"What the heck are ‘Television Titles' all about?"
That question was posed to me at another website's message board where a discussion of the old WCW TV Title belt had come up. I thought that the question seemed to answer itself, but then remembered that today's wrestling fan is accustomed to just about every title a promotion has being defended on every TV program each week. With the reduction of non-televised house shows of the WWF and the demise of WCW and ECW, just about all titles are "television titles" today.
There was a time not too long ago when this wasn't the case. For all you folks out there reading this that don't remember weekly shows done by regional promotions, we're going to take a look back at some of the Television Titles. For those of you that do, I hope you'll join me on a brief return to the way the business was in a much simpler and (for me, at least,) enjoyable time.
In the days of regionally broadcast television shows, the main objective of the show was to build audiences for "house" shows. Certainly an enterprising promoter could turn a dollar from advertisements and sponsorships of successful TV wrestling. However, most TV shows featured enhancement matches in which a star babyface or heel would face off with a high-quality enhancement worker (which is my favorite term for "jobber"), while the announcers put over the star's latest rivalry or upcoming matches. The entire focus of TV was to "put a$$es in the seats" as one long-time star told me. That being the case, a promoter wouldn't want to put their top star or champion in the ring on TV for title defenses. Those were saved for the house shows where they could draw the most money. However, something was needed to keep TV audiences interested and tuning back in every week, so Television Titles were the perfect answer.
I'm not sure what the earliest television title was, but many sources point to a "Beat the Champ International Television Title" that was defended on the old Los Angeles (CA) promotion's show with Joe Pazandak becoming the first champion in March of 1951. (see footnote) Over the next few years, such legends as Sandor Szabo, George Bollas, Wilber Snyder, and a young man wrestling under the name of Rocky Valentine (the late Johnny Valentine), Nick Bockwinkle, and Bobo Brazil. With an interruption in the 1960's, where the non-NWA WWA promotion was based in Los Angeles, the Beat the Champ TV title continued to be defended until the promotion closed in December of 1982. There was even a Women's U.S. Television Title in at least one promotion during the 50's, possibly in the Tennessee area.
From 1956 through the early 60's, this same LA promotion also had an "International Television Tag Team Title" that reads like a "Who's Who" of the Golden Age of Professional Wrestling: Wilbur Snyder and Sandor Szabo; Lord James Blears and Lord Athol Layton; Great Bolo and Tom Rice; Wilbur Snyder and Bobo Brazil; Gene Kiniski and John Tolos; Bobo Brazil and Sandor Szabo; Don Leo Jonathan and Lord Carlton; Lee Henning and Tom Rice; Bobo Brazil and Priomo Carnera; Enrique Romero and Luis Martinez, and many more. (see footnote) The last team was Don Leo Johnathan and Freddie Blassie (what a combination that was!)
This was the heyday of TV wrestling in LA and these matches served to draw interest to the TV shows while titles such as the NWA World Heavyweight Title and the Americas Championships were defended at house shows.
In my area, the Southeast, there were several promotions that had television titles, including the Mid-Atlantic (Crockett Promotions), Georgia Championship Wrestling, and Championship Wrestling from Florida. The Florida TV title gave that promotion several opportunities for great angles, including Jack Brisco losing the TV title to Tarzan Tyler in the first fall of a best two out of three falls match, only to have Brisco win the second and third fall to take Tyler's Florida State Heavyweight title! Paul Jones also "retired" the TV title (which was a trophy and not a belt at the time) after winning it by defeating a mask-less Johnny Walker (Mr. Wrestling II) in a tournament, then engraved his name on it and presented it to Jack Brisco, who destroyed it. (see footnote) The person I remember best as the Florida Television Champion was The Missouri Mauler, who's "Mule Kicks" made for great TV at that time.
The Georgia area's TV Title (which would later become the National TV title, be briefly called the "World TV Title" and then be dropped to make way Jim Crockett's NWA TV title when Crockett bought out the Georgia promotion) also featured some major names in the business. The first champion was Joe Scarpa (aka Chief Jay Strongbow). The belt was also held by Nick Bockwinkle, Ray Gunkel, Luke Graham, Klondike Bill, as well as being a singles title that both Ole and Gene Anderson held. The TV title was used to put a young Tommy Rich in contention for an NWA World Title shot and, after becoming the National TV title, set up a couple of memorable feuds between Jake "The Snake" Roberts and Ronnie Garvin and Roberts and Mr. Wrestling II.
However, no other title fired the imagination of a young farm boy from North Carolina like the Mid-Atlantic Television Title. While not the earliest of TV titles by any means (Ole Anderson won the first title in 1973), the Mid-Atlantic TV title would evolve over the years into a line of championships, becoming the NWA TV title in 1977, then the NWA World Television Title in 1985. When World Championship Wrestling broke away from the National Wrestling Alliance in 1991, the title became known as the WCW World Television Title and continued to be held by some of the best talent in that promotion up until the title was abandoned in late 1999. (A short-lived attempt was made to resurrect the title in early 2000, but was soon abandoned.)
The original Mid-Atlantic TV belt was a resource that was shrewdly used by the promoters and bookers over the years. The belt at times took young talent in the area and elevated them to upper-card status through TV exposure. It was great for featuring established stars that were new to the area and also could give an extra boost to some of the long-time talent in the promotion by involving them in a TV title angle.
The TV title was the first singles title held in the area by Ric Flair, Ricky Steamboat, Roddy Piper, and Greg Valentine and it was used to bring both Tim "Mr. Wrestling" Woods and Johnny Weaver back into the mix later in their careers as well. It was the title that Tully Blanchard won after moving to the area from Texas and set up the legendary feud with fellow Texan Dusty Rhodes. In that feud was the memorable televised cage match in which Dusty won not only the title that would become the NWA World Television Title, but the services of Blanchard's valet, Babydoll (Nichola Roberts).
The TV title in this region was also one of several titles that were "united" during the Crockett family's acquisition of several regional promotions (which would in time give rise to World Championship Wrestling). The NWA/WCW World Television Title was united with the Television Title from the UWF in a match between NWA Champion Nikita Koloff and the UWF's Terry Taylor. The UWF TV title had developed from another regional TV championship that had earned a reputation for innovative TV angles, the Mid-South TV title. However, the Mid-South TV Championship was unusual in that it was not a belt or trophy that signified the title, but a medal!
I've heard a lot of people refer to television titles as "lower titles" or "secondary titles." In my humble opinion, this is far from being the case. Not everyone could pull off becoming a successful television champion. Some of the best talent that ever worked a house show in front of a live crowd could fail to make an impact in a TV studio or small venue where events were taped. In addition, the TV champ had to keep the television audience interested in his matches so that they would continue to tune in week after week. Heels made better long-running champions, as more people would tune in to the weekly show in hopes that the hated champion would finally fall to the latest babyface challenger. Arn Anderson was one of the greatest TV champions of all times for just this reason, and Tully Blanchard played the whining bratty heel that would only defend his title when forced to do so to the hilt.
Several times the Mid-Atlantic TV title would have the "stipulation" that the belt was on the line for the first 15 minutes of any match that the champion had on TV. Of course, the matches almost always went to 15 minutes with a popular heel getting the win after the 15 minute mark or the heel just barely squeaking out a victory with time running out. With the later NWA World TV title and WCW TV title, men like Steve Austin and Steven (William) Regal had great success as the long-term heel champs. Austin used many of the lessons learned as the WCW TV champion to help build the "Stone Cold" Steve Austin that would capture the ratings of cable TV and PPV broadcast several years later. Since they were primarily defended on the TV broadcasts, TV title angles could be a bit more involved than those of titles won and lost at house shows since taping could provide "flashbacks" to bring viewers up to date on earlier matches or interviews.
The last "major" TV title was the ECW World TV title, which was ironically united with the ECW World Title by Rhino just before that promotion finally succumbed to a long financial drought. While several other house-show driven promotions continue to have TV titles, such as NWA Wildside, the "golden age" of the TV title appears to have passed with an age in which TV was a tool to draw business instead of what it has become…the wrestling business itself. I have to say that I feel we are much the poorer with its passing.
This column is dedicated to my brother, Lex, who never laughed at his big brother's dreams to become "TV champion"
FOOTNOTE: Title history information courtesy of
