This is NOT a best to worst list. It has nothing to do with who is best and who is not. Its just a list of 31 of the territory television storytellers who came through our televisions on Saturdays to bring us our favorite wrestlers, angles and matches. Why 31? Only because I wanted to feature one per day in the month of October through the Pro Wrestling Time Tunnel and my own social media channels. I actually came up with a list of over 60 announcers that should be mentioned but I am saving those for 2026.
Now that October has finished and I have worked my way through them all daily throughout the month, I am sending you the full list and to tell you that from now through the end of the year I will be writing more extensive articles and biographic sketches of each of these 31 outstanding media performers and those will be released at random throughout the next sixty one days remaining in 2025. If you are a subscriber here to the Time Tunnel, you’ll have access and also if you are singed up to get emails from us, they will be emailed to you when they are released.
My First List Of 31 Great Territory Television Announcers and Commentators of the Territory Era
Larry Matysik: Wrestling At The Chase, St. Louis, Missouri
Sam Menacker: World Wrestling Association, Indianapolis, Indiana
Lance Russell: Gulas-Welch Wrestling Company, Memphis, Tennessee
Gordon Solie: Championship Wrestling from Florida, Tampa, Florida and Georgia Championship Wrestling, Atlanta, Georgia and Continental Championship Wrestling, Birmingham, Alaabama
Paul Boesch: Houston Wrestling, Houston, Texas
Ray Morgan, WWWF: Washington D.C.
Lord Athol Layton: Big Time Wrestling, Detroit, Michigan
Bill Mercer: Big Time Wrestling & World Class Championship Wrestling, Dallas, Texas
“Dynamite” Danny Williams: NWA Tri-State Wrestling, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
Harry Thornton: Gulas-Welch Wrestling Company, Chattanooga, Tennessee
Marty O’Neill: Amaerican Wrestling Association, Minneapolis, Minnesota
Bill Kersten: NWA All-Star Wrestling, Kansas City, Missouri
Hank Renner: NWA Big Time Wrestling: Sacramento & San Francisco, California
Kent Walton: World of Sport. ITC, Great Britain
Ron Morrier: NWA Vancouver, Burnaby, British Columbia
Bob Caudle: NWA Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling, Raleigh, North Carolina
Boyd Pierce: Houston Wrestling, Houston, Texas & Mid-South Wrestling, Shreveport, Louisiana
Jim Carlisle: Columbus Championship Wrestling, Columbus, Georgia
Frank Bonnema: Portland Wrestling, Portland, Oregon
Dick Lane: NWA Hollywood Wrestling, Los Angeles, California
Bob Cardille: Pittsburgh Studio Wrestling, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Ichiro Shimizu: JWA & All Japan Pro Wrestling, Tokyo, Japan
Steve Stack: NWA Championship Wrestling, Amarillo, Texas & Southwest Championship Wrestling, San Antonio, Texas
Sterling Brewer: Gulas-Welch Wrestling Company, Birmingham, Alabama
Dr. Alfonso Morales: EMLL & AAA, Mexico City, Mexico
Ed Whalen: Stampede Wrestling, Calgary, Alberta, Canada
Grady Reeves: Gulas-Welch Wrestling Company, Huntsville, Alabama
Ichiro Furatachi: New Japan Pro Wrestling, Tokyo, Japan
Ed Capral: Live Atlanta Wrestling, Atlanta, Georgia & World Wide Wrestling, Charlotte, North Carolina
Mike Duncan: Gulas-Welch Wrestling Company, Nashville, Tennessee
Takao Kuramochi: All Japan Pro Wrestling, Tokyo, Japan
As I put this list together, so many great memories came flooding back to me. There are five Gulas-Welch Tennessee Territory announcers in the list because that was my home territory when I first became a wrestling fan in 1972. I had five years of the full Tennessee Territory before the split of it came in 1977. Where I lived in Western Kentucky, we typically got the Nashville Studio show, which had appearances of all of the announcers at one point or another or we had arena matches that had been filmed and shown with one of the other commentators featured.
That was the only time time our area saw Lance Russell when they were showing a taped match from the Memphis area. After the split in ‘77, we got the Memphis syndicated studio show which featured Lance and Dave all the time. I really enjoyed though when we had the rotating announcers, because they were all good in their own way.
There are 3 Japanese commentators, 2 from Canada, 1 from Great Britain and 1 from Mexico, so I gave the list a real international flavor, none of which I saw until my tape trading days, starting in 1983. The feedback I got from people on social media when I posted each announcer was amazing, as it contained so many colorful memories and excitement from folks as they remembered watching in their home territory. It’s an amazing feeling when I would read each comment and a terrific reminder of why I founded the Pro Wrestling Time Tunnel and why I write about this performance art daily.
I have already started writing the feature biographies of each of these 31 individuals and these will begin being posted soon and will continue through the remainder of 2025.
Thank You for Reading
I’m Tony Richards, Pro Wrestling Historian, Author and Storyteller. I share pro wrestling historical items in each issue of the Time Tunnel Pro Wrestling History Newsletter. Thanks for reading! If you enjoy my information on select events, matches and insights, please share it with folks you think might like to be a subscriber!
Remember, paid subscribers get access to exclusive and special content such as some special issues including a multi-part deep dives on wrestling territories, wrestler bios and championship title histories, special audio and video interviews on territory pro wrestling and more available in the Pro Wrestling Time Tunnel for Premium Subscribers.
