For some reason my mind got thinking about 1980s AWA wrestling last night. Now the AWA was still pretty popular to start the 1980s but by the end of the 1980s and into the early 1990s, it was pretty much dying out. I loved the AWA in the 1980s myself even though Verne Gagne seemed out of touch with the times and didn't realize how to best make use of the great talent he had during the early 1980s (particularly not recognizing the popularity of Hulkamania and not putting the AWA World title on Hogan well aside from Dusty finish type matches, also not realizing that fans wanted to cheer the Road Warriors seeing them as an heel team only). Anyways here are the Top 10 performers in 1980s AWA in my opinion. Now other guys made a mark but just weren't mainstays in the AWA (Hulk Hogan, Andre the Giant, Jesse Ventura, Adrian Adonis, Boris Zhukov, the Freebirds, Gorgeous Jimmy Garvin, Tito Santana, Stan Hansen, Bruiser Brody, Jimmy Snuka), others were legends who had their best days behind them but stayed mainly with the AWA right up to near the end of their careers (The Crusher, Mad Dog Vachon, Baron von Raschke, Ray Stevens, Billy Robinson)
10.
Greg Gagne (wasn't sure I should include him as I often found him hard to buy into especially when he was competing against much larger guys like Brody and John Nord, still he had great matches with Curt Hennig, teaming with Brunzell vs. The East-West Connection and other teams.)
9.
Sgt. Slaughter (Slaughter jumped to the AWA following his huge rise in popularity after turning babyface and feuding with the Iron Sheik in the WWF. He continued battling foreign heels in the AWA and had memorable wars against Boris Zhukov, Colonel DeBeers, Sheik Adnan Al-Kaissie, and Soldat Ustinov. His best AWA matches though IMO were his battles with Larry Zbyszko.)
8.
Jerry "The King" Lawler (He's a guy I wasn't sure about including as he's really more a Memphis/CWA guy but he still had great matches in the AWA particularly battling against Nick Bockwinkel,Curt Hennig, and Kerry Von Erich.)
7.
Wahoo McDaniel (Wahoo's career was winding down when he was competing in the AWA in the late 1980s but he still had a great series of matches against Curt Hennig and Manny Fernandez. Many years earlier, he had some great battles with Nick Bockwinkel.)
6.
The Midnight Rockers (Shawn Michaels and Marty Jannetty got their first big break in the AWA where their high-flying moves quickly made them fan favourites. They had some of their greatest tag team wars against Buddy Rose & Doug Somers not to mention later tangling with The Original Midnight Express and Badd Company. Of course they also made their mark in Central States and Memphis before jumping to the WWF in the late 1980s.)
5.
Larry Zbyszko (Zbyszko was that heel all the fans loved to jeer and boo. He was really good at stalling and delaying tactics but was actually very talented in ring which made him even more frustrating to watch. He had some great wars with the likes of Sgt. Slaughter, former boxer turned referee Scott LeDoux, Curt Hennig, Jimmy Snuka, and Greg Gagne. He'd later go on the win the AWA World title in 1990 and would have memorable title defenses against the likes of Tom Zenk, Nikita Koloff, Harley Race, and Don Muraco.)
4.
Rick Martel (Martel was a very popular babyface champion for the company circa 1984-1985. He had great matches with pretty much everyone in got in the ring with but in particular against Nick Bockwinkel, Gorgeous Jimmy Garvin, and Stan Hansen to whom he'd eventually drop the title. Martel also had a memorable title unification match with NWA World champion Ric Flair. Martel would later jump to the WWF like many other top AWA stars of the 1980s where he'd form a tag team with Tom Zenk and later Tito Santana with whom he'd also teamed in the AWA to wrestle the High Flyers in a memorable match).
3.
The Road Warriors (The Road Warriors dominantly burst on to the AWA scene in 1983 quickly capturing the AWA World Tag Team titles from legends Baron von Raschke & the Crusher. They'd go on to have memorable wars with The Fabulous Ones, The Freebirds, and the Long Riders before dropping the titles to Steve Regal & Jimmy Garvin and jumping to the NWA where they starting battling the Russians Ivan & Nikita Koloff.)
2.
Curt Hennig: (Hennig proved himself a tremendous talent in the AWA where he came to master his craft following a short WWF stint. First making his mark teaming with his father Larry "The Ax", the Hennigs would actually feud memorably with the Road Warriors. Later he'd team with Greg Gagne & Sgt. Slaughter and would finally win tag team gold teaming with Scott Hall. After dropping the titles to Rose & Somers, he'd move into singles competition and would finally make a mark after gaining a bit of attitude. He'd had a great series of matches with Nick Bockwinkel who he'd eventually defeat for the AWA World title. Hennig would go on to be a great champion having terrific matches with the likes of Wahoo McDaniel, Greg Gagne, and Jerry Lawler to whom he'd drop the title before jumping to the WWF. Heck he even made Kevin Kelly look good in a match with him.)
1.
Nick Bockwinkel (Bockwinkel is arguably the most memorable AWA World Champion of the 1980s and had terrific matches and memorable title defenses/wars with all the following: Verne Gagne, Hulk Hogan, Rick Martel, Ric Flair, Jerry Lawler, Greg Gagne, Curt Hennig, Larry Zbsyzko, Wahoo McDaniel, Mad Dog Vachon, Tito Santana, and many more. Memorably paired with Bobby "The Brain" Heenan in the early 1980s, Bockwinkel eventually branched out on his own when Heenan jumped to the WWF in the mid-1980s. Bockwinkel was always a great talker who came off like an intellectual and few were his match inside a wrestling ring and those who got into with him usually came out looking better for it more often than not.)
