National Wrestling Association
| Acronym | NWA |
|---|---|
| Founded | September 16, 1930 |
| Defunct | September 1980 |
| Style | professional wrestling |
| Headquarters | New Orleans, Louisiana (home office) |
| Founder(s) | the National Boxing Association |
The National Wrestling Association was an early professional wrestling sanctioning body created in 1930 by the National Boxing Association (NBA) (now the World Boxing Association, WBA) as an attempt to create a governing body for professional wrestling in the United States. The group created a number of "World" level championships as an attempt to clear up the professional wrestling rankings which at the time saw a number of different championships promoted as the "true world championship". The National Wrestling Association's NWA World Heavyweight Championship was later considered part of the historical lineage of the National Wrestling Alliance's NWA World Heavyweight Championship when then National Wrestling Association champion Lou Thesz won the National Wrestling Alliance championship, folding the original championship into one title in 1949.
With the creation of the National Wrestling Alliance and Thesz winning the Alliance World title the National Wrestling Association would officially recognize the champions of the National Wrestling Alliance at their annual conventions but no longer promote their own separate championships. The governing body would continue to hold conventions through at least the 1960s and officially disband in September 1980 but had no significant impact on professional wrestling past 1949.
In 1921 the National Boxing Association (NBA) was formed in New York City to help regulate and create order in the world of professional boxing in the United States. In January 1930 the NBA attempted to introduce the same sort of regulations and structure on professional wrestling, motivated by the fact that there were a multitude of "World Champions" all over the country, all claiming to be the top wrestler. The NBA required wrestlers who wanted to participate in the inaugural championship tournaments to post a bond, ranging from USD $1,000 to USD $ 5,000 in the heavyweight division, used to ensure their participation and their willingness to defend the championship against NBA designated challengers. In the heavyweight division Jim Londos and John Pesek posted the bonds and were set to fight each other but due to various political moves by the people behind Londos and Pesek the match itself did not take place. On September 13, 1930 the NBA founded the National Wrestling Association (NWA) to deal exclusively with professional wrestling while the NBA focused on Boxing. The NWA named Colonel Harry J. Landry the president and opened up their main office in New Orleans, Louisiana. After the formation of the NWA they finally decided to recognize Jim Londos, a move that was not popular with everyone, leading to NWA vice president Harry Davis resigning. The Association would held annual conventions where the various member states of the NWA would meet and vote on who should be the world champions in the various divisions, with Londos being recognized for several years.
...
Wikipedia