5 Promotions That Could Be Wrestlings Winning Time

Compelling pro wrestling whether it be fictional or real has been on a bit of a roll lately, often becoming must see TV. Dark Side of The Ring finished it's fourth season back in August, and is gearing up for a fifth season with I'm sure more controversial and interesting topics.

Heels recently concluded its second and final season with a shocking finale on Starz. By the way f**k Starz as a staff, cable network, and crew for cancelling Heels. Netflix Wrestlers docuseries  premiered to rave reviews and shined a spotlight on the grind of being an indy wrestler how it's just as much of a grind for an indy promotion. Dark Side Of The Ring and GLOW on Netflix kickstarted this trend. GLOW which could be argued was Winning Time before Winning Time, unfortunately caught a raw deal as a  victim of being in the middle of filming as the pandemic took over the world and being canceled. Completed episodes never to see the light of day.

Watching these various series along with HBO's Winning Time (Criminally cancelled way too soon as well) got me brainstorming. Wrestling has a rich history full of over the top characters in the ring and behind the curtain. There's so much to be told in a drama. Particularly the territory federations before the WWF took over, sprinkle in some of the over the topness and excess from Winning Time's formula and boom a new series that can't be missed. Here are 5 promotions story and the cast of characters who were active in the promotion whose that would make for good TV.

5. World Class Championship Wrestling

World Class Championship Wrestling was thee Indy promotion in Texas during the 70's and 80's. Started by famous wrestling patriarch Fritz Von Erich. It was the home of the Von Erich family, Gary Hart, Thunderbolt Patterson, Chris Adams, Percy Pringle (Paul Bearer) and many others. It's where the Fabulous Freebirds gained their rock star popularity, so you know it was a lot of sex and drugs involved in their Rock n' Roll act. 

A TV drama could cover The Fabulous Freebirds vs. Von Erich's feud. Stars like Ric Flair and Harley Race, and Jerry Lawler working at the promotion. A lot of ground maybe covered in the upcoming Iron Claw movie about the Von Erich's. Even so, there is so much more story to be told about WCCW and would make for a quality TV series. 

4. Mid-South Wrestling

Mid-South Wrestling was started by Bill Watts as he bought the promotion from Leroy McGuirk who was his one-time friend and business partner, before their relationship deteriorated. Loosely associated with the NWA, Mid-South was the promotion to be at in places like Oklahoma, Arkansas, Louisiana, and parts of Texas. 

Jim Ross got his start behind the microphone in Mid-South. While the promotion boasted talent such as Ted Dibiase, Junkyard Dog, Jake The Snake Roberts, One Man Gang. Butch Reed, The Midnight Express, Jim Duggan, and Magnum T.A. 

Mid-South eventually became Universal Wrestling Federation after the WWF started poaching talent as they exploded in popularity. Eventually Watts sold the promotion to Jim Crockett not long as rebranding. 

Snippets of Mid-South's legacy have been shared in Dark Side's episodes on Jake The Snake, Junkyard Dog, and Magnum TA. WWE produced a DVD called Legends of Mid-South, which featured over nine hours worth of matches. Mid-South as a promotion however deserves to be a hot topic for a good docu-drama.

3. UWF

I heard of UWF before in passing, but watching the Dark Side Of The Ring episode (season 2, episode 8) on UWF was mind blowing. Herb Abrams was a wild promoter if there ever was one, and during the early 90's he stepped up and prepared to challenge the WWF as pro wrestling's top promotion. Herb's UWF is not to be confused with the UWF that Bill Watts sold to Jim Crockett.

With no experience as a wrestling promoter he was able to secure a million dollars from cable network SportsChannel America. Allowing him to hire guys like Cactus Jack, Paul Orndorff, Dan Spivey, Steve Williams, and Ken Pantera. As their first show aired they were slapped with legal injunctions for having Rick Rude and Honky Tonk Man appear on camera, who while no longer with the WWF were still legally under contract. Then check's started bouncing, the promotion wasn't catching, and after a handful of show's ran everything shut down.

Herb was a notorious cocaine user, which played a part in his death in 1996. While he and the promotion were covered in Dark Side Of The Ring, people no doubt would tune into a drama about this cowboy of a wrestling promoter and the quick failure of his promotion. Especially if more of his antics and personal life are covered. 

2. AWA

During the territory days, the top 3 promotions were the WWWF, NWA, and the AWA. The WWWF covered the Northeast, NWA wrestled mainly in the Mid-Atlantic area. The AWA was the promotion to be in within the Mid-West area. The American Wrestling Association was started in 1960 by Verne Gagne and his partner Wally Karbo. They built the promotion around talent such as Nick Bockwinkel, Harley Race, Larry Henning, Dick The Bruiser, and Mad Dog Vachon. 

Then the late 70's/early 80's came around and the AWA had a talent by the name of Hulk Hogan on their roster. Verne never pulled the trigger on making him a top star and he eventually left for the now WWF and Hulkamania was soon born. Verne did not change with the times as the WWF was gaining popularity, but talent such as Curt Henning, Gene Okerlund, Jesse Ventura, Scott Hall, The Road Warriors, Madusa, The Rockers, and Vader among many others walked through the doors of the AWA.

Some of Verne's miscues may or may not have led to AWA's downfall, but either way it would make for compelling TV if a series was made about the history of the promotion.

1. ECW

It would be very hard but ECW's story needs to be told without the involvement of WWE. Think about it a dramatization of ECW on streaming or even cable. Showing Paul Heyman's promotion rising from an alternative to mainstream, leading to the big boys WCW and WWF pooching talent from him and stealing ideas. Their rise, but never really making a profit to their collapse and WWF buying them.

There's so much story in the promotion's short seven year run, well nine if you count the years as Eastern Championship Wrestling. Tod Gordon starting the promotion, and Paul taking over from him to start the "extreme" aspect of wrestling. The motley crew of stars the promotion was built around, Tommy Dreamer, Raven, The Sandman, The Dudley Boyz, Taz, Sabu, Jerry Lynn and of course Rob Van Dam.

Vince McMahon secretly bankrolling ECW, and bounced checks for the talent. I'm sure there is a plethora of stories behind the scenes that have never been told. An ECW drama is a goldmine we as fans deserve.