WWE Presents: The Spectacular Legacy of the AWA (2006)

Reported by Ernest I Aguilar

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When the WWE announced this set, I really thought they would butcher the AWA's legacy and put their

own spin on everything. To my surprise, with a few exceptions, they told the truth for a change in

this documentary and gave credit to Verne Gagne for all his accomplishments in making pro wrestling

what it is today.

More than Vince McMahon, Verne Gagne deserves credit for making wrestling into the cultural phenom

it has become, because it was Verne who paved the way for this to happen. The documentary acknowledges

Verne as wrestling's first big television star. The man had endorsement deals, appeared on the Steve Allen

Show and was responsible for helping to make wrestling one of tv's first hit programs when it launched in

the 1950s. It's hard for people to imagine this today, and it did have a lot to do with the lack of stations

to choose from, but Verne's wrestling show drew a 24 rating at it's peak. A 24! I think the highest rated

RAW was a 6.2, Verne had 24 million homes a week tuning in! This was huge and it laid the foundation

for promotions to promote their product and get fans to go to the matches. All this is talked about in

the documentary and Vince gives Verne the credit.

All the great characters and personalities that many young fans believe got their start in the WWF, actually

started in the AWA and that is finally talked about on this DVD release. Mean Gene Okerlund, Jesse Ventura,

Bobby Heenan, Iron Shiek, Ricky Steamboat, Adrian Adonis, Sgt. Slaughter, Jim Brunzell, Shawn Michaels,

Curt Hennig and Hulk Hogan all developed their characters in the AWA before going to the WWF. The best

part about this DVD release is that you finally get to see this legendary footage that a lot of fans, myself

included, have only read about. It's really great stuff. The promos and the matches are from that old

school mentality of pure wrestling that I miss so much with today's promotions and it's great to see it

showcased here. I only wish that they had included more. Just like with the ECW release a few years back

that was only a 2 disc set, I really think 2 discs don't do these promotions justice when you try to put

together a retrospective collection. You need at the very least 3, with 4 discs being preferred. I mean,

they gave Hogan 4 discs in his DVD set, Bret Hart and Roddy Piper 3, they can't do the same for ECW

or the AWA? With that said, there is a lot here and they seemed to have selected the best matches from

the AWA and include them in the set.

Overall, the documentary was good and will really open the eyes of younger fans who think wrestling

begins and ends with WWE, that the foundation to what we know today was really built by the AWA.

Only a few complaints with the documentary. First, they seemed to repeat many things in the begining,

which dragged the pace down a bit, this may have been done to stretch the documentary out, I don't

know. There are also a few laugh out loud moments, when laughter wasn't intended. For example, when

they talk about Hulk Hogan leaving the AWA and not keeping his commitments to wrestle some shows

that he had cut tv promos for weeks in advance and the Gagne's accuse Vince of telling Hogan NOT to

keep those commitments, Vince has the nerve to say "he doesn't remember if he did or didn't say that

to Hogan". Give me a break! Signing Hogan was a HUGE deal for Vince and the WWF national explosion,

and he doesn't remember anything like that? I mean, the AWA was about to strike a national tv deal

to bring wrestling to Saturday nights on CBS (later, Vince did this with NBC and Saturday Night's Main

Event), but when CBS saw that Verne lost Hogan, the deal was over before it began. Hogan jumping

was huge and Vince can't remember details about it? Highly unlikely. This, along with the slow pace

of the documentary at times and lack of a 3rd disc brought my rating down, but it's still a must buy

for ANYONE who claims to be a wrestling fan. Young fans raised on WWE may find it boring, but old

school fans like myself will really enjoy it.

Here's the full run down of the DVD contents..

Disc One:

1. AWA Documentary

2. A collection of 19 stories, promos and interviews. You get stories from Michael Hayes, Eric Bischoff,

the Gagnes, Baron von Raschke and Nick Bockwinkel (Nick's stories are the best, I could listen to him

talk for hours). A couple of classic promos and Mean Gene interviewing Bobby Heenan and the

East-West Connection.

Disc Two: Matches

1. High Flyers vs. Nick Bockwinkel & Ray Stevens 8/23/1971

2. Verne Gagne vs. Baron von Raschke AWA Championship 7/13/1974

3. Pat Patterson & Ray Stevens vs. Billy Robinson & Frankie Hill 5/20/1978

4. Verne Gagne & Mad Dog Vachon vs. the East-West Connection AWA Tag Team Championship 3/22/1980

5. Verne Gagne vs. Nick Bockwinkel AWA Championship 5/10/1981

6. High Flyers vs. The East-West Connection 8/30/1981

7. Nick Bockwinkel vs. Hulk Hogan AWA Championship 4/18/1982

8. Jesse Ventura vs. Baron von Raschke 3/16/1983

9. Hulk Hogan vs. Mr. Saito & Mr. Hatori 8/28/1983

10. Legion of Doom vs. Crusher, Larry & Curt Hennig 1/13/1985

11. Midnight Rockers vs. Buddy Rose & Doug Somers 12/25/1986

12. Curt Hennig vs. Nick Bockwinkel AWA Championship from SuperClash II 5/02/1987

13. Jerry Lawler vs. Kerry Von Erich AWA/WCCW Championship Unification Match from SuperClash III 12/13/1988