Worst of the week covers WWE and TNA talent and storylines, but without Verne Gagne, the major league wrestling companies would look vastly different today. While WWE rarely celebrates AWA history, Gagne was a huge star in the United States in the 1950s, during a time when wrestling was watched by millions more fans than today. Later, he started his own company, and began to train the stars of the future. Ric Flair, Ricky Steamboat, Curt Hennig and dozens of others learned their craft due at least in part to Gagne. It was also the AWA, and not the WWF where Hulkamania was born. Hogan didnt become a star in the WWF in his first run, but when he turned face in the AWA and ran with Hulkamania, we saw the wrestling world accelerate into the mainstream. Try to imagine the early wrestling years of Vince McMahons WWF without AWA groomed talent like Adrian Adonis, Nikita Koloff, Jesse Ventura, The Iron Sheik, Bobby Heenan and Gene Okerlund. It was a talent raid that would make Ted Turner and Eric Bischoff blush. Verne kept a relatively low profile in his later years after the AWA folded, but he made headlines in 2009 after killing a 97-year-old man in a fight. Due to suffering from dementia, he wasnt charged. It was a sad end for a major star. Still, the man should be celebrated for his innumerable contributions to the wrestling industry.
As Rust Cohle from True Detective said "Life's barely long enough to get good at one thing. So be careful what you're good at."
Sadly, I can't solve a murder like Rust...or change a tire, or even tie a tie. But I do know all the lyrics to Hulk Hogan's "Real American" theme song and can easily name every Natural Born Thriller from the dying days of WCW. I was once ranked 21st in the United States in Tetris...on the Playstation 3 version...for about a week.
Follow along @AndrewSoucek and check out my podcast at wrestlingwithfriends.com
