DJKM Saves

First off as far as I know wrestling has always been a work. Sorry old timers the wrestling you watched or your parents and their parents has all been "fake" or what I like to call pre determined. That being said I was trying to go as far back as I could to find the beginnings of pro wrestling and I can't remember exactly why 1865 but it proved to be a good start for the pack.

Oh yeah. This was not even supposed to be a pack. I started making my Territories 2 pack and some how it morphed into me making another 1,000 edits.

This pack was insanely hard to make but if any pack has ever tested the Fire Pro engine it was this one. I was all over the place with collar and elbow rules, catch style wrestling, greco roman, judo and lucha.

I used tons of resources and easily read over 20 books to make this pack. Here are some of the best of the best that I used.

First off this is the best free resource ever. The WAWLI papers. It took me weeks if not months to read every nook and cranny of this but believe me it is worth it. It is just jammed with match results, interviews and everything else in between. If you ever get a few extra minutes just click on any of it.
wrestlingclassics.com/wawli/

First book that was needed was From Milo To Londos written by Nat Fleischer. Totally amazing book from 1936 that covers the complete history of pro wrestling. Here is the PDF. I wish I knew about this because it would have saved me 150 bucks.
archive.org/details/FromMiloToL ... istory.pdf

2nd book of mandatory reading is Fall Guys The Barnum of Bounce by Marcus Griffin and probably from the mouth of Toots Mondt. Other than the burying of Jim Londos this is the greatest historical wrestling book ever. Broke Kayfabe in 1937. You can get it on Kindle for 5 bucks now.

Hornbaker- Legends of Pro Wrestling 150 Years of Headlocks and Bodyslams. Provided a great list of wrestlers that needed to be on the pack.

Hornbaker - History of the NWA, very dry but provided lots of info.

Lourdes Grabet - Lucha Libre Masked Superstars of Mexican Wrestling. Troma put me onto this book. Best Lucha book ever and there is not even a close second. Some of the best wrestling photos ever period.

Jonathan Snowden - Shooters the Toughest Men In Wrestling

Jake Shannon - Say Uncle Catch as Catch Can Wrestling. My favorite of the catch books I read.

Mark Hewitt - Catch Wrestling

The Magnificent Scufflers - Book about collar and elbow style mostly about the Vermont area.

Lentz - The Professional Dictionary of Wrestling. Good not great but loaded with rare names and quite a bit of obscure guys in here.

100 Years of Australian Wrestling - Great pictures/decent book

Ed Francis - 50th state wrestling. Book on wrestling in Hawaii.

Mad Dogs, Midgets and Screw Jobs. Absolute great book on Canadian wrestling.

Now for two must reads that need to be read as soon as possible.

Lou Thesz - Hooker. Definitive book on pro wrestling. Generally regarded as the greatest wrestling book ever by every one.

Joe Jares - Whatever Happened to Gorgeous George? This book actually has next to do with nothing about George but is about Joe's father who is a professional wrestler. Freaking amazing especially that it was written in the early 70's. It is a must read!!!!!

I also bought a handful of books that were similar to what the PWI 500's are. They are usually quite pricey and in the 40-50 dollar range for each one. Probably not worth it unless you were digging for any and every piece of info I could get.

Sid Feder - The Wrestling Yearbook 1956
The Wrestling Scene - Guy Lebow 1957

Any questions, comments or suggestions feel free. There is no right or wrong in wrestling and I don't think any of my opinions are better than any one else's just trying to share what I have learned over the years.

Northeast
WWWF
Northeast
Biggest Cities - New York, Boston, Philly, DC
1963-1983
Run by Vince McMahon Sr.
Style - Big on ethnic champions like Bruno Sammartino and Pedro Morales. Also plenty of tag team matches with heel teams led by Lou Albano. Not too many guests except for the occasional Mil Mascaras or Dusty Rhodes for a Madison Square Garden show. Lots of heel managers.
Major Wrestlers - Bruno Sammartino, Bob Backlund, Pedro Morales, Billy Graham, Andre The Giant, The Samoans, The Moondogs and The Valiant Brothers.
Managers - Lou Albano, Freddie Blassy, The Grand Wizard.

NWF
Ohio/Upper New York
Biggest Cities - Cleveland,Buffalo
1970-1974
Run by Pedro Martinez
Major Wrestlers - Johnny Powers, Luis Martinez, Bolo Mongol
Guests - Bruno Sammartino, Ox Baker, Killer Kowalski

Pittsburgh Studio Wrestling
Pennsylvania
1958-1975
Run By - Bruno Sammartino, Pedro Martinez, Geeto Mongol
Major Wrestlers - Bruno Sammartino, Larry Zbyszko

Mid Atlantic/Southern
Mid Atlantic
The Carolinas
Biggest Cities - Charlotte
1931-1988
Run By - The Crockett's
Style - Great singles matches, lots of appearance by the NWA champions and amazing tag team action.
Major Wrestlers - Ric Flair, Johnny Valentine, Wahoo McDaniel, Ricky Steamboat, The Andersons, The Road Warriors
Managers - Paul Jones, Jim Cornette, JJ Dillon

Georgia
GCW
Biggest Cities - Atlanta
1944-1984
Run By - Jim Barnett, The Brisco's and Paul Jones
Style - Lots of great heavyweights and excellent tag teams
Major Wrestlers - The Brisco's, Paul Orndorff, Mr Wrestling II, Tommy Rich
Guests - Abdullah The Butcher, Rick Martel, Bob Backlund, JYD,

Tennessee
Continental / CWA
Biggest City - Memphis
1977-1989
Owner - Jerry Jarrett
Style - Booked their champ Jerry Lawler versus evil outsiders usually brought in by heel manager Jimmy Hart. Also quite a bit of great tag teams came from there as well.
Major Wrestlers - Jerry Lawler, Eddie Gilbert, Bill Dundee, Jackie Fargo
Guests - Bobo Brazil, Nick Bockwinkel, The Funks

Tennessee/Kentucky
ICW
Owner - Angelo Poffo
1978-1984
Style - Outlaw promotion run by Angelo Poffo to put over his sons Randy Savage and Lanny Poffo.
Major Wrestlers - Randy Savage, Lanny Poffo, Ron Garvin, Paul Christy

Tennessee/Alabama
Gulf Coast 1954-1978
South East 1978 - 1985
Continental 1985-1988
Biggest Cities - Knoxville, Birmingham
Owners - The Fields and Fuller families
Style - Mostly regional wrestlers from the Fuller, Armstrong and Fields families. Lots of great tag teams and lots of heels that wore masks.
Major Wrestlers - The Armstrongs, The Fullers, Jerry Stubbs, Adrian Street, Bob Kelly
Guests - Haystacks Calhoun, Ox Baker

Tennessee/Kentucky/Alabama
NWA Mid-America
1940-1981
Biggest Cities - Memphis, Nashville, Lexington
Owners - Nick Gulas, Roy Welch
Style - Loaded with some of the best tag teams of the era and of all time. Territory dies a slow death when Nick Gulas put his son George on top.
Major Wrestlers - Al and Don Greene, Phil Hickerson and Dennis Condrey, The Von Brauners
Guests - Jerry Lawler, Harley Race, Kevin Sullivan, Rocky Johnson


Florida
CWF
1949-1987
Biggest Cities - Tampa
Owner - Eddie Graham
Style - Always some of the best wrestling in the world led by NWA champion Dusty Rhodes. Great booking and always great talent.
Major Wrestlers - Dusty Rhodes, Eddie Graham, The Briscos, Magnum TA, Lex Luger
Guests - Bruiser Brody, Bob Backlund, Ric Flair, Ernie Ladd, Harley Race, David Von Erich

Midwest
Missouri
Central States
Biggest City - Kansas City
Owner - Bob Geigel
Style - One of the original NWA territories this was a hot bed of the NWA during it's peak years led by legends like Pat O'Connor and Harley Race. Lots of huge title matches but not much going on in the tag ranks.
Major Wrestlers - Harley Race, Pat O'Connor, Rufus R Jones, Bob Ellis, Bulldog Bob Brown.
Guests - Andre The Giant, Bruiser Brody, Ric Flair, Dusty Rhodes, the Funks

Minnesota
AWA
1933-1991
Biggest Cities - Minneapolis, St. Paul, Chicago, Milwaukee, Denver
Owner - Verne Gagne
Style - Loaded with talent in both the heavy weight and tag divisions. Some of the best technically sound grapplers in the business. One of the biggest and best territories of the era they had their own recognized world champion.
Major Wrestlers - Verne Gagne, The Crusher and Bruiser, Nick Bockwinkle, The Black Jacks, Sgt Slaughter, Billy Robinson.
Guests - Jumbo Tsuruta, Giant Baba, Carlos Colon, The Freebirds, Jerry Lawler
Managers - Bobby Heenan, Sheik Adnan El-Kaisee

Indiana
WWA
1964-1987
Biggest City - Indianapolis
Owner - Dick The Bruiser
Style - Owner Dick The Bruiser was always on top but he had plenty of young stars to borrow from Verne Gagne's AWA.
Major Stars - Dick The Bruiser, Wilbur Snyder.
Guests - Bobo Brazil, Larry Hennig, AWA guys

Michigan
Big Time Wrestling
1945-1980
Owner - The Sheik
Style - Very violent especially for it's time. Featured the never ending feud of Bobo Brazil vs. The Sheik atop almost every card which eventually killed the promotion.
Major Stars - The Sheik, Bobo Brazil, Mighty Igor, The Kangaroos.
Guests - The Funks, Killer Kowalski, Mil Mascaras, Tiger Jeet Singh.

Missouri
NWA
1945-1985
Biggest Cities - St.Louis
Owner - Sam Muchnick
Style - The home of legendary booker Sam Muchnick. St.Louis was the spot for some of the greatest NWA title matches of all time and some of the most legendary cards. Sam booked super shows like todays PWG by brinin in the best talent from all over for his shows.
Major Wrestlers - Lou Thesz, Ted Dibiase, Harley Race, Dusty Rhodes.
Guests - Pretty much every one from the Von Erichs to the Funks and every one in between.


Tri State Area and Texas
Texas
Big Time Wrestling 1966-1982
World Class WCCW - 1982-1991
Biggest Cities - Houston and Dallas
Owners - Paul Boesch and Fritz Von Erich
Style - A rough style with either Fritz or his sons on top for two decades. Paul Boesch was a great innovator and if he did not create tag team wrestling he sure made it famous. Fritz and Paul loved gimmick matches with loser leaves town type stipulations. They also featured many of the top Lucha stars from time to time.
Major Wrestlers - The Von Erichs, The Freebirds, Gino Hernandez
Guests - Mil Mascaras, Andre The Giant, Ric Flair, Harley Race
Managers - Gary Hart, Percy Pringle III,

Texas
NWA Western States
Amarillo
1946-1981
Owners - The Funks
Style - Rough and tumble matches which also featured a brass knuckles champion.
Major Wrestlers - The Funks, Tim Brooks, Dick Murdoch, Blackjack Mulligan, Cyclon Negro, Ricky Romero
Guests - Dusty Rhodes, El Santo, Giant Baba

Texas
SWCW
San Antonio
1978-1985
Owner - Joe Blanchard
Style - Another really rough area that specialized in often bloody matches with the owners son Tully Blanchard. For a few years they were huge with a cable deal and a shared talent agreement with Georgia.
Major Wrestlers - Tully Blanchard, Manny Fernandez, Chavo Guerrero, Scott Casey.
Guests - Magnum TA, Wahoo McDaniel, Dick Slater, Jimmy Valiant.

Oklahoma/Arkansas/Louisiana
NWA Tri State
Biggest Cities - Tulsa, Oklahoma City, Shreveport, Little Rock
1958-1982
Owner - Leroy McGuirk
Style - Traditional wrestling built around their star light weight Danny Hodge.
Major Wrestlers - Danny Hodge, Ernie Ladd, Bill Watts, Ted Dibiase
Guests - Harley Race, Lou Thesz, Ric Flair

Louisiana/Mississippi/Oklahoma/Arkansas
Mid South
Biggest Cities - New Orleans
Owner - Bill Watts
Style - Watts had some of the toughest wrestlers on the planet as well as some of the best. Great mix of singles and tag wrestlers.
Major Wrestlers - Junkyard Dog, Jim Duggan, Butch Reed, Jake Roberts
Guests - Dusty Rhodes, Big John Studd, The Freebirds

West Coast
California
NWA Los Angeles
Hollywood
1958-1982
Owners - The Lebells and Jules Strongbow
Style - Huge main events with John Tolos/Freddie Blassy and a heavy mix of latino stars. Lots of great tag teams action led by Black Gordman and Goliath.
Major Wrestlers - John Tolos, Fred Blassie, Gordman and Goliath, Victor Rivera,
Guests - Dr Wagner, Roddy Piper, Billy Graham, Adrian Adonis,

California
American Wrestling Alliance/AWA
San Francisco
1961-1981
Owner - Roy Shire
Style - Famous for it's battle royals at The Cow Palace. Also home of many great tag teams.
Major Wrestlers - Pat Patterson, Ray Stevens, Rocky Johnson
Guests - Andre The Giant, The Destroyer, Eddie Graham

Oregon/Washington
PNW
Biggest Cities - Seattle, Portland
1925-1997
Owner - Don Owen
Style - Second oldest promotion behind EMLL Mexico wrestlers from all over loved to wrestle for Don Owen because of great pay days and he was a great promoter. They were famous for having some great promo's and always had their share of light weights.
Major Wrestlers - Roddy Piper, Buddy Rose, Rip Oliver, Ed Wiskoski, Stan Stasiak
Guests - The Samoans, Pedro Morales, Gene Kiniski, Rocky Johnson

Canada
Quebec
All Star Wrestling
Biggest Cities - Montreal, Quebec City, Ottawa
1964-1975
Owner Johnny Rougeau
Style - Owner Johnny Rougeau was the main star and they had many local superstars atop the roster. They had both great tag team and singles rosters.
Major Wrestlers - Johnny Rougeau, Ivan Koloff, Butcher Vachon, Abdullah The Butcher,
Guests - Buddy Rogers, Carlos Colon, Lou Albano and Tony Altimore

Quebec
Grand Prix Wrestling
Biggest Cities - Montreal, Quebec City, Ottawa
1972-1975
Owners - The Vachons, Gino Brito, Yvon Robert Jr.
Style - Direct competition to All Star Wrestling they raided their roster they had many bloody hardcore style matches as well as many great guests from Verne Gagne's AWA.
Major Wrestlers - Andre The Giant, Ed Carpentier, Dino Bravo, Angelo Mosca
Guests - The Crusher, The Blackjacks, Baron Von Raschke

Quebec
International Wrestling
Biggest Cities - Montreal, Quebec City, Ottawa
1980-1987
Owners - Andre the Giant, Frank Valois, Gino Brito
Style - The Final run of Montreals hey day led by Andre had great booking and featured many guests from the AWA.
Major Wrestlers - Dino Bravo, Jos Leduc, The Masked Superstar, Jaques and Raymond Rougeau
Guests - Many AWA stars like Stan Hansen, Hulk Hogan and The Road Warriors

Alberta
Stampede
Biggest Cities - Calgary, Vancouver
1948-1989
Owners - Stu Hart then Bruce Hart
Style - Featured many great light weights, heavy weights and tag action. They also used quite a few young Japanese wrestlers who were on excursions. Very hard hitting and high flying for the time.
Major Wrestlers - Bruce, Bret and Owen Hart, Brian Pillman, Bad News Allen, The Brittish Bulldogs
Guests - Andre The Giant, Antonio Inoki, Rick Martel, Harley Race, Billy Robinson

Ontario
Maple Leaf Wrestling
Biggest Cities - Toronto
1930-1986
Owners - The Tunney Family
Style - Many great heavy weights as they shared talent with The Crocketts from Mid Atlantic
Major Wrestlers - The Sheik, Angelo Mosca, Dewey Robertson, Hussein Arab(Iron Sheik)
Guests - Ric Flair, Sgt Slaughter, The Brisco's,

Manitoba
IWA
Biggest Cities - Winnipeg
1973-1999
Owners - Tony Condello,
Style - A minor spot in Canada it featured it's owner Tony Condello as champ.
Major Wrestlers - Tony Condello, Mad Dog Peloquin, Jim Brunzell, Ron Ritchie
Guests - Bulldog Bob Brown

British Columbia
Northwest Wrestling Promotions 1968-1977/All Star 1977-1989
Biggest Cities - Vancouver
Owners - Sandor Kovaks and Gene Kiniski then Al Tomko
Style - Great heavyweight action with an old school feel. Mostly singles matches. One of the great members of the NWA until Al Tomko took over and put himself in the top spot despite not being a great wrestler.
Major Wrestlers - Gene Kiniski, Don Leo Jonathan, Stan Stasiak, Haystacks Calhoun
Guests - Harley Race, Jack Brisco, Jimmy Snuka, Andre The Giant

The Maritimes
Grand Prix Wrestling
1977-1986
Biggest Cities - Moncton, Halifax, Berwick
Owner - Emile Dupree
Style - Mostly a Summertime fed they featured both heavyweights and tag action.
Major Wrestlers - Killer Karl Krupp, Leo Burke, Rudy Kay
Guests - Lanny Poffo, Rick Martel, Bruno Sammartino

Japan
JWA
1953-1973
Owner - Rikidozan
Style - The original fed in Japan it featured many ex sumo wrestlers. It was led by Rikidozan and featured matches versus evil foreigners aka gaijin. JWA was also famous for it's annual World Big League tournament and later on it's World tag League tourney.
Major Wrestlers - Giant Baba, Antonio Inoki, Toyonobori, Michiaki Yoshimura
Guests - Lou Thesz, The Destroyer, Karl Gotch, Freddie Blassie

NJPW
1972-
Owner - Antonio Inoki
Style - Featured mostly the same hard hitting Japan vs evil gaijin style made famous by Rikidozan. Had many great light weights and featured some of the best tournaments in the world that continue today.
Major Wrestlers - Antonio Inoki, Tatsumi Fujinami, Riki Choshu, Tiger Mask, Seiji Sakaguchi
Guests - Tiger Jeet Singh, Abdullah The Butcher, Hulk Hogan, Vader

AJPW
1972-
Owner - Giant Baba
Style - Led by it's owner Giant Baba they had great hard hitting heavy weight matches as well as some of the best tag matches. They also featured the best gaijin as most were loyal to Baba. They too feature the longest running tourney in the world The Champions Carnival which is a round robin style format.
Major Wrestlers - Giant Baba, Thunder Sugiyama, Jumbo Tsuruta, Genichiro Tenryu,
Guests - Stan Hansen, The Funks, The Destroyer, Mil Mascaras,

IWE
1966-1981
Owner - Isao Yoshiwara
Style - Extremely hard hitting and often bloody it was the first company in Japan to use gimmick matches such as the steel cage.
Major Wrestlers - Rusher Kimura, Strong Kobayashi, Great Kusatsu, Umanosuke Ueda
Guests - Billy Robinson, Gypsy Joe, Horst Hoffman, Verne Gagne, Many stars from USA's AWA

Puerto Rico
WWC
1973-
Owners - Victor Jovica, Carlos Colon
Style - Extremely bloody and violent wrestling that featured the feud of Carlos Colon vs Abdullah The Butcher. They featured many gimmick matches such as barbed wire and cage matches. They also had a lot of tag team matches.
Major Wrestlers - Carlos Colon, Abdullah The Butcher, The Invaders, Los Medicos
Guests - Dutch Mantell, Larry Sharpe, Dory Funk Jr, Ric Flair, Bruiser Brody