When Wrestling Was Rasslin'

by Birkholz, Wrestling Promoter Peter

  Kelly Kiniski later told me that he called his dad from the motel that night, and said that he had just wrestled Lou Thesz. His dad told him, “Son, take a couple of pain pills and don’t worry. It will stop hurting in about a month.” Thesz was indeed that tough, as Gene Kiniski knew all too well. Now his son knew the painful truth as well.

  The biggest story of 1980 was the critical challenges facing the Houston Wrestling promotion, and all other regional promotions throughout the country. The winds of change were blowing, and even Houston Wrestling was starting to bend from the gale force.

  It was becoming more difficult to secure talent as Vince McMahon Jr. entered the early stages of his strategy to take his New York-based WWF wrestling organization nationwide. The Houston Wrestling office had always been able to book top talent on its own merit, but that was changing. At the same time, Southwest Sports Inc.--the booking office located in Dallas and owned by Fritz Von Erich--was was no longer the dependable booking office it had been for many years.

  Vince McMahon Jr. was securing the business’s top stars and forcing them to sign long-term exclusive personal services contracts. This, along with the Dallas booking office’s troubles, made it more difficult for the Houston Wrestling promotion to attract the top stars fans demanded if they were going to maintain their Friday night habit.

  The Houston Wrestling promotion was also facing the challenge of maintaining the high television ratings they had produced back in the seventies. This decline, along with a new management team at KHTV Channel 39 that did not understand the professional wrestling television market, led to Channel 39 dropping Houston Wrestling’s Sunday morning airing. The management team assumed that by dropping the Sunday morning program, (a repeat of the Saturday night program), Saturday night's ratings would double. They did not understand that we were reaching an entirely different audience with the Sunday morning telecast. Years later, Channel 39 realized their mistake and brought the Sunday morning show back on the air. In the meantime, the Houston Wrestling promotion had to adjust to the decrease in its television viewing audience. Channel 39 did give the Houston Wrestling promotion a one-hour time slot on late Monday night; however, it was not the same.

  The promotion did air The Best of Texas Wrestling, a syndicated television show that I encouraged Paul Boesch to produce with me. I thought it would be a great way to use the hundreds of hours of Houston Wrestling action he and I were collecting. This show had some success with worldwide syndication. It could have been more successful, but, due to circumstances beyond our control, its growth was limited.

  We informed Houston Wrestling fans in the arena wrestling program and on the television show that drastic change was coming to Houston Wrestling!

  These changes began on Friday, January 2, 1981. The traditional Twenty-Two-Man Two-Ring Battle Royal was the final event that night. Houston Wrestling fans were shocked to see a whole new stable of top wrestling stars. The Houston Wrestling promotion had officially changed booking offices, leaving the Dallas booking office run by Fritz Von Erich, and hiring the Southwest Championship Wrestling booking office operated by Joe and Tully Blanchard.

  The Dallas booking office and the Houston Wrestling promotion had been working together for decades, even when the late Morris Sigel was promoting Houston Wrestling. This shocking political move was one of many shifts throughout the wrestling world. Vince McMahon Jr. was becoming the “Genghis Khan” of regional promotions as he swept across the nation, rampaging regional promotions and leaving a trail of ravished territories.

  Vince McMahon Jr. not only did a great job of grabbing top wrestling talent from the regional promotions, he was smart enough to lure away top organizational talent. These promoters were able to bring all the necessary media, arena, and promotional connections to his business.

  Vince McMahon Jr. started a professional wrestling revolution, but whether it was good or bad for the future of professional wrestling will be a topic of discussion for many years. I saw it coming, and yet like so many revolutions there was very little regional promoters like myself could do to stop it. Boesch and I developed a strategy to make our Houston Wrestling promotion as strong as possible, and did our best to ride out the savage promotional storm. That was one of the major reasons why changing booking offices was so critical. It was a huge risk at a very precarious time in the business. Were we going to be successful, or fall to the Genghis Khan of professional wrestling?

  Our decision was an immediate success. We could secure top talent for future shows. Houston fans were elated to see returning superstars like Indian Chief Wahoo McDaniel, Mil Mascaras, Bruiser Brody, “Polish Power” Ivan Putski, Chavo Guerrero, and the World Tag Team Champions Dory Jr. and Terry Funk. These stars were proven box office attractions, and proven action producers in the ring.

  Southwest Championship Wrestling not only made these stars available, but the new booking office also furnished new enthusiasm and commitment to the Houston Wrestling promotion. The move allowed the Houston Wrestling promotion to use Chief Wahoo McDaniel as a first-class booker, since he worked as hard at being an outstanding booker as he did being an outstanding competitor.

  The Houston Wrestling office honored their contractual commitments to book the National Wrestling Alliance World Champion, Harley Race. The promotion also fulfilled its contractual commitments to all other top wrestling talent that had been booked several months in advance. Boesch and I felt the promotion had a new lease on life, but how long would the lease last?

  The tremendous talent that came with our shocking move included Indian Chief Wahoo McDaniel, Gino Hernandez, Chavo Guerrero, Ivan Putski, Tully Blanchard, Tony Atlas, Ernie Ladd, Mil Mascaras, Tiger Conway Jr., Scott Casey, Tank Patton, Dick Slater, the Funk brothers Terry and Dory Jr., and American Wrestling Alliance World Champion, Nick Bockwinkel. The creative juices flowed as Boesch and I went to work creating new feuds and revitalizing bitter rivalries. The promotion felt the pressure not only of pleasing Houston Wrestling fans, but proving to the professional wrestling business that changing booking offices was the right move.

  The promotion worked hard outside the ring while the fresh talent worked hard inside the ring. The results were quite rewarding. Box office receipts began to rise and so did the critical television ratings. The Houston Wrestling promotion regained the all-important Sunday morning television time slot thanks to the rise in viewership, as well as the fact that the promotion could provide a completely different television show for Sunday morning: The Houston Edition of Southwest Championship Wrestling. Boesch and I took turns traveling to San Antonio every week to tape that show. We added our own voice-overs to the show as it was being produced, which allowed us to add local Houston Wrestling flavor and promote upcoming shows with our own commentary. The formula was successful and attendance continued to rise. Just as we gained box office and television momentum, the vicious curveball came!

  The Houston Wrestling promotion advertised that NWA World Champion Harley Race would defend his title and belt against Tony Atlas in the Sam Houston Coliseum on Friday, April 17th. The NWA had honored their contractual commitments in regards to Race for the first few months of the year, and did not give any indication that this would change. But then the bombshell. World Champion Harley Race did not show.

  Was it a double-cross by the National Wrestling Alliance to punish the Houston Wrestling promotion for severing their ties with the Dallas Booking office and Fritz Von Erich? Von Erich had been President of the National Wrestling Alliance and still had strong connections to the NWA. Was it a double-cross by World Champion Harley Race? He may have been pressured not only by the NWA, but other wrestling promoters who wanted to see the “defiant” Houston Wrestling promotion fail.

  As I write this story , I remember the scene in the dressing room vividly. As I have mentioned, nothing hurts a professional wrestling promotion more than a substitution, especially a substitution for the World Champion. Something had to be done immediately for the eight thousand fa
ns in attendance that night. An irate and embarrassed Boesch personally took the undesirable job of announcing the substitution to the Houston Wrestling crowd. Everyone was silent. You could literally hear a pin drop.

  Then Boesch quickly informed the crowd that Houston Wrestling promotion was going to officially resign from the National Wrestling Alliance and would no longer recognize their champion, Harley Race, as the World Heavyweight Champion. He said they would now witness a one-night tournament to crown a new World Heavyweight Champion who would be recognized not only in Houston, but in various territories throughout the country. The Houston Wrestling crowd erupted with a roar of approval. They recognized the courage it took to stand up to the National Wrestling Alliance and for what was right. Fans not only respected that, but were excited. They were going to witness professional wrestling history and be a vital part of it!

  Indian Chief Wahoo McDaniel was the winner of the seven-match one-night tournament, with impressive wins over Gino Hernandez and two former NWA World Champions, Terry Funk and Dory Funk Jr. Eight thousand plus Houston Wrestling fans went home satisfied. The promotion offered fans in attendance an immediate refund if they went to the box office and requested their money back, but only twenty-eight did. I wonder how many regretted it after they heard of the action and excitement the tournament provided to those who stayed.

  The rupture between the Houston Wrestling promotion and the National Wrestling Alliance was indeed shocking. The late Morris Sigel had been an integral part of the NWA in 1949, some thirty-two years earlier. The Houston Wrestling promotion had been a supportive member of the NWA all that time.

  After the dust had settled, the newly-crowned World Champion Wahoo McDaniel relinquished his title to become the number one challenger to American Wrestling Alliance champion Nick Bockwinkel. It was a very classy move by Wahoo McDaniel. Many promoters applauded it, since it unified additional wrestling promotions and helped to rally them behind Verne Gagne’s American Wrestling Alliance. Bockwinkel immediately started to defend his AWA World Championship belt in Houston and proved to be one of the greatest World Champions to ever step inside the Houston Wrestling ring.

  Fans also had the opportunity to watch the first three-night promotion in the history of Houston Wrestling. The tournament was held in conjunction with the celebration of Paul Boesch’s fifty years in professional wrestling, and it was a big success! Matches were held on Friday and Saturday night, and the finals on Sunday afternoon. The promotion set a new Houston Wrestling record at the box office for a single weekend. Tito Santana was the big winner of the “Gold Cup” tournament with an impressive win over AWA World Champion Nick Bockwinkel. Bockwinkel’s title was not on the line during the tournament; however, his reputation was.

  In addition to the stars already mentioned, the Houston Wrestling promotion brought in many others such as Manny Fernandez, Colonel Buck Robley, Larry Lane, Tommy “Wildfire” Rich, and most importantly, the return of the Junkyard Dog. This time he came back and stayed, much to the delight of the thousands of Houston Wrestling fans who loved “JYD.”

  Despite the disruptive political wars outside the wrestling ring in 1981, it was one of the best wrestling action-producing years in recent history. The Houston Wrestling promotion was still afloat, at least for now.

  The 1982 season began with the annual Twenty-Two Man Two-Ring Battle Royal; however Andre the Giant was not there. He was being booked out of Vince McMahon Jr.'s New York office, another clear sign that Vince Jr. wanted to eventually take over the professional wrestling market in Houston. By holding back Andre, Vince hoped our promotion would stumble. Despite Andre the Giant’s absence, the opening show was a success.

  The Houston Wrestling scene in the first four months of 1982 was dominated by the same stars that made the last season successful: Bruiser Brody, Gorgeous Gino Hernandez, Dusty Rhodes, Terry Funk, Dory Funk Jr., Superstar Billy Graham, Tito Santana, Dick Slater, The Grappler, Manny Fernandez, Tiger Conway Jr., Buck Robley, Tully Blanchard, AWA World Champion Nick Bockwinkel, Tommy “Wildfire” Rich, Mil Mascaras, Bob Sweetan, Hacksaw Duggan, Blackie Gordman, Tom Prichard, Ricky Morton, Chavo Guerrero, Cyclone Negro, Ivan the Terrible, Wahoo McDaniel, and the Junkyard Dog. There were also solid supporting wrestlers like Killer Tim Brooks, Don Serano, Grenade Boyer and Mexican masked star El Canek adding to the list of talent.

  Yet there was dissent in the dressing room. The top wrestlers were thinking more about themselves than the overall good of the professional wrestling business, and were positioning themselves to make them very attractive to Vince McMahon Jr., and his lucrative long term contracts. Loyalty between wrestlers and promoters was being severely tested.

  A devastating blow came to the Houston Wrestling promotion when we received a letter from the City of Houston stating that the Sam Houston Coliseum would not be available for the promotion for an entire month. Would this be the final blow?

  FRIDAY MAY 14, 1982

  During the turbulent eighties, several events helped shape the course of the Houston Wrestling promotion. None of them were more important than the Friday, May 14, 1982 wrestling show.

  Promoter Paul Boesch’s wife of nearly fifty years, Eleonore, was in the final stages of her several-year battle with lung cancer. Anyone who has nursed a spouse or loved one through such tragic times knows that the experience wears down the surviving loved ones as well as the patient. Paul was exhausted, even though he had turned over the majority of the promotion over to me. My uncle was a man full of life and enthusiasm, but watching his beloved wife fading away had taken its toll.

  Boesch lost a lot of his drive for the business, which made the challenges of the 1980s even more formidable. We'd had too many disappointments. There were frivolous lawsuits and constant hassles with attorneys. There were unreasonable and unfair changes in our business relationship with the City of Houston. The State of Texas had passed a sales tax to be levied on the price of wrestling tickets in addition to the already established commissioner’s tax. This brought the total state taxes paid on each wrestling ticket to over ten percent, which came at a time that other expenses related to the business were quickly escalating during economic hard times. It was becoming harder and harder to survive.

  The most disappointing change was not at the cash register, but in the dressing room. Gusts of uncertainty and frustration were setting in. Our talents’ attitudes were negatively affected. One of the many elements of the professional wrestling business which, at one time, had been a lot of fun, was the dressing room. There were friendships, excitement, and most importantly, camaraderie. That feeling was an integral component of professional wrestling. The reputation of the Houston Wrestling promotion enhanced the camaraderie between promoters and the talent. The producers of the movie The Wrestler, starring Mickey Rourke, did a good job of depicting this affectionate camaraderie, which had existed in professional wrestling for generations.

  As national wrestling promotions started up across the country, that camaraderie was disappearing. National promotions needed top talent and were willing to pay top dollars. Friendships abruptly dissolved because of the power of money. Long-term relationships were replaced with the attitude of What have you done for me lately? Or better yet: What can you do for me NOW? The new strategy was every man for himself. Loyalty between promoters and wrestlers was becoming strained as individual interests prevailed over doing what was best for the business.

  The cheer of the dressing room was gone, replaced by distrust, frustration, and tension thick enough to cut with a knife. That was getting worse with every show. One Friday night after a couple dressing room incidents, Boesch was consumed with despair. I still remember nearly thirty years later the look in his eyes and the tone of his voice when he told me, “Pete, it is just not any fun anymore.” This from a man who had loved the sport and business for fifty years!

  It was late March, and the City of Houston notified the office that, due to a multiple booking of the Sam Houston Coliseum, Houston Wrestli
ng could not have a date there for a month between April 18th and May 14th. There were no alternative facilities. The Fonde Recreation Center was not suitable. Business was too slow to consider running a show at the Summit.

  I had been thinking all weekend about what Houston Wrestling could do to answer the swelling challenges. Paul had suggested the previous Friday night that closing the office for three weeks was warranted to minimize the losses. The Houston Wrestling promotion was already operating in the red during the first three months of 1982.

  I did some soul-searching. I was facing my uncle's frustrations and a dwindling income. I was twenty-eight years old with a wife to support and a baby boy, Jonathan, who was less than a year old. I had a Masters in Business Administration and had recently been offered a very promising career opportunity. I had faced these same questions earlier, but decided that there was no way I could leave my uncle while my aunt Eleonore, who I dearly loved, was dying and the wrestling business was so bad. Everything had built up to this latest obstacle. What should Houston Wrestling do? What should Peter Birkholz do?

  For over a half a century, Houston Wrestling prided itself on being a successful weekly promotion. There was a Friday night here and there when the town was “dark” (the expression used in the business when a promotion did not run), but that did not happen very often. Never had we considered the possibility of going dark for a month. It would be a severe test for the promotion. Could Houston Wrestling survive?

  A quick drive to the beaches of Galveston was just what I needed. Sometimes there is no better remedy than to get away, clear the mind, and to cleanse oneself of all emotions.

  During the therapeutic beach walk, I considered every possible course of action, and ruled out one option after another. There was only one that could possibly work. Maybe, after fifty years of being a weekly promotion, it was time for Houston Wrestling to change to a monthly promotion. To the reader this may seem like an easy and natural decision. However, Houston Wrestling succeeded while hundreds of other wrestling promotions failed, in large part due to its weekly promotional strategy. Also, keep in mind that the Houston Wrestling television show had been running weekly for over thirty-two years, but it would be in jeopardy if the promotion changed to a monthly schedule.