Charting The Territories

Welcome to Chapter 8 of The McGuirk/Watts Wrestling Almanac, an in-depth data-driven look at the wrestling territory run by Leroy McGuirk (and later, Bill Watts). The territory is most commonly known as Tri-State Wrestling and/or Mid-South Wrestling, though neither of those names were actually used until September 1979 when Watts split from McGuirk. Each chapter covers a three-month period of time and will list our exclusive statistics: 1) SPOT (Statistical Position Over Time) Ratings, which measure a wrestlers average position on the cards 2) FEUD (Frequent Encounters Using Data) Scores, which measure the frequency and breadth of a series of matches between the same wrestlers (or tag teams) In addition, we list the advertised lineups for all known house shows in the territory during the time period, along with an index of newcomers and other wrestlers (special attractions, women, midgets, etc) that passed through the territory. Previous chapters: Chapter 1  (Q4 1959) Chapter 2 ...

Here's a look at Tri-State Wrestling in the third quarter of 1980: Don Bass gets pushed as a main-event babyface, newcomer Terry Gibbs becomes the first-ever Tri-State Heavyweight champ & more!

Here's a look at Mid-South Wrestling in July 1980: the Mantell-Orndorff feud is not only still going strong but it’s about to double in size, a new Louisiana Heavyweight champ is crowned in a one-night tournament & more!

Here's a look at the McGuirk wrestling territory in July 1976: the first-ever wrestling card at the Superdome featured Bill Watts finally getting a chance at NWA World Heavyweight champ Terry Funk, Dick Murdoch and Killer Karl Kox facing off in a Jim Bowie Death Match & more! Here are the SPOT Ratings for the month. COMINGS AND GOINGS Newcomers to the territory this month are babyface Pat Barrett and heel John Ravens. “Irish” Pat Barrett (aka Paddy Barrett) came here for the first time since 1963, coming in from the WWWF. He would be a part of the ongoing tournament to fill the vacant NWA World Junior Heavyweight title. Ravens was sometimes billed as Sir John Ravens and his last name was sometimes spelled Raven. I don’t have any information on any other identities he may have used, and prior to this stint I have no information on his whereabouts. Leaving the territory during the month was heel the Medic. He is believed to have been Jim Starr, who appears here as himself in Sept...

Here's a look at the McGuirk wrestling territory in July 1972: Ivan Putski gets a cousin and Dale Lewis gets a little brother, Dory Funk Jr comes in for a week of World title defenses and goes 60 minutes with Danny Hodge twice and Grizzly Smith once & more!

Here's a look at "Killer" Pat Patterson's brief run in the McGuirk wrestling territory in the spring of 1964.

Here is a look at the first 3 months of Hacksaw Duggan's run in Mid-South Wrestling, where he gradually moved up the cards from the prelims to main events.

Now that we're halfway through the year, I wanted to take a look back at the first 6 months of the McGuirk wrestling territory in 1972.

Now that we're halfway through the year, I wanted to take a look back at the first 6 months of the McGuirk wrestling territory in 1976.

Now that we're halfway through the year, I wanted to take a look back at the first 6 months of Tri-State Wrestling (Leroy McGuirk's territory after he and Watts split) in 1980.

Now that we're halfway through the year, I wanted to take a look back at the first 6 months of Mid-South Wrestling in 1980.