the reason i say this is i saw a old clip of wrestlermania I, and you had the likes of Hogan, Mr T, Roddy Rod Piper, and celebs like Muhammad Ali, Billy Martin and even Liberace at Madison Square Garden. I know that McMahon had the knack for flare and theatrics, but as a kid living during that time i knew it was a big thing ( wrestling that is) but adding the Local matches at the Mid South Colosseum with the King (Lawyer) and the likes of such notables as the Moon dogs...... .. How big was it towards the general population nationwide?

Not as big as it was in the late 90's when it ruled the world. I would wager that it was pretty big though.

Dak10 Wrote:Not as big as it was in the late 90's when it ruled the world. I would wager that it was pretty big though.

you say that and i can see your point but i remember a story about some grannies standing outside ticket offices getting tickets for the main saturday night event at the Colosseum back in the day... you just don't see that today for probably any event

From like 97 to 99 Raw and Nitro were combining for about a 12 rating on Monday nights. All three of WWE's weekly shows and TNA's weekly show can't combine to reach that 12. They rarely even combine to reach what Raw averaged in 99.

I would say Wrestling was bigger in the mid 80s than the late 90s.

In the 80s, you could read about Hogan vs. Andre the Giant matches in any sports page in the country. Wrestlemania 3 was in front of 93,000 people. I don't know if they could've drawn quite that big of a crowd in 1996, but possibly.

I think WM in Houston, that featured The Rock vs. Steve Austin drew "only" 68,000.

BigTigerMike Wrote:

Dak10 Wrote:Not as big as it was in the late 90's when it ruled the world. I would wager that it was pretty big though.

you say that and i can see your point but i remember a story about some grannies standing outside ticket offices getting tickets for the main saturday night event at the Colosseum back in the day... you just don't see that today for probably any event

weren't the matches at the coliseum on Monday nights and they had the matches on TV on Saturdays?

I was there the night Jerry Lawler wrestled Andy Kaufman.

The Mid-South Coliseum was completely sold out.

There were a lot of nights like that back then.








BTW, it was MONDAY night wrestling not Saturday.

I always enjoy watching the cage matches. They remind me of home.

the other Greg Childers Wrote:I was there the night Jerry Lawler wrestled Andy Kaufman.

The Mid-South Coliseum was completely sold out.

There were a lot of nights like that back then.








BTW, it was MONDAY night wrestling not Saturday.

were you one of those who thought wrestling was real?

TigerInPrisonWithAnIphone Wrote:

BigTigerMike Wrote:

Dak10 Wrote:Not as big as it was in the late 90's when it ruled the world. I would wager that it was pretty big though.

you say that and i can see your point but i remember a story about some grannies standing outside ticket offices getting tickets for the main saturday night event at the Colosseum back in the day... you just don't see that today for probably any event

weren't the matches at the coliseum on Monday nights and they had the matches on TV on Saturdays?

Right it was Monday Nights , now i remember but speaking of local wrestling what ever happen to the Dirty White Boys?

BigTigerMike Wrote:

TigerInPrisonWithAnIphone Wrote:

BigTigerMike Wrote:

Dak10 Wrote:Not as big as it was in the late 90's when it ruled the world. I would wager that it was pretty big though.

you say that and i can see your point but i remember a story about some grannies standing outside ticket offices getting tickets for the main saturday night event at the Colosseum back in the day... you just don't see that today for probably any event

weren't the matches at the coliseum on Monday nights and they had the matches on TV on Saturdays?

Right it was Monday Nights , now i remember but speaking of local wrestling what ever happen to the Dirty White Boys?

Forget about the Dirty White Boys! Whatever happened to the Dirty White Girl??? Oooooooolahlah!

TigerInPrisonWithAnIphone Wrote:

BigTigerMike Wrote:

TigerInPrisonWithAnIphone Wrote:

BigTigerMike Wrote:

Dak10 Wrote:Not as big as it was in the late 90's when it ruled the world. I would wager that it was pretty big though.

you say that and i can see your point but i remember a story about some grannies standing outside ticket offices getting tickets for the main saturday night event at the Colosseum back in the day... you just don't see that today for probably any event

weren't the matches at the coliseum on Monday nights and they had the matches on TV on Saturdays?

Right it was Monday Nights , now i remember but speaking of local wrestling what ever happen to the Dirty White Boys?

Forget about the Dirty White Boys! Whatever happened to the Dirty White Girl??? Oooooooolahlah!

...................................

If you're talking nationally, like Dak10 said, the late 90's were a boom period for the business like it had never before seen. McMahon got his company on the map by bringing in those types of celebrities in the mid 80's, but the late 90's era of Austin, Rock, nWo, Goldberg, and DX was on another level. TV ratings were never higher. You saw wrestling t-shirts being sold at different stores in every mall in the country. For whatever reason, that particular time period was when it all clicked for both the WWF (as it was known back then) and WCW.

The local scene was a completely different animal. The Coliseum was packed week in and week out throughout the 70's and 80's. There's not another event out there that could run for as many years as Memphis wrestling did, every single week, and consistently sell out a building like the Mid South Coliseum as often as they did.

The death of kayfabe pretty much spelled the death of local wrestling in this area. How many people in this city swore that Jerry Lawler and Andy Kaufman truly hated each other? How many couldn't wait for Lawler to come back and give those arrogant jerks, Tommy Rich and Austin Idol, what they had coming to them? People laid their money down to see these kind of issues get resolved.

As for these days, WWE is very much in a slump, mainly from the lack of competition from another company, and the local wrestling scene is completely dead.

TigerInPrisonWithAnIphone Wrote:

the other Greg Childers Wrote:I was there the night Jerry Lawler wrestled Andy Kaufman.

The Mid-South Coliseum was completely sold out.

There were a lot of nights like that back then.








BTW, it was MONDAY night wrestling not Saturday.

were you one of those who thought wrestling was real?

No, but for $5 admission wrestling was entertaining.

I found the intro to wrestlemania I - It was raw excitement by the fans even though it was fake..........Liberace

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N2LNmaTuz...elated....

Wrestling was big business three decades ago. The difference was there were local territories and a half dozen companies like the NWA, AWA, etc. for wrestlers to work. Now there is virtually no competition for Vince other than the Jarretts. There are some pockets out there of small companies but the tv drives the engine now, not the fan. The WCW/WWE rivalry was good for everyone until the Turner folks got stupid and paid Vince Russo too much money and let him chase away the WCW's biggest stars. McMahon ended up buying everything in sight to shut down the WCW brand. He owns the video, owns everything that was AWA, and even owns the names that many of the stars use. He plans on a 24 hour channel of nothing but wrestling, lol.
The old glory days of the Coliseum were coupled with Tuesday in Louisville and Wednesday in Evansville which also had nice houses but the money is not like today. Lawler had years of $120,000(late 70's)and that was good while now it is routine for stars to command up to a $2,000,000 per year. That is why "the Rock" opted out since he made more money from merchandies than from wrestling...same for Hulk Hogan. One thing that is deceiving about the tv broadcasts. If the ticket sales are light they move the crowd to one side of the building and never show the empty side. Many of the houses you see on the WWF now are half full and not as full as they show on the broadcast.
The days of Austin Idol, Jimmy Valiant, and Lawler are memories locally and tv has killed that type of company structure. My biggest hope is that Vince gets his channel up and we can see the Gorodon Solie, Tony Schiavonie, Rick Flair, and Horseman days of old as well as the Texas companies that featured the Von Erich family. That would be cool.

TigerInPrisonWithAnIphone Wrote:were you one of those who thought wrestling was real?

Wrestling is not real? Well, it was when I was young.

Strat57 Wrote:My biggest hope is that Vince gets his channel up and we can see the Gorodon Solie, Tony Schiavonie, Rick Flair, and Horseman days of old as well as the Texas companies that featured the Von Erich family. That would be cool.

Dude, get the channel if you can. It's freaking awesome and the best $7.95 you'll spend all month.

As a lifelong wrestling fan, I think Dak and Strat brought up the best points -- the ratings circa 1999 and the territories.

Wrestling late 90s vs. mid 80s isn't quite apples and oranges, but pretty close. Even in 1985, WWF was still basically thought of as the New York territory.

Growing up in south MS, in a given week I would watch: WWF, AWA (ESPN), WCCW (Dallas, syndication), Mid-South/UWF (syndication), NWA (TBS), Continental (Birmingham, Mobile station), Florida (syndication), Memphis (syndication on a one week TV delay); plus other promotions that would pop up. About the only big territory at the time I didn't have access to was Portland and they were kinda dying out at the time as Roddy Piper and Buddy Rose were long gone. Fast forward to 1999 and it's WWF and WCW. Fast forward to 2008 and it's WWE and TNA.

If you add up the ratings of what I got to watch in the mid-80s I guarantee it's much higher than 1999 which is much higher than 2008. Of course, there were a lot fewer TV options in 1986-87 (as there were in 1999, compared to today).

I watched it for a 4-5 year period in college and then I grew up. Rock was hilarious to watch.

The overkill of the "soap opera drama" surrounding the match, rather than the drama in the ring, killed the latest wrestling phenomena.