Death of the Territories

by Tim Hornbaker

  Chapter Fourteen

  Year of the Supershow

  In the 1980s, wrestling fans enjoyed a diverse array of in-ring performers. There were high-fliers, sound technicians, rowdy personalities, smug heels, and smiling fan favorites. Colorful gimmicks were everywhere, and promoters did all in their power to get their talent “over” with audiences. Things hadn’t really changed all that much, though, as promoters throughout history had fashioned such characters, from French and Swedish Angeles to the Elephant Boy, the Blimp, and boisterous loudmouths like the original “Nature Boy” Buddy Rogers. In 1985, Hulk Hogan was the sport’s poster boy, recognizable worldwide thanks to the exhaustive WWF marketing machine, but pro wrestling still had its off-the-wall gimmicks, behemoths, and monsters.

  In Florida, Kevin Sullivan was portraying a Devil worshiper with a pack of disciples, the Army of Darkness, which included the Purple Haze, the Lock, Maya Singh, and his wife, Nancy, as the Fallen Angel. Longtime Dallas-area manager Gary Hart maintained at least one or two monsters in his stable, and few were scarier than the 6-foot, 330-pound Abdullah the Butcher or the 6-foot-8, 400-pound One Man Gang. Of all the unusual characters in wrestling, one man stood above them all, and he was Bruiser Brody. Originally from Michigan, Brody played football at West Texas State and became a wrestler under the tutelage of Jack Adkisson. Brody was better than 6-foot-6 and north of 270 pounds with a scraggly beard, wild eyes, and an unpredictable disposition. In and around the ring, he was an exceptional performer, and left his mark all over the world. Outside the squared circle, Brody was an unyielding free-thinker and incredibly protective of his character’s reputation, refusing to put over other wrestlers even when called upon to do so. As a result, he was pretty much always quarrelling with one promoter or another, and had no qualms about walking away from a territory if he felt wronged. Brody’s behavior was usually overlooked because he was an exceptional box-office draw. He was an Andre the Giant–level attraction, working big houses from New York to Tokyo against everyone from Bruno Sammartino to Giant Baba. In 1984 and into ’85, he was working the AWA circuit, and his relationship with Verne Gagne ran hot or cold depending on the week.

  After pulling double duty in Chicago (afternoon) and St. Paul (evening) on January 13, 1985, Brody jumped from the AWA right in the midst of an ongoing feud with “Crusher” Jerry Blackwell, leaving a string of nonappearances through January and February. Two months later, Brody walked out on Giant Baba as well and signed with Antonio Inoki’s New Japan. That decision was made after Brody found out that Baba was paying the Road Warriors the same money he was getting, even though it was the “Roadies” first Japanese tour, while Brody had been paying his dues for years.256

  Brody’s departure was jarring, but the AWA was used to the turnover in talent. Elsewhere in the AWA, Verne Gagne was working overtime to keep his central cities strong against the WWF. On the night of WrestleMania, he hurt Vince McMahon’s CCTV aspirations in Chicago by running a live show with 9,600 spectators. A few weeks later, on April 27–28, the AWA and WWF staged events within a day of each other in that same city, and the AWA held a 15,000-to-2,700 advantage. The week prior, the numbers were 12,000 to 7,000 in the Twin Cities with the AWA on top, and Gagne himself came out of retirement for a special tag team bout on that card. The 59-year-old local celebrity thrilled the St. Paul crowd by teaming with his son Greg to beat Nick Bockwinkel and Mr. Saito. McMahon put on his biggest seller in Minneapolis, Hulk Hogan versus Jesse Ventura, and got a good turnout. Hogan took the victory by count-out.

  Salt Lake City only saw the WWF once in 1985, on January 14, and attracted about 3,500 people. The rest of the year, Gagne’s AWA operated uncontested, and his attendance peaked at 10,455 on May 10, 1985, dropped to 1,400 in July, but went back up in November, only to seriously fall once again in December. The turbulence of fan interest was jolting, and was likely a barometer of how well Gagne’s TV show was selling the various storylines. Over in Denver, there was a fight for supremacy, and the closed-circuit sales for WrestleMania were surprisingly high. Attendance for WWF programs grew from 5,000 in May to 10,000 on November 27, 1985. In comparison, the November AWA show 12 days before drew 2,500 less. Had the instability in Salt Lake and the WWF’s growing popularity in Denver been Gagne’s only concerns, things wouldn’t have seemed so bad. But the problems multiplied in 1985, starting with the AWA losing one of its most important buildings to McMahon’s promotion.

  On June 10, 1985, the WWF assumed control of the Cow Palace in San Francisco, the AWA’s premier Bay Area venue since 1982. The move pushed Gagne out of northern California, and although he immediately sought to return, it was a damaging turn of events. In suburban Chicago, officials at the Rosemont Horizon rescinded whatever exclusivity Gagne had at the building and gave dates to McMahon, thus splitting bookings between the AWA and WWF. It was interesting because two months before the WWF’s Rosemont debut, the general manager of the facility, Paul Johnson, talked about “wrestling’s demise” with a reporter for the Chicago Tribune: “When [pro wrestling] made the cover of Sports Illustrated, when it became yuppified, I knew it was in trouble,” said Johnson, referencing Hulk Hogan’s famous April 29, 1985, cover.257

  Personal opinions aside, the WWF’s success was indisputable, and made a huge impact in its debut at the Rosemont Horizon on August 31. The WWF sold out the arena (18,211), and Hogan beat Nikolai Volkoff in the main event. The last time Gagne drew a Chicago crowd that large had been in November 1984, nine months earlier. McMahon maintained his advantage in Chicago through the end of the 1985, drawing better than the AWA over its next three cards. This was Gagne’s fourth core city to either waver or fall completely (the other three were San Francisco, Salt Lake City, and Denver). Despite all of his progress in the Northeast and the positive changes to his TV setup, he was seeing a genuine deterioration of his original circuit. The biggest indication of his decline was the dipping attendance in St. Paul.

  Gagne’s June 9, 1985, show drew an abysmal 1,500 fans, whereas the WWF had 5,000 on June 1 and 6,000 on June 30 in Minneapolis. Gagne outdrew McMahon in October (3,000 to 2,600), and the two promotions went head to head on Thanksgiving, November 28, 1985. An estimated 27,000 people went to wrestling matches that holiday, and the breakdown was 15,000 at the Met Center and 12,000 at the Civic Center. The winner was Vince McMahon and the WWF with former AWA stars Hulk Hogan, Jesse Ventura, and Jim Brunzell. Mr. T made a special appearance as well, in Hogan’s corner, and Paul Orndorff defeated Roddy Piper by disqualification. AWA fans saw the Road Warriors beat Michael Hayes and Buddy Roberts, and 27-year-old up-and-comer Scott Hall won a battle royal.

  Talent wasn’t a problem in Gagne’s universe in 1985. The Road Warriors and Freebirds were two of the hottest teams in the business, and rarely failed to draw at the box office. The heavyweight champion of the AWA, classic good guy Rick Martel, was a conditioned athlete with all the hallmarks of a wrestling idol. He had ring awareness and ability, but he lacked the charisma of Hogan or Ric Flair. Robert Wolf of the Chicago Tribune referred to him as “Mr. Bland.” Wolf added, “Martel lacks a heel’s aura of vitality.”258 Also in Gagne’s talent pool were Jim Garvin, Butch Reed, Larry Zbyszko, Nick Bockwinkel, and Curt Hennig. In September, Stan Hansen, the man known for breaking Bruno Sammartino’s neck in 1976, joined the promotion and was an immediate challenger for Martel’s belt.

  On August 27, 1985, Gagne ran a special benefit show in Boston at Matthews Arena (Northeastern University) for the Muscular Dystrophy Association. “Wrestling for a Cure,” as the event was billed, featured six matches and was broadcast live on WCVB-5.259 Martel wrestled Bockwinkel to a draw, Bob Backlund beat Larry Zbyszko by DQ, and the Road Warriors topped the Irwin Brothers. The charity performance took in an estimated $50,000 in donations and scored a 10.0 rating and 17 share on TV.260 August 27 was also the day the Minnesota-based promotion made its debut on national cable television. Gagne had landed placement on ESPN, offered as part of basic
cable around the country, elevating the organization to compete with the WWF on USA and Jim Crockett Promotions on WTBS.

  The cable station, which had selected Gagne’s over several other outfits, packaged AWA Championship Wrestling into a Tuesday night block with Roller Derby. “We’re pure as driven snow on the other six days, but we’re gonna have fun on Tuesdays,” explained Loren Matthews, director of programming for ESPN. “Personally, I think we should have added wrestling before now. The ratings speak for themselves. The WWF was the first to get a national cable outlet, and frankly they had the intelligence to promote their product. I believe the AWA compares very favorably to the WWF and we will give them their first national outlet.”261 ESPN was apparently confident in Gagne’s product, and scheduled it against USA’s Prime-Time Wrestling at 8:00 p.m. Considering all of Gagne’s recent struggles, winning the timeslot would be difficult, but AWA Championship Wrestling became one of ESPN’s highest-rated shows.

  On September 28, the AWA held the massive SuperClash ’85 show at Comiskey Park in Chicago featuring more than a dozen current, former, and future world heavyweight champions including AWA titleholder Rick Martel and NWA kingpin Ric Flair. Among the others on the card were Kerry Von Erich, the Road Warriors, Sgt. Slaughter, the Freebirds, Ivan and Nikita Koloff, and Giant Baba. Nearly 21,000 enthusiasts were in attendance, but Gagne and co-promoter Jim Crockett managed to end what should have been a triumphant night in a quarrel. Their disagreement reportedly stemmed from a disparity in the gate figures, with Gagne saying it was just over $200,000 and Crockett putting it near $280,000.262 The dispute was ultimately smoothed over, and combined JCP–AWA events continued through the end of the year. In fact, at the joint Meadowlands program on December 29, Martel dropped his AWA world title to Stan Hansen.

  1985 was treating Jim Crockett pretty well as JCP transitioned from a regional group to a national promotion, visiting New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Michigan. On June 29, he ran a show at the Olympic Auditorium in Los Angeles, drawing slightly less than 2,000 fans, with Flair, Magnum T.A., Dusty Rhodes, Tully Blanchard, Manny Fernandez, Krusher Khruschev, and a crew of locals. Ten days later, on July 9, the Rock and Roll Express made their JCP debut as regulars, and captured the NWA world tag team title from Khruschev and Ivan Koloff in Shelby, North Carolina.263 Ricky Morton and Robert Gibson were electrifying performers, and their popularity as teen idols tore down the house throughout the Carolinas and across Crockett’s circuit. They helped the box office take greatly, and with Rhodes still churning out bankable angles, JCP was, overall, a healthy promotion.

  In August 1985, Crockett treated as many as 18 of his top grapplers to an all-expenses-paid vacation to Las Vegas, a trip that was made in conjunction with the NWA’s annual convention.264 The meeting at the Dunes Hotel was key to the future of the organization, and, in keeping with the changing times, it was clear that some procedural things needed to be refined a bit. At the center of all issues was the heavyweight champion Ric Flair, and how he was booked. In years past, the world titleholder’s schedule had been arranged in more or less an even fashion, and every dues-paying affiliate received dates. Depending on the size of the territory, the champion made upwards of five appearances in a particular region before heading to the next. But in the new marketplace, Crockett needed Flair more for his own ventures, particularly as he pushed into new cities and WWF strongholds.

  But Crockett wasn’t only selling his own product for selfish reasons. He was promoting the NWA brand, marketing the stars of the Alliance, and carrying the largest burden of all members because of his growing role on the national stage. Sportswriters who didn’t know any better blatantly called JCP the “NWA,” even though the NWA was never a single promotion. The NWA was always a union of offices, and referring to Jim Crockett Promotions as “the NWA” was simply wrong. Writers didn’t care. They needed a three letter acronym, and since Flair was the NWA world heavyweight champion, it all seemed to make sense. At the NWA convention, the members of the board of directors retained their voice but conceded more and more power to Crockett, since his group was the face of the Alliance. Crockett was in the best position to fight the WWF, and affiliates gave him the resources he needed to win the wrestling war. There were going to be repercussions, though. The loss of dates on the world champion would hurt the other territories financially, and Crockett was sympathetic. To lessen the anxiety of his contemporaries, he agreed to set aside two open dates for Flair each week, but changed the payment scale from a percentage of the box office to a flat fee.

  There was another option for an NWA member to get dates on Flair, one that was more in tune with Crockett’s national objectives. Crockett agreed to send Flair and half a card of well-known JCP wrestlers to a promoter for 50 percent of the gate, a deal which sounded good on the surface. The local promoter would get a hefty boost by featuring the various stars, and Crockett would pocket some serious coin. But there was also a downside to the concept. If regional fans were exposed to a combination of Flair, Dusty Rhodes, the Rock and Roll Express, Tully Blanchard, Magnum T.A., and the Koloffs, would they really be energized to see the local promoter’s regular cast the following week? If the promoter had a group of upstarts, journeymen, and possibly one or two solid mid-level stars, their lineup wouldn’t compare, and all subsequent programs in the territory would be disappointments.

  And if that left the promoter in need of Crockett’s wrestlers to sustain future business, who exactly was in the driver’s seat? The door was then open for additional bookings and maybe eventually a buyout. In years past, when Flair would enter a territory alone, the local promoter picked the challenger and filled the rest of the card with his own roster. In contrast, Crockett was sending Flair with a ready-made challenger from his own WTBS angles. That meant there was no opportunity to build a regional grappler up through a highly competitive match with the NWA champ. Promoters also let Crockett set the ticket prices for his 50-50 combo shows, a stipulation they approved to ensure cooperation.265 The interesting thing was that none of Crockett’s pullback on the use of Flair and the proposal to split gates was received with lasting animosity. The members of the NWA needed Crockett more than ever, and were willing to compromise to keep things running smoothly. Jerry Jarrett, Ron Fuller, and Don Owen agreed to the 50-50 gate split, and Crockett supplied wrestlers for Lexington on September 5, Pensacola on September 15, Portland on September 23, and Memphis on September 30, 1985.266 As expected, attendance for these shows was generally good, although Pensacola’s 2,000 was a bust. To accommodate the demands of expansion, Crockett had to make cuts to his schedule in his home territory, and certain Mid-Atlantic towns that used to get more than one showing a month, saw a reduction. Also, he moved his regular WTBS studio tapings in Atlanta from Saturday to Sunday beginning on September 1, 1985, so his wrestlers could make the most of important Saturday night events on the road.

  Headed toward Starrcade ’85, booker Dusty Rhodes set up the main event for the annual extravaganza, and changed the direction of the promotion forever. On September 29, 1985, at the Omni in Atlanta, Ric Flair successfully defended his NWA championship against Nikita Koloff in a cage bout. Koloff then joined his uncle Ivan and Krusher Khruschev to pummel Flair, but Rhodes ran out to make a compassionate save. Ole and Arn Anderson, though, didn’t see it as a friendly gesture and jumped Rhodes. Flair joined in and broke the American Dream’s ankle, cementing his heel turn and establishing the headline attraction for Starrcade.267 It was Flair and Rhodes once again, and on Thanksgiving, November 28, Starrcade took place in two cities, Atlanta and Greensboro. Closed-circuit TV ensured fans at both arenas didn’t miss a second of action, and the matches were beamed to places like Charlotte and New Orleans as well. Both the Omni in Atlanta and the Coliseum in Greensboro sold out for a total gate of over $900,000. Rhodes pinned Flair in what appeared to be a title winning bid, but his victory became a disqualification win after officials acknowledged the interference of the Anders
ons. The Rock and Roll Express regained the world tag team belts from the Koloffs, and Magnum T.A. beat Tully Blanchard for the United States championship in an I-Quit cage bout. Once again, Starrcade was a winner.

  A week later, Crockett filed a federal antitrust lawsuit against Titan Sports and Vince McMahon in Richmond, Virginia.268 The suit claimed McMahon had conspired to push JCP out of the Richmond Coliseum and tried to get a local TV station to replace Crockett’s syndicated show with one produced by the WWF. Officials at the Coliseum quickly rectified the situation by adding Crockett events to its 1986 calendar.

  The WWF, incidentally, staged a special benefit in the heart of Crockett country, Charlotte, on December 16, 1985, and attracted 2,400 spectators.269 The event was for the family of 30-year-old Rick McGraw, a talented and popular undercard performer who passed away on November 1. The wrestling world nearly suffered another tragedy in Dallas on September 29, 1985, when Mike Von Erich nearly died of toxic shock syndrome.270 Von Erich acquired the bacterial infection following shoulder surgery, which he needed after the Middle East tour in August, and his body temperature rose to 107 degrees. For several days, he was listed in critical condition, but he slowly recovered, and doctors attributed his rebound to his superior athletic condition.271 Kevin Von Erich told the Associated Press that a “miracle took place,” and considering how touch and go things were, he appeared right.272