To paraphrase the opening of "The Lone Ranger", return with us now to those thrilling days of the mid-1980's, when Verne Gagne's American Wrestling Association (AWA) strove for its piece of the cable TV pie by forging an alliance with ESPN. Vince McMahon and the then-WWF (now WWE) were in the midst of their first run with USA Network, and Jim Crockett had the NWA on Ted Turner's Superstation TBS before spinning off to make World Championship Wrestling a brand name by itself. The Von Erichs had a syndication deal for World Class, and added a berth on MSG Network in New York. It was a great time to be a wrestling fan.

True fans knew that the AWA was the "other" major league in wrestling, after the WWE and NWA/WCW. But after McMahon plundered the talent roster, taking Jesse Ventura, Adrian Adonis, manager Bobby Heenan, and announcer Gene Okerlund, and bringing back Hulk Hogan, Gagne was left to rebuild with fresh faces. In hindsight, the AWA would end up becoming a feeder for its competitors. Consider who was in the AWA in 1988. The Midnight Rockers (Shawn Michaels & Marty Jannetty). The Nasty Boys. Curt Hennig. Scott Hall. Diamond Dallas Page (as a manager). TV tapings took place in, of all places, Las Vegas, at the Showboat Hotel, a venue better known in those days for hosting a pro bowling tournament in the winter. Jerry Lawler won his only World title under the AWA banner, beating Hennig, then uniting the AWA & World Class titles by dethroning Kerry Von Erich. Lawler has never gotten the same kind of push in WWE, used instead as a comedy act and a commentator.

ESPN recently decided to dust off the old tapes and run them in late night on ESPN Classic. Being on vacation from my day job this week, I had the opportunity to look back on some of those old shows. I got to see the Rockers beat up a couple of rent-a-jobbers. Yawn. The Rock & Roll Express, Ricky Morton & Robert Gibson, were feuding with the Nasty Boys, and fought to a double countout with Knobs & Sags. There was DDP, with longer hair, being passed off as hailing from South Africa and managing Badd Company (Pat Tanaka & Paul Diamond). Supposedly, Page was a very successful businessman with a bevy of "Diamond Dolls" at his command (Kimberly wasn't around at this point). You could've put a mannequin next to Page and he'd make her look like a star. The charisma was there. Sad to say, when Tanaka & Diamond left for WWE (with Diamond stuck under a hood for no reason), they floundered without Page, and Mr. Fuji was no help.

Unfortunately, when compared to the other promotions on television, the AWA was treated like a weak sister. Despite basing their television in Las Vegas and being on a major cable network like ESPN, the ratings just weren't there, and by the turn of the decade, the AWA was gone from ESPN. There is an AWA today, but it doesn't have the prestige or national reputation it once did, and certainly doesn't have a television deal. I'm not so sure Verne Gagne is even involved with today's AWA.

In contrast, now that the Knicks & Rangers are done for the season, MSG has relaunched WWE Madison Square Garden Classics on Wednesday nights. Hosted once again by Gene Okerlund, MSG Classics is shown in 2 hour blocks, each hour devoted to a different Garden card from the past. As shown last year, some episodes of Raw or Smackdown from MSG will be in the mix. As for Jonathan Coachman, in addition to his hosting duties for the network, he's calling WNBA basketball for MSG. Well, at least he's keeping busy. MSG Classics will be pre-empted on occasion for either WNBA or soccer or even old hockey & basketball tapes, which is what MSG did the last two years, so don't expect it to be any different this year.