A Not so Spectacular Wrestling Documentary

AWAThe American Wrestling Association was not only Verne Gagne’s legacy to the professional wrestling world, it was the place where countless athletes, managers and personalities including Hulk Hogan, Curt Hennig, Rick Martel, Eric Bischoff, Bobby Heenan and Gene Okerland made their marks before heading over to then WWF.

The biggest piece of Vince McMahon’s empire prior to purchasing WCW, his eventual conquest over the AWA made it possible for the industry to grow as much as it did in the ’80s. Ironic, considering how the demise of the AWA took opportunities away from athletes by consolidating the amount of places performers could travel and offer their services.

Rich in history, the AWA is still an important footnote in the industry’s history and thanks to a six-hour DVD from WWE entertainment, “The Spectacular Legacy of the AWA,” many of the holes and hard to put together information needed to get a true idea of the company’s impact on the sport have been compiled on this two-DVD set. Nonetheless, while the documentary itself is an interesting romp through the ’60s, ’70s and ’80s world of professional wrestling, with a ton of interviews from many of the main players of the company, the extra features haven’t aged well, giving this set a stale feel when compared to many of the other WWE home entertainment offerings.

For instance, watching the plummet of the company, mainly due to the Gagne’s refusal to change with the times, is a great watch, but watching a Verne Gagne vs Baron Von Raschke match is a complete bore for anyone who isn’t a student of the sport or someone who appreciates the history behind the glitz and glamor. The same thing goes for watching Greg Gagne try to replace his father as a single’s star and the company attempting to push youngster stars when they finally realized the error of their ways. It is tragic, but again, nothing is more tragic than watching a 55-year-old Verne Gagne defend the AWA title against an older Nick Bockwinkel when the company had so many future stars that the WWF and WCW would use to help lead their companies.

The tone of the documentary cements this tragic notion even more as every wrestler interviewed and even the Gagne’s themselves voice their dissatisfaction with the decisions that were made. It’s not the most enjoyable WWE documentary because of this, but it’s honest, informative and thorough and well worth a watch. Had the extra’s besides the interviews held up a little better over time, this set would have been much better, but just like the AWA itself, time has not been particularly friendly to this set. It’s still a solid choice for wrestling DVD collectors, just not the best one.

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About Patrick Hickey Jr. 13819 Articles
Patrick Hickey Jr. is a full-time Assistant Professor of Communication & Performing Arts and Director of the Journalism program at Kingsborough Community College and is the chairman of the City University of New York Journalism Council. He is the Founder and Editor-In-Chief of ReviewFix.com. He's also a former News Editor at NBC Local Integrated Media and National Video Games Writer at Examiner.com where his work was mentioned in National Ad campaigns by Disney, Nintendo and EA Sports. Hickey was also the Editor-In-Chief of two College Newspapers before he received his BA in Journalism from Brooklyn College. Hickey's work has been published in The New York Daily News, The New York Times, Complex, The Hockey Writers, Yahoo!, Broadway World, Examiner, NYSportScene Magazine, ProHockeyNews.com, GothamBaseball.com, The Syracuse Post-Standard, Scout.com and the official sites of the Brooklyn Aces and New York Islanders. His first book, The Minds Behind the Games: Interviews With Cult And Classic Video Game Developers was released in April 2018 and is chock full of interviews with legendary developers. His second book in the series, The Minds Behind Adventures Games, was released in December 2019. His third book, The Minds Behind Sports Games, was released in September 2020. His fourth book, The Minds Behind Shooter Games, was released in March 2021. The Minds Behind Sega Genesis Games and The Minds Behind PlayStation Games were released in 2022 and The Minds Behind PlayStation 2 was published in January 2023. Hickey is also a contracted comic book writer, currently penning his original series, "Condrey," as well as "The Job," "Brooklyn Bleeds" "Dem Gulls" and "KROOM" for Legacy Comix, where he serves as founder, owner and Editor-in-Chief. Hickey Jr. is also a voice actor, having starred in the 2018 indie hit and 2019 Switch, PS4 and Xbox One release, The Padre (also serving as English language Story Editor), from Shotgun With Glitters. The sequel, The Padre: One Shell Straight to Hell was released in February 2021- Hickey also served as a Story Editor and Lead Voiceover performer. He has also done narration and trailers for several other titles including The Kaiju Offensive, Relentless Rex and Roniu’s Tale. Hickey is also the lead voiceover performer on Mega Cat Studios’ upcoming title WrestleQuest, responsible for nearly 90 characters in the game, as well as Skybound's Renfield: Bring Your Own Blood, where he voices both Dracula and Renfield, as well as several other characters. He also stars in Ziggurat Interactive’s World Championship Boxing Manager 2, where he performs the VO of nearly every male character in the game. He also worked on the Atari VCS’s BPM Boy.

1 Comment

  1. Yeah I agree with you. I have been a wrestling fan for 30yrs and when I was growing up I use to watch the AWA but Good Ole Verne just refused to go with the times and Greg was God awful to watch. It’s a shame they had so many talented stars that they lost to the NWA -WCW and WWF. I hope to see more wrestling dvd reviews…

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