Stan Hansen Meets Verne Gagne

This photo of Stan Hansen and Verne Gagne is pretty funny when you think about the stories from behind the scenes about the big cowboy’s reign as AWA world champion. Hansen made most of his money wrestling for All Japan, where he was one of their top American wrestlers up until his retirement in 2001. Wrestling insiders were well aware of that fact and probably wondered what Verne was thinking having his promotion’s world title around the waist of a man whose loyalty was to a Japanese company. You might guess that this arrangement did not end well. Hansen refused to lose the belt to Nick Bockwinkel and was subsequently stripped of the title. Bockwinkel was awarded the championship by default, but Hansen had walked out of the AWA and began defending the title in Japan. He finally sent the belt back after the AWA threatened legal action, but included a final “fuck you” to Verne by running it over with his truck! Nick Bockwinkel said on WWE’s Spectacular Legacy of the AWA DVD that the mud tracks were still embedded in the belt and that the front plate had been crushed under the truck’s weight!