regional wrestling before WWF ruled the world

Does anyone like small time regional wrestling shows before the WWF became super popular in the mid 80s? I was just watching some "wrestling gold" stuff which had Macho Man in Memphis in 1984 and by then he had been wrestling more than a decade. Why isn't there footage out there of him in the 70s? I love seeing the small time beer hall regional stuff because there's some classic stuff that not a whole lot of people know about. Roddy Piper hanging himself from a tree and smashing beer bottles over his head come to mind immediately. I liked Piper in the WWF but it's like he was at his most insane before he even went there. It seems to find this stuff in decent quality appears a bit difficult though.

I like the classic stuff.

Have you tried Highspots or RF video for regional material?

Obviously WWE owns alot of shit..

but I'm sure you can find Mid-South,Memphis,GCW etc

I haven't seen a whole lot of ICW material out there.

Most the guys Vince made "WWF stars" in the early 80s and what not, had better runs in the regional territories. It's hard to imagine these days, but they were just more original and free to do the work they wanted to creatively and in the ring. When they went to the WWE, they just ran off pure name recognition, and a lot of their creative sides were watered down to the more cartoonish approach Vince had at the time.

As you can imagine, WWE owns a significant amount of Historical wrestling in the united states - He's a run down to to let you know, that the buck with footage will stop here with WWE:

* Capitol Wrestling Corporation (1952-1963)
* World Wide Wrestling Federation (WWWF) (1963-1979)
* World Wrestling Federation (WWF) (1979-2002)
* World Wrestling Entertainment (2002-2011)
* WWE (2011 - Present), inclusive of WWE's current brands:
o Raw (2002-present)
o SmackDown (2002-present)
o ECW (2006-2010)
o WWE NXT (2010-present)

*American Wrestling Association (1957-1991)
* Georgia Championship Wrestling (1944-1985)
* Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW) (1994-2001) and its predecessor
o Eastern Championship Wrestling (1992-1994)
* Ohio Valley Wrestling (1998-2008)
* Florida Championship Wrestling (2007-present)
* Smoky Mountain Wrestling (1992-1995)
* Stampede Wrestling (1948-1989)
* Ultimate Pro Wrestling (1998-2007)
* Championship Wrestling from Florida (1961-1987)
* World Championship Wrestling (WCW) (1988-2001)
o Jim Crockett Promotions (1931-1988) which by the end included
+ Eastern States Championship Wrestling (1945-1973)
+ Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling (1973-1988)
+ Central States Wrestling (c. early 1950s-1986)
+ Championship Wrestling from Georgia (1984-1985)
+ St. Louis Wrestling Club (1959-1985)
* World Class Championship Wrestling (1966-1988)
* Maple Leaf Wrestling (1930-1995)

Holy fuck man they own pretty much everything ..but I see videos of oldschool Memphis and ST Louis wrestling on RF and Highspots ..

also on Torrent sites you can get oldschool stuff but they may be handhelds though.

and yea DieOff the territories played more off of a shoot with blood and realism.The Belt/Champion meant something.

If you went up to one of those guys in the territories and asked if wrestling was fake you'd get the shit kicked right out of you.

It was less gimmicky and hokey,the variety of talent of all shapes and sizes that could either sell tickets or could work was 10 fold and people really believed in it back then.

The simple things popped and the promos were captivating.

Don't get me wrong ..

I see some of these things I'm talking about today it's just few and far between... and you won't find it in the WWE these days imho ..

I stopped watching current stuff. I do pay attention a bit to some indy/regional and to Japan when I can but it just isn't the same to me anymore.

DieOff wrote:Most the guys Vince made "WWF stars" in the early 80s and what not, had better runs in the regional territories. It's hard to imagine these days, but they were just more original and free to do the work they wanted to creatively and in the ring. When they went to the WWE, they just ran off pure name recognition, and a lot of their creative sides were watered down to the more cartoonish approach Vince had at the time.

As you can imagine, WWE owns a significant amount of Historical wrestling in the united states - He's a run down to to let you know, that the buck with footage will stop here with WWE:

* Capitol Wrestling Corporation (1952-1963)
* World Wide Wrestling Federation (WWWF) (1963-1979)
* World Wrestling Federation (WWF) (1979-2002)
* World Wrestling Entertainment (2002-2011)
* WWE (2011 - Present), inclusive of WWE's current brands:
o Raw (2002-present)
o SmackDown (2002-present)
o ECW (2006-2010)
o WWE NXT (2010-present)

*American Wrestling Association (1957-1991)
* Georgia Championship Wrestling (1944-1985)
* Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW) (1994-2001) and its predecessor
o Eastern Championship Wrestling (1992-1994)
* Ohio Valley Wrestling (1998-2008)
* Florida Championship Wrestling (2007-present)
* Smoky Mountain Wrestling (1992-1995)
* Stampede Wrestling (1948-1989)
* Ultimate Pro Wrestling (1998-2007)
* Championship Wrestling from Florida (1961-1987)
* World Championship Wrestling (WCW) (1988-2001)
o Jim Crockett Promotions (1931-1988) which by the end included
+ Eastern States Championship Wrestling (1945-1973)
+ Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling (1973-1988)
+ Central States Wrestling (c. early 1950s-1986)
+ Championship Wrestling from Georgia (1984-1985)
+ St. Louis Wrestling Club (1959-1985)
* World Class Championship Wrestling (1966-1988)
* Maple Leaf Wrestling (1930-1995)

DieOff wrote:Most the guys Vince made "WWF stars" in the early 80s and what not, had better runs in the regional territories. It's hard to imagine these days, but they were just more original and free to do the work they wanted to creatively and in the ring. When they went to the WWE, they just ran off pure name recognition, and a lot of their creative sides were watered down to the more cartoonish approach Vince had at the time.

As you can imagine, WWE owns a significant amount of Historical wrestling in the united states - He's a run down to to let you know, that the buck with footage will stop here with WWE:

* Capitol Wrestling Corporation (1952-1963)
* World Wide Wrestling Federation (WWWF) (1963-1979)
* World Wrestling Federation (WWF) (1979-2002)
* World Wrestling Entertainment (2002-2011)
* WWE (2011 - Present), inclusive of WWE's current brands:
o Raw (2002-present)
o SmackDown (2002-present)
o ECW (2006-2010)
o WWE NXT (2010-present)

*American Wrestling Association (1957-1991)
* Georgia Championship Wrestling (1944-1985)
* Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW) (1994-2001) and its predecessor
o Eastern Championship Wrestling (1992-1994)
* Ohio Valley Wrestling (1998-2008)
* Florida Championship Wrestling (2007-present)
* Smoky Mountain Wrestling (1992-1995)
* Stampede Wrestling (1948-1989)
* Ultimate Pro Wrestling (1998-2007)
* Championship Wrestling from Florida (1961-1987)
* World Championship Wrestling (WCW) (1988-2001)
o Jim Crockett Promotions (1931-1988) which by the end included
+ Eastern States Championship Wrestling (1945-1973)
+ Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling (1973-1988)
+ Central States Wrestling (c. early 1950s-1986)
+ Championship Wrestling from Georgia (1984-1985)
+ St. Louis Wrestling Club (1959-1985)
* World Class Championship Wrestling (1966-1988)
* Maple Leaf Wrestling (1930-1995)

Great post. Thanks for the info. WOW!