 Gulas Wrestling Enterprises logo, the company that owned NWA Mid-America | |
| Founded | 1940[1] |
|---|---|
| Defunct | 1981 |
| Style | Rasslin' / Southern Style |
| Headquarters | Dyersburg, Tennessee Memphis, Tennessee Knoxville, Tennessee Birmingham, Alabama |
| Founder(s) | Nick Gulas Roy Welch[1] |
| Owner(s) | Nick Gulas (1940–1981) Roy Welch (1940–1977) John Cazana (1953–1974) Joe Gunther (1940–1970s) |
| Parent | Gulas Wrestling Enterprises Inc. |
| Formerly | Gulas-Welch Enterprisees Inc. |
| Successor | Continental Wrestling Association |
NWA Mid-America was aprofessional wrestling promotion territory under the umbrella of theNational Wrestling Alliance (NWA) that promoted shows inTennessee,Kentucky andAlabama from 1940 until 1981. The company was founded in 1940 byNick Gulas andRoy Welch and was one of the first promotions to join the NWA after it was founded in 1948. From 1953 until late 1974, John Cazana promoted theKnoxville area and Joe Gunther promoted theBirmingham area from around 1940 until some point in the 1970s. In 1977, promoterJerry Jarrett and wrestlerJerry Lawler broke away from NWA Mid-America, breaking theMemphis area off to start on the own under the name theContinental Wrestling Association (CWA). Mid-America stopped promoting in 1981 and the CWA took over most of their territory as well as some of the championships promoted by NWA Mid-America
In the 1940s, wrestler and promoterRoy Welch started promoting shows on a regular basis in and aroundMemphis, Tennessee and would later be joined byNick Gulas who had been promoting shows inFlorida between 1945 and 1947 before joining with Welch to create the Gulas Welch Enterprises Inc. company in the mid 1940s as they began promoting shows primarily in Memphis andNashville with occasional shows inChattanooga,Jackson,Louisville, Kentucky,Lexington, Kentucky, andBowling Green, Kentucky. They also worked with Joe Gunther, a promoter working out ofBirmingham, Alabama to expand their promotion into Alabama as well as occasional shows inMississippi,Ohio,West Virginia,Missouri,Georgia andNorth Carolina. In 1949, the group joined theNational Wrestling Alliance, a national sanctioning body that divided the US into territories.[1] The promotion became known as the NWA Mid-America.[2] In 1953, they addedKnoxville, Tennessee to their territory as promoter John Cazana joined the group. The group recognized a number of NWA "World" Championships that were shared across the territories as well as promoting their own NWA branded championships that were mainly defended in the Mid-America territory.[2]
Over the years,tag team wrestling became very popular in the Mid-America territory leading to seven different tag team championships being recognized at the same time in the 1970s by NWA Mid-America:NWA World Tag Team Championship,NWA United States Tag Team Championship,NWA Southern Tag Team Championship,NWA Mid-America Tag Team Championship,NWA Tennessee Tag Team Championship, NWA Kentucky Tag Team Championship and theNWA Tri-State Tag Team Championship. This also meant that a host of well known tag teams either worked in NWA Mid-America on a regular basis or passed through the territory at one point, teams such asThe Von Brauners, The Interns,The Infernos, The Bounty Hunters,Tojo Yamamoto andJerry Jarrett,The Heavenly Bodies (Don and Al Green),Bobby Hart andLorenzo Parente,The Fabulous Kangaroos,Jerry Lawler andJim White, The Fabulous Fargos, and a host of other teams were regulars.[3]
In the mid-1970s, the territory was split as Memphis promoter Jerry Jarrett broke away from the Mid-America territory due to disagreements over how Gulas was promoting his sonGeorge Gulas, pushing him as one of the top names in the promotion despite not being very talented in the ring.[4] Many of the wrestlers in the promotion were also upset at Nick Gulas for overbooking his sonGeorge Gulas in the extremely profitable Memphis half of the territory. At this point, Roy Welch retired from promotion, leaving Nick Gulas as the man in charge of a dwindling territory. With Gulas' insistence on pushing his son and Jarrett'sContinental Wrestling Association (CWA) becoming very popular led to a drop in ticket sales and by 1981, Gulas closed the promotion and sold the territory and its championships to the CWA.
These are the results of the last known NWA Mid-America show held on September 13, 1980.[5]
| No. | Results[5] | Stipulations | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Bobby Eaton (c) vs. Jerry Barber ended in a no-contest | Singles match for theNWA Mid-America Heavyweight Championship | ||
| 2 | Roger Howell andRobert Gibson defeated The Manchurians (Tio and Tapu) by disqualification | Tag team match | ||
| 3 | Bobby Eaton defeated Mike Miller | Singles match | ||
| 4 | Ginger the wrestling bear defeated Terry Sawyer | Bear Wrestling match | ||
| 5 | Larry Latham vs.Ken Lucas ended in a no-contest | Singles match | ||
| ||||
| Championship | Last Recognized Champion | From | Until | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| NWA World Heavyweight Championship | Harley Race | January 5, 1948 | Still Active | Champion when Mid-America closed.[6] |
| NWA World Junior Heavyweight Championship | Terry Taylor/Les Thornton | May 1945 | Still Active | Champion when Mid-America closed.[7] |
| NWA World Women's Championship | The Fabulous Moolah | 1935 | Still Active | Champion when Mid-America closed.[8] |
| NWA World Tag Team Championship | Mike Graham andKevin Sullivan | February 5, 1957 | 1977 | [9] |
| NWA World Six-Man Tag Team Championship | George Gulas, Rocky Brewer and Mystery Man | November 14, 1974 | 1981 | Championship later used byJim Crockett Promotions.[10] |
| NWA World Brass Knuckles Championship | Don Fargo | November 15, 1978 | 1981 | [11] |
| NWA United States Junior Heavyweight Championship | Don Greene | February, 1959 | July, 1974 | CWA brought the championship back in 1981.[12] |
| NWA United States Tag Team Championship | Dennis Condrey andPhil Hickerson | March, 1962 | April, 1974 | [13] |
| NWA Southern Heavyweight Championship | Rocky Johnson | July 27, 1974 | March 20, 1977 | Moved to the CWA.[14] |
| NWA Southern Junior Heavyweight Championship | Jerry Lawler | April 19, 1952 | July 27, 1974 | Became the Southern Heavyweight Championship.[15] |
| NWA Southern Tag Team Championship | The Bicentennial Kings (Dennis Condrey andPhil Hickerson) | November, 1945 | March 20, 1977 | Moved to the CWA.[16] |
| NWA Mid-America Heavyweight Championship | Johnny Justice | April, 1957 | Still Active | Later revived by the CWA.[17] |
| NWA Mid-America Junior Heavyweight Championship | Dick Steinborn | 1980 | 1980 | [18] |
| NWA Mid-America Tag Team Championship | Rob Conway and Josh Lewis | January, 1972 | Still Active | [19] |
| NWA Mid-America Television Championship | Kevin Sullivan | November 8, 1980 | 1981 | [20] |
| NWA Tennessee Heavyweight Championship | Sputnik Monroe | June 29, 1959 | March 28, 1960 | [21] |
| NWA Tennessee Tag Team Championship | Don Greene and Joey Rossi | July 10, 1956 | May, 1977 | [22] |
| NWA Kentucky Heavyweight Championship | Buck Moore | 1950s | 1950s | [23] |
| NWA Kentucky Tag Team Championship | The Masked Superstars | March, 1975 | February, 1979 | [24] |
| NWA Tri-State Tag Team Championship (Alabama version) | Tojo Yamamoto andGeorge Gulas | October, 1971 | August, 1977 | [25] |
| NWA Tri-State Heavyweight Championship (Tri-State version) | Dennis Condrey | September 12, 1960 | October, 1970 | [26] |
