World Wrestling Association (Indianapolis)

The World Wrestling Association was an Indianapolis-based professional wrestling promotion which was operated by Dick Afflis (better known as Dick the Bruiser) and his business partner Wilbur Snyder. The WWA was affiliated with the larger American Wrestling Association and recognized its champions, though the WWA also had its own champions.

The WWA started when Afflis and Snyder purchased the Indianapolis NWA promotion in 1964 from its longtime owner Jim Barnett, who at that time was attempting to start up a promotion in Australia. Afflis and Snyder were the stars of the promotion in its early days, but a talent sharing agreement with AWA head (and longtime champion) Verne Gagne brought forth other talent, including The Crusher, Baron Von Raschke and Bobby Heenan. In addition, amateur wrestling great Greg Wojciechowski, a 4-time AAU heavyweight champion and 1-time NCAA heavyweight champion, wrestled for the WWA under the name "The Great Wojo", and held the WWA World Heavyweight Championship 3 times. In later years, Scott Steiner got his start in the WWA under his real name, Scott Rechsteiner.

The WWA tried to make a go of it in the mid-1980s, when Vince McMahon's World Wrestling Federation was burying regional promotions across the country, but the Bruiser's advancing age and the talent drain to the WWF was too much and the WWA folded in about 1989.

Championships

 * WWA World Heavyweight Championship
 * WWA World Tag Team Championship