10 Things Still Missing From WWE Network
8. Mid-South Wrestling
Created when Bill Watts bought-out the Tri-State Wrestling circuit in 1979, Mid-South Wrestling birthed some of its era’s biggest stars. From Sting and the Steiner Brothers to Jim Ross and Junkyard Dog, dozens of wrestling’s most recognisable figures came through the territory, and while Mid-South often flies under a lot of peoples’ radars, the group’s influence can’t be undermined.
They ran in a mix of small venues and huge arenas, with their most notable show coming at the Louisiana Superdome in 1980. Freebird Michael Hayes wrestled Junkyard Dog wrestled before a giant audience of close to 30,000 - not bad, for a company less than a year old - and Mid-South’s momentum only grew from there, prior to going national in 1986.
Mid-South’s fast, exciting wrestling and episodic storytelling helped them form a unique identity back in the day, but they struggled to compete with WWE and Jim Crockett Promotions, and were eventually sold to Crockett. It remains a historic territory, one of the era’s most prominent promotions, and the source of some of the strongest wrestling of the ‘80s. Despite owning the tape library, however, have just 10 Mid-South shows on the Network at the moment. A huge disappointment, particularly for wrestling historians.