The Context 

Bill Eadie’s name has come up on our website as the booker of GWF, but he also had a fantastic career as Masked Superstar and Demolition Ax. He talked about the first time he worked for the AWA and said he never met Verne Gagne until he got to Las Vegas, where the AWA was running its show. Eadie was summoned to the penthouse to meet with Verne and others, where Verne told him he was making him the world champion. Eadie asked Verne whether their current champion, Rick Martel, needed to be part of the meeting, and Verne said he didn’t. Verne told Eadie their champion went to AJPW for $7,500 a week and that the AWA got $2k back as a booking fee. Eadie says he told Verne he worked for Inoki and NJPW for $10k a week, didn’t have to give any of it to anyone else, and then walked out. 

Analysis 

Eadie did compete for the AWA after this initial meeting, but given everything we’ve heard about Verne Gagne, it all feels pretty on-brand for him. From not telling Martel he was taking the title off him, to taking a percentage of the wrestlers’ Japanese pay, and so on. One of the reasons Hogan left the AWA was that Verne wanted a piece of his NJPW money, which was likely well over $10k a week based on everything we’ve heard. 

The Video