The International Wrestling Association (IWA) was a

professional wrestling promotion A professional wrestling promotion is a company or business that regularly performs shows involving professional wrestling that has little relationship to the rules of the amateur olympic form. "Promotion" also describes a role which entails man ...

based in Cleveland, Ohio in the 1970s. It was founded by Eddie Einhorn and

Pedro Martinez Pedro is a masculine given name. Pedro is the Spanish, Portuguese, and Galician name for ''Peter''. Its French equivalent is Pierre while its English and Germanic form is Peter. The counterpart patronymic surname of the name Pedro, meaning " ...

in 1975. The company descended from the National Wrestling Federation. It was originally intended to be the first national wrestling promotion, but stayed primarily in the Mid-Atlantic region. Einhorn offered his wrestlers more money and benefits than competing promotions, helping to lure big names such as Mil Mascaras (the company's heavyweight champion). Einhorn left the promotion later that year, and Johnny Powers took over as booker. The company scaled down and stayed in Virginia and North Carolina. After losing an

antitrust Competition law is the field of law that promotes or seeks to maintain market competition by regulating anti-competitive conduct by companies. Competition law is implemented through public and private enforcement. It is also known as antitrust l ...

lawsuit against the rival

Jim Crockett Promotions Jim Crockett Promotions Inc. is a family-owned professional wrestling promotion headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina, United States, restarted by Jim Crockett's son and Jim Crockett Jr's brother, David Crockett. Founded in 1931, the promo ...

, the IWA closed in 1978.

History

In the 1970s,

Ron Martinez Ron is a shortening of the name Ronald. Ron or RON may also refer to: Arts and media *Big Ron (EastEnders), Big Ron (''EastEnders''), a TV character *Ron (King of Fighters), Ron (''King of Fighters''), a video game character *Ron Douglas, the pr ...

introduced his friend Eddie Einhorn to his father

, and the duo established the International Wrestling Association in 1975 as a descendant company of Martinez's National Wrestling Federation. The IWA was originally intended to be the first national wrestling promotion. Einhorn offered professional wrestler George Scott a $250,000 a year salary and percentage of the business to be his partner in the promotion, but Scott declined. To get prominent professional wrestlers such as

Ernie Ladd Ernest Ladd (November 28, 1938 – March 10, 2007), nicknamed "The Big Cat", was an American professional football player and professional wrestler. A standout athlete in high school, Ladd attended Grambling State University on a basketball sc ...

and Mil Mascaras, the company used contracts that guaranteed money to the talent regardless of ticket sales. Einhorn also offered wrestlers deals that included transportation and lodging, in contrast to other promotions. Mascaras was one of the promotion's initial champions. He mainly feuded with Ladd over the IWA Championship. Another one of the promotion's main feuds was between Mighty Igor and

Bulldog Brower Richard Gland (September 17, 1933 – September 15, 1997) was an American professional wrestler who used the ring name Dick "Bulldog" Brower. Professional wrestling career Gland started his career in the Delaware territory in 1958 under the ring ...

. During the storyline, Brower attacked Igor on his birthday, knocking him into his birthday cake. The IWA's early

house shows A house show or live event is a professional wrestling event produced by a major Professional wrestling promotion, promotion that is not televised, though they can be recorded. Promotions use house shows mainly to cash in on the exposure that t ...

featuring Mascaras were competition for

Vince McMahon Vincent Kennedy McMahon (; born August 24, 1945) is an American media proprietor and retired professional wrestling promoter, executive, and performer. From 1982 to 2022, he served as the chairman and chief executive officer (CEO) of WWE, the ...

World Wide Wrestling Federation Capitol Wrestling Corporation Ltd. was an American sports promotion company. It was run by Vincent J. McMahon from 1953 to 1982. Operating as the Capitol Wrestling Corporation (CWC), the company was originally a professional wrestling and boxing ...

(WWWF). One show at the Roosevelt Stadium featured former WWWF World Heavyweight Champion

Ivan Koloff Oreal Donald Perras (August 25, 1942 – February 18, 2017) was a Canadian professional wrestler, better known by the ring name "The Russian Bear" Ivan Koloff. He was the third wrestler to hold the WWWF Championship. Early life Perras was bo ...

against Mascaras, drawing an attendance of 14,000. Later, the IWA shows were taped for television and aired on WOR (Channel 9) while the WWWF aired shows on Spanish-language WNJU (Channel 47). The IWA used new innovations like freeze frame shots and replays in

slow motion Slow motion (commonly abbreviated as slo-mo or slow-mo) is an effect in film-making whereby time appears to be slowed down. It was invented by the Austrian priest August Musger in the early 20th century. This can be accomplished through the use ...

to enhance the matches. Ron Martinez acted as booker,

announcer An announcer is a voice artist who relays information to the audience of a broadcast media programme or live event. Television and other media Some announcers work in television production, radio or filmmaking, usually providing narrations, ...

, and producer for the television shows. Jack Reynolds and Tex McKenzie acted as

play-by-play In sports broadcasting, a sports commentator (also known as sports announcer or sportscaster) provides a real-time commentary of a game or event, usually during a live broadcast, traditionally delivered in the historical present In linguis ...

announcers, and Rick Gattone was the

ring announcer A ring announcer is an in-ring (and sometimes on-camera) employee or contractor for a boxing, professional wrestling or mixed martial arts event or promotion, who introduces the competitors to the audience. In boxing and mixed martial arts bouts, ...

. Einhorn's plan was for the show to be

nationally syndicated Broadcast syndication is the practice of leasing the right to broadcasting television shows and radio programs to multiple television stations and radio stations, without going through a broadcast network. It is common in the United States wher ...

. Einhorn left the IWA in late 1975 due to business conflicts and a large financial loss. At that time, Tom Ficara acquired the IWA Wrestling programming for his FBC Cable Network. Ficara subsequently bought TVS itself in 1990. Subsequently, Johnny Powers became the booker for the IWA and scaled down the promotion. The company ran shows in Virginia and North Carolina for a couple of years. Ron Martinez stayed with the promotion for three years after Einhorn left. The promotion closed after an

case that accused Jim Crockett, Jr. of preventing the IWA from promoting shows in the area's large arenas, including the Winston-Salem Coliseum. The case was not successful and the promotion closed in 1978. The show was shown overseas in Nigeria and Singapore in 1978. Clips from the tape library were featured on

ESPN ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). The ...

's '' Cheap Seats'', as well as

ESPN Classic ESPN Classic was an American multinational pay television network owned by ESPN Inc., a joint venture between The Walt Disney Company (which owns a controlling 80% stake) and Hearst Communications (which owns 20%). The channel was originally ...

's Golden Age Of Wrestling.

Championships

The main championship for the company was the IWA Championship. Mil Mascaras was the champion, winning it in

Savannah, Georgia Savannah ( ) is the oldest city in the U.S. state of Georgia and is the county seat of Chatham County. Established in 1733 on the Savannah River, the city of Savannah became the British colonial capital of the Province of Georgia and later t ...

in 1975. He also defended the championship in Mexico. The exact lineage of the title is unknown, but Johnny Powers claims to have held it three times. Even after the promotion closed in 1978, Powers defended the title overseas. He last defended it against

in Nigeria in 1982, after which he retired from wrestling. The Mongols (

Geeto Mongol Newton Tattrie (July 12, 1931 – July 19, 2013) was a Canadian professional wrestler, better known by his ring name, Geeto Mongol (also spelled Geto Mongol). Tattrie started his career in the 1960s working for Stu Hart's Stampede Wrestling p ...

and Bolo Mongol) were the company's only holders of the IWA Tag Team Championship. After Eddie Einhorn left the promotion, The Mongols also left, taking the IWA Tag Team Championship with them to rival

(JCP) in January 1976. In JCP, they were billed as the International Tag Team Champions. The IWA North American Championship was the only title in the promotion to officially change hands. The first holder of the title was

Ox Baker Douglas Albert Baker Sr. (April 19, 1934 – October 20, 2014) was an American professional wrestler and actor, better known professionally as Ox Baker. He was famous for his distinctive eyebrows and finishing move, the Heart Punch, sometimes ca ...

. He held the title for less than a year before losing it to

. Female wrestlers also had a title in the promotion, the IWA Women's North American Championship. The sole holder of the title was Estelle Molina.

Rights of Footage

In 2012, JADAT Sports Inc. bought all the footage of the International Wrestling Association from Ronnie Martinez. The International Wrestling Association's tape library is one of the few classic wrestling tape libraries not owned by

World Wrestling Entertainment World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc., d/b/a as WWE, is an American professional wrestling promotion. A global integrated media and entertainment company, WWE has also branched out into other fields, including film, American football, and va ...

and is one of several classic libraries owned by JADAT Sports Inc. in 2021 JADAT Sports Inc. appointed Stream Go Media LLC as the exclusive distribution agents for the International Wrestling Association, Detroit Big Time Wrestling, SCW and Texas All-Star Wrestling. Footage from the International Wrestling Association appear on the streaming service "Wrestling Legends Network" built and operated by Stream Go Media, LLC launched on May 25th 2021 on the Roku platform and on www.WrestlingLegendsNetwork.tv.

Former personnel

References

External links