Part 3: The 1960s and a fractured landscape
In America, the 1950s was a boom period for professional wrestling because of television, but the 1960s represents the end of that boom and the beginning of a different landscape. There were many reasons the wrestling boom ended, with television overexposure being the biggest contributor. By the end of the decade, ratings were in decline and producers were starting to lose interest as a result. The NWA was weakened and new independent territories formed that recognized their own champions, the most notable among them Vincent J. McMahon’s World Wide Wrestling Federation out of New York and Verne Gagne’s American Wrestling Association out of Minneapolis. The NWA also had trouble finding a worthy successor to Lou Thesz, which led to him coming out of retirement in 1963. Wrestlers like Gene Kiniski and Pat O’Connor are legitimate Hall of Famers and wrestling legends, but they were less successful NWA champions than Thesz.
In Japan, the popularity of wrestling continued to thrive under the stardom of Rikidozan until his death in 1963 at 39 years old. We saw the ascension of his proteges Shohei “Giant” Baba and Antonio Inoki as stars in the 1960s and by the end of the decade, the rival International Wrestling Enterprise was formed. Likewise, the most prolific women’s wrestling company in history (some would just say the most prolific wrestling company in history) — All Japan Women — formed in 1968.
Because wrestling operated on far more of a regional basis in the 1960s than the 1950s, footage is less accessible during this time, and it remains that way until the VCR starts showing up in households in the late 70s. Still, while what we have doesn’t tell the full story of 60s wrestling, we do see some fascinating hints that reveal plenty on their own from all around the world, and much like in the 1950s, there are more complete matches than you might think. A key part of that is the continued availability of French Catch footage, but we also see an increase in Japanese footage and a treasure trove of fun clips from Toronto and Portland. We also continue to see footage from Los Angeles and Dallas as the decade progresses.
29 topics in this forum
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History of Pro Wrestling #61 (04:17:16) Matches from January-March 1969 ANDRE BOLLET vs FRANZ VAN BUYTEN (01/01/1969; French Catch; 00:38:42) Segunda Caida review of the match. ANDRE BOLLET vs JEAN FERRE (01/01/1969; French Catch; 00:41:53) Segunda Caida review of the match. ANDRE BOLLET & ROGER DELAPORTE vs MARCEL MONTREAL & WARNIA DE ZARZECKI (01/25/1969; French Catch; 00:33:21) Segunda Caida review of the match. ABDEL KADER BOUSSADA vs JEAN LUC (02/01/1969; French Catch; 00:10:18) GUY CAVILLIER vs ALBERT SANNIEZ (02/01/1969; French Catch; 00:19:11) Segunda Caida reviews of the…
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History of Pro Wrestling #62 (04:03:09) Matches from March-April 1969 ROBERT GASTEL & FRED MAGNIER vs DON BARRETO & EDDIE WILLIAMS (03/08/1969; French Catch; 00:39:04) Segunda Caida review of the match. VASILIOS MANTOPOULOS & AMOR ZAFAR vs PIERRE BERNAERT & EMBABA LE CONGOLAIS (04/05/1969; French Catch; 00:41:10) Segunda Caida review of the match. ANTONIO INOKI vs BOBO BRAZIL (04/05/1969; JWA World League; 00:10:32) SEIJI SAKAGUCHI & MICHIAKI YOSHIMURA vs MEDICOS (04/05/1969; JWA World League; 00:08:15) SHOHEI BABA vs GORILLA MONSOON (04/05/1969; JWA World League; 00:07:26) …
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History of Pro Wrestling #63 (04:36:41) Matches from May-October 1969 ANTONIO INOKI vs CHRIS MARKOFF (05/16/1969; JWA World League; 00:22:57) A terrific match with Inoki fighting from underneath and turning into a bloody mess, and Markoff using every cheating tactic imaginable. Inoki wins the league for the first time, ending Baba’s three year-streak. It’s notable that this is also the first time Inoki used his famous manjigatame (octopus stretch), which was hyped in training videos prior to the match. 4 1/4* SHOHEI BABA vs BOBO BRAZIL (05/16/1969; JWA World League; 00:33:13) These two matches represent the end of the 11th annual World …
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History of Pro Wrestling #64 (04:04:39) Matches from October-December 1969 TAKESHI OISO vs TETUNOSUKE DAIGO (10/29/1969; IWE; 00:15:05) Excellent biographies of Oiso and Daigo, courtesy of Cameren Lee. TOSUKE FUJI vs ASATARU SANO (10/29/1969; IWE; 00:11:44) These matches are likely available because TBS (Tokyo Broadcasting System) aired a late-night program called Young Fight that spotlighted younger talent in pro wrestling, boxing and kickboxing. Cameren “always found it bizarre that undercard bouts of Takeshi Oiso vs. Tetsunosuke Daigo and Asataro Sano vs. Sankichi Fujii made tape, but I'm certain I have found the smoki…
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