American Wrestling Association: New Money

[Bobby Barrows]

American Wrestling Association
New Money
​

April 20th, 1990 It's a tense morning in the offices of American Wrestling Association. Verne Gagne, the owner and promoter of the AWA for 30 years, is staring down the financial figures and the attendance numbers... it's not looking good. The company has been hemorrhaging money since last year, and a majority of their top stars have left for greener pastures (and fatter wallets) in the World Wrestling Federation and World Championship Wrestling. It's been an exhausting laundry list of people leaving. Over the last three years, the AWA has lost names like Curt Hennig, The Rockers, Leon White, Sgt. Slaughter, among many others. Verne furls his brows and grumbles. It's not just stars he's losing, he's under threat of losing his prized television deal with ESPN, which he has had for five years now. At one time, the AWA was a great promotion, drawing fans in the tens of thousands. Nowadays, though, he's lucky if he can even draw a couple thousand. Verne and his son Greg, sitting at a desk of his own, understand that they need money, and investors. However, that is where the major disagreement between the two comes in. Verne is what can be politely considered a control freak, and at times delusional about his abilities as a promoter. Greg is more of a realist; he understands that it is perhaps time to move on from the AWA, and allow someone else to take control of the company. No investor worth their salt is going to be willing to trust Verne with the book, not after this last disaster of a series with the "Team Challenge Series". Verne however thinks that with a little more money, and a few established names, that AWA could be right back in this with him at the helm. Greg Gagne: "I just don't get it. Even if we had a little more money, we still have so many outstanding loans, dad. This 'Team Challenge Series' is not working, and now we lost Sgt. Slaughter to McMahon! Where do we go from here?" Verne Gagne: "We got Larry, Greg. He's our ace in the hole, all we need is just- more money. We can build our own stars, we have so many after all." Greg: "Who? Outside of Larry, who do we have, dad? Raschke? Wahoo? Come on, pops. Let's be realistic, we need to get younger, and we don't exactly have much young raw talent either. Nobody wants to work for us... not with our current financial situation." Verne sneers and lights up a cigar from a drawer in his desk. He's been doing it more and more lately. Verne: "You don't get it, Greg. Our finances can easily be solved, if we just got more people interested in our company. I know we can do it, all we need is an investor willing to give a little money and we'll be back in no time!" Greg: "I think you're thinking too positively about this... maybe it's time to let an investor take over instead?" Verne: "Over my dead body. I'm not giving up on this company any time soon, and the sooner you accept that, the better." There's a moment of aggravation between the two between the two, but Greg just throws his hands up and storms out of the room; it leaves Verne a moment to stew as he goes back to peering at his papers. Verne sighs and rubs his eyes, clearly tired of all the arguing and stress involved with his current situation. Internally, it seems as though Verne knows his son is right, but... to just leave his heart and soul in the hands of another person? Can Verne really accept that? Just then, a knock on the door. Verne grunts loudly, chomping on his cigar and not looking up to see who it was. The door creaks open, and in comes a younger, black-haired gentleman. It's Verne's head announcer, Eric Bischoff. Eric Bischoff: "Uh, Mr. Gagne, sir? May I interrupt your business for a second?" Verne: "What do you want, Eric? I'm kind of busy here, trying to figure out how to get ESPN to keep us on the air-." Eric: "Right, I don't mean to keep you for very long. Just have some more papers... and some things that might interest you." Verne looks up with a kind of offended face, as if Eric just killed his dog or something. The last thing Gagne needed was more papers. Nevertheless, he shakes his head and reaches his hand up to take them, with a long drag of his cigar following. Bischoff hands the items to Verne, and hastily takes his leave. Verne plops the things down and glances at them. More financial figures, more bills, Sgt. Slaughter's official resignation. Seeing that last one agitates him, and Verne throws the letter in the trash, and shifts the other stuff away. Then something else catches his eye. A set of four different letters. These are not just any letters, as Verne's eyes widen when he sees the names written on them. They are addressed to Verne himself, and those that sent it, are luminaries of Minnesota's sphere of influence. He grasps each one and reads them slowly. "Taylor Corporation" "Pohlad Companies" "Rick Rubin" "Engelstad Family" Verne recognizes these names from various business dealings he's had in the past. All of them are wealthy businessmen, some from Minnesota. It seems as though fortune had come his way. He opened each paper in delight, reading each one to see what they say. Indeed, it was as he expected, letters of introduction, and with interest in investment into the AWA. While no figures were mentioned, each one expressed ideas of working with Verne to make American Wrestling Association a continued pioneer in wrestling.​

Who will invest in the AWA in its time of need? Stay tuned to find out...​

 

[Bobby Barrows]

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[Bobby Barrows]

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