Legendary wrestling figure of the Midwest. Operating out of Minneapolis, his A.W.A. at one point could've been considered the biggest and best territory in the U.S. It's amazing to look back and see the amount of talent that spent time up there in Minnesota. Bockwinkle, Heenan, Rhodes, Baron Von Raschke, Dick Slater, Hall, Hennig, The Rockers, Rick Martel, the Iron Sheik and of course Hulk Hogan just to name a few.

Unfortunately for Verne, he couldn't change with the times and the younger more aggressive Vince McMahon passed him and everybody else by. Who knows what might have been had Gagne realized what he had and had not been so beholden to his old-school beliefs of what wrestlers owe their promoters. Some of my earliest wrestling memories are catching some A.W.A. bouts on Sunday mornings.

Also we cannot forget that Mr. Gagne also killed a man in 2009. In his early eighties, Verne pushed or threw,(depending on the account) 97 year old Helmut R. Gutmann to the floor breaking his hip. Mr. Gutmann eventually died from complications related to the injury.

Was he recently interviewed by you know who?

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"Play until it hurts, then play until it hurts to not play."
http://soundcloud.com/darkside124 HOF 2013, MM Champion 2014

When I was a yute, I watched Bob Luce Wrestling on channel 26...Bockwinkle, Heenan, Baron Von Raschke, Dick Slater, the Iron Sheik, Dick the Bruiser, Moose Cholak, The Crusher, Gagne. Burt Weinman Ford, with Linn Burton "for certain" as the spokesman. Great times.
Then I grew up & realized that it was all fake bullshit.

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CSFMB 2014 Nascar Pick 'em Champion

We don’t have a trillion-dollar debt because we haven’t taxed enough; we have a trillion-dollar debt because we spend too much. — Ronald Reagan

...Ray Stevens,The Lanzas, Dr. X (IE The Destroyer),Pretty boy Paul Diamond,British Billy Sullivan,Pedro " Iron Stomach" Morales & Wilbur Snyder.

Verne Gagne was one of my all-time favorites along with Wilbur Snyder & Dr. X. Verne used to have some kind of protein shake he used to advertise between matches. Bob Luce & "Ben's Autosales on Western". Those were the days!!

Flair on Gagne: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=40kmBDNTQRU

Gagne vs. Dick The Bruiser: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sCMapMVXWG8

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favrefan said:"Chris Coghlan isn't gonna pay your rent, Jimmy."

I was young and watched these guys as well. I always "hated" when Gagne wrestled / had a match. And......he always won. I never could figure out how that guy could win and was champion.

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Proud to be UNVERIFIED.

That was when Verne was trying to revive the AWA as the Alzheimer's Wrestling Association.

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Anybody here seen my old friend Bobby?
Can you tell me where he's gone?
I thought I saw him walkin' up to The Hill
With Elon, Tulsi, and Don

The good old days of Kayfabe in the late 70's early 80's when I wondered why this old, bald fuck was the champ.

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I don't mean to sound bitter, cold, or cruel, but I am, so that's how it comes out. - Bill Hicks

Let's do it for Johnny!

Wrestling is a morality play. Either you like good triumphing or evil or you don't.

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Middle Aged Crazy, like Uncle Terry

I only sampled Verne's product after he ran out of gas, and started pushing Greg Gagne too much. He had an incredibly large territory in its hey-day.

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Middle Aged Crazy, like Uncle Terry

One side is "Hey, if I put the belt on myself or my son(s) a la the Von Erichs, I know my champ isn't going to walk out on me." The other side is, my ego is "Running Wild" and completely out of control.

Rumor has it that back when Gagne had Hogan...
A. he wanted a cut of his earnings from Japan and
B. didn't want him to do the Rocky III cameo.

Pissing off your talent, especially your top talent will bite you in the ass eventually. Anybody with any sense would have, and should have realized Hogan was a star amongst stars who was going straight to the top. Verne was stubborn and it cost him big time.

The 2nd one I heard of. The former sounds likely of him.

I understand the argument for putting the belt on yourself or your kid. But it ignores the fact we don't want to keep seeing their lame asses. (Didn't work for WCW-era Dusty or Flair, either.)

Fritz was a nasty piece of business. Wouldn't pay his kids what they were worth, either.

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Middle Aged Crazy, like Uncle Terry

This is somewhat interesting. I should read the history. I had assumed the regional stuff like Gagne was dead by the time Rocky III and Hogan were around.

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Elections have consequences.

I think the AWA limped along until the end of the '80s. They were around long enough to do an astonishingly bad ripoff of the Super Bowl Shuffle.

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I remember the old time stuff and then the WCW Von Erich, Thunderbird stuff stayed around. Murky memory.

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Elections have consequences.

Verne having the belt was somewhat understandable. He was pretty good in his time.

His son was not good. He just did not have it. Pushing his son so much really hurt him in the long run.

I have read that about Fritz. Now he had sons who were worth it and deserved the belt.

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"He is a loathsome, offensive brute
--yet I can't look away."

I'm thoroughly ashamed I never thought of that ...

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Power is always in the hands of the masses of men. What oppresses the masses is their own ignorance, their own short-sighted selfishness.
- Henry George

It was McMahon Sr that didn't want the Rocky cameo, they lost Hogan over it. And from what I understand it wasn't just Japan, Verne also wanted a cut of Hogan's merch, which Hogan was supposedly producing on his own.

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Dyna Power made me the man I am today

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I'm going to bounce from the spot for awhile but I will be back at some point to argue with you about this hoops stuff again. Playoffs have been great this season. See ya up the road.

I'm out.