Things never really picked up until the late 1940’s when in 1948, a new confederation was formed between the majority of independent wrestling companies. This was named the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) and took wrestling to a level of popularity the likes of which it had never seen before. The first big move of the newly founded alliance was to promote the great Lou Thesz to unify all the current World Championships, of which there were 7 at the time, in to one ‘World Heavyweight Title’, a term which would stick around for years to come. The promoters which decided to stay independent weren’t happy about this, some even telling their own talent to forget about the pre-determined result and attempt to retain the championship. Ironically, these decisions were what immortalised Lou Thesz, primarily because he decided to turn the matches in to REAL fights to anyone who wasn’t willing to play along. Many a man were left bloody and beaten from trying to battle with Thesz and their efforts where all in Vain, as he went on to unify the titles anyway. To understand why he was picked as the main man to represent the newly formed NWA, we need to explore more about the man himself.
Next time on Squared Circles, we look at the 1970’s in professional wrestling, when free love ruled the world and the World Wide Wrestling Federation was born!