Don Owen (wrestling)

In 1952, Don Owen negotiated a deal with pioneering Portland TV station KPTV to become the very first wrestling show seen on TV in the city. Portland Wrestling (later known as Big Time Wrestling) continued as a weekly program until the show ended production in December 1991, possibly setting a record as the longest lasting wrestling show in the history of American television.

In 1968, Owen bought and renovated a bowling alley which eventually became the Portland Sports Arena and the new home of PNW.[4] The company held strong throughout the 1970s despite competition from "outlaw promotions," and in 1976, Dutch Savage bought into Don Owen Sports and began promoting PNW cards in the state of Washington.[5]

By the 1980s, professional wrestling had seen a revival on behalf of Vince McMahon's World Wrestling Federation (WWF). However, McMahon had accomplished this by successfully driving the old wrestling "territories" like PNW out of existence. That same decade, the formation of World Championship Wrestling (WCW), WWF's future chief competitor, would also contribute to the disintegration of territorial wrestling.

Finally, in July 1992, facing increasing health problems from age, overwhelming competition from WWF and WCW, and unrelenting problems from an overzealous Oregon State Athletic Commission, as well as the bankruptcy of his main television sponsor, Don Owen was forced to shut down PNW's operations. He sold the entire company, minus the Sports Arena, to promoter Sandy Barr.[4] The Portland Sports Arena was sold to a local church.[6] Owen then lived out a quiet retirement until his death in 2002. Owen was the youngest of the original founding members of the NWA and the last surviving original member after the death of Sam Muchnick in 1998.