The Mal Sanders topic has drifted off topic with the issue raised of wrestlers drifting away from Joint Promotions, a suggestion that the retirement of Mick McManus may have been a factor.
A flow between Joint and the independents had always been common, there are few Joint wrestlers that didn't work for the independents at one time or another. This was often at the start of their career, where the independents were a good training ground, or towards the end of their careers when they may have not wanted to travel so much, or simply that Joint were no longer offering enough work. Some, think Kidd, Capelli, Bartelli, D'Orazio, Mitchell, made the journey to the independents at their peak, only to return later.
But things did seem to change in the late 1970s and into the 1980s, when the flow of wrestlers from Joint Promotions to the independents became a tsunami.
I think the reasons were more complex than the retirement of one wrestler. Was the writing on the wall? Was it a case of leaving a sinking ship? Was it all about money? Was there any place for loyalty? Loyalty to whom?
What do others think the factors were that contributed to this.
The name Crabtree was all over wrestling during the exodus, with Shirley topping bills, Brian trying to steal the spotlight as a referee, and Max watching the purse strings, regular attendees knew this and like so many of the wrestlers eventually moved onto pastures new due to the predictability and staleness of the product barring the odd bout and the unwillingness of Max to update the product. I can remember going to a show in the late 1980s and Max playing Mrs Mills and Max Bygraves tapes during the interval, everything about the sparsely attended show screamed behind the times.