80s Territories wrestling: where to start?

[radiantsilvergun]

Whats a good starting point to watch territories wrestling from the 80s? Would be cool to see some of the big stars of the time before they hit the "major leagues"

Also slow plodding storytelling and psychology

[Hickster]

I think World Class in the 80s is hard to beat. That being said, they're all pretty amazing, especially if you don't know what's going to happen.

[Heeltown, USA]

I am going to be honest and just say it.

Don't.

The 80's have aged horribly. Go watch Mid South and World Championship Wrestling (not WCW) from the early/mid 80's. It's crap.

There is no "camp" value in any of it like the footage that still exists of 70's, 60's or 50's pro wrestling.

It consists of guys who are pasty, flabby, hairy and covered in bruises doing shitty matches in front of 60 people.

Part of the charm back then was you didnt have to look like Vince's wet dream to be a pro wrestler. It made it more realistic. But the truth is, the territory promoters never put their best shit on cable TV. They used their 1 hr of time to hype live events. So all you'll ever see is no contests and dusty finishes loaded with interference to help sell tickets to whatever card was featured at the local armory.

[radiantsilvergun]

Dec 9, 2015 0:27:59 GMT -5 Heeltown, USA said:

I am going to be honest and just say it.

Don't.

The 80's have aged horribly. Go watch Mid South and World Championship Wrestling (not WCW) from the early/mid 80's. It's crap.

There is no "camp" value in any of it like the footage that still exists of 70's, 60's or 50's pro wrestling.

It consists of guys who are pasty, flabby, hairy and covered in bruises doing shitty matches in front of 60 people.

Part of the charm back then was you didnt have to look like Vince's wet dream to be a pro wrestler. It made it more realistic. But the truth is, the territory promoters never put their best shit on cable TV. They used their 1 hr of time to hype live events. So all you'll ever see is no contests and dusty finishes loaded with interference to help sell tickets to whatever card was featured at the local armory.

Well shit. Looks like its a you had to be there kinda thing then. The promos from that time can't be that bad though right?

[El Pollo Guerrera]

There's a bunch of Memphis shows at Highspots that have both TV studio shows and 'big card' arena matches.

[Professor Chaos]

Dec 9, 2015 0:27:59 GMT -5 Heeltown, USA said:

I am going to be honest and just say it.

Don't.

The 80's have aged horribly. Go watch Mid South and World Championship Wrestling (not WCW) from the early/mid 80's. It's crap.

There is no "camp" value in any of it like the footage that still exists of 70's, 60's or 50's pro wrestling.

It consists of guys who are pasty, flabby, hairy and covered in bruises doing shitty matches in front of 60 people.

Part of the charm back then was you didnt have to look like Vince's wet dream to be a pro wrestler. It made it more realistic. But the truth is, the territory promoters never put their best shit on cable TV. They used their 1 hr of time to hype live events. So all you'll ever see is no contests and dusty finishes loaded with interference to help sell tickets to whatever card was featured at the local armory.

I'd disagree with that. These 85-87 episodes of NWA World Championship Wrestling they've added to the Network are much more enjoyable than RAW is now.

[The Sam]

Best advice I can give is if there is a particular wrestler you like start with a territory they worked for. Ex. If you like Eric Embry, watch USWA/WCCW. And then if you start liking the work of say Percy Pringle check out Championship Wrestling from Florida.
Let the talent be your gateway to promotions.

Dec 9, 2015 2:19:14 GMT -5 Professor Chaos said:

Dec 9, 2015 0:27:59 GMT -5 Heeltown, USA said:

I am going to be honest and just say it.

Don't.

The 80's have aged horribly. Go watch Mid South and World Championship Wrestling (not WCW) from the early/mid 80's. It's crap.

There is no "camp" value in any of it like the footage that still exists of 70's, 60's or 50's pro wrestling.

It consists of guys who are pasty, flabby, hairy and covered in bruises doing shitty matches in front of 60 people.

Part of the charm back then was you didnt have to look like Vince's wet dream to be a pro wrestler. It made it more realistic. But the truth is, the territory promoters never put their best shit on cable TV. They used their 1 hr of time to hype live events. So all you'll ever see is no contests and dusty finishes loaded with interference to help sell tickets to whatever card was featured at the local armory.

I'd disagree with that. These 85-87 episodes of NWA World Championship Wrestling they've added to the Network are much more enjoyable than RAW is now.

But Ronnie Garvin doesn't cut a promo about tater tots. MINUS FIVE STARS!!

[Big Poppa Pumpkin]

I got into it by watching a bunch of Ric Flair NWA World Heavyweight title defenses, since he defended it in a bunch of territories, and then checking out his most interesting challengers and the territories they worked in. It's really fascinating to watch for me, as someone who didn't live through it the first time. I couldn't disagree more with the guy who said 80s wrestling has aged horribly, but you can't really judge it by the same standards you would judge today's wrestling, you have to meet it on its own terms. To me, the best 80s stuff is streets ahead of the best modern WWE stuff, but I know it's not like that for everybody.

[Big Poppa Pumpkin]

also check out some Eddie Gilbert promos on youtube that dude was off the chain

[Heeltown, USA]

Dec 9, 2015 11:15:49 GMT -5 Big Poppa Pumpkin said:

I got into it by watching a bunch of Ric Flair NWA World Heavyweight title defenses, since he defended it in a bunch of territories, and then checking out his most interesting challengers and the territories they worked in. It's really fascinating to watch for me, as someone who didn't live through it the first time. I couldn't disagree more with the guy who said 80s wrestling has aged horribly, but you can't really judge it by the same standards you would judge today's wrestling, you have to meet it on its own terms. To me, the best 80s stuff is streets ahead of the best modern WWE stuff, but I know it's not like that for everybody.

I'm the guy you are talking about.

I fell in love with pro wrestling as a kid in the 80's, but living through it and seeing it then is enough. Its hard to watch because its so bad, and really kicks in the teeth of my nostalgia. Old school NWA presentation is the root of my interest, but whether anyone wants to admit it or not, we've all become accustomed to just a little more polish on the product to the point of watching two flabby no names beat two guys who were jobbers back then, all to Tony Schiavone being interrupted by Crockett's aimless babbling, is like akin to watching cavemen bang stones together when all ya wanna do is watch a black and white movie.

80's wrestling is a wonderful place to visit, but we must never get our fix there.

[Heeltown, USA]

I have to add that 80's Japan is/was awesome though.
Maybe if I spoke and understood fluent Japanese I might not think so, but the regality, the pageantry, the competition all while the announcers mark out in a foreign language is still fun for me.

[bigalbass86 AKA Smokin Vokoun]

Personally NWA World Championship Wrestling is a hundred times better than pretty much all of WWE's programming now. That's just me though. And I never actually lived through that time period since I was born in 1986.

[Deleted]

Dec 9, 2015 11:16:09 GMT -5 Big Poppa Pumpkin said:

also check out some Eddie Gilbert promos on youtube that dude was off the chain

Drugs = Great promos.Somebody tell Vince.

[bigalbass86 AKA Smokin Vokoun]

Also to answer the question, they are all awesome in their own ways. Just make sure to get the best experience to find shows where the promotion was in a hot streak. Because I would say that despite the WWF taking over in the 80s, all the major territories seems to be super hot at one point in time.

And of course, with the release of some of them on the Network, its easy to watch a lot of it.

Like the stuff thats on the network, WCCW (most of it at least) the bits Mid South and NWA are episodes that show off how hot those promotions were. AWA not so much unfortunately, as they show 86-88 when the companies true golden age was the mid 70s and early 80s. But there are some good stuff on there as well.

My feeling is that, yes they are not as polished, or as fast paced as wrestling is now. I get that. However, to me, I can put myself in the mindset of an 80s fan, imagine myself watching these things on an old TV set and watch Rasslin'. I can put myself in a mindset that gets me excited to see a Ric Flair vs Dusty Rhodes match, just on the strength of their promos. That's one thing I feel is missing from modern day wrestling, especially promos, for the most part, there is very little passion. Not many promos today get me excited to watch a match, which is in theory the whole point of cutting a promo. I am much more excited and pumped up when someone like Road Warrior Hawk cutting a promo on how he is going to kick Ric Flair's ass at the next big show, because Hawk made ME believe that he believed he would kick Ric Flair's ass. And is despite the fact that I am well aware that pro wrestling is scripted and the match took place almost 30 years ago. I still wanted to see that match. I marked out.

Plus, despite the presentation looking rinky dink, I love that as well. I love the early Starrcades because the atmosphere. They put the spotlight on the ring and you don't see the crowd. To me, its gritter that way. Makes it a little more realistic to me. But that's more of a minor thing than anything else.

I guess I'm rambling. But as I said, try to put yourself in a mindset of a fan back then. And try to be patient. If you can do that, then you have a good chance of finding what you like and enjoying it.

[MrElijah]

It's funny how '84-'86 WWF looks. You can see the pieces of the modern age but still had that gritty territory edge.

[Squirrel Master]

Hello, my name is UWF CIRCA 1986
en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Universal_Wrestling_Federation_(Bill_Watts)

[Captain & Diet]

Dec 10, 2015 5:29:44 GMT -5 Squirrel Master said:

Hello, my name is UWF CIRCA 1986
en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Universal_Wrestling_Federation_(Bill_Watts)

I'd put the UWF/MidSouth stuff against anything from that time period.

[Zach]

Dec 9, 2015 0:27:59 GMT -5 Heeltown, USA said:

Go watch Mid South and World Championship Wrestling (not WCW) from the early/mid 80's. It's crap.

While we're on the subject, can anyone explain the difference between WCW and the actual show called World Championship Wrestling?  Was the WCW "show" in the 80s not from a territory, but like a main hub for all of the NWA territories combined to be featured on? But wasn't the Turner WCW just a rebranded version of JCP? 

No matter how many times I try to understand it, it never makes any sense...I don't know how anyone watching at home could keep anything straight back then. 


I tell you what though, I think of all the stuff on the network, early 90s WCW/late 80s NWA has aged the best. I actually prefer watching that over the Attitude Era RAWs. Even when I was a kid I always watched WCW Saturday Night and thought it was better than WWF overall, but WWF had better main events.

[cabbageboy]

NWA World Championship Wrestling is the same thing basically as WCW, it's just that Crockett was going broke and sold to Turner in late 1988. Eventually WCW seceded from the NWA and just became WCW.

Anyway, the question at hand. If I had to say the best territory wrestling it has to be old Memphis. Sadly this stuff isn't really out there on the Network yet since the rights are all over the place, but there are brilliant angles, some arena matches thrown in (or highlights), fun announcing, and a fun mix of the local fixtures and future big time stars. But then I am biased here since I'm from Louisville and grew up on Memphis/USWA.

I like old World Class from what I've seen. It's hard to watch it without any thoughts of the tragic nature of the company though. The show has a strangely romantic feel to it at its peak. On 24/7 some years ago I got into watching it as they uploaded week to week TV and I got quite into the build to the whole Kerry/Flair match with the Hayes heel turn. I think the lack of locker room leaders and veterans really hurt WCCW, since they tried booking around a ton of younger guys who all ended up being screw ups, drug addicts, etc.

Obviously NWA/WCW is the stuff people are most familiar with, but since most of it on the Network is TBS stuff I wouldn't call it territory wrestling. It was national. I did see the older 1982 Crockett stuff and while they had a terrific roster to work with (Flair, Piper, Slaughter, Steamboat, etc.) but I found the show itself very dull compared to something like Memphis. JCP used the jobber matches and interviews as purely those things, whereas Memphis used a jobber match to feature a crazy angle and do something exciting.

I haven't seen a ton of Mid South/UWF but from what I have seen....it's just not the real me. There's such a thing as being TOO redneck and southern and Mid South fits the bill. On the scale of polished to ultra redneck wrestling territories I'd say Crockett is more polished, Mid South is ultra southern, and some stuff like World Class is kinda in between. Mid South is worth watching though if you find some of it.

[toodarkmark]

I have a special place in my heart for Mid-South in 1985-1987, becoming UWF, and after Dusty took over Crocket, Mid-Atlantic.

Like the poster before said, find someone you like and watch them over different promotions.