Question(s) about the death of the territories…
By Scott Keith on June 14, 2013
Hey Scott,
I was thinking about the death of the territories and thought this could be an interesting blog topic.
Let's say Vince either doesn't take over the WWF or doesn't try to take the company national and kill the territory system, who do you think would have been the next promoter/promotion to try to go national? Do you think they would have succeeded? How much longer do you think it would have taken for a company to try to replicate the success Vince wound up having?
I'm not old enough to be familiar with the territorial system (I turn 26 last night), but I enjoy watching and researching pre-WWF expansion wrestling and man, I wish I could time travel and go to shows back then. The way everyone speaks about those days, it seems like there was such an emotional attachment of fans to wrestlers/company that just doesn't exist anymore. I also think that the death of the territorial system has wound up hurting wrestling long term since wrestlers today don't have the same resources to utilize in terms of training and seasoning. I think Vince just kind of assumed that there would always be an influx of new talent and it'd never dry up, but it kind of has. I don't want to sound like the bitter old man rambling about how much better things were back in his day, but it seems like there was just a deeper talent pool 25+ years ago than there is today.
Cheers,
Pete
Well, I mean, Jim Crockett DID go national, although he ended up selling to Turner as a result. Bill Watts absolutely would have succeeded but for circumstances beyond his control, namely the collapse of the oil industry and Vince McMahon being a giant douchenozzle.
Thing is though, the territory system was gonna die either way, so if dinosaurs like Verne Gagne couldn't adapt to it, it was best they died off when they did. It had certain advantages with training and fan loyalty, but the transition to the PPV/TV model was like an atomic bomb on the wrestling scene that changed the way everyone had to do business to stay viable.
Sure, as a fan I miss going through the Apter mags and reading about crazy stuff going on in Continental or Tri-State or whatever, but even then as a fan there was a certain feeling of "Man, I really like these guys, I hope NWA or WWF snaps them up so I can watch them on TV every week."
Maybe someday WWE will collapse in itself due to a black hole of irony forming when they air one too many self-contradictory "Did You Know…" segments and territories will crop up again from the remnants. But then TNA would be the #1 company and I DON'T WANT TO LIVE IN THAT WORLD!
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