The NWA was once the place for wrestling, the biggest and most successful professional wrestling organization in the world, with affiliates in nearly every major United States city and reaching into Canada, Japan and other countries abroad. Its lineage dates all the way back to the turn of the 20th century before its official genesis in 1948. The organization played a huge role in the beginning of nearly every major North American wrestling company, including the World Wide Wrestling Federation (which later became the World Wrestling Federation and is currently World Wrestling Entertainment), World Championship Wrestling (WCW), the American Wrestling Association (AWA) and Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW). Alas, as the 1980s came to a close, the NWA largely fell by the wayside for myriad reasons, still staying afloat, but never again reaching the popularity it owned with the likes of Lou Thesz, Harley Race and Ric Flair as its champions.