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WWE acquires the Watts video library


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I know there was rumours of it over on Kayfabe Memories yesterday:

 

PWInsider.com has confirmed that WWE has acquired the Watts video library consisting of Mid-South Wrestling and the original Universal Wrestling Federation. The library, which was owned by Bill Watt's ex-wife Ene as part of a divorce settlement, was the largest known video collection now owned by WWE. There had been numerous meetings and attempts to purchase the library by WWE but the two sides had been unable to come to terms. WWE will officially take possession of the library this week. One WWE source noted that there are already discussions internally to do a DVD documentary on the promotion as well as full fledged DVDs on Ted DiBiase, Junkyard Dog and Hacksaw Duggan, all of whom were major stars for the territory. I want to thank Brian Pickering for his help.

Mixed feelings but what we miss in licensed music we gain in better access and digitalisation.

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A History of Mid-South DVD could be great. Watts has done other projects with them in the last few years, so I would assume they could get him. I will absolutely take DiBiase and Duggan breaking down their feud.

 

Not sure why they would need to do any re-writing of history on a Mid-South DVD. I'm sure JR will tell the story about the oil markets collapsing and Crockett not knowing what to do with the brand. From a fan perspective, if you wanted anything from the Watts library you would have it by now with how available it's been, so not a big loss there.

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Very big news. Is that the final piece of the jigsaw? Does WWE now effectively own US wrestling history?

They don't own Memphis, and likely never will, as most of those tapes are gone. They also don't own smaller territories like Continental or Portland. But they do own all of the major ones, and even some not-so-major ones like Smoky Mountain.
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Put me down as one of the people who sees this as a good thing. Traders purchased basically everything the Watts site sold, so it's all available. The Watts family didn't have the resources to convert everything that wasn't on 3/4" UMatic tape, though, so if they were close to telling the truth about what else they have (and I'm guessing they were for various reasons), this is for the best.

 

Now we will finally be able to see the older JYD footage like the Freebirds feud, more than just a a few segments of KTBS studio stuff, hopefully some McGuirk stuff before Watts bought his part of the territory, etc. I have my fingers crossed on local promos since the stuff sold by the Watts site didn't have them, but hopefully WWE finds some on separate reels and is able to put things together, especially since they're doing a JYD DVD and there are pretty much zero prime JYD promos around.

 

The only domestic libraries of note left are PM Film and whatever Mario & Angelo Savoldi have, and even then, WWE appears to have some overlap there, as USWA Texas and Dumont Network stuff have shown up on Classics on Demand. I'd say maybe both quietly sold to WWE, but VCI started putting out PM Film sourced stuff on DVD again (a recent Einhorn IWA release) and the Savoldis are still using their stuff for PPVs and the classic match of the week on NWA On Fire's TV show.

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I wonder how much of them not owning the Portland library is due to them not knowing the majority of it was sitting in boxes in Buddy's garage/basement. I think that was the source of whatever footage has been made available in trading circles.

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Very big news. Is that the final piece of the jigsaw? Does WWE now effectively own US wrestling history?

They don't own Memphis, and likely never will, as most of those tapes are gone. They also don't own smaller territories like Continental or Portland. But they do own all of the major ones, and even some not-so-major ones like Smoky Mountain.

 

I thought the biggest obstacle to Memphis was that no one really knows who owns what anymore.

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I wonder how much of them not owning the Portland library is due to them not knowing the majority of it was sitting in boxes in Buddy's garage/basement. I think that was the source of whatever footage has been made available in trading circles.

Well, and it's all VHS (or Quasar Time Machine tapes that got moldy) sourced. The only broadcast quality tape Rich Patterson found (which he hasn't converted) in Buddy's garage was a 2" reel of the angle where he threw his title belt off a bridge.

 

Very big news. Is that the final piece of the jigsaw? Does WWE now effectively own US wrestling history?

They don't own Memphis, and likely never will, as most of those tapes are gone. They also don't own smaller territories like Continental or Portland. But they do own all of the major ones, and even some not-so-major ones like Smoky Mountain.

 

I thought the biggest obstacle to Memphis was that no one really knows who owns what anymore.

A little of column A, a little of column B. Cornette easily has the best collection but little is broadcast quality. He has a lot recorded off TV or dubbed from broadcast masters, though.
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Guest Slickster

Detroit and Indianapolis are still in other peoples' hands as well. I think Louise Afflis still own the WWA tapes - she was asking $100,000 for them on KM as of one year ago.

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I have my fingers crossed on local promos since the stuff sold by the Watts site didn't have them, but hopefully WWE finds some on separate reels and is able to put things together, especially since they're doing a JYD DVD and there are pretty much zero prime JYD promos around.

Keep 'em crossed. the AWA footage is in the same boat as the TV mostly seems without promos, and my understanding is that promo reels were done separately and sent out for the various markets along with the weekly tv. If they have the promo reels for the AWA, they aren't using them as the recent tv's that have appeared (most recently 7/25/81) have no promos.

 

...and that sucks, because the majority of the best stuff from AWA TV was the promos. 7/25/81 is all squash matches, and even an huge AWA fan like me saw that show and asked "what's the point?"

 

Hopefully the WWE does Mid South's stuff differently, but there was a lot more name vs. name action on Mid South TV that I would guess they might not feel a need to dress it up with additional promos and such.

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The documentary will be the best part of this because of all the people they have on hand to talk about it.

I was thinking about this yesterday and aside from Watts, Duggan, Dibiase and JR, who else do you think they could get? Mr. Wrestling II is in his 70s (but then so is Watts), here are some other names of reasonably prominent Watts guys who are still alive:

 

Bob Roop

Jerry Stubbs

Matt Bourne (legends contract as Doink?)

Butch Reed

Jim Cornette (highly unlikely?)

Bobby Eaton

Dennis Condrey (under WWE contract)

Ricky Morton

Robert Gibson

Killer Kahn

Chavo Guerrero

Hector Guerrero

Jake Roberts

Tommy Rogers

Bobby Fulton

Terry Taylor

Dutch Mantell

 

1. How many of these guys would be willing to be interviewed?

2. How many of the guys would the WWE BOTHER to contact?

 

Part of me thinks they'll just think "Oh, we've got JR and DiBiase, they are familiar to the modern fans, and we've got Watts so don't need anyone else".

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Jim Cornette (highly unlikely?)

If Ross or especially Watts asked him to do it, he probably would. The problem is, knowing Cornette, he'd probably demand some kind of conditions to do it that the WWE wouldn't agree to. And that's if they even wanted him in the first place, considering that he's spent the past several years burying them at every opportunity.
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I think when El-P was saying "revisionist" there, he was really trying to say "WWE-centric". That is what they do.

 

They rewrite the AWA as being where a lot of "future" WWF stars first plied their trade. They rewrite NWA and WCW history to be almost 100% geared towards the Monday Night Wars. So anything before that is just a precursor to that, unless it's Dusty vs. Flair or Steamboat vs. Flair, which have a sort of privileged status. There are a few other narratives that they allow "privileged status" in this way such as the Von Erichs vs. the Freebirds in Texas or the basic idea that territorial heads were like mob bosses.

 

I reckon somewhere at HQ they've probably got a "Bible" of what is considered "good history", and what not to mention.

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Great. More revisionnist history coming up !

My first thought as well

 

My first thought was that was a shitty, ultra whiny post and all history is fucking revisionist history.

 

The History major in me laughs at this post vehemently.

 

Oh, brother. Who cares? You know what they're going to do with the history, but who cares? You know what happened! I know what happened! Why can't you just enjoy the footage acquisition for what it will bring: cleaned up footage, and unearthed previously unseen footage. You gotta instead rush to be the first little whiny negative nellie and confirm for the 8000th time that you don't like WWE.

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Shawn Michaels started in Mid South and would likely be interviewed. There's your hook. "The greatest performer of our time got his start in Mid South." Steve Austin also grew up watching Houston Wrestling and would likely have a lot to say about it.

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