popular radio broadcasts and showcased many New Zealand and international stars including Pat Barrett, The Destroyer, Man Mountain Link, Les Thornton, Leo Burke, Ripper Collins, Rick Martel, Tiger Jeet Singh, Ali Vizeri, Abdullah the Butcher, and Siva Afi. Afi's tournament victory over John DaSilva in 1978 marked the first time a Samoan wrestler won a New Zealand championship on New Zealand television, and the first to hold the national title since 1964; An official member of the NWA since 1972, the NWA World title was also defended in Rickard's promotion. Peter Maivia nearly won the NWA World title from then-champion Harley Race in 1979. This title changed hands between Ric Flair and Harley Race in Wellington, New Zealand and Geylang, Singapore in 1984 but these would not be acknowledged by the NWA for several years. While Peter Maivia, Tony Garea and The Sheepherders left for the US in the 1970s, stars from the National Wrestling Alliance and the World Wide Wrestling Federation regularly toured the country including Don Muraco, Toru Tanaka, Mr. Fuji and Rocky Johnson. New Zealand was among the places future Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson lived in with his father Rocky while growing up. Japanese wrestlers too, such as Giant Baba, the Great Togo and midget wrestler Little Tokyo, also visited New Zealand. Decline (1980s–1990s) Though the retirements of O'Connor and Garea left a void, talents such as Ox Baker, Tor Kamata, Al Perez, Rip Morgan, Samoan Joe, Johnny Garcia, Bruno Bekkar and A.J. Freely remained in New Zealand during the 1980s and early 1990s. Likewise, wrestlers from the World Wrestling Federation often toured New Zealand and Australia such as The Bushwhackers (formerly The Sheepherders) and Lanny Poffo. These stars continued to be seen in New Zealand via On the Mat until the early 1980s. During the wrestling boom of the mid-late 1980s, and particularly inspired by the Superstars of Wrestling TV show, a Wellington-based promotion run by veterans including Bruno Bekkar, Al Hobman, Bob "the Hog" Crozier and others staged a number of wrestling events throughout Wellington and the lower North Island. As American wrestling went into a slump following the wrestling boom of the 1980s, All Star Pro-Wrestling closed in the 1990s, after 30 years. A few small independent promotions sprang up after All-Star's close, specifically the Arena Wrestling Alliance (1990), Wai-Kato Wrestling Association (1991–1992) and the International Wrestling Federation (1993), though these were all short-lived.