definitely agree. Its hard to compare $$$ totals as there was a shift in how drawing power was measured over the years, along with more understanding of how to market(which works for a lot of different things over the years)

In regards to saying wrestlers wrestle a lot less now then back in the 60's and 70's when they wrested 5-6 times a week, what about the fact that movesets were far more limited at least in most US territories as compared to now? I doubt there were any main eventers doing Swanton bombs, SSPs, Vertebreakers, 420 splashes or other dangerous high-risk moves. Didn't the outside floor around the ring have gym mats usually too, instead of nothing or little padding like now? And there definitely weren't TLC/ladder/Hell In The Cell/Elimination Chamber/Inferno matches then either (though obviously Street Fights/Cage matches were still fairly violent), but nevertheless, guys weren't taking epic bumps like 20 feet off the cage onto a truck/announce table/through the cage into the ring. So I think today's wrestlers have it a lot harder than some of these other guys that wrestled more technical styles 5-6 times a week that weren't constantly going through tables or off ladders.

ladder matches were a staple of stampede for a long time. In fact it was bret that introduced it to Vince. There have been violent matches throughout wrestling. Obviously moves have been innovated since then and moves will continue to be innovated. So comparing movesets is near impossible. Guys were a fair amount stiffer in their work back in the day though, so while the moves may not be as complex, they certainly did hurt

there really wasn't much padding on the floor back then either. The WWF has special flooring set up on the outside of the ring nowadays and there is general padding on the floor in TNA as well


where today's wrestlers have it a lot harder then those back in the day is the travel. Its gotten better since the 80s when traveling for Vince was ****ing brutal, but its still pretty rough, and that takes a good toll on a lot of guys

ric flair talking about wahoo mcdaniel

.

QFT, in capitals to show just how true this really is.

No, there aren't those matches every week but there are plenty of each sans the Inferno match on PPVs each year

Except we aren't giving the same credit to those guys. That's why Kerry Von Erich went after 100 or so picks and Hulk Hogan went in the top 5.

Come on. The vast majority of matches have regular stipulations. If you want to argue that wrestling in ECW was tougher I'll give you that, but modern WWE is pretty light.

I don't know much about wrestling but I was a huge Jericho fan when he was in WCW

some of his best work:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N_ORMwh3uHo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_hn9j7fTVow



Oh man when he carried that Malenko picture around it used to kill me

MR BORE US MALENKO

rofl

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lHcIgGFVQvU

I could watch Jericho promos all day

i am giving credit to those guys, hence why i selected some of the guys in the spots i did. this is the disagreement i had with the untouchable, with him disallowing ROH. to allow the old school regional main eventers, not allowing groups like ROH boggles my mind.

i know he said that ecw != roh, which i disagree with. ill even argue that roh does = awa and wccw.

that said, the rules have been in place since the start. just let people pick who and how they want. discuss the picks, lets not bitch and moan about old school vs new school. there is greatness in both the old and the new.

How does ROH = AWA or WCCW? There is not a single place in the country where ROH is the #1 promotion. AWA and WCCW did have that distinction in the midwest and Texas. Since those promotions were not very big however in comparison to the NWA (and to a lesser and probably incorrect extent WWWF), those guys fell pretty far.

I agree with the last statement wholeheartedly though.

Wrestling was big in many areas of the country. But, because of protected territories, a guy who's big in one area could be unknown in another area of the country. Missouri, California, Texas, Florida, Georgia, and Minnesota all had important territories back in the day.

Here's how the territory system worked back in the day. Each territory had it's own champ, it's own TV show and it's own wrestling shows. (And back then, TV was used to sell arena seats, the opposite of how it is today). So, Florida would have a champ like Dusty Rhodes, a mega over face. Missouri would have Harley Race, the Carolinas had Flair, Texas had the Von Erichs. The territories got together and created a "world" champion who would travel between territories and fight their champs. So one of the most important things in the 70s and 80s was to have a champ who could work as both a heel and a face. Because each territory may have a face or a heel as a champ at any time. They also had to be able to work in various different styles. This is why Rhodes and Von Erich had such short reigns at the top and why Race and Flair had long reigns. (Also, e.g., the Florida promoters wanted to keep Rhodes because he was so valuable).

The territory system worked fine until Vince Jr. decided that cable TV could turn wrestling from a regional game to a national game. So he started buying up territories. Crockett did the same thing with the NWA. Fast forward to the 90s and the territories are gone, replaced by WCW and WWE. A decade later and WCW can't keep up, resulting in a single big national promotion and a few other contenders that aren't nearly as big.

well, the NWA wasn't exactly a concrete promotion until the 80s, it was a looseish confederation of territories with a voting board that decided on the main champ

actually thinking about it, roh does not = awa because the era i was thinking of is not the only time they were around. awa was huge for years during the regional times.

but the area that roh does have on wccw is its nation wide. wccw was big in the texas area, but not so much in the northeast. roh has run very successfull shows from boston to detriot, toronto to orlando, and soon in phoenix and LA. you said that roh has never been #1 in one area, ill say that wccw wouldent be #3 in the country right now.

read other contenders as mainly tna and roh.

has the spread sheet been updated? who is up?

it has, and unless there's some trade, Jack Bando's up.

This might give you a feel for how often guys wrestled in different generations. If not, it's at least a cool link.

The Records of N.W.A. World Heavyweight Championship Matches

Be sure to check out Flair's schedule in 1982.

so then your arguement is wrestling more often because there was not as much exposure > wrestling weekends only because people can see you just about every week on tv.

I wasn't making any argument at all. I was providing a link.

You guys are doing a good job with this thread even though picks are slowing down. I'm definitely learning a lot about the business.

A lot of this stuff is really fun reading and/or watching.

Jim Cornette can tell a story like no other, because there's a true passion he feels for pro wrestling and everything about it.

Since both David and Kerry Von Erich have gone (in the draft), I feel this would be safe to post.

Jim Cornette talks World Class Championship Wrestling
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YSXg-d0jboM