Ricky Jackson

Crazy he was so young when he took over the territory, became NWA president, promoted the first Starrcade, etc. And by the time he was my age (43) he had sold to Turner and was basically done in pro wrestling, as anybody relevant at least. RIP

This match from 4/29/74 MSG is what I was thinking about. There's footage of it out there Chief Jay Strongbow & Andre the Giant defeated Otto Von Heller & Don Leo Jonathan in a Best 2 out of 3 falls match, 2-0 Their feud in Montreal was legendary, prior to Andre coming to New York

There was also Ernie Ladd and, briefly, Don Leo Jonathan (who I think they didn't even book a singles match with Andre, only tags). Hogan as a heel was basically treated like a giant. Blackjack Mulligan was pretty huge. Still, Andre was much more physically imposing

I guess because NXT lost so many weeks in total, with only a couple blips of competitiveness, you could argue that was worse, but I recall v2 being a totally embarrassing one sided bloodbath. Did it even last 2 months?

Officially still alive https://www.f4wonline.com/other-wrestling/nwa-returning-back-attack-ppv-new-power-episodes-334661

Here's a sampler to bookmark for the future https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLV6RCTo_Cd0Apflf4zr70wIl6t2rKmVT8

I fantasy directed an HBO style 50s-70s McMahon family wrestling show in my head years ago. Basically like Mad Men morphing into Boogie Nights. In the right hands it would be freaking awesome. IIRC, Norman Lear once had a show about 70s New York wrestling in some stage of development about 10-12 years ago but nothing ever came of it

I know trying to convert anyone to the cause is always an uphill battle, but I wouldn't write off Bruno so definitively without giving his matches and feuds a chance. At least try to find the feud with Larry Z and some of his biggest MSG matches vs Graham, Patera, Arion...

No doubt promoting in the Northeast provided Vince Sr with a better chance of success, but he still had to present a product that captured the public's attention. One could argue New York was a difficult place to draw, because the fans were fickle and hard to impress, plus high rent at MSG meant one needed consistent large crowds to keep going. Prior to Vince Sr promoting MSG in 1956 many others had tried and failed to have sustained success for several years. Top promoters like Fred Kohler and Jim Barnett, and stars like Gorgeous George, Lou Thesz, and Verne Gagne couldn't make a serious go of it. Vince Sr (helped by Toots Mondt, longtime wrestling promoter/booker) got on the air in New York with an exciting product and had great success for many, many years, with only a brief period in 59-60 where he lost promoting control. Vince Jr at his peak in the 80s couldn't match Vince Sr's track record at the Garden as far as consistent sellouts and large crowds go. I cant really comment on the pre-Vince Sr Philly and Boston wrestling scene, but they were definitely huge drawing cities under his promotion. Of course there is no way of knowing, and not to discount Rocca, Rogers, Bruno, Pedro, etc, but I think hypothetically Vince Sr would've been just as successful in say, Portland or Amarillo, due to being able to maximize his draws and present the public with an intriguing product

Vince Sr was a great promoter. Also a great booker. (info on his booking isnt easy to come by, but as far as I know he booked all the major programs and matches during his reign) Vince Jr was a great promoter, and for many years booked like his father, with a babyface superman on top and strong main events. At some point the game changed, mostly because of Vince Jr's success, but also because of changes in culture and technology, the death of WCW, etc, and he stopped booking like his father/like a traditional wrestling promoter

It was. Not sure if he was fired for it or not, but he was definitely raked over the coals Edit: he was released about 2 1/2 months later according to Wikipedia

Sad. Totally torpedoed by the pandemic, although no guarantee it was in for the long haul even in an alternate universe. Will be interesting to read the whole story about the last 10 months eventually Edit: I guess removing all videos isnt officially RIP, but it doesn't look good

I haven't seen the 08 match since the day of the PPV. For whatever reason, the Taker/Edge pairing didnt do it for me at the time. I mean, in general, as a feud. It went on for most of the year and I really began to hate it. (I was actually a weekly WWE viewer of BOTH Raw and Smackdown then, which seems like a million years ago) I remember despising the Hell in a Cell they eventually had, and even writing Meltzer an email basically arguing that he overrated it. (Lol, why the fuck did I care so much?) I'm sure this match was fine, but reading this reminded me of my strange hang up with the feud and basically the last time I was a devoted TV viewer of WWE

I think vs Batista is my all-time favorite Taker Mania match

Or to provide a comparison to Malice at the Palace, the late 70s NHL game where Bruin players went into the crowd to fight fans at MSG https://youtu.be/VMcbdBYuGTE

Yeah, as far as I understand it the Peacock deal is a US thing only. Rest of the world is the Network as usual

Mil Muertes vs Fenix Grave Consequences from Lucha Underground season 1 is by far the best casket match I've ever seen

Yeah, the point about "nothing important happening" at the shows where WWF was invading a territory, and thus being just a one-time curiosity for a lot of folks, makes a ton of sense

Hogan definitely wasn't the crazy sellout after sellout draw that Bruno was in the Northeast. Even Bruno had his down periods though, especially in the 60s when the territory went through a rough patch for about three years or more. But Bruno from 73-77 was just an incredible draw, where a non sellout, at least at MSG, was the exception. Hogan definitely didnt match the track record of his predecessors in the Northeast as far as consistency went, but he drew monster houses with, generally, the most over heels, like Piper, Savage and Orndorff, or the most believably threatening ones, like Andre, Kamala and Bossman. Hogan had many more flop houses than Bruno did in the 70s, but Bruno in the 60s had a weaker ratio, comparable to 80s Hogan actually. Where Hogan has Bruno beat was the impressive TV and PPV (something Bruno didnt have obviously) #s, the crossover beyond wrestling fame, and merchandise (again, something Bruno didnt have). Bruno's 70s smokes Hogan as a monthly draw, peaking with the Larry Z feud in 80, and he is an all-time great based solely on that metric. By the mid-80s the territory went national, so the comparison can be difficult. Hogan didnt have the same schedule as Bruno, as far as working the same cities in the Northeast month after month went. To your original question, I think it had more to do with Hogan working a national schedule than diminishing returns limiting his appearances. And based on a look at Hogan at the Spectrum on the 80s, it seems like it was the drawing power of the heel that increased the house, while a lesser heel (not as a performer, but as a draw), like Patera, Valentine, or Adonis, meant a subpar crowd, not so much that fans were sick of Hulk after seeing him once or whatnot

Vince is one of my least favorite wrestlers ever. I know he was 50-something when he started, but I always thought he moved around, and looked, awkward as hell, and the progression from chickenshit in way over his head to facing Undertaker as an equal (whenever that was, 2003?, and winning to boot) is some of the least believable shit ever

To be fair, at the time I thought the pairing did Shawn no favors. I had no clue who Lothario was back then, though

Yeah, 60s Race and Hennig footage has always been a dream of mine. Just 60s/early 70s in general from all over NA. I'm greedy

No doubt all-time great teams based on rep, drawing, etc. but next to nothing footage wise to judge

I borrowed a copy off a friend 10 or so years ago. I really enjoyed it at the time. A lot of it was because it was a history of wrestling territories such as WCCW, Florida, Australia, etc that I didnt have a lot of knowledge of at the time. A lot of it was because it's a very entertaining read. I know a lot of people have torn it to shreds over the years because of various claims made by Hart in the book. Haven't read it since so I'm not sure how full of bs it is. All I know is that it's super expensive to purchase online (cheapest option on Amazon a ridiculous $950). May be available digitally if you know where to look, no idea

Thanks! Yes, Fraction and Allred's FF is on tap as soon as I conclude Hickman's run. It looks super fun! For the place in my life I'm in right now, the 70s have been the perfect super warm blanket I need. Nothing too serious, let alone deconstructionist or cynical (ok, Gerber could get pretty dark). Just solid superhero stories featuring old pals like Cap, the Hulk, Thor, Spidey, and new faves like Mantis, Demon, Dr. Strange, Valkyrie and Count Dracula. The stories are definitely more verbose than what comes later, but at the same time, the page counts were shorter, so each issue is pretty easy to get though. I've also been pacing myself, trying not to binge too fast, and balancing it out with more modern stuff. Right now I'm reading Englehart's 1976-77 JLA run as a sequal/contrast to his Avengers. Planning on starting Kirby's Challengers of the Unknown, and Ploog and Gary Friedrich's Monster of Frankenstein, as a bit of a companion piece before resuming Tomb of Dracula. Also going to give Brother Voodoo a go, just to satiate more 70s curiosity