American Wrestling Association

The American Wrestling Association (AWA) was a professional wrestling promotion based in Minneapolis, Minnesota, founded in 1960 by Verne Gagne and Wally Karbo. The promotion operated for over three decades before closing in 1991. Its origins trace back to the Minneapolis Boxing & Wrestling Club, originally established in 1933, which functioned as the Minnesota-based territory of the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) beginning in 1948. The AWA was born when that territory broke away from the NWA and established itself as an independent promotion in 1960.

As an independent territory, the AWA distinguished itself from the NWA by operating outside the established alliance structure that governed much of professional wrestling at the time. Headquartered in Minneapolis, the promotion built its identity around the Minneapolis Boxing & Wrestling Club's regional foundation while charting its own course as a standalone organization. The AWA remained a fixture of American professional wrestling for more than thirty years until its closure in 1991.