National Wrestling Alliance

The National Wrestling Alliance is a group of independent professional wrestling promotions, in operation since 1948. Prior to the 1980s, it acted as a governing body for pro wrestling, operating the 'franchise'-like "territory" system.

Territories

All the member federations had a monopoly over their given territory; the members of the NWA would all recognize the NWA World Heavyweight Championship as their highest title. Wrestlers, like Ric Flair, who held the NWA Title, could also go on tours of member federations.

What this meant is that any member territory who broke the NWA's rules faced expulsion, and thus risked missing out on having wrestlers with household names appear in their territories. Similarly, if another promoter began performing shows in an NWA's territory, all the NWA members were obligated to send their best talent across to fend off the threat. Unofficially, threats of violence or physical retaliation may have reportedly been used against promoters who disregarded the territory system.

Thus the NWA used a "carrot and stick" approach to maintaining the territory system. For most promoters under the NWA umbrella, the benefits of membership were well worth the dues.

Former Member Territories

Some prominent former NWA member promotions included:

• The now-defunct American Wrestling Association or AWA was a member until the 1960, and afterwards remained a de facto member
• WWWF, the forerunner to today's WWE (formerly WWF) was at various times an NWA member, or de facto member
• The forerunners to the now defunct World Championship Wrestling were members of the NWA until 1993. These include:
  • Jim Crockett Promotions
  • Universal Wrestling Federation (not an NWA member, but sold to Crockett in 1988)
  • Georgia Championship Wrestling (See Jim Crockett Productions)
  • Championship Wrestling From Florida
  • Heart of America Sports Attractions Inc
  • Don Owen Promotions Inc.
• The now-defunct Extreme Championship Wrestling was originally Eastern Championship Wrestling, an NWA member.
• United States Wrestling Association and its forerunners:
  • Pro Wrestling USA
  • World Class Championship Wrestling
  • Continental Wrestling Association

Decline and Fall of the Territory System

Video tape trading and cable television paved the way for the eventual death of the NWA's regional business, as fans could now see for themselves the plot holes and inconsistencies between the different regional storylines, and the presence of stars like Ric Flair on TV every week made their special appearances in each region less of a draw. WWF promoter Vince McMahon used these gathering trends, and talent raids, to turn his northeastern territory into a national federation. To compete against this threat, various promoters attempted to co-promote shows under the Pro Wrestling USA banner. However, this fell apart and the AWA began broadcasting weekly shows on ESPN.

Meanwhile, to hold off the threat of the WWF, promoter Jim Crockett Promotions decided to unify parts of the NWA, and create a national federation, by buying out some of the member promotions. However, by 1988 this led him to bankruptcy, and he sold off the promotion to Ted Turner as World Championship Wrestling. In 1991, the flagship WCW realized the NWA needed it more than it needed the NWA, and left. WCW continued, however, to claim the NWA's lineage.

After the AWA's bankruptcy, and ECW leaving, the NWA was a shell of its former self. Through the mid to late '90s, the all-but-forgotten organization was left with a small collection of independent federations during the peak of the Monday night ratings wars between the WCW and WWF.

The NWA Today

A promotion run by legendary Memphis promoter Jerry Jarrett called Total Nonstop Action (TNA) holding their cards weekly on Fox Sports Net, a promotion that is allowed to use the NWA name. NWA-TNA attempts to fill the void WCW and ECW left behind in the wrestling business. But have not been very successful.

There is also a group of small independent promotions that use the NWA name, however none of these promotions have any direct legitimate claim to the original National Wrestling Alliance that existed in the 1940's-1980's