Billy Corgan Finalizes A Deal To Purchase The National Wrestling Alliance

The Smashing Pumpkins front man and former TNA Wrestling President Billy Corgan has agreed in principle to go all out and purchase the National Wrestling Alliance, PWInsider.com reports with multiple sources on hand.  The deal in place would see Corgan purchase everything from the name, rights, trademarks to the NWA as well as the rights and possession of the NWA championship belt.

For people who do not recall the NWA, below is a tidbit from the PWInsider report:

Formed in 1948, at one point the National Wrestling Alliance was the largest and most well known governing body in professional wrestling, a group put together by promoters to share one World champion and help share talent and protect each other's interests.  The NWA Board of Directors would control who the shared World champion was and winning the belt was legitimately a feat in itself, because the champion was chosen for legitimate toughness, drawing power and the ability to enter member areas and help spark their business. 

For decades, the NWA champion was considered the most important champion in the business, often touring and traveling the world to defend the belt in member promotions.    For older fans, the NWA championship was the belt in professional wrestling and was the measuring stick for greatness and what defined old school professional wrestling.

By the late 1980s, many of the members had gone out of business or been neutralized as Vince McMahon took the then-WWF national, helping to effectively destroy the territory system that the NWA flourished under.   As the dust of WWF's expansion settled, the last true bastion of the old NWA was Jim Crockett Promotions, who waged a war against the WWF, empowered by names like Sting, Ric Flair, The Road Warriors and Dusty Rhodes.  In the end, financial issues forced the Crockett family to sell to Ted Turner's Turner Broadcasting, who's TBS Superstation broadcast Crockett Promotional.  While the NWA name was still utilized, Turner had not actually purchased the NWA itself, just Crockett's promotion.