Velonica's World: Generations Part 1 - Wrestling's Rise to Mainstream in the 1980's

Fresh off the heels of Tony Khan's industry changing announcement, I've decided to bless us all with a topic that relates to wrestling. It is something that we have discussed on the main site and I think this is the perfect time for me to dive deep into the observations that I have made over the years comparing the modern ever to the two previous boom eras of wrestling. I kicked off this discussion because I came across fans that were attached to their childhood memories and someone brought up the "Golden Era of wrestling" which was from 1984 - 1992 as the steroid scandal was brought to the public and nearly killed Titan Sports. The fan proceeded to say that wrestling will never be this mainstream juggernaut again and I agreed with him, but I also disagreed because there is a lot of factors that played a role into it and it starts with the evolution of not just the business but the entire perception of the world around us. 

To many who have had the privilege of experiencing in that decade, the 1980's are widely regarded as the best decade and honestly in my opinion, they are not wrong. When you look back at how pop culture was as well as the success of television and films that are still revered today, it was a phenomenal time period to be apart of. Being born in the early 1990's, I didn't get to really experience that decade but the 90's were pretty much an extension of the 80's and it is also very much regarded as a great decade for the exact same reasons and seeing it for myself, I can honestly say those were very great times. That is not to say that there weren't any negatives in those eras because they sure did have some terrible things going on during those periods. For the World Wrestling Federation, it was Vince McMahon's time to shine. Vince McMahon purchased the WWF from his father in 1982 and proceeded to separate the NWA and embark on a quest to have the WWF air nationally which angered most promoters because this was coming into their territories and stepping on their toes and with the WWF's production values and signing away top talent from around the country, it was no time before they ended up becoming the #1 show around and eventually the only show around. The NWA remained successful through the big omni events and Georgia Championship Wrestling's television deal with  WTCG in Midtown Atlanta(Which eventually became TBS Superstation, funny how full circle this ended up being) that lasted from 1976 to 1984 where Vince McMahon's quest would lead him to approaching Ted Turner in hopes of purchasing Georgia Championship Wrestling's timeslot on WTBS in which the latter refused. 

Capitalizing on the backstage turmoil between Ole Anderson & the other GCW stockholders and bookers Jim Barnett, Paul Jones & The Briscoe Brothers, Vince McMahon would instead purchase Georgia Championship Wrestling as a way to gain control of that market with Ole Anderson being excluded from the sale discussions. Ole's decision making and keeping his partners in the dark over the booking decisions and operations for these shows are what eventually made these individuals turn to Vince once he got in contact with them, as even they were making little to no money due to Ole Anderson's shady handling of the dividend checks. Vince's goal was that with his USA deal airing WWF All American Wrestling and Tuesday Night Titans and quite literally snaking his way into the Turner Stations, he could dominate the cable market and eventually lead to a PPV event which would become Wrestlemania. July 14th, 1984, The infamous Black Saturday happened as Vince McMahon appeared on GCW television and had pre taped WWF matches and ads air in the timeslot, diehard NWA/GCW fans were pissed and rejected this new regime and WTBS got letters from fans that were very vocal about not getting the wrestling they paid to see and from the very first night, the GCW ratings begin to take a nose dive because the fans wanted to see the gritty, no nonsense Southern wrasslin' rather than a family friendly company airing a bunch of squash matches. 

Turner upset with all of this threaten to pull the plug on the show if Vince didn't produce live studio matches, in March 1985, Vince decided to play ball and do the live studio matches but it was still squash matches. Ted Tuner then arranged to bring in Bill Watts's Mid South Wrestling in a Sunday afternoon TV slot, Championship Wrestling from Georgia which was ran by Ole Anderson after the blindsided GCW deal was to air on Saturday mornings, and both ended up drawing better than the WWF did. Vince was not happy with this as he aimed to rule the business with an iron fist but Turner decided to strike back. Losing money(The reason why ratings these days do matter, people), this lead to Vince selling the timeslot to his competition, Jim Crockett Promotions which also had aspirations to go national. And with the purchasing of Championship Wrestling from Georgia, the NWA took it's place back on top of Turner Broadcasting. So as far as that went, the NWA was set but how did WWF manage to bounce back from this you ask? Remember that PPV thing I talked about? Yeah, with the GCW time slot purchase and airing shows on USA, it gave them enough power to capitalize but they still need people involved that would land them where they wanted. Five key names come to mind. Hulk Hogan, Andre The Giant, Captain Lou Albano, popular actor Mr. T & a pop star that literally had their fingers on the pulse of the 1980's mainstream music scene, Cyndy Lauper.

Vince McMahon needed a counter to JCP's annual Starrcade event and by fate, he would get his wish. Hulk Hogan was the top babyface star of the AWA and while on tour with New Japan Pro Wrestling where he would with the IWGP League and hold the first version of the IWGP Heavyweight Championship before its official creation in 1987, he found out that AWA owner Verne Gagne wa selling his merchandise and pocketing the proceeds. Gagne feuded with Bockwinkle and Gagne made Hogan an offer to become AWA World Champion however, with taking this deal Hogan would have to sacrifice a large sum of his earning in Japan. With the two not being able to reach an agreement, Hogan returned to the WWF after initially leaving after Vince McMahon Sr's disapproval of his Rocky III role, Vince Jr decided that he was going to make Hogan his top star and through that connection, came Mr. T who was also in Rocky III and this help set up the main event. Andre The Giant was another major name in the industry, a touring giant with a few film credits to his name and being the highest paid wrestler in the world, he was a pretty big deal. Vince signed Andre under the deal that Andre would be still allowed to compete in Japan which speak volumes on how much Inoki and Baba would pay these guys.

Now Captain Lou Albano is the unsung hero of this whole puzzle because as major as the Hogan and Andre acquisitions was and how essential the television deals that Vince McMahon set in place was, his role provided the biggest gateway into that crossover and it was something that you can even compare to the All In stuff even though this was clearly bigger obviously. In 1983, Lou Albano took a plane from Puerto Rico and met singer Cyndi Lauper and her then manager & boyfriend David Wolff who was a big wrestling fan and on the plane, they made arrangements that they would work together in the future. This lead to Albano taking up the role as Cyndi Lauper's father in the video for the Grammy nominated hit "Girls Just Want To Have Fun" which received the first MTV Best Female Video award. This would lead into the story where Albano would make the these disparaging remarks toward Lauper and claiming that he was responsible for her success and this lead to three MSG events with Cyndi Lauper involver "The Brawl to End It All" event which was MTV's most watched show ever, "The War To Settle The Score" and last but not least, the first Wrestlemania. And to top everything off, with the amount of buzz this was generating, they were able to land Liberace and Muhammad Ali on the show so thus begins the tale of a company that knows how to fall upwards. 

I wasn't even going to go for a massive history lesson but I felt it was important to establish the origin story before I make my point in the next installment.