Greg Gagne is so unassuming at times, that to speak of this DVD as controversial seems out of place in and of itself.

But Gagne’s opening remarks and first portion of the DVD has to be controversial, because he’s going against the grain of the industry’s so-called biggest star, and against the grain of the industry’s greatest promoters.

Was Hogan really promised the belt in May of 1984? (or was that 1985??) Was that enough to have kept him happy in the AWA, despite the year or so of teases of getting the belt, but it remaining around Nick Bockwinkle’s waist? Did Hogan really walk out on the AWA with little notice and leaving them in a lurch?

Greg says that Verne got Hulk’s telegram, but thought it was a prank by Eddie Graham in Florida. Is that another piece of evidence of Verne’s obliviousness to what’s going on during the 1980’s?

I mean, wouldn’t you at least contact your biggest mainstream potential star and ask him if it was a joke? Was the relationship between Hogan and Gagne so strained that they couldn’t laugh about the prank?!?

Meanwhile, did Vince really show up in Minneapolis with a briefcase full of $200,000, and buy out the AWA’s flagship television program? Most reports indicate that Vince was cash-strapped going into that year. Was the cash-in-hand for TV station programming the reason why he was rapidly running out of funds, or was his running out of funds a piece of evidence for why that could not have happened?

Either way, in each instance, Greg Gagne has a story to tell. In the world of professional wrestling, the biggest promoter usually wins. The survivor usually shapes history. And everyone else usually cowers and accepts it.

So why is there a sheen of truth to what Gagne says, since his saying it surely won’t do him any favors with the current establishment, and his running down of Vince and of the Jarretts distinctly puts him at odds with all the power brokers of today.

Sure, his vendetta against Jerry Lawler is more personal and less impactful of business, but what are the facts?

The story of the American Wrestling Association, the one ran by Verne Gagne from 1960 until 1991, is an interesting one. The AWA was the third of the “big three” promotions during the “Apter Days” and was well regarded as such. Of course, the booking philosophy of Verne was in stark difference to the NWA as well as the WWF of the time.

While the promotional circuit of each organization doesn’t seem all that much different, the AWA – as Greg details – was one that booked more of a monthly product, and kept angles to a minimum.

That sort of mentality brought Greg into the WWF for shaping the product, and also into WCW, at the request of Bill Watts, for much of the same.

Greg Gagne definitely has the simplistic and Old School mentality in his presentation. That alone screams of his integrity and his understanding of the business.

What fascinates me is that, on the surface, Gagne ducks some decisions, defers to the interviewer (Sean Oliver) and seems to misread the premise.

But then again, Gagne displays his aptitude in the booking environment, by doing exactly what he does. He comes up with ideas, then passes them to someone else to decide upon, and keeps the conversation rolling while ducking any direct questions; deferring things, keeping things going without being the center of attention, and bouncing lots of ideas (mostly interesting) without being negative.

Fascinating.

Guest Booker is food for thought. The 1984 surge of Vince McMahon’s WWF was one of breaking the old school territories, modernizing the product, and out-doing established promoters at their own game.

Mostly, Vince did it by grabbing top name talent – often by first featuring them on his own shows, and then bringing them in and running opposition all the while usurping the home base feel.

Gagne repeatedly says that Vince was more “AWA than the AWA” and that seems obviousl.

It’s always amusing to see how Vince’s divide-and-conquer approach was all but impossible to stop. Pro Wrestling USA was the conglomeration of promoters that set out to beat Vince – at his own home base.

But that conglomeration was obviously flawed, and Gagne does a great job at describing the egos, the problems with talent and the inability to organize that doomed it from the start, despite its existence for a year and a half or so.

On the surface, the premise is interesting: how to book the opposition to thwart Vince’s expansion.

But the path Gagne travels, in creating a roster and setting up a year’s worth of matches, isn’t exactly the way to do things opposite of what Vince was doing – it was more of the same.

Pro Wrestling USA’s problem was that it was thinking in the box that Vince was exploiting – creating a national promotion using a solid roster of talent.

In my opinion, that wasn’t the way to go. The way to go would have been to rotate talent, always putting up great matches, always focusing on new stars, and make Vince’s group pale in comparison.

Unfortunately, that wasn’t the mindset. Immediately, Crockett tried to recruit top talent, wanting to do it the Vince way. Most other promoters wanted to beat Vince in New York – also a flawed proposition.

Beating Vince in the biggest city of the country, while he’s usurping each promoter’s talent? That’s crazy. That’s the definition of Pyrrhic victory if I’ve ever encountered it!

So Gagne picks the best talent and runs with a year long schedule. It’s a series of interesting decisions and his booking and booking by committee skills are well on display.

But he also swerves into self-serving and ignoring those promotions he doesn’t feel are worthy. He over-focuses on wrestling matches of 20 minutes of length, all the while claiming he wants characters.

Of course, he picks Flair to be the champion, even though he also picks the Funks (aren’t they in Japan) and Harley Race for the roster, all the while never using them.

He forgets Brody until later!

He’s screaming for guys with mainstream appeal, and ignores Savage (he wasn’t big … yet!) and ignores Sgt. Slaughter. The big Sarge isn’t my definition of one of the greats, but he’s got mainstream appeal and the ability to put on a great match, and he’d pair up well against the Russians of the time….

Anyway, this isn’t about me and my theories, and wow, I’m agreeing with Missy Hyatt about wanting to be a Guest Booker!!!

So what’s great about Guest Booker? Again, it’s food for thought and should drive some interesting decisions on the time. It’s a walk down memory lane, and a chance to debate the finer points of booking, of star appeal and of nitpicking someone else’s vision of the sport.

All that’s great in my view.

Joe Babinsack can be reached at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it What’s on the plate? How about Gary Howard’s excellent Rassler from Renfrew book? How about a notebook cleaning piece where I can comment on lots of things at once? How about some of the best indy promotions out there? {plug}