Who was the best promoter between 1960-1984?

[Ruthless-RKO]

Vote for who you think was the best promoter between 1960-1984. I'm hoping I didn't forget anyone.


My vote is for...

Jerry Jarrett. None of those guys ever drew as much money from as small and relatively poor a territory as Memphis. From around 1970 to 1984, 9,000 people(average) bought tickets to the matches at the Mid South Coliseum EVERY SINGLE MONDAY NIGHT. That's right, they ran 50-52 weeks a year, year in and year out. The local TV show on Saturday morning was THE highest rated show in the market for most of those years, often drawing 300,000 viewers in a market of less than 1 million. In 1982-83 (the biggest years) they drew an average of 11,000/Monday night.

And remember, Vince had Jerry lined up to handle the WWF when he thought he was going to prison in the steroids scandal. No one else is close.

 

[VencomHardcore]

I have to say that this poll is like trying to pick a winner among the best of the best. HARD.

You did forget Fritz Von Erich and World Class Championship Wrestling. I think he may be at the top of the list because he did something unheard of. He packed out Texas Stadium with a state wide promotion. Yes, he got a national tv deal but considering all of those listed had regional promotions and he just had Texas makes him worthy of major respect.

Antonio Inoki , I think was the best of these promoters. He doesn't get the respect from wrestling fans that he should. He put Japan on the map. Promoted dream matches that WWF wouldn't dare book [ Hogan vs Flair , Hogan vs Muta ] . And just a note about Hogan in Japan, he wrestled hardcore and scientific matches that Vince wouldn't book. I became a Hogan fan after seeing him wrestle matches in Japan and realizing that he was actually a good wrestler back then.

And Inoki could sell out a stadium faster than Vince. He did it numerous times. There were many wrestlers that longed for the call to go work his territory because they would get paid very well.

Inoki was a true legend in all respects. And what makes him the clear leader is that he would even work the territories of those on the list to help them pop the region. That is a true class act. He didn't have to. I remember him competing for Jim Crockett many times as a child yet he had his own thing.

 

[THTRobtaylor]

For me it's between Verne Gagne, Jim Crockett or Fritz Von Erich.

The AWA for a long time was a major player and created a large number of future superstars. Without the AWA there is no Hulk Hogan, No Sgt. Slaughter or Curt Hennig. The AWA was also not afraid to vary it's champions in style and size. That Rick Martel, Nick Bockwinkel and Curt Hennig all held their World title made them a very viable alternative to the "big man" culture of New York

Fritz Von Erich is perhaps the best example of knowing and catering to your strengths, natural gifts and audience. World Class was very much a Texas promotion aimed at Texans that gained wider acceptance. Naturally the locals wanted to see their own do well, and that Fritz had 3 top draw talents in his own family helped give them that edge. Most of the other promoters relied on talent revolving. With the exception of Bruno in the WWWF, few regions had legit locals in their top matches. Fritz was also guilty of booking around his boys and to a big extent putting them in a no win situation.

Some talent that could have elevated them was lost like Rick Rude and The Warrior but it also meant that angles like The Freebirds were booked correctly, as equals and dangers to his sons. Had David not died when he did and become NWA champion as planned, then Fritz and WCCW would arguably have been in the driving seat to compete with McMahon and the NWA later WCW may have have been far more based around them rather than Georgia. It could also be said that had David succeeded then Kerry would have perhaps taken the pressure from the younger boys to front WCCW and more of the boys would be around today.

But for me the winner is Jim Crockett Jr. Now he made a few mistakes and that is certain. Not capitalising on the UWF acquisition by burying their guys was a massive blunder, but the majority of what led to WCW came from JCP's strategies over the years. They pioneered Starrcade and built up a solid roster of talent that were not seen as 2nd rate when compared to the WWF. Flair was as big as Hogan in his area and that was a big factor for turner.

Turner could easily have looked to the AWA or World Class, but JCP had the names like Ric Flair, Ricky Steamboat, Lex Luger that as he famously said "sounded like 'rasslers" and made Turner decided to go with them. Again some bad luck played a factor. Had Magnum TA not been retired, they had a legit competitor to Hogan, it could have led to other talents jumping from the WWF to face Magnum (or even Flair to the WWF) but it just shows that while promoters held so much power back then, it was often fate and wrestlers themselves whose actions decided the business.

 

[EastCoastFan]

Before Vince bought out his father and took the WWF national, the biggest territory in the country was the AWA in the Midwest, run by Verne Gagne. He was very successful for a long time, but when the wrestling world changed, he didn't change with it. Many of his top guys (Hulk Hogan, Bobby Heenan, Jesse Ventura, and later with Curt Hennig and the Rockers) became mega-stars by leaving him and going to the WWF. He thought "sports entertainment" was a fad and that people would eventually come back to "professional wrestling". He was wrong.

Once Vince took over and began driving territories out of business, his biggest competition was Jim Crockett. His product was different to the WWF and closer to what wrestling was pre-Vince. His audience was not taken in by what Vince was doing and he absorbed all the people who wanted "wrestling", not "entertainment". Crockett had to pay wrestlers more than he really wanted to to keep them from going to the WWF. This and his failed attempt at starting a pro wrestling cable channel (The Wrestling Network) put him deep in a financial hole, forcing him to sell to Ted Turner.

 

[CrazyChicksDigger]

Seriously, this is a terrible thread because it leaves out Fritz Von Erich. It's hard to have a discussion about the best promoter when he and World Class Championship Wrestling are left out of the discussion.

From your list, Gagne should easily be tops.

But overall, Fritz Von Erich is a no brainer. Filling up Texas Stadium, the Cotton Bowl, Reunion Arena, and doing a TV taping every Monday (Fort Worth) and Friday (Dallas) for two TV shows -- that's a pretty active schedule, especially if we're talking about the territory days.

Maybe Gagne was more consistent from 60-84, but WCCW was a big promotion throughout the 60s/70s, and by the late 70s and through 1984 they hit their peak. Also keep in mind this was all done with the Funks just a few hours away in Houston, so there was big competition on top of it all.

 

[FlairFan2003]

Fritz Von Erich did very well in Texas, particularly Dallas. His association as part of the NWA was a huge boast to his sons, particularly Kerry, whose feud with Ric Flair went throughout the NWA universe, even main eventing in Tokyo (Flair's title win) and Hawaii. As the main part of the NWA, the World Championship Wrestling part best known for it's exposure on TBS started gaining national prominence, some of the smaller, more regional promotions like World Class and Florida Championship Wrestling began dying as they couldnt compete with the money Crockett and Vince McMahon could pay talent, who started defecting. Those promotions also got a boast from Crockett lending them major stars (mostly Flair since he was champ) to their shows, a practice that pretty much stopped after 1986.

Crockett & Vince Jr both rose to power at the end of this time frame (1960-84). For much of that time the NWA Board of Directors was so powerfull Vince Sr actually held a spot (he was one of the deciding votes that sided with Crockett in 1981 to make Flair champ). I give Vince Sr a lot of credit because his WWE did very good business in it's territory, dominating New York, New Jersey, PA, CT, and stretching into parts of Canada.

The AWA probably was the biggest single promotion since much of the NWA's reach in this time was through co promotional partnerships with smaller, more regional promotions like World Class and Florida. Verne Gagne helped train and cultivate many of the biggest stars of the 70s & 80s, The Road Warriors, Bobby Heenan, Nick Bockwinkle, Shawn Michaels, Ric Flair, Ken Patera, Curt Henning, Scott Hall, Hulk Hogan, all either started completely or got their first true big break through his promotion. You have to give him credit for a keen eye for talent.

Jerry Jarret and Bill Watts also had significant success in their areas, creating an exciting and energetic product very similair to Jim Crockett Jr and Dusty Rhodes (his main booker for much of the 80s).

Its hard to look back at those days and compare because many of those guys could recycle angles endlessly because their was no national television (until TBS really started gaining momentum, benefitting Crockett) and promoters did not run their syndicated shows outside their primary territory. Therefore fans in Dallas often didnt know if an angle was hi jacked from Florida or the AWA. The demands for storyline creativity were not as high. Jarret & Watts had good reputations for promoting an exciting product, Gagne was a guy who created multiple superstars and ran the biggest individual promotion, Crockett & Vince Jr were the pioneers of the National Expansion, it's really hard to single one guy out.

 

[HBsam31]

Fritz Von Erich should be on the list for sure, but going by the list I have to say Verne Gagne. He had a lot of great talent, and built a great promotion before Vince signed all of the talent away. We may not have had a Hulk Hogan without him. I have to agree with the poster that said wrestling changed and Gagne didn't change with it. he may have been able to keep going if he could have adapted. Fritz Von Erich did great things in Texas. From the things I have see he was doing huge shows and had a good tv deal. These two are definitely 1 and 2.

 

[ShinobiMusashi]

Texas Stadium, Reunion Arena, and The Cotton Bowl were huge venues. People still talk about WCCW here in Texas after all of these years. Those annual Texas Stadium Springtime shows were the predecessor to Wrestlemania.

Fritz Von Erich was the best in my opinion, but he's not even on the poll.

 

[THTRobtaylor]

Fritz not being on the poll is a shame, but if the OP didn't remember him enough to put him on then that's his opinion, and it's as valid as anyone elses. There are others too like Paul Boesch.

To me Inoki would not even be top 5, mainly cos he tarnished his legacy with those awful matches with Ali and the terrible cross promotion of those mid 80's. There was a WWF Junior championship but couldn't capitalize on opportunities for guys like Tiger Mask to have been bigger fixtures in the US. Admittedly the Bulldogs leaving NJPW did kind of screw the plans for the title but was The Cobra or Hiro Saito really the best he could muster? Why was Tiger Mask not at the first Mania for example, a perfect character for the "cartoon era".

To my mind by the time Liger, Muta et al appeared in NWA/NCW it was too late, the moment had passed. Of the japanese promoters, Baba was to me the most successful, he used a solid formula of dominant gaijin and local challengers with the odd "Super Main Event" like Vader v Hansen.