Big Time Wrestling (San Francisco)
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This article is about the promotion based in San Francisco, California from 1961 to 1981. For the wrestling promotion based in Boston, Massachusetts from 1960 to 1975, see Big Time Wrestling (Boston). For the promotion based in Dallas, Texas from 1966 to 1982, see Big Time Wrestling (Dallas). For the promotion based in Detroit, Michigan from 1964 to 1980, see Big Time Wrestling (Detroit). For the promotion that operated in San Francisco from 1935 to 1962, see NWA San Francisco. For other promotions of the same name, see Big Time Wrestling.
Big Time Wrestling – also known as the American Wrestling Alliance (AWA) or National All-Star Wrestling, and sometimes referred to as NWA San Francisco – was a professional wrestling promotion headquartered in San Francisco, California, in the United States.[2][6] Founded by "Professor" Roy Shire (1922–1992) in 1960, the promotion emerged as one of the most profitable in the United States thanks to its "red hot angles" and "good TV".[1] The promotion's heartland was the San Francisco Bay Area, with the Cow Palace as its core venue, but it also ran regular shows in cities including Fresno, Las Vegas, Oakland, San Jose, and Sacramento.[7][8] Shire folded the promotion in 1981.[3]