The Evolution of Pro Wrestling: Roy Welch: A Great Pioneer and a Wise Architect
The Evolution of Pro Wrestling is in itself a very wild ride we are taking in the Time Tunnel. The morphing and changing of a mixture of sport, athleticism, creativity, theater and psychology.
The Evolution of Pro Wrestling is a series for our Premium Subscribers designed to track the historical changes and paradigms in the art form and creative aspects of the sport through Professional Wrestling’s History.
In the early 1900’s, Edward “Ed” Welch, An Oklahoma native and Cherokee Native American, would start his family alongside his wife Birdie, having 7 children spanning from 1902 to 1924 in Sallisaw, Oklahoma. Out of the 7 children 5 would go on to be involved in the wrestling industry in some form, Roy Welch (born 1901), Jack Welch (born 1905), Herb Welch (born 1908, Bonnie Welch (born 1909), and Lester Welch (born 1924).
A wrestler himself, Ed Welch taught his boys the sport and Roy, the oldest, made his way south to Texas in the 1930s to work in the oil fields and train under Cal Farley and the original Dutch Mantell. After working around the small West Texas circuit of Amarillo, Lubbock, Pampa and a few towns in New Mexico, Roy headed east to work in the emerging Al Haft Ohio territory in 1932. Traveling between Toledo, Sandusky and the Michigan towns of Battle Creek and Jackson, also making this trip would be guys who would be with Roy for the remainder of his career, Pat Malone, Sailor Moran and Charlie Carr. These men had been trained in West Texas with Roy and would be lifelong friends and business associates.
His career as a wrestler included notable achievements, including traveling into Western Kentucky, Southeast Missouri, Northeast Arkansas and in Western Tennessee, where he would establish his first booking office at 700 Court Street in Dyersburg, Tennessee, geographically centered in the middle of this four-state “gasoline circuit.” Even at this early stage of his wrestling career, Roy Welch witnessed the raw enthusiasm of mining communities and tobacco farmers, who packed humid halls for bouts that mirrored their own struggles of endurance and triumph. Missouri’s border towns, with their agricultural heartland vibe, offered similar promise: hardy Midwesterners drawn to the athleticism and scripted drama of wrestling. But Welch saw beyond single-night stands. In 1933, amid the chaos of bank failures and Dust Bowl migrations, he envisioned a “regular traveling circuit”—a systematic rotation of events that would link these disparate locales like beads on a string. No longer would wrestlers drift aimlessly; instead, they would follow a predictable path, building rivalries across state lines and fostering loyal fanbases.
Pictured: Roy Welch in the 1930s
What made Welch’s vision revolutionary was its emphasis on regularity and community integration. In an era when wrestling was often dismissed as sideshow fare, he treated it as a legitimate enterprise, akin to a traveling sales route. By 1933’s end, he had orchestrated his first informal circuits, shuttling talent between Memphis and Louisville weekly, then extending to Jackson and Bowling Green. These weren’t grand spectacles yet—just honest, hard-fought matches that promised excitement without pretense. Welch’s charisma as a performer helped; he wasn’t just booking fights but starring in them, drawing crowds with his cowboy persona and unyielding style. Word spread through wrestling’s underground grapevine, attracting fellow grapplers and even family members—his brothers Herb, Jack, and Lester would later join the fray, turning the Welches into a wrestling dynasty.
He was also accomplishing things in the ring as well, such as holding the NWA World Tag Team Championship with his brother Herb Welch, as well as capturing the first Tennessee Tag Championship. As the 1930s wore on, Welch innovated in the ring by touring with “Miss Ginger,” one of the earliest wrestling bears, adding a unique spectacle that drew crowds and highlighted his showmanship. However, Welch’s true legacy lies in his role as a promoter, where he transformed regional wrestling into a thriving enterprise.
Pictured: Herb, Lester and Roy Welch
In the 1940s, he partnered with Nick Gulas to begin to run their very first “big town” getting the opportunity to promote Southern Junior Heavyweight matches in Nashville. This annexation of “Music City USA” would help the Gulas-Welch territory became the backbone of Southern wrestling, booking legendary talents and fostering a style that emphasized storytelling, athleticism, and crowd engagement. Welch’s business acumen helped sustain wrestling through economic challenges, including World War II and the post-war era, by focusing on affordable, family-friendly events that built loyal fanbases in smaller towns. They began to book their wrestlers into East Tennessee towns like Knoxville, Kingsport, Bristol and Johnson City.
In 1948, due to the miles and difficult travel involved, Roy Welch sold his interest in Tampa, Florida to Cowboy Luttrall. In 1949, the Dyersburg, Tennessee office in Roy Welch’s name joined the National Wrestling Alliance as one of the first members after the original founding six members had founded the cooperative in 1948.
But, Welch had nearer and closer targets on his mind. In 1950, they moved into Chattanooga, Tennessee to run weekly shows and in 1952 they bought the license to promote wrestling in the entire state of Alabama from Joe Gunther, a former wrestler, turned promoter. This gave them an entire state to run, which they estimated was better than the other state they had conquered, which was Louisiana. After selling the state promoters’ license to Sam Avey and Leroy McGuirk, they put their focus behind Birmingham, Florence, Huntsville and other mid to northern Alabama towns. In South Alabama, they created The Gulf Coast Wrestling Territory, stretching from Mobile, Alabama to Pensacola and Panama City Beach, Florida.
Pictured: Roy Welch, Nick Gulas, Joe Denaburg and Sterling Brewer in Birmingham, Alabama
In July of 1956, Roy Welch and Nick Gulas Wrestling Enterprises bought the rights to book and promote Memphis, Tennessee from Charlie Rentrop, the promoter and Sam Muchnick and Sam Avey, the St. Louis and Tulsa offices that were booking Memphis. Roy, who had earlier sent his son, Buddy Fuller into Louisiana, and later into South Alabama to get things up and running, was now putting the task of turning their investment into Memphis into something. Wrestling in Memphis was almost dead by 1956, Buddy Fuller came in and started booking on Thanksgiving night 1958. He started drawing just a few hundred people but by March of 1959, he was drawing 4,000 to Ellis Auditorium. 1959 was also the year they had programs between Sputnik Monroe and both Al “Spider” Galento and Billy Wicks, which sold out both Ellis and Russwood Ballpark. Roy Welch added television in Memphis with a studio wrestling show on November 7th, 1959, on WHBQ-TV.
At one point in the 1960s and 1970s, Gulas-Welch had television studio wrestling shows in Nashville, Chattanooga, Huntsville, Birmingham, Paducah, Louisville and Memphis. four or five of these were done live on Saturdays. In 1975, a version of the television show was being shown in 18 markets around the area. In 1968, he mentored a young Jerry Jarrett to be his booker for Memphis, he coached and groomed him in booking and promotion of the Memphis shows and it paid off. On July 7th, 1971, the Memphis shows debuted at the new Mid-South Coliseum, drawing 9,253 in its first show. That success encouraged Jarrett to open up Louisville and Lexington, Kentucky, along with Evansville, Indiana and Tupelo, Mississippi to essentially double the size of the “Tennessee Territory”.
Photo credit: Mark James, Classic Memphis Wrestling
Meanwhile, Welch’s territory was producing stars like Jerry Jarrett, Jerry Lawler, Jackie Fargo, Tojo Yamamoto, Don and Al Greene and countless others laying the groundwork for the huge wrestling boom that captivated audiences in the 1970s and beyond Moreover, Welch’s influence extended through his family dynasty, which he actively cultivated. As the eldest of the Welch brothers (including Jack, Herb, and Lester), he trained and mentored relatives who became key figures in the industry, such as his son, Buddy Fuller and his grandsons Robert and Ron, His brother--n-law Bill Golden and his brother Phil Golden, his son, Jimmy Golden, and Lester’s son Roy Lee Welch. He also mentored and groomed his nephews, Lee, Don and Bobby Fields, as well as his great nephews, Ricky, Johnny, Shane and Randy Fields.
This multi-generational involvement created one of wrestling’s most enduring families, with descendants contributing as wrestlers, promoters, and bookers well into the modern era. Welch’s emphasis on family and regional loyalty helped envision and design wrestling’s territorial system through a major portion of the South.
Despite these accomplishments, Roy Welch remains underrecognized in many halls of fame, even as contemporaries have received posthumous honors in various wrestling accolades. His inclusion in the Wrestling Observer Newsletter Hall of Fame ballot for the non-wrestler category in 2025 underscores his deserving status, but a broader induction into professional wrestling’s pantheon is overdue.
Welch exemplified the entrepreneurial spirit that built wrestling from carnival sideshows into a mainstream entertainment powerhouse. Inducting him would honor not just an individual, but the unsung architects of the territorial era who made stars possible. Without pioneers like Welch, the industry as we know it—from high-flying spectacles to dramatic rivalries—might not exist. It’s time to recognize Roy Welch as the trailblazer he was.
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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!
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