RIP Vern Gagne

[silverscreenselect]

Wrestling legend of the 1950s and 60s who eventually owned the AWA (American Wrestling Alliance), a Midwest-based league that competed with the northeastern WWWF (now WWE) and the southern NWA for national supremacy for two decades. Gagne was a college star at the University of Minnesota and Olympic wrestler who stayed active in promoting college wrestling for years. In the pros, Gagne was a proponent of scientific wrestling, using amateur-based holds to defeat his opponents who often resorted to brawling and attempted cheating. Hulk Hogan and Jesse Ventura were among those who got their start in the AWA, which eventually folded in the late 1980s.

Age 89.

http://www.twincities.com/localnews/ci_ ... ne-dies-at