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       The Mid-Atlantic territory of the National Wrestling Alliance
debuted in 1935 and was founded by Jim Crockett Sr. It was a strong territory for decades, but it wasn't until Jim Crockett Jr. was in charge of the whole operation in the 1970's, that the area became a haven for the best wrestling ever seen. Some will argue that ECW, ROH, All-Japan, and NOAH in time have proven to be superior in-ring products, but upon further examination of this fed you'll see that it has been a source for shaping much of the industry, whether it be workers themselves, or other companies by virtue of the former talent being involved in the writing or booking aspect.
       When the decision was made by the National Wrestling Alliance to make a former World Champion, Ric Flair, the perrenial champion instead of David Von Erich of World Class fame, this led to Crockett Jr. eventually getting control over booking the World Title, as business was better with Flair as a capable champion who would draw well in every NWA territory.
       The promotion's best years were under Dusty Rhodes as the booker, who spawned incredibly intense feuds and offered a violent product, as opposed to the McMahon circus. Yes, towards the end, Dusty ran the fed to the ground with the Dusty Finishes, which were really Verne Gagne's forte, as the champion would do something illegal at a certain juncture in a match, and when the challenger would win the title match, and seemingly become the new champ, the ref would come to his senses and say, " Oh, wait a minute, " and disqualify the champion, rendering no title change. Hey, it works in building momentum for a feud, but to do this on a regular basis is really fucked up. Oh, what really got the fans pissed to no end was when the ref would make this decision after they left the building and went home happy, thinking they had just seen something really fuckin' cool. Then they'd turn the TV on and " next month, at the UIC Pavilion, Ric Flair will defend his title! That's right people, the fucking ref reversed his decision after you all went home. " Naturally, business dropped off to the point that the company had to fold, but Turner Broadcasting still wanted a wrestling TV show on the air, so TBS bought the company from the Crocketts, ( yes, Jimmy's sister and brother David also had a hand in the pot ), and the Turner franchise turned the company into WCW.
       As the WWF's national expansion killed off one territory after another in the mid-1980's, an already weak NWA started to crumble. Its only saving grace was the Mid-Atlantic fed, as the Crockett's scooped up one ailing or near death territory after another. While Jack Tunney and Stu Hart sold their Canadian territories to Vince McMahon Jr., others stayed loyal to the concept of the NWA and ended up selling to Crockett. The Mid-Atlantic region no longer carried its regional label, as the company ended up absorbing the Florida office as well as the UWF later on, but the Georgia fed with the TBS show that aired nationwide went to Vince when the majority stock holders, Jack and Jerry Brisco sided with Vince, leaving the NWA with adverse exposure. Vince ended up selling the fed to Crockett after a nasty backlash from the fans and also Vince's noncompliance with Ted Turner's request that the flagship Saturday show be filmed at the
Techwood Drive Studios. This supposedly provided the impetus for the Monday Night Wars over a decade later between the WWF and the WCW.
       Having a formidable promotion, and his own airplane, enabled Crockett to compete with the McMahon's for a short time before the company fell into a financial hole. For those few all too short years in the mid to late 1980's however, we had a hell of a hardcore ride with violent barbed wire matches, Bunkhouse Stampede anything-goes battle royales, two-ring matches that were surrounded with a big-ass roofed cage called War Games, the Match Beyond........And technically sound wrestling matches, mostly for the World Title. A roster that had Ric Flair, Arn Anderson, and Tully Blanchard as three of the Four Horsemen, managed by James J. Dillon, with a revolving door that saw three people go through it, in the original " Rock " Ole Anderson, then Lex Luger, and finally with the best incarnation of the supergroup with Barry Windham. They'd constantly be fucking with poor Dusty Rhodes, always jumping him, breaking his leg, getting his lady Baby Doll to turn on him and run off with Tully. Dusty had his crew, though, as the Road Warriors, Animal and Hawk, came in from the AWA in 1985, and after a powerful feud with the Russians saw Nikita cry for the heir-apparent to Flair's belt, Magnum T.A., when Terry Allen's career was cut short by an automobile accident in 1986. Since Dusty needed a friend, Nikita Koloff turned on his uncle Ivan, buddy Krusher Krushchev, and mother Russia, and joined Dusty to form the Super Powers. Magnum was a huge loss to the territory and to all of wrestling, as he had some of the best matches with Flair, and a brutal feud with Blanchard over the United States Title which culminated in the classic " I Quit " match at Starrcade '85.
      The tag-team division was possibly the strongest in history, a testament to what originally was a tag-team based regional office. Punctuating the classic feud of Jim Cornette's Midnight Express, consisting of Bobby Eaton teaming first Dennis Condrey and later Stan Lane, fighting their adversaries and perrenial tag-team champs Ricky Morton and Robert Gibson, the Rock'n' Roll Express, with the Fantastics, New Breed, Mod Squad, the Mulkey Brothers, Road Warriors, the Horsemen, various Russians. The scene was ripe for annual tournaments in the elder Crockett's memory. The Great American Bash was spawned here as an annual summer time tradition that was discontinued numerous times over the years only to be brought back, by both WCW and the WWF. But it was Starrcade that was the grand-daddy of'em all, as it was the annual Thanksgiving tradition and the biggest show of the year in all of pro wrestling. 
    As a fraternal body, the NWA was doomed. This was the natural progression and it was a definitive period in wrestling history.

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The Mid-Atlantic region of the National Wrestling Alliance absorbed many dying companies as the war in 1984 took its toll on the industry. Some of the casualties were the former Mid-South territory, the Florida office, and the remnants of the Georgia area which gave this promotion the World Championship Wrestling moniker. The entire face of professional wrestling would change with the sale of this company to Turner Broadcasting in 1988, as it financially was left for DEAD...call us 24 hours a day, 7 days a week on the Chicago Center For Killing's Hardcore Hotline at (847) 604-DEAD! Hey, use those free nights and weekend minutes and check us out, leave us a voicemail message, or drop us an e-mail at:
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