WWA Story from Kayfabe Memories - Mike Dupree Over the years, the Indianapolis based WWA (World Wrestling Association/Alliance) has gained a sort of cult following, and is always associated with its founder/co-owner, William Afflis a.k.a. Dick the Bruiser, who was also its first champion, and who went on to hold that belt 9 times. Championship Wrestling of Indiana, Inc, first started in March of 1964, and was the brainchild of both the Bruiser and his partner, Wilbur Snyder. They had previously been working for the local promoter of the time, Balk Estes, and in fact, were his AWA tag team champions at the time they went into business for themselves. Unlike most wrestlers of the time that took over a territory, Bruiser and Snyder made no bones about the fact they owned the promotion outright, and it had a dramatic effect on their fledgling business for some time to come. Since wrestlers could not hold a license to promote and wrestle at the same time, Bruiser and Snyder simply put the promotional license in their wives names, and the early ads for their cards read, L. Afflis presents.... Championship Wrestling. The real problem with this idea was, in 1964, audiences of sports entertainment were not as accepting of the fact that professional wrestling was more entertainment than sport. There were already rival shows across town, and on October 31,1963, there was an explosion at the Indianapolis Fairgrounds Coliseum that left no suitable year round venue for some considerable time (and local fans were a bit paranoid about going to any event in the explosions aftermath). Bruiser and Snyder going into business for themselves seemed then like a logical step on paper. Local big stars (like the Sheik, Verne Gagne, Ray Gunkel, etc.) had long realized there was much more profit to be made by being in business for themselves, and through hook or crook, managed to slot themselves at the top of their respective territories. Bruiser and Snyder, though in the ring were a contrast, outside the ring had much in common and had formed a lasting friendship. Wilbur Snyder was originally from Van Nuys, California, and had gone to the University of Utah before entering pro football, where he eventually made his way up to Canada to play for Edmonton. One of Wilburs teammates was a young Gene Kiniski, who had been moonlighting as a wrestler, and was making several times more money than he had been as a football player. Wilbur, who at the time was a phenomenal athlete, decided to try his hand at wrestling, and broke into the business in his native California in 1955. The good looking, fast moving Snyder was an immediate smash, and even went to a 1 hour draw with then NWA champion, Lou Thesz, further cementing his reputation. In 1957, or thereabouts, he was brought into the Chicago/Milwaukee region, controlled by wrestling czar, Fred Kohler (who at one time, because of his network wrestling show, controlled the booking of a large segment of the major wrestling talent in the U.S., not unlike the big two do today) and put over Verne Gagne for the U.S. TV title (and how many people have ever went over Verne in the middle of the ring?). Wilbur was in huge demand all over the country, and he eventually set up shop in Indianapolis, working for Balk Estes, who was drawing record houses at the Fairgrounds Coliseum. William Afflis was born in Lafayette, Indiana to wealthy parents, and moved to Indianapolis as a boy, attending Shortridge High School. When he was growing up in Indianapolis, his father died and his mother remarried and moved away from Indianapolis, letting Dick have his own apartment at the tender age of 16! When he graduated from high school (as a top rated lineman) he enrolled at Purdue, where he was suspended for beaning the assistant coach (who had demeaned Dick on the field in front of the other players) on the head with his football helmet. Several schools and a name change (from William to Richard, hence Dick) he finally ended up at the University of Nevada, where he graduated with a degree in engineering. From 1951 to 1955, he was an offensive lineman for the pre-Lombardi Greenbay Packers, finally quitting for the greener pastures of pro-wrestling (or, as one legend has it, because he was suspended for deliberately breaking the leg of an opposing teams lineman). The Packers, at the time, were the worst team in pro football, and spent more time partying than training for their games. Dick started wrestling for Tony Stetcher in Minneapolis in 1955,and a few months after his debut, wrestled Lou Thesz for the NWA Title. By 1956, Dick was perfecting his style, and was one of the first to actually boast and brag about himself in interviews (working the stick). His matches became more riotous, with Dick bringing in chairs, tables, or anything else he could get his hands on. This sort of thing, though passe today, was groundbreaking in its time. Wherever he performed, he drew large houses, and finally was given the U.S. TV title in 1957 over his future partner, Wilbur Snyder. Dick continued to be a mainstay in the Midwest region, making his home in Indianapolis, and wrestling there for local promoter Dick Patton. The riot in Madison Square Garden in late 1957 (resulting in Dicks ban from New York) only further enhanced his reputation. Dick and Wilbur, by the late 50s,were top draw cards in Chicago, Milwaukee, Detroit, Indianapolis, Cincinnati, and all points in between. They were to this region, as much of a contrast as Hulk Hogan and Ric Flair were in the early 90s. And their feuds with each other were box office magic. One story had Bruiser buying into Fred Kohlers office as far back as 1960. At any rate, by 1963, Kohler had taken on Jack Pfeffier as a booking agent, and Pfeffier proceeded to run Chicago into the ground, booking in sound-alike wrestlers like Bummy Rogers and Hobo Brazil. Fans, and top-flight talent, stayed away in droves. Wrestling in Chicago nearly died all together. Johnny Doyle owned the Detroit promotion, selling it outright to Eddie Farhat (The Sheik) in 1965. Sheik used his father-in-law, Francis Fleser, as his frontman. So, another market closed up for Bruiser, as Sheik had a penchant for booking himself on top. Bruiser had taken to working in southern California for Eileen Eatons (Mike LeBells) WWA office, and between the WWA office, and Verne Gagnes, they put together a loose alliance to take over and build a large Midwest territory. When Dick and Wilbur started showing TV tapes prior to running their first wrestling card (at the Southside Armory in Indianapolis, April 25,1964) they were showing tapes from Los Angeles. On April 22,1964,Bruiser won the WWA (California version) heavyweight title from Freddie Blassie. The California WWA title was an offshoot of Fred Kohlers heavyweight title, stemming from a match between Edouard Carpentier and Lou Thesz on 6/14/57, where Carpentier won a disputed decision over Thesz and was recognized as champ. Even though Carpentier lost that claim to the title in Omaha to Verne Gagne in August of 1958, Carpentier was recognized as champ going into a 6/12/61 match with Freddie Blassie in Los Angleles, and lost the title to Blassie. The title had gone through a succession of hands and would go back to Blassie before the April 1964 match with Bruiser. (Dick would eventually lose the California version to Dick the Destroyer Beyer on a count out on 7/22/64), and the tape of that match was used to build a feud between him and Bruiser in the Midwest. On their first card, Bruiser and Snyder defended their World tag team titles against the Miller Brothers, going to a 60 minutes draw. Bruiser and Snyder had been Estes AWA Tag Team champs, as a result of a victory over Cyclone Negro and the Masked Terror (Jay York) on 12/10/63 in Indianapolis. They continued to claim the now Worldwide Wrestling Alliance tag team titles, as well as Dick having the heavyweight belt. This might have been pure ego, but more than likely, it was done to establish the straps and the viability of anyone who would take them off of Bruiser and Snyder. Dick and Wilbur, in the future, would use their reps to get new talent over and develop new stars. Whenever Bruiser bought Kohler out, it wasnt until March 6,1964, when bigger stars started to appear in Chicago, with Pat OConnor and Art Thomas being brought in to headline at the Amphitheater. Bruiser finally headlined his first show on May 15,1964, going to a no contest with OConnor. There were no more cards held that year in the Amphitheater until September 12, when Dick defended his WWA Heavyweight belt against OConnor, and the team of Angelo Poffo and Nikolai Volkoff defended their newly awarded NWA Tag Team titles against Roger Kirby and Dennis Hall. Now… are you ready for this? Volkoff and Poffo had won the WWA belts from Bruiser and Snyder on 7/30/64, and lost them back to Snyder and Bruiser on 9/4/64 in Indianapolis. Poffo and Volkoff were the new tag champs in Chicago. On October 8,1964, Bruiser and Snyder did their first live TV taping in Indianapolis at the Southside Armory, which was to be shown in Chicago as well as Indianapolis. Poffo and Volkoff, who had lost the WWA Tag Team titles, defended their newly awarded NWA Tag Team titles against Bobby Managoff and Bobby Hire. And this was in an era of kayfaybe! One other market that they went into was Detroit, working with Olympia Stadium general manager Lincoln Cavaleri. They brought in talent from Verne Gagnes AWA, including tag champs Larry Hennig and Harley Race. So, the whole territory that was the original WWA included Chicago, Indianapolis, Detroit, Louisville, and possibly parts of Ontario (I have yet to confirm this as of this writing). It also included such towns as Champaign, Danville, Peoria, and Springfield, Ill., Evansville, Ft. Wayne, Hammond and Elkhart, Indiana. Balk Estes folded his office in Indianapolis in September of 1964, leaving Bruiser and Snyder with run of the entire territory. Though nothing can be substantiated, it appears that Bruiser and Snyder mayve had some kind of agreement with the athletic commission to keep anyone else from getting a promoters license, and therefore, there was no opposition to Bruiser and Snyder in Indiana until the early 1980s, when the athletic commission was dismantled. The territory, on paper, looked great. However, there are always logistic problems in trying to run an organization this large, coupled with the fact that in many cases, the crowds werent that large, and in some areas, like Detroit, there was steady competition. Whatever the problems, by 1965, Bruiser and Snyder started dismantling their territory. First, they closed up shop in Detroit in May of 1965, and wouldnt go back there until 1971. Next, Bruiser and Verne Gagne set up a partnership in Chicago, and the WWA titles were systematically eliminated, starting on February 26,1966,with a wrestle-off between AWA champion Maurice Vachon and WWA champ ion Bruiser (leaving only Vernes AWA belts). Bruiser, as stated above, had been using several of Vernes guys in Detroit, and they may have in fact, been partners there as well. They leased Louisville and Evansville to Nick Gulas, who eventually lost the licensing to Jerry Jarrett in the 70s. Hammond and the Illinois towns became AWA, while Elkhart and Ft. Wayne remained WWA. After that, Indianapolis basically became a farm league for the AWA and St. Louis. What Bruiser and Snyder lost in territory, they gained in power, and they had a lot of stroke in the wrestling business for most of the remainder of their careers. From Indianapolis, during this period, many greats emerged. The Blackjacks, the Valiants, Bobby Heenan, the Chain Gang, Greg Valentine (as Babyface Fargo), Baron von Raschke, Ernie Ladd, were just some of the names. It was also a trying ground for different feuds, and a place where perennial mid-carders (by this point) like Art Thomas, Billy Red Cloud, and Moose Cholak, could be featured. In 1971, Bruiser and Snyder, along with Lincoln Cavaleri, started running shows in Detroit again in the aging Olympia Stadium. This seemed like a strange move at the time, as Sheiks promotion was an NWA promotion, and usually if you opposed the NWA, you were blacklisted. During this time, several of Dicks stars as well as himself were appearing in St. Louis, the home of the NWA. The NWA did initially send in reinforcements to the Sheik, and the early crowds for the WWA were pretty low, but with TV tapings now being done at the new Expo Center in Indianapolis, and the main events being broadcast, things started picking up. A talent exchange between the Bearmans promotion in Ontario, the Rougeaus in Montreal, and Bruno Sammartinos Pittsburgh promotion also helped. In addition, there was some luring away of talent from the Sheik, which soon caused the WWA houses to overtake the established NWA promotion, doing turn-away business in most of the towns on the circuit. Through 1972 and1973, Indianapolis was frequently SRO, with main events like Bruiser and Crusher vs. The Blackjacks, Bruiser and Bruno Sammartino vs. Ernie Ladd and Baron Von Raschke, Cowboy Bob Ellis vs. Baron Von Raschke, and Bobby Heenan and Jimmy Valiant vs. Art Thomas and Pepper Gomez. One of the more strange things that the WWA did, however, was have different champs in Detroit than in Indianapolis. For example, Art Thomas was given the title in a phantom switch, while Billy Red Cloud was champ in Indianapolis. In 1974, the Vietnam Conflict had ended, and unemployment started to rise, along with gas shortages and run away inflation. Crowds for both promotions were dropping, and several territories besides these two were hurt. It was announced on Big Time Wrestling in Detroit in April of 1974 that the promotional war was over, and that the WWA titles would no longer be recognized in Detroit. Bruiser and the Sheik had gone into a loose partnership, and started one of the most violent feuds in wrestling history. Cobo Hall was packed for their meetings, and the new Market Square Arena drew nearly 15,000 fans to see them. By 1975, Indianapolis had gone back to being a farm type league… a haven for new talent and aging veterans or established stars between jobs. It was also a stop-off point for performers working the Chicago/St. Louis circuit. Dick would also use it to bring in major talent for a string of matches between himself, taking it to Chicago, St. Louis and Ft. Wayne. Some of the more notables included Bruiser Brody, Harley Race and Nick Bockwinkel.
Posted on: Wed, 21 Jan 2015 08:54:42 +0000
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