Learning The Ropes - A Guide To The Wrestling Territories

11/30/2024

Predictions 🍁🇨🇦
Team Rhea over Team Liv takes a belt
Seamus over Ludwig, Breaker loses IC Belt
Nakamura over La Knight returns
Gunther over Priest (Judgment Day nonsense)
Team Solo over Team Roman
Bait & Switch: Talla Tonga is Solo’s 5th member, Tonga Loa is his Wiseman

10/04/2024

Orville Brown was a Founding Member of the NWA in 1948, based out of Kansas City, Missouri. He ran the Central States Wrestling territory with George Simpson from 1940-1958, when he sold out to Bob Geigel, who ran the territory for 30 years before becoming NWA President in the mid-1980's when JCP bought Central States.

Prior to the NWA founding in 1948, Simpson & Brown's CSW was allied with Al Haft's Midwest Wrestling Association out of Columbus, OH, effectively becoming the West End of the MWA (Kansas, Missouri, Western Iowa, Western Illinois, Oklahoma).

Orville Brown was a 13-Time World Champion (King of the MWA) and first NWA World Heavyweight Champion and first NWA World Champion to be stripped of the belt. In 1949, Brown was in a horrible automobile accident with fellow wrestler Bobby Bruns. They were both seriously injured, and Brown forced to retire. Bruns would retire not long after and become a promoter on the West Coast, including bringing the first Japanese Wrestlers to the US with Hawaii's Al Karasick.

This resulted in Lou Thesz's 7 Year NWA World Champion reign when Thesz Mississippi Valley Wrestling Club joined the NWA in 1949 after Tom Packs retired. Brown got his start wrestling for Tom Packs back in the 1930's, and his retirement and Thesz arrival was a huge steppingstone for the NWA.

Orville Brown sold out to Bob Geigel in 1958 but remained close to the wrestling industry until his death in 1981 at age 73. He is remembered as a 13X World Champion long before Lou Thesz, Harley Race or Ric Flair ever won their first World Heavyweight Championship

https://jrkdent.wixsite.com/learning-the-ropes/1948/orville-brown

Orville Brown was a key figure in the early history of professional wrestling in the United States, particularly known for his role in the Kansas City territory and his involvement in the formation of the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA). Brown was both a prominent wrestler and a successful promote...

10/02/2024

Al Haft's Columbus, OH Midwest Wrestling Association produced at least 2 sets of Trading Cards, which are available on EBay, There is a 1952 Set and a 1953-54 Set. This is the 1953-54 Set. "Stars Of The Mat"

Dr. Big Bill Miller (Champion) 1953
Vern Gagne 1953
June Byers 1953-54
Jack Pesek 1953-54
Professor Roy Shire 1953-54
Great Scott 1954
Louis Thesz (Champion) 1954
Bob Geigel 1954
Chief Don Eagle (1965?)

Bill Miller & Professor Roy Shire had a different card in each set (a 1952 & a 1953-54)

Verne Gagne would found the AWA in 1960 and run it until 1991 becoming their World Heavyweight Champion half a dozen times. The first man to beat him for the AWA Title was Dr. Bill Miller.

Louis Thesz & his brother Martin Thesz were regional promoters in the Midwest / Heartland long before he was NWA World Champion multiple times.

Geigel would promote the Central States Wrestling (KCMO) territory from the 1950's-1980's and would become NWA President in the mid-80's after Crockett acquired Central States.

June Byers was one of the first women's champions, long before Slave Girl Moolah came around.

Jack Pesek was Al Haft's first MWA World Heavyweight Champion in 1930 when he beat Minneapolis' Joe Stecher after recognized World Champion Jim Londos wouldn't wrestle either man.

Professor Roy Shire ran the San Francisco territory from 1960-1980's featuring the famous Cow Palace Battle Royals and fellow legends Pat Patterson & Ray Stevens.

Chief Don Eagle was one of the first Native American themed wrestlers, long before the Strongbows or Wahoo McDaniel!

Learn more at https://jrkdent.wixsite.com/learning-the-ropes/1948/al-haft



Learn more at https://jrkdent.wixsite.com/learning-the-ropes/1948/al-haft

10/02/2024

Al Haft's Columbus, OH Midwest Wrestling Association produced at least 2 sets of Trading Cards, which are available on EBay, There is a 1952 Set and a 1953-54 Set. This is the 1952 Set.

Gorgeous George Wagner in Columbus, Ohio 1946
Antonino 'Argentina' Rocca 1952
Luther Lindsay 1952
'Big' Bill Miller (Before he became Dr. Bill) 1952
'Mr. America' Gene Stanlee 1952
Professor Roy Shire 1952

All but Gorgeous George would later appear in CWC/WWWF sometime between 1952-1971. Bill Miller was the first person to beat Verne Gagne for the AWA World Heavyweight Title. Professor Roy Shire ran the San Francisco territory from 1960-1980's. Luther Lindsay was one of the early Black wrestling stars and remember this was before the Civil Rights Act and he was wrestling for Al Haft in places like West Virginia & Kentucky.

Learn more at https://jrkdent.wixsite.com/learning-the-ropes/1948/al-haft

10/01/2024

Al Haft was an NWA Founder who ran the Columbus, Ohio territory from about 1919-1965. The territory was named the Midwest Wrestling Association (MWA) and stretched into WV, PA, KY, IN & IL, and major Ohio cities.

He created his own MWA World Heavyweight Title in 1930, with lineage from 1905. Orville Brown brought this belt into the NWA in 1948 and merged with other world titles to form NWA World Heavyweight Championship (still active today in NWA 2024).

Haft's MWA was one of the first wrestling promotions to deal with "storylines" rather than matches for the sake of having matches. He can be remembered as someone who featured some of the first wrestling "feuds".

Haft built his own outdoor arena in Columbus called "Haft's Acre' saving him the cost of booking a venue while also allowing for expanded seating.

By the 1960's, the NWA was fighting an internal war over Edouard Carpentier & Lou Thesz's competing claims to NWA World Heavyweight Title. It resulted in Carpentier's supporters leaving the NWA and promoting rival shows in NWA Territories.

Along with Chicago's Kohler, Muchnick's St. Louis & Light's Detroit, the MWA Territory was one of the hardest hit by rivals like Eddie Quinn (Montreal), Paul Bowser (Boston), Johnny Doyle (LACA), Jim Barnett (Indiana), Pedro Martinez (Buffalo), Wilbur Snyder (WWA), Minneapolis AWA (Verne & Karbo), and the WWWF (McMahon, Mondt, Rudy Miller, Sammartino & Friends)

In 1964, Bull Curry's son, Flying Fred Curry, purchased the Ohio territory from Al Haft, and then linked up with Ed 'The Sheik' Farhat in Detroit to take over Harry Light's Big Time Wrestling.

The WWF acquired the Detroit territory in the early 1980's but had to compete with Ole Anderson's GCW over Ohio, and in the 1990's, Smoky Mountain Wrestling out of Knoxville, TN would promote in the old Haft territory, under Jim Cornette.



https://jrkdent.wixsite.com/learning-the-ropes/1948/al-haft

10/01/2024

Al Haft was an NWA Founder who ran the Columbus, Ohio territory from about 1919-1965. The territory was named the Midwest Wrestling Association (MWA) and stretched into WV, PA, KY, IN & IL, besides featured Ohio shows in Cleveland, Cincinatti, Toledo, Akron & Dayton.

He created his own MWA World Heavyweight Title in 1930, with lineage from 1905, putting Jack Pesek over Joe Stecher, and this was the belt Orville Brown brought into the NWA in 1948 and merged with other world titles to form NWA World Heavyweight Championship (still active today in NWA 2024).

Haft ran a very popular territory and in the early 1950's had a trading card set made for his wrestlers including Gorgeous George, Antonino Rocca, Dr. Bill Miller, Bob Geigel, Don Eagle, Mr. America Gene Stanlee, Lou Thesz, Professor Roy Shire, Verne Gagne and more. Other stars included Nature Boy Buddy Rogers, Handsome Johnny Barend, Wild Bull Curry & Crippler Ray Stevens.

Haft's MWA was one of the first wrestling promotions to deal with "storylines" rather than matches for the sake of having matches. He can be remembered as someone who featured some of the first wrestling "feuds".

Haft built his own outdoor arena in Columbus called "Haft's Acre' saving him the cost of booking a venue while also allowing for expanded seating.

By the 1960's, the NWA was fighting an internal war over Edouard Carpentier & Lou Thesz's competing claims to NWA World Heavyweight Title. It resulted in Carpentier's supporters leaving the NWA and promoting rival shows in NWA Territories.

Along with Chicago's Fred Kohler, Sam Muchnick's St. Louis & Harry Light's Detroit, the MWA Territory was one of the hardest hit by rivals.

Eddie Quinn (Montreal) & Paul Bowser (AWA Boston) were promoting shows in the Midwest and Jim Barnett & Johnny Dole formed the WWA out of Indiana and competed directly against Haft, Kohler, Light & Muchnick. Verne Gagne, Wally Karbo, Joe Dusek and others split from the NWA and formed the AWA in 1960 in Minneapolis, but soon grew to take over the Chicago & Ohio territories along with Wilbur Snyder's WWA.

In 1963, Vincent J McMahon & Friends formed the WWWF in the Northeast and pushed in on the WV, PA & OH towns, later forming Pittsburgh Wrestling with Rudy Miller & Bruno Sammartino, while disgruntled NYC promoter Pedro Martinez moved to Buffalo and began promoting in PA/OH as well, later forming the NWF based out of Cleveland, Pittsburgh & Buffalo.

In 1964, Bull Curry's son, Flying Fred Curry, purchased the Ohio territory from Al Haft, and then linked up with Ed 'The Sheik' Farhat in Detroit to take over Harry Light's Big Time Wrestling.

The WWF acquired the Detroit territory in the early 1980's but had to compete with Ole Anderson's GCW over Ohio, and in the 1990's, Smoky Mountain Wrestling out of Knoxville, TN would promote in the old Haft territory, under Jim Cornette.

Al Haft was a prominent wrestling promoter who controlled the Columbus, Ohio territory from the 1920s to the 1960s. Haft's promotion, known as the Midwest Wrestling Association (MWA), was one of the most influential wrestling territories in the Midwest and played a significant role in the early deve...

09/30/2024

Fred Kohler was one of the top promoters in early wrestling history. He ran the popular and profitable Chicago territory from 1936-1965, which included all of WI, as well as Northern IN and Western MI. (aka All of Chicagoland)
in 1949, Fred Kohler landed "Wrestling from the Marigold" on WGN and appears to have been the 2nd Nationally televised wrestling show (after Harry Light's Big Time Wrestling from Detroit).
Kohler's national exposure soon landed him on 120 different networks and allowed him to launch his stars into national icons.
Kohler launched the careers of Gorgeous George, Verne Gagne, Wilbur Snyder, Buddy Rogers and more.
Chicago was the site of some of the biggest cards in wrestling history prior to 1984 and would host several high-profile world championship matches and famous title changes.
Eddie Quinn (Montreal), Paul Bowser (Boston) and more would compete directly with Kohler, who didn't receive support from the NWA, so he linked up with Vincent J McMahon Sr out of Washington DC & Frank Tunney from Toronto to take over the Northeast and put Montreal/Boston out of business.

One of his own apprentices, Jim Barnett, left Kohler and joined with Johnny J Doyle (LA/CA) to form a rival group out of IN that spread into Chicago & Detroit.
In 1960, Sam Muchnick stepped down as NWA President after a decade, and Fred Kohler stepped up. He immediately them on head-to-head and forced them out of the NWA.
Kohler was NWA President for 2 years until Rogers was robbed of the NWA World Championship in a 1-Fall Match and Kohler and others protested the title change and kept Buddy Rogers as their champion.
This group came to be known as the World Wrestling Federation (WWWF) led by Vincent J McMahon Sr (DC), T***s Mondt (NYC), Willie Gilzenberg (NJ), Phil Zacko (MD), Fred Kohler (CHI), etc.
Fred Kohler tried to keep his Chicago territory afloat but was soon pressed out by Wilbur Snyder's WWA (Indianapolis) and Verne Gagne & Wally Karbo's AWA (Minneapolis) who bought out his territory in 1965.


https://jrkdent.wixsite.com/learning-the-ropes/1948/fred-kohler

09/27/2024

Fred Kohler was one of the top promoters in early wrestling history. He ran the very popular and profitable Chicago territory from 1936-1965, which included all of Wisconsin, as well as Northern Indiana and Western Michigan. (aka All of Chicagoland)
in 1949, Fred Kohler landed "Wrestling from the Marigold" on WGN-TV and appears to have been the 2nd Nationally televised wrestling show (after Harry Light's Big Time Wrestling from Detroit).
Kohler's national exposure soon landed him on 120 different networks and allowed him to launch his stars into national icons.
Kohler launched the careers of Gorgeous George, Verne Gagne, Wilbur Snyder, Buddy Rogers and more.
He was an outside consultant for the Founding 6 NWA Members (Don Owen as well) and wouldn't be officially admitted until 1949.
Chicago was the site of some of the biggest cards in wrestling history prior to 1984 and would host several high-profile world championship matches and famous title changes.
When Edouard Carpentier claimed the NWA World Title in 1957 after champion Lou Thesz couldn't continue the match, some NWA promoters formed a splinter group recognizing Carpentier and began promoting events in NWA Territories like Chicago, Detroit, St. Louis, Los Angeles, Indianapolis etc.
Eddie Quinn (Montreal), Paul Bowser (Boston) and more would compete directly with Kohler, who didnt receive support from the NWA, so he linked up with Vincent J McMahon Sr out of Washington DC & Frank Tunney from Toronto to take over the Northeast and put Montreal/Boston out of business.
By the late 1950's over 60+ of the networks carrying "Wrestling From The Marigold" had found their own local wrestling territories to put on the air instead, which dropped Kohler from a Top 5 Promoter in North America to a struggling promoter being edged out of his own territory.
One of his own apprentices, Jim Barnett, left Kohler and joined with Johnny J Doyle (Los Angeles) to form a rival group out of Indiana that spread into Chicago & Detroit.
In 1960, Sam Muchnick stepped down as NWA President after a decade, and Fred Kohler stepped up. He immediately took on the rivals head to head and forced them out of the NWA and refused to recognize Carpentier as champion until he had a clean match with champion Buddy Rogers.
Kohler was NWA President for 2 years until Rogers was robbed of the NWA World Championship in a 1-Fall Match and Kohler and others protested the title change and kept Buddy Rogers as their champion.
This group came to be known as the World Wrestling Federation (WWWF) led by Vincent J McMahon Sr (DC), T***s Mondt (NYC), Ray Fabiani (PHI), Rudy Miller (PITT), Willie Gilzenberg (NJ), Phil Zacko (MD), Fred Kohler (CHI), Johnny Doyle (LACA), Frank Tunney (TO) but Kohler, Miller & Doyle later left the WWWF to continue their own promotions.
Fred Kohler tried to keep his Chicago territory afloat but was soon pressed out by Wilbur Snyder's WWA (Indianapolis) and Verne Gagne & Wally Karbo's AWA (Minneapolis) who bought out his territory in 1965.


https://jrkdent.wixsite.com/learning-the-ropes/1948/fred-kohler

Fred Kohler was a pivotal figure in professional wrestling, particularly in the Midwest, where he became one of the most successful promoters in the post-World War II era. Based in Chicago, Illinois, Kohler played a crucial role in the development of professional wrestling on television, which revol...

09/24/2024

Harry Light was a founding member of the NWA and promoted out of Detroit, MI from 1929-1964. He had one of the first wrestling TV shows ever, Big Time Wrestling, all the way back in 1947! It was so popular that San Francisco & Dallas would both copy the Big Time Wrestling name.

Harry Light was at one of the Founding meetings of the NWA in 1948, coming aboard with Ohio ally Al Haft, to join with Iowa's Pinkie George, Kansas' Orville Brown, Nebraska's Max Clayton, Missouri's Sam Muchnick, Minnesota's Tony Stecher, and Illinois Fred Kohler.

He was an official booking agent for midget wrestling with Jack Britton & Stu Hart. He worked with Sky Low Low, Little Beaver, Lord Littlebrook & more.

From 1959-1963, Johnny Doyle & Jack Britton's Indiana territory moved into Michigan and promoted in rival to Light. They moved to Australia and founded the first WCW from 1963-1973.

Harry Light sold out to Ed 'The Sheik' Farhat in 1964 who kept the show running until 1980 when WWF moved in and took over the US first wrestling TV show in 1981.

Learn more by following and browsing our website "A Guide to The Wrestling Territories" by


https://jrkdent.wixsite.com/learning-the-ropes/1948/harry-light

09/24/2024

Harry Light was a founding member of the NWA and promoted out of Detroit, MI from 1929-1964. He had one of the first wrestling TV shows ever, Big Time Wrestling, all the way back in 1947! It was so popular that San Francisco & Dallas would both copy the Big Time Wrestling name.

Harry Light was at one of the Founding meetings of the NWA in 1948, coming aboard with Ohio ally Al Haft, to join with Iowa's Pinkie George, Kansas' Orville Brown, Nebraska's Max Clayton, Missouri's Sam Muchnick, Minnesota's Tony Stecher, and Illinois Fred Kohler.

He was an official booking agent for midget wrestling with Jack Britton & Stu Hart. He worked with Sky Low Low, Little Beaver, Lord Littlebrook & more.

From 1959-1963, Johnny Doyle & Jack Britton's Indiana territory moved into Michigan and promoted in rival to Light. They moved to Australia and founded the first WCW from 1963-1973.

Harry Light sold out to Ed 'The Sheik' Farhat in 1964 who kept the show running until 1980 when WWF moved in and took over the US first wrestling TV show in 1981.

Learn more by following and browsing our website "A Guide to The Wrestling Territories" by

Harry Light was a pivotal figure in the development of professional wrestling in Detroit, Michigan, where he ran a highly influential wrestling territory from the 1940s through the early 1960s. His promotion, often referred to as "Big Time Wrestling," became a major player in the National Wrestling....

09/23/2024

Tony Stecher was an NWA Founding member of the Minneapolis Wrestling Club (1933-1954) which formed into the AWA (1960-1991)

He managed his brother Joe Stecher to 2 World Championships from 1917-1934, and also broke in football star Bronko Nagurski and managed him to a World Championship as well.

Stecher was close with Wally Karbo & Verne Gagne as well. Karbo was one of the first 5 to form the NWA in 1948, Stecher was present at the 2nd meeting with Al Haft & Harry Light, making him the first 8. He also promoted boxing from 1944-1954 including Rocky Graziano

Learn more by following and browsing our website "A Guide to The Wrestling Territories" by


https://jrkdent.wixsite.com/learning-the-ropes/1948/tony-stecher