A little over a month ago I wrote about the controversial match between then NWA World Heavyweight Champion and Colt Cabana where both men not only left it all in their cage match, they officially left the NWA. I had several questions in that last post (which you can read here) but none of them can be answered by anyone except for their own personal feelings on the subject.
What I can answer is what I feel the NWA means any more in this day and age where territories aren’t as prominent as they used to be, and even then there is not a system of localized control to the size and meaning as there was in the past. But this modern eras NWA council still means something to many and that 10 pounds of gold is still one of the most important titles when it comes to lineage and historical significance. Though they have come to reincarnate themselves several times, including at one point being associated with TNA: Impact Wrestling. Most certainly you cannot take anything away from current NWA World Heavyweight Champion Kahagas or any of the respective current champions such as Kacee Carlisle, Chase Owens, & the Dark City Fight Club.
But at the same time what does the NWA affiliation bring with it? Does it help the current small associated promotions draw more than they would if they weren’t associated and paid the fees? While researching for this group of articles I found the new http://NWAwrestling.org to be a lot easier to navigate. I was able to clearly see the listed 18 promotions and their respective websites and champions and it made me feel a lot better about their future than before I looked. While it may seem like a small step, it certainly shows that they at least wanted to make a better impact for an online presence which in turn can only make fans who have that capability have a feeling that what they are supporting is important and current.
For those 18 promotions that I could see officially listed on the NWA website, it could mean a lot for them to be associated with one of the oldest, if not THE oldest body of wrestling. For some, it means more than money, means more than personal satisfaction. It’s the feeling that they are connected to history, no matter how significant or lack thereof, it means honoring what came before. What helped build this great sport that is professional wrestling. It means that they can read those all important letters before their own promotion, National Wrestling Alliance.
While some of the younger fans that read this may not know, at one point the NWA was larger and more important than the WWF/E. It was full of stars such as Ric Flair, Harley Race, Ricky Steamboat, and thousands upon thousands of other important men who have left their legacy in this sport. Even while the now largest promotion in the world, the WWE, still stands as the most mainstream promotion, they still honor those men even if they did not have a huge impact within their own universe.
But it still cannot just be a link to history that is important to the future of this business. I want to delve more into what it could mean to professional wrestlers all over the world to still compete for a promotion associated with the NWA. Thanks for reading, I hope you leave your thoughts either below or email me at cgstong@PWPonderings.com and feel free to offer any thoughts as this will be a multi-part series and I encourage all comments/thoughts along the way. Feel free also to tweet at me by going to Twitter.com/CGSTONG. I want to thank Cory & Rhi Lockwood for their help. Here is where you can follow them:
Cory Lockwood Photography: http://www.facebook.com/corylockwoodphotography
Rhi Lockwood is the web admin for No Holds Barred Girls for all your New Zealand & Australian Women’s Wrestling News: http://www.nhbgirls.com/