On this week’s episode of The Pro Wrasslin’ Reflection
Podcast episode 40… We review the Mid-South Wrestling July 7,1984!
Mr. Gimmick Travis Voeltz and The Professor Chabelo Vera Cruz relive this classic Mid- South Wrestling/UWF (Universal Wrestling Federation) Event!
Event information:
Mid-South Wrestling
Website http://www.universalwrestling.com
The Universal Wrestling Federation was owner Bill Watts' attempt at taking his Mid-South Wrestling promotion to a national level in 1986. The attempt failed and in 1987, Watts sold the promotion to Jim Crockett Promotions and it became part of what would later be known as World Championship Wrestling. The promotion had started out as an NWA Territory known as NWA Tri-State founded by Leroy McGuirk in the 1950s. Tri-State promoted in Oklahoma, Arkansas, Louisiana and Mississippi, the same area that Watts's Mid-South wrestling ran in before attempting to go national. In 1990, Herb Abrams started an unrelated wrestling promotion…
In 1979, Bill Watts bought out the Tri-State Wrestling circuit from Leroy McGuirk, and renamed the circuit Mid-South Wrestling (MSW, known officially as the Mid-South Wrestling Association). One of his first acts as owner was to withdraw from the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA), though MSW would still remain loosely aligned with the organization and continue to have the NWA World Champion defend his title on MSW shows. MSW began adding shows in Arkansas to its circuit. In 1982, the promotion grew to include Oklahoma when McGuirk shut down his Oklahoma-based promotion. He also formed an alliance with Houston promoter Paul Boesch to feature Mid-South talent on the cards at the Sam Houston Coliseum, one of the largest cities in America and one of the most fabled arenas in professional wrestling, as well as other parts of southeastern Texas.
Instead of cartoon-ish characters and interviews, Mid-South Wrestling focused on energetic matches and characters whose personas blurred the lines between good and evil and a physical style and episodic format.[2] The promotion ran shows in a mix of small venues and gigantic arenas. In 1980, a card pitting a "blinded" Junkyard Dog against Freebird Michael Hayes in the main event drew nearly 30,000 fans for a show presented by a promotion less than one year old. In 1984, Watts came out of retirement to team with a masked Junkyard Dog (under the name Stagger Lee) to face the Midnight Express to cap an angle in which the Express and manager Jim Cornette beat Watts on TV. The latter card also featured a showdown between Magnum T.A. and Mr. Wrestling II. The 1984 show drew 22,000 fans.
In the mid-to-late 1980s, the MSW began to expand nationally.[2] In 1985, Ted Turner invited Watts to air his Mid-South Wrestling program on SuperStation TBS as an alternative to the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) programming that ran on Saturday nights. Turner was angered by Vince McMahon and the WWF because McMahon reportedly promised Turner a studio-produced program, but he instead presented just two hours ( 2 hour show including commercial time ) of highlights from other WWF programming (see: Black Saturday (1984)). (Eventually, the WWF would have in-studio squash matches on the show on an infrequent basis.) MSW quickly became the highest-rated program on TBS, and Watts positioned himself to take over the two-hour Saturday block occupied by the WWF. His luck ran out when former Georgia promoter Jim Barnett helped broker a deal that allowed NWA promoter Jim Crockett, Jr., to buy the slot from McMahon and become the exclusive wrestling promotion for TBS. The deal forced the elimination of the Mid-South Wrestling program from the TBS schedule. Watts made one more attempt at going national the following year under the auspices of the Universal Wrestling Federation
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Match Card
Tag Team Match
Midnight Express vs. Pretty Young Things
Singles Match
Dr. Death Steve Williams vs. Hans Schroeder
Tag Team Match
The Fantastics vs. Dale Veasey and Bob Brown
Singles Match
Sonny King vs. Buddy Landel
Singles Match
Mr. Wrestling II vs. Mike Jackson
Singles Match
Ernie Ladd vs. Steve Brinson
Singles Match
Krusher Kruschev vs. Rick McCord
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