I am a fan of the NWA, and I always have been. Why?
One reason is because the NWA is always on the cutting edge of wrestling
innovation. WHAT?!? I can almost hear the people yell in response
that the NWA is the past, and to link the NWA with innovation is insane. But just drop the assumptions and look at the
proof.
One example would be the popularity of foreign wrestling
today thanks to the internet, especially Japanese wrestling. The NWA was decades ahead in this
respect. The champ often went over and
had matches with top Japanese stars and as early as 1991 we began to see them
on WCW TV while it was still a part of the NWA and even the NWA hanging titles
on them (Fujinami was advertised as the NWA World Champ). One could make an easy argument that Japanese
wrestling is so popular today thanks to the NWA.
What about the popularity of ECW? While I think Extreme wrestling was bad for
the sport, it is undeniable that ECW had large appeal to a segment of
fans. The NWA was at the time without a
TV show, and they were able to identify ECW as a place worthy of carrying the
NWA World Title while ECW was in its infancy.
In 1994 they held a tournament and the champ was Shane Douglas. Now we all know what happened as Douglad
threw down the belt and NWA was damaged by a back stabbing Paul Heyman, but the
fact remains that the NWA had seen the potential in the ECW when no one else
did.
How about MMA, and especially its incorporating many mixed
marital arts moves into professional wrestling?
We see that a lot in popular wrestlers today like Daniel Bryan and CM
Punk, but it was pioneered by the NWA.
In 1995 the NWA put its World Title on the Beast Dan Sevren, who was of
UFC fame back when the UFC was still putting on shows in the single
digits. In fact long before Brock Lesnar
became a UFC champ, Dan Sevren was simultaneously the NWA World Champ and The
UFC Super Champ (before weight divisions).
Sevren used many MMA style moves and choke holds in his fights and for
over a 1,000 days terrorized wrestlers in the NWA. The NWA was way ahead of its day.
What about the popularity of cruiser weight wrestlers? Well the NWA was out in front of that as
well. We see the NWA with a World Junior
Heavyweight Title as far back as the 1940’s.
It did take a small break during some of the NWA lean years between 89
and 95, but they brought it back and put it on men like Ultimo Dragon and
Jushin Liger. It was a belt that
pioneered and popularized giving smaller men a place on the card and a title to
defend all their own. This belt was
reactivated in 1995 a year before WCW’s Cruiserweight title. It seems probable that WCW copied the Junior
Heavyweight Championship.
Chikara too can be seen as a popular place of wrestling that
had a large internet following, and the NWA was involved in that early on. Chikara started in 2002, and by 2007 Mike
Quackenbush was the NWA World Junior Heavyweight Champion. He held that belt for 3 years, although it
has to be admitted not defended as often as it needed to be. The NWA has had some low periods, but they
still deserve credit for being quickly on board a rising popular young company
in Chikara and a great wrestler in Quackenbush.
What about TNA? It
for a time was popular as an alternative to WWE, and had great potential as it
was full of talented guys like Ron Killings, AJ Styles, and Christopher Daniels
mixed with a few notable vets like Jeff Jarrett and later Sting. The NWA was on board with TNA from the
beginning. In fact, one can argue that
when Vince Russo was rehired was the beginning of the end of TNA as a good
product, and it was the NWA who first recognized that and pulled their titles
by mid-2007. Once again the NWA was on the
cutting edge of good wrestling, and when it was not good, they got out.
What is next? It is
hard to say what will be popular next, but I think it is safe to say that the
NWA will be on the cutting edge of that movement.
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