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Awa wrestling6/7/2023 "Nick and Ray Stevens were a tag team and they brought in Heenan as a manager in 1974. "One of the best … and smartest when it came to promotion,'' Schire said. Then, people would run into Bockwinkel at one of the Twin Cities charity events for which he was a willing recruit and find out Nick was a nice fellow. On the AWA's weekly television show, Bockwinkel would demean the heckling fans as "cretinous humanoids,'' or "8-to-5, white sock lifers.'' The character played by Bockwinkel was a man of large intellect and way too smart to be appreciated by the wrestling fans who hooted vehemently against him. Nick was everything that Verne wanted - first, a wrestler, and second, a character who could sell tickets.'' "Verne was into his 40s by then and was looking for the right person to pass the title. "He had his first match here in December 1970. "Verne and Wally Karbo recruited Nick to the Twin Cities and the AWA,'' Schire said. Nick did not pick up his bad-guy persona until he went to Atlanta in 1969 and spent a year working the NWA promotion. He was a tag team partner with Wilbur Snyder for part of his early career. "Everyone remembers Nick as a wonderful 'heel,' but he also was a terrific wrestler.''īockwinkel had his first pro match in 1954. "You couldn't have better training than that trio,'' Schire said. He suffered a knee injury, came home and started training with his father, Lou Thesz and Wilbur Snyder to become a professional wrestler. Nick was a football player and went to Oklahoma with aspirations of playing for the mighty Sooners of the 1950s. "We lost Verne in late April, and Dusty Rhodes and Roddy Piper also have died in recent months.''īockwinkel's father, Warren, was a prominent wrestler in St. "It's been a tough year for old-school wrestling fans,'' Schire said. He was 80 and had been afflicted with Alzheimer's disease in recent years. "It was a 1-2-3 … Nick pinned him.''īockwinkel died in Las Vegas on Saturday night. "There was no particular skulduggery, no interference from Nick's manager, Bobby Heenan,'' said George Schire, the author of several books on the AWA era. Paul, the unthinkable happened: Bockwinkel pinned Gagne and became the new champion of the AWA. On that night 40 years ago in front of full house in St. Gagne had two advantages in holding the title: One, he had long standing as the Minneapolis-based AWA's hero and ticket seller and two, he owned the AWA promotion, with Wally Karbo as his partner. Verne Gagne was on an eight-year run of holding the American Wrestling Association's heavyweight championship belt when he went against Nick Bockwinkel at the St.
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