Great story. His young Tommy Rich was spot on and hilarious.

Memphis, in that era, was lightening in a bottle. The audience was ripe for good vs. evil and the storylines were just that basic. The Andy Kauffman run showed that. They loved their faces and hated their heels.

Add to that the almost bigger than life characters. Lots of local, or at least regional talent, that a lot of the fanbase knew personally, or were maybe five or six degrees removed from knowing them personally. This made any "outsider", especially from the northeast, very suspect.

The announce team were less play by play guys that mouthpieces for the fanbase. Russel and Brown did not call it down the middle in any way. Which was great for that emotional of a fanbase,

Add the drugs, marital infidelity, wife swapping, chasing of young girls going and the legitimate heat between various people and you had the perfect storm of tv wrestling.