Why didn't Vince Sr. ever go national?
Do you find it hard to care about Becky vs Natalya?
Not trying to be harsh, but I've never cared about Natalya.
I'll answer that with a story.
At the NWA Convention (where the owners would meet) when Vince Jr. was just starting to go national, the owners decided something had to be done. The idea that was floated around and seemed popular:
"Why don't we just shoot him?"
Exceedingly so.
Natalya is very good at her job, but her job isn't to be one of the top stars in the division.
To further KB's answer, Vince himself has stated that his old man never would've sold him the company if he knew that he was going to attempt to take it national. It wasn't so much that he was afraid Vince wouldn't succeed, it was that he was worried for his son's safety.
In a way, think of the owners of the National Wrestling Alliance affiliated promotions as Mafia dons in control of their own territory. Instead of controlling the distribution of narcotics, gambling, prostitution, etc. in most of Florida, for instance, Eddie Graham would control pretty much all the pro wrestling. There were other wrestling companies to work for who weren't affiliated with the NWA but you never hear about them because, frankly, there were nothing. Didn't even register as a blip on the radar, but they wouldn't last all that long in most cases as they didn't make any money. The vast majority of successful wrestlers during the time almost never worked for anyone unaffiliated with the NWA as they possibly ran the risk of being blacklisted, maybe even fucked up by some other wrestlers at the behest of some of the other promoters.
That's not to say that it was all one big happy family or anything, it wasn't uncommon at all for many of the promoters to be at each other's throats. Some would run shows in the territories of other companies without the permission of the man who "ran" the territory, they'd sometimes poach wrestlers from each other by offering more money, they'd squabble, they'd threaten, they'd gripe, etc. and probably the biggest reason why the NWA didn't fold and the territory system didn't implode was because of San Muchnick, who owned and operated the St. Louis Wrestling Club. Muchnick was pretty much the only person everyone else in the NWA trusted as, believe it or not, he had a reputation for being a genuinely honest, hard working business man with a gift for mediation. His company wasn't big, it only operated in St. Louis but it was successful because of a few factors. For one thing, his promotion had its own television program that aired in the St. Louis area from '59 all the way to 1983 and he had no trouble getting top names to work for him because of his honesty. He was a lot like Don Owen of Pacific Northwest Wrestling in that he has a sterling reputation for being fair and honest with the people who wrestled for him. He didn't bullshit the workers, he didn't try to stiff them on payout. Muchnick served as NWA President from about 1950 through 1960, the first time, then again from '63 through 75. The three years he wasn't the NWA President was chaotic because Frank Tunney, Fred Kohler and Karl Sarpolis of Toronto, Chicago and Amarillo respectively basically did what you might expect: they used the time they were president of the NWA to do whatever they could to further their own companies at the expense of pretty much everyone else.
Sorry for the impromptu history lesson, it's just kind of fun talking about those old guys.
"What Do I Know Of Cultured Ways, The Gilt, The Craft And The Lie?
I, Who Was Born In A Naked Land And Bred In The Open Sky.
The Subtle Tongue, The Sophist Guile, They Fail When The Broadswords Sing.
Rush In And Die Dogs - I Was A Man Before I Was King."
Conan Of Cimmeria
No need to apologize, Jack, I appreciate the history. Love talking wrestling history especially pre-80s stuff.
If you ever attended a WWE live event (house shows and PPVs) which wrestler(s) did you buy a ticket to see? https://forms.gle/d5uh8iifDbfDBdDd8
Where in the world did you hear that?
Greatest wrestlers to never win a world championship?
There are currently 5 users browsing this thread. (0 members and 5 guests)