AWA was still drawing very well with Verne as champion. Verne retired after one last title defense against Nick Bockwinkel then Nick was awarded the AWA Strap instead of having a tournament. Verne came back a few times out of retirement. Once against Adrian Adonis and a second time against Jerry Blackwell both in Chicago to sold out building. Verne had i believe one final match against Sheik Adnan in 86 @ Wrestlerock in Twin Cities.

Not putting the belt on Hulk Hogan when he was red hot in their company was also bad as well.

@andrewmachado6988 There were some speed bumps in regards to putting the AWA strap on Hulkster during his time in the AWA. $$$$$ of course being the issue

Verne was God awful And a champion, yeah wrestling isn't work

@@briankregg6329 Then you should get your share of this easy $$$$ Brian but in a 52 week year you'll be busy 53 of them. Right ?

It started going downhill in the early 90s for me when Vince was still pushing those silly gimmicks. Once he got away from that, and began moving towards the Attitude Era, it swung back up for me. Then again in the mid-2000s it t bottomed out for me and I haven’t really watched it since. I tried watching about 6 or 7 years ago when the Network was relatively new only to find out there was a 30 day delay on Raw due to their deal with Hulu. I gave up after that because I didn’t want to be watching something that was a month old and have to delay watching the PPVs by a month just to keep on track.

​@@dr.floridamanphdI've been watching wrestling since 1983.. I totally agree..the start of the downfall was in the late 90s with all the goofy gimmicks..

Its up and down,

2015 ?? After wcw went under it went to crap. 👋

It started going down hill in 1992 or so. The lack of a territory system made it painful as it forced everyone to watch guys trying to become stars, instead of guys coming in already made by working territories elsewhere. You started seeing goofy gimmicks. By the Attitude Era, the characters were way better, but by then there were too many PPV events and guys were wrestling each other every week on TV instead of building a story and building anticipation over several months. Gone were the days of buying WrestleMania to see two guys finally collide after a 6-12 month storyline, replaced by paying for a match you far too often saw 6 weeks ago. Gone were the days of TV being used to promote events you had to pay for, replaced by system where TV shows were basically free PPVs, oh but you still had to pay for PPVs that were no longer as special, oh and there was one every 4 weeks.

another little known fact is Greg explained E=MC2 to Einstein and Albert stole it from him

@@TheTruth-on5zx Greg did move as fast as the speed of light!

Yeah. X-pac can vouch for that, he was there at this exact moment.

When Apollo 13 was in trouble, Greg flew from Minneapolis to Houston, on his dime, to personally explain to mission control how to safely bring the astronauts back to Earth . He was never thanked for his work or reimbursed for his travel.

​@@GameTime-yj6qvAnd somebody else took credit for it too. CBS had approached Greg about an exclusive interview but another guy got to NBC first and paid them $6 million dollars to interview that guy instead.

I don't believe he would go back there, but if they made that deal with WGN could afford to do it over many years

This was early 90's Hogan was leaving for WCW already, but Hogan wasn't jumping lol 😅, Greg is a great story teller.

This was not the mid 90’s. AWA closed in 1991. Hogan was not coming back to AWA if that’s what he’s implying and Verne wasn’t giving him $6 Million.

​@@bigcav925 No it wasn't the mid 90's be cause AWA officially went bust in 1991. Hogan wasn't leaving WWF for Verne's 1990/1991 AWA lol.

@@Jay_Cannon i believe it was 91-92 closer to mid 90s then mid 80s as implied

Like Stu Hart did. And how did he do again??? Oh, that's right. He got the shaft...

@@PulverizerA I thought Stu Hart agreed to just stop promoting, not become partners with Vince?

@@BigBadJerryRogers That is correct. And he was friendly as any buddy could be. And Vince still took the proverbial turd on the back of his head in return.

@@PulverizerA Bruce Hart may have ruined that situation by running cards in 1985 up in Canada. It might have been a violation of the deal between Stu and Vince.

@@curthennig9448 Yeah. I'm aware of the reasons Vince used to 💩all over Stu. Excuses, excuses...

I thought the state took over the entire area and made it a park.

@@yoholmes273 not sure? They bought the land and built the house in the early 90’s… I’d have to get more details. They obviously don’t have an entire farm worth of land. Maybe an acre or two on a corner lot of what now is pretty developed.

@@yoholmes273 There is a park there but it wasn't spread out over the entire property.

Separate properties. He had a lake estate in Minnetonka and farm property in Chanhassen, which is a different area. Verne made a nice living until hardheadedness took over. @@yoholmes273

Was Greg wearing camoflauge?

@@curthennig9448 BRother!!! In the later days of AWA on ESPN around the mid 80s, Sgt Slaughter returned to the promotion. Greg at that point had found minor sucess as tag team wrestler. Although everyone knew he was only around because he was Vernes kid. Greg had no body nor charisma and was an over pushed super dork. When SGT returned they tried repackaging Greg for a singles run. The promotion made hilariously corn ball vignettes of Greg training in the forest with Slaughter as an actual SGT. It was basically a boot camp. They called it "Camp Slaughter". Greg head to toe in camo, head band, amd face paint! The vignettes were pure cornball gold. Greg, post Camp Slaughter would come to the ring in the same camo outfit. Which was hilarious because everyone knew he was a super dweeb nepo-hire. Greg is a total joke. Just type in "Rambo Greg Gagne" in your browser and see the ridiculous pictures that come up.

He still probably would have made more money than he did in the AWA

At the time Greg was looking for an Agent position or TV production.

That's after SD Jones rag dolls him all day

Nah, Gagne and Brunzell could've had a Killer B's type run in the tag team division. Then Vince would've given him a used car salesman gimmick in the 90s.

Greg lived in a perpetual spin zone

They definitely would have. Plus he was too small at a time when size and muscles were emphasized in the WWF

@@GameTime-yj6qv Greg would have called Dr. Zahorian.

And rightly so

@@curthennig9448 lol probably

@@davidgraham8299 Yes #Justiceforvince

Verne Gagne held the belt for 9 years and booked himself as champion.

To the day he retired Nick Bockwinkel was still one of the best. Nick did not want to stay at the dance any longer and got out when he was still on top. I wrestled Nick at least 3 times and what a tremendous talent and with Bobby Heenan it was even better. Nick became a Road Agent for WWF shortly after he retired in 1987 after an All Japan tour. Nick came back in 92 to wrestle Dory Funk Jr in a great match on The WCW Slamboree PPV. Nick Bockwinkel still had an athletic body, could bump, could sell, and cut 5 star promos. FTR during Bocks time as a WWF agent he was used as a Special Enforcer Referee in Hulk Hogan matches in many of the AWA towns. In 1988 when i was with Windy City Wrestling we honored Nick and Sailor Art Thomas at the International Amphitheater in Chicago to a huge crowd pop.

@@josecarlosramolete6109 R.H.I.P. = Rank has its Privileges being the Boss.

@@danburnette7674 Eric Bischoff later did the same pattern of AWA in WCW. The only difference: he gave the old guys (especially the number one boy, Hogan) creative control.

Not making Hogan their champion and top star hurt them double because not only did they not benefit from having Hogan but the WWF benefitted hugely from getting him. Plus they raided the AWA of a lot of talent including Heenan, Mean Gene, Jesse Ventura, and many others.

Even if they were. Vince would've matched it and given Hogan more in merchandise revenue.

@bigc2626 the lie is even worse! He is not talking about 1983, but about 1990/91!!! The gall on this guy !!!

@@maturanitaWGN was paying the $6 million based on knowing they were going to get Hogan. Thats not far fetched.

Year is major point, 6million in 1983 Hogan could have bought 2 or three wwf's since Mcmahon bought wwwwwwwwf with mythical million dollar loan similar time..

@@michaelpalermo354 By the late 80s, the AWA was in shambles, losing Tv slots right and left, losing the little talent they had left to NYC, and they were going to lure Hogan back from the haven the WWF had become for him? Sounds far fetched to me

Yep, plus they got a % from the AWA dvd and Verne got a HOF payday. Greg himself was even hired as a road agent for a few months, so overall Verne and Greg got a pretty good deal.

Collective wwe library is asset beast

That tape library wasn’t worth close to $2 million. If Vince paid that much, it was a gift to Verne.

@@acefromspace2727 The Gagnes did not receive 2 million for the AWA library. Matter of fact they didn't even receive a million. Sources place it closer to $700,000 tops. The WWE received somewhere between 750 and 1000 hours of AWA footage. I'm not sure if the Bob Luce footage is included in that total or not.

@@curthennig9448 Ok. That sounds more realistic. I wonder how much Verne lost by not selling to Vince when he first offered to buy the territory.

Greg would have met up with Dr. Zahorian and became the next Intercontinental champion.

Why?

The only thing that can take Vince out is Vince

@@TheNYJets15 true that, I guess karma got him in the end

@@Signalfromabove I think his ego got him…I mean if the allegations are true (time will tell) anyone can write up and allege anything…if that is the case, he has only himself to blame.

Innocent until proven guilty

Look at what the top paid baseball or football players were making the year he’s talking about. There’s no way they were paying that to pre-Hulkamania Hulk Hogan.

2003 according to wikipedia. On March 31, 2003, the trademark for "AWA" was acquired by WWE according to documents filed with the USPTO.

@@THE_bchatI have to google wgn paper strike. No AWA show was noticeable on my cable service area in 2001-2003. TBS was on here, no WGN anymore. ESPN just constant sports centers all day. 6million for 60 years could have been funny.

@@THE_bchat thank you. My search was done with Portland internet access. Not as expansive as everywhere else. Jk

@@BuddyRose-kt1nu Big Fish in a small pond has it's drawbacks Buddy!

@@THE_bchat did it say how much they got from WWE for it?

He got FMV for it. That’s the law. But he wanted to hold off on selling it until he could maximize his profits from it. That’s why he was only selling one or two lots here and there.

I don't know the exact year of this interview but Greg saying the property would have been worth 200-300 million at that point is ludicrous. Verne was also taking loans out against his land to keep the AWA running. What ESPN was giving them wasn't enough. This emminent domain case started by Hennipen County started in 1988 I believe. I've never heard what Verne received for this property. He had other business deals that were failing in the early 90s and he wound up filing for personal bankruptcy in 1993 which made many of the newspapers. He was trying to protect his assets by getting shady with annuities. According to court documents in 1994 Verne's net worth was surprisingly very low.

@@curthennig9448 the interview was in 2015 or 16. The property itself was a huge tract of land on the westernmost bank of Lake Minnetonka which is one of the wealthiest towns in Minnesota. Had Gagne been able to hold on to that land, and not face financial ruin (it was mortgaged to the hilt), it’s quite possible that the land would be worth a ridiculous amount today or even when this interview took place. 200 to 300 million might be a bit of a stretch but 100 million isn’t out of the question. Hennepin County, after taking it over, built a massive park on top of it and the old Gagne farmhouse sits on it as a visitor’s center.

@@dr.floridamanphd I totally agree that it would have had great value(not Greg's number obviously). So definitely in the long run this case wound up hurting Verne and family. Verne could have sold some of that land and paid back the mortgage against it. Has anyone ever heard what the county paid for Verne's property? Greg said it took 7 years for this case to settle. Do you know when the land was converted to a park?

@@curthennig9448 it was converted sometime in the late 90s after the case was settled. As for how much? I’m not sure how to look that up. I’m sure it’s in the public record but I don’t know the first thing about looking up property transactions with the government.

Tip your bartenders & waiters. Try the French Toast.

@@danburnette7674 The French Connection was a great movie! Don't waitresses usually get a bigger Tip?

The AWA had one of the better work schedules of any territory. The upper tier guys worked on average 4 days per week and still made very good money. That's why Bockwinkel stayed for so many years. Vince did play dirty pool.

@@curthennig9448 Yeah, can’t agree more. I think guys who wanted to be “family men” stuck around. That’s good, and nothing against the other guys. Of course family life got hard. I believe a more territory system is better. Then you don’t have to travel so much and your kids aren’t left behind in the dust.

Greg said WGN was paying Hogan the 6 mil. Meaning Hogans contract would be with WGN.

Greg is referring to the AWA PPVs they produced which consisted of old footage. The first one was shown in May 1999 on USSB. Did well and another one was shown in Nov. 1999. From there they did monthly AWA shows until about mid 2001. Sold the AWA library in early 2003.

@@curthennig9448 Thank you! Wish you were along side him during this interview for clarification

@@deputay I'm not sure there's enough time in the day to rectify Greg's numerous errors.(LOL).

1990. Plus he said WGN was going to fork out the money. Can't say I believe it though.

JOBBER.

Hogan was making more than a million with the WWF at the time.

@@curthennig9448 so was this '83 or '93?

@@MortGoldbergTalent This situation with WGN was in 1990 and Hogan was definitely making more than a million a year at that point. WGN did have interest in bringing wrestling on their station which they accomplished a few months later when WCW went with them. As for WGN giving Hogan 6 million: Find it unlikely and unlikely that Hogan would return to the AWA which was running on fumes. Is it possible there was some communication with Hogan and in turn he was using it as leverage against Vince: a slight possibility.

Probably Trump! (LOL)

He. Himself. He got money from Inoki booking wwf guys

Probably true. Vince and his dad had Jimmy Hoffa knocked off for taking cuts of their house show gates in the Northeast back in the early 70s.

Greg was actually decent in the ring, especially tag teams.

Greg was chopping wood with the best of them in Camp Slaughter. It was even tougher than Verne's training camp back in 1972.

Classy? He's a compulsive liar.

He’s a carney used car salesman slime ball.

I think Greg was confusing the question as acquiring the AWA library was long after the AWA was out of business sometime in the early 2000s.

WGN was going to air AWA in major markets. Which would allow the AWA to become visible again. And by paying $6 million to get Hogan had it worked out it would have been very interesting to see how Verne would have booked once talent started to come back. It’s actually not far fetched at all

Sonny Rogers, 25 yr plus in the business. Greg Gagne was a very talented wrestler having been in the ring with him several times in single matches and tags when he was with Brunzell. I won't argue with you about George Gulas but Greg unfortunately often gets a bad rap. Greg was not the GOAT but a very good talent.

Cannot believe a word he says.

@gregbailey8253 Thank you Greg for the accolades. I have a book that will be coming out soon titled " Nutshells " Half of the book covers my time in the business while the second half of the book tells of corruption in the airline industry in which i worked nearly 17 years of my life for Southwest Airlines. The airline industry and especially Southwest is more corrupt then the Professional Wrestling - Sports Entertainment business. I'm certain that i'll be receiving a few death threats when the book is close to release or released. Now there is a series that Vice should dive into " The Dark Side of Airlines ".

Na, Greg was a pretty good wrestler, particularly tag team wrestler. Was he World champion material? Of course not, but he had a really good wrestling IQ and could really work with anybody. He was too small and wasn't the most entertaining, but he could have a good classic match with anyone, and had a pretty good mind for the business. Sadly he ruined his reputation with these silly shoot interviews that are full of lies and incredible claims, now he's mostly remembered for these rather than for his good matches.

@@jonathanturbide2232 Thank you for the accolades jonathan. Yeah i agree that the shoot interviews tarnished Greg's credibility but as a talent he was very good and very over.

Vince didn't buy out the AWA or WCW. Vince tried to buy out Verne in 1983 but he refused.

@curthennig9448 I'm talking about the films and footage..you know what I mean..lol

@@LOGICAL-JAY Whoops, I misunderstood your statement. Yes the film footage indeed. Vince was a sneaky mo-fo when getting other people's TV shows kicked off and locking up other wrestling territory's arenas.

@curthennig9448 yes indeed.. I didn't like that..I never cared for Vince...I guess im bias because I was more of fan of the AWA, NWA and WCCW back then..WWF was way too goofy and gimmicky after 1989..lol

@@LOGICAL-JAY He had all the top stars in the US but he had to implement that cartoon feel to it.

The WGN negotiations were supposedly in 1990.

@@curthennig9448 No. They were in 1983, when, you know, the AWA actually still had Hulk Hogan. Wow. There were no newspaper strikes that Gagne mentioned in 1990. This deal was supposed to happen in 1983.

@@jim-elliott The story is definitely 1990. I know it is confusing. Verne didn't need WGN in 1983. They were rolling at the time. They didn't make ESPN until August 1985. Greg is mixing this story up completely. Joe Ciupik who worked in the AWA in 1990 backs up that there was conversation with WGN as the AWA was on the verge of going out of business. WGN went with WCW later in 1990/1991.

@@curthennig9448 Well, well, well, it seems we've stumbled upon a wrestling historian extraordinaire! I must have missed the part where the AWA had a crystal ball in 1983, predicting they wouldn't need WGN until later. Perhaps Greg Gagne had a time-traveling tag team partner we're not aware of? As for Joe Ciupik, I suppose he was the Doc Brown of the AWA, making business-saving deals with WGN in the nick of time. Bravo, wrestling time-travelers! Maybe they should have borrowed the DeLorean to save the AWA from its eventual demise. After all, nothing says 'successful negotiation' like a flux capacitor and a well-timed clothesline. 🤷‍♂ #AWABacktotheFuture

@@jim-elliott I don't know why Greg is mixing about 3 stories together at the same time here. 1983 was when Vince, Verne, and Greg had a meeting about the purchase of the AWA. Supposedly Vince offered 2 million and at the time the AWA was doing great business wise so there was no chance of Verne selling. I believe by the summer of 1990 the AWA knew that ESPN wasn't going to renew their contract. It was set to expire in Feb. 1991. The last set of ESPN tapings were held in Rochester, Minn. in August of 1990. Hence at that point Verne pursued his WGN connection. Not sure why it didn't work out or why WGN went with WCW. Joe Ciupik mentioned that he had seen fax communications between the AWA and WGN. As for Hulk Hogan being involved in all of this and getting a 6 million dollar per year contract is probably a bunch of hogwash.