Jim Crockett Promotions (JCP)

"The father of WCW, essentially. Starting in the Carolinas in the 1930s, JCP became a popular promotion for decades. It was primarily a tag team promotion for a while, but after Jim Crockett Sr. passed, it transitioned to a standard "variety" promotion of singles and tag teams. Boasted names such as Flair, Rhodes, the Road Warriors, Anderson, Blanchard, Koloff, etc. Competed with WWF/E for a while before being sold to Ted Turner in late 1988."

[9.0] "you cant really rank jcp as it was a bunch of territories there was alot of good and some bad in their territories"

[8.0] "Loved watching JCP in the mid-late 1980's when I was a kid. Now going back and watching the earlier years. Here is a yearly summary. 1981/1982: Technical wrestling. Story revolved around Sgt. Slaughter as a heel, but finally got good with the arrival of Oliver Humperdink and his stable. Flair & Valentine destroy Piper turning him full face was outstanding. Flair is on a whole other level on promos. Wrestler of the Year: Ric Flair 1983: Way too many jobber matches, storylines were stale, pushed too many old wrestlers like the Briscoes & Dory Funk, should have pushed One Man Gang. Had 3 solid heel stables with Hart, Humperdink & Jones, but failed to write them into interesting storylines. Steamboat & Youngblood were ahead of the curve in the ring. Old timers couldn't keep pace with their speed and athleticism. When they switched to arena shows in the summer they seemed to pump some life into the product, on their march towards Starcade '83. Best storylines were Piper & Valentine, and Race/Orton/Slater vs. Flair. Wrestler of the Year: Ric Flair 1984: "Let me tell you something." Still way too many squash matches on TV. This territory invested its time in too many old timers: Ernie Ladd, the Briscoes, Dory Funk Jr., Angelo Mosca, Wahoo McDaniel, Rufus Jones & Jimmy Valiant. And when it comes time to push younger guys they chose Angelo Mosca Jr. who was God awful, and Brian Adias, who was a lower mid-card guy at best. Wow Summer of 1984, Ric Flair and Tully Blanchard have an angle. I never knew that, but it wasn't significant because Tully barely wrestled the first half of the year, as he was stuck on commentary. Nikita Koloff debuts! He is limited in the ring, but "my Gawd" what a physique and authentic character. They suddenly create a Six-Man Title, but no background, no tournament, not even any belts! Don Kernodle was not a good fit with the Russians, and I was glad they final turned on him. They waste time running an angle with Jimmy Valiant and the Assassin with a "taped fist match." Can't make this stuff up, and Paul Jones was such a let down compared to other great mouthpiece managers in other territories in 1984. Wahoo turns heel, and is absolutely atrocious on the mic. They push the Youngblood brothers, but they were underwhelming compared to other young tag teams in other territories in '84. Similarly they pushed Rufus Jones and Pez Whately, both of whom pale in comparison to JYD, Iceman Parsons and the PYT in other territories. They bring in the Long Riders, who are suddenly the Mid-Atlantic Tag Team champions, after the belts had been deactivated for well over a year. Bass was a believable heel, unlike Dick Slater who weirdly returns from a long absences and goes from the promotions top heel to a baby face, and it doesn't suit him. Towards the end of the year they begin ramping up for Starcade '84, and Dusty Rhodes arrives and is absolute pure entertainment in the ring, on the mic, and in storyline. Rhodes pumped life back into the territory. He was aided by the returns of Ric Flair and Ricky Steamboat. Starcade '84 was not good. Only two matches worth watching, were the Rhodes-Flair main event, and the match of the night, which was Steamboat and Blanchard for the TV title. Wrestler of the Year: Dusty Rhodes"

[9.0] "one of the most important promotions that led to the harsh bringing of WCW, it was a shame that it ended up falling out but had really important events like Starrcade"

[9.0] "Been going through some early 80's territories stuff and so far have been really enjoying Mid Atlantic Championship Wrestling with Piper, Slaughter, Jake Roberts, Ole Anderson etc. Just some really good stuff all around."

[8.0] "It's a shame that Jim Crockett Promotions went out of business because they were the absolute pinnacle of professional wrestling in the 1980s. Their peak years for me was 1985 and 87-88 which would be their last years in business. Their roster was so deep and had some of the best professional wrestling in HISTORY. JCP had some great moments, PPVs, TV & segments. One thing led to another and JCP was defunct and turned into WCW. [****]"

[8.0] "Was the pinnacle of North American wrestling in the 80s, JCP had a really nice sporting style of wrestling in contrast to the more entertainment style of new York based WWF and they had a deeper talent pool than Minnesota based AWA. The world title, US title and tag title scene tended to be quite good. Lots of great talents found success in JCP, such as Flair, Steamboat and Roddy Piper. However, like all promotions of the time, JCP could put on a lot of awful matches with some poor workers, and lots of JCP shows had production issues. An 8 is fair I feel."

[8.0] "Good years and bad years ~ good seasons and bad seasons. One of the more glaring victims of Vince McMahon plundering the territories (also one of the earliest). On television is was a promo heavy territory and flirted with being straight up boring at times. At the arenas it was one of the most electric and intense places to be. How do I not have permanent hearing damage from attending those house shows at a young age? Seriously, it could get so loud, that you would go home with everything above the neck hurting. Bob Caudle was so smooth and velvet in his tone that you forgave him for saying Black Bart was "6'9" and David Crockett was LOL! David Crockett! After Dusty Rhodes became the booker, things spiced things up considerably and he saved the company from looming obscurity. Just as the company was at their hottest though (with The Four Horsemen, The Midnight Express, The Road Warriors and others) the company went belly up due to debts. In many ways, Rhodes killed the company just as much as he brought it back to life; not only with his financial decisions but also booking himself as the GOD of the territory and the overwhelming, unescapable wrath of the "Dusty Finish". Oh yah, points deducted for all of that endless Paul Jones/Jimmy Valiant stuff. BARF! What I love I fkn adore but I won't pretend like the flaws were excruciating."

[9.0] "Even though I'm not the biggest fan of the rebut, JCP is a legendary promotion the held an incredible ammount of unforgetable matches."

[10.0] "One of the greatest wrestling promotions of all time. A major force during the Territory Days of pro wrestling. Major stars, hot angles, bloody feuds, incredible promos, outstanding matches, fired up energetic crowds, whatever you want. Mid-Atlantic delivered it all on a regular basis and created so many memories along the way. This was a Hardcore wrestling fan's dreamboat of a wrestling promotion."

[10.0] "Easily my favorite promotion not naming WWF to go back and watch in this period. They were simply on FIRE during their run in the early to mid 80s. And I believe they actually could have dethrone Vinnie Mac Jr. as well, hadn't it been for a number of unfortunate circumstances that forced Crockett to sell the company to billionaire Ted Turner."

[9.0] "Perhaps the best "southern rasslin" territory from the 70s and 80s, this promotion grew to encompass almost the entire NWA, and held the first Pay Per View (Starrcade), and gave the WWF true competition. Were it not for the mismanagement of funds, the promotion would likely still be around today. The company was sold to Ted Turner, becoming WCW."