Charting The Territories

Every month, Jon Boucher and I create a podcast that discusses a wide range of topics related to what is covered on this blog. I thought it would be helpful to create a 'companion piece' that goes along with each episode. We often reference web sites, books, YouTube videos, etc., on the podcast, and this companion piece will provide links to many of those materials so that you can see what Jon & I are discussing.

A heretofore seemingly forgotten story in the early life of Sylvester Ritter (The Junkyard Dog) may offer some insight into the personality of the man who later transcended race to become the first Black wrestler indisputably pushed as the top babyface of a major pro wrestling territory in the South. The story has nothing to do with wrestling, though if you view professional wrestling in the territorial era as a sort of morality play based on real-life struggles & issues and you look at the role Junkyard Dog played as an extension of that, then it has everything to do with it.

Welcome to Chapter 18 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.

Here’s a look at the 2nd quarter of 1973 in Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling. We look at the talent roster, title histories, the big feuds in the territory, and a schedule of all known house shows. I’d like to thank Dick Bourne and Mark Eastridge of the Mid-Atlantic Gateway for providing the bulk of the house show records I used to compile this data. The Gateway, which is updated regularly by David Chappell, is an invaluable resource. I strongly encourage you to visit (and bookmark!) it: http://www.midatlanticgateway.com

In the 2nd quarter of 1977, Murdoch “no-shows” a title match, Kox turns face, the brainbuster is banned, the junior heavies return, the debut of a junkyard pup, and more!

One of the more frustrating aspects for those attempting to document professional wrestling history is the idea of “title histories”. A number of people have spent a great deal of time compiling a list of title changes over the years. It’s important to understand that in many cases, these title histories are not linear. As we all know, sometimes titles are created out of thin air (Pat Patterson winning the Intercontinental title in a tournament in Rio de Janeiro). Sometimes, title changes are repeated in various cities, with someone “losing” the title on Monday night in one town, then the next night in another town they’re billed as champions again only to “lose” the title once more. With many territories airing their television in different markets at different times, there are also occasions where someone loses the title at a television taping but continues to defend that title in some towns until the title change actually airs on local television, which may be several weeks after it...