Ricky Jackson

Totally agree that Backlund-era WWF Andre has a ton of boring as hell matches. He's basically early- 90s Undertaker, working slow against a revolving door of monsters. He was clearly breaking down physically at this time, which makes a difference. His one standout match from the time is a bloody brawl with Hogan from Philly, 3/21/81

Don't discount the Shadows vs Casey and Jones. Best match for all four guys I've ever seen...OK maybe not Colley

Chicago is a major wrestling city. The AWA ran it from the late- 60s to the mid-80s. Prior to that it was run by Fred Kohler, one of the major promoters post-WW2. His TV from the International Amphitheater was perhaps the seminal show of the Golden Age of wrestling. Vince Sr co-promoted with Kohler during the period when Buddy Rogers was NWA champ and they set the attendance record at Comiskey Park in 61

Yeah, Spectrum shows have tons of hidden gems. CHV didn't include many matches, 24/7 and the Network have avoided them for the most part, and good old James also neglected to put a lot of Philly matches on his 79-83 set. Most full cards from the 80s are out there, although the video quality isn't always the best if that is a hang up for you. We are planning on reviewing the September and October 1982 Spectrum cards on Titans as our way of saying goodbye to the commentary of that amazing man Kal Rudman. (His last show as a commentator was Oct 82)

TNT

The fans were just having fun

Davey Boy and Shamrock had a thing going on

What's it about?

Looks like Philly was 1963 and Boston 1967

I want to say Vince Sr had Philly by 1964 and Boston slightly later. Pittsburgh was around 1974 when the NWF (they had started promoting there a few years earlier) folded. Going to check around for better info

Going back to the territory years, I think it could be divided into a few distinct eras. -Early Territory Era (1956-1963) Vince Sr starts promoting in NYC that year, and many of the classic territories TV shows begin their runs (eg. Wrestling at the Chase) and/or start promoting (eg.the AWA). 1963 sees the start of the WWWF and the end of Buddy Rogers mega hot run. -1960s Slump (1964-1969) Business drops off in a lot of areas during this time, and wrestling is generally not as hot than the era before or the one that followed -70s Boom Era (1970-1975) Hot period that featured most territories doing great, often record-setting business. Mileage varied from territory to territory. Some had declined greatly from their peak by 1975, others (WWWF, Carolinas, Florida) would continue to be successful throughout the 70s. -Late Territory Era (1976-1983) Several territories died during this time, including SF, LA, Detroit, and Amarillo. Vince Jr buys the WWF from his father and his partners in 1982. Business in many NWA territories was record-setting in 82-83. Of course several territories continued after 1983, but 84 saw the beginning of Hogan's run as king of wrestling and the WWF's aggressive expansion into other areas.

I saw the 78 draw years ago and wasn't blown away by it at the time. I think I even watched it based on your recommendation jdw.

Would it be safe to say Punk's "Pipebomb" promo clearly marks the start of the Reality Era and end of the previous era?

Why 2008 as the end point?

Oh yeah, the Territory Era is open to much better classification. I just wanted to get the ball rolling and see if a consensus can eventually be reached on different eras.

In the Reigns thread the term "Ruthless Aggression Era" was used. It seems to define the time from 2005-2011, the initial Cena run on top, and before the current, and controversially named "Reality Era". I'm a history guy, and am particularly interested in cultural change in Western society, essentially looking at different eras and seeing how one differed from the next and why. The post in the Reigns thread got me thinking about wrestling eras. I don't think I had ever seen "Ruthless Agression Era" used before. I would like to see what other posters think about WWE eras, and wrestling eras in general, and how they define them. There is the "Attitude Era" of course, but are there any other consensus wrestling eras? For me, a general post-WW2 outline off the top of my head would be something like -Golden Age of TV Era (approximately 1947-1955) -Territory Era (1956-1982, ending when Vince Jr assumes control perhaps?) -80s Boom Era (1983-1990) -Dark Ages (1991-1995) -90s Boom/Attitude Era (1996-2001?) -Post-Attitude Era? (2002-2004?) -Ruthless Aggression Era (2005-2010) -Reality Era (2011-present) Just a rough outline to get the conversation started

I dunno, I would put the first card we looked at, April 83 at Cap Centre, against any shitty WWF card ever. It was soooo bad

He was brought back to Stampede in 87 to work a mini program with Davey Boy and was treated like a heel by the crowd from what I remember. Like I said on the show, I knew he was from Calgary and I loved Owen, but had no patriotic attachment to Bret at that time. He was just another bad guy as far as I was concerned, and one I disliked more than most because he played a part in my beloved Bulldogs losing the belts

On Titans, we watched the title switch and rematch in Japan from late-79 and the Miami match. I liked the first bout the best, the next two less so. Pete was really high on the Miami match. Parv disliked them all I think

The weed is better now than it was in the 80s

While watching the Rock last night the thought "this seems like a coke-fueled promo" did cross my mind. This was the first Raw I watched from start to finish in ages. (mostly as background noise after the Sasha - Becky match) At the end I was really struck by how many tweeners there are these days and how few true babyfaces and heels. When you look at the problems of modern WWE, I think this is right up there.

That should be a pretty good main event for Fastlane

God, these shows really do seem endless

New Day, Sasha, AJ, Owens...things aren't completely bleak on 2016 Raw

Clearly this is meant to be the first chapter in a feud between them, so AJ isn't going to finish him off with a Styles Clash