1986 WWF vs JCP

[horsemen4ever]

Many people agree 1986 is Jim Crockett Promotion peak year. From Great American Bash summer tour, a hot house show circuit, and wrap it up with another great Starrcade show (though I think Starrcade 1985 was better).

But the WWF was the number company in the world, it had the Big Event, and the launch of going to bigger arenas for its TV taping and the launch of Superstars of Wrestling and Wrestling Challenge.

[nisidhe]

I think the two were demonstrating very different approaches at the time - approaches which still worked very well in their prospective markets at the time.

JCP was building up the entertainment value through its booking of gimmick matches that ended up taking off (Bunkhouse Stampede, scaffold matches, War Games) and by making feuds so intense that one wondered how riots didn't break out that made the national news. WWF was building up the entertainment value by leaning well into the larger entertainment industry and letting celebrities into their world - Rock 'n' Wrestling wasn't just a cartoon, but a crossover marketing strategy that worked.

Both had great years that year, but WWF was building to bigger and bigger things with its model. By the end of the following year, we see where that paid off. After the PPV numbers came in for Wrestlemania III, Vince could demand exclusivity from the cable systems who wanted to broadcast his pay-per-views like Survivor Series (a major reason why Starrcade started declining in viewership.)

[Mozenrath]

I voted for JCP. I feel like WWF was getting closer to being in the zone, but they weren't quite there yet.

Like you say, JCP was perhaps at their zenith in 1986.

[petef3]

I would say WWF's peak of that era was from the debut of the on-the-road syndication tapings--the fall of '86--through Mania 3, if not through Mania 4. It's a little less clear than comparing strictly year-to-year.

[CeilingFan]

I voted for JCP. The WWF didn't really get good until Roddy Piper began his Face turn.

[horsemen4ever]

Jan 12, 2021 0:04:25 GMT -5 petef3 said:

I would say WWF's peak of that era was from the debut of the on-the-road syndication tapings--the fall of '86--through Mania 3, if not through Mania 4. It's a little less clear than comparing strictly year-to-year.

I could say the same for JCP, it's golden era that was 1986 really began in the fall of 1985 with the Flair heel turn.

[Deleted]

WWF post Wrestlemania 2 until the Orndorff turn was very dull and there really wasn't anything exciting happening on their TV shows, you also had Jesse and Piper off TV for a long time. Once they rebranded the TV shows however it was probably the most focused 6 months of television I've ever seen from them.

JCP was awesome that year and gets my vote but by the end of the year they were starting to go heavy on the 30 second squashes (sometimes not even that long) followed by 90 second promos format which I hated.

[dynamitekidd]

JCP is just classic. The Horsemen, the Koloffs, and the Midnight Express got sooo much heat in ‘86.

[johnnyk9]

I enjoyed the WWF In 1986

[Terry McConkey]

JCP in 1986 was light years ahead.

["Evil Brood" Jackson Vanik]

I'd go with JCP but I'd definitely encourage people to go back and check out some Hogan matches from that year. They were usually super fun and a lot less formulaic than they became a few years later. Dude could go in the ring.

[Jaws the Shark]

Rock & Wrestling-era WWF is fascinating, I'm intrigued by the way it shifted wrestling culturally, and its place in the wider pop culture of the eighties.

But Crockett was streets ahead in terms of quality.

[WR91]

JCP in '86 was on fire. '87 onward I'd give it to the WWF.

[horsemen4ever]

Now that we have Wrestling Challenge on the Network, we have a chance to really compare with World Championship Wrestling, granted that is not the A show but still production wise it is a showcase.

[Deleted]

I was definitely a WWF kid, but looking back, JCP/WCW was almost always the better in-ring product.

[chronocross]

I grew up a WWF fan so I wasn't watching NWA until 1989, but I'd say JCP was better from watching the old tapes from 86, though I thought WWF picked things up in the summer/fall with the Hogan/Orndorff, Steamboat/Savage and Piper/Adonis angles.

[CubsFan71]

JCP and it’s not even close

[Ozman]

Easily WWF. 1986 was the year that I really got into WWF as a kid. Even though I first discovered WWF in 1985 (after watching the first Saturday Night’s Main Event on NBC). Wrestlemania 2 was the first Wrestlemania I watched on closed circuit tv, Saturday Night’s Main Event was “Must See TV” whenever it aired, and I’d watch the syndicated shows every weekend. I never even heard of JCP until 1987, and didn’t start watching the show until 1988, around the first Clash Of The Champions.

[Squirrel Master]

I loved what both leagues were doing in ‘86. The world champions were a stark contrast to each other, great players in each leagues’ rosters and their tag team scenes were off the chart in both JCP and WWF. This question is like choosing between your two best girlfriends ever, the only ones who really loved you.

[The Blue Nova]

I have always said this from an in ring product stand point especially 1986 JCP blew WWF out of the water hands down. The only thing was and I have always said this WWF Knew how to market better. as far as there wrestlers and the product goes. In 1986. WWF Had luncboxes and action figures, cartoon,Music videos and to me that what gave WWF a upperhand