Crusher,Mad Dog,Larry the Ax,Nick Bockwinkle,Ray Stevens,Vern Gagne,Bruiser,DR.X,etc.etc.
Awa produce some of the greatest superstars ever unfortunate the company had financial problems which it couldn't compete with wcw and the wwf at the time the stars you see like hogan jerry the king lawler ric flair road warriors von eric family was the amon the greatest wrestlers they ma main taine their popularity before heading to wcw due to financial problems. jerry the king lawler was probably the best singles wrestler while the von erics family was the greatest tag team ever produce
I wasn't alive then but I do know that that's where WWE got most of their top talents from in the 80s. Including announcer Mean Gene Okerlund, manager Bobby The Brain Heenan, and wrestlers Adrian Adonis, Hulk Hogan, Shawn Michaels, Jerry Lawler, Ken Patera, and Jesse Ventura, also jumped to the WWF. Also There were several regional wrestling groups until the McMahon family began buying up all the talent.
AWA was the first wrestling I ever saw.. and who can forget the Sheiks under Adnan el Kassie Cutronim.. -- You're thinking of Colonel DeBeers -- not sure of the real guy (Wiki should) but he was a major heel billed from South Africa, and Playing the racist apartheid support to the hilt... one of his go-to heat generators would be refusing to even touch a Black wrestler and attempting to forfeit rather than fight, until the Face would attack him to force the fight -- and while almost if not all of the guys everyone has mentioned put in time in AWA you need to remember that in the territory days 80% of anyone who was anyone worked in almost every territory at some point Lawler and the Von Erichs were more famous out of USWA/WCCW... Flair only broke un with AWA having been trained by Verne Gagne he didn't become big until JCP/NWA
Me, I Remember Catching It On Saturday Morning, Sometimes On ESPN, Don't Quite Remember As I Was VERY Young. I Remember The Classic Matches Between Jerry Lawler and Nick Bockwinkle, And Lawler vs. Henning, Also I Remember My First Memories Of Witnessing Shawn Michaels In Tag Action vs The Likes Of The Nasty Boys, And Various Other Tag Teams. Ah, The Days.. No Internet Spoilers.. No Rumors..
They pretty much died when the WWF did the talent raid. Its pretty much Gagnes fault. Look at the talent this promotion had in the 80's, but did not know how to utilize: Hogan Bockwinkel Henning Road Warriors Lawler Ventura Adonis Dr. D. David Schultz Bundy Blackwell Martel Slaughter HBK Jannetty Scott Hall Heenan
