Post a Comment On: Indeed Wrestling

I've been going through the archived results from TheHistoryofWWE, In particular, I've been looking at 1963-1993.

The recorded record for WWF shows after Monday Night Raw was established is fairly solid. Most of those results have been cataloged into the databases at CageMatch and WrestlingData. Things are much more spotty for results from the 1960s, 1970s and even early 1980s.

Periodically, I like to audit the current results up at History of WWE and see how complete the record is/is not.

Old results are always challenging because there's a lot of name/spelling issues in the results and everything is (understandably) far less complete. You also have a lot more lines that say "also featured" and "included". These notes often don't get put into databases as wrestling appearances but really should be included because they can represent a large hunk of appearances for some wrestlers.
(I've tried my best to include these appearances in my "match database" that I built.)

The History of WWE - All Events 1963-1992 pages

yeareventsmatchesmatches
per card yeareventsmatchesmatches
per card 1963 296 1222 4.13 1978 491 3182 6.48 1964 294 1271 4.32 1979 437 2843 6.51 1965 259 942 3.64 1980 481 3033 6.31 1966 356 1271 3.57 1981 474 3092 6.52 1967 296 1167 3.94 1982 499 3555 7.12 1968 260 1124 4.32 1983 605 4092 6.76 1969 230 1185 5.15 1984 688 4591 6.67 1970 250 1225 4.90 1985 704 4872 6.92 1971 238 1143 4.80 1986 745 4386 5.89 1972 276 1405 5.09 1987 750 4744 6.33 1973 232 1175 5.06 1988 631 4268 6.76 1974 215 953 4.43 1989 617 3926 6.36 1975 343 1528 4.45 1990 613 4181 6.82 1976 400 2178 5.45 1991 499 3878 7.77 1977 469 2792 5.95 1992 494 3697 7.48
Keep in mind that results I used contain a lot more than just WWWF results.

There's lots of results from Toronto, Pittsburgh and international shows (often joint promotions) such as tours with Japanese companies. Still, it's interesting to see some of the trends that emerge.

Here's a look at the average number of matches reported per card:
[Image]
Isn't it remarkable how the average number of matches per card has shot up over time?

It goes from about four (1960s) to five (early 1970s) to six (late 1970s) to more than six (1980s) to more than seven (1990s). I believe that this is a combination of lots of factors. 
The further back you go, the record grows less complete. Oftentimes, only the title matches (especially a world title match) are called out on the cards. The matches from the undercard may be missing. Also, some of these spot shows could actually had far less matches than today's lavish house shows. Lastly, television tapings, particularly the infamous marathon television tapings for syndicated programming from the 1980s and early 1990s, can skew the matches/card metric.
yeareventsatt record?% of
eventsyeareventsatt record?% of
events 1963 296 21 7% 1978 491 21 4% 1964 294 20 7% 1979 436 14 3% 1965 259 23 9% 1980 481 55 11% 1966 356 11 3% 1981 474 71 15% 1967 294 12 4% 1982 499 72 14% 1968 260 10 4% 1983 605 87 14% 1969 229 20 9% 1984 688 195 28% 1970 250 19 8% 1985 704 311 44% 1971 238 15 6% 1986 745 331 44% 1972 276 10 4% 1987 750 367 49% 1973 232 21 9% 1988 632 258 41% 1974 215 21 10% 1989 617 238 39% 1975 344 17 5% 1990 613 287 47% 1976 401 15 4% 1991 499 226 45% 1977 468 40 9% 1992 494 284 57%
This looks at what proportion of the wrestling events actually have any sort of "attendance" record connected with it. For the first fifteen years, the percentage is hovering at/below 10%. Things get a lot more complete in the early 1980s (when the Wrestling Observer Newsletter comes along) and by 1985, it's closing in on more than 40% of the events.
When you're trying to evaluate "drawing power" for WWWF champions, these sorts of sample size differences make it tough. Consider, between 1963-1972, Sammartino had well over 1,500 matches. However, there's only records (in this dataset) covering about 67 crowds over ten thousand people. Conversely, in Hulk Hogan's 325 matches between 1985 and 1986, there's over 125 shows with 10k+ crowds. While WWF was extremely hot in the Hulkamania Rock 'n' Wrestling era, it's disingenuous to simply compare the where I have 642 attendance records (1985/1986) and where I only have 161 attendance records (1963-1972). 
However, you can look at "drawing power" from within the same time period among WWF stars.
For instance, consider WWF tours with and without Hulk Hogan appearing between 1984-1989. I found 97 cities which had attendance records for shows that both did and did not include Hulk.


Location No Hogan w/ Hogan diff Albuquerque, NM -- USA 2,522 7,593 5,070 Anaheim, CA -- USA 3,917 8,250 4,333 Arena St. Louis, MO -- USA 5,454 10,575 5,121 Atlanta, GA -- USA 3,021 4,658 1,637 Auburn Hills, MI -- USA 6,900 13,750 6,850 Baltimore, MD -- USA 8,132 11,489 3,356 Binghamton, NY -- USA 2,422 5,900 3,478 Birmingham, AL -- USA 3,120 12,000 8,880 Boston, MA -- USA 10,524 12,707 2,184 Buffalo, NY -- USA 5,829 9,038 3,209 Calgary, AB -- CANADA 8,500 15,000 6,500 Chicago, IL -- USA 7,713 12,527 4,814 Cincinnati, OH -- USA 3,830 7,981 4,151 Cleveland, OH -- USA 6,671 13,250 6,579 Columbus, OH -- USA 3,353 21,333 17,980 Dallas, TX -- USA 1,460 2,994 1,534 Dayton, OH -- USA 1,000 8,000 7,000 Denver, CO -- USA 4,842 7,019 2,177 Des Moines, IA -- USA 2,000 11,000 9,000 Detroit, MI -- USA 8,473 12,263 3,790 East Rutherford, NJ -- USA 8,054 14,335 6,281 Edmonton, AB -- CANADA 9,500 12,500 3,000 Erie, PA -- USA 2,276 4,850 2,573 Foxboro, MA -- USA 12,000 23,000 11,000 Fresno, CA -- USA 4,486 7,725 3,239 Glens Falls, NY -- USA 5,833 8,500 2,667 Greensboro, NC -- USA 1,800 2,835 1,035 Halifax, NS -- CANADA 5,667 7,500 1,833 Hamilton, ONT -- CANADA 10,560 15,500 4,940 Hartford, CT -- USA 6,244 11,730 5,486 Hershey, PA -- USA 4,687 7,767 3,080 Houston, TX -- USA 5,575 5,375 (200) Huntsville, AL -- USA 9,000 6,781 (2,220) Indianapolis, IN -- USA 7,000 8,352 1,352 Jackson, MS -- USA 2,086 4,500 2,414 Joe Louis Detroit, MI -- USA 20,000 20,997 997 Kansas City, MO -- USA 3,323 6,929 3,605 Kiel Auditorium  - St. Louis, MO -- USA 4,067 6,387 2,320 Landover, MD -- USA 5,589 12,977 7,388 Las Vegas, NV -- USA 3,833 10,807 6,973 Little Rock, AR -- CANADA 2,452 3,800 1,348 London, ONT -- CANADA 3,918 2,500 (1,418) Long Island, NY -- USA 7,255 12,473 5,218 Los Angeles, CA -- USA 8,277 12,336 4,058 Louisville, KY -- USA 1,189 3,587 2,398 Madison, WI -- USA 4,100 7,557 3,457 Maple Leaf Gardens  Toronto, ONT -- CANADA 17,500 18,000 500 Memphis, TN -- USA 750 4,475 3,725 Miami, FL -- USA 3,041 5,104 2,063 Milwaukee, WI -- USA 4,402 13,993 9,591 Minneapolis, MN -- USA 2,750 7,660 4,910 Montreal, QC -- CANADA 12,737 16,167 3,429 MSG New York City, NY -- USA 17,407 19,259 1,852 Nashville, TN -- USA 6,482 9,000 2,518 New Haven, CT -- USA 4,155 9,850 5,695 New Orleans, LA -- USA 1,800 6,267 4,467 Oakland, CA -- USA 7,519 11,810 4,291 Oklahoma City, OK -- USA 2,175 3,472 1,297 Omaha, NE -- USA 5,831 9,443 3,612 Orlando, FL -- USA 5,600 9,200 3,600 Osaka, Japan -- JAPAN 13,000 5,841 (7,159) Paris, France -- FRANCE 12,000 12,000 - Peoria, IL -- USA 3,789 10,500 6,711 Philadelphia, PA -- USA 9,210 12,934 3,724 Phoenix, AZ -- USA 6,084 11,820 5,736 Pittsburgh, PA -- USA 9,327 12,546 3,219 Pontiac, MI -- USA 2,400 25,406 23,006 Portland, ME -- USA 3,270 8,550 5,281 Portland, OR -- USA 4,000 6,750 2,750 Providence, RI -- USA 6,321 8,500 2,179 Richfield, OH -- USA 6,214 11,793 5,579 Richmond, VA -- USA 6,250 8,955 2,705 Rochester, NY -- USA 2,974 8,238 5,264 Rockford, IL -- USA 1,917 10,000 8,083 Sacramento, CA -- USA 5,282 7,880 2,598 Salisbury, MD -- USA 7,000 6,850 (150) Salt Lake City, UT -- USA 5,562 7,200 1,638 San Antonio, TX -- USA 9,000 6,000 (3,000) San Diego, CA -- USA 5,871 10,875 5,004 San Francisco, CA -- USA 7,189 10,500 3,311 Seattle, WA -- USA 5,900 16,000 10,100 South Bend, IN -- USA 2,586 10,749 8,163 Springfield, IL -- USA 4,217 8,302 4,086 Springfield, MA -- USA 4,153 6,133 1,980 St. Louis, MO -- USA 3,879 6,131 2,252 Syracuse, NY -- USA 2,120 6,000 3,880 Tacoma, WA -- USA 7,731 15,068 7,337 Tampa, FL -- USA 4,000 9,780 5,780 Tokyo, Japan -- JAPAN 10,000 11,000 1,000 Toledo, OH -- USA 5,433 8,881 3,448 Toronto, ONT -- CANADA 9,849 12,810 2,961 Vancouver, BC -- CANADA 4,233 16,000 11,767 Wheeling, WV -- USA 3,334 7,190 3,857 Wichita, KS -- USA 10,000 7,932 (2,068) Winnipeg, MB -- CANADA 3,600 11,894 8,294 Worcester, MA -- USA 2,000 9,805 7,805 Youngstown, OH -- USA 2,900 6,000 3,100 Median5,4339,0383,605
The initial exercise suggests that in over 90% of the cities, shows with Hogan drew remarkable more than shows without Hogan.

This is certainly not a perfect dataset. There are apples-oranges comparisons including matinees versus evening shows, television tapings versus house shows, pay-per-views versus spot shows, etc. However, the general trend is very telling.
Sure, Hogan was a big attraction the first few times. However, what happens with the Immortal One comes to your town more than a handful of times? Does his drawing power "hold up"?
Let's look at the 44 cities which had at least four visits from Hogan (along with some shows where Hulk Hogan was not there). Again, we must have attendance records available.

CityHogan
Appearances
(w/ att. Record)First Three
HoganRemainingDifferenceNo HoganJudgment Philadelphia, PA -- USA 33 12,370 12,991 620 9,210 Flat (5%) MSG New York City, NY -- USA 28 25,795 18,475 (7,319) 17,407 Down (-28%) Chicago, IL -- USA 24 7,500 13,245 5,745 7,713 Up (77%) Los Angeles, CA -- USA 23 8,667 12,886 4,219 8,277 Up (49%) Boston, MA -- USA 22 14,233 12,466 (1,767) 10,524 Down (-12%) Minneapolis, MN -- USA 22 10,500 7,211 (3,289) 2,750 Down (-31%) Kiel Auditorium  - St. Louis, MO -- USA 19 7,647 6,150 (1,497) 4,067 Down (-20%) Pittsburgh, PA -- USA 18 14,667 12,121 (2,545) 9,327 Down (-17%) Oakland, CA -- USA 15 10,733 12,079 1,346 7,519 Up (13%) East Rutherford, NJ -- USA 14 15,918 13,903 (2,015) 8,054 Down (-13%) Landover, MD -- USA 14 15,400 12,316 (3,084) 5,589 Down (-20%) Richfield, OH -- USA 14 13,333 11,373 (1,961) 6,214 Down (-15%) Houston, TX -- USA 13 3,300 5,997 2,697 5,575 Up (82%) Toronto, ONT -- CANADA 12 11,407 13,278 1,871 9,849 Up (16%) Hartford, CT -- USA 10 10,833 12,114 1,281 6,244 Up (12%) Milwaukee, WI -- USA 9 9,784 16,097 6,313 4,402 Up (65%) Long Island, NY -- USA 9 12,945 12,237 (707) 7,255 Flat (-5%) Baltimore, MD -- USA 9 11,367 11,550 183 8,132 Flat (2%) Kansas City, MO -- USA 9 6,333 7,226 893 3,323 Up (14%) Detroit, MI -- USA 8 14,167 11,121 (3,046) 8,473 Down (-22%) San Francisco, CA -- USA 8 7,667 12,200 4,533 7,189 Up (59%) Miami, FL -- USA 8 3,974 5,782 1,807 3,041 Up (45%) Providence, RI -- USA 7 8,667 8,375 (292) 6,321 Flat (-3%) Cincinnati, OH -- USA 7 7,123 8,625 1,502 3,830 Up (21%) Denver, CO -- USA 7 7,454 6,693 (762) 4,842 Down (-10%) Montreal, QC -- CANADA 6 20,333 12,000 (8,333) 12,737 Down (-41%) Omaha, NE -- USA 6 9,115 9,771 656 5,831 Flat (7%) Hershey, PA -- USA 6 8,833 6,700 (2,133) 4,687 Down (-24%) Atlanta, GA -- USA 6 5,500 3,815 (1,685) 3,021 Down (-31%) Maple Leaf Gardens Toronto , ONT -- CANADA 5 17,833 18,250 417 17,500 Flat (2%) Tacoma, WA -- USA 5 19,746 8,050 (11,696) 7,731 Down (-59%) Phoenix, AZ -- USA 5 11,067 12,950 1,883 6,084 Up (17%) Sacramento, CA -- USA 5 7,133 9,000 1,867 5,282 Up (26%) Pontiac, MI -- USA 4 29,875 12,000 (17,875) 2,400 Down (-60%) San Diego, CA -- USA 4 10,500 12,000 1,500 5,871 Up (14%) Arena St. Louis, MO -- USA 4 11,167 8,800 (2,367) 5,454 Down (-21%) New Haven, CT -- USA 4 9,033 12,300 3,267 4,155 Up (36%) Buffalo, NY -- USA 4 8,833 9,651 818 5,829 Flat (9%) Rochester, NY -- USA 4 8,450 7,600 (850) 2,974 Down (-10%) Fresno, CA -- USA 4 7,300 9,000 1,700 4,486 Up (23%) Salt Lake City, UT -- USA 4 4,933 14,000 9,067 5,562 Up (184%) Wheeling, WV -- USA 4 6,987 7,800 813 3,334 Up (12%) Memphis, TN -- USA 4 4,067 5,700 1,633 750 Up (40%) Dallas, TX -- USA 4 2,126 5,600 3,474 1,460 Up (163%)
Ultimately, here was the tally:

20 cities were UP more than 10% in average attendance in the later Hogan appearances compared to the initial ones.  17 cities were DOWN more than 10% in average attendance in later Hogan appearances compare to the initial ones.   7 cities were FLAT which meant overall attendance for those Hogan shows after the initial trio was within the +/- 10% of the original Hogan attendances.  One might argue that there's a slightly negative trend, but the average drop in attendance across the cities was 300 people which doesn't really seem very substantial to me.
There are places like Boston or St. Louis or Minneapolis or Denver or Montreal where it looks like Hogan's repeat appearances might have diminished in effectiveness. Bruno's drawing record at MSG is certainly much stronger (and lengthier) than Hogan's. However, I think it might be an over-simplification to ignore examples of Chicago or Milwaukee or Miami or Phoenix where it appears that Hogan held up just fine with repeat appears. In all, it seems to be a mixed bag.
Honestly, there's the counter-argument that Hogan went back to these cities because it was clear he was still a draw there and it's really about the cities they didn't book because they didn't feel Hogan was going to pop the house. I'd have to keep digging to really make a strong determination.
Hope this was interesting to you faithful readers. All analysis by Chris Harrington. 
Twitter: @mookieghana Email: chris.harrington@gmail.com