List of National Wrestling Alliance territories

The old NWA territory system in North America

Formed in 1948, the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) was the largest governing body in professional wrestling until the 1980s Rock 'n' Wrestling Era. Under the control of the NWA Board of Directors (consisting of various prominent, regional promoters), the governing body oversaw wrestling's national territory system, a system which saw promotions (referred to as "territories") recognize one world heavyweight champion, participate in talent exchanges, and collectively protect the territorial integrity of NWA members. Unlike modern independent promotions, the territories were regarded as major promotions and often collaborated with other NWA members.

In 1993,[1] the NWA was reorganized following the withdrawals of World Championship Wrestling (WCW) and New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW), with the majority of new NWA territories being small independent promotions. As other territories withdrew from the governing body, the NWA would discontinue its memberships in August 2012 and adopted a licensing model.[2] In 2017, the NWA was purchased by Billy Corgan's Lightning One, Inc., which abandoned the licensing model and gradually transformed the NWA from a governing body to a stand-alone wrestling promotion.[3][4][5]

In October 2023, while still under the ownership of Billy Corgan's Lightning One, Inc., the NWA reintroduced the territory system. The first NWA-affiliated promotion introduced under the new system was NWA Exodus Pro Midwest, owned by then NWA World's Heavyweight Champion EC3.[6]

  1. ^ "1993 - 2012".
  2. ^ "NWA Lawsuit Settled, Promotion to Transfer to New Corporation". PWInsider.com.
  3. ^ "Report: NWA & ROH No Longer Working Together; Nick Aldis Not Advertised For Summer Supercard". Fightful. Retrieved August 4, 2019.
  4. ^ Jamie Greer (July 24, 2019), NWA Looking To Join Weekly TV Line Up, Last Word on Wrestling, event occurs at 01:11:50, retrieved July 19, 2013
  5. ^ NWA Announces First TV Tapings For Planned Series, August 7, 2019, retrieved August 13, 2019
  6. ^ "Official Press Release on the return of the territory system beginning with @ExoProWrestling!". National Wrestling Alliance on X. October 9, 2023. Retrieved October 9, 2023.