I moved to Va Beach in Dec 1974, after living in WWWF areas my whole life, and after a month, I was like, "Man I have been missing out." I remember like it was yesterday, Bob Caudle, ---- Davey Crocket's announcing partner, would refer to the young up and comers as, "Young lions." You all would be shocked how many times I sat in front of our TV set and watched Ric Flair referred to as a "young lion," or as the Mid Atlantic TV champion ---- the least prestigious title in the area at the time, or as Johnny Valentine's protoge' before the plane crash. Wrestling on late afternoon Saturdays was must see TV. Thanks to Jim Cornette, the world's preeminent professional wrestling historian.

@cruznewz6396

3 жыл бұрын

Osum, Glory days of wrestling. Fantastic memories gathering around the tv with friends & family. Remember Rabbit Ears to tune in station. Prior to cable of course. We had to worry if a car was idling outside house it would interfere with reception. Great memories.... Cruzer In Ct

In Ontario Canada, I got to see both while growing up in the 70s snd 80s and always loved the mid Atlantic NWA stuff the most!

Sat afternoon at Roanoke Civic Center, Great memories!! Heels like Ivan Koloff and Paul Jones would scare me and my little brother out in the parking lot when trying to get autograph, just awesome!

The map bit is gold. Haha

I was in my teens at the time and it was a great time to be a wrestling fan of all the territories and living in DC and seeing the Mid Atlantic, Georgia Championship Wrestling and Crocketts NWA. What a time to be alive!

I met Chief McDaniel once, a true class act all the way.

We use to go see all of the mid atlantic stars at charleston county hall in S.C. in the 70s

EVERY Monday night starting late 70's to late 80's = The Greenville Memorial Auditorium in South Carolina. Wrestling heaven!

@MegaSammy70

8 жыл бұрын

+chazatlas That's where they had the big cage match back in '83 between Sgt.Slaughter/Don Kernodle vs Ricky Steamboat/Jay Youngblood,and had to turn fans away because the auditorium was full.

@Wadzillia

6 жыл бұрын

Amen!!

I swear JJ Dillion could be Bobby Heenan's brother.

@frankbonini9128

3 жыл бұрын

Or a Crockett Brother

Jim Crockett Promotions started airing here in Philly back in late 1984. What an amazing brand of pro-wrestling they put on. Ultimately, the blame of any company's demise has to be attributed to the owner.

I'm so lucky to have lived in N.C. and witnessed it

I'd watch that. It would be great to see how this organization rose to such great heights. Most people think wcw whenever Crockett is brought up but it was around for a looong time before & very successful.

Rey Mysterio was just released by WWE. I hope Kayfabe is gonna make him an offer!

I want to see the whole thing sometime.

I would love to just have a chance to see Cornette's collection of memorabilia sometime. It seems like it must be amazing based on what he says.

@bladestormviking

7 жыл бұрын

there's some video of him showing off his collection to Bobby Heenan here on youtube.

I live in Concord (a suburb of Charlotte) and it is cool to hear them speak about the area.

As ive said PLEASE can we have an Australian territory doco-it was huge in the 60s 70s and early 80s -crrokwett i think ran it -and all the big names came to town -at good old Saturday nite at frestive hall -pls !!!!!

@iang8169

4 ай бұрын

It was the most successful territory in fhe world until jim Barnett sold it to tony coloni in 73 , a guy who had no experience in the wrestling business and then it went down hill from there until 78 when it lost all of its tv and basically went out of business

I loved so much mid Atlantic

jim crockett was a lot like sam muchnick... he respected wrestling and thought of it as a sport... and respected the fans....

Spartanburg SC represent!

@TL2354

4 жыл бұрын

Shut up

@imahustla5029

4 жыл бұрын

The hometown of Zion Williamson

I like Jim talking about stuff he likes

How can you not respect Crockett as a promoter and business man he didn't flash and show off his wealth unlike Vince

@hillbillywilly9167

5 жыл бұрын

Shawn Afshar I agree. However, JC's spending ultimately got him in trouble (2 jets, Dallas office etc.) so it's easy to see the line of thought that he did show it.

@sammys70

5 жыл бұрын

@@hillbillywilly9167 In know Jim Crockett Jr made a huge mistake when he bought out Bill Watts and then moved the company's office to Dallas,TX....I read that David Crockett was furious with his older brother for doing that,and also when he sold the company to Ted Turner.

@TL2354

4 жыл бұрын

He went bankrupt and had to sell, you respect that? You’re a fuckin idiot

@jonathanturbide2232

4 жыл бұрын

No doubt we all should respect Jim Crockett senior, but his two idiotic sons David and Jim Crockett jr doesn't deserve our respect at all. These clowns bankrupted the promotion in a matter of years and destroyed everything that their dad spent decades building, they were the worst promoters of all time.

I've always wondered why the angle with the Midnight Express and Arn Anderson and Tully Blanchard was cut off so soon.

@travisw3131

7 жыл бұрын

because Arn and Tully were going to wwe.

@bladestormviking

7 жыл бұрын

arn&tully went to wwf because "fuck dusty, fuck jim herd, and fuck turner broadcasting" (at least that's what tully had to say, arn followed him out of unit loyalty)

@harryzimmerman7991

5 жыл бұрын

JIM DUMBFUCK HERD!

@chadk890

4 жыл бұрын

@DICK LONG Herd wasn't in the NWA in 88,it was Crockett who didn't pay Tully and Arn as much as The Road Warriors or Luger.Herd was there in 89 and balked of the deal to bring Tully and Arn back cause Tulley failed a drug test in the WWF in 89.Arn got less money to go back, Tully never returned which was a shame

soooooooooo awesome! I grew up in Oklahoma watching both Mid-South(Cowboy Bill Watts) and World Class(Von Erichs) out of Texas, but on Saturdays we would watch Georgia Championship Wrestling, which later became(sort of) WCW...

@TonyHookedonVanlife

8 жыл бұрын

jack deez they also wanted to be more 'general' with the name so as to dispel the possible perception that they were 'just a Southern thing'.

@TonyHookedonVanlife

8 жыл бұрын

jack deez in my opinion, 1) guaranteed contracts, and 2) letting the 'inmates run the asylum'. *Combining* those two was a recipe for disaster. I am all for the athletes getting all they are worth and I think they should unionize ASAP. When you have guaranteed money whether you even show or not, AND people who are about getting themselves over AT THE EXPENSE of the very company they work for, there's nothing good that can come from that... Have you heard of this 'favored nations clause' thing? It basically means if you have a contract for X amount of dollars, and some other guy comes in making more, you immediately have the right to have YOUR contract re-negotiated. while that may be great for the talent, that's absolutely ludicrous for the company, in my opinion. I know for a fact that both Hall and Nash had these, so I am sure Hogan had it too. Hell, I remember hearing about someone discussing his angle with the office and the company man kept having to run it by Hogan first - and he wasn't even in the angle! That's just nuts. There was some great stuff in WCW for awhile, but man, it got baaaad at the end.

@TonyHookedonVanlife

8 жыл бұрын

jack deez what's your opinion of Vince Russo & his time at WCW? Did he sell em a bill of goods about his time at WWF to get the job? I've heard it said he had a case of 'booker's syndrome'- that's why he ended up putting himself on-air... (Dana White of the UFC is ate up baaad with this. Surrounded by tough guys all day so he wants to act like he's tough too. LOL)

@jamesjohnson8422

6 жыл бұрын

Fishing, Gaming & Guitars It just wasn't GCW. Mid-Atlantic was snatched up as well

@joespitler3929

5 жыл бұрын

Fishing, Gaming & Guitars up here in Boston we had WWF & WCCW On Saturday mornings and Crockett on TBS at 6:05 Saturday night

cant wait for my check to come in. looks awesome.

It takes a certain kind of guy to wear a t-shirt with their own face on it. And to think he accuses Vince Russo of shameless self-promotion.......

Best Wrestling Territory History Docu Series Ever Released! James Cornette, His knowledge of the inner workings of each territory is fascinating. Cornette, is known to keep impeccable records from fan attendance stats, gate grosses, tv ratings etc. I wish I could afford every dvd. Its little expensive considering how many titles there are. ☆☆☆☆☆

Cornette face as the travel icon XD!

damn right this is what i grew up on at legion stadium in wilmington

Back in 75 I stood at the bad guy curtain, Gene was watching a match an he kept closing the curtain on me but he reached under the curtain and gave me an autograph!!!!!

The opinions on Ole Anderson from people who dealt with him seem to be very different, one either loves him and says that he was successful or hates him and says that he can't draw and was one of the worst bookers ever.

@StevieHyperD2

9 жыл бұрын

He's a racist asshole from what i hear

@Kayspaify

9 жыл бұрын

StevieHyperD2 Yeah, that also.

@yardape99

9 жыл бұрын

StevieHyperD2 Doesn't mean he didn't know what he was doing.

@MattyTheJet

9 жыл бұрын

***** He's really held onto that for 30+ years at this point, wild. But I do think Ole gets way too much blame for some of the shit that went wrong during the Jim Turd era and I also think that Vince's Hall of Fame is way too political and it's importance is overblown.

@sinfulways1492

8 жыл бұрын

+Kayspaify He booked for years an years do you think anyone who backed him would allow him to book if money was not coming in by the boat loads>? I read also he was racist an i read he was fair so idk what to believe on that one. I think he was good an getting people who were better than him around him as the old saying goes you are only as good as the people around you so that made him look good at all times. I am from NC an i can remember as a child meeting a few of these men an some were nice an some were annoyed by me coming up to them an pretty much said fuck off lol. I remember as a kid standing in line for what seemed to be forever just to get in to the matches an after they were done just a line of lights of all the cars waiting to leave so they were making tons of money back then.

Looks fantastic.

Always love these shoots

This looks absolutely amazing. I'm in NC. Just take my money, kay?

Yea why wasn't the NWA logo on the big gold belt?

@travismcdonald6576

9 жыл бұрын

ELQPromotions Word is that was Jim Crockett's doing. By the end of 1985, Crockett was the NWA, in the sense that they were the only territory under the NWA banner that had any relevance. Crockett was tired of sending Flair to the other territories, as it was costing revenue in his territory. He kept Flair exclusively by late 85 and told the other promoters that if they wanted Flair, it would cost them, as opposed to the old system where promoters were given a certain number to book the NWA champ. Crockett wanted a bigger, flashier belt, and that was the big gold belt. Considering that a lot of old promoters had jerked him around and thumbed their nose at him after he took over from his father, Crockett leaving off the NWA logo was probably a little jab at them. And to be honest, by this point, the name Jim Crockett Promotions had trumped the NWA mantra.

More you gotta show more!

This was epic. Keep up the good work.

Great job on these

Say it again what was so cool about the territories is you didn't really know who all these Wrestlers were this left a Mystique so you get the books and you would look at the top 5 tag teams the top five wrestlers in the world and you might catch a video on one or two of them or going to visit and watch them but that was awesome I love that time is around 85

Wow! This is as good as bought! Thanks.

Wow, JJ is in his 70s?

I thought the WWE bought all the Mid-Atlantic footage? Or did they only get the footage of Mid-Atlantic that WCW had in their possession?

@Your_Friend_Adam

9 жыл бұрын

I don't know, but I would imagine that is correct. The footage you see here is probably from Cornette's personal collection. Here's the Wikipedia page covering the WWE Library. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WWE_Libraries

@Mr.Am-Ace-Ing

9 жыл бұрын

Cornette has admitted multiple times to having a collection of fan shot wrestling tapes.

@yardape99

9 жыл бұрын

Nathan Lickliter I read that he got footage that was about to be thrown in the trash from a janitor at the Mid-Atlantic office.

@DrE2555

9 жыл бұрын

yardape99 yep

How can I get all of these?

As wrestling fans we would be better off if the business was still territorial. First off competition and more options to watch. Another reason is that we would have better performers! You're working every night or almost every night which helps you learn better and quicker. That makes the talent,creative staff,etc. be more motivated to come up with something fresh so that they don't get "stale". Also the talent could go to different territories and what the fans in one territory like the fans in another territory may not. So you had to get over with those crowds. There's a reason why some of the best ever came from the old territory days and just about none of these guys today can follow them.

@bladestormviking

7 жыл бұрын

it's coming back. WWE making "working arrangements" with places like ROH, new japan and PWG is going a long way towards making indy wrestling viable again

And to think, if the reunions draw more fans than the current wrestling shows, what does that tell ya? It tells ya to BRING BACK THE TERRITORY'S cos the fans have spoken. And if they ever WERE to bring em back, wrestling would be KING once again. But I won't hold my breath on it coming back, cos nowadays wrestling is that "G" Rated punk'y Justin Bieber & John Cena Bullshit. All I can say is, I'm sure glad I was here to see the Territory's in person back in the day, cos today's fans haven't a clue to what all they missed. Which in hindsight is good for me & bad for them, cos it was something special.

@defiantone8556

8 жыл бұрын

+Neh “Fegelein” Pipo Yea, but this was a reunion of the territory's of which, are no more. That was the point I was making.

@defiantone8556

8 жыл бұрын

+Neh “Fegelein” Pipo If you say so. All I know is, the territory's are no more.

Jimmy,"Camelot"was a myth.MID ATLANTIC WAS REAL,and I'll never forget it,I'll go in the fucking dirt saying that was the Greatest Wrestling I ever saw.

Very disappointed jj left out Monday in Greenville South Carolina

It's a shame you couldn't have used something southern rock for your music, when covering the southern territories. Skynyrd's, "Gimme Back My Bullets" would've been most fitting.

purchased last week on wwnlive but I found the old footage boring no offence maybe I'll get back into it but that's my initial impression I enjoyed Mid South with Duggan better

Between 84-89, Mid Atlantic / WCW WAS PRO WRESTLING !!! No one looked at anything out of NY as anything but cartoon rip-off bullshit during this time frame.....

JJ Dillon will spend more time telling you what he won't discuss than discussing much anything of any real interest . Why agree to discuss behind the scenes but not discuss the the heart of matters ? Or better yet , why have him as a guest ?

@chadk890

3 жыл бұрын

What did you him to say?

I hate vince for killing the territories

@yardape99

9 жыл бұрын

It's even worse than that. The wrestling that remains is so campy and a giant fuck you to fans that grew up watching other wrestling products with no sign of anything superior replacing it. You have companies with midget wrestling or WWE copycats as all that is left. It is truly a deplorable state.

@RWright2006

9 жыл бұрын

The territories would have died anyway.

@StevieHyperD2

9 жыл бұрын

How so? Or are you just trying to be extra smarky and individual?

@RWright2006

9 жыл бұрын

Can you really look at the world and the way it is today, especially in America, and tell me with a straight face that the territorial system and kayfabe could still exist and strive in 2015?

@StevieHyperD2

9 жыл бұрын

No not kayfabe but perhaps a completely different product than we know today. Could still be pro wrestling instead of sports entertainment

Mid Atlantic sucked because it wasn't PG. PG is the only way to be. Ryback is a legend.

@chadk890

4 жыл бұрын

🤡

Not to shit on Cornette, but if he's so polished in all this and desires a better product, he could start a promotion up. He's done it before. For example, you take the Southern states and throw in Texas. You take a promotion through there and get a tv deal, they'd have enough to give Vince a helluva time.

@yardlet6

8 жыл бұрын

Smoky Mountain was funded by Rick Rosen of Def Jam records. You need a baker also the wrestling show were sold like ads in tv stations. That time is gone. Infomercials are less to run than wrestling.

@chrischar9428

Жыл бұрын

@@yardlet6 rubin