Memphis Wrestling and it's Production

[MrElijah]

Been watching some of the CWA/USWA and I've got to ask, why does it look so cheap? I get that not everyone had Vince's money or TBS backing but it looks so damn low rent by even studio wrestling standards.

[06vwgti]

I often wondered if the TV show was meant for people to go to the live events and the studio show was to just further feuds on TV with most of it being promo based.

But even the recaps from the Memphis Coliseum footage felt low rent. I guess Memphis was cheap enough they didn't get the production from the merger of WCCW/USWA Texas?

[Defrebel - White Pony]

Whenever I saw Memphis footage as a kid I thought it was like 20-30 years older than it actually was. Also I think I was a lil frightened.

[thirteen3]

Jerry Jarret was a miserly, money gouging, underpaying talent bastard that's why. And Lawler would continue that tradition. Which is why everybody shat in his crown.

[Big BosskMan]

Feb 12, 2022 18:34:03 GMT -5 06vwgti said:

I often wondered if the TV show was meant for people to go to the live events and the studio show was to just further feuds on TV with most of it being promo based.

But even the recaps from the Memphis Coliseum footage felt low rent. I guess Memphis was cheap enough they didn't get the production from the merger of WCCW/USWA Texas?

I've heard it said by a few veterans who came up in the territory days that TV was mainly to drive ticket sales for live events. Arn brings this up on his show now and again.

Prior to, and a bit during, the pandemic, I watched all the free episodes of USWA and CWA on Amazon Prime during my workouts on the bike.

It was a fun little look back but, even with close captioning on, it was a but hard to follow. I did discover that Lance Russel's "by golly" often translated to "Bigalli"


Although one of the funniest moments from the TV production side was when Lawler would roam the floor and just roast fans.


(Lawler walks around ringside with a mic)
Female fan: Boo!
Lawler: What'd you say honey?
Female fan: Boo!
Lawler: With a face like yours, you should say Boo!


Lawler: Hey, get the camera on that guy, he's been talking at me all day.
(camera pans to a Jack Elam-esque man with a beard)
Lawler: Buddy, it's anyone's right to be ugly but you're abusing the privilege!
(Elam talks at the camera)
Lawler: With a face like that, even the razor backs away from it.

Lawler (spies another chubby female fan): Hey, when you go the the beach in a bikini, even the tide won't come in.

[06vwgti]

Feb 12, 2022 19:39:55 GMT -5 Big BosskMan said:

Feb 12, 2022 18:34:03 GMT -5 06vwgti said:

I often wondered if the TV show was meant for people to go to the live events and the studio show was to just further feuds on TV with most of it being promo based.

But even the recaps from the Memphis Coliseum footage felt low rent. I guess Memphis was cheap enough they didn't get the production from the merger of WCCW/USWA Texas?

I've heard it said by a few veterans who came up in the territory days that TV was mainly to drive ticket sales for live events. Arn brings this up on his show now and again.

Prior to, and a bit during, the pandemic, I watched all the free episodes of USWA and CWA on Amazon Prime during my workouts on the bike.

That is what it seemed like to me, since there were a lot of gimmick matches that sounded cool to watch on paper, but they were never televised or only had recaps shown

How was the quality of USWA and CWA on Amazon prime? I bought the DVDs that people were selling years ago on ioffer (before it shutdown) and the quality left a lot to be desired for most years.

[Big BosskMan]

Feb 12, 2022 20:03:14 GMT -5 06vwgti said:

Feb 12, 2022 19:39:55 GMT -5 Big BosskMan said:

I've heard it said by a few veterans who came up in the territory days that TV was mainly to drive ticket sales for live events. Arn brings this up on his show now and again.

Prior to, and a bit during, the pandemic, I watched all the free episodes of USWA and CWA on Amazon Prime during my workouts on the bike.

That is what it seemed like to me, since there were a lot of gimmick matches that sounded cool to watch on paper, but they were never televised or only had recaps shown

How was the quality of USWA and CWA on Amazon prime? I bought the DVDs that people were selling years ago on ioffer (before it shutdown) and the quality left a lot to be desired for most years.

I imagine the quality was equivalent to the DVDs you bought, just streamed digitally. There's no quality enhancement I can tell if. I don't need to see Ken Raper or Freezer Thompson in 4K HD.


The funny part is the Prime episodes kept all the localized promos as well as weather alerts, so if you ever needed to know when a tornado alert was issued for Evansville Indiana in 1987, you can find out by watching. As well as some of the giveaway promos for the larger arena shows.

[petef3]

Feb 12, 2022 18:34:03 GMT -5 06vwgti said:

I often wondered if the TV show was meant for people to go to the live events and the studio show was to just further feuds on TV with most of it being promo based.

But even the recaps from the Memphis Coliseum footage felt low rent. I guess Memphis was cheap enough they didn't get the production from the merger of WCCW/USWA Texas?

Why would Memphis get production people from Dallas just because they took over an outside territory? Also, one of the stipulations of airing on WMC is that wrestling had to come from the studio--just like the conflict between Vince and Ted over the WWF on TBS. That put the kibosh on Jerry Jarrett's one-time plan to air the Dallas end of the promotion as his Memphis TV show.

[06vwgti]

Feb 12, 2022 20:15:56 GMT -5 petef3 said:

Feb 12, 2022 18:34:03 GMT -5 06vwgti said:

I often wondered if the TV show was meant for people to go to the live events and the studio show was to just further feuds on TV with most of it being promo based.

But even the recaps from the Memphis Coliseum footage felt low rent. I guess Memphis was cheap enough they didn't get the production from the merger of WCCW/USWA Texas?

Why would Memphis get production people from Dallas just because they took over an outside territory? Also, one of the stipulations of airing on WMC is that wrestling had to come from the studio--just like the conflict between Vince and Ted over the WWF on TBS. That put the kibosh on Jerry Jarrett's one-time plan to air the Dallas end of the promotion as his Memphis TV show.

I don't know, that is why I asked, is there a problem with me asking? Anyways, thanks for the explanation.

[Mozenrath]

Feb 12, 2022 18:57:19 GMT -5 thirteen3 said:

Jerry Jarret was a miserly, money gouging, underpaying talent bastard that's why. And Lawler would continue that tradition. Which is why everybody shat in his crown.

Given him leaving wrestling after he lost like 100 grand in a year, he might've been justified in that.

Really, Memphis was never really a good place to make money outside of some of the top people, like Jarrett, Lawler, Jackie Fargo (who I remember Cornette saying made about 100k a year), and I guess probably guys like Jimmy Hart and Rocky Johnson during his peak. Everyone else made bad money, but part of that was that these shows would have a shitload of wrestlers on them, so at least you got booked often and the barrier of entry wasn't the worst, which is why Memphis tended to catch guys on the way up or the way down. It was a good place to learn and network due to this, too.

Contrast this with Mid-South, which had good money but was THE hardest territory to work, apparently, both for awful travel and grueling schedules, along with Watts being a hardass, and WCCW, which was really easy, but also paid quite poorly unless you were working the Von Erichs, which most didn't get to do. The top heels didn't give up their spots easily, with Gino and Chris Adams guarding their spots jealously.