask 411, Fact or Fiction and the rest.

Next week, inspired by the new DVD, a look at the evolution of the ladder match. For now, the spotlight is off.