Sam Muchnick - National Wrestling Alliance

National Wrestling Alliance

Over the next few years, Muchnick was often forced to use old-timers past their primes as Packs employed most of the top talent (including reigning World Champion Lou Thesz). Then in the summer of 1948, Muchnick was approached by Iowa’s Pinky George and Minnesota’s Tony Stecher about forming a new wrestling union. Up until this time, all pro wrestling regulations had come from the National Wrestling Association, which was made up of various athletic commissions. Their idea was to form a coalition of promoters, which would then share the bookings of the World Champion and top wrestlers, while also splitting the gate draws. And so on July 19, 1948, Sam Muchnick met with fellow promoters Pinky George, Wally Karbo (representing Tony Stecher), Orville Brown, Max Clayton, and Al Haft at the President Hotel in Waterloo, Iowa to form what was named the National Wrestling Alliance. Pinky George was named the organization’s first President while Orville Brown was subsequently recognized as the first NWA World Heavyweight Champion. Shortly thereafter, Muchnick became the beneficiary of talent exchanges with various territories that joined the NWA. As a result, he was then able to secure the services of an innovative young heel named "Nature Boy" Buddy Rogers, who had previously been wrestling in Jack Pfefer’s Toledo, Ohio territory. Rogers’ outspoken persona and charismatic personality allowed him to outdraw even the great Lou Thesz (who by now had taken over much of Tom Packs’ operation) while adding legitimacy to Muchnick’s company. Eventually, the two St. Louis groups would merge while starting a promotional war angle; and Muchnick kept a controlling interest in the territory by holding two percentage points more than Thesz. Then on November 27, 1949, Thesz unified the National Wrestling Association and National Wrestling Alliance World Titles after Brown was injured in an auto accident prior to their scheduled match.