In some territories, like the CWC as has been mentioned, tag team wrestling was a cornerstone to its success. Using Mid-Atlantic as an example, the entire territory was really built around tag team wrestling until around the mid-60s to early 70s.
Throughout much of its history, American pro wrestling has utilized prejudice as a means of establishing heroes and villains. It's a blunt way to put it, but it's also a correct way to put it. For instance, if you were a wrestler working in the continental United States and were of Asian heritage, you were almost always cast as a villain, especially as the "evil Asian" type who was a "master" of martial arts. The promoters would exploit the hard feelings created by World War II and the bombing of Pearl Harbor in particular. For decades, you'd hear some commentators use the term "Pearl Harbored" to describe a cowardly sneak attack even if none of the wrestlers involved were Asian. Or, if you were German or your gimmick was that of a German, you were often cast as a villain due, again, to a perception of some Germans sustained through propaganda and bitter feelings. If you were Native American, or at least looked like you could be, you'd often be cast in the role of a "noble savage" who wore feathers or a chief's headdress, who did some sort of "native dance" at a certain point in the match, etc. It was no different in Capitol Wrestling because, as we know, Vince still uses outdated stereotypes even to this day.
CWC operated in an area where immigrants, the children of immigrants and the grandchildren of immigrants were an especially large percentage of the population. As a result, it wasn't at all uncommon for wrestlers with strong Irish, Italian and Hispanic lineages to be among the top stars of the company. They didn't necessarily have to be all that good, they just had to be what the fans wanted/needed them to be. Bruno Sammartino, for instance, was a big, blue collar, freakishly strong Italian farm boy and he was embraced by, as you'd imagine, the Italian population of New York especially. If you were Irish, Dutch, Hispanic, white, black or whatever, a LOT of people embraced him because he "stood" for the "right things", he was "one of them" but he was also someone who was set apart from them because of his great strength.
