Minnesota holds a special place in the history of professional wrestling. Back when the best wrestling talent in the world was developed here in Minnesota. Back before a sharpie from New York named Vince McMahon swept in and stole the show. Minnesota created the first national wrestling stars-at one time, we were putting on the finest working-class opera in the country.
The Verne Gagne Era and the AWA
The AWA’s great helmsman Verne Gagne, for better or for worse, made important contributions to this fever dream. Verne Gagne was always small for a behemoth. When Gagne debuted as a heavyweight contender in 1949, the bill listed him at 5-foot-11-inches and 210 pounds. Gagne arrived on the scene with a perfect babyface backstory: He grew up on a farm in Corcoran, Minnesota, and walked to school at Robbinsdale High. At the University of Minnesota, he played football for the Gophers, while becoming a national collegiate wrestling champion.
Despite Gagne’s skill, and perpetual number-one contender status, he never could force National Wrestling Alliance world champ Lou Thesz into a lights-out sleeper hold. So in 1960, he parlayed his individual TV success into real power by buying out the reigning promoter in the Midwest, the Stecher family. The first order of business? Over the following decades-confronting the bad guy in every mid-sized arena from Winnipeg to Omaha-Gagne rarely lost control of that belt.
In Gagne’s universe, wrestling should appear to be as realistic and demanding as possible. And although his promotion developed great characters-Jesse Ventura, “The Crusher”-Gagne believed the crowd would find its real catharsis in displays of physical virtuosity. Co-founder of the AWA, this Nordeast Minneapolis operator became Gagne’s token suit. A former wrestler, Sharkey became the second most successful wrestling trainer in state history (behind Gagne himself).
Verne Gagne trained 144 wrestlers over the years: everyone from Baron von Raschke to Ricky “The Dragon” Steamboat. The class of ’72 was perhaps his most talented ever. Olympic powerlifter Ken Patera; and former NFL linebacker Bob Bruggers. Greg Gagne got a career out of the training-and a few useful life tricks, too.
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The Training Regimen
- 9 am 1,000 free squats. Starting with sets of 25. “It was un-fucking-godly,” remembers Greg Gagne.
- 10 am Headstands with feet on turnbuckles. Shoulder presses.
- 1 pm Hitting the ropes. “I tore new skin down my entire sides,” Gagne says.
In 1960, on the local television show Sports Hot Seat, Verne Gagne agreed to demonstrate that his sleeper hold was not a choke hold. With a panel of sportswriters scrutinizing his arm positioning, Gagne demonstrated the grasp on local promoter Eddie Williams.
The Rise of National Wrestling and the Decline of the AWA
In 1982, McMahon and his wife Linda began to assemble wrestling’s first true national promotion, swallowing up the regional players one by one. McMahon added a layer of corporate rock ’n’ roll shtick to fit the age. Even more damaging to the AWA and Gagne, the McMahons also modernized the prevailing code of handshake deals between wrestlers and promoters. That is to say, they stole the talent. In one of their first big moves, they poached the AWA’s new star, Hulk Hogan, over the holidays in 1982.
Speaking over the phone from Florida, Okerlund told me that he gave Verne a chance to make a counteroffer. What wrestling fans probably never knew is that McMahon offered the Gagnes a buyout, too. Verne’s response: “What the hell you think you’re gonna do? The AWA rumbled on for a few more years. The dissolution of Verne Gagne’s empire hurt the man. He lost his estate on Lake Minnetonka through eminent domain. Toward the end, he was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease. Eventually, Vince McMahon bought the AWA archives. Gagne’s son acknowledges the gesture.
Key Figures of Minnesota Wrestling
- Baron von Raschke: How does an All-American college wrestler turn into a monstrous German Baron? When Baron von Raschke contorted his catcher’s mitt of a right hand into the ghastly claw and thrust it toward the rafters, 10,000 wrestling fans would gasp in horror.
- But back before Raschke ever developed this evil Teutonic twin, he was Jim Raschke, a middle school English teacher, standing in the back of a wrestling exhibition at the Calhoun Beach Club, setting up the mats and the ropes.
- He’d excelled as a college wrestler, even making the 1964 Olympic team (though he missed Tokyo with a hyperextended elbow).
- Raschke moved to Minnesota to train under Verne Gagne, at one of Gagne’s famously brutal training camps.
- Raschke made a fine babyface in his nifty USA wrestling jacket. “I was real meek and mild,” Raschke recalls from his living room in Hastings.
- Maurice “Mad Dog” Vachon: One Saturday, setting up for a match at the Calhoun Beach Club, “this backlit shape appeared in the doorway,” he says. The shape, it turns out, was French-Canadian legend Maurice “Mad Dog” Vachon. Raschke started out as a shy loner who couldn’t give an interview to save his life. That is, until Maurice “Mad Dog” Vachon spotted him during a taping of All-Star Wrestling. “YOU’D MAKE A GOOD GERMAN,” Vachon bellowed.
- Jesse "The Body" Ventura: An awkward athlete in the ring, Ventura possessed an astonishing gift at the mic, delivering some of the greatest promo interviews of all time. The Body brought a postmodern maneuver from the wrestling ring to the governor’s mansion: the heel coming clean.
- Kenny Jay: The quintessential jabroni-or jobber-Jay started on the carnival circuit, wrestling farmers, apes, and bears. He would later make every AWA star look good every Saturday for decades. Verne Gagne called me on Friday morning.
- Larry “The Axe” Hennig: Another Robbinsdale High graduate (like Gagne), Hennig teamed with fellow heel Harley Race to form one of the AWA’s greatest tag teams.
- Curt Hennig: Also sired Curt “Mr. Perfect” Hennig.
- Hulk Hogan: (The moniker? The Gagne family first recognized that the Hulkster shouldn’t play the heel.
- Gene Okerlund: An ad man (for clients like Maaco) before he was an AWA announcer, “Mean” Gene got his nickname from Ventura. Okerlund mistook rocker Tom Petty (a personal pal, Ventura bragged) for the race car driver Richard Petty. Ventura’s response?
Kayfabe and the Changing Landscape
Everyone knew that wrestling wasn’t real. Everyone, that is, except the wrestlers themselves. In the days of the AWA, wrestlers were expected to “maintain kayfabe”: that is, the stance that while the matches may have been choreographed, they weren’t fake. All that changed in the Vince McMahon revolution of the 1980s.
The stars of the AWA may not have broken kayfabe, but they damaged a lot of other things: knees, marriages, sobriety, and, yes, feelings, too.
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Wrestling's Influence Beyond the Ring
Donald Trump Attacks Vince McMahon
In 2007, Trump nearly received his own haircut, when he squared off against Vince McMahon, CEO of WWE, in the “Battle of the Billionaires” at WrestleMania 23 in Detroit. Trump won the match, with the timely assistance of “Stone Cold” Steve Austin, and proceeded to shave McMahon’s head in the ring.
Every chance he gets, he pantomimes the wrassler’s swaggering display of dominance. Remember how Trump-a heavyweight at 6-foot-3-inches and 239 pounds-loomed over Hillary Clinton during the presidential debate? Or when he literally shoved aside Montenegro’s prime minister during the NATO Summit? And what are Trump’s death-grip/judo handshakes if not an executive-level submission hold?
Modern Recognition
The NWHOF-MN Chapter will induct 10 new members on April 22, 2023 at the 20th Anniversary, and 21st Honors Class for Lifetime Service and Outstanding Americans. The event will be held at Austin Country Club, 1202 28th St. NE, Austin, MN. 2025 National Wrestling Hall of Fame Minnesota Chapter inductees. Front (L-R): Dan Stifter, Chip Rankin, and Butch Steen. Middle (L-R): Brian Kelvington, Jeff Becker, and Tom Gravalin. Back (L-R): Mark Voyce, Chuck Marks, Jerry Schmitz, and Heidi Schmitz.
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