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1986-1991: The downfall of the AWA
The AWA continued to fall behind the WWF and NWA as a major promotion throughout 1986 and 1987. Despite this, Gagne still managed to develop legitimate young talent like Scott Hall, The Midnight Rockers (Shawn Michaels and Marty Jannetty), Vader, The Nasty Boys (Brian Knobbs and Jerry Sags), and Madusa Miceli throughout 1986 and 1987.
Gagne also maintained a relationship with Memphis based promoter Jerry Jarrett and even allowed Mid-Southern territory legend Jerry "The King" Lawler to win the AWA World Title from Curt Hennig (who was about to depart for the WWF)[2] in May 1988. The struggling WCCW also formed an alliance with the AWA and Memphis as well, and Jerry Lawler would challenge WCCW Heavyweight champion Kerry von Erich in a title unification match at SuperClash III as well. However, that December, following a contentious and relatively unsuccessful PPV, SuperClash III, the collaborative effort was over and Lawler was stripped of the title in January 1989. Lawler kept the AWA Title belt and continued promoting himself in Tennesse, Texas, and on the independent circuit as the unified World Heavyweight Champion. Lawler did this in an attempt to leverage PPV revenue from Gagne that was owed him, but Gagne eventually commissioned a new title belt of similar design.
In February 1989, Larry Zbyszko, a one-time employee and Verne's son-in-law, returned to the AWA and won the vacated World Title in an 18-man Battle Royal, eliminating Tom Zenk to end the match. It was also during this time that Joe Blanchard replaced Stanley Blackburn as AWA President. Zbyszko's first title reign would last for a year. During this time he would defend the title against Zenk, Greg Gagne, Wahoo McDaniel, Ken Patera, Nikita Koloff, Brad Rheingans, The Trooper Del Wilkes, and Masa Saito. Zbyszko would eventually lose the title to Saito in February 1990 in front of 65,000 fans at the Tokyo Dome. Zbyszko would regain the title in May 1990 at SuperClash IV. During 1989 and 1990, the AWA also pushed Mike Enos and Wayne Bloom as the top tag team. In early 1989 Eric Bischoff, who was performing office work for the AWA at the time, mostly in sales and syndication, was placed in front of the camera to replace Larry Nelson as interviewer and occasional commentator. The AWA was Bischoff's first exposure to the world of pro wrestling. He would later become a dominant force in the industry, leading WCW to prominance in the 1990's.
The AWA would become inactive in the fall of 1990. As a result, Zbyszko signed with World Championship Wrestling (WCW). As his last official act, Verne Gagne stripped the already-departed Zbyszko of the AWA World Title in December 1990. In 1991, Gagne and his inactive promotion officially filed for bankruptcy.[2] Gagne did promote a card in Rochester, MN in May 1991, featuring the return of Greg Gagne and Wahoo McDaniel against the The Destruction Crew (Mike Enos & Wayne Bloom) in the main event, but he was unable to revive the promotion. Despite this, the AWA continued re-running matches in their weekly ESPN time slot, and on their syndicated All-Star Wrestling show. The company also managed to release a commercial tape (Hulk Hogan Highlights) during 1991.
On the Spectacular Legacy of the AWA DVD, Eric Bischoff revealed that one of the main reasons the AWA shut down was that Verne Gagne was leveraging money against a valuable property he owned along Lake Minnetonka. Local officials wanted to turn the property into a park. Gagne fought the decision for several years, but eventually lost the eminent domain case, leading to the creation of Lake Minnetonka Regional Park. As a result, he lost the financial resource he was using to keep the AWA up and running and had no choice but to shut down the promotion.
[edit] Influence and legacy
The influence of Verne Gagne and the AWA as a whole in professional wrestling is immeasurable. Countless wrestlers and personalities were either trained by (e.g., Ric Flair) or received their first big breaks under Gagne, an influence that is felt to this day.
[edit] AWA Team Challenge Series
The AWA held a "Team Challenge Series" from October 1, 1989 through August 11, 1990. All of the available wrestlers were divided into three teams, "Larry's Legends", headed by Larry Zbyszko, "Slaughter's Snipers", headed by Sgt. Slaughter, and "Baron's Blitzers", headed by Baron Von Raschke. (Sgt. Slaughter left the AWA before the TCS ended, and Colonel DeBeers was named the new team captain.) Babyfaces and heels alike were assigned to teams, forcing bitter rivals to work together. The winners of Team Challenge matches would earn points for their team; at some unspecified point the highest-scoring team would share one million dollars. Some of the earlier TCS matches took place in a TV studio without an audience; the announcers claimed it was part of an effort to stop wrestlers from interfering, but it was actually due to poor ticket sales for arena shows. The remainder of the matches took place at the Rochester Civic Center, where the AWA taped live matches for its television program from 1989-1990.
The Team Challenge Series was promoted by the AWA as revolutionary, but once underway, it appeared to be little more than a long series of gimmick matches and traditional matches with gimmicky names. Rather than showcasing technical wrestling, as the AWA had done for decades, wrestlers wore football helmets and pads in matches, or fought in a "Behind the 8-Ball Battle Royal." Perennial jobber Jake "The Milkman" Milliman defeated Colonel DeBeers in the "Great American Turkey Hunt," where the one who got a stuffed, uncooked turkey off of the top of a pole first would win.
The final match in the TCS was a royal rumble style battle royal featuring Brad Rheingans, The Destruction Crew, Colonel DeBeers, the Texas Hangmen, the Trooper Del Wilkes, and several others. Jake Milliman again came away with the win by eliminating DeBeers at the end, winning the series and the supposed 1 million dollar check for Larry's Legends.
The final point tally for the TCS:
Larry's Legends 56
Baron's Blitzers 51
DeBeers' Diamondcutters
(formerly Slaughter's Snipers) 48
The TCS concept was ill-conceived and poorly presented; many wrestling fans feel that it hastened the AWA's demise. Yet elements of the series (e.g., having separate "teams" within one company, a "draft," etc.) have parallels to the brand extension (RAW, SmackDown!, and ECW) employed by World Wrestling Entertainment, and the WCW pay-per-view BattleBowl.
For years, Eric Bischoff was credited (or blamed) with having developed the TCS -- even cited as such in several books. However, in both his autobiography and The Spectacular Legacy of the AWA, Bischoff denied having anything to do with it. Instead, Greg Gagne takes responsibility for coming up with the idea, and developing it with his father.
