Collecting title histories a struggle of Will
By JOHN F. MOLINARO -- SLAM! Wrestling
Pro Wrestling history is a murky subject. Always has been. The shifty
nature of the business has made it virtually impossible to properly
chronicle its history.
Which is why Gary Will and Royal Duncan are being lauded as two of the
most important wrestling historians on the planet. Their book,
"Wrestling Title Histories, Fourth Edition", a comprehensive listing and
archive of every wrestling title ever, acts as a key to the locked door
that is pro wrestling history.
Referred to by many as the most important, historical document in the
history of pro wrestling, the book is a labour of love for Will and
Duncan.
"It started off ten years ago. Royal Duncan and I started off
independently," Will told SLAM! Wrestling recently over the phone from
his home in Waterloo. "I was involved in an Internet
wrestling discussion group at rec.sport.prowrestling. I started to put
together a list of NWA World title holders which in those days,
before the web, was around was hard. It wasn't something you could just
go and get any time like today."
"I started with that title and sort of built it from there from the
magazines I had," continued Will. "At the same time Royal Duncan in
Illinois had one of the largest wrestling autograph collections around.
He wanted to be able to say who all these guys were whose autographs he
had. So he started putting together a list of titles and started calling
around people that were involved in wrestling, and got wrestling
historians to contribute. In 1991 we got together. I found out about
him and he found about me almost
simultaneously and we've been working together ever since."
Both had to work the research in around their regular jobs. Will is a technology marketing consultant and writer. Duncan is the president of Royal Publishing Company, which produces sports program book in the U.S.
Compiling a list of every imaginable wrestling title required outside
help. Will and Duncan supplemented the information they had with the
lists they solicited from others. Developing a network of contributors
was essential.
"(There isn't) one individual who has all of the information you need to
put together a book like this," confirmed Will. "In fact, no individual
has a third or the tenth of the information you need. So you need the
help of lots of people. That was really Royal's part of the job was
contacting most of the contributors. The majority of people who provided
us with information came through Royal calling them up and asking if
they'd help out."
Will also said it was hard at first to get people to contribute because
people thought they were crazy to take on such an undertaking. But once
people saw they were serious, the work became a lot easier.
"After the first edition (in 1992) came out people could see this was a
real project and it was easier to get people to contribute after
that. We got a lot of contributions just after the first edition."
"Once historians saw this was a real project that was going forward it
was very easy to get people to contribute," continued Will. "That's one
of the key things about the book; how many people over the last ten
years agreed to contribute whatever they could."
People have sent Will and Duncan old wrestling magazines, newsletters
and newspaper clippings to read through so that they could add
additional listings to each subsequent edition.
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Gary Will
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"People have sent us a lot of raw information as well," said Will.
"Someone sent Royal just about every issue of The Ring magazine
from the '30s and '40s and early '50s. Royal photocopied them, sent them
to me so I could read through them and pour out
all the information. We've done that with a lot of old newsletters and
magazines. That's a common approach we've taken over
the past ten years."
"The issues of The Ring from the '30s and '20s were very helpful. The
Ring gave very thorough coverage to wrestling back then. They covered
wrestling in pretty good detail through
the '30s up until World War Two. "
Another invaluable source for Will was Dave Meltzer's Wrestling Observer
Newsletter.
"The Observer newsletter is always my first pick for information. I've
got every issue of that pretty much from when it started
in 1980. That was very helpful. There were other newsletters that
people sent us as well. Stuff from the '70s, fan bulletins;
we got several copies of those over the years."
Carrying out such a daunting task can be frustrating at times. There
are many hurdles to overcome.
"Finding the time to do it.. Royal and I don't do this for a living.
That's always the hardest thing," admitted Will. "Essentially we both
take two or three months each to do this. We both run our own
businesses so we can do that but that's always the biggest
challenge."
Another challenge is staying motivated.
"You have to keep yourself motivated to want to go through it because
the book covers the entire history of wrestling," explains Will. From
the 19th century to the present and you have to keep that interest up
whether the guy was a Greco Roman title in 1880 or wrestled as champion
for some indy promotion you never heard of. You have to keep your
interest up and slog through it no matter what your own personal
interests lie."
"The time when you get disheartened is when I have two foot piles of
file folders of indy promotions I never heard of and
wrestlers I never heard of. I still have to go through them and decide if
they should be included in the book."
As part of their work, Will and Duncan have raised the shroud over a
handful of myths that have circulated as fact the past several decades.
"When we started we couldn't even get an accurate list of the NWA
champions. This book was actually the first to have an accurate
list of the NWA World champions which did not exist up until we had."
"The list you would always get of NWA champions were inaccurate,"
continued Will. "They had title changes that never happened. Orville
Brown was the first NWA champion but he was never mentioned in any of
the lists. It was amazing that you could not get any accurate
information about the most historically significant world title in the
business."
The book also provided the first accurate listing of WWF World
Heavyweight Champions, including Antonio Inoki's title reign in 1979
that was ignored by U.S. promoters and wrestling publications.
"A few years ago Vince Russo who edited the WWF and RAW magazine called
me up and said he wanted to use our lists in RAW.
I think that was the first time the WWF ever recognized Inoki as WWF
world champion."
It wasn't so long ago that the World title would change hands a handful
of times each decade. Now, it changes three or four times each month,
something that isn't lost on a longtime fan like Will.
"The business has changed now where everything comes down to your rating
on Monday, your next pay-per-view buyrate and
there's not going to be any patience to leave the belt on anybody for
three or five years. That's just never going to happen
ever again. I think its hard to imagine a time again where you'll see
guys hold the title for three years."
While the book is the best source for the history of wrestling titles,
it is by no means complete.
"Even with all of (our work) there are still gaps and there's lots
more information out there but it's as complete as we could make it with
the help of everybody."
In the book's forward, Gary Will leaves the impression that this will be
the final edition of the book in print form. However, he does feel the
book will carry on in another medium.
"I'm sure it will continue somehow because I'm not going to delete the
file or anything," joked Will. "I'm sure this is the last book that
will look like this. Royal and I don't have the time to contribute to
it like we did before. Maybe along the lins of a website or a CD. I'm
sure somebody along the line somewhere will approach us to make it
happen."
