Post by Optimisn on Jan 23, 2018 21:14:46 GMT -6
I found this on a wrestling board. It's certainly 30,000 feet, but I appreciate the work put in. Thought you guys might be interested.
In 57 the WWA broke off, they would return in 67
In 60 the AWA broke off they had some national pull until they died in the 90's
In 63 the WWWF broke off and became the WWF and eventually WWE
In 1988 WCW "broke off" although all NWA talent went with it, and the NWA became an indy organization.
Here are the Territories, there were 20 true territories. If you count OVW and Smokey Mountain which happened outside the true window 22.
Pacific Northwest (1925-1992): Oregon/Washington: A territory that had a steady run deep into the 80's. Known for rough and tumble faces, and wrestlers who were very loyal to the promotion for long stretches. Playboy Buddy Rose, was a joy to watch here from week to week. This promotion was a secret jewel and people can rediscover their shows on youtube. Biggest stars: Dutch Savage, Buddy Rose, Roddy Piper, Billy Jack Haynes, Tony Borne, Moondog Mayne.
Big Time Wrestling (1968-1981): Northern California: A very hot territory, until a sudden decline in the late 70's. Built around heel tag teams. Legendary host of one of wrestling's first supercards, The Cow Palace Battle Royal. Patterson, Tolos and Stevens made their "hey" here and created their reputations. Biggest stars: Promoted by legendary Roy Shire, Pat Patterson, Ray Stevens, John Tolos.
WWA/ NWA Hollywood (1959-1982): Southern California: Kind of a West Coast version of the WWWF booking style. Using ethnic disputes to build feuds. The first territory to break away from the iron hand of the NWA. They existed outside the NWA from 1957-1967. They came back into the fold in 67. Biggest Stars: Freddie Blassie, Edouard Capentier, Gory Guerrero.
Western States (Amarillo)(1969-1981): West Texas: One of the original "anything goes" promotions, wild action, more action less talk. Used a lot of luchadors as well. Only a 12 year run perhaps because the local stars Dory and Terry could not remain in the territory enough to satisfy local demand. Biggest Stars : The Funks, Ciclone Negro, Karl Von Steiger
World Class: North Texas (1966-1990): Epic-ally famous for it's early 80's Freebirds vs Von Erich war, that was the lifeblood of the company. The poor luck of the Von Erich clan and the horrid booking choices by Fritz killed possibly the only potential contender to Vince's empire, outside of the NWA. For years the World Class promotion shined. They had Fritz's sons, and a hot angle. They used three cameras and had higher production value than any other show, they were also on the cutting edge as going syndicated. Fans across America and the world got their product before the WWF went national. It stands to reason that World Class and not WWE was the first promotion to try and go national. However with each sad, sad death the promotion died a little itself. They would break away to form their own "world title" in the late 80's. But far too late to make a dent. World Class would die when Jerry Jarrett would buy them and merge them with his USWA which was essentially the "Memphis" promotion. A very sad end that really dies with each Von Erich son. Biggest Stars: Gary Hart, The Von Erich's, Stan Stasiak, Freebirds, Chris Adams, Skandor Akbar
Southwest: Southern Texas (1978-1985):. Short lived promotion that had plenty of technical talent, and surprisingly a very nice ESPN time slot, which they had and never could use against the syndicated World Class product. . Never really could rise against World Class even though they shared talent. Biggest Stars: Tully Blanchard, Dale Valentine (Buddy Roberts), Manny Fernandez
Tri-State/Mid-South/UWF: (1950-1990) Louisiana, parts of Oklahoma, and Arkansas: One of the GOAT promotions, Watt's brainchild was known for it's racial diversity, supercards in the Superdome and being the home of some of wrestling best story-lines. A rich tradition here of heel stables and while their biggest run was under booker Bull Dundee. Home territory of Jim Ross. Their breakout as the UWF in the mid 80's complete with syndicated show that was booked nationwide by television staitions looked like a breakaway from the NWA and spawned a really high quality show that made a truly national run. But it stalled and lapsed until they merged with the NWA "officially" again. Biggest Stars: Danny Hodge, Bill Watts, Junkyard Dog, Butch Reed, Ted DiBiase, Mr Wrestling II, Magnum TA.
Central States (1948-1988): Parts of Missouri, all of Iowa and Kansas: The stomping grounds of Harly Race had a really nice run. The best way to maybe describe Central States is that it was maybe the perfect happy medium between the crazy brawl happy south and the slow build north and midwest. Biggest Stars: Harley Race, Pat O'Connor, Bulldog Brown, Orville Brown, Bob Sweeten
NWA St. Louis (1959-1989): Parts of Missouri:Home of champions, the territory that perhaps had the biggest influence in the States before 1980 or so. The weekly matches at the Chase were a destination for wrestlers. Much like MSG, "The Chase" regularly saw champions from other territories defend their titles there. Kind of like a hub for talent. Of all the promotions this one easily hungered for wrestling talent over brawling. A heaven for those who prefer work-rate to charisma. Biggest Stars: Ted DiBiase, Lou Thesz, Ric Flair, Harly Race, Gene Kiniski
WWA Indiana: Indiana, Illinois (1964-1991): A territory that quickly left the NWA to join the fledgling AWA. A very interesting group who never really featured national mega stars. Almost like an indy group running under a national banner. Biggest Stars: Dick the Brusier, Wilbur Snyder, Baron Von Rashcke, Greg Wojokowski.
NWA Mid America (1957-1980): Parts of Tennessee, Kentucky, Arkansas, Alabama, and Missisippi, even a little in Missouri: Known for horrible payouts, and tag team wrestling. This promotion was the maybe the armpit of the territory system although it's roots would birth something more significant later. They were notorious for putting masked tag teams against each other and then using the same guys without masks on the same show. Basically getting three matches with the same guys, that's how cheap Nick Gulas was. The promoter Nick Gulas wanted his son George pushed beyond his ability and that led to Jarret breaking away and moving the Mid South home base to Memphis. Nick and the NWA tried to fight it but Jarrett had Lawler the biggest star, and more importantly the announcers Russell and Brown. So eventually the NWA turned on Nick. Biggest Stars: Jackie Fargo, Sputnik Monroe, Len Rossi, Don Kent, Luke Graham, Jerry Jarrett, Tojo Yammamoto
CWA/USWA (Memphis)(1977-1997): Tennessee, Kentucky, Arkansas, Alabama, and Mississippi, even a little in Missouri: Although known as the "Memphis" territory, the promotion had a large audience. While the payouts remained low after they broke away from NWA MId America, they did improve and especially for the top card guys. They went back and forth between NWA and AWA loyalty for years, Easily the most influential territory on wrestling since 1997, although it was not perceived as such during it's tenure....well ahead of its time. Memphis also had the single highest rated television show of the era on a Saturday morning time slot no less. Maybe the originators of hardcore. The promotional home of one Lance Russell, probably the GOAT weekly television host of all time. A promotion that thrived on weekly cards. Meaning things had to change every week, not monthly like in the North and Mid West. Innovation boundary pushing television that's influence can be seen everywhere. Quick title changes, run ins every week, chaos, etc...Just about every star from Lou Thesz to The Rock wrestled here. The last territory standing at the end of the war, and actually survived much longer as Memphis Power Pro as the WWE partnered with Lawler. Biggest Stars: Jerry Lawler, announcer Lance Russell, Bill Dundee, Jimmy Hart, Dutch Mantell, The Fabulous Ones, Jimmy Valiant, Austin Idol.
IWA (1978-1984): (Not truly a major territory, considered an outlaw promotion but very influential, and a good history read): Parts of Kentucky: . Just an insane playground for Poffo's kids. Basically a carbon copy of the Memphis promotion with a bunch of rag tag cast off's. Sold off as Memphis agreed to push Poffo's sons in 84. Biggest Stars: Angelo and Lanny Poffo, Randy Savage, Ronnie Garvin, One Man Gang (then known as Crusher Bloomfield)
Continental (1954-1990) (which had a sub territory called Gulf Coast): East Tennessee, Alabama, The Florida Panhandle, Eastern Kentucky: Perhaps the most unusual territory. Quietly did decent business for decades without hardly any notice from the Apter mags. A territory built on bitter family rivalries and masked men. Home of three of wrestling's most famous families, although few realize it. The Wright's, Fuller's and Armstrong's fought in this sandbox for a generation. Great promotion that has some classic clips. Biggest Stars: Ron Wright and Don Wright, Bob Armstrong and family, Jerry Stubbs (Mr. Olympia), Ron and Robert Fuller.
Championship Wrestling from Florida (1949-1987): Florida: . The place they all wanted to go. Florida, the sunshine state. Only New York, St Louis, and perhaps Mid Atlantic had more appeal. This appeal had more to do with vacation time than the territory. The length of the state actually made for a rough touring schedule. The territory centered around Graham for years but will forever be known for it's pushing the edge Kevin Sullivan "Satanist" gimmick of the 80's, and for being the place where Dusty went face in the legendary angle with Gary Hart. Some really GOAT angles came from Florida. Biggest Stars: Dusty Rhodes, Terry Funk, Kevin Sullivan, Bob Roop, Eddie and Mike Graham, Barry Windham.
Georgia Championship Wrestling (1944-merged into what became WCW): Georgia: The crazy world of Atlanta wrestling. Home of the cable powerhouse WTBS. Mr Wrestling 2 became a phenom, Georgia was perceived as the home base for the NWA although it really was not. Power laid more with Carolina and St Louis. But Georgia had the cable show, until on "Black Saturday" the WWF found away to steal it away. The show was immediately panned by southern fans and sold back to the Crockett's. After that the WTBS product became more of an NWA deal. Biggest Stars: Ray Gunkel, Mr Wrestling 1 and 2, JJ Dillon, Dusty Rhodes, Ole Anderson, Steamboat.
NWA Mid Atlantic (1931-1988): The Carolina's, Virginia:. Probably the Cadillac of the NWA especially after the fade of St Louis. Another great territory built on tag team wrestling. Home of perhaps wrestling's most well thought out intricate angle the "Final Conflict". The promotion home of the Steamboat vs Fair rivalry. The Crockett run promotion was there to pick up the pieces after Vince's failed attempt to takeover the Georgia piece of the pie. Basically Vince bought the Brisco shares in the Georgia promotion and took over their tv. But after the backlash Vince backed away and the Crockett's took over the crown jewel of Atlanta making Georgia the new home base of the NWA. Biggest Stars: Ric Flair, Blackjack Mulligan, Wahoo McDaniel, Masked Superstar, Jack and Jerry Brisco, Rip Hawk, Paul Jones
Big Time Wrestling (1959-1980): Michigan, parts of Ohio: A heel based promotion that featured the Sheik. Perhaps the prototype for smoke filled dirty 70's wrestling. One of the wildest promotions that had an impact on Japanese hardcore. But the lack of any real stars who could challenge the Sheik made this one, one of the first casualties. Who wants to bleed and put over an aging short fat man? Biggest Stars: The Shiek, Bobo Brazil, Fritz Von Erich, Johnny Valentine, Eddie Cretchman, Crybaby Cannon, Mark Lewin.
WWWF (1952-nationalized in 1963): The American Northeast: So we all know this history because the WWE tells us their version all the time. A northeastern based promotion that had the crown jewel of Madison Square Garden in their pocket. It is true that most wrestlers desired to to wrestle there. During their years they were known for running monthly cards across their territories. This meant their payoff were slower in coming. By 1967 Vince Sr wanted his guy Bruno to be a world champ so they slapped a "world title" on the credible Buddy Rogers so Bruno could beat him. So they broke away from the NWA, but for years they were recognized as the nations least important "national promotion" behind the NWA and AWA. In 1984 Hulkamania started and the existing promotions began to die as Vince stole their biggest stars. Biggest Stars (pre-Hogan): Bruno Sammartino, Pedro Morales, Spiros Arion, Killer Kowalski, Gorilla Monsoon, Antonio Rocca, Chief Jay Strongbow,
AWA (1960-1991, nationalized in 60): Minnesota, Wisconsin, and individual cities like Chicago, Salt Lake City, Las Vegas etc...: Known for loyalty to older stars and the base of Gagne. Hard for people to understand but Gagne was maybe the single most popular wrestler in the early 60s' therefor Gagne and Karbo decided to make their Mid Western promotion a national one "the AWA" just like the WWA had done 4 years before. For twenty years the AWA thrived and actually has seasons of being more popular than the NWA. However it was Verne's loyalty to aging stars and unwillingness to evolve/put the belt on a brawler like Hogan that killed the promotion. Biggest Stars: Verne Gagne, Mad Dog and Butcher Vachon, Baron Von Rashcke, Nick Bockwinkle, The Crusher, Crusher Blackwell, Greg Gagne, Curt Henning.
In 57 the WWA broke off, they would return in 67
In 60 the AWA broke off they had some national pull until they died in the 90's
In 63 the WWWF broke off and became the WWF and eventually WWE
In 1988 WCW "broke off" although all NWA talent went with it, and the NWA became an indy organization.
Here are the Territories, there were 20 true territories. If you count OVW and Smokey Mountain which happened outside the true window 22.
Pacific Northwest (1925-1992): Oregon/Washington: A territory that had a steady run deep into the 80's. Known for rough and tumble faces, and wrestlers who were very loyal to the promotion for long stretches. Playboy Buddy Rose, was a joy to watch here from week to week. This promotion was a secret jewel and people can rediscover their shows on youtube. Biggest stars: Dutch Savage, Buddy Rose, Roddy Piper, Billy Jack Haynes, Tony Borne, Moondog Mayne.
Big Time Wrestling (1968-1981): Northern California: A very hot territory, until a sudden decline in the late 70's. Built around heel tag teams. Legendary host of one of wrestling's first supercards, The Cow Palace Battle Royal. Patterson, Tolos and Stevens made their "hey" here and created their reputations. Biggest stars: Promoted by legendary Roy Shire, Pat Patterson, Ray Stevens, John Tolos.
WWA/ NWA Hollywood (1959-1982): Southern California: Kind of a West Coast version of the WWWF booking style. Using ethnic disputes to build feuds. The first territory to break away from the iron hand of the NWA. They existed outside the NWA from 1957-1967. They came back into the fold in 67. Biggest Stars: Freddie Blassie, Edouard Capentier, Gory Guerrero.
Western States (Amarillo)(1969-1981): West Texas: One of the original "anything goes" promotions, wild action, more action less talk. Used a lot of luchadors as well. Only a 12 year run perhaps because the local stars Dory and Terry could not remain in the territory enough to satisfy local demand. Biggest Stars : The Funks, Ciclone Negro, Karl Von Steiger
World Class: North Texas (1966-1990): Epic-ally famous for it's early 80's Freebirds vs Von Erich war, that was the lifeblood of the company. The poor luck of the Von Erich clan and the horrid booking choices by Fritz killed possibly the only potential contender to Vince's empire, outside of the NWA. For years the World Class promotion shined. They had Fritz's sons, and a hot angle. They used three cameras and had higher production value than any other show, they were also on the cutting edge as going syndicated. Fans across America and the world got their product before the WWF went national. It stands to reason that World Class and not WWE was the first promotion to try and go national. However with each sad, sad death the promotion died a little itself. They would break away to form their own "world title" in the late 80's. But far too late to make a dent. World Class would die when Jerry Jarrett would buy them and merge them with his USWA which was essentially the "Memphis" promotion. A very sad end that really dies with each Von Erich son. Biggest Stars: Gary Hart, The Von Erich's, Stan Stasiak, Freebirds, Chris Adams, Skandor Akbar
Southwest: Southern Texas (1978-1985):. Short lived promotion that had plenty of technical talent, and surprisingly a very nice ESPN time slot, which they had and never could use against the syndicated World Class product. . Never really could rise against World Class even though they shared talent. Biggest Stars: Tully Blanchard, Dale Valentine (Buddy Roberts), Manny Fernandez
Tri-State/Mid-South/UWF: (1950-1990) Louisiana, parts of Oklahoma, and Arkansas: One of the GOAT promotions, Watt's brainchild was known for it's racial diversity, supercards in the Superdome and being the home of some of wrestling best story-lines. A rich tradition here of heel stables and while their biggest run was under booker Bull Dundee. Home territory of Jim Ross. Their breakout as the UWF in the mid 80's complete with syndicated show that was booked nationwide by television staitions looked like a breakaway from the NWA and spawned a really high quality show that made a truly national run. But it stalled and lapsed until they merged with the NWA "officially" again. Biggest Stars: Danny Hodge, Bill Watts, Junkyard Dog, Butch Reed, Ted DiBiase, Mr Wrestling II, Magnum TA.
Central States (1948-1988): Parts of Missouri, all of Iowa and Kansas: The stomping grounds of Harly Race had a really nice run. The best way to maybe describe Central States is that it was maybe the perfect happy medium between the crazy brawl happy south and the slow build north and midwest. Biggest Stars: Harley Race, Pat O'Connor, Bulldog Brown, Orville Brown, Bob Sweeten
NWA St. Louis (1959-1989): Parts of Missouri:Home of champions, the territory that perhaps had the biggest influence in the States before 1980 or so. The weekly matches at the Chase were a destination for wrestlers. Much like MSG, "The Chase" regularly saw champions from other territories defend their titles there. Kind of like a hub for talent. Of all the promotions this one easily hungered for wrestling talent over brawling. A heaven for those who prefer work-rate to charisma. Biggest Stars: Ted DiBiase, Lou Thesz, Ric Flair, Harly Race, Gene Kiniski
WWA Indiana: Indiana, Illinois (1964-1991): A territory that quickly left the NWA to join the fledgling AWA. A very interesting group who never really featured national mega stars. Almost like an indy group running under a national banner. Biggest Stars: Dick the Brusier, Wilbur Snyder, Baron Von Rashcke, Greg Wojokowski.
NWA Mid America (1957-1980): Parts of Tennessee, Kentucky, Arkansas, Alabama, and Missisippi, even a little in Missouri: Known for horrible payouts, and tag team wrestling. This promotion was the maybe the armpit of the territory system although it's roots would birth something more significant later. They were notorious for putting masked tag teams against each other and then using the same guys without masks on the same show. Basically getting three matches with the same guys, that's how cheap Nick Gulas was. The promoter Nick Gulas wanted his son George pushed beyond his ability and that led to Jarret breaking away and moving the Mid South home base to Memphis. Nick and the NWA tried to fight it but Jarrett had Lawler the biggest star, and more importantly the announcers Russell and Brown. So eventually the NWA turned on Nick. Biggest Stars: Jackie Fargo, Sputnik Monroe, Len Rossi, Don Kent, Luke Graham, Jerry Jarrett, Tojo Yammamoto
CWA/USWA (Memphis)(1977-1997): Tennessee, Kentucky, Arkansas, Alabama, and Mississippi, even a little in Missouri: Although known as the "Memphis" territory, the promotion had a large audience. While the payouts remained low after they broke away from NWA MId America, they did improve and especially for the top card guys. They went back and forth between NWA and AWA loyalty for years, Easily the most influential territory on wrestling since 1997, although it was not perceived as such during it's tenure....well ahead of its time. Memphis also had the single highest rated television show of the era on a Saturday morning time slot no less. Maybe the originators of hardcore. The promotional home of one Lance Russell, probably the GOAT weekly television host of all time. A promotion that thrived on weekly cards. Meaning things had to change every week, not monthly like in the North and Mid West. Innovation boundary pushing television that's influence can be seen everywhere. Quick title changes, run ins every week, chaos, etc...Just about every star from Lou Thesz to The Rock wrestled here. The last territory standing at the end of the war, and actually survived much longer as Memphis Power Pro as the WWE partnered with Lawler. Biggest Stars: Jerry Lawler, announcer Lance Russell, Bill Dundee, Jimmy Hart, Dutch Mantell, The Fabulous Ones, Jimmy Valiant, Austin Idol.
IWA (1978-1984): (Not truly a major territory, considered an outlaw promotion but very influential, and a good history read): Parts of Kentucky: . Just an insane playground for Poffo's kids. Basically a carbon copy of the Memphis promotion with a bunch of rag tag cast off's. Sold off as Memphis agreed to push Poffo's sons in 84. Biggest Stars: Angelo and Lanny Poffo, Randy Savage, Ronnie Garvin, One Man Gang (then known as Crusher Bloomfield)
Continental (1954-1990) (which had a sub territory called Gulf Coast): East Tennessee, Alabama, The Florida Panhandle, Eastern Kentucky: Perhaps the most unusual territory. Quietly did decent business for decades without hardly any notice from the Apter mags. A territory built on bitter family rivalries and masked men. Home of three of wrestling's most famous families, although few realize it. The Wright's, Fuller's and Armstrong's fought in this sandbox for a generation. Great promotion that has some classic clips. Biggest Stars: Ron Wright and Don Wright, Bob Armstrong and family, Jerry Stubbs (Mr. Olympia), Ron and Robert Fuller.
Championship Wrestling from Florida (1949-1987): Florida: . The place they all wanted to go. Florida, the sunshine state. Only New York, St Louis, and perhaps Mid Atlantic had more appeal. This appeal had more to do with vacation time than the territory. The length of the state actually made for a rough touring schedule. The territory centered around Graham for years but will forever be known for it's pushing the edge Kevin Sullivan "Satanist" gimmick of the 80's, and for being the place where Dusty went face in the legendary angle with Gary Hart. Some really GOAT angles came from Florida. Biggest Stars: Dusty Rhodes, Terry Funk, Kevin Sullivan, Bob Roop, Eddie and Mike Graham, Barry Windham.
Georgia Championship Wrestling (1944-merged into what became WCW): Georgia: The crazy world of Atlanta wrestling. Home of the cable powerhouse WTBS. Mr Wrestling 2 became a phenom, Georgia was perceived as the home base for the NWA although it really was not. Power laid more with Carolina and St Louis. But Georgia had the cable show, until on "Black Saturday" the WWF found away to steal it away. The show was immediately panned by southern fans and sold back to the Crockett's. After that the WTBS product became more of an NWA deal. Biggest Stars: Ray Gunkel, Mr Wrestling 1 and 2, JJ Dillon, Dusty Rhodes, Ole Anderson, Steamboat.
NWA Mid Atlantic (1931-1988): The Carolina's, Virginia:. Probably the Cadillac of the NWA especially after the fade of St Louis. Another great territory built on tag team wrestling. Home of perhaps wrestling's most well thought out intricate angle the "Final Conflict". The promotion home of the Steamboat vs Fair rivalry. The Crockett run promotion was there to pick up the pieces after Vince's failed attempt to takeover the Georgia piece of the pie. Basically Vince bought the Brisco shares in the Georgia promotion and took over their tv. But after the backlash Vince backed away and the Crockett's took over the crown jewel of Atlanta making Georgia the new home base of the NWA. Biggest Stars: Ric Flair, Blackjack Mulligan, Wahoo McDaniel, Masked Superstar, Jack and Jerry Brisco, Rip Hawk, Paul Jones
Big Time Wrestling (1959-1980): Michigan, parts of Ohio: A heel based promotion that featured the Sheik. Perhaps the prototype for smoke filled dirty 70's wrestling. One of the wildest promotions that had an impact on Japanese hardcore. But the lack of any real stars who could challenge the Sheik made this one, one of the first casualties. Who wants to bleed and put over an aging short fat man? Biggest Stars: The Shiek, Bobo Brazil, Fritz Von Erich, Johnny Valentine, Eddie Cretchman, Crybaby Cannon, Mark Lewin.
WWWF (1952-nationalized in 1963): The American Northeast: So we all know this history because the WWE tells us their version all the time. A northeastern based promotion that had the crown jewel of Madison Square Garden in their pocket. It is true that most wrestlers desired to to wrestle there. During their years they were known for running monthly cards across their territories. This meant their payoff were slower in coming. By 1967 Vince Sr wanted his guy Bruno to be a world champ so they slapped a "world title" on the credible Buddy Rogers so Bruno could beat him. So they broke away from the NWA, but for years they were recognized as the nations least important "national promotion" behind the NWA and AWA. In 1984 Hulkamania started and the existing promotions began to die as Vince stole their biggest stars. Biggest Stars (pre-Hogan): Bruno Sammartino, Pedro Morales, Spiros Arion, Killer Kowalski, Gorilla Monsoon, Antonio Rocca, Chief Jay Strongbow,
AWA (1960-1991, nationalized in 60): Minnesota, Wisconsin, and individual cities like Chicago, Salt Lake City, Las Vegas etc...: Known for loyalty to older stars and the base of Gagne. Hard for people to understand but Gagne was maybe the single most popular wrestler in the early 60s' therefor Gagne and Karbo decided to make their Mid Western promotion a national one "the AWA" just like the WWA had done 4 years before. For twenty years the AWA thrived and actually has seasons of being more popular than the NWA. However it was Verne's loyalty to aging stars and unwillingness to evolve/put the belt on a brawler like Hogan that killed the promotion. Biggest Stars: Verne Gagne, Mad Dog and Butcher Vachon, Baron Von Rashcke, Nick Bockwinkle, The Crusher, Crusher Blackwell, Greg Gagne, Curt Henning.
