A pillar of the Midwestern United States wrestling scene thanks to his prominence in area promotion American Wrestling Association, Verne Gagne enjoyed a 37-year career as an in-ring performer and tremendous respect as a promoter, booker, and trainer. Highly decorated and with legitimate wrestling skills, Gagne’s influence on pro wrestling can’t be understated.
Because of his status as a huge star in a regional territory in a now-defunct promotion that produced stars that got more famous in WWE, however, it’s likely that many modern fans aren’t aware of the career and accomplishments of the legend. Let’s take a crash course in Verne Gagne and what fans should know about him.
10 Amateur Background
A multi-sport athlete in high school, Verne Gagne attended the University of Minnesota, where he competed in amateur wrestling and won two NCAA titles during his college career. Coincidentally, the second of those titles would be one against Dick Hutton, who’d become a pro wrestler himself and NWA World Heavyweight Champion in 1957. Gagne’s impressive skills earned him a spot on the United States’ freestyle wrestling team for the 1948 Olympics, but he was an alternate and did not actually compete.
9 Ditched The NFL For Wrestling
Verne Gagne didn’t just excel at amateur wrestling — he was also a talented football player, with his high school accomplishments getting him recruited to the University of Minnesota to begin with. Following college, Gagne was actually drafted to the Chicago Bears in 1947, but the owner of the team did not approve of his recruit being a dual-sport athlete, and forced him to choose between wrestling and football. At the time, amateur wrestling was actually a more lucrative gig than football, so for Gagne the choice was obvious.
8 Top Star In The 1950s
Deciding to pursue professional wrestling, Verne Gagne debuted in 1949, wrestling for the National Wrestling Alliance and starting out in the Texas territories. By fall of 1950, Gagne would win the NWA World Junior Heavyweight title — which is still being used to this day — holding it for 371 days.
From 1949 to 1955, the now-defunct DuMont Television Network prominently aired Chicago area pro wrestling, making Gagne a TV fixture for viewers and soon one of the top stars of the era.
7 Co-Founded The AWA
In the early 1950s, Verne Gagne had a number of clashes with legendary NWA World Champion Lou Thesz, but failed to capture the title. Later in the decade, Gagne would make a bid to dethrone Pat O’Connor as World Champion, but backstage NWA politics would prevent him from even getting a match. In response, Verne Gagne did the next best thing — started his own promotion. Collaborating with promoter Wally Karbo, Gagne bought up a bunch of the Minneapolis wrestling territories and the pair co-founded the American Wrestling Alliance, later known as the American Wrestling Association, which would last from 1960 to 1991.
6 The First AWA World Heavyweight Champion (Kind Of)
In establishing the AWA, the promotion named Pat O’Connor as the very first AWA World Heavyweight Champion by virtue of being NWA World Champion at the time, but issued an ultimatum: defend the title against Verne Gagne within 90 days or be stripped of it. O’Connor and the NWA didn’t deign to respond, so when that time ran out the title was awarded to Gagne. The result is a strange situation where O’Connor is technically the first AWA Champion, but Gagne is the first to hold the belt and actually defend it.
5 Ten-Time AWA World Heavyweight Champion
Verne Gagne would retire in 1986, but not before winning the AWA World Heavyweight Championship 10 times, capturing the title the most times by a wide margin, considering the second place slot goes to Mad Dog Vachon at five times. During these reigns, Gagne would have bouts with many of the big names of the time, including Fritz Von Erich, Dr. X, and Baron Von Rashke. He would also capture the AWA World Tag Team Champion four times over the course of his career with different partners, including Billy Robinson and the aforementioned Vachon.
4 Trained Future Legends
In addition to booking, promoting, and wrestling in the American Wrestling Association, Verne Gagne also worked as a trainer, teaching in-ring skills to countless pro wrestling hopefuls who ended up performing in his company. Many of these trainees would be definitive performers in the company, including Baron Von Raschke, and Larry Hennig.
Other Gagne trainees would become legends themselves, including WWE Champion The Iron Sheik, multi-time World Champion and icon Ric Flair, classic babyface and Intercontinental Champion Ricky Steamboat, and Larry Hennig’s son Curt Hennig, otherwise known as Mr. Perfect.
3 His Son Was A Wrestler, Too
Verne Gagne would have four children during his life, including one who’d enter the pro wrestling business himself. Born in 1948 and trained by his father as well as Billy Robinson, Greg Gagne made his debut in 1973, finding success alongside future Killer Bee Jim Brunzell as The High Flyers. Generally considered a suitable babyface tag team specialist, Greg Gagne would end up being pushed as a singles star by his father to what was deemed an unbelievable extent, drawing the ever-dreaded claims of nepotism from many fans.
2 Old School Mentality
In booking the AWA, Verne Gagne took an old-school, traditionalist approach to which wrestlers he pushed, valuing those with legitimate wrestling skills over muscles or charisma. For Gagne, technical performers like Nick Bockwinkel and later Curt Hennig were his ideal champions over guys like Jesse Ventura or Hulk Hogan. It made sense given Gagne’s own amateur background, but with the rise of WWE to a pop culture juggernaut in the 1980s, it ultimately made the American Wrestling Association — and Verne Gagne by association — seem out of touch..
1 Wouldn’t Put The World Title On Hulk Hogan
Of course, the AWA’s booking of the aforementioned Hulk Hogan was the result of Gagne’s traditionalism. Hogan spent 1981 through 1983 in the AWA after leaving WWE over his choice to act in the film Rocky III, and proved to be a huge star in his new home promotion. Despite his popularity, Gagne didn’t think the charismatic powerhouse wrestler was championship material, so Hogan could never beat Nick Bockwinkel outside Dusty Finishes. Ultimately, a dispute over merchandise royalties would cause Hogan to return to WWE, where he’d become a pop culture icon.