Fred Kohler Enterprises

Fred Kohler Enterprises
Founded1925[1]
DefunctNovember 1965[1]
HeadquartersChicago, Illinois, United States[2]
Founder(s)Fred Kohler[2]
Owner(s)Fred Kohler[2]
FormerlyInternational Wrestling Association
NWA Chicago

Fred Kohler Enterprises, Inc. was a company established by businessman Fred Kohler (1903–1969) to promote professional wrestling in Chicago, Illinois, in the United States.

Kohler began promoting in 1925, and by 1942 he dominated professional wrestling in Chicago. He joined the recently founded National Wrestling Alliance in 1949, with his promotion sometimes thereafter referred to as NWA Chicago. From 1949 to 1955, Fred Kohler Enterprises was one of the most profitable and high-profile promotions in the United States due to the success of Wrestling from Marigold, a program airing on the DuMont national television network. A slump in business in the late-1950s was reversed by a partnership with the Capitol Wrestling Corporation, and in 1961 Fred Kohler Enterprises drew the then-largest crowd in professional wrestling history to watch a World Heavyweight Championship bout between Buddy Rogers and Pat O'Connor at Chicago's Comiskey Park. Kohler's often-fractious relationship with the NWA came to an end in 1963 when he withdrew to form the International Wrestling Association, a would-be competitor. The company was dissolved in 1965, marking the end of Fred Kohler Enterprises after 40 years.[1][2][3]

  1. ^ a b c Tim Hornbaker (2007). National Wrestling Alliance: The Untold Story of the Monopoly That Strangled Professional Wrestling. ECW Press. pp. 77–93. ISBN 978-1-55490-274-3.
  2. ^ a b c d "National Wrestling Alliance Chicago (NWA Chicago)". Cagematch.net. Retrieved November 19, 2017.
  3. ^ "National Wrestling Alliance [Chicago office]". Wrestling-Titles.com. Retrieved November 19, 2017.