Yeah, sorry, but getting over in the era of kayfabe and territories was easy as shit.
Surely you're joking.
All you had to do was be white meat babyface or despicable kiss a fan's wife on the mouth heel. People thought it was FUCKING REAL. That's why they got over.
Many NWA greats had to change up their alignment for the city they worked. Thesz didn't work face in the Northeast or Canada. And it's not like they worked the big cities once a year like WWE stars in the modern era. They worked these cities many times a year. They had to change up their matches constantly so fans saw something different each time. Do you think Sammartino did the same match every time he sold out MSG? Their work had to be much more flexible. It had to be for people to keep thinking it was real.
Jerry Lawler doesn't get over in today's product with the internet, he got over thanks to kayfabe. Sammartino didn't get over DESPITE the internet, he got over WITHOUT it.
The internet is hardly a detriment. Do you not think there weren't smark marks back in those days? Do you think that their weren't dirt sheets? Fans may not have known the action was choreographed but they knew matches were fixed even by the 1920's. That hurt people's perception of wrestling for years.
Fans today know more about the true nature of wrestling than fans did back then , but it changes nothing.
There is no way at ALL that a pre-internet wrestler who did not compete post-internet can ever be considered as much of a great as someone doing it now.
This is the dumbest thing that I have ever heard. As if the stories on the internet somehow make things any harder than the stories being spun by the newspapers, and journalists, and radio back then.
That's what getting over is.
Wrong. To get over nowadays all you need is a polarizing, marketable personality and a unique way to work a match. Everyone has their own set of signature moves and finishers. Everyone works a unique style whether it be high flying, brawling, technical, whatever. That type of monotone working style would not have worked back then, because you had to be flexible and work a variety of styles. The best shooters could brawl, power wrestlers were agile and could do high risk moves. Nowadays you don't see that anymore, save for a few rare exceptions. But at the same time if every superstar worked the same way today then it be boring, so the variety is needed.
But that doesn't mean that wrestlers from the old days couldn't have adapted to the modern style. Clearly they could have. Easily. Only an uneducated moron would think otherwise.
Not coming out and saying "People from City X are stinky Hillbillies!" and then the hero comes out and says "I love the people from City X, You and me are gonna fight bub!"
That's called being polarizing.
I truly respect what territory wrestling did, but the product is harder to break into, it's harder to get over in, and it's harder to stay relevant in modern times.
It's not. Wrestlers today have to develop a unique style and be polarizing for one type of audience. Territorial stars and pre-territorial stars had to develop unique styles and be polarizing for several different types of audiences.
Seriously, read more about wrestling history before you make dumb claims.
