Regional pro wrestling was once a major cultural institution throughout the South. For decades, each state had its own stars like North Carolina's Ric Flair who performed weekly at iconic venues like Raleigh's Dorton Arena. But by the late 1980s, the emergence of a handful of large national wrestling promotions like Vince McMahon’s WWF (now WWE) destroyed that territorial system. 30 years later, regional wrestling is making an unlikely comeback.

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