Nicholas Warren Francis Bockwinkel 
(born December 6 1934) is a former American professional wrestler, better known by his ring name, Nick Bockwinkel, he was mainly competing in the American Wrestling Association (AWA) in the United States. He is a former multi-time AWA World heavyweight champion and co-holder of the AWA World tag team title. He is remembered for his spellbinding if somewhat wordy promos.
By 1975, Bockwinkel had become one of the biggest stars in the AWA, and won the first of many AWA World Heavyweight Championships, at the age of 40, ending Verne Gagne's seven year reign. Unlike most wrestlers, who peak in their early thirties, Bockwinkel reached his peak, both professionally and in ability, well into his forties. As AWA Champion, Bockwinkel had notable feuds with Billy Robinson, Dick the Bruiser, The Crusher, Mad Dog Vachon, Jerry Lawler, European Wrestler Otto Wanz, Mr. Saito and most famously, Verne Gagne and Hulk Hogan. He last held the Title in 1987, at the age of 52, dropping the championship to another second generation wrestler, Curt Hennig, in controversial fashion due to interference by Larry Zbyszko, who had handed a roll of coins to Hennig to use on Bockwinkel.
Bockwinkel has the distinction of being involved in the first ever AWA vs World Wide Wrestling Federation (WWWF) World Title Unification match, wrestling WWWF Champion, Bob Backlund, to a double count-out, on March 25, 1979.
Bockwinkel wrestled NWA champion Ric Flair for the NWA title at the last AWA show in Winnipeg, MB on January 16, 1986 at Winnipeg Arena before the AWA territory lost Winnipeg to the WWF. Bockwinkel was not the AWA champion at this time.
Bockwinkel retired in 1987, ending a career that spanned four decades. In one of his final matches as an active competitor, he paid Zbyszko back for costing him the AWA World title by pinning him on an episode of AWA Championship Wrestling on ESPN after knocking out the self-proclaimed "New Living Legend" with a roll of coins.
Bockwinkel returned to the ring in 1993 at Slamboree: A Legends' Reunion. The card was promoted by World Championship Wrestling (WCW) but featured veteran wrestlers from all over the country. Bockwinkel wrestled former NWA World Champion Dory Funk, Jr. to a time limit draw as part of the undercard.
Bockwinkel was considered by his peers and many industry experts to be an excellent wrestler, known for his exceptional technical ability and ring psychology. He was also known for his calm, charismatic, articulate promos, which distinguished him from many of his contemporaries. Larry Zbyszko once commented, "If you asked Bockwinkel for the time, he'd tell you how to build a watch."
In 1992, a Chicago radio station took a listener poll of the top five greatest professional wrestling moments in the city's history, Nick Bockwinkel's title match against Jerry Lawler at the UIC Pavilion was voted number 3.
In 1994, Bockwinkel became the on-screen commissioner of World Championship Wrestling. He lost his job in 1995 after an incident at The Great American Bash when he forgot the name of the event in the middle of a promo .
In 2000, he and Yoshiaki Fujiwara were the commissioners for a short-lived shoot style promotion, the Japan Pro Wrestling Association, but as the shoot-style market in Japan had been low since the collapse of UWF International, the wrestlers on it moved to other promotions. Bockwinkel is currently the President of the Cauliflower Alley club, as well as the on-screen General Manager for AWA Superstars.
On March 31, 2007, he was inducted in the WWE Hall of Fame. He now lives in Las Vegas, Nevada. On November 8 Nick Bockwinkel underwent triple bypass heart surgery.
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