NWA All Star Wrestling

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NWA All Star Wrestling is a former Canadian professional wrestling promotion, based in Vancouver, British Columbia.

Contents

[edit] History

[edit] Early History

Although other wrestling promotions existed in Vancouver prior to the early 1960s (particularly a predecessor of All Star's called Big Time Wrestling), All Star (an affiliate of the National Wrestling Alliance for most of its existence) became the longest-lived and perhaps best-remembered of all promotions operating in the Vancouver area before or since. The promotion began coming into its own around the time CHAN-TV began broadcasting their TV program (also called All Star Wrestling) in 1962, when Gene Kiniski arrived in Vancouver and became a regular on the roster. At the time All Star began, the NWA British Empire Heavyweight title was the top singles title in the Vancouver territory, while the Pacific Coast Tag Team title initially served as the tag team championship (both titles were carried over from Big Time Wrestling); however, after the British Empire title was abandoned sometime after 1963 (when Kiniski last won it), All Star had no singles title of its own until 1970, when the Pacific Coast Heavyweight title was introduced.

[edit] The Kiniski/Kovacs era (late 1960s-1977)

All Star started becoming a serious force in the Pacific Northwest wrestling scene not long after Kiniski won the NWA World Heavyweight title, when he and Sandor Kovacs joined forces to promote the territory; during this time, All Star shared talent (including many of the sport's big names of the time) with nearby NWA affiliate Pacific Northwest Wrestling while also developing local talent. At the same time, the All Star Wrestling program began to be seen across Canada via syndication. Ron Morrier was the original host of the TV show and served in that capacity until his death on August 6, 1981; after that, former CFUN disk jockey Ed Karl took over as the host for the remainder of the show's run on CHAN-TV.

[edit] The Al Tomko era (1977-1989)

Kovacs sold his share in All Star in 1977 to Al Tomko, a veteran wrestler and former Winnipeg promoter for the AWA. While the promotion managed to hold steady through the late-1970s following the sale, All Star began going into decline by the early 1980s, due partly to the aging Tomko (who was physically past his prime and had poor wrestling skills) pushing himself as the company's top star, and partly to the rise of the WWF around the middle of the decade (a situation which actually affected many other North American promotions besides All Star). Noticing the decline of the promotion, Kiniski sold his ownership stake and got out in 1985, after which Tomko withdrew All Star from the NWA and created a new sanctioning body for the company called the Universal Wrestling Alliance; those changes did nothing to reverse All Star's fortunes, however, and the promotion would eventually cease operations around the summer of 1989. Mauro Ranallo, who went on to become a radio announcer for Abbotsford station CFVR (now CKQC-FM) and the TV play-by-play announcer for Pride Fighting Championships, Stampede Wrestling, King of the Cage and KVOS-TV's NWA Top Ranked Wrestling, got his start as an on-camera personality with All Star Wrestling while still in his teens, late in the show's run.

[edit] Alumni

[edit] Championships

[edit] NWA-sanctioned championships

Title Notes Last Champion(s)
NWA British Empire Heavyweight Championship (1959-1963?) Gene Kiniski
NWA World Tag Team Championship (Vancouver version) (1966-1967) The Assassins
NWA Pacific Coast Heavyweight Championship (1970-1981) Jay Youngblood
NWA Pacific Coast Tag Team Championship (1961-1962) Gene Kiniski & Hard Boiled Haggerty
NWA Canadian Heavyweight Championship (Vancouver version) (1982-1989) Dan Denton
NWA Canadian Tag Team Championship (Vancouver version) (1962-1986) Rick Davis & Rocky Dellaserra
NWA International Tag Team Championship (Vancouver version) (1982-1985) Sonny Myers & Super Destroyer

[edit] UWA-sanctioned championships

Title Notes Last Champion(s)
UWA Heavyweight Championship (1986-1989?) Sweet Daddy Sampson
UWA Tag Team Championship (1986?-1989) Robotron & The Olympian
UWA Junior Heavyweight Championship (1987-1988) The Frog
UWA Women's Championship (1984-1988?) Cory Collins
UWA International Heavyweight Championship (1988) Timothy Flowers
UWA Canadian Junior Heavyweight Championship (mid-late 1980s) Todd Tomko (Rick Davis)

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

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