1980s wrestling boom

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The 1980s wrestling boom (sometimes referred to as the 2nd Golden Age of Wrestling) was a surge in the popularity of professional wrestling in the United States of America throughout the 1980s. The expansion of cable television and pay-per-view, coupled with the efforts of promoters such as Vince McMahon, saw professional wrestling shift from a system controlled by numerous regional companies to a system dominated by two nationwide companies: Ted Turner's World Championship Wrestling (WCW) and McMahon's World Wrestling Federation (WWF). The decade also saw a considerable decline in the power of the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA), a cartel which had until then domineered the wrestling landscape, and in the efforts to sustain belief in the verisimilitude of wrestling.

Although many individuals were associated with the 1980s wrestling boom, the most well-known was perhaps World Wrestling Federation mainstay Terry "Hulk Hogan" Bollea.

Contents

[edit] History

The early 1980s were characterized by a scramble for cable television access, with Georgia Championship Wrestling (GCW) the first NWA member to gain a timeslot. In May 1984, the owners of GCW, Jack and Jerry Brisco, sold their controlling interest in GCW to Vince McMahon. On July 14, 1984 - "Black Saturday" - WWF programming began airing in the WTBS timeslot formerly occupied by GCW programming. The WWF programming was not successful, and in May 1985, McMahon sold the WCW name and the WTBS timeslot to rival promoter Jim Crockett, Jr..

In a bid to create a nationwide promotion, Crockett absorbed several other NWA members into a single entity known as Jim Crockett Promotions (JCP). In 1986, he renamed JCP "NWA World Championship Wrestling". He would acquire several more promotions, including some non-NWA members, in the following year. By late 1987, Crockett's ownership of so many NWA affiliates, coupled with his continued presidency of the NWA, gave him considerable power.

However, Crockett's spending had left WCW indebted. Crockett's attempt to generate revenue with the broadcast of the highly promoted StarrCade pay-per-view in late 1987 was thwarted by Vince McMahon, who held his Survivor Series pay-per-view on the same day. A similar situation arose in January 1988, when Crockett's Bunkhouse Stampede pay-per-view was counter-programmed by the inaugural Royal Rumble, which aired on the USA Network. On November 21, 1988, Crockett was obliged to sell WCW to Ted Turner. Under the ownership of Turner and the presidency of Eric Bischoff, WCW would resume competition with McMahon's WWF in the 1990s.

[edit] The Rock 'n' Wrestling Connection

While Crockett created a nationwide company, Vince McMahon and the World Wrestling Federation would go on to a period of then-unprecedented success. The success was in part precipitated by the "Rock 'n' Wrestling Connection", a period of cooperation and cross-promotion between the WWF and elements of the music industry. After WWF employee Lou Albano appeared in the music video accompanying Cyndi Lauper's single "Girls Just Want to Have Fun" in 1983, Lauper joined the WWF in the following year, attracting a degree of mainstream attention.[1]

On January 3, 1984, Hulk Hogan returned to the WWF. Hogan had been fired from the company by Vince McMahon, Sr. for appearing in the film Rocky III (seen by the elder McMahon as a breach of both etiquette and kayfabe), but was welcomed back to the company by Vince McMahon. McMahon was able to parlay the mainstream popularity Hogan had gained from his role in Rocky III into an even greater level of celebrity. On September 1, 1985, Hulk Hogan's Rock 'n Wrestling, an animated television series starring the character of Hulk Hogan, premiered on CBS. The series ran until October 18, 1987, in the process expanding Hogan's young fanbase.[2]

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ Understanding The Mystique Of Captain Lou Albano[citation needed]
  2. ^ Hulk Hogan's Rock 'N' Wrestling
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