Harley Race-Founded WLW Becomes Latest NWA Territory

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The National Wrestling Alliance continued to grow this week as the World League Wrestling promotion is now an official NWA territory. In a statement, the NWA announced the inclusion of the Missouri-based WLW, the fifth regional promotion to join the NWA in the last two years.

WLW was founded by Harley Race over a quarter of a century ago and has been active ever since. Trevor Murdoch, a former NWA World Champion and current Tag Champion who began his career in WLW before arriving in WWE, shared his excitement for the news and the connection to Race in a statement:

“When you thought of NWA back in the day, you thought of Harley Race. It was a company had a lot of pride and respect for… As the student of Harley Race and representative of him throughout my career, it feels good that I can do this for World League Wrestling and bring these two together.”

As an official territory, the NWA will recognize all NWA WLW champions going forward. Additionally, a talent-sharing agreement will benefit both promotions, according to Murdoch.

“We are going to be a developmental system for the NWA to find some of the top, young talents that have not been seen, that might not be getting opportunities they deserve.”

Race, an eight-time NWA World Heavyweight Champion, isn’t the only huge name tie to WLW which has always worked with legends like ‘Rowdy’ Roddy Piper, Ric Flair, ‘Macho Man’ Randy Savage, and Meng/Haku. WLW joins other companies to become NWA territories, including Exodus Pro, which made the move in October 2023.

Murdoch is one of several major players in the NWA, which includes Mike Knox, Kenzie Page, Max the Impaler, and reigning NWA World Heavyweight Champion Thom Latimer.