Post by codystarbuck on Sept 7, 2020 0:59:14 GMT -5
Been watching 1985 Southeastern Championship Wrestling, on Youtube, promoted by Ron Fuller and featuring Bullet Bob Armstrong. This was the time period when they renamed the promotion Continental Championship Wrestling and left the tv studio behind to tape the tv show at the Boutwell Auditorium, in Birmingham, AL. Charlie Platt had been the announcer for the studio wrestling, which featured a smaller ring and a desk, where everyone had to sit down, to do interviews and be in shot. It led to some weird staging, though it was a common set-up fpr territorial wrestling tv, for a couple of decades. Fuller had promoted Knoxville, as Southeastern Championship Wrestling, until the faction that broke away to form All-Star Wrestling, with Ronnie Garvin, Boris Malenko, Bob Roop, and Cowboy Bob Orton. That group linked up with the Poffos to form International Championship Wrestling, running in opposition to both Fuller and Jerry Jarrett, in Memphis. TYhe war killed Knoxville and it was never again a hot wrestling territory. meanwhile, Fuller had started developing wrestling in Pensacola, FL and Alabama and it was taking off. He sold the Knoxville end to Blackjack Mulligan and Ric Flair, who tried to run it with Mid-Atlantic undercard guys and some others, but it didn't work. Fuller built up SECW and it was successful for a while. This is where the Midnight Express debuted, with Randy Rose and Dennis Condrey, before moving to Memphis, with Norvell Austin as the third member.
Fuller always kept himself and his family at the center of things, with his Stud Stable heel faction, with various members, managed by Fuller, who also wrestled. Included, at different times, were brother Robert (aka Col Rob Parker and Tennessee Lee), cousin Jimmy Golden, the Flame (Jody Hamilton, under the same mask he wore as The Assassin, in Georgia, Mid-Atlantic and a couple of other spots, but different tights), Lord Humongus (one of several; I think this was Mike Stark; later, it was Sid Vicious), Arn Anderson (who had wrestled there before, under a mask, as Super Olympia, partnered with Mr Olympia, Jerry Stubbs), and some others. On the babyface side, you had The Universal Heartthrob Austin Idol (who also heeled there), Bullet Bob Armstrong, the RAT Patrol (Johnny Rich, cousin of Tommy "Wildfire" Rich; and Scott and Steve Armstrong), Mr Olympia and Porkchop Cash (who had been part of the bruise Brothers, in Memphis, with Troy "Dream Machine" Graham). Later, the former Galaxinas (managed by rookie Jim Cornette, in Memphis) came in as The Nightmares (Danny Davis and Ken Wayne) and feuded with the RAT Patrol, before eventually becoming faces and feuding with the Stud Stable.
The big change, aside from taping in an arena, was bringing in Gordon Solie as Host. Gordon had already been hosting Championship Wrestling from Florida and had been the voice of World Championship Wrestling, before Black Saturday and returned to host Ole Anderson's Championship Wrestling from Georgia, until Vince sold WCW tv slot to Jim Crockett. Solie also co-hosted Pro Wrestling This Week, with Joe Pedicino, until giving it up and Paul Heyman took over (as Paul E Dangerously). The debut program had ric Flair facing an undercard wrestler in an exhibition, which was the usual formula, with more competitive matches later and interview and video segments.
Continental, as it would now be known, was kind of top heavy with titles. They had the Continental title, the Southeastern title, the Alabama title, the US Jr hwt title and the Southeastern tag titles. They would soon rename the tag titles, but kept the Southeastern and Alabama titles going, under those names. Fuller did repurchase the Knoxville end and ran shows there, but the Gulf end was the money earner, for a time. However, as the 80s moved on, it declined and Fuller sold off to Dave Woods, who ran it as the Continental Wrestling Federation, with Eddie Gilbert booking it (with Paul Heyman managing and assisting with the booking). Exotic Adrian Street was a babyface there (!!!), in 1987, feauding with Hustler Rip Rogers, with both Miss Linda and Rip's valet/wife, Brenda Britton involved. Tony Anthony did his solo Dirty White Boy gimmick there (he had been half of the Dirty White Boys, in Memphis and Mid-South, with Len Denton, who he had teamed with, under masks, as the Grapplers) and feaud with Tom Pritchard, including an angle where Anthony hung Pritchard from the ring ropes. Kevin Sullivan was there for a time, with the New Zealand Headhunters, who were a pair of Samoans (I thought it was Tio and Tapu, of ICW; but, it appears they were a different pair), feuding with the Armstrongs. Brad popped in a bit, when he wasn't working for Georgia, Crockett or Mid-South.
Some good, old fashioned, Southern territorial wrestling, with good, straight ahead booking and mostly good workers (and some good talkers).
After Fuller sold out, he tried Knoxville, again, as USA Championship Wrestling, with Doug Furnas as his champion, the Rock and Roll RPMs as heel tag-team, Scott Armstrong and Bullet Bob wrestling (and Brian appearing in Marine uniform, as he was on active duty, as was I, at that point), Buddy Landell, Austin Idol, Ron Wright (as a manager), the Mongolian Stomper (Archie "Stomper" Gouldie, who was a Calgary mainstay, under his own name) and Johnny and Davy Rich. USA lasted about a year or so, before Fuller sold out. It was one of the last hurrahs for territorial wrestling, as CWF soon went under, Florida closed down permanently and Bill Watts sold the UWF to Crockett. Memphis was kind of the last territory standing, until the end of the 90s. Smokey Mountain had a short, but glorious life, in the 90s, as did ECW. The AWA went under by 1991. It was pretty much WWF and WCW, with ECW still swinging, until 2000. ECW went under and then WCW and it was only Vince and a lot of tiny indie promotions.
The uploader, Armstrong Alley, has Southeastern/Continental from 1984 through the end, plus CWF and USA Knoxville. Number of shows vary; but he has at least half or better for each year. He also has some of Puerto Rico from 1982-83 and 1990-91, some stuff from 1980 ICW/All-Star (when it began), a little of 1980 and 81 Southeastern and 1991 Memphis. None of this is owned by the WWE, which makes it about all they don't have, aside from the St Louis stuff, from Wrestling at the Chase, which Larry Matysik owned. They also don't own Memphis (that one is rather convoluted, as neither Jarrett nor Lawler own it, either), Southwest Championship Wrestling (which was sold to a group that has put out some footage, with Good Times Video) and Los Angeles, which died before home recording was common and only really bad footage is out there) and Portland (which doesn't have a ton out there, as they reused masters).
Check it out if you are curious about what wrestling was like in the 80s, away from the WWF.
Fuller always kept himself and his family at the center of things, with his Stud Stable heel faction, with various members, managed by Fuller, who also wrestled. Included, at different times, were brother Robert (aka Col Rob Parker and Tennessee Lee), cousin Jimmy Golden, the Flame (Jody Hamilton, under the same mask he wore as The Assassin, in Georgia, Mid-Atlantic and a couple of other spots, but different tights), Lord Humongus (one of several; I think this was Mike Stark; later, it was Sid Vicious), Arn Anderson (who had wrestled there before, under a mask, as Super Olympia, partnered with Mr Olympia, Jerry Stubbs), and some others. On the babyface side, you had The Universal Heartthrob Austin Idol (who also heeled there), Bullet Bob Armstrong, the RAT Patrol (Johnny Rich, cousin of Tommy "Wildfire" Rich; and Scott and Steve Armstrong), Mr Olympia and Porkchop Cash (who had been part of the bruise Brothers, in Memphis, with Troy "Dream Machine" Graham). Later, the former Galaxinas (managed by rookie Jim Cornette, in Memphis) came in as The Nightmares (Danny Davis and Ken Wayne) and feuded with the RAT Patrol, before eventually becoming faces and feuding with the Stud Stable.
The big change, aside from taping in an arena, was bringing in Gordon Solie as Host. Gordon had already been hosting Championship Wrestling from Florida and had been the voice of World Championship Wrestling, before Black Saturday and returned to host Ole Anderson's Championship Wrestling from Georgia, until Vince sold WCW tv slot to Jim Crockett. Solie also co-hosted Pro Wrestling This Week, with Joe Pedicino, until giving it up and Paul Heyman took over (as Paul E Dangerously). The debut program had ric Flair facing an undercard wrestler in an exhibition, which was the usual formula, with more competitive matches later and interview and video segments.
Continental, as it would now be known, was kind of top heavy with titles. They had the Continental title, the Southeastern title, the Alabama title, the US Jr hwt title and the Southeastern tag titles. They would soon rename the tag titles, but kept the Southeastern and Alabama titles going, under those names. Fuller did repurchase the Knoxville end and ran shows there, but the Gulf end was the money earner, for a time. However, as the 80s moved on, it declined and Fuller sold off to Dave Woods, who ran it as the Continental Wrestling Federation, with Eddie Gilbert booking it (with Paul Heyman managing and assisting with the booking). Exotic Adrian Street was a babyface there (!!!), in 1987, feauding with Hustler Rip Rogers, with both Miss Linda and Rip's valet/wife, Brenda Britton involved. Tony Anthony did his solo Dirty White Boy gimmick there (he had been half of the Dirty White Boys, in Memphis and Mid-South, with Len Denton, who he had teamed with, under masks, as the Grapplers) and feaud with Tom Pritchard, including an angle where Anthony hung Pritchard from the ring ropes. Kevin Sullivan was there for a time, with the New Zealand Headhunters, who were a pair of Samoans (I thought it was Tio and Tapu, of ICW; but, it appears they were a different pair), feuding with the Armstrongs. Brad popped in a bit, when he wasn't working for Georgia, Crockett or Mid-South.
Some good, old fashioned, Southern territorial wrestling, with good, straight ahead booking and mostly good workers (and some good talkers).
After Fuller sold out, he tried Knoxville, again, as USA Championship Wrestling, with Doug Furnas as his champion, the Rock and Roll RPMs as heel tag-team, Scott Armstrong and Bullet Bob wrestling (and Brian appearing in Marine uniform, as he was on active duty, as was I, at that point), Buddy Landell, Austin Idol, Ron Wright (as a manager), the Mongolian Stomper (Archie "Stomper" Gouldie, who was a Calgary mainstay, under his own name) and Johnny and Davy Rich. USA lasted about a year or so, before Fuller sold out. It was one of the last hurrahs for territorial wrestling, as CWF soon went under, Florida closed down permanently and Bill Watts sold the UWF to Crockett. Memphis was kind of the last territory standing, until the end of the 90s. Smokey Mountain had a short, but glorious life, in the 90s, as did ECW. The AWA went under by 1991. It was pretty much WWF and WCW, with ECW still swinging, until 2000. ECW went under and then WCW and it was only Vince and a lot of tiny indie promotions.
The uploader, Armstrong Alley, has Southeastern/Continental from 1984 through the end, plus CWF and USA Knoxville. Number of shows vary; but he has at least half or better for each year. He also has some of Puerto Rico from 1982-83 and 1990-91, some stuff from 1980 ICW/All-Star (when it began), a little of 1980 and 81 Southeastern and 1991 Memphis. None of this is owned by the WWE, which makes it about all they don't have, aside from the St Louis stuff, from Wrestling at the Chase, which Larry Matysik owned. They also don't own Memphis (that one is rather convoluted, as neither Jarrett nor Lawler own it, either), Southwest Championship Wrestling (which was sold to a group that has put out some footage, with Good Times Video) and Los Angeles, which died before home recording was common and only really bad footage is out there) and Portland (which doesn't have a ton out there, as they reused masters).
Check it out if you are curious about what wrestling was like in the 80s, away from the WWF.