Death of the Territories
Page 15
On the other side of the wrestling universe, Ole Anderson didn’t take his ouster from the Georgia promotion lying down. He immediately started a new company (Championship Wrestling from Georgia), gained local TV on WGNX-46, and, with help from Ann Gunkel, obtained an early Saturday morning timeslot on WTBS beginning in early August 1984.189 The following month, he began taping from the WTBS studios in Atlanta, filling the void left when McMahon decided to use out-of-town footage. The reacquisition of a cable TV slot was enormous for the NWA, and Jim Crockett joined several other members in support of Anderson.
But with the WWF putting a toehold on wrestling in Canada, adding Atlanta and Chicago to its overall war efforts, and profiting from connections to cable stations WTBS, MTV, and USA, the battle for wrestling superiority was as hot as ever.
Chapter Eleven
Cooperation and Crisis
Two weeks after the WWF made its Florida debut at the Hollywood Sportatorium, Championship Wrestling from Florida responded with an all-star event at the Orange Bowl in Miami, about 25 miles away. The show was called “Lord of the Ring” for its headline bout between NWA world champion Ric Flair and Dusty Rhodes, and the two faced off for a prize ring and $100,000. CWF owner Eddie Graham received help from several fellow promoters and imported Wahoo McDaniel, Dick Slater, and the Road Warriors for the June 30, 1984, happening. An estimated 10,000 people were on hand as Rhodes scored the popular victory, winning the final fall by disqualification and capturing the title of Lord of the Ring.
When Vince McMahon’s army returned to the Sportatorium on July 21, the NWA held a show of its own a little ways north at the Sunrise Musical Theater. Drawing a near sellout, the NWA program was unfortunately marred by gunfire during a tag bout between Rhodes and One Man Gang against Ron Bass and “Superstar” Billy Graham.190 One man was shot, and fans rushed from the venue fearing for their lives. Across the county in Hollywood, Hulk Hogan went over Big John Studd, and Paul Orndorff, Tito Santana, Bob Backlund, and Mil Mascaras were a part of the undercard. In September, the conflict shifted to Miami with both promotions staging cards there on September 22. The NWA featured Flair and Rhodes again at the Miami Beach Convention Center, while Andre the Giant wrestled Roddy Piper in the main event at the Knight Center. The NWA won the attendance battle 8,000 to 2,000.
McMahon’s war against Championship Wrestling from Florida was waged on several different fronts. On the television side of things, he succeeded in replacing the decade-long run of CWF’s Lucha Libre program on WNJU (channel 47) in New York City with Superstars of Wrestling. While it didn’t affect Eddie Graham’s efforts down south, it undoubtedly resonated with the Florida boss nonetheless. As far as talent went, Buzz Sawyer and Billy Jack jumped from Florida to the WWF, but both enjoyed extremely short tours. Billy Jack received heavy promotion on WWF telecasts but only made a couple live appearances before leaving for personal reasons. Sawyer was expected to help the promotion in Georgia and Ohio, and even had Captain Lou Albano as his manager, but his employment for McMahon was brief.
Another major blow to Florida occurred when Dusty Rhodes bowed out of the territory for the Mid-Atlantic region, ending his long tenure as the top box-office draw and hero. Some months later, the WWF gained the upper hand on the CWF in West Palm Beach when officials at Graham’s main venue (WPB Auditorium) decided not to renew its lease with the CWF in favor of McMahon. The facility, under the NWA banner, had seen attendance drop from 4,000 to less than 1,500 per show, and general manager Randy Carillo told the Palm Beach Post, “We’re going from a mom and pop store to a national organization.”191 WWF officials liked the sound of that. But for anyone affiliated with the NWA, it was harsh commentary, demonstrating the growing perception that the WWF was big league.
In the northwest part of the Sunshine State and extending into Alabama, the Gulf Coast promotion maintained its territorial strength under the leadership of Ron Fuller. Filming TV matches from WTVY Studios (channel 4) in Dothan, Southeastern Wrestling offered a good roster of young talent and older stars. NWA king Ric Flair regularly appeared on the local television program and set up arena main events. The patriarch of the famed Armstrong clan, Bob Armstrong, made a miraculous return to the ring after sustaining severe facial injuries in a weight-lifting accident. He went on to beat Fuller for the Continental championship.192 Future Hall of Famer Arn Anderson was gaining a lot of experience in the region and held the Southeastern tag team title three times with Jerry Stubbs in 1984. Their principal rivals were the R.A.T. Patrol, made up of fan favorites Johnny Rich, Scott Armstrong, and Tonga Kid. In addition, Austin Idol, an ever-colorful performer, won the Southeastern heavyweight belt from Vic Rain in July 1984 and held off the challenges of Rip Rogers and Boris Zurkov.
The Southeastern territory was not immune to the WWF’s expansion. Superstars of Wrestling aired in Birmingham on Sunday evenings at 7:00 on WTTO (channel 21), and Vince McMahon’s first live show in the city was on August 30, 1984. The card was topped by Andre the Giant going over Big John Studd and also highlighted the Junkyard Dog, the Spoiler, and WWF tag champions Adrian Adonis and Dick Murdoch. But Fuller was an old-school battler and held his own Birmingham event that same night. His program saw Idol win a cage match over Rogers, and Ted DiBiase, who was said to be the culprit behind Bob Armstrong’s injury (turning the real-world accident into an on-camera angle), beat Bob’s son Brad. Notably, in early October, the Tonga Kid jumped to the WWF to feud with Roddy Piper in defense of his injured “cousin” Jimmy Snuka.
Over in Dallas, the territory was hurt by the loss of the Fabulous Freebirds to the WWF. Jack Adkisson was already dealing with lower than expected box-office returns following the reign of Kerry Von Erich as the NWA world champion, and losing his top heels added to his problems. The emergence of Gino Hernandez, a 26-year-old wrestling ace, mitigated a bit of the sting. Hernandez was a tough rulebreaker, and within two months of his arrival, he was pushed to both the American and Texas heavyweight championships. His win of the Texas belt came as a result of a San Antonio tournament on June 23, 1984, and he pinned NWA titleholder Ric Flair in the finals. Jake Roberts joined Hernandez as a primary adversary for the Von Erich brothers, but the turn of Chris Adams in September drew the real headlines. Adams, coming off his lengthy feud with Jimmy Garvin, was the perfect opponent for Kerry, Kevin, and Mike Von Erich in singles and tag team bouts.
Terry Gordy and Buddy Roberts, two-thirds of the Freebirds, returned to Dallas after their short-lived stint in the WWF and resumed their war with the Von Erichs. The various combinations of these stars built up box-office sales at the Cotton Bowl and Reunion Arena for Adkisson between October and December 1984. Much was being made about the WWF’s syndication efforts, but Adkisson was growing an equally impressive national network. By the fall of 1984, he had four dozen affiliates, including stations in Boston, St. Louis, Atlanta, Chicago, and Minneapolis. The arrival of an outside TV show, specifically one as good as World Class, unnerved promoters fearing invasion. Verne Gagne of the AWA, already being pushed to his limits by the WWF, was panicky about Dallas TV in two of his main cities. Adkisson could use local television as a springboard right into the Twin Cities for live shows, as the WWF had.
But Adkisson was not really in the best position to expand outside of Texas, lacking the finances and the depth of talent. His wrestlers were engaged on the circuit around Dallas and still going into San Antonio in the war against Joe Blanchard’s Southwest promotion. There were other factors at play, fueling the wheels of paranoia and speculation. Adkisson was surprised to find that several of his fellow NWA associates supported Blanchard, a nonmember, by sending him wrestlers to use against World Class in San Antonio. That move heightened Adkisson’s need for support, and although he was working with Bill Watts, he was reportedly again considering a partnership with the WWF. From Gagne’s point of view, if Adkisson joined up with McMahon, the World Class TV show in Minneapolis and Chicago would become a huge promotional tool for
combined Dallas–WWF live events. Needless to say, Gagne was preparing for all contingencies and acted with a measure of aggression. He got his All-Star Wrestling telecast a weekend slot on KRLD-33 in Dallas, opening up the opportunity for future AWA shows there. If Adkisson made a move in his territory, he’d respond in kind.
Meanwhile, Joe Blanchard was getting just enough help to survive. At one point, his San Antonio company seemed to be on its last legs against the superior Dallas outfit, but Blanchard not only pulled through it, he was starting to gain small victories. But, altogether, few active wrestling bosses suffered as much as Blanchard did in 1983–84, starting with the loss of his national cable outlet on USA and his failed effort with GCW. But that wasn’t all. San Antonio tried to go into Dallas in 1983, but one show drew less than 50 people. The much-hyped world championship Blanchard had created with help from Lou Thesz was abandoned, and he started to lose ground at home as Adkisson entered San Antonio with his cast of popular stars. The Southwest promotion was hemorrhaging money and only sustained itself by crafting hot feuds that kept the attention of loyalists. 1984 was more successful, however, and even though Blanchard’s son Tully was earning a reputation in the NWA, Southwest was improving its core circuit. During the feud with World Class, Blanchard’s promotion imported Tommy Rich, the Road Warriors, Carlos Colon, Kevin Sullivan, Bruiser Brody, and the Rock and Roll Express. Heading into 1985, there was no end to the war in Texas, but Blanchard was in a much better position to protect San Antonio.
In the Midwest, Dick the Bruiser and his World Wrestling Association were in an incredibly vulnerable spot.193 Bruiser, at age 55, was considered to be over the hill, but he continued to main event in WWA cities in Indiana. A few embarrassing incidents in late 1983 and into ’84 damaged his promotion, one being the appearance of his world heavyweight champion Bobby Colt on the undercard of a WWF show in Dayton, Ohio. Colt was pinned by journeyman S.D. Jones, and the credibility of the WWA title was clearly diminished. Colt dropped the belt to Spike Huber on January 7, 1984, and Huber, who was Bruiser’s son-in-law, spent a little time in the WWF as well, between March and June 1984. Huber was actually propped up as a young up-and-comer by McMahon himself during an episode of All American Wrestling on May 20, 1984.
The WWA remained a favorite for regional fans, but its roster was practically devoid of nationally recognizable stars, and any chance of it competing beyond its limited Midwestern base was out of the question. So when the WWF started looking to expand into Indianapolis, Bruiser had little recourse. That’s when Verne Gagne entered the picture. He locked up Indy’s big venue, the Market Square Arena, and moved into Indianapolis early in June 1984. The AWA ran monthly into October, but fans were unimpressed even with an uptick of talent, and the draw hovered between 550 and 1,000 people. Bruiser’s WWA still outdrew the outsiders. But on November 17, 1984, Vince McMahon snatched Gagne’s TV time on WTTV-4 on Saturday mornings at 10:00, and the WWF debuted live two months later on January 19, 1985.
Hurt by constant no-shows and a flat TV show, Gagne was at a great disadvantage. Yet despite the overt negatives, the AWA was still powerful, shown by its ability to obtain big-named free agents, including Bruiser Brody and the Road Warriors. The Warriors, by this juncture, were the hottest tag team in North America, maybe the world, and boosted the box office wherever they went. Strongman Tony Atlas left the WWF and became one of the first major name grapplers to jump away from McMahon during his expansion. Atlas joined the AWA, hoping to find better opportunities, but returned to the WWF before the end of the year. The AWA was embroiled in a difficult defense of two western locales: Salt Lake City, which the WWF invaded in July, and the Bay Area in northern California. Attendance in Salt Lake started slow for McMahon, but he was drawing just under 7,000 by November. The AWA was only slightly more popular, luring 9,200 for a show in October 1984.
Out on the West Coast, McMahon was dominating his competition. Of the six shows held in Oakland between April and November 1984, four of them had crowds better than 10,000. Gagne, in contrast, was flailing in San Francisco at the Cow Palace. His attendance was less than 1,000 at times, but for a special tag team battle royal on November 11, 1984, rose to 6,800. But after six no-shows, the AWA fell back down to 1,200 in December. Fans weren’t putting up with unreliable talent and inconsistent booking, and the AWA needed to make a number of philosophical changes to regain the trust of area spectators. Gagne continued his efforts to make the AWA competitive elsewhere, attaining a timeslot on the newly instituted The Sports Network (TSN) cable channel in Canada and hinting at a northeastern invasion, targeting McMahon unilaterally.
Going it alone was contrary to the Pro Wrestling USA idea promoters had established in Chicago months earlier. That initiative essentially was meant to create a coalition for syndicated TV and live events in opposition to the WWF. But cracks in the relationship between Gagne and Jim Crockett were apparent during the summer of 1984, and Crockett was forced to cancel his second Meadowlands show planned for August 21. Crockett and Gagne came together in Las Vegas that same month for the NWA’s annual convention at the Dunes Hotel. They were joined by NWA president Bob Geigel, Don Owen, Ron Fuller, Mike Graham (representing his father, Eddie), Shohei “Giant” Baba of All Japan, Lia Maivia of Honolulu, Steve Rickard of New Zealand, and Larry O’Dea of Australia, plus Ric Flair, Dusty Rhodes, Dory Funk Jr., and Harley Race. Meshing their ideas, hashing out grievances, and reaffirming their support for each other, the members in attendance once again charted a strategy to combat McMahon.
“Competition is good,” Georgia promoter Fred Ward explained to Wrestling’s Main Event magazine. “But if the WWF thinks it can come into the cities that we’ve had for so long and be successful they will be in for an awful surprise. The people throughout the world know that the NWA stands for excellence in wrestling. We will stick together for the survival of our support. In fact, starting next month we will get even bigger than ever before. We’ve got quite a surprise in store that will benefit all the fans throughout the world. We plan on having even bigger and better matches throughout the rest of 1984 and for many, many years to come.”194 Organizers set a September 18 date for the initial taping of Pro Wrestling USA. Jerry Jarrett hosted the important event at the Mid-South Coliseum in Memphis, and 25 matches were arranged for future broadcast.195
The talent on the card was stunning. Former NWA world champions Harley Race and Dory Funk Jr., ex–AWA world titleholder Nick Bockwinkel, and current AWA champ Rick Martel wrestled on the show. “Superstar” Billy Graham, a former WWWF kingpin, grappled in two squash bouts, and former NWA and WWF titleholders Terry Funk and Bob Backlund, respectively, made appearances. The Road Warriors, Jerry Lawler, Butch Reed, Tommy Rich, Mr. Saito, Tony Atlas, and Eddie Gilbert were also part of the TV taping, representing the AWA, Memphis, and Mid-South. Announcer Jack Reynolds mentioned Backlund’s championship past during an interview segment, and it was obvious they were trying to reestablish his credibility in the Northeast, where he’d once ruled. The first episode of Pro Wrestling USA debuted on the high-profile New York City outlet WPIX-11 on September 29.196 The anti-WWF group was on its way.
The new promotion was covered in USA Today, and the wrestling war was front and center. Gagne, the executive producer for the syndicated show, affirmed that there was “room for both” his group and the WWF in the marketplace. Though known for his old-school methods, Gagne told the reporter there would be fresh concepts on the telecast, such as video packages and profiles. “We’re keeping up with the times,” he admitted.197 For Gagne, the Pro Wrestling USA experiment was going to be instrumental for his AWA as well, and he soon replaced his small-scale studio offerings for his syndicated All Star Wrestling show with arena matches from the PWUSA tapings.198
Jim Crockett staged the second Pro Wrestling USA taping in Spartanburg, South Carolina, on October 23, 1984, and the ever-popular Ricky Steamboat made his first showing for the group. Former WWWF champion Ivan Koloff made a
n appearance and teamed with his “nephew” Nikita, a 25-year-old strongman from Minneapolis and a real bright spot in the Mid-Atlantic region. In his own promotion, Crockett was rebuilding in 1984, and the arrival of Koloff, Tully Blanchard, and Dusty Rhodes rejuvenated his booking scheme. In August, Barry Windham, the talented son of Blackjack Mulligan, jumped from Florida, and Crockett had big hopes for the youngster. It was believed he was on a path to win the U.S. title, but instead, Windham left the territory on little-to-no notice and joined the WWF. Mike Rotundo, Windham’s tag partner in Florida, followed suit.
The turnover in manpower, plus the loss of Toronto to the WWF, was painstaking, but Crockett was resilient. He still had one of the best rosters in the business, headed by NWA world champion Ric Flair, Ricky Steamboat, and Wahoo McDaniel, who had been renewed by a heel run. On Thanksgiving night, November 22, 1984, the second annual Starrcade event was held at the Greensboro Coliseum. In the main event, Flair was matched against Rhodes in a bout for a million-dollar purse with former boxing champion “Smokin’” Joe Frazier as special referee. While Flair–Rhodes wasn’t on par technically with Flair–Harley Race from a year earlier, it still drummed up plenty of excitement, and the prize money only added to the anticipation of fans. Nearly 16,000 people attended the spectacular, with thousands more watching via closed-circuit television. After a good battle, Frazier stopped the match because of a cut near Rhodes’s eye, and Flair was given the victory.
Crockett remained motivated to fight the WWF in the Northeast. Twice in June 1984, he held small-town shows in New Jersey. His plans to return to the Meadowlands fell through, and his scheduled dates in the Bronx, Queens, and Long Island were canceled under questionable circumstances in late November. In any case, his Spanish-language TV show in New York wasn’t helping Crockett much, and he needed the Pro Wrestling USA connection on WPIX to shore up future business. Crockett then made a three-way pact with Ole Anderson and Jerry Jarrett in October 1984 to share talent and equally benefit from Anderson’s Saturday morning telecast on WTBS.199 He also wanted to secure a timeslot on TSN in Canada and was willing to pay for a timeslot, but the network went in another direction and, as noted, added the AWA to its weekly schedule.200