1988 had been a year memorable for local fans. Even though professional wrestling had gone national, the Jarrett promotion remained one of the few surviving territories. Robert Fuller, whose family had deep roots in the business in the area, was creating havoc with a heel group known as the Stud Stable. Fuller mostly made life miserable for Jeff Jarrett. The area’s top star, Jerry Lawler, had fended off a challenge from old foe Eddie Gilbert before realizing a career-long dream when he downed Curt Hennig for the AWA title. From there, Lawler became a fighting champion although he mainly spent much of the remainder of 1988 battling World Class star Kerry Von Erich culminating in a pay-per-view match against Von Erich in December in Chicago. Promoter Jerry Jarrett had purchased the World Class promotion in the fall and was attempting to find a way to successfully use the talent and resources he had acquired. One of the resources he had been able to count on since he began his company in 1977 was the weekly Memphis TV show which had become an area tradition dating back to the 1949.

Without the medium of television it is hard to imagine what evolved into professional wrestling by the 1940s and 1950s ever achieving any amount of sustained success as it grew into a major territorial force in the 1960s, 1970s and into the 1980s. The 1950s through the early 1980s saw many cities throughout the U.S. host their own studio wrestling shows. The TV shows were designed to whet the appetite of the wrestling fan. Once hungry for more action, fans were further urged to buy a ticket to an upcoming show where it was suggested their hunger would be satisfied. For decades this worked beautifully for many cities and territories.