For each section, I am creating a sub forum.

 

Use the main forum to list matches from other promotions as you come across them in your viewings. This will help things be even more organized.

I am thinking we use the match discussion folder to nominate matches, so someone who wants to nominate a match starts a thread and then as other people see it they can comment and vote.

Sounds good. We can even have topics such as Phil's Nominees, Kris Nominees, etc. so you guys can edit and keep track.

Why don't we go ahead and create folders for all the categories, then if we run across a good match on Youtube or on 24/7 we can throw it up

Hell, we haven't even agreed on what is going on each category.

 

Instead, I'll create a subforum for matches not in the next 2 categories (joshi and Memphis) as a hodgepodge until we figure out where a match is going.

In fact, just post a match in this forum before we get to the sub forums. No need to create a sub forum.

Do me a favor Will and create a subforum for The Islands (Puerto Rico/Hawaii/Phillapeens) I want to do that one sooner then later (maybe after Memphis) and I am thinking about buying some of IVP videos WWC.

Dude, we have access to the entire Bottomless Jack collection which is about 150 discs. I also have a few PR comm. discs.

Man really? That is kind of awesome, who is Bottomless Jack?

He is a trader. We can get the set from Dan or from my buddy Brent Baker. As for Philippines and Hawaii... good luck.

There is a Brody v. Colon chain match up at DVDVR I am going to watch, and I ordered two discs from IVP videos, I was getting other shit and they are only three bucks, so could you make THE ISLANDS subfolder

For the NWA set, I have been watching alot of stuff lately and I think we should nominate matches from 1980-89 and after we watch the footage, divide it accordingly... if we need to divide the set.

Have we figured out what counts? Florida? St. Louis? Georgia? Mid-Atlantic?

I think in the meantime, just throw it all under the NWA banner until we figure out how it will be divided. Just indicate what territory it is in whatever post you make.

After digging I finally found the original working list of sections that me & Bix devised when we created this in the DVDVR chat.

 

JCP

AWA

AJPW

NJPW

Canada (With Stampede being mostly JIP and there not being a ton from

elsewhere, so we consolidated)

Memphis/Texas/Puerto Rico (based on being largely brawling territories

more complete Memphis footage availability, which impoved, and lack of

PR besides comms and some '88-'89 TV, which improved a ton with

Bottomless Jack's WWC set, which is 100 discs covering '82ish-'91ish,

plus 6 discs of PRALL and All-Star through the same period. WCCW is a

good idea to separate, there is a lot around. San Antonio

maybe-there's a good bit around from SWCW, but it gets much spottier

with TASW and I dunno if there's any USA-ASW around)

Solie (Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Knoxville. Dunno due to various availability issues)

Mexico (Footage improved thanks to Jose)

Europe (Since non-British is spotty)

Portland or West Coast maybe?

Other (depending on how the rest goes, but basically for areas with

little footage/short runs in the period like LA, plus indies like SCW,

DSW, ICW, & Missouri.

 

I think that a split of Memphis, Texas, & Puerto Rico in 3 groups should be in order which of course the Islands section will be.

For the following, they are easy divisions and won't be hard sets to assemble...

Joshi

All Japan

New Japan

Europe

Lucha

AWA

Canada (except for my dispute with Kris over Maple Leaf footage)

Memphis (we have so much footage, it will absolutely go in its own category with ICW added on if anything.)

 

The Islands set will exist solely based on Bottomless Jack's collection. If this wasn't available, I don't think it could be pulled off. Hell, even with the set, this stuff might end up in the "Other"category as well.

 

I would not object to putting Southwest in "Other" even though I initally favored a Texas category w/ World Class. Other would probably be better. I also think we can make a nice 50-75 match WCCW set and Southwest would look awkward in all those Von Erich matches.

 

I don't really know if we could pull off a worthwhile Portland set. I actually just went into a bulk for some Portland footage and I converted most of Lynch's Portland collection but there isn't much out there after that. Portland will realistically end up in the "Other".

 

So, that leaves us with what to do with the NWA. At first, splitting the set made sense but I wonder how many pre-JCP matches will actually find thier way on a set. Looking through some old Georgia, the matches are slim pickings at least in the footage I have... maybe a 4 hour disc of matches, if that. Same for Mid Atlantic. There are some handhelds and the Steamboat-Flair 1984 Meadowlands match. I don't know of any other gems out there for that early stuff. Kris Z can enlighten us with more specifics.

 

Florida is hard. Early Florida could easily be lumped in with the NWA and no one would blink. You would just notice a bunch of Dory and Mike Graham matches. 1987 is just a Crockett commercial. Not like UWF using Crockett talent for exposure but one big JCP commercial. The 1989 footage I have with DDP on commentary doesn't even resemble early Florida in any sense. In fact, I would argue that Florida is the hardest territory to define unless you want to make Florida its own set but it is a weak part in my collection.

 

From 1985-1989 JCP, we have nearly all of the TV and PPVs/Big Shows/Comm. tapes. With that said, once you watch all the matches, all of the marquee matches that exist shouldn't make a Best of Set. Where Watts would have big matches week in and week out, you don't get that luxury with JCP. Hell, I have discs where you can go through almost 2 months of TV (Sat, Sun, Pro, Worldwide) without any big matches... usually in the lead in to Starrcade. You usually get a ton of matches during the GAB. 1987 has the Superbouts and 1988 has Main Event shows where the marquee matches increase but they decrease on WCWSN.

 

The biggest objection I have to the Bix list is the Solie category. If you want to divide a group based on the promotion or region, fine. But for a freaking announcer??? Not a good idea and I will not assemble a set based on Solie being the glue that holds it together.

Okay I've been thinking about this for a bit this morning and I came up with this

 

Jim Crockett Promotions (1980-88) (this is all non TBS stuff)

Turner Broadcasting System (1980-89) (this is all TBS stuff plus 1989 NWA all shows even the syndies since Turner owned the product)

Florida, Alabama, Southeast, whatever assorted Knoxville, Florida groups (basically the "Solie" section without Georgia)

Memphis

The Islands

Texas (World Class & Southwest together along with Houston pre-Watts, Texas All-Star, & Wild West (just group them all together like they were before Fritz split)

Portland (There is a lot of footage from Portland throughout the 80's so I think enough can be found to warrant this as a small section)

AWA

Canada (Maple Leaf, International, Tomko, & Stampede)

Other (St. Louis, Central States, ICW (Poffo & Savoldi), Deep South, Southern Championship, and other assorted indies)

New Japan

All-Japan

Joshi

Europe

Lucha

Here is the Portland collection I just went in a bulk for...

 

http://www.crazymax.org/viewtopic.php?t=96507

 

 

Here is what I currently own...

 

1102. Portland 5/18/85

1103. Portland 5/21/85

1104. Portland 9/24/85

1105. Portland Greatest Gimmicks

1119. Flair in Portland

 

504. PNW #1 (Disc 1)

505. PNW #1 (Disc 2)

506. PNW #2 (Disc 1)

507. PNW #2 (Disc 2)

508. PNW #3 (Disc 1)

509. PNW #3 (Disc 2)

510. PNW #5 (Disc 1)

511. PNW #5 (Disc 2)

512. PNW #6 (Disc 1)

513. PNW #6 (Disc 2)

514. PNW #7 (Disc 1)

515. PNW #7 (Disc 2)

516. PNW #8 (Disc 1)

517. PNW #8 (Disc 2)

518. PNW #9 (Disc 1)

519. PNW #9 (Disc 2)

520. PNW #10 (Disc 1)

521. PNW #10 (Disc 2)

522. PNW #11 (Disc 1)

523. PNW #11 (Disc 2)

 

What else is out there? Does Friedlander have a huge stash I don't know about?

Jim Crockett Promotions (1980-88) (this is all non TBS stuff)

Be specific.

 

Turner Broadcasting System (1980-89) (this is all TBS stuff plus 1989 NWA all shows even the syndies since Turner owned the product)

Ditto

 

Florida, Alabama, Southeast, whatever assorted Knoxville, Florida groups (basically the "Solie" section without Georgia)

Once again, how much is out there and how much is realistically worthwhile to include on a set?

 

 

Other thoughts...

 

I have been hunting for pre-Jarrett collaboration Poffo ICW for ages and there isn't alot out there. Most of the Poffo around is during the collaboration. No need to separate Poffo from Memphis unless you know of some hidden stash I can get my hands on.

 

We are still going to fight over the Maple Leaf footage. If you can give me some match lists of available Maple Leaf you have that isn't NWA heavy then I agree. However, based on the Maple Leaf I actually have, I don't see the need to include it in Canada.

JCP 1980-88 would be all syndicated shows like World Wide, Mid-Atlantic, & NWA Pro

 

TBS 1980-89 would be GCW, Championship Wrestling from Georgia, World Championship Wrestling, & 1989 NWA both TBS shows like WCW & Power Hour then the syndies since Turner owned the product.

 

There is plenty of Florida, Continental/Southeastern, and assorted Alabama, Knoxville, PWF that could make a section.

 

Poffo & Jarrett never worked together per se as the day Savage walked on Memphis TV, ICW died. Friedlander has a good chunk of ICW TV but it would most definitely go in the Others section.

 

Friedlander has a good bit of Portland and I know Warburton had a lot too.

 

Maple Leaf was it's own promotion with Frank & Jack Tunney in charge and sure they used Crockett talent to fill out their shows but they also would use AWA & WWF guys as well. This promotion was a total mixed bag that would use their own talent and angles peppered in with the outside guys.

In terms of Mapleleaf, I think a precedent has already been set with the WWF set. Steamboat/Santana vs Dream Team from the WWF set was a Mapleleaf match technically, but was included on the WWF set instead of being saved for a future Canadian set. I think you would do the same thing for the Mid Atlantic stuff as well. I know Mapleleaf Wrestling was a separate promotion that used talent from other places, but what AWA and WWF footage is actually available footage that would be nominated? I have never seen any AWA Mapleleaf matches at all.

 

I think in terms of categorizing, the most important thing isn't being consistent with promoters or promotions, but rather just acknowledging that wrestling has weird lineage and just using common sense and putting like matches together. Different promotions have different histories, and there's no consistent way to do it that makes the most logical sense across the board for every single category. Starrcade '83 and Starrcade '84 matches shouldn't be separated from Starrcade '85-'89 matches. Matches featuring the same guys in syndication shouldn't be separated from the cable stuff. Comparing Flair being booked as a weak champion in 1988, and comparing his output in that atmosphere to that in '89 when he was pushed the way he should have been all along is a comparison that makes this whole project fun, and I don't want to break it down any more than we have to.

 

Mid Atlantic is going to be such a small set in the end anyway, that I don't see the harm in just doing one big set with all the JCP (both pre and post TBS), and going all the way through the end of 1989 after the Turner buyout. The Flair/Steamboat match from the Meadowlands in '84 should be able to be compared with the trilogy in '89.

 

If I had my way, there would just be one massive set with all matches from all promotions that would be basically the top 500 matches of the 80s, without regard for promoter or territory, and people would have a year to watch everything and cast a final ballot. But I don't, and with that said, here is how I would categorize:

 

TBS (All matches from all territories that were broadcast on TBS at any time in the 80s, excluding Mid South and the WWF)

All Japan

New Japan

Memphis (include Poffo since the stuff most widely available is largely the same guys)

Joshi

Lucha Libre

AWA

WCCW

Europe

Memphis

The Islands

Other US (Florida, Portland, Continental, Windy City, Southwest, anything else that might surface)

 

The less categories, the better.

WWF owned Maple Leaf at that time, Jim Crockett never owned Toronto.

If we are going to break up JCP/NWA we should do it by decade say 1980-85, 85-90 rather then by TV show.

That's another option for sure.

 

When it comes to the NWA as a promotion thing, the NWA was never a promotion it was the sanctioning body of all the promotions other than AWA, WWF, Mid-South, and some others.

 

The closest thing it came to being a promotion was in 1989 after Turner bought Crockett but it was still Universal Wrestling Corporation using the World Championship Wrestling name as NWA/WCW.

What would be the reason for splitting it? 1980-1985 couldn't be more than 3 discs or so, could it?