Death of the Territories Audiobook By Tim Hornbaker cover art

Death of the Territories

Expansion, Betrayal and the War That Changed Pro Wrestling Forever

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Death of the Territories

By: Tim Hornbaker
Narrated by: Kyle Tait
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For decades, distinct professional wrestling territories thrived across North America. Each regionally based promotion operated individually and offered a brand of localized wrestling that greatly appealed to area fans. Promoters routinely coordinated with associates in surrounding regions, and the cooperation displayed by members of the National Wrestling Alliance made it easy for wrestlers to traverse the landscape with the utmost freedom.

Dozens of territories flourished between the 1950s and late '70s. But by the early 1980s, the growth of cable television had put new outside pressures on promoters. An enterprising third-generation entrepreneur who believed cable was his opportunity to take his promotion national soon capitalized on the situation.

A host of novel ideas and the will to take chances gave Vincent Kennedy McMahon an incredible advantage. McMahon waged war on the territories and raided the NWA and AWA of their top talent. By creating WrestleMania, jumping into the pay-per-view field, and expanding across North America, McMahon changed professional wrestling forever.

©2018 Tim Hornbaker (P)2019 Tantor Combat Sports & Self-Defense Sports History Wrestling Sports Combat Sports War Wrestling Biographies
Comprehensive History • Fascinating Stories • Excellent Narration • Well-researched Content • Educational Information
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Great narration fantastic book if your a wrestling fan of history ..it goes really in depth

Great book

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This Book was a great listen,I've always enjoyed the history of wrestling, I like how its all beginning and 80s,it goes back and forth,up and down. But if your a fan you can follow with no problem,I actually did a few chapters twice.

Very thankful for the history and knowledge.

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A great listen for people who already know a fair bit about it. Might be too specific for those who don’t already know a bit about this.

Great hardcore knowledge

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Nice basic intro to the breakdown of the territories. Nothing super in debt but gives you a playing field in which you can do your own research and fine it easier going into deeper waters.

Chill

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I really enjoy learning more about old school pro wrestling, er, rasslin and this has that! My knowledge of wrestling (for what it is) is mostly post-1984 and WWF's rock and wrestling, so hearing old NWA stories and about the territory days is fascinating to me. There were a few times where I was like, "really?" and in some good ways, some bad. Like talking about all the bad taste angles done in World Class by the Von Erichs and I didn't remember the Fritz-fake heart attack angle being mentioned at all. It was fun listening to 1983 in particular and how Vince was setting the stage for his national take over. Anyway, if you like old rassling stories, this is for you!

Great for old-school rasslin fans

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Awesome job by the narrator. Great pronunciation and pace of reading. I recommend this audiobook to any wrestling fan.

Great Narrator

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This is a great entry point for those looking to learn about the history of a very uniquely American sport/art.

There obviously isn't enough room to cover everything in the dying days of the territories, but, this sure manages to cover a lot of ground.

While reading, it was very easy for me to get engrossed and completely lose track of time. The narration was performed very well and I didn't catch any mispronunciations or other audio errors.

I highly recommend this book.

A Great Entry Point

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Even though most wrestling fans of any age know the end of the story, Tim Hornbaker does a great job given the readers excellent detail into the atmosphere of the territories in the pre-cable television pro wrestling landscape. This is a must-have book for fans. I enjoyed it greatly.

Wonderful adventure for the pro wrestling fan.

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It paints WWF as this huge force taking over as early as 83 or 84. Sorry, but TV production and everything was ahead of the WWF in Dallas at that time. From 82 or 83 til like 86 WCCW in Dallas was way more popular. and until late 80's the WWF was only big in the northeast. The south still preferred Crocket, Jarret, and Bill Watts territories over WWF

don't want to come up with headline

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This book is an epic history of pro wrestling from the beginning to the end of territory wrestling. NWA, AWA, Mid-South, World Class, Georgia, Florida, Memphis… you name it! In-depth and expansive! This is probably the best book ever made about this subject. I would love to spend hours with the author just talking and picking his brain. Great narration as well.

Highly recommended! I have listened to this more than once. And will again.

Amazing Journey

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