How Blind Arrogance Killed Wrestling's Coolest Cult Promotion

With the World Wrestling Federation having become the market leader as the '80s rolled into the '90s, and with World Championship Wrestling now an entity capable of challenging the WWF's dominance, the '90s was a decade where the NWA's fall from grace hit an all-time low.

As part of WCW's withdrawal from the NWA, the NWA Worlds Heavyweight Championship was vacated by Ric Flair in September '93, and that title would remain unoccupied until the following August when Shane Douglas won a tournament to crown a new NWA Worlds Champ. Of course, that title win was infamous for how Douglas threw down the NWA Title and lambasted the history of those letters, instead opting to present himself as the ECW World Champion as that burgeoning promotion moved to distance itself from the NWA and transition from Eastern Championship Wrestling to Extreme Championship Wrestling.

For the rest of the '90s, the NWA's titles and branding were briefly incorporated into WWF programming as part of a half-assed invasion, and the NWA letters floundered in obscurity until they were ushered into Jerry and Jeff Jarrett's new NWA: TNA in 2002 - with the promotion utilising the classic NWA belts as part of its top singles and tag gold.

That agreement between the NWA and TNA came to a halt in 2007, and the NWA name and titles were floated through various promotions - such as Championship Wrestling from Hollywood, NWA Pro West, and NWA Georgia - for the next decade.

Not to discredit the NWA Worlds Champions of the time, but the wilderness years - with the NWA: TNA sandwiched in the middle - with names like Gary Steele, Mike Rapada, Brent Albright and even Adam Pearce and Colt Cabana holding the Ten Pounds of Gold, were a far cry away from having powerhouse names like Harley Race, Ric Flair, Dusty Rhodes, Terry Funk and Jack Brisco at the top of the NWA mountain.