Reddit Reddit reviews National Wrestling Alliance: The Untold Story of the Monopoly That Strangled Pro Wrestling

We found 14 Reddit comments about National Wrestling Alliance: The Untold Story of the Monopoly That Strangled Pro Wrestling. Here are the top ones, ranked by their Reddit score.

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National Wrestling Alliance: The Untold Story of the Monopoly That Strangled Pro Wrestling
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14 Reddit comments about National Wrestling Alliance: The Untold Story of the Monopoly That Strangled Pro Wrestling:

u/spankingasupermodel · 7 pointsr/SquaredCircle

Back in 1998, History Channel made one called "The Unreal Story of Professional Wrestling."

But if you really want to learn about those days, I suggest you read three books: (1) National Wrestling Alliance: The Untold Story of the Monopoly That Strangled Pro Wrestling; (2) Gorgeous George: The Outrageous Bad-Boy Wrestler Who Created American Pop Culture; and (3) The Legends of Wrestling - "Classy" Freddie Blassie: Listen, You Pencil Neck Geeks.

The recent WWE 50 book may also be useful, but I've yet to read it.

u/Cynicayke · 5 pointsr/SquaredCircle

I mean, territories falling apart had been inevitable for a long time, starting with AWA breaking away and Lou Thesz's ego not allowing him to give Verne Gagne a test-run.

But the downfall sped up in the 80s, when the cracks from the 60's started to appear again. Territorial promotions were starting to use cable to put their wrestling on TV, where fans outside of the territory could see it. This flew in the face of NWA's business model - which required the territorial bubbles so fans couldn't see how the angles in their own areas conflicted with the what other territories were doing.

The NWA, as an organisation, wouldn't support national television because they no longer had control over what fans could see, and they got left behind because of it. It really screwed over smaller territories. Their larger promotions who had TV deals, the ones that arguably had the stars to match the WWF, were under poor management from people who were drunk on success. They pissed away money and expanded too quickly.

A lack of unity, resistance to embrace cable TV, and financial mismanagement by the bigger promotions opened cracks that Vince took advantage of. There's still debate as to whether Vince's tactics were unethical or not - I think the answer is somewhere in the middle, as the NWA left themselves wide open to be taken advantage of. And a lot of Vince's tactics were tactics that the NWA themselves had used decades before to take over wrestling in America.

But 'Vince killed the territories' is a very oversimplified version of events, which doesn't give the NWA their due blame for not changing with the times, and treating both fans and wrestlers badly.

For more information, this book is really useful: https://www.amazon.co.uk/National-Wrestling-Alliance-Strangled-Professional/dp/1550227416

But hey, the counter-arguments you made were totally valid as well.

u/doublesuperdragon · 5 pointsr/SquaredCircle

National Wrestling Alliance: The Untold Story of the Monopoly That Strangled Pro Wrestling

It's a great, very detailed book that goes back to even before the NWA was initially started.

Pain and Passion: The History of Stampede Wrestling

Another great book all about the Harts promotion.

u/Xalazi · 4 pointsr/SquaredCircle

The TL:DR version is that when Wrestling from a regional industry to a national one in the 1980's, the NWA territories put their eggs in the Jim Crockett Promotions basket. It's an interesting, but too long for this post history why. Crockett did well for a time, but a combination of behind the scenes mismanagement and WWF ended up driving Crockett into bankruptcy in 1988. Turner Broadcasting bought the TV company side(overly simplifying that) that's how WCW was born.

As far as fans knew NWA = WCW. In reality, WCW was the TV and wrestling company. The NWA was a committee that controlled the booking the NWA titles. In 1991 there was controversy regarding who should be NWA Champion. Some complicated title history shenanigans happened and basically you needed up with two titles. The WCW title and the NWA title. The title histories of both belts criss cross through between 1991-1993 with some reigns being recognized by both, and some recognized by only one side. There was also a WCW international title in 1993-1994. It's all very complicated. In 1994 WCW and the NWA finally 100% split.

The NWA decides to crown a Champion based out of Philadelphia's NWA: Eastern Championship Wrestling booked by Paul Heyman. They pick Shane Douglas. Douglas and Heyman swerve the NWA and disown the title forming Extreme Championship Wrestling. By that point the NWA is basically a joke. Nothing but a bunch of indie promotions with no hope calling themselves the NWA. The NWA did crown Dan Severn as NWA champion in 1995. He wore it to UFC and WWE, which was cool, and the title did pop up in New Japan and Mexico a few times over the years, but basically the people that where in charge of the NWA from this point on didn't have any sort of power or money to compete. They were local indies basically. TNA started as an NWA indie and that brought the title back into prominence a little bit in the early 2000's. TNA eventually grew big enough that they felt like they didn't need the NWA name any more. After that the NWA went back to being a local indie thing until Billy Corgan bought it.


The history of the NWA is basically the history of professional wrestling on a global scale. I recommend this book. It's a long, but very interesting read.

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u/Djeezus1 · 3 pointsr/TrueReddit

Wrestling's as real as theater or opera; instead of verses or arias, they do spots and promos. The latter is one of the reason the indy scene gets a more passionate following, as they understand that they cannot push the product as a con or rigged show; the only reals marks are kids until they figure it out, which, with the Internet, is quite easy.

Their history as a whole is quite intricate, from a carnival attraction in the late 1800s to a "legitimate" sport in the 1930 (at the time you had to be a real wrestler to hold the title, as you either could be betrayed by the opponent, the referee, the booker, the territory or the wrestling institution). It's only when you get to the 70s that we get a glimpse of the perverse effect of sensationalism had on the squared circle, which we see in full effect in Natch's article, such as cocaine, steroids, ring rats, ludicrous contracts, alcohol, etc.

We were lucky to have a solid 20 years of awesome wrestling, such as the WWF and NWA in the 80's and the WCW/WWE feuds in the 90s which prompted the consolidation & the end of the territory system across North America. However, it was a steep price: Natch is only one of many troubled performers that, when everything settle down, became a lost asset; and that's without including roster attrition to drug & physical abuse and crime-related incidents, which are at an all-time high in the sport's 150 year existence. Moreover, there is the lost integrity of the martial art, which at the time was for self-defense and competition, that, if performed correctly (e.g. Piledriver or chokehold) can be devastating for an opponent; most wrestlers today cannot wrestle efficiently to fully compete with another martial artist.

If you want to learn more, I can easily recommend the following books:

u/HorseSteroids · 2 pointsr/SquaredCircle

None I can think of that are all interviews as wrestling was protected. Try this though or Lou Thesz's book.

As for some good Mania era dirt, check out Sex, Lies, and Headlocks. It ain't perfect but it's a good read.

And check out Dave Meltzer's Tributes books. They're reprintings of obituaries from the Wrestling Observer Newsletter but they're most likely new to you. If they're not new to you, don't bother.

Hope that helps.

u/kayfabe · 2 pointsr/prowrestling

If you are interested in the origins of prowrestling in the US, I highly recommend National Wrestling Alliance: The Untold Story of the Monopoly that Strangled Pro Wrestling.

It reads more like a history book than entertainment, and it's pretty far back in time. But I appreciated getting a thorough look at the behind the scenes politics that helped create what we know now as the professional wrestling industry.

u/2moar · 2 pointsr/SquaredCircle

I believe this is a really good one https://www.amazon.com/National-Wrestling-Alliance-Monopoly-Strangled/dp/1550227416/ I've heard anything by Tim Hornbaker is really good, but that might be a bit earlier than you are wanting

u/qwertysd · 1 pointr/SquaredCircle

http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/1550227416?pc_redir=1408084640&robot_redir=1

I had this book a few years ago. I cannot recommend it though as it was stolen before I could really get into it.

u/biffysmalls · 1 pointr/SquaredCircle
u/bullsear · 1 pointr/SquaredCircle

If you'd like to know the history, this book is a good place to start.