A

SHORT
HISTORY

SOME INFORMATION

ONE OF THE OLDEST SPORTS IN THE WORLD.

AT SOME UNKNOWN POINT, THE SPORT BECAME ENTIRELY FIXED.
IT WAS A TELEVISION MAINSTAY STARTING IN THE 1950S

THE NATIONAL WRESTLING ALLIANCE

FORMED IN 1948.
COLLECTION OF REGIONAL WRESTLING PROMOTERS.
DESIGNED TO DIVIDE UP THE COUNTRY INTO TERRITORIES WITH EXCLUSIVE
PROMOTERS RECOGNIZING ONE WORLD CHAMPION.

1956 AFTER A D.O.J. INVESTIGATION THE ALLIANCE HAD TO SIGN A CONSENT

DECREE.

THE DECREE WAS PROMPTLY IGNORED AND BUSINESS CONTINUED AS USUAL.

THE TERRITORIES

 ALBUQUERQUE
AMARILLO
ATLANTA
BOSTON
BUFFALO
CALGARY
CHARLOTTE
CHICAGO
COLUMBUS X2

Dallas
Des Moines
Detroit
Dyersberg
El Paso
Eugene
Great Falls
Hollywood
Houston
Honolulu
Kansas City
Los Angeles

THE OFFICES

Mexico City
Minneapolis
Montreal
Nashville
New Orleans
New York City
Omaha
Orem
Pittsburgh
Richmond
San Francisco
Seattle

Spokane
St. Louis
Tampa
Toledo
Toronto
Tucson
Tulsa
Washington
D.C.

NATIONAL
EXPANSION
WITH THE ADVENT OF SYNDICATED TELEVISION, PROMOTERS COULD SHOW THEIR
PRODUCT ACROSS THE COUNTRY.

THE WWF AND VINCE MCMAHON TOOK FULL ADVANTAGE OF THIS EXPANDING
NATIONALLY IN 1984.

THIS BROKE ALL FORMER AGREEMENTS TO NOT PROMOTE IN SOMEONE ELSES

TERRITORY.

MCMAHON PURCHASED TV TIME AND HIRED THE BIGGEST STARS FROM EACH
TERRITORY.

BY 1995, THERE WERE ONLY TWO NATIONAL PROMOTIONS AND SCATTERED

INDEPENDENT ORGANIZATIONS.

WHAT IS AVAILABLE?

THE JACK PFEFER WRESTLING COLLECTION

LOCATED AT THE UNIVERSITY OF NOTRE DAME HESBURGH
LIBRARY.

CURATED BY GEORGE RUGG.

DONATED TO THE UNIVERSITY BY FORMER WHITE SOX OWNER
EDDIE EINHORN.

DONATED IN THE 1970S, BUT NOT REALLY DISCOVERED UNTIL THE

1990S.

THE JACK PFEFER WRESTLING COLLECTION

COLLECTION IS COMPRISED OF OVER 100 CUBIC FEET OF

MATERIAL.

SPANS 1924 TO 1969.

VARIETY OF MATERIALS.
45 BOXES OF CORRESPONDENCE ALONE.

VIDEO OF PROFESSIONAL WRESTLING

THERE ARE LARGE GAPS IN THE VIDEO RECORD.

WHY? (THE CAROLINA GARBAGE TAPES)
FANS AND COLLECTORS SEARCH IT OUT.
HISTORICALLY INTERESTING FOR CHANGES IN STYLE AND
PRESENTATION.

THE RUSS AND SYLVIA DAVIS COLLECTION

COLLECTION OF WRESTLING MATCHES FILMED IN CHICAGO IN THE 1950S.
MAINTAINED BY THE CHICAGO FILM ARCHIVES.
WRESTLING FIRST APPEARED ON TELEVISION IN CHICAGO IN 1946 ON WBKB.
DUMONT NETWORK FIRST NATIONALLY DISTRIBUTED PROFESSIONAL WRESTLING
PROGRAMMING.

THE MATERIAL SPANS 1932 TO 1970.

CHICAGO FILM ARCHIVES PRESENTS WRESTLING FROM CHICAGO

THE RUSS AND SYLVIA DAVIS COLLECTION

370 REELS OF 16MM FILM TOTALING 303,387 FEET OF FILM, 1 FOLDER OF PAPER
DOCUMENTS AND PHOTOS.

OVER 100 MATCHES FROM THE COLLECTION CAN BE FOUND ON THE YOUTUBE SITE.
GIVES AN ACCURATE REPRESENTATION OF PROFESSIONAL WRESTLING PRESENTATION.

WWE LIBRARIES, INC.

PROBABLY THE LARGEST VIDEO ARCHIVE OF PROFESSIONAL WRESTLING IN THE WORLD.

CONTAINS ABOUT 150,000 HOURS OF FOOTAGE.
THE LIBRARY INCLUDES ALL PAST AND PRESENT WWE TAPES DATING BACK TO THE 1950S AS
WELL AS THE LIBRARIES OF VARIOUS REGIONAL PROMOTIONS.

IN FEBRUARY 2014 WWE LAUNCHED THE WWE NETWORK, A 24/7 ON DEMAND STREAMING
NETWORK.

AS OF MARCH 30, 2015, THE NETWORK HAD 1.3 MILLION SUBSCRIBERS GLOBALLY.
HOWEVER, THIS ARCHIVE IS COMPLETELY PRIVATE.
NOT ALL MATERIAL IS AVAILABLE ON THE NETWORK AT THIS TIME.

NEWSLETTERS
PRIMARY SOURCE FOR FAN INFORMATION.
DIFFERENT STYLES.
DAVE MELTZER BEGAN HIS IN 1982.
OPERATED MONTHLY UNTIL 1985, THEN
WEEKLY.

MINIMUM WORD COUNT SO FAR

46 MILLION WORDS

BOOKS

EARLIEST BOOKS BEGAN TO APPEAR IN THE 1930S.

EARLIEST BOOK TO EXPOSE THE BUSINESS: 1937.
AUTOBIOGRAPHIES HAVE BEEN VERY POPULAR.
VARIOUS BOOKS ABOUT HISTORY HAVE STARTED TO APPEAR.
BUT BOOKS ARE JUST AS SUBJECT TO THE CHALLENGE OF
MEMORY.

THE INTERNET

THE NEW MEDIUM OF INFORMATION.

EARLIEST KNOW POST WAS JAN 3, 1990 TO REC.SPORT.PROWRESTLING NEWSGROUP.

MANY WEBSITES DEVOTED JUST TO HISTORY TOPICS.

INFORMATION IS INCREDIBLY SCATTERED.

JIM
CLAWMASTER
ZORDANI
WRESTLING
HISTORIAN

BORN SEPTEMBER 22, 1964.

PASSED AWAY SEPTEMBER 13, 2014 AT
THE AGE OF 50.

COLLECTED EXTENSIVE FILES OF

PROFESSIONAL WRESTLING RESULTS.

CURRENT LOCATION OF HIS PHYSICAL

FILES IS UNKNOWN.

JIM ZORDANI INTERNET RECORDS

CLAWMASTER RECORDS

CONCLUSION

THE HISTORY OF PROFESSIONAL WRESTLING IS EXTENSIVE.

THE AVAILABLE MATERIAL IS INCREDIBLY SCATTERED.
SIGNIFICANT AMOUNTS OF MATERIAL ARE ENDING UP IN PRIVATE
HANDS.

CONSIDERING THE DANGER OF LINK ROT, SIGNIFICANT WORK

NEEDS TO BE DONE TO PRESERVE SO MUCH INTERNET MATERIAL.