I'm flat tired out of WrestleMania! Too much of a good thing, at least the glory days. Since that's all we've been talking about here on the blog lately, let's move on. Well, not quite onward, but back to the past as usual. Instead of the bright lights of the World Wrestling Federation it's time to look at another popular wrestling entity of the 1980's. This one that, aside from a bleak final year and change, pretty much had its last stand in the '80s. Of course we're talking about Verne Gagne's American Wrestling Association. As a kid, doing my research, I once felt that "everyone" came from the AWA originally. I was half right. Most huge stars did have at least a cup of coffee there. In this edition of MarketWatch we'll look at the recent selling prices of some items that reflect the era, the promotion and its stars.
*Many of the items from '80s AWA represent the brief partnership between the AWA and Jim Crockett Promotions: Pro Wrestling USA. Though the alliance didn't last, it was a key effort to try and battle the now-national WWF. They certainly had the wrestling talent to be competition. In Remco's initial AWA action figure offering a two-pack was produced featuring Larry Zbyszko against "Nature Boy" Ric Flair. Who wouldn't have wanted a Flair figure back then? I consider this set to be one of the cornerstones of the beloved Remco figure line and thankfully for collectors it's one of the easiest to locate. Carded examples have recently sold for between $189-$249.
*That Pro Wrestling USA partnership spawned several "supershows" in regular WWF strongholds. In 1985 one such show, Star Wars, was held at East Rutherford, New Jersey's Meadowlands Arena. Flair, Sgt. Slaughter, Rick Martel and The Road Warriors were just a few examples of the talent on the lineup. An audience of 12,000 fans saw Stan Hansen dethrone Martel for the AWA World Championship in the main event. A program possibly purchased by one of those fans back in 1985 recently sold for $25.
*The AWA certainly had hopes of becoming what the World Wrestling Federation was slowly blooming into and to prove it they distributed a high-quality press kit in the early 1980's. This is interesting as even the WWF itself hadn't released such a full press kit as of yet. While some of the claims printed within are dubious to say the least, it certainly paints the AWA in a glorious light. We've taken a deeper look at this treasure before both in a vlog last year and
here on the blog. The rather rare kit recently sold for $230.
*While the WWF had WrestleMania and the NWA had Starrcade, AWA had big shows of its own. SuperClash and WrestleRock would be at the top of that list. WrestleRock '86, though somewhat disjointed at times. is visually fun to watch (especially once they're smart enough to move the fans inward for the sake of the cameras) and overall an enjoyable show. You can watch it on Peacock and it doesn't appear that the PC Police which have gotten to other WWE-owned content on the streaming service have bothered to watch this one yet. I'd love to have gotten a glimpse at the merchandise stands at this show because it would be fun to see what all was sold. A bandana from the event recently sold for $82.
*Finally, from the fabled Mat Mania series, comes "Pretty Boy" Doug Somers. For those unaware, the first few Remco AWA figure series were comprised of two and three packs such as the Flair-Zbyszko set above. When the final series was released it was made up of Somers, Buddy Rose, Shawn Michaels, Marty Jannetty, Sheik Adnan Al-Kaissie, Nord The Barbarian and Boris Zhukov all on single "Mat Mania" cards. Referee Dick Woehrle, Ric Flair, Paul Ellering and Nick Bockwinkel were also re-released as part of the series. The "Pretty Boy," loose and complete with jacket, recently sold for $225.
All of these items are a reminder that the WWF wasn't the only wrestling league with marketing back in the '80s. The selling prices are a testament to the popularity that the promotion and its stars still have. We'll be getting new AWA merchandise this year with the first ever figure of Verne Gagne. Now if we can get that Remco-styled '80s version...
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