IWA 1975 Opening

Eddie Einhorn's IWA, the first wrestling promotion to ever dare and try and go national. Unfortunately, while the idea was good, the approach flopped, and would not be tried again until nearly 10 years later by Vince McMahon. Many of the stars were regulars from the Cleveland/Buffalo based NWF promotion.

I've always found the opening video to SCREAM 1970's and found the shows fun. Jack Reynolds from near Cleveland, OH. was the host, along with Tex McKenzie, who would pop in when he felt like it. McKenzie also wrestled from time to time though was semi-retired by this point.

I always enjoyed the roll call of stars, it was "different".

Category:

Entertainment

Tags:

• Wrestling
• IWA
• Einhorn
• Jack
• Reynolds
• Tex
• McKenzie

[elc1960]

Is that the same Eddie Einhorn who owned the Chicago White Sox? The description also mentions the old NWF promotion - that group was loosely affiliated with The Sheik in Detroit, as well as the Johnny Powers Cleveland group and Pedro Martinez's Buffalo promotion. They also used wrestlers from Bruno Sammartino's "Studio Wrestling" promotion. They gave Greg ("The Hammer") Valentine his first major push (he was "Johnny Fargo" then, and teamed with Donnie Fargo).

[BottomlessJackDaniel]

@elc1960

Yes. it's indeed the same Eddie Einhorn... Pedro Martinez was actually the man who promoted the NWF, it ran mainly from Cleveland to Buffalo. The Sheik, Powers & Martinez shared a lot of the same talent, a lot of that talent you can see here in this video!.

[bhilcu1]

@BottomlessJackDaniel

The deceased Jack Reynolds was also a staff announcer at WUAB Channel 43 in Cleveland For years!

[BottomlessJackDaniel]

@bhilcu1

He sure was...

[flauretta]

circa 1975...and yeah i wonder as well who own's all IWA wrestlings matches....you ever notice how on wwe 24/7 we never see any of starcade or any NWA matches back in the 60's-70's.....all those great wrestling from florida will never make vinnie mac's show....

[flauretta]

this was my experience with wrestling.....loved this show, then one night it was gone and replaced with wwwf....watched this, nwa from florida and nwa from L.A.'s olympic auditorium....awesome back then...thanks for posting....wish i could watch all the IWA's shows again...

[raiders75]

Did you notice the excitement Tex McKenzie had just drained out of his body right before our eyes at the end? lol

[elc1960]

@BottomlessJackDaniel They also got guys from Bruno's "Studio Wrestling", like Eric the Red, Johnny DeFazio, John L. Sullivan (aka Luscious Johnny Valiant), Waldo Von Erich & Dominic DeNucci, to name a few. Quite a few NWF jobbers were also regulars on WWWF's "Championship Wrestling" and "All Star Wrestling" TV shows.

[DerGunzWald]

I feel you Chine...

[chine62]

Boy, I am almost in tears watching this; I was barely seven back then: almost thirty years ago.