Posted on by bdamage1
Brian Damage
Some wrestlers over the years have stated…‘That being a world champion should be the goal of every wrestler. If it is not, why are you even in the business?’ It makes sense seeing how being a world champion makes you THE guy. The top of the mountain where there is fame and fortune. The NWA worlds heavyweight title was at one time, the most prestigious of all world championships. It was held by some of the all time greats like Orville Brown, Lou Thesz, Harley Race, Giant Baba and of course…Ric Flair. While all these men and others held this coveted title and defended it with great pride…not everyone wanted the distinction of being the man.
This piece will look at wrestlers who may have once considered being called NWA worlds heavyweight champion…but decided against it for whatever reason. For them at least…being the world champion was not everything it was cracked up to be.
Nick Bockwinkel
This was an interesting case of a wrestler giving up one version of a world title for another. That was the case for the four time AWA world champion Nick Bockwinkel who was one of the faces of the American Wrestling Association. According to Bockwinkel, back in the early 1980’s, while defending the AWA title, he was traveling to territories like Memphis, Houston and San Antonio, Texas representing the AWA.
He said while touring the Texas territories, Fritz Von Erich called him and asked if Bockwinkel would like to work in Fort Worth/Dallas for World Class. Bockwinkel never worked that territory before, so he agreed to visit. While there, Fritz asked Bockwinkel what would it take to switch allegiances from the AWA to the NWA? Fritz said that he could help fast track Bockwinkel to the NWA world title if he switched promotions.
Fritz set up a meeting between Bockwinkel and promoter Jim Barnett who at the time was the final say on who carried the NWA belt. Bockwinkel flew to Atlanta and had dinner with Barnett and they discussed the wrestler’s future. Bockwinkel said that Barnett guaranteed him the NWA world title. The two men discussed what the workload was like and the pay scale of being Barnett’s champion. Barnett responded by saying that the NWA world champion wrestled 6 1/2 days a week and disclosed what the pay was.
Bockwinkel went back to his hotel room and crunched the numbers and figured out that while the NWA expected their champion to wrestle 6 1/2 days a week…he only had to wrestle as the AWA champion for half that at 3 1/2 days a week. In total, Bockwinkel was expected to wrestle and or appear as NWA world champion for TV tapings…360 days out of the year. Nick Bockwinkel stated…“There was no way I was really interested in becoming the NWA world champion.” Bockwinkel turned down Barnett’s offer and returned to the AWA.
Dick Murdoch
“Dirty” Dick Murdoch first got his feet wet and established by teaming with Dusty Rhodes as the Texas Outlaws. He was always a good hand and for the most part a loyal member of the National Wrestling Alliance. According to Harley Race, then NWA president Sam Muchnick had his eyes on Murdoch as a potential top star for the NWA as a singles competitor. Race said that for a few years, Muchnick groomed the Texan to become a future NWA world champion.
The issue was Dick Murdoch had no real interest in being the champion for a number of reasons. Murdoch was satisfied just wrestling and afterwards drinking beer. He never had the desire or real ambition to be a main event talent. Mainly, however, Race said the biggest sticking point was the NWA was at the time based in St. Louis, Missouri and Murdoch preferred staying close to home in Texas. Murdoch would no show several meetings with Muchnick and eventually he gave up on Murdoch as a potential world champion.
Ricky Morton
Of course, there have been others who wanted nothing to do with being NWA champion including Rock n Roll Express member Ricky Morton who detailed the reasons he turned down the opportunity here.
Nikita Koloff
Nikita Koloff was rapidly becoming a huge star for the NWA, up until his wife was diagnosed with cancer and took himself off the road. His wife eventually passed away from the disease, but Koloff stayed away from the ring. Then NWA World champion Ric Flair met with Koloff to try and lure him back to wrestling. According to Koloff, Flair was willing to drop the world title to Nikita if he returned. The issue was Koloff knew the rigors of being the world champion and was still not in a good mental state to even start wrestling again and turned down the opportunity.
Shane Douglas
We all recall when Shane Douglas infamously tossed the NWA title on the mat, rejecting becoming champion after winning a tournament. The difference between that incident and the others was the importance of the NWA. By the time, Douglas became NWA world champion…the title and the organization was not nearly as significant as it once was.