Event Histories

Several federations, associations, and leagues have been major players in the sport of armwrestling over the years. This section features articles describing how these organizations came to be, how they evolved, and in some cases, why they disappeared.

World's Wristwrestling Championship, Inc. - The organization credited with initially developing the organized sport. The article is divided into four parts:

• Part 1: 1954-1961 - The Early Days of Wristwrestling in Petaluma: How a Game Became a Sport 
  
• Part 2: 1962-1969 - The World is Invited
  
• Part 3: 1970-1984 - The Sport Explodes (not yet written)
  
• Part 4: 1985-2005 - The Slow Decline (not yet written)
  

International Federation of Arm Wrestlers (IFAW) - An organization related to the International Federation of Body Builders (IFBB) which ran armwrestling contests in conjunction with bodybuilding events in the late 1960s

Carling O’Keefe World Championships - Canada's version of the World's Wristwrestling Championship which aired on national television throughout the 1970s

World Professional Armwrestling Association (WPAA) - The first professional organization in the U.S. A major player in the sport's growth across the U.S. in the mid-to-late 1970s.

Arm Wrestling International (AWI) - An organization that regularly hosted professional tournaments in Las Vegas between 1978 and 2001. The events attracted top North American talent due to the large prize purses and national television coverage. AWI is perhaps best known for its NFL Super Classic events, in which professional football players competed.

World Police and Fire Games - A biennial international multi-sport competition for police officers, firefighters, customs and corrections officers from all over the world that has featured armwrestling since its inception.

Over the Top World Championship - The tournament that served as the backdrop for the 1987 Sylvester Stallone movie "Over the Top". It was the biggest armwrestling event of the 20th century.

Yukon Jack Arm Wrestling Championships - A series of professional events sponsored by Heublien, the makers of Yukon Jack, a brand of Canadian whiskey liqueur. In the mid-'90s, the tournaments attracted the world's top armwrestlers.