Shining a Spotlight 9.20.07: The UWF
Posted by Michael Weyer on 09.20.2007
Twenty years after it went out of business, a look back at the Universal Wrestling Federation and how Bill Watts company came so close to taking off only to fall to circumstances bigger than even wrestling.
Been a killer work week for me, lots of late nights which is why I missed out on the Unforgiven roundtable. Ah, well, doesn't sound like I missed too much as Batista finally got that big belt back while Cena passes a one-year anniversary, pretty rare for a champ these days. I know, this was sort of a "treading water" PPV due to suspensions so hopefully things can liven up soon.
I've mentioned before how back in the late 1980's, Chicago had a lot of wrestling programming around. True, we were mostly WWF but we had NWA, AWA and even World Class around. One promotion had a show that is my focus for this week. A promotion that's still well remembered as it came so close to breaking out big only to fall apart, not due to talent raids or bad booking but circumstances beyond the control of anyone in wrestling, even Vince McMahon.
The Universal Wrestling Federation. A promotion that had a terrific mix of tough workers, rising stars, veterans and great booking, a promotion that really was a good place to work. The names of those who passed through and became big time stars is long: Jim Hellwig, Steve Borden, the Steiners, Terry Taylor, Shane Douglas and more. It really was one of the last of the old-style promotions and its downfall signaled the true end of the old territory days.
To talk about the UWF, you have to talk about Mid-South. And when you talk about Mid-South, you have to talk about Bill Watts. And that's someone that you can talk about quite a bit.
Bill Watts is a name that is guaranteed to get a reaction from those in wrestling. Depending on who you ask, he's either a caring, brilliant, friendly boss you like or an egotistical, spendthrift, control freak tyrant who'd fire you at a moment's notice and refused to listen to anyone. Watts was as old-school as you can get, one of the last believers in kayfabe. He'd have heels and faces stay in separate locker rooms and separate hotels and if any of them were seen hanging around together outside of arenas, they'd be axed on the spot. He'd have guys sell injuries out of arenas, going so far as to wear fake bandages or casts and even stay in a hospital to make it look real. He'd even adjust plans to keep things going like when a newspaper mentioned how Jake Roberts was going to lose his final match in Mid-South because of tradition so Watts had Roberts go over on his way out.
While Watt's career as a wrestler was good, going between heel and face as he traveled the territories, it was as a booker that he gained a truly respected reputation. When he took over the Mid-South promotion in the 1970's, Watts soon turned the small Oklahoma based company into one of the hottest territories around. Watts broke official ties with the NWA, although they would have some association now and then to get the NWA champion to defend his belt. Watts also formed an alliance with legendary Texas promoter Paul Boesch to promote shows in Texas and give MSW more exposure. With his hour-long show, Watts helped create the episodic style of TV wrestling emulated by most everyone else. Watts got the best production values he could, matching World Class with stuff like instant replay, cameras on the ring apron and more. He emphasized a tougher style with no cartoonish characters and an emphasis on hard-hitting action as Watts had a real affinity for tough guys.
Watts was also good at creating new stars. He hit upon a true big one with Sylvester Ritter, a former football player who'd wrestled as a heel in Canada. Putting on a chain and collar and a line from an old song, Watts renamed Ritter the Junkyard Dog and had a hit on his hands. Watts was determined to make JYD a star and was infuriated when he heard a promoter under him had booked JYD to lose a twenty-minute match in New Orleans to Super Destroyer, firing the promoter and Destroyer on the spot. JYD was taking off and hit his stride with a wild feud with the Freebirds, who blinded him with hair tonic so JYD beat Michael Hayes blindfolded in a cage match before a massive sellout crowd.
Another great angle was mentioned in the book Sex, Lies & Headlocks when Ric Flair came to Shreveport to defend the NWA title against Ted DiBiase. However, Dick Murdoch thought he deserved the title shot and attacked DiBiase before the bell, running his head into the ring post to open up a huge gusher, something not that common at the time on TV. Flair decided to defend the title anyway with a badly hurt DiBiase carrying on with Flair peeling off his bandage to pound his head and open the cut further. All this time, Watts was on commentary selling how DiBiase was on a crusade to win the belt no matter what, heightening the drama and guaranteeing no one would change the channel. In the end, the ref stopped the match for DiBiase's massive blood loss, ending an emotional ride for all.
DiBiase was one of Watt's favorite acts, as was Steve "Dr Death" Williams, a former football player who became one of the roughest workers to hit the ring. The highlight of his run was when he was busted wide open during an afternoon show, opening a cut that required over 150 stitches. At the hospital, Williams wrote himself into immortality when he told the doctor "Sew me up, doc, I've got a match tonight." He ended up winning that evening bout too. Many stars got their starts in Mid-South like Magnum T.A., the Midnight Express, the Fabulous Ones, the Fantastics and more. Watts was really breaking out as he had his own show on Ted Turner's Superstation TBS to enhance the action.
That led to a very ugly situation. It may surprise many to know that at one time, Vince McMahon was actually working with Ted Turner in a friendly sort of way. Back in 1984, Vince made a deal with Turner to show WWF programming on TBS. In what some have gone a tad overboard calling "Black Saturday," Vince McMahon's WWF was shown on TBS. Immediately, problems began as Vince had promised original programming but instead showed highlights of WWF shows at Madison Square Garden and other programs. Fans conditioned by Georgia Championship Wrestling and its hard-hitting action were outraged at now watching the WWF's soap opera antics and cartoonish characters. Watts seemed to take this as a sign to increase the strength of MSW, giving fans a great showpiece to go after McMahon's. The ratings were such a disaster that Vince eventually sold the time back to Turner and went back to his home base of New York. The whole thing is still a sore subject for Vince; in fact, the McMahon DVD actually has Shane saying, with a straight face, that the show was drawing such huge ratings that it encouraged Turner to get more into wrestling himself, a distortion that outdoes any of Vince's other "retcons" of wrestling history.
Watts had planned to take over the two hour slot himself, giving Mid-South a national cable showcase. However, Jim Barnett helped Jim Crockett Jr. buy out Vince's slot and take over all two hours, giving Crockett the Saturday night spot NWA/WCW would keep for the next decade and a half. Watts was annoyed by this, even more so as it was the first sign of the wrestling wars that would squeeze the old territories out of business. Without any warning, JYD left for the WWF, leaving Watts without one of his best acts. He would lose the Freebirds to World Class and the Midnights to Crockett but still managed to keep a loyal base around himself. At the same time, he was increasing his TV show values and making plans to take his promotion national just like Crockett and McMahon were. He benefited from financial backing by the owner of some major hotels in Oklahoma to give him the money to boost his plans.
A key part of that plan was a young rising ad man Watts had hired named Jim Ross. While most knew him just as a commentator, Ross was also a major part of Watt's organization, helping to hire talent and managing their syndication deals. Armed with tapes of Mid-South shows, Ross went on the road to sell it and did a damn good job, opening up dozens of markets from Chicago to L.A. and the East Coast. With that deal in place, Watts decided to give his organization a new name to make it seem bigger and not a Southern-based company. With his usual grandiose style, Watts decided to forgo the ideas of "America" or "World" and instead named it the Universal Wrestling Federation. Yeah, humility has never been one of Watts' strong points.
What also benefited Watts was being able to hire Ken Mantell. The former head of World Class Championship Wrestling, Mantell was lured by Watts for a better payday and a fresh field. He brought with him Chris Adams, a longtime WCCW star who had been champion but been stripped of it after being arrested for hitting an airline pilot. With WCCW not interested in him again, Adams decided to go to the UWF. It's highly ironic that it was Watts, a guy who considered himself the opposite of McMahon, did a talent raid of a promotion Vince ignored: Virtually overnight, he snatched up World Class mainstays like Adams, Iceman King Parsons, General Skandor Akbar, One Man Gang, Missing Link and even the Freebirds. The mass exodus crippled World Class, a blow they never recovered from.
Watts let Dick Slater remain TV champion and Williams and DiBiase the tag champions, both now UWF titles. However, he stripped Jim Duggan of the North American title and set up a big tournament with Terry Gordy beating Duggan in the finals to become the first UWF champion. Duggan was a bit bothered by this as he'd been a good star for Watts and didn't like a star from Texas being given such a push. However, the organization soon took off with its great action and high-rate production values. They were strongest in Oklahoma and Texas but still had good ratings across the country. They would team with Pro Wrestling Illustrated to do a big tournament for a trophy and $50,000, won by Williams. Watts would do some work with Crockett while shuffling things around. When Gordy needed time off, he had him forfeit the title to One Man Gang. Watts also worked with Crockett in an alliance in exchange for extra cash. One of the highlights was when Skandor Akbar, who'd been managing Gang, suddenly switched over to manage Big Bubba Rogers (the future Big Bossman) against Gang, Rogers winning the title.
But as things seemed to be going well, Watts was having some problems with some of his workers. Duggan, still bugged at having been forced to vacate the top spot as champion, decided to take an offer from WWF. DiBiase, feeling left out after years of loyal work for Watts, also asked for a reign as champion. Watts turned him down, not thinking DiBiase could carry his new national brand. DiBiase left and journeyed to WWF where he became a giant star as "the Million-Dollar Man." Still, Watts was rising with some hot talent like Eddie Gilbert, Rick Steiner, Terry Taylor and a young man by the name of Steve Borden. Borden and Jim Hellwig had been brought in as the Blade Runners, Flash and Rock, an obvious rip-off of the Road Warriors. Hellwig didn't last long, moving to WCCW where he'd become the Dingo Warrior, then over to WWF as the Ultimate Warrior. Borden stayed, dying his hair blond and cut short, keeping his face makeup and taking on a new name: Sting. At first, he was pushed as a heel, working with Gilbert as Watts was never a fan of the "pretty-boy" types. However, Watts soon saw the pops Sting was getting from fans and how he was taking off and soon had him turn face.
He was still working great programs, aided by Gilbert who was showing his terrific booking skills. A major angle began when Adams and Parsons teamed up for a tournament for the vacant tag team titles but when Adams was counted out during a match trying to help Williams and DiBiase from an attack by Akbar's forces, Iceman attacked him, turning heel. Adams teamed with Terry Taylor to win the tag titles while fueding with Parsons in wild matches. They'd lose the titles to Stiner and Sting when Taylor accidentally kicked Adams foot off the ropes when Sting had him pinned. That set up a face vs face bout where Taylor brutally attacked Adams, piledriving him on the floor and turning heel, soon joining with Gilbert.
Sting was soon turned face and quickly rose up, everyone expecting him to beat Gilbert for the TV title. However, he was brutually attacked by Gilbert's "First Family" of heels and thus the shot went to a 19 year-old rookie named Shane Douglas. Yes, the Shane Douglas. Believe it or not, the "Franchise" was once a bright-eyed babyface who, like Mikey Whipwreck, was booked as a loveable loser. With help from Sting, Douglas upset Gilbert for the title in a great twist. Gilbert also conceived the famous "Battle of New Orleans", a Superdome show where Adams, Gilbert, Sting and Taylor brawled from the ring through to the concession stand with Douglas and Steiner interfering and weapons from beer kegs to chairs to popcorn machines were used in an angle that got major crowd heat.
During all this, Watts was making more moves to keep the UWF going strong. First, he finally pulled the trigger giving Williams the UWF title, having him beat Rogers for it in a powerful match. He also decided to add a new title, something that could be the UWF's equivalent to the US or Intercontinental title. He gave it the rather odd name of the Western States Heritage title as he was expanding to LA and other West Coast areas and hoped this would appeal. Again, Sting was expected to win the tournament for it but instead Barry Windham, a recent export from Crockett, beat Black Bart to win the title. Watts was hoping to give Sting more time to develop before letting him really take off. He indulged himself a bit with a new car and even a private plane while sprucing up his offices.
While things seemed good, there were problems. For one thing, the UWF was becoming a very hard-traveling promotion with the wrestlers often having to drive hundreds of miles a night to make dates in Oklahoma, Louisiana and Texas. Adding in shows to the West Coast added to costs and a lot of wrestlers started to take painkillers or other drugs to offset fatigue. Also, as good as ratings were, Watts was having trouble selling out places in California and other spots and had to start flying around his workers to make dates in Philadelphia and other East spots. Also, there was the simple fact that the UWF was a distant fourth behind WWF, NWA and even the AWA with their national bases and better bank accounts. But the Cowboy had the drive, the passion and the workers to keep himself going for quite a while.
However, in the fall of 1987, something happened that would wreck all of Watts' plans. The OPEC nations decided to step up oil production, creating a "supertrend" that ravaged the states whose economies were based on oil like Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Oklahoma. Almost overnight, the Oklahoma economy collapsed and every single business in it was devastated. That included the hotel owner who had financed Watts as almost all entertainment in those states dried up. Watts had already been having trouble selling out arenas on the West Coast. Now the loyal fanbase he thought he could count on were too busy taking out second mortgages to keep their homes than to care about what was going on in a wrestling ring. Watts was also going through a messy divorce which hardly helped his finances. From a profit of $2 million in 1985, Watts was now hemoragghing about a half million two years later. While the Cowboy hated the idea of rolling over, he knew there was no chance he could save the UWF without some help.
It was Ross who came up with the unique scheme for Watts to stay alive. He went to Vince and made an offer to have McMahon buy out the UWF with all its talents and contracts. Naturally, Vince just laughed it off but Watts didn't care. All he wanted was to have it on record that Vince had met with him. Watts then went to Crockett and basically lied through his teeth that McMahon was close to buying and that once he had the UWF guys, he'd put Crockett out of business. While a good promoter, Crockett lacked the proper patience to run things right and often took things on his own. Thus, he ignored all those who tried to warn him of how this was a trick. Rather than see it as the desperate bluff it was, Crockett agreed to buy out Watts for a hefty sum. Had he just waited a few months, Watts would have been forced to file bankruptcy and they could have taken everything for a song. Instead Crockett now found himself handling Watts' many debts, pay for workers, offices on the other side of the country and more.
Watts was salivating over this partnership with the NWA, figuring they could do a big feud with the UWF guys invading Crockett's company. At the least, Watts figured he would have the cash and connections to keep the UWF going, maybe making it into a place to train guys and let them get hot before moving them up to Crockett. Unfortunately, Watts had overestimated the grasp of wrestling possessed by Crockett. Rather than use the feud or a farm program, Crockett instead decided to completely bury the UWF guys and barely even mentioned the organization at all. Taylor lost a match to Nikita Kolloff at Starrcade to unify the NWA and UWF TV titles. At least he got that; Williams and the Sheephearders were simply left hanging with the UWF and tag team titles as the organization pretty much died without a whimper by the time 1988 dawned. The Western States Heritage belt was defended for a bit with Windham losing it to Larry Zybsko who then ran into the ground so bad that when he left for the AWA, the title was retired (and to correct a long-reported "fact," the WSH belt was not the one used by WCW as an interim world title when Ric Flair left in 1991). I do recall a 2000 video interview where Dusty, in a rare admission of a past error, admitted he was too focused on Vince and failed to see the great potential the UWF would have given Crockett. Not only did he fail to use the UWF properly but the massive cost of buying a company and adding their bills and debts to his own helped put Crockett deeper in the financial hole that would force him to sell to Turner.
For the workers left, things were a mixed bag. Gilbert would hang around NWA for a bit before going to the Continental area, then the USWA and would help found Eastern Championship Wrestling before his death in 1995. Adams, Parsons, Akbar and the Freebirds would briefly work for the short-lived Wild West Wrestling promotion before going back to WCCW, which was in such desperate straits, they were willing to let bygones be bygones. Akbar went back to being the top heel manager while Parsons became a major heel star for the promotion, helping it rebound a bit. Taylor would go to WWF and have his now infamous run as the Red Rooster, going back to WCW for a bit before settling into office positions for both companies and TNA. Ross would have a run as commentator for WCW for a while but left after problems with management, coming to WWF where he's become a favorite as announcer and talent scout. Williams and Steiner would join Kevin Sullivan's "Varisty Club" heels with Steiner soon hooking up with brother Scott to form their legendary tag team. Windham would have a huge run in 1988 by turning heel and joining the Four Horsemen. The biggest survivor, of course, was Sting as Ric Flair saw the vast potential the young man had to fire up crowds and decided to give him the rub via their classic draw at the first Clash of the Champions card. The match made Sting a superstar instantly and set him on the path to become WCW's most visible face for the next decade.
As for Watts, he spent the next five years after the UWF's fall in self-exile as he settled his business affairs and the economy rebounded. In 1992, he was hired as the new executive vice-president of WCW in a move they thought would help the company. At first, it seemed okay as Watts did tighten up storylines and improved the episodic fare of the TV shows. However, it soon became clear that Watts appeared to have no idea it was five years later. He instituted rules like banning moves off the top rope (killing the cruiserweight division that had given WCW good press), doing away with protective mats and catered meals and banned wrestlers from leaving until all the matches were done. He also cut costs immensely as Jake Roberts found the hard way when his planned $3 million a year contract was literally ripped in half by Watts and turned to about $100,000 a year. There was also the matter of who got pushed. Watts put the world title on Ron Simmons who was good but didn't connect with crowds as well as hoped and faced a very poor selection of challengers. Old UWF faves Williams and Gordy were pushed to the moon as tag team champions while the Steiners were allowed to leave due to cost-cutting. Of course, the big one was Watts pushing his son Erik, who was completely not ready for the big time but kept getting pushed despite his lack of in-ring ability and fan disinterest. Unfortuetly, Watts, never known for playing well with others, got into constant battles with the Turner brass and when an old interview he gave with the comment "If I don't want to serve blacks watermelon, I shouldn't have to, it's my restaurant" crossed the desk of Hank Aaron, Watts was soon out the door.
Watts would have a brief run in 1995 with WWF but it was clear to all that he had no understanding that the business had passed him by and he only lasted a few months although he did liven up a poor year for the company. He's pretty much settled into retirement today, writing his autobiography The Cowboy and the Cross where he talks a lot about the UWF and his WCW run.
In a sidenote, in 1990, Herb Abrams created a new UWF, helped by the fact that, surprisingly, Watts had never trademarked the name. Abrams did well with a nice roster of former UWF guys and vets like Williams, Paul Orndorff, Don Muraco and others. They had their own TV show and even managed to get a pay-per-view show as well. However, the promotion did not have anywhere near the favor Watts had; the Wrestling Observer named it the worst promotion of 1991 and it would end up going out of business totally in 1996.
Despite all the business ups and downs, Watts did manage to pull off one very nice move: Managing to retain the tape library for UWF and MSW, thus making it the only major wrestling library not owned by Vince McMahon. It's currently in the hands of Watts' ex-wife and son who are starting to put out DVDs online of great moments. One can hope that someday, someone will use all that to give the UWF their due in a great DVD documentary.
There's no denying that the UWF had a great fanbase and was run by a man who really understood old-school wrestling appeal. Some have gone so far as to say it was a precusor to ECW with its hard action and tight storylines. It's interesting to note how its fall was not due to bad business decisions or mass defections or talent raids but by a massive economic upheaval that affected much more than just wrestling. It's sad since they really were taking off well just as it happened and with the AWA falling apart, they might well have become the third biggest promotion at the time. It's also sad that not having their library owned by Vince means much of that great footage isn't available to newer fans. But for those with long memories, the UWF remains one of the last of the old-school wrestling companies, a feeling that may be lost forever but at least its memories remain a key part of the wrestling universe.
Also around 411mania:
First, check out Viral Dose of Reality's excellent dissection of Paul Heyman that puts his influence on wrestling in a new light.
Julian counts down the Top 10 Free matches.
The Shimmy continues to report on HHH's PPV report card.
The Fink books Jericho's return.
Hitting Below the Beltway debuts by talking who should be ROH champ.
Can They Be Champ continues to mark Cena's 1-year anniversary as champ.
Thoughts From the Top Rope asks what it means to be a fan.
Piledriver Report talks about what free agents could help TNA.
What Were They Thinking talks the worst of the McMahons.
Don't forget Column or Honor, the Way I C It, Fact or Fiction, Ask 411, 3 R's
That's all for this week. For now ,the spotlight is off.
