18.3.12
Bill Rhodes
Bill Rhodes, a native of California was drawn as many of us were into the sport over 40 years ago. He won his first world title in 1971 at the World Wristwrestling Championships. He continued to be a competitor as well as a referee for the next 40 odd years winning again in 1996.
13.3.12
7.3.12
The History of the World Professional Armwrestling Association (WPAA)
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| Steve Simons |
In the early '70s, Steve Simons, an investment banker and Hollywood agent, caught the World Wristwrestling Championship on ABC's Wide World of Sports. He was so captivated by what he saw on television that he travelled to the WWC National Championships in Las Vegas in May 1974 and offered to buy the company from Bill Soberanes and Dave Devoto. Steve felt that he could improve armwrestling and make it grow by doing things such as offering monetary rewards to the winners, tidying up the rules, and running tournaments in different parts of the country. To his regret, Bill and Dave weren’t interested in selling. Undeterred, Steve decided that with his background in sports and entertainment, he had the ability to form a company and run an armwrestling tournament circuit himself. To get things off on the right foot, he partnered with Marvin Cohen, a college friend and armwrestler with experience in the sport, to form the World Professional Armwrestling Association (WPAA) in late spring of 1974.
Steve wanted to make a splash with his inaugural event. In mid-1974 he went to meet with executives at Busch Gardens, an amusement park in Van Nuys, Los Angeles. His pitch was that he was forming a new armwrestling organization and he wanted to run a national championship at the park in return for a couple thousand dollars to cover costs. The park would benefit from extra people who would visit the park because of the tournament. Park management agreed and the inaugural WPAA U.S. Pro Armwrestling Championships would be held on December 28th, 1974.
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| Poster for the inaugural WPAA event |
A few weeks after his meeting at Busch Gardens, Steve’s friend David Mirisch gave the WPAA a big boost. David was a Beverly Hills publicist and Steve was a partner in David Mirisch Enterprises. David had a number of connections in the entertainment industry, and he was able to put Steve in contact with executives at CBS Sports. Steve, in his twenties at the time, went to the CBS meeting with pictures of everyday people in hand. He talked about how armwrestling was a sport in which people from all walks of life could compete and that if presented well, could really connect with spectators. He also talked about the Petaluma World Wristwrestling Championships (WWC) and said he could do better. CBS agreed to take a risk and made a deal with the WPAA paying the organization $10,000 for television rights to the 1974 National Championships.
6.3.12
4.3.12
3.3.12
AHC Supermatch Finder
While prior to the year 2000 they were a relatively rare occurrence in organized armwrestling, Supermatches (also known as Arm Fights, One-on-Ones, Challenge Matches, etc.) have since become very common and recognized by many as the best way to determine who is the better of two competitors. They are matches that are typically consisted in a best of 3, best of 5, best of 7, or six-round format. They are featured prominently by several of the world's top professional armwrestling organizations. Because of their popularity and importance, the Armwrestling History Channel will be keeping historical records of supermatches held around the world. This section of the site will grow considerably in the coming months. If you are aware of supermatch results that aren't posted, you are encouraged to contact one of AHC's editors (listed below).
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