Tuesday, January 31, 2012

Vintage Pro Wrestling Logos

I grew up with pro wrestling and still love the 1980s era right before it turned into a freak show. Looking back on the '70s - '80s glory days, there was some pretty sharp graphic design going on. Let's have a look.



The American Wrestling Association was based in Minneapolis MN, founded by wrestling legend Verne Gagne. The AWA ended up being a springboard for dozens of wrestling stars who ended up in the NWA or WWF. Andre The Giant, Hulk Hogan, The Road Warriors, Dusty Rhodes, Jesse "The Body" Ventura, Mean Gene Okerlund, and Bobby "The Brain" Heenan all got their start here in the Twin Cities before they were lured out to the East Coast to join the bigger leagues.





One of the AWA's biggest stars, The Crusher, showing off his t-shirt design.









In 1935, promoter Jim Crockett Sr. founded his wrestling promotion company in Charlotte, NC. When Jim Sr. passed away in 1973, his son Jim Crockett Jr took over, changed the name to Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling, and eventually merged the group with the National Wrestling Alliance. He made stars out of Ric Flair, Ken Patera, Wahoo McDaniel, and Greg "The Hammer" Valentine.





Logos for the first two WWF Wrestlemania events.



New Japan Pro-Wrestling logo, a brief home to the Road Warriors towards the end of their tag team career.



Ladies Professional Wrestling Association

1 comment:

A. Friend said...

Love the blog, love this era of design, love this era of wrestling! Also always loved the Pro Wrestling Illustrated magazine logo: http://www.pwi-online.com/covers/FullSize/1979/79-11.gif

Keep up the great work!