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Before Vince McMahon began his national push with the WWF, effectively killing the Territory System, the Don Owen led Portland Territory was the hottest thing going on the West Coast throughout the 70’s and early 80’s. Loaded with deep, talented rosters, Pacific Northwest Wrestling (PNW) was the hightest rated local television weekly broadcast in the Portland area, running for 38 years.PNW was started in 1925 by former Australian world middleweight and world light-heavyweight wrestling champion Ted Thye, who named Don Owen’s father, Herb as his assistant. While Thye was back in Australia, Owen used some creative legal wrangling to have the promotion placed exclusively in his name, wrestling away ownership of the territory from the former champ. With Owen at the helm, the promotion started out by focusing on boxing, even bringing in the legendary Jack Dempsey. Eventually, the move into professional wrestling was made, due at least in part to Herb Owen’s sons, Don and Elton, whom had come aboard and began to assert their influence on the business.One of the early rising stars for the Portland wrestling promotion was none other than a young George Wagner, who won both the Pacific Coast Light Heavyweight and Pacific Northwest Middleweight Championships, before moving on to New York and becoming perhaps the most famous professional wrestler of that era, Gorgeous George.

After Herb Owen passed away in 1942, Don Owen took over the Portland Territory, and began promoting pro wrestling exclusively in the Northwest. In 1948, Owen became one of the founding members of the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA), which established a single World Champion and acted as a governing body for wrestling companies in North America and Japan. It was during this time that the actual ‘Territory System’ was created, with Don Owen controlling the Northwest.

Thanks in large part to Portland’s dedicated wrestling fans, Owen built PNW into the most popular live event in the Northwest. This led to a solicitation from representatives of the Heidelberg Brewery in Tacoma, whom visited Owen at his Springfield, Oregon farm, and offered to sponsor a weekly television broadcast for his wrestling show. Though they ultimately reached an agreement, their timing on that particular day could not have been worse, as Owen recounted years later, saying, “My clothes were all dirty and covered with manure. I told these guys, ‘I’m tired; I’ve been up all night with a sick cow. I haven’t got time for you.” Despite the poor first impression, Heidelberg Wrestling went on the air in 1953, an hour-long weekly television show on KPTV which highlighted some of pro wrestling hottest talents, including “Tough” Tony Borne, Gory Guerrero & Luther Lindsay. Thus began a 38-year television run, split between two networks (KPTV and KOIN-TV), which was, at the time of its cancellation, the longest running non-news show in television history.

Throughout the 60’s, Owen continued to promote successful shows in both the Portland Memorial Coliseum and the Portland Sports Arena, the latter of which was a converted bowling alley purchased by Owen in 1961. The Portland Sports Arena also became the home base for the weekly Portland Wrestling telecast.

In 1964, Nick Bockwinkel made a splash in Portland, winning both the NWA Pacific Northwest Heavyweight and Tag Team Championships. It was in Portland where the future 4-time AWA World Champion would hone his craft and become one of the very best to ever step inside the squared circle. Also making his mark in the Northwest during the mid-60’s was Stan Stasiak, who won the first of his six PNW Heavyweight Championships in 1965, leading to an unparalleled streak of popularity in Portland which ran for more than 15 years.

Several future WWF stars of the 80’s made big names for themselves with PNW in the 70’s. WWF legends “Rowdy” Roddy Piper, Jesse “The Body” Ventura and “The Model” Rick Martel all held titles while in Portland, helping to make the territory one of the hottest of that era. Ventura actually came to Portland after leaving the Mongols, a San Diego-based outlaw motorcycle gang. During his time in Portland, he had an extremely bloody feud with another future WWF superstar, Jimmy “Superfly” Snuka, winning the Heavyweight Title on two occasions.

The popularity of PNW during the 70’s allowed their expansion into Washington, regularly running house shows promoted by 7-time PNW Heavyweight Champion, Dutch Savage. The shows increased Owen’s hold on the Northwest and opened up new avenues to increased viewership and an even larger talent pool. During this era, “Playboy” Buddy Rose, one of the most underrated performers in wrestling history, began to take his place as the number one heel in the territory. From 1976 to 1985, Rose used his exceptional mic skills, coupled with his quality in-ring work, to become the most hated man in the Northwest.

As the 70’s turned into the 80’s Rose’s hold on the Portland Territory remained strong, as he is credited with having drawn more money between ‘82-’83 than any other one man the company ever employed. Not only was he wildly popular but also did wonders for several of the younger wrestlers brought into the company during this time. Matt Borne (of Doink the Clown fame), “Mr. Perfect” Curt Hennig, Billy Jack Haynes & “Ice Man” King Parsons all had big runs with Rose, runs which helped make them the stars they would become later in their careers.

Sadly, the 80’s also brought the talent raids perpetuated by Vince McMahon and the World Wrestling Federation. McMahon had purchased the WWF from his father, Vince Sr., and was hellbent on going nationwide with his flashy brand of pro wrestling. To do so, McMahon needed to substantially beef up his roster and introduce new, younger faces to the masses. The talent raids not only accomplished this goal, but also weakened the territories, making McMahon’s takeover that much easier. The loss of so many top talents made it virtually impossible for the territories to remain in the game, especially with the WWF’s improved production value and overwhelming global reach.

Owen continued to run shows, even creating a few new stars in Brian Adams (Crush of WWF fame), Art Barr and Scotty the Body (who would go on to even greater fame as Raven), but declining attendance coupled with the WWF’s and WCW’s increased market share grab and the loss of their main television sponsor (Tom Peterson’s) forced the Owen family to sell PNW to Sandy Barr in 1992.

Years later, Don Owen spoke about the end of his run, saying, “It was hard to end that tradition. But it was time to close up and get on with something else. And the talent pool was getting smaller with the big boys (WWF and WCW) taking it all.”

I’ve recently watched several hours of old Portland Wrestling and it reminds me a lot of my WCCW and Mid-South TV watching days. Early to mid-80’s wrestling was often poorly lit and unscripted as can be. It was also fun as hell and completely unpredictable. Honestly, I think the idea that anything could truly happen was what made the Territory Era such an interesting and enjoyable time in the history of pro wrestling. I’ve often wondered, if Vince McMahon had to do it all over again, if he had the foresight to see what the business would ultimately become, despite his billions, despite his fame, would he do things a little differently? I doubt he would because billions of dollars answers a lot of questions, but I’d bet the billions I’ll never have against the billions Vince does have that there have at least been a few times over the last 3 decades when he’s sat back for a moment and pondered, “what if”. What if the WWF had actually purchased the talent from the territories rather than simply raiding it all? What if they’d worked with the territories, using them as a sort of minor league farm system, the way the Indy’s are now, rather than bankrupting them? Unfortunately, these are questions to which there are no answers, so instead I’ll end with a quote from a 1995 interview with Don Owen:

“Today’s wrestling really pains me. There’s no wrestling, just a lot of screaming and flying around.” That’s ‘old school’ as hell, but it doesn’t make him wrong, does it?