Embedded Files
National Wrestling Alliance - Los Angeles (194?-1958)
The tumultuous times in Los Angeles were brought to an end with the formation of the National Wrestling Alliance. Like the Big Six Trust of yesteryear, these promoters were looking to unify the country under one umbrella. Johnny Doyle was the NWA's representative in Los Angeles. The premier wrestling arena in L.A. was the Olympic Auditorium, which was run by Cal and Aileen Eaton. In 1950, Doyle began working with the Eatons. They were joined by Max Hirsch, who ran the Ocean Park Arena, and Hugh Nichols who promoted Hollywood and San Diego. This foursome would form a powerful monopoly in Southern California. They manipulated TV contracts, threatened to blacklist stars and crushed independent promoters. This group began following apart over money, Doyle and Nichols ran the talent, but Eaton and Hirsch ran the arena. Disputes over money were hard to rectify even though they were raking in the money. Eventually, Doyle sold his NWA assets to his partners and proclaimed he would return East to work with Toots Mondt. Instead, Doyle stayed and opened up opposition to the NWA. The two sides began to battle for control of Los Angeles, but Doyle could not defeat the NWA, even with his many local contacts and TV deals. Instead, he went to the Justice Department, which began to investigate the NWA as a nationwide monopoly, this California group being one of the prominent local monopolies. The case was eventually set aside and the NWA's Los Angeles affiliate remained strong. Until 1958 when Jules Strongbow bought into Los Angeles and led the Eatons away from the NWA with great success.
Wild Red Berry
Lord James Blears
Black Guzman
Lee Henning
Hans Hermann
Baron Michele Leone
Rocky Valentine (Johnny Valentine)
World Wrestling Association (1958-1968)
While Cal Eaton had been an independent-minded promoter with ruthless tendencies, it was Jules Strongbow that really took Los Angeles to new heights in the 1960s. Strongbow booked Los Angeles beautifully with charismatic Freddie Blassie as their keystone and some great in-ring talent, colorful characters and ethnic draws to support him. In 1961, Eaton's old partner-turned-nemesis Johnny Doyle returned, trying to start up a group aligned with San Francisco's Ray Shire, who was not affiliated with the NWA. Although they had potential, they were squashed by the star power of Freddie Blassie. While they were officially the "North American Wrestling Alliance" for several years, the promotion went from a continental company to a world company. The promotion ran strongly through the mid-1960s with ties to Rikidozan's JWA promotion and the WWA title was perhaps second only to the NWA title in prominence. In 1966, Cal Eaton died and Aileen brought her sons Gene and Mike LeBell into the promotion. Mike became the real political power, while Gene was the muscle and Strongbow and Blassie were the brains. Things were slowing down however, so in 1968, Los Angeles returned to the NWA fold.
Wild Red Berry
Freddie Blassie
Lord James Blears
Fabulous Kangaroos (Al Costello & Roy Heffernan)
Hans Hermann
KIM Il (Kintaro Ohki)
Luis Martinez
Jess Ortega
Antonio Pugliese (Tony Parisi)
Bearcat Wright
NWA - Hollywood Wrestling (1968-1982)
By the late 1960s, Los Angeles was on a downturn following the glory days of Freddie Blassie in the first half of the decade. Mike LeBell, who had assumed authority over the company had overseen a realignment with the National Wrestling Alliance. Amazingly, Blassie's greatest program, an extended feud with John Tolos, was yet to come. The feud took L.A. to another peak and even after Blassie stopped appearing and wrestling regularly, Tolos was able to draw well as a top heel. Throughout the 1970s, Blassie's returns sparked interest, but they could never replace him. The company began to turn more and more toward its Latino stars and audience. As the 1970s came to a close, it was becoming increasingly clear that pro-wrestling was changing. Numerous companies were pushing themselves to knew heights and breaking away from the NWA. Los Angeles, like San Francisco, was unable to replace its old talent completely since they could not hang on to the new stars they had. In the early 1980s, the LeBells were forced to close the company and Los Angeles has never been a strong city for a regular pro-wrestling company.
Chris Adams
Ox Baker
Freddie Blassie
The Canadian (Roddy Piper)
Porkchop Cash
Allen Coage (Bad News Allen)
Alfonso Dantes
Keith Franks (Adrian Adonis)
"Superstar" Billy Graham
Kid Koby (Kuniaki Kobayashi)
Ken Mantell
Terry Sawyer (Buzz Sawyer)
The Spoiler #2 (Ron Starr)
Takachiho (Great Kabuki)
Texas Red (Red Bastien)
Les Thornton
Mr. Toyo (Rusher Kimura)
I'd like to thank Wes Mulholland, Vik Berry, Bill Balch, Kurt Brown, from kayfabememories.com for their articles. And, of course Royal Duncun and Gary Will's contributions to wrestling-titles.com
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