• Look Back In History
• Pmessages
• Quiz
• Stump The Staff
• Top Fifty
• Close

REVIEW: Back to the Territories: Mid-South Edition

Posted: Dec 16th 2014 By: Alan Wojcik

Jim Cornette is a legendary manager who has forgotten more about wrestling than many of us will ever know. So he is the perfect host for the newest edition to the KAYFABE COMMENTARIES family, BACK TO THE TERRITORIES. The initial edition features the MID-SOUTH WRESTLING territory run by ?Cowboy? Bill Watts. The guest chosen to talk Mid-South is ?HACKSAW? JIM DUGGAN who worked there before his lengthy run in WWE.

Thanks to Mr. Cornette?s vast knowledge of wrestling we get mini-vignettes on the history of the territory. Bill Watts broken off from his partner Leo McGuirk, taking Louisiana and Mississippi for himself.

Watts would eventually take over Oklahoma, Arkansas plus buying out Paul Bosch?s Houston territory in 1982.We learn off the bat Duggan came into the territory in the mid-1980?s as part of the villainous Rat Pack with WWE Hall of Fame member Ted DiBiase & the late Matt Borne. We get stories on the legends like Ernie Ladd, Junkyard Dog, the Fabulous Freebirds, Butch Reed, Magnum TA and Jim Ross. In addition we get knowledge of running in each state and how different the fan bases were, running the Louisiana Superdome, the TV shooting format that is copied by promotions today and what a good promoter Mr. Watts was until the oil business bottomed out and killed the territory.

At one point Mr. Cornette reads off a two week schedule the talent ran in Mid-South and it made me tired plus killed my car engine. This is a great open to the series and Jim Duggan is a wonderful storyteller especially how important it was to keep Kayfabe in the territory.

Next to be released by www.KayfabeCommentaries.com is Timeline History of WWE 2008 with Brian ?Curt Hawkins? Myers (December 16th) and Timeline History of ECW 1999 with Rob Van Dam (January 8th). In addition we will get new episodes of Back to the Territories with Lance Storm (Calgary) and JJ Dillon (Jim Crockett Promotions.)

To follow Alan Wojcik?s wrestling coverage, check out @MyNameIsWojcik on Twitter and www.facebook.com/KayfabeWrestlingRadio