Rants

Vince “stealing” talent

By Scott Keith on June 30, 2021

Hi Scott, besides other factors benefiting the rise of WWF in the mid-80s (production values, celebs, Wrestlemania supercard, merch, cartoons, Rock&Wrestling, SNME etc), how smart was Vince picking up some of the best talent from the territories during the new “modern” era? From late 83/early 84 on (Hogan, Piper, Okerlund, Heenan, Orndorff, Valentine, JYD, Hart Foundation, Bulldogs), continuing in 85 (Steamboat, Savage with Liz, Funk), he cherry-picked the studs, stars and excellent workers and/or characters out there.

Of course he continued doing so in 86/87 as well (Roberts, Duggan, DiBiase from Midsouth alone were great additions, plus Demolition, Martel, Bigelow etc).

Do you think he did it on his own, or did Pat or someone else help him recommend and hire (STEAL!!! /verne&crockett&watts) these guys?


He probably had people inside of all the territories stooging for him in exchange for jobs once he took over the area. Just look at Jim Barnett or what happened in Georgia, for example.

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