Tri-State Wrestling: Week of 7/8-7/14 1968
I continue looking at the year 1968, and this week is the first time we're able to look at week-to-week changes in the SPOT ratings for this year.
For new readers, this post and this post will help you understand the SPOT rating and what it means.
Here's a look at the talent roster along with their SPOT ratings. The crew that worked central and southern Louisiana is listed separately in the second chart. The first number to the right of each wrestler's name is their SPOT rating for this week and the second number is their rating for the previous week. Babyfaces are in blue on the left-hand side, heels in orange on the right. They are listed in descending order and grouped into loose categories, so you can easily see who were the main eventers, mid-carders, preliminary wrestlers, etc.
For new readers, this post and this post will help you understand the SPOT rating and what it means.
Here's a look at the talent roster along with their SPOT ratings. The crew that worked central and southern Louisiana is listed separately in the second chart. The first number to the right of each wrestler's name is their SPOT rating for this week and the second number is their rating for the previous week. Babyfaces are in blue on the left-hand side, heels in orange on the right. They are listed in descending order and grouped into loose categories, so you can easily see who were the main eventers, mid-carders, preliminary wrestlers, etc.
Known shows for the week:
Monday - Shreveport, LA & Tulsa, OK
Tuesday - Little Rock, AR & Monroe, LA
Wednesday - Fort Smith, AR & Springfield, MO
Thursday - Longview, TX & Wichita Falls, TX
Friday - Oklahoma City, OK
Saturday - Fayetteville, AR
Lower Louisiana:
Tuesday - Baton Rouge
Wednesday - Alexandria
Thursday - Loranger
Friday - Lafayette
Analysis/Notes: Looking at the SPOT ratings and comparing them to last week, the biggest movers were Los Diablos and Gorgeous George Jr., all of whom moved up the cards on average this week. The territory occasionally ran heel vs heel matches on the upper portions of the cards, and this week saw Los Diablos working Karbo & Yokouchi in Fort Smith, plus Karbo taking on Von Stroheim the next night in Longview.
The only newcomer to the ratings this week is Red McKim. McKim had been in the lower Louisiana end of the territory, but came back to the main loop this week. Leaving the territory was Antonio Rocca. I don't have any info on his whereabouts after leaving. He next shows up here in May 1969.
In addition to the wrestlers listed in the chart, Tom Bradley had a couple of bookings during the week. Jessica Rogers worked against Mrs. Jack Donovan at least once. Donovan generally was working as the manager for Jack Donovan & Ronnie Reed.
In the lower Louisiana circuit, Pepper Lopez comes in, replacing Red McKim who (as mentioned above) moved to the main circuit. Lopez' name shows up on some Gulf Coast cards prior to coming here. Aside from that, there isn't much change in the structure of the cards for these towns. That's generally going to be the case going forward, as they kept a very small crew and didn't have too much turnover.
Frequent tag teams were:
Jack Donovan & Ronnie Reed
El Diablo #1 & El Diablo #2
Danny Hodge & Lorenzo Parente
Jerry Miller & Mummy
Chati Yokouchi & Chuck Karbo
Juan Sebastian & Tarzan Baxter
Karl Von Stroheim & Mr Ito
Frequent matches were:
Danny Hodge & Lorenzo Parente vs Jack Donovan & Ronnie Reed
Chuck Karbo vs Karl Von Stroheim
Mummy vs Tarzan Baxter
El Diablo #1 & El Diablo #2 vs Gerald Brisco & Red McKim
For the lower Louisiana circuit, the frequent teams were Danny Little Bear & Kit Fox and Frank Dalton & Jack Dalton, while the frequent matches were Little Bear & Fox vs the Daltons and Little Bear vs Jack Dalton.
