I started collecting the apter mags around 1985 and do remember Memphis coverage. I remember seeing Lawler, Downtown Bruno, Humongous, Bill Dundee in PWI
Watched Memphis Wrestling in the 70s,80s and early 90s nothing came close there was a ton of top stars that went through Memphis and they kept it fresh and real. Some of the greatest angles were in Memphis. I miss Lance Russell and Dave Brown, way ahead of their time!!
There is no way to get people now to understand how great it was. When we were kids and someone was acting up someone would say come on Lawler like lance Russell would. It was a big deal to see Tommy Rich or Dutch or Bill Dundee. It was just a different time I guess but I am glad to have been in the midsouth coluesm many Monday nights and seen the best wrestling ever
I was just a youngster in the 1970's and all i remember was watching Da Crusher on saturday? Nights with my dad eating popcorn out of huge bags that would last a few weeks in Fond du Lac, WI on his tiny black and white TV followed by watching Dolly Parton before she was ever in any movies
I grew up in the Northeast and in the 1980’s my friends and I traded tapes with relatives in different parts of the country. We saw Mid Atlantic , Texas , Portland and - Especially- Memphis !! I always said we got the better of the deal! All they got from us was scrub matches ( unless Pipers Pit was on that week - that was Gold) We got some of the best action in the history of the sport ! Great times !
Like most people I bought the Apter Mags. I got to see Apter at a NWA wrestling convention in Fayetteville NC. We used to get USWA/Memphis here on Ch 62. I wanted to go to Memphis, but I didn't have to (Thank God) because Jerry Lawler and Jeff Jarrett were with WWE and they came to the Crown Arena in Fayetteville. I took lots of pictures that night. 😊
Another great teritory to not be covered by the mags is Ron Fuller's Southestern Championship Wrestling/Continental Championship Wrestling Knoxville Tn. & Birmingham Al. They were hot territories! Ron Fuller's Studcast gives a detailed history of SECW & CCW. Tues night's Randy Hales talks Memphis wrestling and Power pro Wrestling which took over after Jarrett closed.
I began reading the Apter mags in 1984 and that's how I discovered other territories, including Memphis. In fact, Memphis got good coverage in those publications during that time.
We had the best show in Memphis over all of the other territories to me!... I go back and watch some of the other territories nowadays on utube and I stand on that!!!
Jarrett and Lawler pissed off the guys in the NWA because they'd show edited clips on TV of Lawler "beating" all their top stars when they'd come into the territory. I think this was part of the reason why Jarrett didn't bring Harley Race back as NWA champion and switched to the AWA because Harley was pissed and threatened to shoot on Lawler in the ring for making them all look bad There was also the magazine article printed in I think one of the Apter publications on Lawler "beating" Andre, which infuriated Vince, Sr and he called them out at one of the NWA Conventions.
In Virginia Beach for about 2 years we got ECW then USWA back to back on Saturdays. Then we'd go down to the strip on the Ocean Front and raise a little hell!
@99somerville I can believe that, I don't know how much research they put into it, but Lawler was up there, had a tv show, part owner of the territory, drawing big crowds at several arenas weekly, plus his artwork, Hogan didn't start printing money until the mid 80's, now if you start from there, it's no doubt.
There shouldn't have been any bias against Memphis Wrestling. After all, many great wrestlers started off in Memphis(the Rock, Undertaker, Kurt Angle, Hulk Hogan, Randy Savage, Jeff Jarrett, etc.).
i came up with mid atlantic/crockett but we would see memphis or what we called "tennessee wrassling" during the summers when we'd go visit my uncles&cousins in a lot of ways it was like wwf lite with all the comedy&cartoony stuff, they had the occasional good bloody brawl though
For those living in the Mid-South area who never saw Memphis Wrestling, thought it was something like a mud show. When we would see pictures of Lawler, he looked ridiculously similar to a "king' that was on Saturday morning TV for a cereal commercial. That was the only thing we knew about was Lawler. He still seems clownish.
The old timers and smart fans in STL referred to Memphis as "clown wrestling". Maybe that was a baseball throwback recall to the Memphis Clowns that also weren't serious.
is it simply because the memphis TV network was so small that publications didn't devote space because it ultimately was a fairly small audience? i mean that only comparitively to the Superstation, USA, WCCW and AWA's territory which had TVs broadcast international but Dutch is 100% right. I love watching old Memphis wrestling. It absolutely holds up. the talent they had was incredible. they were so influential in terms of angles, promos, gimmick matches. I mean they effectively created the hardcore match
Ole Anderson when he ran Georgia Territory called Memphis a "Dog and Pony Show" because he hated all the stipulations a match had because it wasn't serious to him. The NWA got upset Bill Apter put Jerry Lawler beats Andre on one of his covers of his magazine and at the NWA Convention Jerry Jarret and Lawler were hiding under the table because Vince Sr. wanted to know "who the hell booked this?" (source Jim Cornette)
I couldn't STAND wrestling as a kid growing up! Every Saturday, my dad watched wrestling in the 80s. It seemed so... fake. But there was a feud between Lawler and Bill Dundee and it caught me one weekend. I was hooked ever since. Believe i was 8. I was hooked all the way til about 2005. Stopped... And then picked up when Punk debuted in EC-dub from WWE. I stopped after Punk left. Skimmed it hete and there. Came back more when Roman FINALLY turned heel with Heyman. Been back 50% of the time since then...
Two things. Memphis never really shook the reputation Nick Gulas gave it. Also NWA promoters and their top stars also got the red ass when Memphis would air video montages of Jerry Lawler beating top stars after they syndicated around the country. It is said that was the reason Lawler was never even considered for even a short run with the NWA championship.
I'll have to disagree on this one Dutch.. A lot of wrestlers got their START here in Memphis. It was a huge training territory and I remember Memphis being in lots of magazines. Rock n roll express, the Fabs,sting/ warrior, the Moon Dogs, Eddie Gilbert, The Rock, Kamala, ECT...then they came back and out of loyalty to cuz Jerry they had a decent run before the end of career before most moved to Florida to retire.
Hulk Hogan as people seem to forget had a significant part of His Career happen in NWA Gulf Coast later Southeastern. In 1979 Gulf Coast standardbearer and WWE Hall of Fame inductee "Bullet" Bob Armstrong upset The Hulkster for The Gulf Coast Championship by pinfall in Mobile. Gulf Coast of course is where Dutch Mantell started out in the very early Seventies. Incidentally, has anyone ever noticed that you can take the Names of old NWA Territories and rename them as Airlines and not even skip a beat? Especially Joe and Tully Blanchard's Southwest for instance!😂😉🎤✈🛩🛬🤼♀️🤼♂️B.W.
Interesting footnote. Hulk Hogan started in memphis wrestling, NJPW and AWA before he was in WWF. In fact, Vince Sr had and lost Hulk after almost 2 years when Hulk went to japan. When he came back in 83, Vince jr had taken control. Knowing what we do about those two, I can bet backstage politicking and people like Dave meltzer gaining traction as a 'dirt sheet' writerby smearing the other promotions while shining lights on Vince's WWF certainly helped change the mindset.
Without looking it up, I think Hogan got his start in Florida wrestling, then went to Memphis in the late 70s. He was going by his name Terry Boulder then. But it was in Memphis that Jerry Jarret came up with the idea of him being called The Hulk. He would be listed as Terry "The Hulk" Boulder.
@@BrightStone-production CWA Memphis Show (May '79) May 14th 1979 Terry Boulder def. (DQ) The Mongolian Stomper (c) This was his first match from all the research i could find.
@@timomajere Yes, parts of that match are on RUclips. I was watching wrestling back in those days with my Grandfather, and I actually remember seeing him when he came to Memphis. It seems like he was there for only two or three months.
Dutch needs to understand the reason why he has this gig. Namely, it's the 21st century and kayfabe is long dead. In my few interactions with him online, I've noticed he has a bad habit of trying to bullshit people who know better. I'm seeing signs of that in this clip. He's one more person who expects everyone to believe that Lawler vs. Kaufman sold out when it didn't. The week before their first match saw Dutch face Lawler in a barbed wire match. That sold out. The following week sold 2,000 fewer tickets. Business wasn't really on fire for any of his other appearances, either. The 1983 appearances occurred during a serious downturn in business, which was only helped by Bill Dundee turning heel leading to losing a LLT match.
Never understood why they called Memphis (and Louisville and Evansville) Mid Southern when The CWA competed in The MID SOUTH Coliseum!😂😉🤦♂️🎼🎸🤴🤼♂️B.W.
@CoachDan123 Understandable. However much of Bill Watts's logistically illogical Mid South owes itself to the presence of Booker Bill Dundee, Terry Taylor, Adrian Street, The Rock and Roll Express, Lanny Poffo, Jim Cornette's Midnight Express, Eddie Gilbert, and Bladerunner Sting, among others. To a man jack they all pretty much started out or spent significant Career time in Memphis.😂😉🎤🎼🎸🤴🤼♂️B.W.
dallas had the best tv, by far. the syndicated show was better than every body else's, and the fort worth show that only showed in the Texas region was even better. memphis was covered by apter-- lawler, idol, fabs were pushed big in their magazines. sorry but nobody else was interesting. phil hickerson? dirty rhodes?? downtown bruno??? goh
![Felix "Unfair" | [Stray Kids : SKZ-PLAYER]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/Oswujxm2Ag0/mqdefault.jpg)
I started collecting the apter mags around 1985 and do remember Memphis coverage. I remember seeing Lawler, Downtown Bruno, Humongous, Bill Dundee in PWI
The guy is correct. Memphis territory got little to no coverage for most magazines during the mid to late 70's.
Correct. I remember one of the first stories I read about was the Funk-Lawlor match without a crowd.
Started collecting the Apter big 4 in late '86 early '87. Believed every word, 😂 Total mark.
I love the old Memphis videos
I feel the same, and I grew up and live in the area of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Thank GOD for RUclips.
Watched Memphis Wrestling in the 70s,80s and early 90s nothing came close there was a ton of top stars that went through Memphis and they kept it fresh and real. Some of the greatest angles were in Memphis. I miss Lance Russell and Dave Brown, way ahead of their time!!
There is no way to get people now to understand how great it was. When we were kids and someone was acting up someone would say come on Lawler like lance Russell would. It was a big deal to see Tommy Rich or Dutch or Bill Dundee. It was just a different time I guess but I am glad to have been in the midsouth coluesm many Monday nights and seen the best wrestling ever
I was just a youngster in the 1970's and all i remember was watching Da Crusher on saturday? Nights with my dad eating popcorn out of huge bags that would last a few weeks in Fond du Lac, WI on his tiny black and white TV followed by watching Dolly Parton before she was ever in any movies
I grew up in the Northeast and in the 1980’s my friends and I traded tapes with relatives in different parts of the country. We saw Mid Atlantic , Texas , Portland and - Especially- Memphis !! I always said we got the better of the deal! All they got from us was scrub matches ( unless Pipers Pit was on that week - that was Gold) We got some of the best action in the history of the sport ! Great times !
Memphis will never get the credit it deserves
It's because it's full of 🍉 s.
It gets the credit it deserves. It was a clown show, eating dog food, wearing dresses and chicken suits
@donjulio4025 sounds like your house
@@donjulio4025 Really? That "clown show" as you call it had some of the greatest wrestlers come through there or started there.
Memphis wrestling was more entertaining than any other territory. 100 times better than today's yawn fests.
Without Memphis, Vince McMahon wouldn't have had a platform to practice his future heel character
Like most people I bought the Apter Mags. I got to see Apter at a NWA wrestling convention in Fayetteville NC. We used to get USWA/Memphis here on Ch 62. I wanted to go to Memphis, but I didn't have to (Thank God) because Jerry Lawler and Jeff Jarrett were with WWE and they came to the Crown Arena in Fayetteville. I took lots of pictures that night. 😊
IIRC in the early 90s, PWI did cover USWA(what memphis turned into). I remember reading about Jeff Jarrett before he debuted in the WWF.
Talking Memphis Wrestling is a podcast every Tuesday Night streaming here on RUclips.
Another great teritory to not be covered by the mags is Ron Fuller's Southestern Championship Wrestling/Continental Championship Wrestling Knoxville Tn. & Birmingham Al. They were hot territories! Ron Fuller's Studcast gives a detailed history of SECW & CCW. Tues night's Randy Hales talks Memphis wrestling and Power pro Wrestling which took over after Jarrett closed.
I began reading the Apter mags in 1984 and that's how I discovered other territories, including Memphis. In fact, Memphis got good coverage in those publications during that time.
We had the best show in Memphis over all of the other territories to me!... I go back and watch some of the other territories nowadays on utube and I stand on that!!!
Jarrett and Lawler pissed off the guys in the NWA because they'd show edited clips on TV of Lawler "beating" all their top stars when they'd come into the territory. I think this was part of the reason why Jarrett didn't bring Harley Race back as NWA champion and switched to the AWA because Harley was pissed and threatened to shoot on Lawler in the ring for making them all look bad There was also the magazine article printed in I think one of the Apter publications on Lawler "beating" Andre, which infuriated Vince, Sr and he called them out at one of the NWA Conventions.
Lawler admitted it. He also said that he tried to sink down in his seat. Lawler could feel all the eyes on him.
ding ding ding.
In Virginia Beach for about 2 years we got ECW then USWA back to back on Saturdays. Then we'd go down to the strip on the Ocean Front and raise a little hell!
I once read that during the 80's, Lawler probably made more money than Flair and Hogan, taking everything into account.
I’m not sure anybody ever made more than Hogan. He printed money.
@99somerville I can believe that, I don't know how much research they put into it, but Lawler was up there, had a tv show, part owner of the territory, drawing big crowds at several arenas weekly, plus his artwork, Hogan didn't start printing money until the mid 80's, now if you start from there, it's no doubt.
Memphis was the best wrestling back in the day almost everyone wrestling went to the WWF
there was loads of coverage of memphis when i was growing up with my wrestling mags. lawler was always portrayed as a heel.
There shouldn't have been any bias against Memphis Wrestling. After all, many great wrestlers started off in Memphis(the Rock, Undertaker, Kurt Angle, Hulk Hogan, Randy Savage, Jeff Jarrett, etc.).
i came up with mid atlantic/crockett but we would see memphis or what we called "tennessee wrassling" during the summers when we'd go visit my uncles&cousins in a lot of ways it was like wwf lite with all the comedy&cartoony stuff, they had the occasional good bloody brawl though
We in California never got the shows from Memphis. Only got to see Northwest and Florida.
For those living in the Mid-South area who never saw Memphis Wrestling, thought it was something like a mud show. When we would see pictures of Lawler, he looked ridiculously similar to a "king' that was on Saturday morning TV for a cereal commercial. That was the only thing we knew about was Lawler. He still seems clownish.
The old timers and smart fans in STL referred to Memphis as "clown wrestling". Maybe that was a baseball throwback recall to the Memphis Clowns that also weren't serious.
Memphis especially when Gulas ran it was the place a wrestler went when he couldn’t get booked anywhere else.
Could also be Jimmy Hart's classic line "Dave Brown the Weather Clown".
Andy Kaufman actually WAS a comic gimmick-and that made it a PERFECT angle for Memphis.
is it simply because the memphis TV network was so small that publications didn't devote space because it ultimately was a fairly small audience? i mean that only comparitively to the Superstation, USA, WCCW and AWA's territory which had TVs broadcast international
but Dutch is 100% right. I love watching old Memphis wrestling. It absolutely holds up. the talent they had was incredible. they were so influential in terms of angles, promos, gimmick matches. I mean they effectively created the hardcore match
Bobby Shane died in the plane crash. That was a major moment for them.
Absolutely bias. Bret talked about it in book, was looked at as back woods, underage sex, incest territory
Ole Anderson when he ran Georgia Territory called Memphis a "Dog and Pony Show" because he hated all the stipulations a match had because it wasn't serious to him.
The NWA got upset Bill Apter put Jerry Lawler beats Andre on one of his covers of his magazine and at the NWA Convention Jerry Jarret and Lawler were hiding under the table because Vince Sr. wanted to know "who the hell booked this?" (source Jim Cornette)
I couldn't STAND wrestling as a kid growing up! Every Saturday, my dad watched wrestling in the 80s. It seemed so... fake. But there was a feud between Lawler and Bill Dundee and it caught me one weekend. I was hooked ever since. Believe i was 8. I was hooked all the way til about 2005. Stopped... And then picked up when Punk debuted in EC-dub from WWE. I stopped after Punk left. Skimmed it hete and there. Came back more when Roman FINALLY turned heel with Heyman. Been back 50% of the time since then...
What if you add Kurt Angle to the mix
seen lawler funk in many mags
Channel 5 Saturday mornings
Two things. Memphis never really shook the reputation Nick Gulas gave it. Also NWA promoters and their top stars also got the red ass when Memphis would air video montages of Jerry Lawler beating top stars after they syndicated around the country. It is said that was the reason Lawler was never even considered for even a short run with the NWA championship.
Freddy Krueger wants his hoodie back Dutch
I'll have to disagree on this one Dutch.. A lot of wrestlers got their START here in Memphis. It was a huge training territory and I remember Memphis being in lots of magazines. Rock n roll express, the Fabs,sting/ warrior, the Moon Dogs, Eddie Gilbert, The Rock, Kamala, ECT...then they came back and out of loyalty to cuz Jerry they had a decent run before the end of career before most moved to Florida to retire.
❤
Jerry didn’t care, he was more upset he wasn’t in the teen magazines.
the bias only kept king on top all the more
@ oh yeah he always on top…of some kid
as for 165lbs, my 165lb self would easily knock out my current 300lb self. just a mere 40 years ago!
Hulk Hogan as people seem to forget had a significant part of His Career happen in NWA Gulf Coast later Southeastern. In 1979 Gulf Coast standardbearer and WWE Hall of Fame inductee "Bullet" Bob Armstrong upset The Hulkster for The Gulf Coast Championship by pinfall in Mobile. Gulf Coast of course is where Dutch Mantell started out in the very early Seventies. Incidentally, has anyone ever noticed that you can take the Names of old NWA Territories and rename them as Airlines and not even skip a beat? Especially Joe and Tully Blanchard's Southwest for instance!😂😉🎤✈🛩🛬🤼♀️🤼♂️B.W.
You can weigh 185 but look bigger it's how you carry the weight, they can look over 200 pounds
Interesting footnote. Hulk Hogan started in memphis wrestling, NJPW and AWA before he was in WWF.
In fact, Vince Sr had and lost Hulk after almost 2 years when Hulk went to japan.
When he came back in 83, Vince jr had taken control.
Knowing what we do about those two, I can bet backstage politicking and people like Dave meltzer gaining traction as a 'dirt sheet' writerby smearing the other promotions while shining lights on Vince's WWF certainly helped change the mindset.
Without looking it up, I think Hogan got his start in Florida wrestling, then went to Memphis in the late 70s.
He was going by his name Terry Boulder then.
But it was in Memphis that Jerry Jarret came up with the idea of him being called The Hulk.
He would be listed as Terry "The Hulk" Boulder.
@@BrightStone-production CWA Memphis Show (May '79) May 14th 1979
Terry Boulder def. (DQ) The Mongolian Stomper (c)
This was his first match from all the research i could find.
@@timomajere Yes, parts of that match are on RUclips.
I was watching wrestling back in those days with my Grandfather, and I actually remember seeing him
when he came to Memphis. It seems like he was there for only two or three months.
Dutch needs to understand the reason why he has this gig. Namely, it's the 21st century and kayfabe is long dead. In my few interactions with him online, I've noticed he has a bad habit of trying to bullshit people who know better. I'm seeing signs of that in this clip. He's one more person who expects everyone to believe that Lawler vs. Kaufman sold out when it didn't. The week before their first match saw Dutch face Lawler in a barbed wire match. That sold out. The following week sold 2,000 fewer tickets. Business wasn't really on fire for any of his other appearances, either. The 1983 appearances occurred during a serious downturn in business, which was only helped by Bill Dundee turning heel leading to losing a LLT match.
Never understood why they called Memphis (and Louisville and Evansville) Mid Southern when The CWA competed in The MID SOUTH Coliseum!😂😉🤦♂️🎼🎸🤴🤼♂️B.W.
Because the Bill Watts Territory in Oklahoma/Louisiana was called The Mid-South.
@CoachDan123 Understandable. However much of Bill Watts's logistically illogical Mid South owes itself to the presence of Booker Bill Dundee, Terry Taylor, Adrian Street, The Rock and Roll Express, Lanny Poffo, Jim Cornette's Midnight Express, Eddie Gilbert, and Bladerunner Sting, among others. To a man jack they all pretty much started out or spent significant Career time in Memphis.😂😉🎤🎼🎸🤴🤼♂️B.W.
dallas had the best tv, by far. the syndicated show was better than every
body else's, and the fort worth show that only showed in the Texas region was even better. memphis was covered by apter-- lawler, idol, fabs were pushed big in their magazines. sorry but nobody else was interesting. phil hickerson? dirty rhodes?? downtown bruno??? goh
Lawler vs Kaufman never sold out the Coliseum
James, you're Great, But PLEASE stop milking Every lil bit of Dutch's content...It's too much dude!
Maybe give an example or two of what you're actually talking about?