The MWC Hall of Fame welcomes former NWA President: Sam Muchnick into the Class of 2017! Real Name: Samuel Muchnick From: St. Louis,Missouri Birthday: August 22,1905 Death: December 30,1998 Accomplishments/Awards: NWA Hall of Fame (2005) St. Louis Wrestling Hall of Fame (2007) Pro Wrestling Hall of Fame (2003) The late Sam Muchnick is often referred to as wrestling's Pete Rozelle of American Football, the man who revolutionized the NFL. Muchnick for the longest time ran the NWA and made a lot of legendary names in the process!
Sam Muchnick was born in Ukraine and later moved to the US in St. Lous in 1911. Around the 20's he worked for the St. Louis Times newspaper and covered the town's baseball team because of this he got to meet many baseball legends including Babe Ruth! He also covered professional wrestling and he got to meet Midwest promoter: Tom Packs. Sam would then leave the newspapers and work for Packs' promotion handling the finances and bookings. For nine years Sam was Tom Packs' right hand man but they would later have disagreements with one another so he decided to run his own promotion, it didn't start out well as Tom Packs had already established his own territory but with the help of promoter Jack Pfefer who sent some of his wrestlers to Sam, he was able to book guys such as Ed "Strangler" Lewis and grow his reputation as a great promoter. In 1950 he was given the biggest task and role of his career as he became the president for the NWA! Sam was trusted by a lot of the promoters under the NWA and other his govern, names such as Ric Flair,The Funks,Harley Race,and Gene Kiniski went on to become some of the top stars for the NWA! Also under Sam Muchnick, the NWA was able to develop territories internationally such as in Mexico,Europe,Asia,and Carribean. He also helped in the funding of the US Olympic Wrestling Team and founded the St. Louis Wrestling Club, which would be one of the top territories for the NWA and they had a television show which spanned for 1,100 episodes! Sam Muchnick was the president of the NWA for 25 years combined, he ultimately retired in the wrestling business in the early 80's. He sold the St. Louis Wrestling Club to promoter Bob Geigel and wrestlers Pat O'Connor and Harley Race. His only appearance for the WWF was in a In Your House PPV in St. Louis where they recognized him in the crowd. Unfortunately Sam would passed away in 1998 due to heart attack, he was 93. While The McMahons do deserve the recognition they get for being great promoters, another equally legendary promoter was Sam Muchnick. He helped the NWA grow into a huge territory not only in the US but on other countries too! His influence and dedication paid off as we've seen so many stars during his reign. The saying "hard work pays off" truly suits this man. |
AuthorSuper Mastodon. Spent countless of hours throughout my life watching professional wrestling. Now I write about it, because I like that too. Archives
March 2021
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