NWA Main Event
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| Acronym | NWA |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1948 |
| Headquarters |
Brownsville, Texas, United States Affiliations: see List of NWA territories |
| Founder(s) | Paul George Al Haft Anton Stecher Harry Light Orville Brown Sam Muchnick Don Owen |
| Owner(s) | Robert Trobich - Pro Wrestling Organization LLC (1989–2012) R. Bruce Tharpe - International Wrestling Corp, LLC (2012–2017) Billy Corgan - Lightning One, Inc. (2017–present) |
| Website | NWARingside.com |
The National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) is an American professional wrestling organization. Formed in 1948, it was for a time the most recognized brand and largest governing body in professional wrestling. Under the control of the NWA Board of Directors (consisting of various prominent, regional promoters) the organization acted as a governing body for the Alliance's national territory system which recognized one world champion, participated in talent exchanges, and collectively protected the territorial integrity of member promotions.
The NWA thrived in America until the late 1980s, by which time most original members had gone out of business as a result of the World Wrestling Federation's national expansion. The largest remaining NWA member, World Championship Wrestling (WCW) –which had been formed from the assets of Jim Crockett Promotions (which in turn had itself acquired other former NWA members) would leave the NWA for good in 1993.
The NWA continued on as a governing body until 2012 when it was taken over by Bruce Tharpe's International Wrestling Corp. Under Tharpe, the NWA changed from a membership-based governing body to a private organization which licensed the NWA name to promotions. On May 2, 2017, the NWA reported, via social media, that the organization had been sold to musician and former Impact Wrestling president Billy Corgan through his production company, Lightning One.
Before the NWA was founded in 1948, there existed many regional professional wrestling promotions across North America (each promoting its own "World" champion). None of them, however, had backing or recognition outside of their own respective geographic base-areas. The concept of the NWA was to consolidate the championships of these regional companies into one true world championship of pro wrestling, whose holder would be recognized worldwide. In 1948, Paul "Pinkie" George, a promoter from the Midwest, founded the original version of the National Wrestling Alliance with the backing of five other promoters (Al Haft, Tony Strecher, Harry Light, Orville Brown, and Sam Muchnick). This newly formed NWA Board of Directors wanted Brown to be the first-ever NWA World champion. During the reign of the second NWA World Heavyweight Champion, Lou Thesz (1949–1956), the title was further unified with several more previously competing "World" titles, such as those recognized jointly by the National Wrestling Association and the American Wrestling Alliance (in Boston), plus another version promoted from the Los Angeles Olympic Auditorium. This legitimized the NWA's claim that its title was a "unified world title", and its lineage continues to this day.
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