Ricky Jackson

This interests me as well. If you look at the Greensboro cards from 1962 to 1973, the main event and usually the semi-main event (and often one undercard bout) on almost all of these shows were tag matches. I believe 73 was the year Crockett Sr died, Crockett Jr took over, and George Scott was brought in as booker. I don't know the specifics, but I've read Scott wanted to take the territory in a different direction, emphasizing singles main events, often with the Johnny Valentine/Wahoo McDaniel feud on top (4 straight shows between Aug-Oct 1974; 6 out of 7 shows, including one tag match on Nov 7), but also several NWA title matches involving Jack Brisco. Tag matches remained a staple of the cards, but not nearly as prevalent in the main event slot as pre-73. Attendance, which was in the 5-7,000 range in 73-74, spiked to a consistent 9-12,000 by the end of 1975. As far as the Andersons (Gene and Ole) go, they were mainstays in the territory from 1968-1978. Pre-73 they alternated between the main event and semi main event. Drawing wise, their first main event in Greensboro (Nov, 68) drew 2,986; their last prior to the shift towards singles main events (July, 73) drew 7,100, and the area seemed to be in much better shape in the early-70s than it was in the late-60s, but wrestling as a whole was much hotter at the time. The evidence I've seen doesn't point to them not drawing on top. They don't seem to have been super hot draws, but they weren't duds on top at all, and I don't think they contributed to Scott's decision to shift to singles main events.

Memphis wrestling is as fun as it gets.

Yes. Probably somewhere between 30-50. I've always been a fan, but I can't put him ahead of my faves from the 70s-90s, who are on another level IMO.

Yeah, I've always been a fan of the Garvin feud, and I forgot to mention his tag work, which was strong, even as late as 92 with Terry Taylor (a team I really liked at the time). And seeing this is a board of revisionist opinion, anyone care to pimp any Rhythm and Blues matches?

Good call, and I'm looking forward to reading it. Valentine is someone I've really become interested in during the footage explosion of the last few years. In his prime years he was almost the perfect heel in the way he projected being a despicable asshole with really no redeemable qualities (and he had a nasty racist streak), to the point it's hard to ever picture him as a babyface. He was also a great worker (before he stopped caring around 87 or so), good talker and as far as I know a decent draw. He maybe didn't work on top in as many territories as Patera, but he was a mainstay and top star in two of the biggest ones, NY and the Carolinas, during a period, roughly 77-85, when both were usually either hot or doing consistently strong business.

PBS is airing a lucha documentary in September. Sounds like it could be interesting: http://www.wrestleview.com/viewnews.php?id=1342829036

I think the storyline was DiBiase claimed Luger had joined, but it was a swerve and Tatanka ended up turning on Luger and joining the Corporation. Luger allied with the Dungeon of Doom and tagging with Sting was 95/96, after he returned to WCW and before the start of the NWO angle.

Why they thought the Kizarny gimmick would ever get over as a babyface, or really at all, is beyond me.

I just had a picture in my head of Meltzer doing a stand up routine of inside wrestling jokes against a brick wall to a room full of wrestling nerds.

Awesome.

And eventually the discussion will shift to Kane's strengths as a draw to tie everything together.

Yep, I agree. One of the main reasons I got hooked on wrestling in the first place was because of the Bulldogs and their fast-paced style.

It always comes back to Demolition...

It was a combination of various promotions/territories as a response to Vince expanding, most notably JCP ("the NWA" as far as the Apter mags were concerned by 1985) and the AWA. It fizzled out by 86. Later, the AWA, Memphis and WCCW attempted another territory combination, which resulted in the 1988 Superclash III ppv disaster (business wise--the Lawler/Von Erich main event was pretty good).

I'd take Backlund/Race over Backlund/Hogan, but both were pretty good matches IMO. Maybe not amongest Bob's best ever (I think the Race match is really quite good, though it seems like I'm in the minority with that opinion), but far from his worst big stage matches as world champ.

This is actually a good read. If for nothing else it is interesting for its analysis of Vince and pro wrestling by a non-fan/someone outside the wrestling bubble.

No problem. The key was searching for "Linda Curry Atlanta"--her site was the first result to pop up.

Does she have a better chance of winning this time around?

Come on, everybody knows who Linda Curry is http://www.livingstudio.net/about.asp She had a fitness show on TBS in the 80s, hence the celebrity hosting gig.

Mania X was the first time you could order a PPV from home in Canada, or at least in the Calgary area. So that probably bumped the overall # up a bit.

Way more ppv homes for IV than III. III's buy rate was way higher--still the highest ever.

Why would it be too soon?

Circa 1983 card: Dusty Rhodes, Jerry Lawler and Junkyard Dog--Southern babyface superteam Bob Backlund, Jack Brisco and Dory Funk Jr--Scientific babyface superteam Ric Flair, Buddy Rose and Nick Bockwinkel--Scientific heel superteam Roddy Piper, Terry Funk and Randy Savage--Wildman combo Ken Patera, Greg Valentine and Sgt. Slaughter--Three great heels I really like and think would make a good team off the top of my head. Dick the Bruiser, Bobo Brazil and Bruno Sammartino--Babyface legends superteam The Sheik, Killer Kowalski and The Destroyer--Heel legends superteam Antonio Inoki, Mil Mascaras and Andre the Giant--International superteam I'll think about who wins and how the matches played out later.

Good work so far guys. Keep it up. And yes, Dusty did play for West Texas. Hansen and Brody too, besides the guys you mentioned.

Good decision to turn Punk, as they really haven't had a top heel for a while now. Not much of a show otherwise, and I was in full fast-forward mode after the HHH/Lesnar bit. Pretty much business as usual.