Hey Scott,
Long time reader occasional commenter. I've been pushing through a lot of old PPVs on the WWE network, mostly WCW stuff from the 80s because I grew up a WWF kid. If NWA/WCW had a show that ran in the metro Detroit area at that time I never saw it, most likely because I didn't get cable until 90-91 I think. Then I fell out of wrestling around 92 for a while. I didn't come back to it until the Attitude era started when I was a senior in high school (you'd call that grade 12). So really to me anything before 98 in WCW/NWA I've only read about or seen on DVD. Anyway I'm watching Starrcade 85 and holy crap are there a lot of titles. I thought WWE after the buyout was bad. My question is: what's the hierarchy? Is the National title above the US title? It looked like there were three sets of tag titles, National, US and World. Where does the Mid-South title fit in? Just curious. Hope you got your streaming issues straightened out. I've found it works best for me on my Apple TV.
Dave Tomlinson
Yeah, Apple TV is not an option here in Canada. I'd like to get one anyway, but the Network was removed from them Monday afternoon.
It goes World - US - National - TV on the singles titles, and World - US - National on the tag titles as well. The Mid-South was a regional title, which would put it below the US title.
And the streaming is working fine tonight, so fingers crossed. Although tonight is NXT night anyway, so that's Hulu.
The National titles didn't last long past that, anyway:
ReplyDeleteSingles: Nikita merges it with the U.S. title in September 86. Fun note: Buddy Landell, who won the National title at Starrcade 85, "lost" the title to Dusty in Rio... sorry, Atlanta. (Buddy and his drugs...)
Tag: Andersons are stripped of the National Tag Titles in February 86, and said titles became the U.S. Tag Titles and were won by I. Koloff/Khrushchev in a tournament.
And yes... the National and U.S. tag titles did NOT exist at the same time.
ReplyDelete(All of the above is courtesy Wiki... so keep the usual caution.)
The National titles were holdovers from the Georgia territory when Crockett bought it. There was no U.S. Tag Team Titles at the time. The National Tag Team Titles were discontinued very early in '86 when Ole went out with an injury (can't remember if it was legit but I know they blamed Dusty). The U.S. Tag Team Titles began that fall with a one night tournament won by Ivan and Krusher. That same night in Atlanta Nikita (U.S. champ) beat Wahoo (National champ) to unify the titles.
ReplyDelete"Yeah, Apple TV is not an option here in Canada. I'd like to get one anyway, but the Network was removed from them Monday afternoon."
ReplyDeleteBuddy...I have unblock-us on my appletv. It works totally fine. What's the issue you're having?
I was under the impression that the app was removed from Canadian ones. The one we use at work, for instance, had the network on Monday but it's now disappeared. Maybe it just doesn't show without Unblocking?
ReplyDeleteIs there NXT tonight? Wasn't sure if there was still a Hulu show this week with the Network live show tomorrow night.
ReplyDeleteFind it funny I was just watching GAB 96, featuring TV champion Lex Luger in the main event, while US champion Konnan hung around in a bad undercard match.
ReplyDeleteThe TV title did always have some "float" on it, depending on the title holder. But US>TV was the general rule.
ReplyDeleteApparently there's supposed to be, but it's not up on Hulu yet, which is kind of a red flag.
ReplyDeleteEverything was fine until the Western States Heritage Championship came and threw a monkey wrench into things...
ReplyDeleteProbably. If you've got unblock-us, setting your Apple TV up to point you at the States is the best idea. I use it for US Netflix on my TV all the time. At least at home you should have it covered.
ReplyDeleteI don't know of any "Mid-South title." Mid-South, which was a completely separate promotion from Crockett, only had the North American title, their own TV title, and the tag belts.
ReplyDeleteDidn't they have a 6-man title around this time as well?
ReplyDeleteI presume he was talking about the North American title.
ReplyDeleteActually, I bet he meant the Mid Atlantic title that Sam Houston had.
ReplyDeleteThe U.S. tag titles had nothing to do with the Crockett Promotion at this point. They were the tag titles from the Florida territory, which were called the U.S. tag team championship.
ReplyDeleteThe Mid-South main title was called the North American Heavyweight Championship. I know it was defended at the first Crockett Cup not sure about Starrcade.
I think that came into play in 86 with Russians and The Road Warriors feud.
ReplyDeleteThere were 3 Road Warriors? Forgive me, but I didn't start watching until 1995, and anything before 1991 I pretty much know nothing about.
ReplyDeleteThey teamed with Dusty for the 6-man, which led to a brutal angle where they turned on him.
ReplyDeleteAnd that belt would have been on the same "level" as the North American title anyway. Tops in a territory, but still under the NWA belts.
ReplyDeleteSpeaking of Starrcade 85...has Scott K ever reviewed that one? I'm looking through the archives, but can't seem to find it...
ReplyDeleteNope, on the list.
ReplyDeleteI was under the impression that the U.S. heavyweight title and the U.S. tag team title were basically the "regional" championships for, interchangeably, the Mid-Atlantic region and the GCW/WCW region. The National heavyweight title and National tag team title were the regional championships for the Georgia territory until it changed from Georgia Championship Wrestling to World Championship Wrestling, when they merged into the U.S. titles.
ReplyDeleteAnd of course, the NWA World and World tag team titles were the top belts for all NWA-affiliated promotions.
Or is my 1980s-Pro Wrestling Illustrated memory fading?
If only it was that simple.
ReplyDeleteBased on wikipedia (take it for what it's worth).
a) The U.S. Heavyweight Title was introduced in Mid-Atlantic in 1975. It became the top title in that promotion. Confusingly, several other promotions also had a U.S. Heavyweight Title, but they were all gone by 1981. After Crockett got almost complete control of the NWA World title, the U.S> title turned into a secondary title.
b) The U.S. Tag title is different. It was never the top title in Mid-Atlantic. In fact it wasn't created until 1986. Mid-Atlantic's top title was their version of the NWA World Tag Team Championship...which brings up:
c) "And of course, the NWA World and World tag team titles were the top belts for all NWA-affiliated promotions." It's a little different for the tag title. In the 70's and early 80's multiple NWA promotions each had their own 'world tag team title'. Mid-Atlantic was one of them, and that is the lineage that eventually became the one we think as the 'world tag team title' when talking about lineage and history since Mid-Atlantic/JCP took over the NWA in the 80s and morphed into WCW. But it started off as just the top regional title in Mid-Atlantic.
Jesus, the concept of "third cousins twice removed" is easier to understand than wrestling title lineage.
ReplyDelete