Territories Bracket

[jpchicago23]

Ok this is something i was just thinking of bored at work and it is probably a little stupid but could be fun and help myself and others learn of the aces of early 80's wrestling. I was thinking of naming say 16 territories or areas and then naming the top 4 guys in each area and having a little tourney of sorts. Once again i know its stupid and i'm not fully versed on most of this stuff so feel free to fill in blanks or voice an opinion on if any guys or territories dont belong and should be replaced. Just bear with me on this as it may be frustrating to some of you that have more knowledge.

 

The 16 territories i could think of would be:

 

1. WWWF or New York

2. Memphis

3. WCCW or Texas

4. Mid Atlantic

5. Georgia

6. Florida

7. Portland

8. Mid-South

9. All Japan

10. New Japan

11. Europe

12. Mexico

13. Puerto Rico

14. AWA

15. Stampede

16. And lastly i'm thinking of St Louis or a Freelance category for guys who didnt stay long like Funk and such

 

 

Maybe i should let the territories simmer for a little bit and see if there are any objections before i move on to the aces or top 4. Thoughts? Maybe this is a bit outlandish but i'm pretty bored at work and this could eat up some time.

[Ricky Jackson]

This could be a fun idea. I'm sure some will wince at Stampede being on the list. St.Louis definitely needs a spot. As for other areas: LA and San Fran were major territories at their peak, but sadly little footage from their best years exists. Same thing with Toronto and Montreal, not to mention Vancouver, where any pre-80s footage at all seems to be extremely scarce. Continental/Alabama has its supporters I think. Detroit, Indianapolis, and NWF (Cleveland/Buffalo) are all but forgotten today, but each had periods of pretty significant success as far as I know, and the NWF produced this fun little piece of business

Central States/KC...well, um, Harley owned it, and Slick started there...never mind.

[jpchicago23]

This could be a fun idea. I'm sure some will wince at Stampede being on the list. St.Louis definitely needs a spot. As for other areas: LA and San Fran were major territories at their peak, but sadly little footage from their best years exists. Same thing with Toronto and Montreal, not to mention Vancouver, where any pre-80s footage at all seems to be extremely scarce. Continental/Alabama has its supporters I think. Detroit, Indianapolis, and NWF (Cleveland/Buffalo) are all but forgotten today, but each had periods of pretty significant success as far as I know, and the NWF produced this fun little piece of business Cleveland Rumble! Central States/KC...well, um, Harley owned it, and Slick started there...never mind.

 

Ok maybe i should change Stampede to Canada? And maybe free lance to St Louis?

[Ricky Jackson]

Historically, Canada can't be lumped together as one spot. Toronto and Montreal were major cities for wrestling at their peak, comparable to New York, St. Louis, Houston, etc. Vancouver was apparently a wrestling hotbed in the late-60s-early-70s. Winnipeg was a big town in the AWA. Stampede, despite what one thinks of its worth, existed for nearly 40 years as a promotion. The Maritimes also had a long wrestling history. But for the purposes of this tournament, outside of a few guys, I'm not sure how much the regulars around here know about Toronto and Montreal, let alone Vancouver and the Maritimes. I'm not sure what the best option is for your tournament regarding Canada.

[Dylan Waco]

St. Louis was a single town. So was Houston. Feels odd to use either as neither was a true territory and both used stars from elsewhere. Toronto used some local talent, but also used JCP and WWF for talent. The angles didn't always match up, but there was overlap. Not saying Maple Leaf shouldn't be included, but I think it's debatable. Since this is 80's wrestling and based on in ring I assume you could leave off San Fran and LA. World Class and Southwest are different. Alabama/Continental really should be included. I would argue for Montreal too, though few people have seen any of it

[jpchicago23]

yea i do realize some of the stuff was left out but i was trying to make it a solid 16 for the bracket's sake. So if Continental should be included what gets taken out? Should Europe not be included then? I'm just trying to get a solid 16 down before i went with the rankings and for tournament purposes i would have lumped Canada together but if there is enough knowledge out there we can split it up. I would just need to know what to take out and what to put in? Would it be easier to make it strictly North America and take out NJ/AJ/Europe? And add continental, another Canada and something else? Is the free lance idea valid or should that be a territory spot instead?

[Dylan Waco]

Freelance is not a bad idea as a sort of wild card slot, but you'd have to figure out how to do it. A part of me wants to troll you into including Central States so Mike George gets a slot.

 

It's tough because if you go with 16 you are going to have to cut something solid, but I'm not sure there is enough to get to 32 even if you were to split Mexico and count other feds from Japan/Europe.

[El-P]

Stupid question : quid de joshi puroresu ?

[Matt D]

Who the hell is Mike George?

[jpchicago23]

Well if 4 territories had 1st round byes we could do 20 right? Or is my math wrong on that?

[tomk]

I think you can do an 80's Central States top 4 without Mike George. Bulldog Bob Brown is #1. Rufus R Jones #2? fuck...who next?

[JerryvonKramer]

I associate Harley Race with both Central States and St. Louis. Is that wrong?

[Matt D]

I think you can do an 80's Central States top 4 without Mike George. Bulldog Bob Brown is #1. Rufus R Jones #2? fuck...who next?

How long was Jannetty there and how good was he while there?

[Dylan Waco]

I think you can do an 80's Central States top 4 without Mike George. Bulldog Bob Brown is #1. Rufus R Jones #2? fuck...who next?

Geigel

[Ricky Jackson]

I associate Harley Race with both Central States and St. Louis. Is that wrong?

Harley owned a piece of both at one point and wrestled extensively for both as far as I know.

[JerryvonKramer]

I think that would clear up the issue of where to put Harley then.

 

jp - how is this going to work? Let's say Ricky Steamboat makes Team Crockett, does that mean he can't make Team WWF? And does it mean that you only look at his career in Mid Atlantic?

[jpchicago23]

So add Central States and Continental and take out what? Or add those two plus two more for four first round byes? Or i guess techincally you would have four play in games since four first round byes doesnt work.

[Dylan Waco]

Adding Central States is a waste. It would be Harley (which is arguable for a variety of reasons) and then a bunch of guys who would struggle to make all time top five hundred.

[jpchicago23]

Yes we should limit a guy to one territory so that you get a more expansive feel for different places. I know there can be arguments for certain guys in multiple promotions but i think the more names the better so we'll see how it goes. I'm assuming the best way to rank would be only using that body of work for the territory they're ranked in. As soon as we get the territories set we can go from there. I'm thinking 16 with 4 play in spots will work. We just have to get the 16 going, anyone else have a suggestion on what the 16 should be? Trying to make this as fun and simple as possible.

[KrisZ]

Bob Brown, Buzz Tyler, Rufus R. Jones, & Manny Fernandez is your top 4

[jpchicago23]

Ok so would everyone agree on the 16 that are there to at least make the top 20? Then we can debate the next 4. Or should something that isnt on the list be added and let something from the list be debated for the next 4? Just trying to get a gauge of which 20 we're going to go with here.

[Dylan Waco]

You can keep it as is. Not sure what to do with Joshi which feels like it should be included. You could go with Joshi, Continental, Montreal, Southwest for the remaining four slots, but that puts the kibosh on freelancers and will leave some people without an office home.

[jpchicago23]

Free Lancers are in the 16th spot already so they would stay. So does everyone agree the original 16 plus the four Dylan just mentioned? Also what should Canada be? Canada as a whole or different territories?

[jpchicago23]

By the way i have no fucking clue how to make a bracket or do voting on here so someone might have to help me with that once we get everything in order. I guess i didnt think it through that far.

[KrisZ]

Just throwing shots in the dark here with rankings.

 

WWF

 

1. Hulk Hogan

2. Bob Backlund

3. Randy Savage

4. Roddy Piper

 

AWA

 

1. Nick Bockwinkel

2. Crusher Blackwell

3. Sgt. Slaughter

4. Curt Hennig

 

All-Japan

 

1. Jumbo Tsuruta

2. Genichiro Tenryu

3. Stan Hansen

4. Terry Funk

 

New Japan

 

1. Antonio Inoki

2. Tatsumi Fujinami

3. Kengo Kimura

4. Akira Maeda

 

World Class

 

1. Kerry Von Erich

2. Kevin Von Erich

3. Chris Adams

4. Terry Gordy

 

Mid-South

 

1. Junkyard Dog

2. Ted DiBiase

3. Hacksaw Duggan

4. Butch Reed

 

Florida

 

1. Dusty Rhodes

2. Kevin Sullivan

3. Barry Windham

4. Dory Funk Jr.

 

Georgia

 

1. Tommy Rich

2. Buzz Sawyer

3. Masked Superstar

4. Paul Orndorff

 

International

 

1. Dino Bravo

2. Rick Martel

3. Jacques Rougeau

4. Raymond Rougeau

 

Northwest

 

1. Buddy Rose

2. Billy Jack Haynes

3. Rip Oliver

4. Matt Borne

 

Southwest

 

1. Tully Blanchard

2. Gino Hernandez

3. Bob Sweetan

4. Manny Fernandez

 

Central States

 

1. Harley Race

2. Bob Brown

3. Rufus R. Jones

4. Buzz Tyler

 

Mid-Atlantic

 

1. Ric Flair

2. Ricky Steamboat

3. Wahoo McDaniel

4. Greg Valentine

 

Memphis

 

1. Jerry Lawler

2. Bill Dundee

3. Dutch Mantell

4. Austin Idol

 

Continental

 

1. Bob Armstrong

2. Ron Fuller

3. Robert Fuller

4. Jimmy Golden

 

WWC

 

1. Carlos Colon

2. Abdullah the Butcher

3. Hercules Ayala

4. The Invader