The History of Pacific Northwest Wrestling

[@robertskurlock]

As an Oregonian, I am proud of you for mentioning PNW Wrestling

[@SlapNuts4Life]

A fellow Oregonian! I’m over here on the coast myself

[@SebastianGomez-uj8iu]

As someone who has been to Oregon, I'm proud you're proud of Dave.

[@LuckyStrike01]

@@SebastianGomez-uj8iu and as someone who knows someone who’s been to Oregon I’m proud that your proud of Robert who’s a proud Oregonian and proud of Dave for mentioning PNW

[@mekugi]

Lost culture man! People will have no idea in a few generations. Also: Wake up! Heyyy...wake up!!!

[@davidhahmsr.3937]

I watched for many years. If not at Portland Sports Arena I watched it on KPTV. I was lucky enough to see Roddy, Snuka, Buddy Rose, Buzz Sawyer, Mat Borne (Doink the Clown), Tony Borne, Lonnie Mane, Jessy Ventura, Rocky Johnson ( the Rock's father), king Parsons, Bull Ramos,Billy Jack Haines, Andre the Giant, and many more of the greats. The memories of simpler times.

[@bobmartin2576]

The Piper vs. Rose feud was huge in the PNW territory and they sold out the Expo Center in Portland, OR for a Hair Match which Piper won. Rose would wear a mask until his hair would grow back out. Other greats in the territory from the late '60s and 1970s == Lonnie Mayne, Tony Bourne (Matt Bourne 's father-- Doink the Clown), Dutch Savage, Bull Ramos, Stan Stasiak, Kurt and Karl von Steiger, The Kangaroos, The Bushwackers, Rick Martel (Roddy Piper's tag partner)., Cowboy Frankie Layne, Shag Thomas. It was a great territory and a great time to be a young wrestling fan

[@kerryhudson6101]

So many great matches in that line up. Except for Kurt and Karl von Steiger, I remember watching all of those guys. Ah! the good old days.

[@straydogswagger4280]

Thank you for covering PNW. I was the hardcore wrestling fan in the family, but my dad was a casual. I remember mentioning that one of Raven's first big breaks was in PNW as Scotty the Body, and my dad told me that he remembered watching him as Scotty the Body on Big Time Wrestling. That was when I learned that PNW had coverage in small town Washington, lol. I'm happy that DEFY is keeping things alive on the Washington side of the Columbia.

[@Dave-rf1zj]

Buddy Rose and Ed Wiskowski were fantastic heels in the Portland territory in the mid 1970's to early 1980's. Specifically Buddy Rose. Buddy Rose was arguably one of the best heels in pro wrestling in the 1970's. Such a great heel, he helped Roddy Piper turn face! Extremely slept on territory.

[@kerryhudson6101]

Do you remember when Rose teamed with Jesse "The Body" Ventura?

[@ronmailloux8655]

Roddy Piper was a hero in all star wrestling Vancouver B.C. and Dutch Savage was a heal at that time in the 1970s and early 80s. Don Leo Johnathan was always a favourite up here too.

[@MarvelMTs]

As a Seattle newborn, this really hits home in a good way.

[@ericmarentette]

This is so fun. I used to watch Portland wrestling as a kid in the late 70s and 80s and even attended a few cards. Appreciate the trip down memory lane 💪

[@johansmallberries9874]

Awesome, I’ve been looking for classic territory content that DOESN’T revolve around mid-south and the Carolinas.

[@tehfawkinman]

Y'know, as a Michigan boy, it'd be cool to see a video on The Sheik's Detroit territory, the REAL Big Time Wrestling lol. As always, another great, entertaining, n informative video 👍

[@DaveKnowsWrestling]

I def have Michigan in mind... and I'm not taking sides on who is the REAL Big Time... I'm staying clear of that one

[@tehfawkinman]

@@DaveKnowsWrestling That's good to know...n I'm not really taking sides on the matter, either, just being a troll lol

[@ronmichaels9206]

that would be great!

[@doseofreality420marianetti2]

How about Dave linking up with the Michigan Independent Weekly crew over at Rasslin Rage and see if they can help you with a Michigan video.

[@thatoneguy1115]

Was born in Portland in 76' went to Sandy Barr flea Market then would watch wrestling live that nite. I seen Billy Jack when I was real young. Guy was giant. What a time what a place, what a shame what Portland has become.

[@TrebinJenkis]

Yes thank you! I live and Portland and my mom tells me about back in the 70's when neighbors used to come over every Friday night and watch. Sounds like a good time

[@canttouchthis6439]

I remember back in 80's you had to buy pwi magazine to keep up with all the territories and which wrestlers were rated world wide on a scale of like top 100. It was always like mysterious who was in the other territories because you couldn't watch them on local networks and that added a mysterious element and pacific wrestling was one of those organizations.

[@c71score]

Jack Dempsey was a running joke for my Dad growing up. My Dad and Grandma were big wrestling fans, but Grandpa thought it was stupid. Grandpa would always joke "Demspey could take him" for any wrestler my Dad and Grandma would get excited for........until one Andre Roussimoff did a tour through Detroit. "Dempsey can't take him" was Grandpa's reaction when he saw Andre. Could you imagine if we still had the "one promoter for the state rule"? Vince, er, I mean Stephanie would run shows once a year in every state just to block the indies, The Smashing Pumpkin, and Tony Elite.

[@DaveKnowsWrestling]

I could not imagine that. With the internet, no way that would still be a thing

[@581daform]

I still remember the Billy Jack Haynes versus Rip the crippler Oliver rivalry back in the 80s. You should do a video on Tom Peterson who was the sponsor of the time.

[@theuglydojo6461]

Thx for the video it was such a honor to be part of Portland Wrestling and Portland Uncut along with DOA and many other companies in the Pacific Northwest.

[@nubreaks2]

Wasn't Billie Jack Haynes the main man in Portland at one time?

[@michaelmarino7391]

Another wrestler & worker that gets overlooked is Adrian Adonis who teamed up with Rowdy Roddy Piper as the 22's.

[@Rjensen2]

Huh? Every time he's brought up, it's brought up how underrated and overlooked he is. So how is that underrated and overlooked?

[@Rick-qp5zf]

Great video. Growing up in Seattle I used to watch it on tv every week in the mid 70s to mid 80s when I moved to Virginia. I saw many great matches on TV and live at the Seattle Center Arena and at some local high schools and a National Gaurd armory.

[@KastleKrossface]

Another great video Dave! I do enjoy hearing about the territory days.

[@gutsdozer]

14:36 If you want to know what happened to the PNW belt after that: Seattle's big indie is Defy Wrestling, but their title belt was held up through most of the pandemic because its champion 'Ravenous' Randy Myers lives up in BC, and the borders were closed. So when Defy came back, they had an interim championship, which was fought over by Swerve Strickland and Christopher Daniels (Swerve is from Tacoma; Defy is where "Swerve's house" came from). So instead of going for the interim belt, Defy's wrestler Schaff found the old NWA Pacific Northwest Heavyweight belt somewhere, brought it into Defy, and defended it as a rogue champion. But then Randy Myers returned, and there was a 6-way ladder match for the official Defy title, which Swerve won. But Schaff still carries the PNW belt, so that's where it is today.

[@dellcoats2447]

Dave is pretty knowledgeable about wreastling history

[@johnbowden4409]

Beauregard and The Claw

[@duanepetersonakaroadkill7161]

My uncle took me to meet buddy rose and Ventura got to meet the all of them every Sat. night. Watched from the KPTV "crows nest". My uncle was Tom Peterson. That was 72 to 76'

[@ericmarentette]

Your uncle is a legend!

[@duanepetersonakaroadkill7161]

@@ericmarentetteHe loved Portland, he was more than words can say. Have a good night. The younger generation has no idea how great it was to grow up in S.E Portland in the 70s. No idea what they missed. So different now.

[@ericmarentette]

@@duanepetersonakaroadkill7161 that's where I grew up, too haha. I drove by your uncle's store all the time... Right there on that weird foster road intersection as I recall

[@duanepetersonakaroadkill7161]

@@ericmarentette be fun to talk, went to mill park grade school. Uncle Tom was the reason. my dad was working with him when my dad died. Uncle Tom paid for the hospital bills. My mom died too. Then Tom sent me to live with his sister in Minnesota. Tom is 100% swedish. I still live by where our swedish family settled in 1875. By Northfield Minnesota. We are related to the swedish kid that was shot dead while getting supplies in the Jessie James raid. Gusta son was his name. Sad. He couldn't understand the command to get off the street as he spoke no English. Interesting story. Tom was so in love with Portland and the public. He would help a stranger without a second thought. I wonder if anyone in Portland would like to discuss Tom. I will be visiting next summer of 25.

[@ameliastencil6058]

Grew up on Portland Wrestling. Chanel 12/6

[@claymathewselevator8121]

Playboy Buddy Rose was so awesome

[@danw2112]

I remember Buddy Rose face turn in the mid 1980s to save Billy Jack Haynes. Me and my dad was shocked when that happened.

[@kevinpayton2664]

@@danw2112 I watched a video of that during the summer on KZbin. His face turn was unlike any other that I've seen and I'm a longtime wrestling fan since the '70s.

[@babbyfacerevocation2740]

Everyone has their own piece of this puzzle don't WE! it's all of us together it's not about one person it's all of us together in this magnificent history of PORTLAND WRESTLING I was there.

[@zonemanbobo]

Thank you, so much for this. I used to stay up and watch on kptv

[@dustyshoopman845]

Well you glossed over alot of information but all in all great video. I loved Portland Wrestling as a child in the 80's. My grandparents would always let me stay up till midnight to watch. Beatlejuice was my favorite wrestler of theirs at the time.

[@retrogaminghippie3720]

Retro gaming hippie approves! Great video! Grew up on this stuff in the 80’s . Late night PNW was a staple along with Tom Peterson commercials Pretty sure Billy Jack Haynes did a short wrestling promotion as well in the late 90’s called OVW.

[@crummydryver]

I remember they had Tom Peterson Haircut nights at the Portland Sports Arena/Sandy Barr's Flea Market.

[@hattorihanzo2275]

Once upon a time there was a channel that had a deep archive of Portland Wrestling. Full broadcasts including commercials.

[@TheImapotato]

From what I've heard, Buddy Rose was responsible for having a lot of PNW's shows still available. He would tape every one at home when he was in the company.

[@williambill8323]

Congratulations and a good job better than what most people treat portland wrestling. Well researched and i'm amazed you got everything almost everything correct.

[@ReflectionOfPerfection]

Great video. I'm not familiar with PNW so this was informative

[@PAGoTribe1963]

If you take nothing else from this video, know that Don Owen was a standup guy.

[@ReflectionOfPerfection]

@@PAGoTribe1963 So I keep hearing. When an a-hole like Watts puts him over when Bill doesn't like anyone, that's a compliment

[@quincee3376]

Playboy Buddy Rose! Rowdy Roddy Piper!

[@Blazers13dalax5150]

I am so excited the northwest got a vid :)

[@quincee3376]

Cool. Thx for this.

[@TheImapotato]

It always amazed me that PNW was the last of the old NWA territories. Showed Don Owen had a nice long term setup with his own arena, a great number of dedicated sponsors and a great relationship with his channel's producers. Only reason he left was age and not wanting to fight anymore, he could have hung on for another 5 to 6 yrs. He got to live the last 10 yrs of his life pretty well though, so one of the rare territory death good ending stories.

[@jamespero6803]

I love me some buddy rose, he has to be the most underrated wrestler of his era

[@AntonioMartinez-hi6bh]

I remember visiting family in Idaho when I was kid. The first televised wrestling I had ever seen was PNW.

[@slakcheetah4989]

As someone who lived many years in the Minneapolis area, I’m proud that our mid-sized city has such an outsized importance in the history of pro wrestling…but, I think Portland may have us beat in that category

[@philippesauvie639]

The VonStieger (sic) Brothers & Jimmy Snooka! The hair versus the hairless and Good vs pure evil! 😆👍

[@michaeltowslee4111]

Do you have any videos on Mid-South Wrestling and Bill Watts UWF?

[@DaveKnowsWrestling]

I do

[@zonemanbobo]

Oh man this is amazing

[@serristori]

No mention of Billy Jack Haynes? Wow. He was the last big baby face in the 80s, before he went to the WWF.

[@belchris3314]

The mad man did it. what am i going to bug you about now.

[@vanthdreadstar8039]

Cant remember if it used to show on British Columbia tv, as All Star seems to be the only one I can definitely remember from the west coast. I did see Piper getting attacked by Buddy Rose while playing the bagpipes and it was a huge deal. Piper was my favorite wrestler at the time.

[@Slickshapiro13]

We got the Tacoma ‘big time wrestling’ feed in Vancouver bc from 1980-84 on Kcpq13 when it moved to KTZZ and that channel was not available in British Columbia

[@larryjohnson1962]

Lonnie Mayne vs bull Ramos was a good feud

[@tyroneskinner9394]

The Sheep herders

[@mastermind0823]

Great video and btw What makes a great wrestling match? I see people saying some matches are great but I don’t see anything special in them

[@DaveKnowsWrestling]

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Don't concern yourself about what other ppl think

[@DjTractus]

PNW could be a place to be exiled too or the reinvent yourself. This territory literally tucked away it's own corner.

[@jeremiahwillis5105]

Kurt angle did have the most belts at once he had the tna,iwgp,tna x,tna tag team belts. Plz correct me if I’m wrong🙏

[@DaveKnowsWrestling]

Ultimo Dragon held 10 concurrent titles with the J-Crown plus two additional championships. Watch my J-Crown video for more information. And for your benefit, it would be best to not say something as fact, when you're not sure.

[@zonemanbobo]

Wake up wake up to a happy day!

[@chazinnyc]

Have you done ann gunkel

[@doseofreality420marianetti2]

How about doing a similar type video but on what independent wrestling promotions were spawned out of any of the old territory promotions after the territorys went defunct and the promotions that came and went to fill in the void left remaining. I always hear wrestling promotors and bookers talking about things like the St Louis scene and, Hollywood or Memphis. I heard something about the USWA got closed out by the WWE and in it's place Memphis Power Pro and Kick Ass Wrestling came out along with Music City Wrestling which ended up turning into TNA. I don't know the whole story but I heard Randy Hales, Bert Prentice and other Memphis people talking about the lineage of Memphis to modern day Impact Wrestling which I'm sure most Impact Wrestling fans are probably unaware of. And on the East Coast New England area Killer Kowalski, Tony Rumble and Johnny Rodz seem to be the link between the North East Territory and promotions of today such as Chaotic Wrestling, Beyond Wrestling and The New England Wrestling Academy.

[@babbyfacerevocation2740]

People don't realize what a prerequisite wrestling is for the military. What a way to get over PTSD one night you're in a foreign country fighting a battle the next night you're wrestling yukazuna for the world title. There's absolutely no telling what kind of stuff the grappler is done in his life.

[@primoxxl71]

I use to LOVE watching BIG TIME WRESTLING from Seattle. All the great wrestlers that came out of the area as well as the funkiest, porno music intro. ❤

[@NYKgjl10]

As we all know, people will bring up Texas and Minnesota in terms of pro wrestling and its stars, but we can't ignore Oregon and the upper Northwest territories as they brought up many pro wrestling talents and legends.

[@gabealexander8878]

Why is there a 7UP logo on the sign for Portland Sports Arena?

[@DaveKnowsWrestling]

Sponsorship. Just like all the sports stadiums today are named after companies

[@officeofjohn-patricemin.890]

Drinks for the patrons...not to mention the local 7-up bottling factory.

[@adriandowney4394]

I had to check when I saw this notification thought I was wrestling with regret

[@ameliastencil6058]

My favorite was The Grappler

[@jacoblang5139]

wasnt it also called big time wrestling?

[@DaveKnowsWrestling]

Just about everything was once called Big Time Wrestling

[@babbyfacerevocation2740]

1st 🥇 ANNUAL ( DON OWENS) MEMORIAL 🏆 Cup Live on pay-per-view from the city of Roses Historic Sports Arena. Sanctioned by NWA TNA PORTLAND WRESTLING

[@jmalb42]

Thank you for not saying "OH-ree-GONE" ;)

[@DaveKnowsWrestling]

I make pronunciation hiccups all the time. Even when I know better. So I went out of my way to get this one right. Thanks for noticing! And the hardest one I think, was saying the Oregonian. That's not a natural thing to say

[@thomasbarlow5666]

I miss the days of the territories. Vince McMahon ruined wrestling by staging his takeover of all of wrestling

[@joshuawaldorf9559]

Dave needs to talk about Vince McMahon's retirement and his career as tribute. And what will happen to WWE.

[@DaveKnowsWrestling]

I've been talking about the retirement on the livestreams, but as for what will happen to WWE, I don't know, I can't predict the future. And anyone who claims that they know is lying. So there is no point in that

[@joshuawaldorf9559]

@@DaveKnowsWrestling Sorry I must've missed that one.

[@A_real_Ha_So]

Always found it a fun fact that this is the only promotion that Jesse Ventura was a baby

[@hollisconant2566]

y brothers and i never missed fri wrestling in eugene and on tv sat

[@nondjmaster]

Please do a history of WxW (Westside Xtreme Wrestling), a German wrestling promotion.

[@Blazers13dalax5150]

This is beautifully done but I feel there are some things missing. And I forget who it was but when the belt got thrown into the river

[@ronaldbutler9687]

Yes. Wasn't that the Fremont bridge. In the Willamette. Yes missing a lot. Mid-70's

[@brianknapp6215]

I watched a little of Portland Wrestling before it was cancelled. I remember Colonel DeBeers, Billy Jack Haynes, Superstar Billy Graham, Tom Zenk, Scotty The Body, The Southern Rockers, referee Sandy Barr, a few appearances by Roddy Piper, and- especially- Beetlejuice. (The tragic tale of Art Barr would make a good video... just sayin'.) By the way; you failed to mention that Portland Wrestling's main television sponsor, Tom Peterson's Furniture, went bankrupt in 1991- which contributed to the show's cancellation. (Edit: you didn't mention the name of the sponsor...)

[@phillywawadrinker]

around the 13 minute mark he literally says their main sponsor went bankrupt lmao

[@brianknapp6215]

@@phillywawadrinker I stand corrected...

[@kevindouglas5333]

For 40 years I've been wondering what Gladstone Rub-a-Dub means

[@theuglydojo6461]

Haha

[@zonemanbobo]

I remember way back getting a dime bag from coco Samoa 87?

[@ericthomas917]

Western Athletic Club..... The original WAC

[@jbj7599]

3:59 you lie! I did not do that! He stole my name!

[@DaveKnowsWrestling]

He stole it decades before you were born?

[@jbj7599]

@@DaveKnowsWrestling I was legit shocked to see that name, so I had to say something smart ass. Thank you for making these videos, I've honestly learned a lot and the fact I share a name with an early days wrestler, made my day, so thank you for that bit on info.

[@DaveKnowsWrestling]

Yea I was just messing around. It's awesome you found out about sharing a name with a wrestler thru here. Thank you for the kind words

[@Daniel-ot8zx]

Every time you say PNW I think of PN News

[@thomaspayton436]

small pro wresteling orgizations have more innovation

[@jabbahursty]

buddy rose was not the slightest bit over in WWF

[@DaveKnowsWrestling]

That sounds a tad bit harsh, but no he was not a major star in the WWF

[@KayFabe87]

He was over enough to get some WWF title matches with Bob Backlund at arenas like MSG and the Philadelphia Spectrum in 82 or so. He got some pretty good "heel - heat", even though he was not a long-term main event star in the WWF.

[@davidbrakefield188]

This is boring.