If you are a fan of Memphis wrestling or old school territory pro wrestling you will enjoy my recent podcast on Pro Wrestling Radio. I was joined by Memphis wrestling historian and author Mark James as we went back in time and talked about my favorite territory in wrestling history.
[adinserter block=”1″]We hit on all of the memorable moments, famous promos, legendary brawls, and classic wrestlers that came through Memphis and made their mark in history.
– Jerry Lawler, Lawler vs. Bill Dundee and whether they truly got along or not
– Hulk Hogan in Memphis, famous Memphis managers specifically Jimmy Hart
– Why Austin Idol never went national and just how great he was
– The merger with World Class Championship Wrestling
– Lawler’s planned run as NWA world heavyweight champion,
– Lawler’s classic title matches with Jack Brisco and Nick Bockwinkel
– The popularity of the Fabulous Ones Steve Keirn and Stan Lane
– Randy Savage and his impact coming into the territory and so much more.
– Who owns the Memphis tape library and why has Vince McMahon never purchased it.
– Growing up as a fan in the territory
– Andy Kaufman in Memphis
– The proposed Elvis Presley vs. Jerry Lawler match and whether it really would have happened
Check it out via the YouTube video below.
For more information on Mark’s book check out his website here.
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That's some really interesting stuff. Thanks man!
Another thing I would like to add on topic of the tape library. This is a quote from someone called Bix from a message board.
"My understanding of the Memphis library ("Memphis" indicating everything through the end of the USWA) is that the Selkers own the rights. If they have any master tapes, it's whatever WMC had (as the Selkers had to edit compilation shows together at the end). Cory Maclin doesn't own that stuff even though Highspots is paying him because they think he does. Lawler probably has the best assortment of master tapes. Jimmy Hart may have some too. Ron Martinez has what was sent to the Poffos for ICW TV and '70s films that he and Jim Cornette had converted. Jeff Osbourne (a former indy promoter best known now for promoting MMA group Hook 'n' Shoot and doing commentary for various MMA groups) owns at least a dozen master Evansville shows from '78-'83 that he got at a garage sale. Jim Cornette has the master '70s films, a lot of off-air footage (11/79-some time in '83 pretty consistently), and dubs of all of Lawler's masters at least. Johnny Legend or his sister Lynn Marguiles (Andy Kaufman's girlfriend played by Courtney Love in Man On The Moon) have various footage, both from Kaufman's runs and later stuff that was used to assemble the Rock & Roll Wrestling Music Video release. The Savoldis own USWA Dallas and the shows taped around the Memphis loop for syndication during the months USWA Texas was dormant due to Kevin Von Erich's legal threats. WWE owns the AWA tapings done at the weekly loop house shows to set up Superclash III. I think that's about it."
Great podcast. As for Vince McMahon not owning the CWA portion of the library, besides the reasons mentioned in the podcast, another reason in that there in not much of a library in terms of master tapes as they were frequently reused to save money. A lot of footage were taped over in the masters. The majority of the footage in the Memphis Wrestling DVDs that Highspots is selling come from VHS dubs.