in the 60s and 70s, when we started watching, wrestling was a pretty regional thing. it exploded in the 80s to become a national thing, and the WWF and the others emerged as powerhouses.
we used to watch wrestling from the olympic auditorium in LA. to me, that place was huge. used to watch freddie blassie,john "the golden greek" tolos, bobo brazil, mil mascaras, and others there. even went to a few matches there with my dad, who was such a big fan he wrote a song for freddie blassie. he always thought it was on the up-and-up, too.