What would the territories look like today if Vince never took over

[jtaylor2010]

Been making my way through the “Tales From the Territories” series and it got me thinking….how would things have played out if Vince never took over? Luckily I was fortunate enough to be a kid in the Carolinas in the 80’s so I got to experience the glory of NWA and later WCW, but there are some cool stories from all over.

Ultimately the curtain would’ve been pulled back no matter what due to a more connected world with the internet and other things so it was inevitable that those aspects of wrestling would’ve suffered regardless of whether the takeover happened or not. But at the same time there could’ve been so many angles to work between the promoters and territories with wrestlers invading other parts of the country…and the competition would’ve probably helped products all over. Plus a big part of what made it great in the glory days was that there was a lot of real aspects to it. Lots of feuds were based in reality and the characters were either magnifications of the people playing them or alter egos that allowed darker sides of that person to express through. All of that could’ve been better, at least for a while. I’d say there would be niche areas with fans being loyal to one region or another, but also some overlap between the territories that made things extremely interesting. It also would’ve helped the wrestlers because there would be more potential buyers for the talent and it may have allowed parity across the country. The the obvious aspect of having your region land a huge wrestler that they could work in to storylines and who you’d get to see perform in a wrestling environment that you prefer.


Just wondering how others see that playing out, and if it would’ve been better or worse than how things ended up unfolding.

[Superplex]

Joe Hennig, AWA Chairman

[DanteEdmond]

Someone else would've went national. Vince's idea to go national wasn't special or newfangled. There were others who tried to go national before Vince. Check out Eddie Einhorn's International Wrestling Association in the 1970s.

The reason WWF succeeded in going national is that they had NYC under their control. Having the largest city, with all the bright lights and media attention, gave them the edge over promotions based in places like Cleveland. And they also had Philly, Boston, and Pittsburgh.

If Vince had failed, someone else would've stepped in and gone national

[ChunkBuster]

Mullets on wrestlers would still be a thing.

Hulk Hogan wouldn’t have played bass in Metallica, wrestled 400 days a year or been able to smell death then warn the doctors on the dying make a wish kid at Summerslam 92, brother.

[latverian41]

Cabke TV would have destroyed them anyways unless they all came together. Vince is a POS. Single handleuly destroyed wresting ..
When he bought wce he would have kept it two separate companies. And each year battle off.

[drakkarman]

Cabke TV would have destroyed them anyways unless they all came together. Vince is a POS. Single handleuly destroyed wresting ..
When he bought wce he would have kept it two separate companies. And each year battle off.

[tnel00]

Someone else would've went national. Vince's idea to go national wasn't special or newfangled. There were others who tried to go national before Vince. Check out Eddie Einhorn's International Wrestling Association in the 1970s.

The reason WWF succeeded in going national is that they had NYC under their control. Having the largest city, with all the bright lights and media attention, gave them the edge over promotions based in places like Cleveland. And they also had Philly, Boston, and Pittsburgh.

If Vince had failed, someone else would've stepped in and gone national

This

With the rise of cable tv, regional promotions were already on their way out.