Memphis Mark

Shane was great during his first WCW run . I l loved the first part of his ECW run . The feud with the Pitbulls and the tv title match with 2 Cold Scorpo , Chris Jerchio and Pitbull # 2 were my personal favorites . Shane career was hurt by his many elbow injuries and his weight gain. Shane must have gain 40 to 50 pounds from 92 to 98. I know he was trying to muscle up , but his lost all of his speed and moblity . More factors in Shane ;s decline was the rise of Rob Van Dam to the top spot of whole he was hurt. Also Tommy, Taz and the Dudleys held more influence with Heyman. I guess it was NY deal. In the end I think the injuries was ruined his carreer. When he came back he was just a shadow of his former self. The second WCW run , XPW and TNA matches were just awful.

The Southeastern promotion was one of my favorites . I used to watch Southeastern Wrestling every Saturday night for about a year . I picked up the Knoxville show out of a small tv station in Jackson , TN.. When Ron Fuller bought the promotion from John Canza he had a core group of talent. The five men the promotion revolved around were Ron & Robert Fuller , Jimmy Golden , Bob Armstrong and the Mongolian Stomper. All of these guys were in their prime and in great shape . They all could work , it was a great promotion. All would only have 12 to 16 guys in the territory . All of the talent were involved in meaningful programs , really easy for the fans to follow . Off the top of my head I remember Dennis Condry , Phil Hickerson , Joe LeDuc , Norvell Austin , Ricky Gibson , Tony Charles , Ron Garvin , Bob Orton , Jr , Bob Roop , Don Carson , David Shutlz , Rip Smith , Ron Slinker , Ron Wright , Mike Stallings , Dick Slater , Prof. Tanaka , Mr. Fugi , the Von Steigers and the Great Malenko in the territory .. One of the best angles involved the Mongolian Stomper and Joe Leduc. Big Joe was doing his 10 man challenge on tv.Joe would place a harness on each arm , tied ropes to the harness , clasp his hands together , placed 5 men on each side and have them attempt to pull his hands apart in a short period of time . During the middle of the challenge the Stomper runs out and gives Joe a steel chair. Of course Joe is bleeding all over the set and vows to destroy the Mongolian Stomper. The war was on ! Great stuff !To my knowledge none there is no suriving Knoxville footage. Take it from me it was a great program.I think Knoxville ended in 79 or 80 , when Ron purchased Gulf Coast territory. The Alabama years are pretty good, The promotion was still Southeastern from 80 to late 84. Then they changed the name to Continental and moved the tv to Boutwell. Next to my home promotion , Memphis ., Southeastern is my favorite territory . Worth watching.

No . I do not hide being a wrestling fan. Now I used to hide it when I worked for Fortune 500 companies .Now I 52 years old and could care less what people think about me. I grew up on Memphis wrestling in the 70's and 80's . The program had monsters rating so watching wrestling was accepted by people . So many people watched the show and enjoyed the product .. A great time in life. However I must add to I only watch wrestling , I do not watch the current WWE or TNA product . Outside of ROH , NJPW Noah and select indys , I usually only watch pre - 2001 footage. In fact I do not anyone in my age group that watches WWE and TNA , they just don't consider it to be wrestling.

No , I don't have any photos. I do know there are a few matches on the Gulas Gold set.I sure you might have them , but just in case. I don't know of any other footage. GG Vol.2 Tanks vs. Tojo/ Jackie Fargo Tanks vs. Tojo/ Jerry Jarrett GG vol.3 Hickerson & Bearcat Brown vs. Ron & Don Bass/ Al Greene save. Dennis Condry/ Phil Hickerson vs. Tojo/ Tommy Rich GG Vol.4 Tanks vs. Tojo/ Lawler Tanks vs. Jackie Faro/ Tojo GG Vol. 5 Tanks vs. Ron & Don Bass Tanks vs. Eddie Marlin / Tommy Rich GG Vol.6 Condry / Hickerson vs. Bill Dundee/ Tojo Tanks vs. Ron , Don & Sam Bass.

Buddy had a run in Continental . I believe he won the contracts of the New Guinea Head Hunters from Kevin Sullivan in a backstage poker game , won the belt from Ron Fuller and had a feud with Wendell Cooley . He also worked for Ron' s Knoxville USA group . Buddy feuded with Cooley and Doug Furnas in USA .

There is some footage from Bob Armstrong wrestling The Mongolian Stomper in the Gulas/ Welch territory . Two or three matches from the mid 1970's . I don' t know much Florida , Georgia or Knoxville / Southeastern footage that exists . There is a alot of Southeastern / Continental Alabama matches. I like to see footage of Bob , Brad , Scott and Steve in one place. That would include Memphis , Southeastern/ Continental , Mid- South / UWF , Georgia , NWA Crockett , Florida , WCW , USA Wrestling , Smoky Mountain & USWA . The Southeastern territory was my favorite , I watched on Jackson , TN tv station . Just great wrestling, really under rated . I know Brian has he fans , but I really only seen his USWA work , which is when he was breaking into the business. Also there would be alot of Tracy Smothers and Tim Horner in the mix , which is not bad. The Armstrong family is just great .

Phil was a baby face when he first started out in Memphis. As most of you know he first big break was teaming with Big Al Greene as the Sherman Tanks . The Sherman Tanks were managed by Sam Bass and part of a heel stable with Jerry Lawler. The Sherman Tanks were called the Septic Tanks by the faces . As fate would have it The Sherman Tanks and Sam Bass became jealous of Lawler . All three turned heel on Lawler and the King made the face turn . The Sherman Tanks demanded to be addressed as Big King Al and Little King Phil. After that angle Phil began teaming with Dennis Condry in 1976. They first worked the Nashville end of the Gulas / Welch promotion . They came to Memphis and offered any team $ 5,000 if they could beat them . Finally, Bill Dundee and Cowboy Frankie Laine beat Phil and Dennis for the money on live Memphis tv. Bill and Frankie came back out and wanted to give all the money out to fans . Of course Phil and Dennis came out and beat the living hell of them and took the money back . In the end Frankie was piled driven in a concrete floor for his efforts. Lawler had turned heel again and worked closely with Phil and Dennis . Phi and Dennis also had a brief run as tag champs in Southeastern Championship Wrestling . In 1979 Phil Hickerson retired from the sport. People said Lawler and Hickerson owned a night club in Jackson , I don't know in that is true. Phil Hickerson and Dennis Condry were of the best heel tag teams in the history of the business. Phil returned in the 1980's . That when he teamed with Frank Morrell ( sorry The Spoiler is Don Jardine ), teamed with Lawler against the Free Birds , joined the Stud's Stable and went to Texas. That what I recalled of the top of my head . Hope it is informative to someone.

I once read that Jerry Jarrett found Jim Cornette to be a very annoying person. In fact Cornette annoyed Jarrett was much that he knew Jimmy could be a good wrestling manager. I think he was glad to ship him off to Watts . Memphis had Jimmy Hart was Cornette services were really not needed in the territory . In regards to the ROH deal , I think Cornette is behaving like a spoiled child who lost his toy . Jimmy should have just taken the high road for once in his life. His latest shoot interview only served to hurt Delirious and the talent that work for the promotion. Sinclair Broadcasting has already forgotten that Jim is even alive. I still do not that Cornette and alot of the ROH don't understand that Sinclair is a a public traded corporation . So they only care about increasing the value of their stock , not Jim Cornette's vision of wrestling.

Dream Machine lived in Memphis . I was at a bachelor party in a Memphis nightclub around that time. Dream Machine's girl friend was either a waitress or a dancer , he was at the club to watch over her. We all got to meet Troy . Really a nice guy . The rumor was that Dream had substance abuse issues . Jarrett would just stopped booking him. The only runs I remember for the Dream were in the outlaw Jackson , MS territory , the two Memphis runs and a stint in Ron Fuller 's USA Pro Wrestling . I think the Memphis runs were from 1981 to 1985/ 86 and then the final short USWA stint. I am not sure , but I think he worked as a bouncer . Unrelated there is a tv segment in 94 where the Dream Machine uses wheelchair bound Scott Bowden as a human shield Check it out..

Dream Machine lived in Memphis . I was at a bachelor party in a Memphis nightclub around that time. Dream Machine's girl friend was either a waitress or a dancer , he was at the club to watch over her. We all got to meet Troy . Really a nice guy . The rumor was that Dream had substance abuse issues . Jarrett would just stopped booking him. The only runs I remember for the Dream were in the outlaw Jackson , MS territory , the two Memphis runs and a stint in Ron Fuller 's USA Pro Wrestling . I think the Memphis runs were from 1981 to 1985/ 86 and then the final short USWA stint. I am not sure , but I think he worked as a bouncer .

I saw Savage and Eaton during the Gulas/ Jarrett wrestling war. After Jarrett cost Gulas his 11.00 a.m. slot on WHBQ , Gulas ran on upstart Memphis station . Savage took alot of his top rope offense from Eaton. Bobby was a natural . I don't believe there is any footage. It is too bad . Gulas had Randy Savage , Lanny Poffo , Angelo Poffo , Dutch Mantell , Ken Lucas , Tojo , Michael Hayes , Terry Gordy , Bobby Eaton , Pez Whatley , George Weingeroff , Ricky Morton , Rip Rogers and more. They were some really entertaining shows.

The Welch family ran Southern wrestling for decades . Family members included Roy Welch , Herb Welch , Lester Welch , Jack Welch , Buddy Fuller , Ron Fuller , Robert Fuller , Jimmy Golden , Jackie Welch and Roy Lee Welch . The Welch clan were cousins to the Field family that ran Gulf Coast Wrestling. They sold out to their cousin , Ron Fuller. Les Thatcher once stated that were over 25 Welchs / Fullers , Goldens and Fields in the business a once time or the other . I remember Ron , Robert , Jimmy , Jackie and Roy Lee. The Fuller brothers and Jimmy Golden were great wrestlers in the 1970's .

Why would RoH pay 300 K per year (adjust for whatever it would be per appearance) for Styles? AJ won't leave TNA for less. The only reason he MIGHT leave for WWE (won't happen) is because he wants the POTENTIAL to earn more by being a main eventer (again, won't happen long term). The best he can hope for is a small run of dream matches with certain guys that WWE knows would get the geeks to shell out money for. ROH needs to sign 3 or 4 top guys to show their remaining fans they are serious about promoting wrestling . Right now ROH is just low budget tv programming for Sinclair. Sinclair Broadcasting had a net profit of $ 36 million dollars last quarter . Sinclair stock is trading around $ 34 per share as oppose to the WWE $ 14 per share. ROH can easliy pay AJ Styles , John Morrison , Alex Shelly , etc. However Sinclair runs ROH on the cheap .

AJ has been getting paid around $ 300 K , per various wrestling sites. I cannot see the WWE paying that kind of money to a TNA talent . AJ works a very stiff style that would not mesh with WWE. Also I don't think AJ would get along very well with Crazy Vince & family . He is staying with TNA anyway , this is all a work . Outside of TNA only WWE , NJPW and ROH have the money to paid him . It a shame the tightwads at Sinclair Broadcasting won't considering paying a talent like Styles .

I lived in Memphis during that time period. The fans hated Jeff Jarrett. They resented having him pushed down their throat every week . . Jeff could have never replaced Lawler . I was always amazed that Jerry Jarrett pushed Jeff so hard and so fast given his feeling about George Gulas. I say one time about Lawler , he paid his dues. King and Joe Hose would get the crap beat out of them by The Interns every Saturday for months. This was in 1970 , two years before the Lawler , White and Bass trio took the top spot. Jeff Jarrett was placed in a main event feud with Bill Dundee / Landel right out of the gate. .

ROH has more talent than any US indy. ROh is still superior to stuff like TCW and CWFH . They still have Steen , Lethal , Briscoes , Adam Cole , Mike Elgin , O' Reilly , Fish , Strong , Ciampa , Coleman ACH , etc. Plus Paul London , Karl Anderson , Bucks, Koslov , Kenderick all have made guest shots. I don't see how ROH has been striped mined of anything of value . Curious comment

Jeff Jarrett was not all that bad. Of course he was put in a position by his father that he did not deserve , which was ironic considering Jerry's feeling about George Gulas , but he worked hard. Jeff came into Memphis during the Dundee/ Landell vs, Lawler / Mantell feud , so he was not in the main event. Jeff worked a long program with Billy Travis against Akio Sato / Tarzan Goto . They beat the crap out of him six days a week for months. Later he worked with Robert Fuller & Jimmy Golden, then the famous Moondog feud. If you have seen the Moondogs series you cannot say that Jeff did not pay his dues.I am not a fan but Jeff paid his dues and got better with time. If anybody from Memphis deserved to be compared with Bob Brown , it is Jamie Dundee . JC Ice was worthless , he never worked on his body or made any effort to learn his craft . JC was just good at being vulgar . It really made the promotion look bad having Jamie Dundee as a tag champion. The guy was maybe 5 ' 6" and weighted 150 pounds. Doug Gilbert and Tommy Rich had to put this guy over week after week . I would say it hurt the business . I would put Brian Christopher as a close second. At least Lawler's kid went to the Gym.

I was 8 years old when I attended my first wrestling match. The year was 1968 and the location was Memphis , TN. Jerry Jarrett and Tojo had been trying to win the Southern Tag Titles from Dr, Ken Ramey's Masked Interns. Dr. Ramey was a former MD who lost his license due to multiple malpractice lawsuits . The two Masked Interns were medical school dropouts who fell under Dr. Ramey's evil spell . The Interns worn masks to conceal their true identities . The match was a wild brawl full of action . Anyway , the match ended when Jarrett was counted out by the ref . Jarrett had his head shaved bald in the middle of the ring . The good doctor and his Interns mocked Jarrett from a nearby stage while he was shaved bald. The sellout crowd went nuts , they wanted to tear Ramey and his Interns to pieces. It was great and I became a fan of Memphis wrestling for life. The heat from the crowd was white hot , that realistic wrestling. The Jarrett/ Tojo vs. Interns feud was Memphis magic. Just throwing my 2 cents in.