You are here: Home>Regional Territories>AWA>#14


Where Wrestling's Regional History Lives!
Regional Territories: AWA

Search Kayfabe Memories
Regional Territories 4

This section contains monthly articles on over two dozen territories. To relive those wonderful days of old, click here.
Wrestlers 4

Enter this section for bios/profiles of various wrestlers from the regional days. To find more out about your favorite pro wrestler, click here.
Stories 4

This section contains stories from the pros themselves told exclusively to Kayfabe Memories. Want to know more as told from the wrestlers themselves? Click here.
Old School Book Reviews4

Click here to find various book reviews from old school wrestlers. 

KM Links 4
For tons of links to old school related sites, click here.
KM Micro Wrestlers4
What are Micro Wrestlers?  Click here  
to find out.
KM Interviews... 4
Click here to read exclusive interviews with stars from the regional territories.
 

View Old Guestbook

 
 

www.kayfabememories.com is © 2004 AtomDesigns. All promotional art, characters, logos and other depictions are © their respective owners. All Rights Reserved.

All contents save Wrestler Stories are © Kayfabe Memories.

Website designed and maintained by  AtomDesigns © 2004 . If you experience any problems with this site or have any questions, please contact the Webmaster.

 

 - Jim Zordani

After regaining the AWA heavyweight title from Mad Dog Vachon on February 26th, 1967, Verne Gagne embarked on an impressive streak of title defenses. Vachon received several rematches in such cities as Denver, Colorado on March 13th, Moline, Illinois on April 4th, St Paul, Minnesota on April 8th, Milwaukee, Wisconsin on April 14th, Winnipeg, Manitoba on April 28th and Chicago, Illinois on May 5th. Pretty Boy Larry Hennig challenged Verne on March 29th in Fargo, North Dakota, May 12th in Winnipeg, Manitoba and May 17th in Denver, Colorado. Longtime NWA World Junior Heavyweight champion and amateur wrestling legend Danny Hodge battled Gagne on May 6th in St Paul, Minnesota and June 10th in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Other superstar caliber grapplers who wrestled Verne during this time period were Johnny Powers, Harley Race, Bobby Shane, Mitsu Arakawa, Killer Kowalski, Pat O'Connor and Lou Thesz. 

When Mad Dog Vachon left the AWA after getting his rematches with Verne Gagne, it left a huge void in the AWA. There wasn't a top heel for Gagne to feud with on a regular basis. Verne desperately needed a hated rival that fans would pay to see him beat. While wrestling in Chicago during 1967, Verne Gagne saw the Sensational Intelligent Destroyer in action.  After wrestling the Destroyer in Chicago, Gagne made him an offer to come to the AWA as the number one heel. 

In reality the Destroyer was former Syracuse University football and wrestling star Dick Beyer wearing a mask. Beyer was recruited to be a professional wrestler by Ed Don George in 1953 and was trained by such luminaries as Dick Hutton, Bill Miller and Ray Stevens. For the first several years of his career, Beyer mainly competed in the Syracuse, New York area while at the same time fulfilling a military commitment. Dick didn't wear a mask in those days and wrestled strictly as a babyface. It wasn't until 1962 in Hawaii when Dick Beyer turned heel. Los Angeles California promoter brought Beyer to his territory later that year and gave Dick the masked Destroyer gimmick. Around this same time period, Lord James Blears taught Dick Beyer the figure four leg lock. The Destroyer persona proved to be an immediate success and Beyer became one of the top villains in the United States.  More...

If you'd like to discuss the AWA region with other fans, please visit the KM Message Board

KM DVD/VHS Store 4
Click here to purchase DVD or VHS products direct from the official distributors.
KM Replica Masks 4
Click here to purchase pro quality replica wrestling masks of all your favorite old school masked wrestlers.   
KM Store 4
The KM Store now features products featuring the GCW logo as well as some other very cool images.  To see what's new and to purchase T-Shirts, ball caps, mouse pads and more, click here. 
KM Message Board 4

Want to chat with other fans of regional wrestling? This message board has forums for over two dozen promotions. Click here.
KM Belt Gallery 4

This section contains an extensive title belt gallery... images of heavyweight, tag, U.S. and various regional title belts.  To view it, click here.
Old School Tape Review 4

Reviews of various PPV's, commercial tapes and regional wrestling TV shows are available in this section. To read more, click here.
 

Website designed & maintained by
 

 

Thanks for visiting!