When the territories died

[cm funk]

"made for tv" wrestling promotions don't seem to work. That's essentially what Global was. That's what GLOW was. Wrestling Society X. Wasn't Jimmy Hart involved with something of that nature that never got off the ground? The one recently that that Hollywood producer got kickstarter funding for, taped, and it's never seen the light of day.....

 

There's other examples too, but it doesn't seem like a sustainable or profitable model

[jdw]

The AWA stopped being a full-time territory in '87, more or less, because they would live off the ESPN deal and go months at a time without running house shows. St. Louis was one town that cherry-picked and thus wasn't a territory.

Probably some point in 1988. Clawmaster's results have them still working territory-ish through the end of 1987, and a bit into 1988 (factoring in missing results as well since they ran increasingly smaller shows).

 

I used to think it was '88 but at some point I read, I think in old WONs, that the AWA had nothing happening betwen TV shoots at times in '87, too. Also, keep in mind that a lot of the smaller shows from '88-on were sold shows promoted outside of the "AWA territory" (like that Pennsylvania show there's a handheld of) by Rob Russen.

 

http://sportsandwrestling.mywowbb.com/forum2/31198-4.html

 

Knocking out the Memphis stuff, here's Oct/Nov/Dec as far as "known" results:

 

10/3/87 Chippewa Falls

10/15/87 Salt Lake City, UT @ Salt Palace

10/16/87 Denver, CO

10/18/87 Green Bay, WI

10/23/87 Crystal Lake, IL @ McHenry County College Gym

10/24/87 Milwaukee, WI

10/25/87 Shawano, WI

10/30/87 Whitewater, WI

10/31/87 Sheboygan, WI

 

11/1/87 Minneapolis, MN

11/4/87 Menomonie, WI

11/5/87 Rice Lake, WI

11/6/87 Wausau, WI

11/7/87 Waukegan, IL

11/11/87 Aberdeen, SD @ Civic Arena

11/14/87 Racine, WI

11/15/87 Neenah, WI

11/21/87 San Francisco, CA

11/26/87 Minneapolis, MN

11/28/87 Las Vegas, NV @ Showboat Sports Pavilion

 

12/25/87 Minneapolis, MN

12/26/87 Marshfield, WI

12/27/87 Las Vegas, NV @ Showboat Sports Pavilion

12/28/87 Green Bay, WI

12/29/87 Rockford, IL @ Boylan High School

 

Claw is pretty intense about getting everything he can, but I suspect he'd admit there are probably a fair number of others ones out there.

 

Just to toss in the 3rd Qtr:

 

7/11/87 Las Vegas, NV

7/12/87 Denver, CO @ Auditorium Arena

7/24/87 Milwaukee, WI @ Auditorium

 

8/1/87 Minneapolis, MN @ Auditorium

8/2/87 Oshkosh, WI

8/21/87 Racine, WI

8/22/87 Rockford, IL @ Boylan High School

8/25/87 Manitowoc, WI

8/29/87 Las Vegas, NV @ Showboat Sports Pavilion

8/30/87 Minneapolis, MN @ Auditorium

 

9/11/87 Denver, CO

9/18/87 Las Vegas, NV @ The Showboat

9/19/87 Milwaukee, WI @ Auditorium

9/20/87 Green Bay, WI @ Brown County Veteran's Memorial Arena

9/26/87 Wausau, WI

 

It's bleak throughout that. Even factoring in missing results, it's clearly a dying territory. They're trying to keep things going, but it's not good.