Verne Gagne WAS the AWA. Him and Nick Bockwinkle anyways. Being from Colorado, that was all we would get during the 70's and early 80's.
I loved the NWA/AWA style of wrestling (and later WCCW, Mid South, UWF) and spent most of my youth reading wrestling magazines and imagining how Flair, Race, Steamboat, Brody, Colon, Tsuruta, Martel, Lawler, Savage, etc would do against Hogan, Orndorff, Iron Shiek, Muraco, etc.
When WWE started running shows in Denver, it was cool to see some of these guys I would just catch on cable. NWA never toured the area, but we did get SOME cross over when ProWrestling USA came to be.
I got into ECW and most of the Attitude era stuff too (although I think both hurt the business long term) when they came into being.
It's why a I can find a Randy Orton headlock fest just as entertaining as a Hardys/Edge & Christian TLC match.
I post here often, because I love the "sport". I don't care about 5* matches, or who is getting buried, or (usually) bad booking, etc. I care if a match can make me go "wow", or "no fucking way" , then I consider it a good match.
If I find a storyline that amuses or interests me, great. If it doesn't, I ignore it and move on. Way too many people today give WAY too many shits about ratings, 5* matches, who is or isn't getting pushed, and WWE VS Indy (or NJPW). Like what you like, and let others do the same.