Death of the Territories

by Tim Hornbaker

  Before a big World Class program at the Cotton Bowl in Dallas on October 6, 1985, Kerry and Kevin Von Erich appeared alongside Mike for an interview at Baylor Hospital. They discussed what a fighter Mike was and indicated that he was going to make his return to pro wrestling, even if it took months to regain his physical health. Mike had lost upwards of 80 pounds, and there were concerns about brain damage from his extremely high fever. Mike would be at the Cotton Bowl to thank fans, in a move that some saw as exploiting his condition to sell tickets. More than 25,000 fans turned out to see the spectacle and not only witnessed Mike’s return, but Kerry and Kevin’s victory over Chris Adams and Gino Hernandez in a hair versus hair bout.273

  Jack Adkisson introduced his “nephew” Lance Von Erich during the Cotton Bowl event, the “son” of Fritz’s “brother” Waldo. Lance was no blood relation, and had competed as Ricky Vaughan in the Pacific Northwest in 1984–85. But with his son Mike out of action indefinitely, and Kerry and Kevin bruised and battered from a grueling schedule, Adkisson needed a new Von Erich to lessen the burden on the family. On October 28, Lance wrestled NWA champion Ric Flair to a no contest in what ended up being the Nature Boy’s final showing for World Class. A week later, Rick Rude, coming off a successful tour of Florida, won the American heavyweight championship from Iceman Parsons in Fort Worth.

  Aside from the Cotton Bowl event and holiday shows on Thanksgiving and Christmas at Reunion Arena, Adkisson was dealing with a downturn in fan enthusiasm. Attendance for weekly programs in Fort Worth dropped to under 500 late in the summer of 1985, and some of the matchups were less than intriguing. In December, the Von Erich–Freebirds conflict resumed, and Adkisson hoped there was still a little box-office magic left in their feud. Notably, for the first seven months of 1985, Adkisson had lent many of his top wrestlers, including his sons, to Bob Geigel in St. Louis. His involvement, however, was phased out after the July 12, 1985, program, and Geigel pulled in more resources from his Kansas City promotion, the AWA, and Jim Crockett. But despite these efforts, NWA-branded grappling in St. Louis was at its lowest point in recent memory. Crowds were hovering between 1,300 and 1,800, and it wasn’t until Flair returned on August 2 that attendance reached 2,600. The Kiel Auditorium, a traditional NWA venue with a historic past, was routinely packed when Sam Muchnick presided over wrestling in St. Louis. Lou Thesz, Pat O’Connor, Gene Kiniski, and Harley Race each left it all on the mat for the respectful fans at the Kiel. In 1985, there was a lot of disappointment in St. Louis, and because the wrestling war was well into its second year, people were tired of the quarreling. The active operations of the St. Louis Wrestling Club and the WWF were too much for one city, and both sides were worse off than they had been in 1984. But the WWF was clearly winning the attendance battle between July and September 1985, and the Kiel management took notice. Finally, officials decided to break with Geigel and opted into an exclusive deal with Vince McMahon beginning on October 25.

  Losing the Kiel was a deathblow to the St. Louis Wrestling Club, and Geigel and his partners were running on fumes. On November 29, 1985, they rented the more expensive (and much larger) St. Louis Arena for a combined show featuring mostly Jim Crockett talent. Only three wrestlers, Jerry Blackwell, Art Crews, and Tarzan Goto, were Geigel regulars, and in the main event, Ric Flair and Dusty Rhodes battled to an inconclusive double-disqualification finish, which would’ve been a big no-no during the Muchnick era. They drew 3,600, and across town at the Kiel, that same night, the WWF pulled in 4,300 people with Andre the Giant going over King Kong Bundy by DQ. The influence of Crockett in St. Louis was expected to remain at that high level, and there had been rumors since January that he was trying to leverage a buyout for full rights to the city.

  Geigel was seriously considering a deal. Over in Kansas City, his crowds were routinely under 1,000, but occasionally 2,000 to 2,200 for bigger shows. The WWF was doing double that consistently.

  Tulsa, Oklahoma, was a good four-hour drive southwest from Kansas City, and surprisingly, it was one of the few major wrestling metropolises that McMahon had yet to target. On September 21, 1985, he changed that by running a program at the Expo Square Pavilion with two old Mid-South stars, Junkyard Dog and Mr. Wrestling II, on the bill. But Bill Watts didn’t have to worry yet, as only 1,200 people were interested in the WWF’s product. The next night, Watts ran Tulsa, and 7,200 of his loyal customers saw a huge eight-man tag team main event, plus appearances by Kerry and Kevin Von Erich, Jake Roberts, and Butch Reed.274

  The WWF made its debut in Portland, Oregon, the following month, on October 7, 1985, and brought a sizable headline attraction. On one side were Andre the Giant and Junkyard Dog, and on the other, Big John Studd and King Kong Bundy. Apparently, the ring held up under the massive weight, but the finish was not exactly satisfying to the 3,500 in attendance. The bout ended in a double DQ. Also on the card was Matt Borne, a perennial Pacific Northwest grappler, who drew with Lanny Poffo. Two WWF representatives, Red Bastien and Jesse Ventura, spoke with a journalist from the Portland Oregonian for an edition the next day. “All we expected tonight was three or four thousand fans and maybe $30,000,” explained Bastien, a west coast agent for the WWF. “The history of the WWF is that we really don’t do that well when we go into a place for the first time. It takes awhile for our people to be recognized. We have a product we think people want to see. It’s proven to be a good product in other markets and I don’t see why Portland has to be deprived.” Ventura called his time wrestling for Don Owen early in his career “rookie wrestling, like the minor leagues in baseball.” He went on to say: “I respect Don Owen, and I appreciate what he did for me just as I think he appreciates the money I made for him. But this is business. Personal feelings can’t enter into business. I would hope that Don Owen would accept it as that. I heard he came out in the newspaper and told people not to come here tonight. I think it’s kind of sad that he would stoop to that. Doesn’t he think people are intelligent enough to decide for themselves whether they want to come or not? If it was me, I’d consider it an insult to my intelligence. We’re not out to put anybody out of business. You got Burger King on one corner and McDonald’s on another. We’re just exploiting what society’s made of, and that’s capitalism.”275

  As a whole, 1985 was a memorable year for supershow spectaculars. There was WrestleMania, the Great American Bash, SuperClash, and Starrcade. An oft-forgotten all-star extravaganza occurred on August 3, 1985, at Aloha Stadium in Honolulu, Hawaii. Promoted as “A Hot Summer Night,” the show featured 16 matches and 44 wrestlers from the NWA, WWF, and New Japan. In the main event world title match, Ric Flair retained his belt against Sivi Afi after a double DQ. Antonio Inoki wrestled Bruiser Brody to a double count-out. Andre the Giant teamed with Steve Collins and Angelo Mosca to beat Kevin Sullivan, Mark Lewin, and King Kong Bundy, while Magnum T.A. partnered with Dusty Rhodes to topple Nikita Koloff and Krusher Khruschev. The audience of 12,553 was treated to an international event, and promoter Lia Maivia scored a six-figure gate. Backstage, there was an extra confrontation, which only insiders were privy to. For reasons unknown, but perhaps relating to the booking of the event or payoffs, Jim Crockett got into a heated argument with Polynesian matchmaker Lars Anderson, and Anderson threw a drink in the promoter’s face.276

  Even when promoters were cooperating for a successful supershow, tempers were high. “A Hot Summer Night” was no different, and with Crockett fast becoming the NWA’s lone power broker, the politics inside the Alliance were curiouser and curiouser.

  Chapter Fifteen

  The War Expands Again

  In a way, the pundits were right. The World Wrestling Federation had overexposed itself and faced backlash in the days and weeks after WrestleMania. The network appearances, late-night interviews, and endless mainstream hype was beyond anything pro wrestling had ever seen, and fans in many markets were exhausted. While a decline in ticket sales after a highly anticipated show wasn’t unusual, the massive wav
e of publicity hurt the WWF expansion in a number of battleground cities. Events in St. Louis, Miami, and Chicago were at half or below-half capacity and the Omni Coliseum in Atlanta, which sat 16,000, had about 900 spectators on April 28, 1985. Carver Arena in Peoria, Illinois, enjoyed two near-sellouts of 12,000 before WrestleMania, only to drop dramatically after the spectacle to only 1,200 on May 6, 1985.277

  The WWF drew consistently in core cities like New York, Boston, and Philadelphia, but there was the occasional bump in the road. Not surprisingly, Hulk Hogan was often the difference between a great house and a mediocre or poor one. “People just idolize Hulk Hogan,” explained Mike Weber, a media coordinator for the WWF. “One promoter told me he introduced his kids to Hulk Hogan and said they couldn’t have been more impressed if they’d met Jesus Christ himself.”278 Two weeks after WrestleMania, Los Angeles and Oakland popped big for the WWF with estimated crowds of 12,000 to see Hogan wrestle Roddy Piper in singles bouts. But the promotion returned to the West Coast in May without Hogan, and attendance was cut in half. In July, the numbers improved to 14,000 in northern and southern California with Hogan back on top.

  Any sign of a depressed fanbase completely disappeared by July and August 1985, and the WWF entered one of the most lucrative periods in its history. Vince McMahon scored extraordinary sellouts in Toronto, Tampa, Detroit, Chicago, and Los Angeles, and achieved additional 20,000-plus crowds in Montreal, Columbus, and Foxboro.279 The Foxboro program, at Sullivan Stadium, attracted 23,000 for the inaugural King of the Ring, a 16-man tournament won by Don Muraco. The status of Montreal was also notable. Prior to August 1985, the city was run by the International Wrestling group in conjunction with the AWA. McMahon stepped in and bought IW’s television time, and used Edouard Carpentier as a French-language commentator for the WWF’s Maple Leaf Wrestling. IW was weakened and soon entered an agreement with McMahon to co-promote the Montreal Forum and the Colisée de Quebec in Quebec City.280

  McMahon hoped Montreal would resemble all the success in Toronto rather than the disappointment of western Canada. After a costly purchase of the Calgary territory and staging exactly four shows, the WWF vacated the region because of lackluster support. The withdrawal included Edmonton and Vancouver as well, and paved the way for locally based Stampede Wrestling to make its return in the summer of 1985.281 Although the Calgary situation went bust, McMahon picked up three incredible workers in the deal: Bret Hart, Dynamite Kid, and Davey Boy Smith. Bret was one of Stu Hart’s 12 children, and he’d learned grappling from the ground up in the famous Dungeon. In 1985, 28-year-old Bret was a fundamentally strong competitor, but since he wasn’t overly muscular or freakish in some way, he languished in prelim or mid-card roles before joining with brother-in-law Jim Neidhart as part of a heel tag team, the Hart Foundation, managed by Jimmy Hart.

  Davey Boy Smith and Dynamite Kid were actually cousins from England, and refined their skills working for Stu Hart in Calgary. By 1984–85, they were internationally renowned, getting better by the match. Beginning in March 1985, the duo (soon to be known as the British Bulldogs) jumped onto the WWF main circuit and wowed audiences with their slick maneuvers and innovative techniques. As fan favorites, it was only natural that they’d feud with Hart and Neidhart, and that’s exactly what happened. The four men were capable of putting on wrestling clinics, and were often the highlight of house shows. Many people didn’t know, though, that Davey Boy had married Bret’s sister Diana the October before, and these competitors were close inside the ring and out.

  On the TV front, Saturday Night’s Main Event on NBC was a major hit, and replaced reruns of Saturday Night Live four times between May 1985 and January 1986. Its debut episode on May 11, 1985, drew an 8.8 rating and a 26 share, the network’s second highest of the season in that timeslot behind an SNL hosted by Eddie Murphy.282 NBC executives were taken aback by the numbers, and behind producer Dick Ebersol, pushed for another broadcast on October 5 featuring the real in-ring wedding of wrestler Uncle Elmer to fiancée Joyce. The press ate the story up, printing reports and photos of the affair from coast to coast. “Rasslin’ and a Polish wedding, both punctuated by rock music,” the Akron Beacon Journal declared. “That’s Saturday Night’s Main Event.”283 The Allentown Morning Call declared the program a “variety show with a lot of beefcake.”284 Fans embraced SNME, and although ratings fell to 6.8 for the third episode, it rose back to 10.4 for the fourth, on January 4, 1986.

  While the Saturday night show appealed to adults and the late-night crowd, a Saturday morning animated program targeted children. Hulk Hogan’s Rock ’n’ Wrestling debuted on CBS on September 14, 1985, and featured the cartoon versions of Hogan, Roddy Piper, Junkyard Dog, and other WWF personalities. Kids were hooked by the various characters, and WWF memorabilia flew off the shelves at record pace. Smartly, Titan Sports was ready for the barrage, and had a plethora of products to offer, from lunch boxes to trading cards.285 Action figures were especially popular. Hogan first appeared with his doll at the American International Toy Fair in New York in February 1985, and over the next year, LJN Toys sold an incredible four million units.286

  In the talent department, the WWF experienced the normal comings and goings. Losses included the Brisco Brothers, Dick Murdoch, Adrian Adonis, Jimmy Snuka, and Barry Windham. Adonis jumped back to the WWF, as did Brian Blair in 1985, and among the newcomers were Hercules Hernandez, Cousin Luke, Cousin Junior, Corporal Kirchner, Ted Arcidi, and Dan Spivey. Kirchner was a real army veteran and assumed the promotion’s patriotic voice in the aftermath of Sgt. Slaughter’s departure. Late in the year, he feuded with Nikolai Volkoff, a supporter of the Soviet Union. Arcidi was a tremendous powerlifter, and Spivey was a 6-foot-8 protégé of Dusty Rhodes with only two years of pro experience. He assumed many of Windham’s bookings, and teamed regularly with Mike Rotundo. Of all the fresh faces, Randy Savage and Terry Funk were the two biggest additions, and both were booked into high-profile matches against Hogan for the world title.

  A former NWA champion, Funk was a living legend. He was personable, edgy, and a lot of fun to watch work the squared circle. In his debut, he pummeled WWF official Mel Phillips, and over a several month period, he feuded with Junkyard Dog. Despite being on the losing end of many of his bouts with JYD and Hogan, Funk still displayed a level of ring mastery and aptitude the WWF needed. Savage was a one-of-a-kind performer as well, and his madcap behavior captivated live crowds and TV audiences alike. He was always unpredictable, and he backed up his zany interviews with exceptional in-ring skill. On November 7, 1985, Savage advanced to the finals of the Wrestling Classic tournament in Chicago, the WWF’s first widespread pay-per-view offering, but lost to Junkyard Dog by count-out.287 At the end of December, Savage took a count-out win from Hogan before a sellout crowd at Madison Square Garden. For longtime WWF fans, the return of former two-time heavyweight champion Bruno Sammartino as a semi-active competitor was a nice treat during 1985. Appearing first as a tag team partner with his son, David, Bruno went on to feud with Roddy Piper, and their conflict resulted in sellouts in Pittsburgh and Boston in November 1985 and February 1986. Another former WWWF titleholder, Pedro Morales, was also back in the fold, and he helped lead the group’s charge into his native Puerto Rico for the first time on October 19, 1985. The WWF added Hogan, Savage, and Cyndi Lauper, who was in Wendi Richter’s corner, to the San Juan bill, but the promotion was at a great disadvantage going head to head with the local WWC outfit. The WWC outdrew the WWF 10,000 to 1,200.

  December 1985 marked the two-year anniversary of Vince McMahon’s St. Louis invasion and the beginning of the wrestling war. Since embarking on that unprecedented attempt to wrangle the profession into a WWF-controlled headlock, he’d experienced a profusion of growth, both personal and professional. In that time, McMahon had hustled for every gain his company experienced as the World Wrestling Federation became a household name. The WWF was syndicated to 160 stations as of January 1986, up from less than 50 in early 1984,
and it was still actively hunting new markets.288 McMahon set up an elaborate booth with a ring at the National Association of Television Program Executives (NATPE) in New Orleans from January 16 to 21, 1986.289 In addition, he took out a full-page advertisement in the trade publication Broadcasting Magazine, and highlighted the accomplishments of the WWF. It touted the record ratings on MTV, the number-one rating in children’s programming on CBS, and that Saturday Night’s Main Event was “rated number 15 with men, 18 to 49, out of all network shows.” In terms of syndication itself, the advertisement cited a “healthy 10.8 national NTI (Nielsen Television Index),” which was essentially a national ratings average.290 The sales methods were successful, and the WWF added 30 new stations over the next three months.291

  The revenue streams of Titan Sports were diversified, much more than any competitor. Show gates were supplemented by ad revenue, national TV sponsorship, merchandising, the sale of video cassettes through Coliseum Home Video (a few tapes had gone platinum), a top-selling album featuring wrestlers as vocalists, and a magazine with a circulation of 200,000. Adding the money derived from production for NBC and CBS as well, and Titan Sports was logging impressive annual revenue. McMahon bided his time after his great TV expansion of 1984–85, but it was obvious he needed to rework some of his early deals to better correspond with the current status and popularity of the WWF. Back when he was first fishing for stations in places like Los Angeles, Minneapolis, and Chicago, he was more than willing to pay weekly amounts to get his promotion exposure. But by 1986, the WWF was no longer an unknown with a questionable product. It was a proven entity with a verifiable track record, ratings history, and huge publicity. TV executives wanted to avoid renegotiations at all costs, but McMahon was shrewd and amended deals where he could. WWF president Frank Tunney gave an insightful quote to the Financial Post about McMahon in 1986, explaining how many people, regardless of their industry, folded up after being confronted by “restrictions.” McMahon never did. “He had the guts to keep going,” Tunney said, and McMahon’s lengthy battle to operate in Louisiana is a perfect example of that.292