thesquaredcircle

I think being older and knowing how everything works ruins the magic.

I don't agree with the older part, but yes letting people in on how things work definitely altered the 'sport' forever.

My grandpa was a **** wrestling fan for decades. While he did dabble in WWF, he mainly watched NWA/WCW. He literally washed his hands forever of wrestling when Garvin won the belt from Flair. NWA actually lost quite a few fans over this decision. Garvin's short title reign made zero sense. The two weren't even really feuding at the time. To make matters worse, it was immediately announced that Garvin would NOT defend the title until a Flair rematch months down the road at Starrcade. To add insult to injury, NWA was the only organization to ever enforce the 30 day title defense rule. Now they were giving the new world champ an instant free pass.

I do not remember how the info came out(I'll assume a magazine), but come to find out, Flair was simply taking a vacation and NWA wanted to give the belt to someone for a short reign and then give it back to Flair at Starrcade. NOBODY wanted the belt under these circumstances. NOBODY, and they had no shortage of great talent in the promotion. Garvin was the only person dumb enough to do it.

My grandpa basically said, "That's enough of that...", and never watched it again.

Garvin gets booed everywhere he goes, and at the rematch at Starrcade, the whole damn crowd wants Flair to win. Venues also saw a huge drop in attendance.

This is where Crockett(and then Turner) went wrong. They **** on the wrestling 'purists', leaving them no other option but to change the channel. WWF had the tons of casual fans, and the NWA's niche was large enough to sustain the company. Once the purists walked away, it was only a matter of time. Doesn't surprise me in the least that a decade later, McMahon had a virtual monopoly on the business.