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Which TV Wresting Association Did You Favour?

Unmistakably "Big Time Wrestling"

The (original) Sheik Ed Farhat supposedly owned the local franchise from his base in Detroit.

The sydnicated version was produced by WNEM-TV in Bay City,Michigan while a local live version was done at WKTR-TV in Kettering, Ohio (now Dayton PBS station WPTD) under the alternate title "Arena Wrestling."

Who can not forget:
Bobo Brazil,WIld Bull Curry, Iron Mike Loren,Rocky Johnson,Ben Justice, The California Hell's Angels,Haystacks Calhoun,Thunderbolt Patterson and I can go on.

Wish I could find some clips on You Tube. This was classic slapsitck!
 
Back in the 70s when I started watching the WWWF, in the Boston area, you could see "Championship Wrestling" Saturdays on WLVI Ch. 56 and "All Star Wrestling" Sundays on WMUR Ch. 9. Then in the early 80s World Class Championship Wrestling was on (I Think) WXNE Ch. 25 (Now WFXT).
 
In Hartford/New Haven, WWF Superstars Of Wrestling and WWF Wrestling Challenge aired on channel 20 of Waterbury/Hartford. Later on, WWF Wrestling Challenge and WWF Wrestling Spotlight (a mix of the previous two shows, really) would air on channel 26 of New London. I don't know what aired on those two stations after 1994 or so. I believe channel 20 carried a syndicated show from WCW as well. Most likely it was WCW Worldwide Wrestling.

It was a trip if you attended one of the old-school WWF TV tapings. As an example, I was at a WWF Wrestling Challenge TV taping in Portland, ME on July 21, 1992. Those three episodes, largely as a buildup to WWF SummerSlam in London, would air on August 9, 15 and 22, 1992 (I still have them in my collection).
 
kirkiefan said:
Unmistakably "Big Time Wrestling"

The (original) Sheik Ed Farhat supposedly owned the local franchise from his base in Detroit.

The sydnicated version was produced by WNEM-TV in Bay City,Michigan while a local live version was done at WKTR-TV in Kettering, Ohio (now Dayton PBS station WPTD) under the alternate title "Arena Wrestling."

Who can not forget:
Bobo Brazil,WIld Bull Curry, Iron Mike Loren,Rocky Johnson,Ben Justice, The California Hell's Angels,Haystacks Calhoun,Thunderbolt Patterson and I can go on.

Wish I could find some clips on You Tube. This was classic slapsitck!
Click to expand...

There are some Detroit clips on youtube. If I run across any during my late night youtube rasslin' binges, I'll post links here.
 
Professional wrestling promoters once had a "Gentlemen's Agreement" in which these promoters divided-up the United States into regions, and that each promotion would be "exclusive" to that region and would not hold wrestling events in other promoters' territories, giving each promoter a regional monopoly.

That's why you almost never saw wrestling on TV originating from other parts of the country until the 1980's.

But Vince McMahon wanted to make WWF/WWE national, and that ended the "Gentlemen's Agreement", with other promotions trying to become national as well.

But in the end, WWE became the only major national wrestling promotion.
 
As children on Long Island, my brother and I were hooked early on the local shows of mostly the old WWWF in the days of Vince Sr. Our favs were Bruno Samartino; Haystacks Calhoun; Sailor Art Thomas; Hawiian Rubber Man Johnny Walker; Johnny Valentine, Eduard Carpentier and Arnold Skahland. Of course, we booed Buddy Rogers. He was one of the industry's greatest draws. As a "heel", he was just as effective as the "babyfaces" at putting asses in the seats.

As an 'adult' in the '80s, my own children would draw me back into the fray of pro wrestling. We "rooted" for NWA/WCW franchises like Sting, the reformed Nikita Koloff, Tom Zink, Terry Funk, Ric Flair and Ricky Steamboat. My favorite promo: early day WCW, following Turner's purchase of the Crockett NWA promotion. Thanks to the mic-side drama of Gordon Solie and Jim Ross, WCW's cards offered a purist feel, like an AWA/WCCW/NWA hybrid on steriods.

My grandfather, a Czeck from "the old country", went to his grave believing in the authenticity of pro wrestling. His biggest thrill ever was meeting and shaking the hand of Bruno one day at the old Greater Pittsburgh Airport.

Later, I myself had the privilege of befriending Bill "Haystacks" Calhoun in Tucumcari NM, where I was working at a Mom/Pop radio station. Every Christmas, Bill would take time off the road to visit family there. In 1976, his Tucumcari surgeon and my personal friend, Dr George Evetts, amputated several toes from Bill's Diabetes-wracked feet. One month later, he returned to the national touring circuit. Diabetes finally claimed Calhouns in 1989.

Finally, nobody asked, but my all-time favorite wrestler was Bruno Samartino, hands down, but only in small part for his in-ring exploits. For me, Bruno truly was and still is a role model, in and out of the ring.
 
No doubt - it was the old "Studio Wrestling" on WIIC-TV (now WPXI) in Pittsburgh. Aired Saturday evenings at 6:30.

Before there was Saturday nights on the "Superstation", there was Bill Cardille hosting some of the greatest including Bruno Sammartino, Ivan Koloff, Freddie Blassie, Killer Kowalski and the Kangaroos. They were loosely affiliated with WWWF but maintained some independence. My neighbor was one of the participants and he would have several of these behemoths at his home often.

I remember going to these matches at the station on the North Side and waiting in line for hours to get in. Wrestling was big in those days and really has lost a lot of the mystique with the forced crap you see today.
 
mimic001 said:
No doubt - it was the old "Studio Wrestling" on WIIC-TV (now WPXI) in Pittsburgh. Aired Saturday evenings at 6:30.
Click to expand...

Pittsburgh wrestling was almost as familiar to us as the televised cards from Sunnyside Garden in Queens (NY). Memories still linger; the four of us, Grandpa, my father, my brother and myself, all gathered around the TV in the den of Grandpa's farmhouse near Butler, alternately cheering and booing the grappling drama of main eventers like Bruno, Blassie, and Killer Carl. No color TV there, just black and white. Made no difference; we loved wrestling.
 
Were there any really small wrestling associations for really small markets like Wyoming or Fort Smith (AR) or any other small TV market?
 
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