Just A Job To Do 

There are a lot of ingredients that make a wrestling territory successful. One of the key elements of how a promotion attempted to be successful in the territorial days was how it used the TV time they had available to them each week.   

Sometimes the weekly TV wrestling show featured competitive, or mostly competitive, matches between established or emerging stars. Sometimes territories were able to use aging stars whose moneymaking days were mostly behind them to provide quality competition to current moneymaking stars. Of course, this method meant that wrestlers who had been big news for a time had to let go of their egos for the sake of allowing the business to continue (something many stars from the last dozen years or so refuse to do). Younger wrestlers then were broken into this type of system and earned a broad education in the business, an education that impressed a deep respect for leaving the business healthy for others that would follow. If done properly, these new young stars would gain enough experience to become the stars of tomorrow by first paying their dues by taking their lumps. 

Some territories did not have the luxury of having the depth other territories had so using wrestlers who were hitting the ends of their careers was not much of an option. Some promoters also had the mentality to not give away for free, on television, any match-up that people might pay money to see.  

But television began playing an increasingly important role in the business. Promoters wanted to really get over their stars. Something had to be done to strike some balance of whetting the appetite of the audience just enough to make them want to shell out their hard-earned money to see the big matches at the arenas. Increasingly, on television the headline stars of a promotion were usually fed young talent with little, and sometimes, no mat experience.   

Over time, this young talent became known as jobbers or enhancement talent. Merriam-Webster defines 'enhance' as "to increase or improve". This encompasses the word "enhancement". 'Talent' is defined as "a special, often, creative or artistic aptitude." So someone who is considered enhancement talent has a special skill to increase or improve. In the case of professional wrestling it is the job of enhancement talent to make their opponent, a star of the promotion, look invincible, or sometimes, vulnerable.  

The promoters that operated the Tennessee promotion used enhancement talent. At times in the late 1960s and into the 1970s, the promotion used one time main event stars such as Corsica Joe, Rowdy Red Roberts and Frank Martinez, among others as those who helped get over the bigger names on area cards. They of course also used talent that never made it past your TV screen on Saturday afternoons.  

As time moved on, the promotion began using younger talent to make big stars bigger. A good number of this group went on to bigger and better things after first paying their dues. Notably a few stars who were drubbed in area TV matches in the 1970s who later would become big stars were Eric Embry, Rick Morton, Tommy Rich and Bobby Eaton. It is also interesting to note that in the very earliest part of his career, the area's top star of all time, Jerry Lawler, was used as enhancement talent for a time.  

While a number of wrestlers who were used as enhancement talent actually were able to make a career out of the business by hanging on and paying their dues, many were not able to do so. Still, appearing on the area's weekly TV show and making someone else look good paid some. It was the practice of Nick Gulas, Roy Welch and later Jerry Jarrett to pay enhancement talent for their trouble. Jarrett paid talent $25.00 for their efforts on the TV show. Those who were headliners worked for free since what they were doing on TV hopefully brought people to the upcoming house show where their money was made against other headliners. No doubt though some who took their lumps as enhancement talent were recognized here and there and likely picked up spots on area independent cards where they could enhance their own bottom line.  More...