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All the member federations had a monopoly over their given territory; the member federations would all recognize the NWA World Heavyweight Championship as their highest title. Wrestlers, like Ric Flair, who held an NWA Title, could also go on tours of member federations.
What this meant is that any member territory who broke the NWA's rules faced expulsion, and thus risked missing out on having wrestlers with household names appear in their territories. Similarly, if another promoter began performing shows in an NWA member federation's territory, all the NWA members were obligated to send their best talent across to fend off the threat. Unofficially, threats of violence or physical retaliation may have reportedly been used against promoters who disregarded the territory system.
Thus the NWA used a "carrot and stick" approach to maintaining the territory system. For most promoters under the NWA umbrella, the benefits of membership were well worth the dues.
Some prominent former NWA member promotions included:
Video tape trading and cable television paved the way for the death of the NWA. WWF promoter Vince McMahon used these, and talent raids, to turn his northeastern territory into a national federation. To compete against this threat, various promoters attempted to co promote shows under the Pro Wrestling USA banner. However, this fell apart and the AWA began broadcasting weekly shows on ESPN.
Meanwhile, to hold off the threat of the WWF, promoter Jim Crockett Promotions decided to unify the NWA, and create a national federation, by buying out all the member promotions. However, by 1988 this led him to bankruptcy, and he sold off his collection of NWA members to Ted TurnerRobert Edward "Ted" Turner III (born November 19, 1938) is an American media mogul and philanthropist. He is best known for founding CNN and Turner Classic Movies, his failed marriage to Jane Fonda, and his $1 billion pledge to the United Nations (see Uni as World Championship Wrestling. In 1991, the flagship WCW realised the NWA needed it more than it needed the NWA, and left. WCW continued, however, to claim the NWA's lineage.
After the AWA's bankruptcy, and ECW leaving, the NWA was a shell of its former self. Through the mid to late '90s, the all-but-forgotten organization was left with a small collection of independent federations during the peak of the monday night ratings wars between the WCW and WWF.