saintpat
El Dandy
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Post by saintpat on Feb 7, 2011 23:47:01 GMT -5
With WWE OnDemand giving us a look at the different territories and a few of us old enough to have been exposed to some of the different styles in their heydays, which do you think was the best?
I didn't list all of them, so feel free to go with others in the thread.
I have to go with Mid-Atlantic: Ric Flair and Ricky Steamboat and Greg Valetine and Paul Jones and Orndorff and Snuka and Wahoo McDaniel. A lot of talent and some great feuds over the years.
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Post by Mayonnaise on Feb 7, 2011 23:47:51 GMT -5
World Class. Probably a bit bias though.
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Post by humanoid on Feb 7, 2011 23:57:47 GMT -5
I voted Stampede, but I am totally biased...
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Post by wrestlinggod13 on Feb 8, 2011 1:00:48 GMT -5
I voted Mid-Atlantic, and I am also biased...
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Ultimo Gallos
Grimlock
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Post by Ultimo Gallos on Feb 8, 2011 1:04:59 GMT -5
Mid South
Still the best fed ever.
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Post by warrenpeace on Feb 8, 2011 12:16:04 GMT -5
Knoxville....Great Territory and a great city....Never got a fair shot.
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Post by Bald Bull on Feb 8, 2011 14:00:35 GMT -5
VKM? Voodoo Kin Mafia?
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saintpat
El Dandy
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Post by saintpat on Feb 8, 2011 22:42:33 GMT -5
Knoxville....Great Territory and a great city....Never got a fair shot. Hey, they hosted the World Fair! I was there a couple of years ago and on local access cable they had some classic Smokey Mountain episodes. Vintage Mongolian Stomper is hard to top.
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Post by Milkman Norm on Feb 9, 2011 2:01:50 GMT -5
Is the a choice for "It's a damn shame they don't exist anymore."? Because that would be my vote.
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NOwave
Don Corleone
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Post by NOwave on Feb 9, 2011 18:39:54 GMT -5
This is a great thread, although I'm sure that natives of said cities will near invariably pick their own city as having the best promotion. Nature of the beast.
That being said, I'll make the case for Memphis:
This promotion has a long history dating back to immediately post-WW II, when the Welch and Gulas families started running wrestling shows on Monday nights in Ellis Auditorium in downtown Memphis. They got a weekly Saturday morning TV spot in the 1950's on the local ABC affiliate. Sputnik Monroe became a star during that time in Memphis and was often featured in the Main Event. In a fascinating historical footnote, Ellis Auditorium was racially segregated at that time. Blacks were only allowed to sit in the balcony and were admitted only after whites took the main floor seats. Sputnik was immensely popular with black audiences, portraying himself as poor white trash made good(not far from the truth). He implied that he had black girlfriends, and was the first white wrestler in Memphis to tag team with a black man(Norvell Austin). One of their catchphrases was "Black is beautiful but white is wonderful."
One Monday night as Monroe was set to Main Event, he noticed that there were lines of blacks around the block wanting tickets, while the Main floor (usually reserved for whites) was only half full. Sputnik went to the promoters and demanded that the black fans be allowed in on the main floor or he wouldn't wrestle. Very tense discussions went on between the parties, but Sputnik refused to budge. The Memphis Chief of Police and the Mayor were telephoned to get their input, and prepare for any possible violence that might ensue. Finally, the promoters and auditorium management backed down and allowed the black fans to purchase tickets on the Main floor. Extra security from the Memphis Police Dept. was brought in, but there were no problems. The show went on and everyone was happy to see Sputnik defeat another opponent.
From then on, segregation ended at Ellis Auditorium, and tickets were sold on a first-come, first-serve basis, regardless of race. So, Sputnik Monroe (and wrestling) integrated Memphis' premier performance venue of the day.
As Sputnik Monroe faded from the scene in the 1960's, the Fabulous Jackie Fargo inherited the mantle of most popular wrestler in Memphis. Once again, Fargo was equally popular with blacks and whites, and wrestling was essentially the only integrated activity in town thru the 1960's. By the 1970's, the Gulas/Welch promotion had become notorious for bad payouts to the wrestlers, and bad management in general. Memphis was basically a poor city, and never really had the revenue base that other promotions(St Louis to the immediate north being conspicuous) did. As a result, the promoters used poverty as an excuse for being lazy in their business practices, and everybody in the business knew it. They were ripe for the picking by a savvy, industrious upstart. That upstart presented itself in 1978 in the form of then-current wrestler, Jerry Jarrett. Jarrett developed a plan to lure the mostly dissatisfied wrestlers away from Welch/Gulas with the promise of fair payouts and innovative booking. He approached rising star Jerry Lawler to partner with him in the venture. Lawler agreed, and the pair quietly negotiated a new TV deal with the local NBC TV affiliate to steal Saturday morning wrestling, which was consistently among the top 10 rated shows in town.
The wrestlers left Welch/Gulas in mass for the new promotion, which immediately started running shows in the traditional Monday night timeslot. Nick Gulas appealed to his fellow NWA promoters for help, but was largely ignored. His poor business practices were widely known throughout the industry, and he had few friends as a result. Jerry Jarrett, on the other hand, was widely respected for his honesty and for having a very creative mind. Sam Muchnick and Paul Boesch both declined to get involved in the promotional war. Gulas was out of business within a few months.
Wrestling boomed in Memphis from that time forward. Between 1978 and 1984, almost every big name in the business thru the 1980's-90's came thru Memphis during their formative years. Hulk Hogan, Randy Savage, Honky Tonk Man, Rick Rude, the Rock and Roll Express, the Undertaker, Sid Viscious and many others spent time there. International superstars made regular appearances including Andre the Giant, Abdullah the Butcher, the Mongolian Stomper and others. The NWA World Heavyweight champion made regular trips to Memphis to defend the title, usually against Jerry Lawler, the longtime Southern Heavyweight champion. These included Jack Brisco, Terry Funk, Harley Race, and in 1982, a cocky young Ric Flair, who made a memorable appearance on Saturday morning TV.(routinely the highest rated show in town by this time) The shows moved from Ellis Auditorium to the Mid-South Coliseum when it was completed around 1970. The Coliseum, often referred to as the "House that Lawler Built," was filled to it's 10,000 seat capacity almost every Monday night. Regional towns were also booked with successful, creative house shows. The "Tupelo Concession Stand Brawl" became a seminal example of hardcore wrestling, which was still a decade away from the national scene at that point.
Perhaps the peak of Memphis' wrestling was the Andy Kaufman-Jerry Lawler feud, which resulted in their unforgettable appearance on the David Letterman Show. In what was perhaps the first nationwide portrayal of a local wrestling angle, Lawler famously slapped Kaufman on the air, to which Kaufman responded with a slew of obscenities. The normally unflappable Letterman was clearly caught off guard by the turn of events, and the episode registered his highest ratings in the 1980's.
Sadly, Memphis suffered from the rise of the WWF and general overexposure of wrestling, just as every other promotion did. Jarrett and Lawler managed to keep the business going longer than most of the other regionals, as Lawler, being the biggest star, was also part owner and couldn't be lured away. In the end, even he realized the futility of remaining independent and negotiated a developmental deal with the WWF, eventually turning up in the announcers chair on Monday Night Raw during what became the most successful period in wrestling history. Jarrett got into the construction business at that point and did well, but still felt the strange lure of wrestling. In 2002, he partnered with his son Jeff in the creation of TNA wrestling, in part to fill the void left by the demise of the WCW, another casualty of the WWF.
So, I present my case for Memphis as the premier regional wrestling promotion. It was unmatched in creativity, and success, relative to it's small market. Plus, the influence of it's wild and crazy angles is still felt in the business today.
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Post by Bake Or Die on Feb 9, 2011 21:13:54 GMT -5
World Class
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saintpat
El Dandy
Release the hounds!!!
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Post by saintpat on Feb 10, 2011 0:53:06 GMT -5
This is a great thread, although I'm sure that natives of said cities will near invariably pick their own city as having the best promotion. Nature of the beast. That being said, I'll make the case for Memphis: This promotion has a long history dating back to immediately post-WW II, when the Welch and Gulas families started running wrestling shows on Monday nights in Ellis Auditorium in downtown Memphis. They got a weekly Saturday morning TV spot in the 1950's on the local ABC affiliate. Sputnik Monroe became a star during that time in Memphis and was often featured in the Main Event. In a fascinating historical footnote, Ellis Auditorium was racially segregated at that time. Blacks were only allowed to sit in the balcony and were admitted only after whites took the main floor seats. Sputnik was immensely popular with black audiences, portraying himself as poor white trash made good(not far from the truth). He implied that he had black girlfriends, and was the first white wrestler in Memphis to tag team with a black man(Norvell Austin). One of their catchphrases was "Black is beautiful but white is wonderful." One Monday night as Monroe was set to Main Event, he noticed that there were lines of blacks around the block wanting tickets, while the Main floor (usually reserved for whites) was only half full. Sputnik went to the promoters and demanded that the black fans be allowed in on the main floor or he wouldn't wrestle. Very tense discussions went on between the parties, but Sputnik refused to budge. The Memphis Chief of Police and the Mayor were telephoned to get their input, and prepare for any possible violence that might ensue. Finally, the promoters and auditorium management backed down and allowed the black fans to purchase tickets on the Main floor. Extra security from the Memphis Police Dept. was brought in, but there were no problems. The show went on and everyone was happy to see Sputnik defeat another opponent. From then on, segregation ended at Ellis Auditorium, and tickets were sold on a first-come, first-serve basis, regardless of race. So, Sputnik Monroe (and wrestling) integrated Memphis' premier performance venue of the day. As Sputnik Monroe faded from the scene in the 1960's, the Fabulous Jackie Fargo inherited the mantle of most popular wrestler in Memphis. Once again, Fargo was equally popular with blacks and whites, and wrestling was essentially the only integrated activity in town thru the 1960's. By the 1970's, the Gulas/Welch promotion had become notorious for bad payouts to the wrestlers, and bad management in general. Memphis was basically a poor city, and never really had the revenue base that other promotions(St Louis to the immediate north being conspicuous) did. As a result, the promoters used poverty as an excuse for being lazy in their business practices, and everybody in the business knew it. They were ripe for the picking by a savvy, industrious upstart. That upstart presented itself in 1978 in the form of then-current wrestler, Jerry Jarrett. Jarrett developed a plan to lure the mostly dissatisfied wrestlers away from Welch/Gulas with the promise of fair payouts and innovative booking. He approached rising star Jerry Lawler to partner with him in the venture. Lawler agreed, and the pair quietly negotiated a new TV deal with the local NBC TV affiliate to steal Saturday morning wrestling, which was consistently among the top 10 rated shows in town. The wrestlers left Welch/Gulas in mass for the new promotion, which immediately started running shows in the traditional Monday night timeslot. Nick Gulas appealed to his fellow NWA promoters for help, but was largely ignored. His poor business practices were widely known throughout the industry, and he had few friends as a result. Jerry Jarrett, on the other hand, was widely respected for his honesty and for having a very creative mind. Sam Muchnick and Paul Boesch both declined to get involved in the promotional war. Gulas was out of business within a few months. Wrestling boomed in Memphis from that time forward. Between 1978 and 1984, almost every big name in the business thru the 1980's-90's came thru Memphis during their formative years. Hulk Hogan, Randy Savage, Honky Tonk Man, Rick Rude, the Rock and Roll Express, the Undertaker, Sid Viscious and many others spent time there. International superstars made regular appearances including Andre the Giant, Abdullah the Butcher, the Mongolian Stomper and others. The NWA World Heavyweight champion made regular trips to Memphis to defend the title, usually against Jerry Lawler, the longtime Southern Heavyweight champion. These included Jack Brisco, Terry Funk, Harley Race, and in 1982, a cocky young Ric Flair, who made a memorable appearance on Saturday morning TV.(routinely the highest rated show in town by this time) The shows moved from Ellis Auditorium to the Mid-South Coliseum when it was completed around 1970. The Coliseum, often referred to as the "House that Lawler Built," was filled to it's 10,000 seat capacity almost every Monday night. Regional towns were also booked with successful, creative house shows. The "Tupelo Concession Stand Brawl" became a seminal example of hardcore wrestling, which was still a decade away from the national scene at that point. Perhaps the peak of Memphis' wrestling was the Andy Kaufman-Jerry Lawler feud, which resulted in their unforgettable appearance on the David Letterman Show. In what was perhaps the first nationwide portrayal of a local wrestling angle, Lawler famously slapped Kaufman on the air, to which Kaufman responded with a slew of obscenities. The normally unflappable Letterman was clearly caught off guard by the turn of events, and the episode registered his highest ratings in the 1980's. Sadly, Memphis suffered from the rise of the WWF and general overexposure of wrestling, just as every other promotion did. Jarrett and Lawler managed to keep the business going longer than most of the other regionals, as Lawler, being the biggest star, was also part owner and couldn't be lured away. In the end, even he realized the futility of remaining independent and negotiated a developmental deal with the WWF, eventually turning up in the announcers chair on Monday Night Raw during what became the most successful period in wrestling history. Jarrett got into the construction business at that point and did well, but still felt the strange lure of wrestling. In 2002, he partnered with his son Jeff in the creation of TNA wrestling, in part to fill the void left by the demise of the WCW, another casualty of the WWF. So, I present my case for Memphis as the premier regional wrestling promotion. It was unmatched in creativity, and success, relative to it's small market. Plus, the influence of it's wild and crazy angles is still felt in the business today. Thank you. Awesome history there. For the record, while Gulas lost Memphis he did not disappear from the wrestling scene (much to the chagrin of those who saw his son George get pushed). He continued to promote in Birmingham, Ala., and Nashville, I believe -- with Randy Savage, Dutch Mantell and the incredible Tojo Yamamoto there. Tojo made his debut in Birmingham's Boutwell Auditorium with this classic pre-match promo, drawing major cheap heat as he did throughout his career: "People, I come here to apologize for what my people did at Pearl Harbor. "Japan should not have bomb Pearl Harbor ..." as cheers start to rise, then ... "we should have bomb BIRMINGHAM!!!!" I was fortunate to have been exposed to the Memphis (only thru Saturday morning TV on a few trips through there), Smokey Mountain, Gulas (Birmingham/Nashville), Georgia and the Bill Watts territory where I distinctly remember seeing the Bladerunners (Sting and Ultimate Warrior) in action on TV in my youth -- they stood out because of the face paint. Of course, TBS used to show Georgia Championship Wrestling on Saturdays and then the Sunday show with some leftover GCW matches as well as Mid-Atlantic, St. Louis, Texas and other territories. I'll still go with Mid-Atlantic for rosters and booking, but the Memphis, Georgia and Watts territories can all make good cases.
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ToyfareMark
Vegeta
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Post by ToyfareMark on Feb 10, 2011 7:13:31 GMT -5
I gotta go with Memphis simply because my town Evansville was part of the Memphis loop for decades.
Used to watch the weekly Championship Wrestling show every Saturday at noon. It was sandwiched between WWF Superstars, and Wrestling Challenge.
Also it seems silly, but I love that my town has been brought up a few times in WWE HOF induction speeches. I dunno, you hear guys talking about all these big wrestling towns like New York, St. Louis, or Memphis. Then you'd hear Jerry Lawler or someone mention Evansville, and its like a mini mark out moment for me.
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MolotovMocktail
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Post by MolotovMocktail on Feb 11, 2011 0:24:00 GMT -5
So the Crocketts ran the Mid Atlantic and Barnett ran Georgia? But Georgia was the territory that comprised Jim Crockett Promotions when it was sold to Turner. When did they take control of Georgia from Barnett?
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Post by turkeysandwich on Feb 11, 2011 0:43:50 GMT -5
I am biased because I was born and raised in Memphis, but I have some recollections of how hot the territory once was. I personally only remember the tail end of the USWA, but I do remember as a kid that the local newscasts would have wrestling highlights every monday night. My brother even told me that when Lawler won the AWA title it was the top story on all the local news that night. Watching studio wrestling on Saturday mornings with Lance Russell and Dave Brown was just what everybody did
Also, didn't Cornette say in one of his shoot interviews that Vince was going to put Jerry Jarrett in charge of the WWF had he been convicted in the steroid trials. I think that says a lot about how well he could book. (However I could be misremembering that.)
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Deleted
Deleted Member
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Post by Deleted on Feb 11, 2011 9:29:37 GMT -5
I grew up in an AWA territory, so it should come as no surprise that I picked...
Memphis.
Just out-right some of the craziest and most insane angles of all-time happened down there. If there is one territory I would want back in its original form, it would be Lawler & Company.
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Schemer
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Post by Schemer on Feb 11, 2011 20:26:10 GMT -5
I went with WCCW, but I have a soft spot for Don Owen's PNW.
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Post by bitteroldman on Feb 12, 2011 12:35:40 GMT -5
Not sure if the AWA and WCCW should be lumped in with true territories as both had national exposure and ran shows all over the country; World Class even did regular tours of Israel and South Africa.
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dsriggs
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Post by dsriggs on Feb 12, 2011 13:06:41 GMT -5
So the Crocketts ran the Mid Atlantic and Barnett ran Georgia? But Georgia was the territory that comprised Jim Crockett Promotions when it was sold to Turner. When did they take control of Georgia from Barnett? Actually Vince McMahon took control from Barnett in 1984. He then sold it to Crockett for $1 million
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ICBM
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Post by ICBM on Feb 12, 2011 14:08:59 GMT -5
So the Crocketts ran the Mid Atlantic and Barnett ran Georgia? But Georgia was the territory that comprised Jim Crockett Promotions when it was sold to Turner. When did they take control of Georgia from Barnett? Actually Vince McMahon took control from Barnett in 1984. He then sold it to Crockett for $1 million "You'll choke on that million!" and he did... I'd have loved to vote for world class because I grew up on it but Crockett made mid-atlantic into the standard for the NWA. Later it became wcw (sort of) and became the only other successful national wrestling promotion in North America besides WWF/E
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