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Review of Memphis Heat DVD Release

Posted: Oct 19th 2011 By: mikeiles

When I relocated from Florida to Nashville, TN in 2001 I was only watching WWF as WCW had been purchased. TNA and ROH did not exist yet. I knew a small bit about the territorial system that existed. Thanks to people like Tony Falk, Mike Porter, Mike Sircy and the wrestlers of many promotions in Nashville I got schooled on the Mid-South or Memphis style of wrestling. Being involved in the sport/business these last 10 years I now have an enormous amount of respect for my elders who worked in the territory era driving hundreds of thousands of miles a year for little to no money. Thanks to Off the Top Rope Productions, director Craig Schaffler and tons of interviews; the rest of the wrestling fans now know all in a wonderful feature film ?Memphis Heat: the True Story of Memphis Wrassln.?

I am sure some fans reading this are asking, ?What do you mean by Territorial System?? Before Vince McMahon expanded nationwide in the 1980?s, the National Wrestling Alliance and other governing bodies controlled professional wrestling. Stars could go in between territories when their character got burned out or the money wasn?t good enough. Roy Welch & George Gulas owned the Memphis territory that included Nashville, Evansville, Louisville, Jackson, Tupelo and of course the Mid-South Coliseum in Memphis. From the 1950?s to the late 1980?s it was one of the hottest promotions ever. As Jerry Jarrett outlines in his moments in the film if cable TV and the internet existed in that era, nothing would have worked.

The film carries fans back to the original stars like Sputnik Monroe, Billy Wicks, ?Fabulous? Jackie Fargo, Tojo Yamamoto, Len Rossi & Buddy Wayne along with former promoter Guy Coffey (who recently passed away). The era of the 60?s gave way to the 1970?s that saw Fargo joined by Jerry ?the King? Lawler & manager ?Mouth of the South? Jimmy Hart, ?Superstar? Bill Dundee, ?Handsome? Jimmy Valiant, ?Soulman? Rocky Johnson & Jerry Jarrett (wrestling then promoting) who took things to another level. As the interview subjects will tell you, everyone who is anyone in wrestling worked Memphis at one point or another including Hulk Hogan, Ric Flair, Austin Idol, Jeff Jarrett, Randy Savage, Sting & Ultimate Warrior (called Rock & Flash at the time.) When wrestling entered the late 1970?s and early 1980?s an actor named Andy Kaufman came to Memphis things went off the charts. Also didn?t hurt that former NWA World Heavyweight champion Terry Funk and Lawler competed in an empty arena match that has never been duplicated to perfection.

This film has already played across America and thanks to the promoters of the film I was honored to see it and now tell you that if you appreciate the history of professional wrestling, this DVD must be in your collection. Seeing the footage of the empty arena match plus Lawler vs. Kaufman makes it a great grab. The only person I wish the film makers had talked with was TV announcer Lance Russell who called thousands of the matches seen on Memphis TV.

You can purchase the DVD that has hours of bonus interviews and match footage via www.memphis-heat.com where you can also see a preview trailer.