clintthecrippler

I just completed a Mid-South/UWF project and knowing how the Chris Adams story ends makes it even more jarring that UWF's handling of the Chris Adams airplane arrest was to present him as a returning hero upon release referencing that he had gone to jail and done his time without specifically mentioning the incident, and having him give very surface-level generic speeches about how "alcohol is a drug too" that were on the same level as basic high school lectures about drinking and driving, and then having Iceman turn on him using "Jail Bird" as a heel taunt.

As far as house show commentary is concerned, I believe also sometime in 88 they stopped sending commentators to Maple Leaf Gardens and started recording commentary for the Toronto footage in post-production as well since none of those shows were ever actually broadcasted live and just used for footage to fulfill guidelines for Canadian television content and then cycle back out to the recap shows (Prime Time/All-American/Spotlight) and Coliseum Video.

I just finished doing a Mid-South/UWF watch, the full 1981 through a couple of months into the Crockett takeover, and I while I don't doubt that the regional economic issues played a part in Watts ultimately selling, I do think the ambitiousness of the play for going national gets downplayed as a financial drain. Loading up on TV stations across the country did ultimately give them more leverage to sell to Crockett, but almost every attempt at going into a new market with house shows turned out disastrous. As far as "new" markets that embraced the UWF for live attendance, efforts to run house shows in new TV markets to success was pretty much limited to Kansas City, where they drew 6,000 for a January 1987 show and Albuquerque is reported to have drawn 6,000 fans in February. Efforts to run Memphis did okay but not exceptional or remotely a threat to the home promotion. Late-stage house show runs into California and Chicago/Minneapolis were disastrous though, and I honestly wonder if receipt of initial "first day of sale" tickets for those runs, both sets of shows occurring in the final 2-3 weeks before selling to Crockett, played a deciding factor into Watts and Ross expediting efforts to make a sale. And while a Summer 1986 co-promotion with JCP did 7,500 at Reunion Arena, return efforts on their own to Dallas didn't come close to matching that show, and the UWF turning Power Pro Wrestling into a separate show with its own set of professionally-produced television tapings and running those tapings in Fort Worth just seemed to reinforce that as far as the Metroplex was concerned, that market was burnt and instead of swooping in to on a weakened competitor, it just fueled the fire, especially as more and more empty seats, and even empty ROWS on the floor, are very visible as time goes on with the Power Pro tapings.

I can't help with advice on how to buy tickets, but Kyoto does have THIS venue, KBS Hall, which has some sort of wrestling show about twice a month and has one of the most gorgeous backdrops for a wrestling venue, Dragon Gate is the one that runs there most often though:

Am currently doing a UWF Watts 1986 watch project as a continuation of having watched through all of the Mid-South TV that was on Peacock. Shared these thoughts elsewhere but figured I would share here as well if anyone else was interested in where I thought the UWF stood during their own efforts to expand nationally, circa September 1986. The car occasionally runs rough, but this late in the year it definitely does not feel like a promotion that would be sold off merely six months later, and fully shut down eight months after that. THE GOOD The Fantastics - Bobby Fulton and Tommy Rogers are easily my MVP's of 1986 UWF at this point, and in all honesty, come off like the most over babyfaces in the entire company as well. Potentially because they're the only top babyfaces that don't disappear for a few weeks for Japan tours, they are featured nearly every week and every match that's against competitive opponents are strong contenders for the best American TV matches that year. The vaunted feud with the Sheepherders is well-regarded as it should be, but there's also an incredible title defense against John Tatum and Jack Victory, and their matches with Eddie Gilbert and Sting are also delivering big, and doing A LOT to get both Eddie and Sting over the hump both in terms of credibility and in-ring performance. Sting - Holy shit, Jim Hellwig leaving the company was absolutely the best thing that could have happened for Sting at this pivotal early stage of his career. Both wrestlers look terrible in their early appearances as a tag team, but when Hellwig leaves, the flower begins to bloom. Not being trapped working in a "Road Warriors"-inspired beatdown tag team, Sting already begins showing some signs of personality being pushed as a singles as a few weeks. But after linking up with Eddie Gilbert and Rick Steiner (who also similarly is becoming more fully-formed by the week) as part of Hot Stuff & Hyatt International, he really starts to show out, and you can see him getting better and better every time he is in the ring with the Fantastics. The screams and howls that we know and love get more expressive, and he starts adding the more high-flying aspect of his offense that would make him stand out as he lost the more unsightly muscle bulk. Watching him develop in 1986 was a similar feeling to watching John Nord/The Barbarian develop in 1985. Eddie Gilbert - after a solid year of start-stop pushes, a babyface tease, and a "manager of foreign menaces" angle that admittedly did have one hot TV angle with the Russian beatdown of Bill Watts but otherwise never really felt earnest and also dragged down by Korchenko and Taras Bulba being super low-end wrestlers, "Hot Stuff" finally shines and feels fully fleshed out being aligned with Missy Hyatt and taking Sting and Rick Steiner under his managerial guidance. The chemistry with Missy in promos is off the charts and it's no shock they ended up becoming an outside-the-ring item, the sniping week-to-week with Tatum over the Hot Stuff and Hyatt International alliance is always entertaining, and being able to brag about taking two up-and-coming stars of the future in Sting and Rick Steiner results in Eddie coming off the most confident that he has been so far on the mic as a heel. Sliding into a manager/wrestler role as well was also a massive help in boosting both his credibility and overall presence on the weekly TV. Michael Hayes on color commentary - finally, the great "Joel Watts problem" is put to rest. The Fabulous Freebirds as a whole was a nice boost to the promotion, but Michael Hayes stepping in as the regular weekly color commentator roles boosted the TV in such a powerful manner. Joel Watts is finally relegated to an off-camera production position (which to be fair, it sounds like that's where his skills shined the most with the video packages and music videos that he had produced over the last couple of years), and the team of Jim Ross and Michael Hayes feels pretty well-worn and on a good rhythm from Week One of the arrangement. Hayes is generally great as a heel commentator as well, going more for the Jesse Ventura route of "heel advocate" but acknowledging when a face is having a great performance in the ring, not spending entire undercard matches only talking about himself or the Freebirds, and not leaning too much on pretending heels aren't cheating during their matches. Just a major breath of fresh air and I'm sure as the national television push was happening, the team of Ross and Hayes came off so much better to new audiences than Ross and Joel Watts, or the few weeks where it was Bill and Joel father-and-son together. Missy Hyatt/Dark Journey - Dark Journey returns as a face after a brief absence when Dick Slater leaves the territory, first feuding with Lady Maxine, but when the latter leaves the territory herself, the timing could not have been more perfect as Missy Hyatt has now arrived with John Tatum, and the two of them end up being perfect foils for each other. Their physical interactions are very much "catfight" spots, but when those spots occur it's also the loudest crowd pop of the show, and damn that energy is infectious when watching week-to-week. And I gotta say, this incarnation of heel Missy Hyatt in 1986 is maybe the absolute best "Missy Hyatt" she ever was on TV. She came off as a natural and so much more comfortable as a snotty "Beverly Hills" rich girl heel than she probably did any other time in her career. WCW spent so much time trying to make her a babyface/talking head/announcer that I honestly wonder if some money and/or TV ratings got pissed away by her not being a heel personality from 1989-1993. And aesthetically, I'll just say that I had to tell myself to "calm down" nearly every time she was on TV. THE MIDDLE: Terry Gordy as the first UWF Champion - I love Terry Gordy. On paper he is a credible choice as the first UWF Champion. But watching his reign play out on the week-to-week TV, outside of taped arena footage of a clean win over Ted Dibiase, they really don't do a helluva lot to attempt making him as credible of a "absolute TOP GUY" champion as Hogan or Flair, and his status as "UWF Champion" as the weeks go on doesn't feel like that much more of a graduation beyond the previous North American Championship. He has televised defenses against Hacksaw Duggan and Steve Williams, but the former ends with a "we're outta time" finish, and the latter ends with a disputed double-pin finish. I also think that it may have been a mistake making the first UWF Champion someone that was part of a larger group or stable. Ric Flair and Jim Crockett could get away with it because while he was definitely part of a dominant group, at the end of the day, Ric Flair was still presented as the undisputed TOP GUY. Gordy on the other hand is presented as an "equal" with Hayes in the Freebirds in a way that I think does some damage to him being the TOP GUY. I couldn't help but shake my head when one week of television saw Michael Hayes on commentary after attacking Ted Dibiase, and as "protection" Gordy and Buddy Roberts were guarding the commentary booth playing lookout duty. Gordy had his UWF Championship strapped around his waist while doing guard duty, and it just seemed super off having your now-national promotion's champion spending an entire episode on lookout duty for your heel announcer. Though I am almost at the point where that reign is about to end... One Man Gang - I love One Man Gang. He comes in with a super-hot angle where his attack on Hacksaw Duggan arguably costs the roughneck the UWF Championship Tournament. But the follow-up from week-to-week is weird and inconsistent. Instead of straight-up murdering jobbers and midcarders sending them off on stretchers, his squash matches are kind of generic, and any competitive matches he has are also inordinately booked into the "we're outta time" slot. The last TV I've watched was 9/20/86, ostensibly heading into the home stretch of where his push towards becoming the new UWF Champion should be beginning, and he does NOT feel like someone that would be the next UWF Champion. Ted Dibiase/Hacksaw Duggan/Steve Williams - All three wrestlers are still very over and Dibiase/Williams are presented in a hot manner as foils for the Freebirds, and they do keep Duggan hot as he chases One Man Gang for revenge, even if I have qualms about how OMG is booked during this time. But the tolls of having all three wrestlers also becoming more in demand from All Japan and New Japan are VERY visible in the weekly TV, with BOTH Dibiase and Williams being overseas for the entire month of July and being very conspicuous in their absence, even with the excuse of an injury angle for Dr. Death. And while I am not as down as Terry Taylor as a face in Mid-South/UWF, him being the only main event singles face that doesn't go away for a Japan payday only goes so far. THE BAD Bill Watts returns for one more "Last Stampede" - Watts returning in 1984 was AWESOME. I enjoyed the hell out of Watts returning to take it to Devastation Inc. and pulling "Midnight Rider" shenanigans against Akbar in 1985. The 1986 return got off to a fantastic start with the Russian beatdown angle, but after the series of JCP/UWF co-promotion shows with Dusty as his partner against the Russians, Watts hangs around aligning himself alongside Dibiase, Williams, and Terry Taylor in brawls and matches with the Freebirds, with Watts and Taylor essentially being stand-ins for Dibiase and Williams for the month they are away, and now it feels it major diminishing returns. The Freebirds came in hot, and Gordy is the UWF Champion, but now they are all feeding for Watts on beatdowns for a month straight. "WE'RE OUTTA TIME!" - As bad of a reputation that 1986/87 Jim Crockett TV has for pulling this stunt, 1986 UWF may honestly have been a much more egregious offender. There are literally EIGHT straight weeks of TV where the main event is "OUTTA TIME". They would do this very occasionally in Mid-South 84/85, but always show the finish the following week. In 1986 during the UWF era, they don't bother with that at all, and to add insult to injury, Jim Ross would be VERY explicit when closing the show about how "you have to come out to see UWF action live". The only time they did show how the match ended the following week during this stretch was when Terry Gordy defended the UWF Championship against Hacksaw Duggan, but even that was a bitter pill because they pulled "WE'RE OUTTA TIME" out of a fucking UWF Championship match that had been hyped for the entire show. Kamala's departure from the UWF - Kamala returned but after only a few months back, got the big offer from Vince to come up to New York to have the run against Hogan. So what do you do if you are the UWF? You show months-old footage on the main weekly television of Duggan beating Kamala in Houston but dub over new commentary promoting that this match was "THE FINAL BATTLE"! Frank Dusek on commentary during the Dr. Death injury angle - They shot the Freebirds piledriving Dr. Death on the floor at an arena show, so instead of Jim Ross being apoplectic selling this angle like Steve Williams got shot to death, we're stuck with Frank Dusek doing voiceover commentary on a special report, and it is one of the worst calls I have ever heard for an injury angle. Dusek's commentary style can be best described as "good at matter-of-factly shouting what's happening no voice modulation in any direction". He steps in on color commentary on a couple of UWF episodes when Hayes has to wrestle a match or work an angle, and really adds nothing to the call. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7_20eFRvVnc Overall, while the tires could use some air, this is still a mostly fun show to follow even this late into 1986.

A fantastic video, but one thing I think worth noting on the Jack Reynolds hiring in 1984 is that he had hosted the initial TV episodes of the Pro Wrestling USA cooperative that was started by NWA promoters and the AWA to combat Vince heading into their territories, so its been a long held theory by some that Jack Reynolds was hired away for the WWF All-Star gig specifically to mess with that as opposed to being based on his prior IWA experience. I believe also that due to many of the Pro Wrestling USA studio segments being pre-taped in bulk that there are a few weeks where if your TV market had stations airing Pro Wrestling USA and All-Star Wrestling that Jack Reynolds could be seen hosting both programs.

Yeah my first thought was if THAT is how Zac as Kevin is looking for the movie how fucking jacked is the guy thats playing Kerry?

I will always love that the ripoff wave led to the BLADE RUNNERS Sting and Warrior being another wave of Road Warrior clones more than aping anything from the actual BLADE RUNNER movie. And if I remember, the origin of OZ was that it was an intentional effort by Jim Herd to integrate Turner/MGM-owned IP into WCW as opposed to being a ripoff/knockoff/"inspired by". That was the same impetus for the "Ric Flair as SPARTACUS" chatter around that time too.

I am working my way through a 1984 Mid-South watch but also looping in Houston matches and episodes of Power Pro from the era, and man, you think the anti-"New York" sentiment was wild on the main Mid-South TV, it gets taken to astronomically comical levels on Power Pro, where Watts is dubbing new commentary over year-old Houston footage of guys that have gone to WWF losing to current Mid-South stars and trying to pass it off as current for the broadcast week. One such 1983 Houston match re-purposed for broadcast in Fall 1984 was Butch Reed vs The Iron Sheik. Oh, Butch Reed is a heel in Mid-South 1984? Well, no problem, we'll just dub new commentary about how Butch Reed is normally not a favorite of the fans, but was inspired by the patriotism of the 1984 Summer Olympics and the chance to defeat a former World Wrestling Federation Heavyweight Champion! Which still somehow wasn't as ridiculous as airing a 1983 match between Ted DiBiase and Tito Santana, and implying on the newly dubbed 1984 commentary that while Tito is currently that WWF Intercontinental Champion, this is a non-title match because "perhaps Tito wasn't confident in his abilities against the stars of Mid-South since taking on weaker competition in New York". Oh and that episode of Power Pro ended with a teaser from Jim Ross where he talked about how the WWF TV announcers claim that Kamala has never been slammed, but next week we are going to show footage of all of the Mid-South stars that have slammed Kamala. The current wave of WWE vs AEW sniping is fucking child's play.

Motorhead's concert in LA two days before Wrestlemania Goes Hollywood was the end of my "I dont need earplugs" stubbornness. That show was on a Friday night and me ears were still ringing deep into the day on Monday. Though I am sure sitting right next to the pyro at Wrestlemania on Sunday didn't exactly help that recovery either. Oh man, THAT Motorhead show. The only show I have been to where someone puked in the pit at a carpeted venue, but the moshpit kept going and ground it into dust to the point that a mere three songs later, it was like it never happened.

There was also an incident where the Parks were booked for DEFY a few years back and they hazed a ref and whipped him with a belt after the match without it being a planned spot.

I stumbled across that AWA on Twin Cities TV deal a few weeks back and that entire thing was such a joy to watch. I saw that DJ Peterson bit and he 100% came off like he was angling for a look from WWF with that "sports entertainment" bit.

Cue to "Something to Wrestle with Bruce Prichard" circa 2025: Conrad: "What made you think taking this talented wrestler that had a great reputation before going to WWE, and naming him 'Nazi Von Stormfuhrer' would get him over?" Bruce: "Well, he would have gotten over if he committed to and sold the gimmick and didn't sheepishly sleepwalk his way through the promos and his matches!"

Sounds like how Incredibly Strange Wrestling would claim that they had 10,000 fans in attendance for every show they did during the summer of 2001...when they were a side stage attraction during Warped Tour.

I have in my head that it was an angle started by ICW to build to an eventual Sheik vs Backlund rematch during the time that Iron Sheik was in between the brief 1989 WCW run and his return to WWF as Col. Mustafa.