AWA Championship Wrestling: Story, Cast and Series Facts

Story and premise

AWA Championship Wrestling aired on cable sports network ESPN from 1985 to 1990. It was a continuation of the earlier ESPN program Pro Wrestling USA, the co-operative venture between the American Wrestling Association (AWA) and several National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) affiliates (most notably Jim Crockett Promotions). On February 26, 2008, ESPN Classic began reairing AWA Championship Wrestling episodes. In September 1985, the AWA began airing weekly programming on ESPN, giving the promotion the national exposure already enjoyed by the World Wrestling Federation (on USA Network) and the NWA's Georgia/World Championship Wrestling (on TBS). However, weekly AWA shows were not treated with any priority by the cable network, sometimes being delayed, preempted by live programming, or suffering from occasional changes in time slot, making it difficult for fans to tune in on a regular basis. Following the disastrous Team Challenge Series, the AWA lost its contract with ESPN and became virtually inactive by late 1990.

Series details

• Title: AWA Championship Wrestling
• Format: Sports
• Language: English
• Premiere date: 1985-10-29
• Final broadcast date listed: 1988-03-26
• Status in TVmaze: Ended
• Network listed by TVmaze: ESPN
• Network country: United States
• Typical episode runtime: 60 minutes
• TVMaze ID: 25516
• IMDb ID: tt7116448
• TVDB ID: 436651

Cast and credited roles

• Verne Gagne — Verne Gagne
• Billy Robinson — Billy Robinson
• Ed Francis — Ed Francis
• Don Leo Jonathan — Don Leo Jonathan
• Dick the Bruiser — Dick the Bruiser
• Red Bastien — Red Bastien
• Mighty Igor — Mighty Igor
• Crusher Lisowski — Crusher Lisowski
• Gene Kiniski — Gene Kiniski
• Pat Patterson — Pat Patterson
• Larry Hennig — Larry Hennig
• Harley Race — Harley Race

Seasons in the TVmaze catalogue

• Season 1: premiered 1985-10-29; final listed air date 1985-10-29.
• Season 2: premiered 1986-03-04; final listed air date 1986-03-04.
• Season 4: premiered 1988-01-24; final listed air date 1988-03-26.

Source and licence

Adapted from AWA Championship Wrestling on TVmaze. The synopsis is reproduced as plain text; catalogue facts, cast and season records are selected and reformatted. This adapted text is available under CC BY-SA 4.0, following the TVmaze API licence. Network and web-channel credits identify the service listed in this source; they do not establish current streaming availability.