[theidealstranger]

Considered by his peers and experts to be an exceptional wrestler in terms of wrestling ability and ring psychology and with the ability to cut an eloquent promo, he was one of the faces of AWA/NWA having won over 29 titles.

He also fought in a AWA-WWWF inter promotion title unification match with Backland which ended in double count out. He is however mostly known for St Paul Screwjob (Yes, Montreal Screwjob had a precedent) where Hulk Hogan pinned him for the championship but the decision of the referee was reversed, one of the reasons why Hogan moved to WWF.

Having never wrestled for WWE he never would get the due recognition for his 32 year career.

 

[dave 1981]

Nick Bockwinkel is one of those wrestlers in a group with people like Jerry Lawler, Austin Idol, Tommy Rich, Bruiser Brody, Chris Adams, Wahoo McDaniel, Jesse Ventura, Larry Hennig and Sgt Slaughter who are forever overlooked because they worked in places like AWA, WCCW, USWA and in Memphis rather than spending the peak of their career in WWE or NWA/WCW and never had as much exposure. Just because they didn't have the same kind of exposure though doesn't mean they were not just as good, if not better, as a lot of the top guys in WWE and NWA/WCW because they really were and AWA in particular was a great company for breeding wrestlers and moulding their in ring work.

During the height of AWA it was Nick Bockwinkel who was at the forefront of everything at or around the top of the card as their World champion which was also a championship that up until around mid 1990 was recognized as a legitimate World title putting paid to people who claim Curt Hennig was never a World champion. During his time in AWA Nick Bockwinkel feuded with everyone who walked through the doors from Hulk Hogan, Jerry Lawler, Curt Hennig and Verne Gagne himself to Saito, Jumbo Tsuruta and Mad Dog Vachon who is better known these days for Shawn Michaels using his fake leg as a weapon in his match against Diesel at In Your House: Best Friends, Better Enemies in 1996.

 

[Mike Zybyszko]

Considered by his peers and experts to be an exceptional wrestler in terms of wrestling ability and ring psychology and with the ability to cut an eloquent promo, he was one of the faces of AWA/NWA having won over 29 titles.

He also fought in a AWA-WWWF inter promotion title unification match with Buckland which ended in double count out. He is however mostly known for St Paul Screwjob (Yes, Montreal Screwjob had a precedent) where Hulk Hogan pinned him for the championship but the decision of the referee was reversed, one of the reasons why Hogan moved to WWF.

Having never wrestled for WWE he never would get the due recognition for his 32 year career.

The biggest reason Hogan left is that Gagne wanted a cut of his Japan money.

 

[Ghost Lantern]

Nick Bockwinkel is one of those wrestlers in a group with people like Jerry Lawler, Austin Idol, Tommy Rich, Bruiser Brody, Chris Adams, Wahoo McDaniel, Jesse Ventura, Larry Hennig and Sgt Slaughter who are forever overlooked because they worked in places like AWA, WCCW, USWA and in Memphis rather than spending the peak of their career in WWE or NWA/WCW and never had as much exposure. Just because they didn't have the same kind of exposure though doesn't mean they were not just as good, if not better, as a lot of the top guys in WWE and NWA/WCW because they really were and AWA in particular was a great company for breeding wrestlers and moulding their in ring work.

During the height of AWA it was Nick Bockwinkel who was at the forefront of everything at or around the top of the card as their World champion which was also a championship that up until around mid 1990 was recognized as a legitimate World title putting paid to people who claim Curt Hennig was never a World champion. During his time in AWA Nick Bockwinkel feuded with everyone who walked through the doors from Hulk Hogan, Jerry Lawler, Curt Hennig and Verne Gagne himself to Saito, Jumbo Tsuruta and Mad Dog Vachon who is better known these days for Shawn Michaels using his fake leg as a weapon in his match against Diesel at In Your House: Best Friends, Better Enemies in 1996.

Great post and the reason Nick Bockwinkle has to be considered at least one of the top ten wrestlers of the 80's. I am always a little irritated by the fact that so many of the posters on this forum forget him when making their all time list. However the WWE vaccum has revised wrestling history. This is sad, guys like Bockwinkle will never get the credit they deserve due to that fact.

 

[Mike Zybyszko]

Great post and the reason Nick Bockwinkle has to be considered at least one of the top ten wrestlers of the 80's. I am always a little irritated by the fact that so many of the posters on this forum forget him when making their all time list. However the WWE vaccum has revised wrestling history. This is sad, guys like Bockwinkle will never get the credit they deserve due to that fact.

I agree Bockwinkel is easily top 10 in the 1980s. I'd rank him about 5th or 6th actually. I'd have to think on it some more as this is intriguing.

 

[Dusty Roids]

before Hogan went to wwe in 83 and vinnie went national the AWA was the biggest territory around the beginning of the 80s. That´s what I read somewhere. Most people forget how big the AWA was before hulkamania since they remember mostly the wwf an their direct competition WCW-NWA with Flair etc.

Just check how many wrestler came from AWA in it´s last days or closure. And even before that, Verna Gagne´s AWA training camp has trained many great wrestlers.

 

[Lex Express 12]

Nick Bockwinkel is defintely not forgotten. Besides, he was my favorite wrestler in the AWA and one of my favorite wrestlers of all time!

 

[777]

Have you ever seen an interview with Bockwinkel? The man had/has a twinkle in his eye.