The championship was retired in 1981 when the promotion folded. In 1968, it was renamed the NWA United States Heavyweight Championship after Big Time Wrestling joined the National Wrestling Alliance. The American Wrestling Alliance United States Championship was created in November 1960 with Ray Stevens declared the inaugural champion. NWA United States Heavyweight Championship (San Francisco version) In 1984, a disgruntled Shire gave an interview to The Sacramento Bee in which he broke kayfabe by acknowledging all the matches he promoted were staged. Shire's final show was a battle royal at the Cow Palace. A burned out Shire retired from promoting in January 1981 after Verne Gagne's American Wrestling Association, through local promoter and former wrestler Leo Nomellini, moved into San Francisco. In 1979, Big Time Wrestling was cancelled. īy the late-1970s, attendances had begun to dwindle. Attendance was not robust enough to support regular appearances and the promotion did not return the next wrestling show in Anchorage was not until 1974, featuring talent booked through Detroit's Big Time Wrestling. In 1970, the promotion expanded into Anchorage, Alaska, where the Los Angeles-based promotion was involved with many successful shows during the late 1950s and early 1960s. He was later joined by Pepper Martin as color commentator. The show featured Hank Renner as play-by-play announcer. In 1970, Shire secured a new deal with the Sacramento station KTXL, airing Big Time Wrestling at 19:00 PST on Saturday evenings. KTVU cancelled Big Time Wrestling in 1970. Shire served as vice-president of the organisation for a period in the early-1970s. In August 1968, Big Time Wrestling became a member of the NWA. Īs Big Time Wrestling expanded, it began promoting in other Californian cities including Fresno and Sacramento, as well as Las Vegas in Nevada. The promotion's flagship event was an annual 18-man battle royal, with the winner receiving storyline large sums of money. Shire positioned Ray Stevens as the promotion's main heel. Together with his bookers, Johnny Doyle and later Red Bastien, Shire built the promotion around the principles of "action, high spots and realistic matches". Its base was the Cow Palace, where it held shows each Friday. īig Time Wrestling promoted shows throughout the San Francisco Bay Area. In Shire's first year of trading, the promotion brought in $175,000 USD of revenue. Together with Los Angeles-based Worldwide Wrestling Associates, Big Time Wrestling challenged the control of the NWA over the Pacific Coast. Shire would ultimately prevail and NWA San Francisco folded in 1962. A show staged by Malcewicz three days later attracted 2,841 people. Headlined by a bout between Mitsu Arakawa and Bill Melby, the event recorded an attendance of 16,553. Shire staged his first show in the Cow Palace in Daly City on the outskirts of San Francisco on March 4, 1961. Big Time Wrestling was originally hosted by Harris, then later by Hank Renner. Shire would later begin producing a second weekly show, Big Time Wrestling this one airing on KOVR. In January 1961, he began airing National All-Star Wrestling, a live show recorded in the KTVU studio that aired at 19:00 PST on Friday evenings, originally hosted by Bill Welsh and then by Walt Harris. Shire secured a television slot on the fledgling independent Oakland television station KTVU in 1961 and spent several weeks airing tapes of matches from the Midwest. Big Time Wrestling was an "outlaw" promotion that did not respect the territorial boundaries decreed by the NWA. with the California State Athletic Commission over Malcewicz's objections. In October 1960, he registered the Pacific Coast Athletic Corp. After sustaining a severe knee injury, NWA San Francisco wrestler "Professor" Roy Shire decided to move into promoting in direct competition with Malcewicz. History įrom November 1935, professional wrestling in San Francisco was dominated by Joe Malcewicz's NWA San Francisco promotion, a member of the National Wrestling Alliance. The promotion's heartland was the San Francisco Bay Area, with the Cow Palace as its core venue, but it also ran regular shows in cities including Fresno, Las Vegas, Oakland, San Jose, and Sacramento. Founded by "Professor" Roy Shire (1921–1992) in 1960, the promotion emerged as one of the most profitable in the United States thanks to its "red hot angles" and "good TV". San Francisco, California, United States īig Time Wrestling – also known as the American Wrestling Alliance ( AWA) or National All-Star Wrestling – was a professional wrestling promotion headquartered in San Francisco, California in the United States. The Cow Palace, the home of Big Time Wrestling.
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