World Class Championship Wrestling

From Freepedia

Image:Worldclass.gif

World Class Championship Wrestling (WCCW), also called the World Class Wrestling Association (WCWA), was a popular regional professional wrestling promotion run out of Dallas and Fort Worth, Texas. Originally owned by promoter Ed McLemore, by 1966 it was run by Southwest Sports, Inc., whose president was wrestler Jack Adkisson (aka Fritz Von Erich). Beginning as a territory of the National Wrestling Alliance, it went independent in 1986 in a bid to become a major national promotion, but was unsuccessful in its attempts and eventually went out of business in 1990.


Contents

Overview

World Class Championship Wrestling was a member of the National Wrestling Alliance and was originally known as Big Time Wrestling until around 1981. WCCW was headquartered in Dallas, Texas and held wrestling events at the famed Sportatorium, located just south of Downtown Dallas, which was also a well-known boxing and wrestling arena as well as the one-time home to the famous Big D Jamboree. Weekly wrestling shows were staged there on Tuesday nights until August 1978, then were moved to Sunday nights until the early '80s, and finally were held on Friday nights until the promotion's demise.

During the mid-to-late 1960s, local station KRLD-TV (now KDFW) aired Dallas matches under the title Sportatorium Wrestling; the show featured well-known north Texas journalist/sportscaster Bill Mercer as one of its announcers. In the 1980s, WCCW's syndicated show was usually taped at the Sportatorium, with two hour-long shows being recorded every other Friday. These telecasts were, in the beginning, seen in only a few markets and were hosted at various times by Gene Goodson, Steve Harms, and Marc Lowrance; when the show was taken over in 1982 by Continental Productions (a subsidiary of local station KXTX) and went to international syndication, Bill Mercer again became the ringside announcer at the Sportatorium. After Mercer left in 1987 to join Ken Mantell's Wild West Wrestling promotion, Lowrance returned to the broadcast position where he would remain until resigning to become a minister in July 1990. Craig Johnson (real name: Jon Horton) then replaced Lowrance for the final two months of telecasts. Horton eventually went on to host the USWA and GWF telecasts in later years. Lowrance did return to the Sportatorium as ring announcer in September 1990 when World Class seceded from the USWA, and appeared occasionally during the 1990s.

The promotion also held matches on Monday nights in Fort Worth at the North Side Coliseum (a rodeo arena, known today as the Cowtown Coliseum), until the mid-1970's, then relocated to the Will Rogers Memorial Center where it remained until WCCW discontinued its Fort Worth shows in 1988. These matches aired Saturday nights on local station KTVT as a 90-minute broadcast entitled Saturday Night Wrestling, which was expanded to two hours in November 1983 and retitled Championship Sports. From late 1988 until the station canceled wrestling in 1990, KTVT's tapings were held at the Sportatorium on Saturday mornings. Dan Coates, who had served as ring announcer in Fort Worth for many years prior to the Von Erich era, called the action on KTVT from 1966 until 1976, when Bill Mercer was brought in to replace him. When Mercer moved to the syndicated telecasts, Marc Lowrance took over the KTVT show. As he would with the syndicated series, Craig Johnson became host of Championship Sports for its last few episodes.

Lowrance was also the ring announcer at the Sportatorium for several years before moving to TV full-time; he was originally hired in 1980 to replace Boyd Pierce, who had been with the group since the 1960's and left to join Bill Watts' Mid-South Wrestling promotion. Other ring announcers in WCCW included Joe Rinelli (from the 1960's until 1988) and Ralph Pulley (mid-1980's), who also served as a referee for a time.

NWA Era

Big Time Wrestling: 1966-81

WCCW was originally known as Big Time Wrestling and, until the late 1970s, was dominated by its owner, Fritz Von Erich. Initially playing his longtime role of a snarling, goose-stepping Nazi monster heel and sometimes teaming with "brother" Waldo, Fritz turned babyface in the fall of 1967 and began feuding with Gary Hart and his stable of wrestlers (which at this time included Karl Von Brauner, Al Costello and the masked Spoilers); the feud between Hart and Fritz (and his sons) would continue off and on for more than two decades. Fritz's other classic rivalries during this early period were with such stars as Johnny Valentine, Stan Stasiak, Professor Toru Tanaka, Lord Alfred Hayes, The Sheik, Bruiser Brody and The Great Kabuki. Babyface wrestlers playing secondary roles in the promotion at various times included Wahoo McDaniel, Pepper Gomez, Red Bastien, Jose Lothario and Lonnie "Moondog" Mayne.

As his sons began to launch wrestling careers of their own in the mid-to-late 1970s, Fritz gradually cut back on his in-ring appearances and concentrated on promoting, finally retiring from the ring altogether after a 1982 NWA American Title win over King Kong Bundy at Texas Stadium in Irving. By then, the promotion had switched to the World Class name and was centered around Fritz's sons, Kevin, David and Kerry (and, later, Mike) Von Erich.

Peak Years: 1982-85

Around this same time, WCCW began its hour-long weekly syndicated television show which introduced numerous innovative production techniques, many of which are still commonly used today. The promotion was also the first to use familiar rock songs as entrance music for its wrestlers. Talent deals and exchanges helped WCCW bring in future stars such as Chris Adams, The Fabulous Freebirds, Jake Roberts, a young Shawn Michaels, Gino Hernandez and Iceman King Parsons.

World Class' most storied feud was the legendary and long-running battle between the Von Erichs and the Freebirds, which began on December 25, 1982 during an NWA World Title match between Kerry Von Erich and champion Ric Flair at Reunion Arena in Dallas. After several of Flair's title defenses against Kerry ended in controversy with the champion retaining the belt by various illegal means, the promotion had finally booked a rematch between the two in a steel cage to prevent any interference, and announced a write-in poll in which fans could vote for the wrestler they wanted to serve as special referee for the match. Freebird Michael Hayes, whose popularity in WCCW at that point was second only to the Von Erichs themselves, was selected to officiate, and his tag team partner Terry Gordy was at ringside to guard the cage door. However, when Kerry refused to pin Flair following unwanted interference on his behalf by Hayes, the Freebirds turned on Von Erich, with Gordy slamming the door on Kerry's head. Backup referee David Manning banished Hayes and Gordy to the dressing room, and the match ended shortly thereafter, with Flair retaining the title yet again as Manning declared Kerry unable to continue.

The Freebird-Von Erich rivalry was one of the most violent feuds in modern-day wrestling history, and continued off-and-on for much of the decade; Parsons, Adams, "Gorgeous" Jimmy Garvin and members of Skandor Akbar's Devastation Inc. stable were also involved in the Freebird-Von Erich feud directly or indirectly during the course of the angle. Other major feuds in World Class during this period included Chris Adams & Sunshine vs. Garvin & Precious, Adams and Gino Hernandez vs. The Von Erichs, Missy Hyatt vs. Sunshine, and The Fantastics vs. The Midnight Express.

In February 1984, at the height of the Von Erich-Freebird wars, David Von Erich suddenly died just after arriving in Japan for a series of appearances. His death was front page news in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex, triggering an area-wide outpouring of shock and grief among fans, and was the beginning of the Von Erichs' tragic decline and fall (and WCCW's as well, although attendance levels would remain high for a time). David had been seen by many in the NWA as potential World Championship material; and so, on May 6, 1984, as a tribute to his late brother, Kerry Von Erich finally defeated Ric Flair to win the title at the first annual David Von Erich Memorial Parade of Champions supercard held at Texas Stadium in Irving. However, because Kerry already had a reputation within the industry for being unreliable due to substance abuse, the NWA only allowed him a brief title reign; he lost the belt back to Flair in Yokosuka, Japan on May 24.

Another major feud in World Class began in September 1984 between Chris Adams and the Von Erichs. Originally a tag team match between Chris and Kevin against Gino Hernandez and Jake Roberts, interference by manager Gary Hart cost Adams and Von Erich the match. Kevin went after Hart as a result, but was met by a Chris Adams superkick, which started a long and legendary feud. The following October, Adams and Von Erich squared off at the Cotton Bowl, with Kevin winning the match. Afterwards, Kevin made a deal with Chris: leave Gary Hart and go on his own and all would be forgiven. Adams responded by attacking Kevin with a chair. Unintentionally, Adams hit Kevin in the head hard enough with the chair to bust his head open, causing Kevin some bleeding and resulting in his hospitalization for a few days. The Adams-Von Erich feud had been set up in this way because Fritz Von Erich felt that too many fans were siding with Adams. Nonetheless, Adams eventually became World Class' biggest heel; yet at the same time, as the feud with the Von Erichs progressed, he began facing other heels, such as Ric Flair.

By 1985, Adams began tagging with Hernandez, forming the second and most successful version of The Dynamic Duo. Towards the end of the year, Adams and Hernandez used scissors (a la Brutus Beefcake) to cut hair off opponents after each of their matches, and this resulted in a Cotton Bowl showdown in October 1985, in which Kevin and Kerry Von Erich defeated Adams and Hernandez in a losers-lose-hair match. Adams and Hernandez eventually broke up and began feuding, and faced each other in a January 1986 match where the loser would have his hair removed with Freebird Hair Cream (a gimmick previously used in a June 1983 match between Iceman Parsons and Freebird Buddy Roberts). With Adams nearing victory, Hernandez grabbed the hair cream and threw the contents in Adams' face, thus "blinding" him. Tragically, by the time this angle aired on television a few days later, Hernandez was dead; his passing, which was revealed by an autopsy to be the result of a massive cocaine overdose, ended any prospects of a hot feud between the former partners. Interestingly, the Scotland Yard questioned Adams regarding Hernandez's death, but no charges were ever filed against him.

In 1985, World Class went on a major tour to the Middle East (including Israel). The tour proved to be extremely successful, but was also the start of another tragic episode for the Adkisson family, as it was during this tour that Mike Von Erich suffered a shoulder injury (in a match against Gino Hernandez) that led to his near-fatal bout with toxic shock syndrome following surgery. In an ill-advised desperation move that would later infamously backfire, Fritz brought in Kevin Vaughn as "cousin" Lance Von Erich to fill the gap while Mike was recovering. Fritz billed Lance as the "son" of Waldo Von Erich, with whom Fritz tagged years earlier, but was not related to Fritz in any way.

Independence

WCWA: 1986-88

World Class withdrew its membership from the NWA in 1986, shortly after the death of Gino Hernandez, and became known as the World Class Wrestling Association. As a result of the NWA withdrawal, the WCWA introduced a title-change rule in which a champion could lose the belt on a disqualification or a countout, much to the dismay of heel wrestlers who opt to DQ themselves to keep the championship (most notably Ric Flair). That rule had previously in place during the 1984 NWA World Heavyweight Championship match between Flair and Kerry Von Erich, and had been used sporadically before World Class seceded from the NWA.

However, in mid-1986, many of the top stars of World Class, including Adams, Parsons, Hyatt, John Tatum, and the Freebirds, defected to the Universal Wrestling Federation, following longtime WCCW booker Ken Mantell who had resigned and joined the UWF after a falling-out with Fritz. It was also at this point that Kerry Von Erich was involved in a motorcycle accident and suffered injuries that later worsened when he attempted to return to the ring too soon (an attempt said by some observers to have taken place under heavy pressure from Fritz), and would finally necessitate the amputation of his right foot. WCCW's fortunes declined further in 1986-87 with Mike Von Erich's health and substance abuse problems and eventual suicide. As a result of these multiple catastrophes, attendance in both Dallas and Fort Worth plummeted; according to some former WCCW wrestlers, many fans became disillusioned with the Von Erichs as the supposedly "clean-living" brothers' drug use became harder to cover up, and they frequently no-showed cards the promotion booked in smaller towns.

Also in 1987, after the buyout of the UWF by the NWA, Ken Mantell launched his own Wild West Wrestling promotion with the popular Fort Worth nightspot Billy Bob's Texas as its homebase. Headlining for Mantell's group were such former World Class stars as Fabulous Lance (formerly Lance Von Erich, who by then had walked out on Fritz in a dispute over money), Wild Bill Irwin, The Missing Link, Buddy Roberts, Brian Adias, Jack Victory, Tatum and Parsons. After only a few months, Mantell agreed to return to WCCW as co-promoter with Kevin and Kerry Von Erich, following Fritz's decision to sell out his interest in the promotion; Wild West was absorbed into WCCW, and most of its talent -- with the notable exception of Fabulous Lance, who was now considered persona non grata by the Adkissons after his abrupt departure earlier in the year -- returned along with Mantell.

Upon Mantell's return, WCCW held its final Christmas Day Star Wars show, during which one of the most infamous incidents in Texas wrestling history -- known to wrestling purists as the "Christmas Day Massacre" -- occurred. WCWA champion Al Perez and Kerry Von Erich (who had recently returned to the ring, now wrestling with a prosthetic foot) were scheduled to face each other in a steel cage main event for the title, with Gary Hart handcuffed to Fritz to prevent interference. However, before the match began, Terry Gordy ran in and made disparaging remarks about Kerry and his motorcycle accident, which started a brawl. Buddy Roberts, Iceman King Parsons and the Angel of Death stormed the ring and handcuffed Fritz to the cage, delivering a furious beating while Kerry was cold-cocked by Perez. Eventually Kevin stormed the ring to save both Kerry and Fritz. After the attack, Fritz -- who was normally seen walking away from vicious attacks under his own power -- was assisted out of the ring by Kerry and Kevin. Upon leaving the ring, Fritz staged a heart attack by collapsing onto the floor of Reunion Arena, and was supposedly rushed to a hospital; local news media reported this as a top story, not realizing until later that the entire incident had been a work. Kerry, after an hour or so, returned to the ring to face Perez but lost the match due to interference from Hart.

Afterwards, World Class promoted the renewed Freebird-Von Erich rivalry, but without Michael Hayes, who would eventually return to World Class...as a face, wrestling alongside the Von Erichs, starting a civil war between Hayes, Roberts and Gordy. Gordy would eventually join Hayes and Kevin and Kerry later on, but this occurred only weeks before the angle ran its course. Another hot feud taking place during this period was Chris Adams against both Terry Taylor and Iceman King Parsons, two feuds which began in the UWF the year before. In the summer of 1988, the major storyline pitted Michael Hayes and Steve Cox against the Samoan Swat Team, managed by Buddy Roberts.

The Jarrett Era: 1988-90

Several unsuccessful attempts had been made in 1987-88 to take World Class national; among them was a sparsely-attended Von Erichs over America tour, and a merger between World Class, the AWA and CWA the following year. A major pay-per-view card, AWA SuperClash III, was held in Chicago in late 1988, featuring a world title unification match in which Jerry Lawler defeated Kerry Von Erich. However, Superclash III was not a hit, and Mantell and the Adkissons were forced to sell World Class to CWA owner Jerry Jarrett toward the end of 1988. The combined federation became known as the USWA. Jarrett would run the new USWA out of two headquarters: one in Dallas (the weekly shows in Fort Worth being discontinued at this point due to poor attendance), the other in Memphis.

For a time, the USWA Dallas promotion continued under the World Class banner to build up a storyline in which Eric Embry, who was now the group's booker and lead babyface, was feuding with Skandor Akbar and his Devastation Inc. stable (which at this time included a young Mick Foley, billed as Cactus Jack Manson) for control of the organization. In a steel cage match which took place on August 4, 1989, Embry defeated Phil Hickerson, who was wrestling as P.Y. Chu-Hi, thus changing the name of World Class to the USWA.

Under Jarrett, WCCW/USWA Dallas was finally able to turn itself around financially, and became modestly profitable during the 1989-1990 period. However, because of a revenue dispute with the Adkissons, Jarrett ultimately pulled the promotion out of Dallas in September 1990 (although the group did return to the Sportatorium for a brief period in early 1991). Shortly before Jarrett's departure, KTVT dropped its long-running Saturday night wrestling telecasts; according to some reports, the cancellation was the result of frequent on-air profanity (used primarily by Eric Embry), despite multiple warnings from station management.

Kevin Von Erich made an attempt to continue promoting at the Sportatorium in the fall of 1990 (reverting back to the World Class name), but due to lack of television exposure, attendance was low and financial resources ran out quickly. In November 1990, following a Thanksgiving card (which, ironically, concluded with a main event in which Kevin defeated the Angel of Death), the promotion ceased operations for good.

After the Fall

Several attempts to revive WCCW since then have been modest at best: in 1991, Kevin Von Erich began a working agreement with Boston-based International Championship Wrestling (which renamed itself International World Class Championship Wrestling); the following year, Kevin began promoting a few scattered cards under the WCCW banner (featuring Kerry, who had been released from the WWF). Finally, in 1997, Gary Hart -- with no participation by either Kevin or Fritz -- launched a World Class-in-name-only independent promotion at the Sportatorium. This organization, known as World Class II: The Next Generation, featured only a few of the surviving wrestlers from the original WCCW group (most notably Chris Adams, Iceman Parsons and Maniac Mike Davis), as well as Gary's son, Chad Hart; it folded in less than a year.

Until late 2005, Kevin Von Erich owned the rights to all of the World Class videotape library and its registered trademarks, and had released a compilation DVD of classic Von Erichs matches. In August of that year, however, officials of Vince McMahon's World Wrestling Entertainment were rumored to be negotiating with Kevin to purchase the tapes; and on October 3, Kevin, who was visiting backstage at a WWE RAW telecast from Dallas, was reported as saying the sale was "a done deal". A documentary by Chicago filmmaker Brian Harrison on WCCW and the Von Erichs, Heroes of World Class, though apparently including numerous clips from WCCW's telecasts, is still planned for release as production was completed prior to the WWE deal; as of early October 2005, no release date has been set.

Performers

Stars of WCCW

Announcers

Referees

WCCW Events

WCCW Titles

External links

Born Again Bashing - Irvin Muchnick's 1988 Penthouse magazine exposé on the WCCW and Von Erich tragedies

WCCW Supercard Results from Jason Campbell's Pro Wrestling History site

Retrieved from "http://en.freepedia.org/World_Class_Championship_Wrestling.html"


Views
Personal tools
Similar Links