Posted on by bdamage1
Brian Damage
“Adapt or Perish”
Triple H has made that statement several times in storyline segments and in reality couldn’t be more true. Everything in life needs to evolve and adapt to keep up with today’s society. While at times we may not like it…it’s just a fact of life. Pro wrestling has needed to adapt several times over to survive and thrive. When it hasn’t, it has suffered.
Case in point, the territorial system…many promoters of yesteryear refused to adapt to the changing times and because of that…all faded away. Many of the younger fans of today do not remember the great territories like the Continental wrestling Association, World Class Championship Wrestling, Georgia Championship Wrestling and Championship Wrestling from Florida just to name a few.
Growing up in the 70’s and 80’s, it was a tradition to go to your local newsstand every month and pick the latest wrestling magazines like Pro Wrestling Illustrated, Wrestling Eye, The Wrestler etc…many of these publications were known as “The Apter Mags,” named after Bill Apter…who was a photographer/journalist/editor of several magazines of the time. It was usually written in kayfabe or as if what you were reading about the matches and wrestlers were real. My personal favorite magazine was the PWI year end awards edition…
Nowadays wrestlers get most the major holidays off like Thanksgiving and Christmas. The bigger promotions such as the WWE and TNA pre tape shows a week in advance to allow their wrestlers to go home for the holidays. There was a time when that was not the case. The NWA/WCW, AWA, WCCW and the WWF all conducted business during these holidays. Starrcade, which was the NWA’s biggest show of the year took place on Thanksgiving…as did the WWF’s Survivor Series. World Class had “Star Wars” which took place on Christmas Day.
Before the big internet explosion in the mid 1990’s…pro wrestling was littered with hotlines that you could call to get the latest wrestling scoops and spoilers. It was usually a 1-900 number that was $1.99 the first minute and 99 cents each additional minute. Kids had to get their parents permission before calling. Trust me on that one! 😉
Who remembers the infamous interview segments that took place with elaborate sets? Today, you’d be lucky to get a couch and a rug placed inside the ring…but back in the 80’s there were sets with walls, carpeting, couches, chairs..the whole kit and caboodle. They were placed on the side of the arena…not in the middle of one and had great names like Piper’s Pit, The Flower Shop, The Funeral Parlor and The Snake Pit.
Wrestling matches with time limit draws seem to be a thing of the past. The NWA was synonymous with classic matches that went 60 minutes plus. I couldn’t tell you any recent WWE or TNA matches that went over an hour…yet guys like Ric Flair, Harley Race and several others did it on a nightly basis back in the day.
Heels were bad and babyfaces were good…there was black and there was white…no room for gray areas.
While the WWE is currently attempting to phase out pay per views with the launch of the WWE Network…there was a time where watching a big wrestling event at home was almost non existent. You had to go to a theater or high school gymnasium and watch the show with other fans via closed circuit television.
Wrestling wasn’t on Mondays but rather weekends and people like Gene Okerlund, Ken Resnick and David Crockett conducted interviews with various wrestlers running down house show cards in local areas.
Now granted, I am not complaining about how pro wrestling has changed over the years. It did what it needed to do to move forward. I am simply bringing you some things that have changed or no longer exist in this business we love so much. Wrestling is always adapting and changing…what is hot now…may not be hot tomorrow. Adapt or Perish…