Pacific Northwest Wrestling

Pacific Northwest Wrestling was a Territory pro wrestling promotion operating in the United States, based in Portland, Oregon, USA.

The PNW promotion was founded on May 21, 1925 by Herb Owen, and it ceased operations on June 30, 1997.

Pacific Northwest Wrestling began in the mid 1920s when Midwestern-born Ted Thye came to Oregon to promote in the region, hiring Herb Owen as a manual laborer and assistant. While on a trip to Australia, Owen usurped the promotion’s legal status in Oregon to become sole owner under the state’s regulatory laws. Owen would promote mostly boxing in the earlier years, and in these initial years would promote future wrestling legend Gorgeous George.

After the death of the elder Owen, his son Don would take over the promotion, becoming one of the initial members of the NWA. PNW would attract big names throughout the United States, and would solidify the Portland Memorial Coliseum as its base beginning in 1961. The golden era of the company would last from the 1960s to 1980s, whereby future stars such as Roddy Piper and Jesse Ventura would make their names.

Portland Wrestling, the company’s long running television program, would be syndicated under the name Big Time Wrestling throughout the 1970s and 80s. Once the NWA’s power began to wane as the WWF expanded, PNW soon became one of only a few remaining territories. Its television sponsor would declare bankruptcy in 1991, and Don Owen would retire in 1992, selling the promotion to referee Sandy Barr, soon renamed as Championship Wrestling USA. By the time Matt Borne became booker in 1996, Barr abruptly closed the promotion in 1997, and in the years after, various indie companies perked up as pretenders to the original company.

Pacific Northwest Wrestling: Info