WWE: The Spectacular Legacy of the American Wrestling Association

This is a Great DVD. I Love The AWA. It's too bad WWE worked their hardest to bury The AWA on it. Verne Gagne was one of the greatest wrestlers ever, greatest promoters ever and also created and trained some of the greatest wrestlers ever. Hulk Hogan was made by Verne. Ric Flair, Dusty Rhodes, Ricky Steamboat, Vader, Scott Hall, Shawn Michaels and Curt Hening. In 1984 when Vince decided to make his move to kill the territories and be Number One the major company he wanted to kill and put out of business was AWA. AWA was almost as good as WWE and to be the best you got to beat the best. Vince did some dirty tactics by paying talent he took from Verne to not finish out their dates to hurt Verne's company. It was a very personal battle and a lot of bad blood in WWE vs AWA. Verne made some mistakes like every human being does. He tried to take too much money from Hulk Hogan in his Japan money and merchandise sales. Losing Hogan was the start of the downfall as Mean Gene, Heenan and Ventura among others followed The Hulk as it was clear WWE was becoming Number One and they just offered a lot more money. The AWA dvd covers the pre Hulk days with the great stars like Nick Bockwinkel, The Crusher, Baron Von Raschke, Larry The Axe Henning, Billy Robinson, Larry Zybsko, and many others like Mad Dog Vachon. It helped educate me on the past of The AWA as AWA was 1950-1991. The AWA was before my time but I have seen a lot of AWA towards the end 1984 to 1990. I loved it as though AWA was suppossed to be struggling to stay in business I still thought AWA was great. In 1984 Rick Martel was made AWA champion he was great. 1985 AWA had The Roadwarriors who were just coming onto the scene. I always thought Martel was a great wrestler and champion. He wasn't a Hulk Hogan but he was great. I remember in WCW at the end of his career in 1998 he had great TV Title matches with Booker T that stole the show. AWA had The Roadwarriors who are the greatest tag team ever. They of course didn't stay forever but they have a big place in AWA history. Martel of course left for WWE like others. AWA getting on ESPN was a big deal in the Mid 80's helping them stay alive. Verne really new talent and he would spot them like The Rockers Shawn Michaels arguably the greatest wrestler ever! Scott Hall he spotted who when he came into WCW in 1996 formed The NWO making Wrestling Huge Again. Curt Hening for the time he was in AWA as AWA Champion was great but he left for WWF which caused him to have to drop the title to Jerry Lawler. Superclash is covered. Superclash is a wrestling payperview where all the remaining territories and promoters banded together to try to fight against WWE. I liked Superclash's but they never could beat the WWE as the other promoters couldn't work together. Jim Crocket of the NWA on the first Superclash tried to sign away some of AWA's talent. If you can't trust who you are working with you shouldn't work with them. Still Superclash was remembered as a great event. Superclash 2 had Curt Heninng beating Nick Bockwinle in an awesome match for The AWA title. Superclash 3 was epic Jerry Lawler and Kerry Von Erich had a great match. There is mention of Verne of making himself Champion too many times maybe. Billy Robinson in most AWA fans eyes should have won the belt. But Larry The Axe and Baron think it was because Verne knew he wouldn't leave his own company and would always draw money. I think like they said all the other promoters made themselves the champion because they could rely on themselves as in the days of territories a wrestler could leave the territory and hurt it. I would have like to see The Baron be AWA champion as well as Hogan but Verne did the right thing I believe by keeping Nick and himself champ as they weren't going to leave the company and always could deliver. Jerry Lawler claimed he was never paid for Superclash 3 so he refused to defend The AWA Title so Verne stripped him of the title. Verne's son said it was Jerry Jarrett who didn't pay Lawler on a shoot interview. I don't know who to believe. Nevertheless The Title was to be won in a battle royal and Verne's Son in Law won the title Larry Zybsko. Larry was a great champion and during the dying days of The AWA was great. Towards the end The AWA just ran out of talent. The people that stayed in The AWA were the loyal wrestlers. Verne also gave Eric Bischoff a break and Eric would later give Vince a dose of his own medicine buying all his talent and stars putting him on the break of going out of business. Verne found a lot of people who were just starting in wrestling who would go down as some greatest wrestlers and most influential people in wrestling. Paul Heyman was at The AWA too. In the end Verne was inducted into The WWE Hall Of Fame. It was the right thing for Vince to do and it was nice of Vince to give Verne his moment of recognition for all he did for wrestling as a wrestler and a wrestling promoter. This is a great wrestling dvd it's very through. I found out a lot of information on Verne's background which was great. I think there was a lot to cover but they did a good job. The AWA was great and thanks to The WWE we were able to learn about it. One of the flaws on the dvd set is the matches are clipped and shortened. Some matches are in full. I think WWE could have put more in full great AWA matches. But the documentary was well worth the price alone. Rest in Peace Verne and Long Live The AWA!!!! Cheers and Enjoy!

I grew up in Minnesota during the 80's and every saturday morning there was WWF and AWA on at different times. It was the best of both worlds. AWA was the hometown wrestling organization for us, it was Minnesota born and bred. It was grittier and rougher around the edges then the smooth shiny polish of WWF, and we liked it that way.I had no idea that the downfall ultimately came down to management decisions, and how they pushed viewers towards WWF as a result of these poor decisions. Sad that it went down the way it did.When you look at all the legendary talent they put out over their many years, you have to have respect for them.The documentary disc is very interesting, and worth watching to understand where this group started, learn that Vern was the one who set the pace for wrestling organizations to get on TV, how many legends he trained and employed who ended up making bigger names for themselves elsewhere, see the successes, and ultimately, the downfall of the storied organization.The second disc has some of the old school classics that made me love AWA as a kid. I totally marked out while watching it. Brought the kid out of me, was fun to have a blast from the past.

ok this dvd, this story is great. if you are a young wrestling fan (like myself, im 22)than this dvd is a must. it is just so awesome. pretty much if you have the rise and fall of wcw, the monday night wars,the rise and fall of ecw, and this dvd....than well you have a HUGE chunk of wrestling history, and can learn ALOT. the story on this dvd is about how the AWA pretty much made the mold for the 80s wrestling boom. Verne gagne almost single handed created all the stars who would move on to make WWF. hogan,grahm,slaughter,jesse the body,mean genne,HBK,crusher,mad dog,dusty rhodes....the list goes on. they all went through AWA, and almost all of them were molded there. this also tells the story of when mcmahon started his hostle take over, how the AWA, and NWA tried to join forces to slow vince down. i cant really explain how great this dvd, and story is. i thought i knew alot about wrestling, but i learned alot seeing this. if your a fan who is interested in the history of the biz...you almost have to have this. plus there is a 2nd disc with matchs and outtakes.

This is fun. Wish they would put out more content with full matches.

Anything with a lot of Nick Bockwinkel, I have to recommend. Because of the timing and method of the AWA's demise, I don't think he is remembered as much, or as well, as he should be. But he should be up there with the Funks, the Briscos, and Harley Race. And he tells a fantastic tale on the extras as well. MAJOR downside for me on this tape was the lack of the Road Warriors. Fairly certain the AWA was where they went from heel to face without changing style and that should be mentioned. Seeing a young Dusty Rhodes (RIP, Big Dust) and Superstar Billy Graham almost made up for it. Very interesting to hear the thoughts of various personalities as the industry passed the AWA by, and why it declined and failed. Recommended viewing.

Ein absolutes Muss für wahre Wrestling-Ästheten.Die höchste Schule der American Wrestling ist hier vorhanden.Der alte Lehrmeister Verne Gange und sein Lebenswerk werden auf illustriert und auf wunderbarer Art und Weise dargestellt.Ein absolutes Muss!!

Grew up watching AWA, great memories. Thorough and well put together, very interesting for AWA fans of the 1970's. Interesting part of Hogan's thoughts on Verne Gagne. Gagne was not the man I thought he was, almost as bad as McMahon.

they should have included better matches the matches were so and so

A fine history of the AWA. I wish it was longer and with the opinions of a few more wrestlers. The match selection is very good. You really get to see how great Robinson and Bockwinkel were.