The Phantom of the Ring reviews National Wrestling Alliance: The Untold Story of the Monopoly That Strangled Pro Wrestling, by Tim Hornbaker. ECW Press.

The Phantom of the Ring

A History of the Surreal — Part 2

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Primo Carnera

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All this discussion of Hot Springs and Mondt leads us into an interesting sidebar. Owney Madden, learning of Primo Carnera’s new career in the ring, journeyed to see him at work. Afterwards, he visited Carnera in his dressing room and admonished him for disgracing himself by becoming a wrestler. Carnera listened patiently, and when Madden and his entourage left, remarked to a coworker that unlike Madden, the promoters didn’t steal from him. Actually, they did, but Toots chiseled little in comparison to Madden, probably because the daily double was cheaper to play.

The ball really began rolling when another Southern California promoter, Frank Pasquale, filed suit for restraint of trade. This finally woke up the agents in the Los Angeles FBI Antitrust Division and they, in turn, got the U.S. Attorney involved. Investigator Stanley Disney (what a great surname for someone investigating wrestling) was assigned the case and he began by talking with Johnny Doyle. Doyle, who resigned from the NWA in January 1954 (p. 124) in the aftermath of the Southern California promoter blowout, knew where the bodies were buried and was more than willing to spill the proverbial beans, especially in the case of Nick Lutze. Doyle also gave Disney a laundry list of people to see, including Lutze, Jack Pfeffer, Lord Carlton, Ted Thye (Thye was one of the leading light-heavyweights of his day, a frequent opponent of Clarence Ecklund and Ad Santel, who turned to promoting after his career ended. He promoted in the Northwest, and with Jim Londos, operated in Australia, where Londos was billed as world’s champion. To counter Thye and Londos’ interest in Japan and Hawaii, Lou Thesz made numerous appearances in both countries, where he showed the fans, especially in Japan, who the real champion was.) and Mildred Burke, among others. All were eager to talk except Pfeffer, who asserted that he and the NWA were on good terms. The testimony of those who did talk helped the government build a compelling case of antitrust violations. Muchnick was extremely worried by this and moved the NWA to clean up its act, especially in striking out paragraphs of its constitution that could be construed to encourage monopolistic practices.

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Sam Muchnick

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Most of all, Muchnick was afraid that the government would make its investigation public and expose the fact that wrestling was predetermined. Kayfabe had to be protected at all costs and so Muchnick had to head off the government as best he could. To that extent, he became extremely cooperative with Disney and got the word out to his cohorts that they were to do the same, especially never uttering a discouraging word about another wrestler or promoter. The membership, at the 1955 convention, gave Alliance attorney Harry Soffer permission to alter the constitution and strike out any offending by-laws. The government, for its part, met with Muchnick and Soffer in June of 1956 and hammered out a decree with the government in which the NWA promised not to be naughty anymore. The stipulation by the government was that all NWA members affix their signatures to the document, which was done at the annual confab. The government then, to make sure things got done, filed a civil suit on October 15, 1956, in Des Moines, listing 11 major infractions that breached the law and remedies which were already in the stipulated pre-agreement drafted in June. The NWA feigned defiance, but a final judgment rendered by presiding Judge William F. Riley was signed by both parties.

According to this agreement the NWA was to refrain from certain activities and amend any by-laws that would permit such behavior. Any promoter wishing to join was no longer subject to the star-chamber treatment. The only requirements now were two years experience as a booker, sound financial status and good moral character (p. 137). Additionally, no more “exclusive territorial rights” nonsense. Anyone who wished to do business in a particular city was not to be prevented from doing so.

How did the NWA react to the decree? By downplaying it, of course. Sam Muchnick spoke about the verdict in the February, 1957, issue of Wrestling Life. He said that the case was officially closed with a consent decree. A consent degree, he went on to explain, does not mean that the NWA admitted to doing anything wrong, but agrees to change its by-laws in conformity with antitrust regulations (p. 138). In other words, a plea deal. The government lacked the time to fully pursue the matter to its end and the NWA lacked to financial resources and the will among its members  for such a lengthy fight, so a compromise was in order.

Hornbaker’s next chapter is his best — and his funniest. It concerns the suit filed by Sonny Myers against Pinkie George and the NWA. What began as a local squabble between two individuals degenerated into a major fracas that almost took the NWA with it. Sonny Myers was a protégé of Kansas City, Missouri, promoter Gust Karras, who, by the early 50s, became one of the major stars in the Midwest, a contender for the Junior Heavy Title. To improve his financial status, Myers bought a carnival operation from Karras and went into business as Sonny Myers Amusements. His carnivals toured various county fairs and one of its features was a pro wrestling card. When he booked his carnival into Avoca, Iowa, he was told that, according to NWA rules, he was obligated to go through Pinkie George, who booked Iowa, for his talent.

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Gust Karras

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Myers disagreed, pointing out that no wrestling had been presented there since 1950, and it was now 1953. So he went ahead with the show anyway. Pinkie demanded a $100 booking fee. Myers said he sent him $75, which was returned. Karras stated he sent George $100, which was also returned. The next year Pinkie booked the shows there himself, which angered Myers. The dispute quickly degenerated into a pissing contest that reached its apex when Myers filed suit against George and the NWA in the Southern District of Iowa on August 2, 1955. We won’t go into all the details here, but suffice it to say that the trial was almost something out of the Marx Brothers’ Duck Soup, with lawyers attempting to explain wrestling concepts such as ‘territory’ to a judge who thought wrestling to be beneath him and a suit concerning such definitely a waste of his time. On December 8, 1958, a verdict was finally passed down. Myers lost. He appealed and won a new trial, which he won, but the decision was overturned on appeal. Finally, on March 11, 1964, Myers dropped the case. The basis of his suit was that he and others who defied the NWA and worked on his cards were financially hurt. Only trouble was that he couldn’t prove it. He certainly couldn’t prove it in his case. While his trial was in progress he continued to headline in many areas and even wrestled a few championship bouts. After the suit died, things remained the same, so much so that he was the third man in the ring during the Brisco-Terry Funk title bout in 1975.

If there was a victim in all of this, it was, believe it or not, Pinkie George. During the course of the trial Pinkie was miffed at the reaction of his brethren who supported him in the same manner Groucho supported a volunteering Harpo in Duck Soup: “While you’re out there risking life and limb for your country, we’ll be in here thinking what a sucker you are.” Pinkie thought he deserved better and eventually turned his animosity towards old chum Sam Muchnick. It kept festering until 1959, when Pinkie resigned from the NWA and left the wonderful world of wrestling. He would later promote boxing.

The question remains: Did the Antitrust suit and the subsequent consent decree lead to the breakup of the NWA? Hornbaker doesn’t venture an opinion, but in our view the answer is a resounding “no.” It was the action of one man and one man alone that fractured the NWA. That man was Lou Thesz and what he did was to give up the championship.

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Lou Thesz and Sam Muchnick

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If this sounds incredible, let us explain. By 1957, Thesz was fed up with the NWA. He was fed up with the schedule – three weeks, five days a week, followed by a week off – and the constant nickel and diming of his payoffs, something he thought a champion who made tons of money for promoters he worked for should not have to endure. Before embarking on an overseas trip to the Far East, Thesz agreed to a controversial finish against Ed Carpentier in June, 1957, in Chicago, losing by a disqualification and giving Carpentier a claim to the title. It was hoped that, upon his return, a lucrative series of rematches could be staged to decide the issue once and for all. If there’s one thing Lou liked it was “lucrative,” as in lucre. He had done the same thing with Leo Nominelli two years earlier in San Francisco, but the rematches didn’t pay off. It was hoped this time that Carpentier’s wider appeal would lead to more good payoffs.

But that was not to happen. While Lou was in the Far East, Eddie Quinn and Sam Muchnick had it out over the validity of Carpentier’s title claim, the result of which was Quinn leaving the NWA (though Quinn blamed his exit on the fact that Muchnick had invited Quinn’s bitter enemy, Jack Pfeffer, to attend the NWA convention). Lou’s passion for the NWA waned further while on his tour. His requests for a two week, five day schedule followed by a week off was rejected, as was his request for a bigger percentage of the net. He especially hated working on his week off. As he told us, “They told me ‘only if it was important.’ What was so important where I had to wrestle an out of shape guy in some town in Alabama?” (1)

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And so Thesz and Muchnick searched for his successor. Carpentier was out: Muchnick was still fuming at Quinn, and Thesz considered Carpentier an “acrobat,” not a wrestler. Verne Gagne was out, they didn’t trust him to relinquish the title when asked. Buddy Rogers was certainly out. There was no way Thesz could lose to “that guy.” (“How could I live with myself afterwards?” Thesz said.) Pat O’Connor still needed to be built up. Finally, they decided on the perfect choice, or so they thought. It was collegiate phenom Dick Hutton, highly recommended by the man who trained him, Strangler Lewis, and Lewis’ word went light years with Thesz. Thesz admired his ability and dedication to the sport. The only thing Hutton lacked was color, but both Thesz and Muchnick thought that, like Thesz, Hutton’s gimmick would be his undeniable ability. And so Hutton grabbed the title when Thesz tapped out to his abdominal stretch in Toronto on November 14, 1957.

Unfortunately, the best laid plans of mice and men . . .

Hutton was a flop as champ. He had to be promoted carefully and NWA members didn’t want to take the time to do that. They wanted a ready-made champ who could do his own ballyhoo. Hutton dropped the strap in St. Louis on January 9, 1959. O’Connor also lacked the necessary color and a revolt that began when Omaha promoter Joe Dusek recognized Carpentier as champ evolved into the AWA when Wally Karbo and allies “gave” O’Connor 90 days to defend his belt against Verne Gagne. O’Connor didn’t, and the AWA was born in 1960. O’Connor, meanwhile, dropped the title to Buddy Rogers in Chicago on June 30, 1961.

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Vince McMahon, Sr.

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The ascension of Rogers to the throne was preceded by the ascension of Vincent McMahon (Sr.) to that of a power broker in the NWA. McMahon began as a promoter in Washington D.C. in 1953. His opposition in town was Ray Fabiani, but McMahon reached an accord with his opposition, and Fabiani would later become a lifelong ally, a tribute to McMahon’s political acumen. He also realized the power of television and not only remodeled his arena for cameras, but changed the name from Turner Arena to the flashier Capitol Arena. His show was a hit and soon found its way to Channel 5 in New York, where its continued popularity both increased gate receipts and McMahon’s power base. He used that increased power to sign superstar Antonino Rocca away from Mondt and make himself the lead promoter in New York and the Northeast. Realizing that Mondt’s strength was as a booker, McMahon made peace with Toots and elevated him to co-promoter. The new arrangement benefitted Mondt as well. He could now concentrate on what he did best, matchmaking, and leave the politics to McMahon. McMahon proved to be a vast improvement over Mondt for his cohorts. Using the good will in the New York area built up by father Jess, McMahon brought New Jersey promoter Willie Gilzenberg on board. Gilzenberg’s political connections in the tri-state area smoothed over many little things for McMahon and helped with a major crisis when a tag match between Dr. Jerry Graham and Dick the Bruiser versus Rocca and Ed Carpentier got out of hand and led to a riot. Despite calls in the press and public for banning wrestling at the Garden, McMahon got off with a slap on the wrist, losing only Dick the Bruiser to a lifetime suspension in New York.

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Toots Mondt

A steady diet of Rocca in main events began to wear the public thin, so, in 1959 McMahon brought Buddy Rogers into the area. Rogers proved to be the box office tonic McMahon needed, so much so that McMahon began campaigning for Rogers to be NWA champ. That wish would be granted in 1961.

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Hornbaker is of the opinion that, given the fragmentation of the NWA, Rogers was a far better choice to succeed Thesz (p. 182), and we agree. Rogers received the belt four years too late, both for him and the NWA. What seemed like the Holy Grail turned into the curse of the Baskervilles. Rogers suffered major injuries during his reign and began to noticeably slow down. The NWA further fragmented during Buddy’s reign, due in large part to the booking policies of the champ. Although Muchnick was technically in charge of booking the champion, the reality was that McMahon, Mondt and Buddy himself were in charge of planning the champion’s itinerary. Buddy worked the northeast and the NWA’s bigger territories, but never set foot in what were considered by the bookers as nonessential territories, such as Calgary, Tampa or Charlotte.

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Bruno Sammartino

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The “nonessentials” were in fact the majority, and they didn’t like what was going on one bit. They began to recognize other champs and those who didn’t placed their regional champs above the NWA champ in terms of importance. Something had to be done. Even McMahon knew that. Buddy wasn’t merely burning out, he was flaming out like a comet. But who would succeed him? McMahon knew one thing for certain: the choice wouldn’t be his. He could either live with a champ not of his choosing and not a good draw in his area, as were the last two before Rogers, or, as Mondt suggested, he could go it alone. Mondt was very high on a young wrestler named Bruno Sammartino. McMahon also liked Bruno, though he thought the young grappler too independent. However, Bruno drew crowds. Oh boy, did he draw crowds. Even when matched against Rocca he was the fan favorite. Now the question arose of whether McMahon should stick with the NWA or go it alone. It was an easy decision to make, and, ironically, Muchnick helped make it for him.

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Lou Thesz

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Muchnick talked Thesz out of semiretirement for one more run with the belt. Muchnick didn’t have to go to great lengths to convince Thesz. He was ready to take up the cudgels once again and a victory over Rogers was the topping on the cake. Rogers, for his part, was able to use his ankle injury to duck the first two contests, but then Muchnick played his trump card: either Buddy faces Thesz in Toronto or Buddy forfeits both the belt and his deposit. Buddy didn’t want to lose the deposit, so on January 24, 1963, 47-year old Lou Thesz won the NWA title for the sixth, and last, time.

McMahon dealt with the loss in a tried and true way. He ignored it. It wasn’t valid, because the match was only one fall. But when Thesz defeated Rogers in a two of three fall rematch in February, 1963, McMahon had to switch gears. McMahon announced the creation of a new entity, the World Wide Wrestling Federation (WWWF). And guess who won the WWWF World’s Championship in a tournament held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil? Why, Buddy Rogers, of course. Who was in the tournament? Who did Rogers face in the final? Who cares? This is wrestling and it was one of Mondt’s best angles. He knew the press couldn’t be bothered to check and the fans would believe what they saw on television.

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Now all they had to do as to get Rogers in the ring with Sammartino and make the switch. That wasn’t going to be easy. Buddy was a jinxed man and was suffering health problems. Besides the broken ankle, which still slowed him down, it was rumored that he had suffered a heart attack. After his match with Bruno a story went around that is still repeated today, that McMahon got Buddy out of a hospital bed to face Sammartino. We believe that story is, excuse the word, bunk, and here are our reasons why: First, if Buddy was that sick, there was no way he could get out of bed. Suppose he had died? An autopsy would be the end of McMahon and Mondt and they knew it. They weren’t foolish men.

Second, if Buddy was that sick, he wouldn’t get out of bed. It wasn’t worth it when the bout could be postponed until he recovered, preferably some time in the summer when the heat built up for such a match could sell out Yankee Stadium.  It is our opinion, based on the facts available, the Buddy was indeed ill, but not with severe heart problems. We believe he was suffering from exhaustion. Buddy was a performer who loved the limelight; he couldn’t give less than 100%. But Buddy was also one of the great party-hardies of wrestling. Dick Hutton told us that Buddy would wrestle his match (usually the main event, so he closed the show), then he’d go out and party until the wee small hours of the morning, awaken with minimal sleep and drive to the next town.

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Bruno Sammartino

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Third, when he became champ he basically stayed with the same routine, but the driving distances became longer. Unlike Lou Thesz, Buddy was no conditioning nut. He more or less followed Oscar Levant’s advice that whenever he got the urge to exercise, he laid down until the urge went away. Given Buddy’s 48-second performance in the Bruno bout, we further surmise that Buddy may have gone into the match with the assumption of a draw or a DQ. Bruno told Wrestling Perspective that Buddy didn’t know he was going to lose until he entered the ring and Bruno himself broke the news.

Fourth, we think, with the feud that hot, that Buddy counted on being 100% for the summer and facing Bruno then. Hornbaker notes that the WWWF was basically through with Rogers and canceled a series of rematches set for the summer (p. 189). That 48-second debacle may have left a bad taste in McMahon’s mouth. Besides, Mondt was never an enthusiastic Rogers backer, preferring the ethnicity of Sammartino instead.

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Dory Funk, Jr.

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While Thesz wasn’t able to bring the WWWF or the AWA back into the fold, he did bring back the other stragglers and the NWA again assumed a form of solidity. Thesz dropped the belt in 1966 to Gene Kiniski, a solid heel who dropped it in turn to Dory Funk, Jr. In 1969. Funk, along with Kiniski, goes down as the NWA’s most underrated champ, holding the belt for over four years (February 11, 1969 - March 2, 1973) until dropping it to Harley Race. Other distinguished champions, such as Jack Brisco, Terry Funk, and Ric Flair, the last great NWA champion, followed. But a combination of regional presidents and one man not in the NWA, led to its demise.

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Vince McMahon, Jr.

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It was Vince McMahon, Jr. of the WWF who saw the opening he needed. He launched his blitzkrieg in 1985, his panzer being cable television, with which he could penetrate numerous markets without the need for local affiliates. The NWA formed a united front with the AWA and Mid-South Wrestling, but no one trusted each other and while they bungled everything like Keystone Kops, McMahon rolled on, capturing market after market and reducing the NWA roll of member territories. In November, 1988, Crockett Promotions, the last large territory left in the NWA, was sold to Ted Turner, who renamed it World Championship Wrestling (WCW). The NWA was now subsumed to a new organization, and by late 1990, was phased out altogether. Although there was still an NWA board, instead of being movers and shakers, the new gang were merely the moved and shaken.

The NWA dissociated itself from WCW in late 1993, and in 1994 held a tournament to determine a new champion at the ECW Arena. Shane Douglas won the tourney, and promptly proceeded to throw the NWA belt aside, declaring himself the champ of “Extreme Championship Wrestling.”

Paul Heyman and Tod Gordon had screwed the NWA royally, adding to its falling status. The WWF, losing its battle with WCW, needed a buzz and brought in NWA promoter Jim Cornette to provide a spark. No spark was forthcoming, so it was back to the independents. A run among a group of independent promoters followed with Dan Severn as champ, but no real headway was made. Severn was eventually stripped of the belt for not agreeing to a title defense and Ken Shamrock took over. An agreement was forged with Total Nonstop Action (TNA) and the NWA became subsumed under their banner. This lasted until May, 2007, when Christian Cage was stripped of his belt and the NWA returned to where it is today, a collection of motley independents.

Hornbaker has provided a valuable service to wrestling fans in telling the story of the NWA and providing us with a readable, reliable history. In addition to the historical narrative, there are profiles of NWA champions, promoters, and other wrestlers that affected NWA history. Where we find fault with the book is in its chapter organization. For instance, the story of Buddy Rogers and his reign must be gleaned from three different chapters. We feel Buddy deserved his own chapter as the most controversial champ in NWA history. We are also disturbed by the lack of footnotes/endnotes. Any valuable work of research (and make no doubt about it, this is one) contains footnotes or endnotes, for even in an oral history, the author should show with whom he or she spoke. An index would have also facilitated things greatly.

However, all things said, this is an extremely important work on the subject, in our view the best written book on the subject to date, and belongs in every serious fan’s library.

- - The Phantom of the Ring

You can write to the Phantom care of Karen Belcher

kabelchr@verizon.net

1. Conversation with Lou Thesz at the International Wrestling Institute and Museum, Newton, Ia., May 5, 2000.

2.  Ibid.

3. Conversation with Dick Hutton at the International Wrestling Institute and Museum, Newton, IA, May 6, 2000.

4. Two-part interview by David Skolnick. Wrestling Perspective, #71 and #72 (1998).

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