In the end, most of the major territories did themselves in through a combination of different factors. The pre 1986 WWF TV product wasn't really that inferior compared to a lot of places, like the AWA for example. Plus, the the quality of the Saturday TV wasn't a major factor in their success. What really mattered was WWF had the mainstream hype no other territory could match. Remember they were on MTV, and SNME debuted on NBC in May 1985. Hulk Hogan was on the cover of SI right after Mania. Still, it was a gradual process, and the South wasn't a much of a draw for them until the Austin years of the late 90s