Death of the Territories Read online

  As of 1976, there were 27 NWA offices, including three in Japan, three in Canada, one in Korea, one in Australia, and one in Mexico.26 The 6-foot-10 Giant Baba was at the helm of All Japan Pro Wrestling, Antonio Inoki was leading New Japan Pro Wrestling, and, according to the NWA’s official roster for the year, Junzo Sato was in charge of “Japan Pro Wrestling” out of Tokyo. Kim Il, former WWA world heavyweight champion, was the boss of Kim Il Pro-Wrestling Foundation in Seoul, Korea, and Salvador Lutteroth Jr. was in charge south of the U.S. border, running Arena Mexico. Up in Canada, Frank Tunney was still operating in Toronto and Stu Hart was promoting in the western part of the country, based in Calgary, Alberta. In the far eastern part of Canada, Leo Burke was holding court, headquartered in New Brunswick. Montreal, notably, did not have its own office at the time. In Australia, Ron Miller and Larry O’Day operated World Championship Wrestling.

  Regardless of how popular pro wrestling was on an international scale, as years went by, some established territories began to fail. Detroit, Columbus, Cleveland, and Buffalo were no longer among the top wrestling cities, and by the late 1970s, they were either burned out or on very thin ice. The reason for this decline was complex, and caused by much more than a singular external factor. In the case of Detroit, the social climate and economy contributed to its demise. The “Motor City” was the hub for American auto manufacturing, and blue-collar workers had embraced the vibrancy of pro wrestling during the 1930s. At that time, Adam Weissmuller, the cousin of the famous Tarzan actor, Johnny Weissmuller, fashioned a reputable circuit featuring mostly nonheavyweights. Weissmuller allied himself with partners in surrounding states, particularly veteran promoter Al Haft of Columbus, and in 1936, he garnered national publicity by joining what journalists dubbed the “Little Trust,” a secondary faction to wrestling’s leading promotional syndicate. The members of the Little Trust were thrust into the headlines after German heavyweight Dick Shikat double-crossed Danno O’Mahoney on March 2, 1936, in New York, stealing the world championship and declaring his loyalty to their group.27 By doing so, Shikat elevated the status of wrestling in Detroit and Columbus while simultaneously damaging major promotions elsewhere in North America. What Shikat and his cronies couldn’t have known was that his unscheduled victory over O’Mahoney would have long-term detrimental effects on the sport. In essence, it is an actual moment in history that people can point to and say: “That event changed the course of pro wrestling forever.” The ramifications were harsh. The public’s trust in the sport was severely damaged in the resulting chaos caused by the in-ring betrayal. Greedy promoters created a slew of “world” title claimants exclusive to their own regions, and what was left of pro wrestling’s credibility was quickly lost.

  During the tumultuous 1930s and ’40s, Al Haft displayed great resiliency in Columbus, and the location of his city was pivotal as wrestlers crisscrossed America. Workers venturing from points in the Northeast, headed to Chicago or St. Louis, could easily stop there for engagements. And for that reason, Haft was never without good talent. Grapplers also knew that Haft’s promotion was an honest payday, whereas in some towns, promoters were hesitant to pay evenhanded wages. Haft’s fairness was attributed to the fact that he was a former wrestler himself, and had traveled the same back country roads years earlier for scant sums. He wanted to ensure the wrestlers he promoted were taken care of.

  Haft also loved the purity of wrestling and sought legitimate grapplers for his shows. John “Tigerman” Pesek, Ruffy Silverstein, and Dr. Bill Miller enjoyed lengthy stays in Columbus, and when it came to genuine mat knowledge, they were among the best in the business. To balance his programs, Haft utilized the likes of “Nature Boy” Buddy Rogers, a top-shelf performer and box-office sensation. Throughout it all, Haft was a shrewd promoter, knowledgeable about the mechanics of wrestling inside the ring and out, and was counted on by many of his peers for his wisdom. He overcame a number of hurdles in his administration of Columbus, and became one of the longest-enduring wrestling promoters of the 20th century.

  The wrestling scene in Detroit was a bit more turbulent. After Weissmuller died, Eddie Lewis and Louis Markowitz took over, then Harry Light assumed the mantle in 1942. A product of France, Light was a smart entrepreneur and, with help from Bert Ruby and Jack Britton, rebuilt Detroit into a stable market. Notably, Ruby was known for his coaching abilities and taught many up-and-comers, including Killer Kowalski, and Britton managed the troupe of little people grapplers, who became a hot ticket on the global stage during the late 1940s. Like Haft, Light was an early member of the NWA and benefited from the national coalition’s talent sharing. Things ran smoothly for him until 1959, when ex–Chicago booker Jim Barnett set his sights on Detroit and began running opposition.

  Teamed with Johnny Doyle, Jim Barnett established studio wrestling in Windsor, Ontario, and Cincinnati, Ohio, and with a stunning cast of big-named talent, burst into Detroit on April 11, 1959.28 The reported attendance for the show, headlined by Angelo Poffo and Wilbur Snyder, was 16,226 with a gate of $40,000. The Barnett–Doyle clique quickly nabbed a huge percentage of the local market with must-see talent such as Dick the Bruiser, Hans Schmidt, “Cowboy” Bob Ellis, and Verne Gagne, completely eclipsing Light’s promotion. To stay afloat against that kind of competition, Light worked a deal with Vince McMahon’s Capitol Wrestling in 1961, and began importing workers like Antonino Rocca and Bruno Sammartino. But it was too little too late for Light, and he retired the next year.

  Barnett and Doyle made bundles of money in Detroit, and their outward expansion reached impressive distances during the early 1960s, fanning out to Denver and Los Angeles in the west and New Orleans in the south. By 1964, the duo shifted their attention to Australia and sold the Detroit territory to Edward Farhat for a cool $50,000. The name “Edward Farhat” might not be recognizable to many people, and in 1964, nobody outside the business knew it. But Farhat was none other than the Sheik, the epitome of an ultra-violent wrestling villain. For years, the Sheik had been a major figure on the Barnett–Doyle circuit and an international attraction. When his hometown of Detroit went on the market, he wanted the city for his own and soon made it the headquarters of his new promotion, Big Time Wrestling.

  Not surprisingly, a few years before taking off for the Land Down Under, Barnett and Doyle also edged into Columbus against Haft, sponsoring Don Leo Jonathan as the American Wrestling Alliance World champion. But following the end of hostilities, and after the title moved over to shooter extraordinaire Karl Gotch in the fall of 1962, Haft actually started promoting him as titleholder. It was a unique turnabout and reflective of Haft’s crumbling relations with both Buddy Rogers, the reigning NWA champion, and the NWA itself. Aided by his son, Al Jr., the 80-year-old Haft continued to promote into 1967, but was hindered by a lack of box-office drawing power. Wrestling historian Don Luce identified Haft’s last show as occurring on February 25, 1967, at the Cooper Arena, just weeks after he celebrated his 50th anniversary as a promoter in Columbus.29

  With Haft bowing out, Farhat quickly absorbed Columbus into his growing circuit beginning in February and March 1967, and acquired television outlets across Michigan and Ohio. Among them were WTVN in Columbus and WEWS in Cleveland. In the ring, the Sheik was unpredictable, but as a booker, he was all too conventional in the way he promoted himself as the center attraction. In time, staleness set in, as fans were overexposed to the Sheik’s antics. This worn-out formula didn’t decay overnight; in fact, Detroit and the surrounding area was hot well into the 1970s. Appearances by Bobo Brazil, whose feud with the Sheik was legendary, Ernie Ladd, Luis Martinez, Pampero Firpo, and the Fabulous Kangaroos were a key reason why Big Time Wrestling was consistently a draw. And for the longtime followers of Al Haft, who saw first-rate mat wrestling regularly, the Sheik was a dramatic change of pace.

  Diehard fans in the region adjusted and embraced the Detroit methodology, and the Sheik perpetrated nearly every evil deed known to the squared circle. He
was an innovator of ruthless aggression, and his tactics established a basic forerunner of the modern hardcore style. Over the lifespan of his Detroit promotion, the Sheik captured the United States heavyweight title a record 14 times and defeated a number of Hall of Famers, including Abdullah the Butcher, Terry Funk, and Bobo Brazil. But the promotion itself began to suffer due to Detroit’s crippled economy, and attendance dwindled at downtown’s Cobo Hall. A massive migration of people from the inner city to the suburbs forced Farhat into smaller venues with a toned-down crop of talent going into 1981.

  Around that same time, Ohio was experiencing the rapid growth of cable television. In Columbus, 25 percent of households were receiving cable via Warner’s QUBE system by 1980, while another 20 percent of homes in Dayton were receiving programming through Viacom Cablevision. Cleveland, too, had increased coverage with 16 percent, but, in contrast, only two percent of homes in Detroit were receiving the expanded programming. This was significant where pro wrestling was concerned because of the importance of WTBS on each cable system. WTBS out of Atlanta was a prime station in the budding cable universe and featured a strong combination of popular old sitcoms, family programming, and Braves Major League Baseball action. But its most-watched program was the exceptional Georgia Championship Wrestling broadcast on Saturday nights, and viewers from Florida to Alaska were entertained by the lively matches every week.

  In the Detroit Free Press, TV critic Mike Duffy affectionately called the channel 17 offering “Redneck Rasslin’,” and explained that it was “two hours of good old boys and bruiser brothers going at it.”30 The popularity of Georgia Championship Wrestling was infectious, and the wrestling fans in Ohio were enraptured by the southern style of grappling. The chairman behind GCW was none other than Jim Barnett, who, in 1973, left Australia and paid six figures for 38 percent of the Atlanta-based company. In January 1980, Barnett hired well-known ex-wrestler “Cowboy” Bill Watts as his booker, and the latter was quick to see the value in WTBS’s expansive reach.31

  To gauge the popularity of GCW outside Georgia, Watts set up a stylish angle between NWA world heavyweight champion Harley Race and the ever-popular Mr. Wrestling II, a masked Johnny Walker. The scene unfolded as the competitors battled to a Broadway draw at the Omni in Atlanta on April 6, 1980, and a trio of judges —former NWA champions Lou Thesz, Dory Funk Jr., and Dusty Rhodes — split the votes to pick a winner. However, it was determined that Dory originally scored Mr. Wrestling II as the victor before changing his vote at the last minute. The decision created a wave of backlash and fans were furious with the result. GCW commentator Gordon Solie told fans they could send letters to the Atlanta office and voice their complaints, and the audience did — in tremendous numbers.

  Thousands of letters from around the country were received by Georgia wrestling officials, and they were overwhelmingly in support of Mr. Wrestling II. But for Watts and Barnett, the letters were less important than their postmarks, which they used to determine where GCW’s telecast was most popular. Thanks to the growing cable structure in Ohio, it wasn’t surprising that the Buckeye State was at the heart of GCW’s fanbase outside Georgia. The people of Columbus were particularly enthused by the show, and it didn’t take Watts and Barnett long to consider an expansion into Ohio.

  “Expansion” was like a four-letter word to the members of the National Wrestling Alliance. If someone was expanding, someone else was facing an invasion. Ohio was most recently the “property” of Ed Farhat, and in the summer of 1980, Big Time Wrestling was still somewhat afloat. For Georgia to attempt any kind of expansion, it needed to first consult Farhat to discuss territorial rights. Despite plummeting attendance in Detroit, Farhat wasn’t keen on giving up Ohio in any shape or form. He turned down a mutually beneficial deal offered to him by GCW and expected his NWA membership rights to protect his territory.32

  Georgia was determined to move on Columbus, deeming it an open city because of Farhat’s limited promotions there. Utilizing an old contact from his previous dealings in the region, Barnett solidified a deal to bring Georgia wrestlers to Columbus’s brand-new Ohio Center beginning in September 1980. With sizable help from his new booker, Ole Anderson, who replaced Watts in May, GCW marched into Columbus to considerable success. Houses were strong, and the amazing thing was, Georgia was doing it all based on the strength of its WTBS cable program. In the past, the development of a new city, especially one far from the regular circuit of a territory, needed months and months of targeted build-up and more importantly, a local television outlet to promote awareness. But Columbus fans were already champing at the bit to see Dusty Rhodes, Tommy Rich, and Mr. Wrestling II live.

  Putting in overtime to work out the details, the always dignified Barnett obtained local TV outlets in Columbus, Dayton, Canton, Cincinnati, and Cleveland.33 This only helped reinforce their Ohio incursion, and GCW made arrangements for Les Thatcher to become the promoter of record in Cincinnati, Dayton, and towns in Michigan. Veteran operator Vince Risko, the brother of former boxing champion Babe Risko, represented the company in Canton and, with Georgia stars, drew the largest crowds in 30 years. After the town drew a more than $20,000 gate, a reporter for the Cleveland Plain Dealer wondered if Canton was now “the pro wrestling capital of Ohio.”34

  From a distance, the NWA was watching the first coordinated expansion of one member into the backyard of another in years. Barnett, as booker for the NWA world heavyweight champion and longtime secretary for the organization, was considered Alliance royalty. He was highly influential, and if he was authorizing the invasion of another territory, he must have been on solid ground to do so. Farhat didn’t think so. He was angry beyond belief and actually consented to appear for a non-NWA promoter in Atlanta on May 3, 1981, at GCW’s main arena, the Omni Coliseum. The gig was for the International Wrestling League and saw him battle Thunderbolt Patterson in the main event.35 Wrestling for an outlaw promotion was a big no-no, and the NWA voted to suspend Farhat’s membership at the 1981 annual convention in Las Vegas.36 On December 27, 1981, Farhat lost his TV on channel 62 in Detroit, and Big Time Wrestling was gone for good. The Detroit territory, as it was known, was officially dead.

  Cleveland was on GCW’s radar, but it was considered one of the weakest wrestling cities with a population greater than 500,000. In fact, when Ole Anderson asked Vince McMahon Sr. about the city, McMahon told him Cleveland was dead, killed off during the promotional run of Johnny Powers during the 1970s.37 His comment referred to Powers’s time at the helm of the National Wrestling Federation, an outlaw promotion operated in conjunction with Buffalo entrepreneur Pedro Martinez. The once-successful NWF was launched in 1970 and a number of top attractions were booked for high-profile shows in Cleveland and Buffalo. At the NWF’s height, on August 12, 1972, the group drew 14,000 people to the outdoor stadium in Cleveland for the “Superbowl of Wrestling,” and it was a defining moment in the promotion’s history. The following year, Powers sold the rights to the NWF world title to Antonio Inoki of New Japan Pro Wrestling and kept Cleveland afloat going into 1975. However, Powers’s overexposure, combined with the same economic downturn plaguing Detroit, ended up sinking Cleveland. Attendance dropped to nearly nothing, and instead of big shows at the Arena or Stadium, Powers ran the gymnasium at St. Joseph High School with a crew of mid-card performers. As for Martinez, he quietly closed up his Buffalo office and bowed out of wrestling around 1974, a very wealthy man.

  Buffalo fell into the open, and the WWWF ran sporadic shows there during the mid-1970s, but gave up the town in 1976. Three years later, Jim Crockett Promotions obtained a local TV spot for its Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling program on WUTV-29 on Saturday mornings at 11:00, debuting on December 1, 1979. To the uninformed observer, the sudden expansion of a Charlotte-based promotion into Buffalo, New York, was a little out of the ordinary. But Crockett was already established in the region, only 100 miles away, in Toronto, Ontario, where his heavyweight stars appeared at Maple Leaf Gard
ens on a regular basis. Since Buffalo was close enough to run semi-regular shows, it only made sense to exploit the opportunities there as well.

  In late 1980, the network station WIVB (channel 4) acquired the rights to the Mid-Atlantic show in Buffalo and improved viewership.38 But WIVB was a sports-heavy outlet, and wrestling was routinely preempted by football, basketball, and tennis on Saturday afternoons. A concerned wrestling fan inquired to the Buffalo Courier-Express about the show in the summer of 1981, wondering if the station had plans to offer alternate viewing times because of the upcoming college football schedule. A spokesman for WIVB replied simply: “I doubt if [Mid-Atlantic Wrestling] will be rescheduled if preempted.”39 The promotion plodded on, only to see channel 4 cancel the program outright in November 1981. They held three additional live events in Buffalo through May 1982 before finally giving up.

  Buffalo enthusiasts were exposed to “Nature Boy” Ric Flair, Greg Valentine, Wahoo McDaniel, and Ray Stevens, among others, during Crockett’s run in the city, and the respected NWA style of wrestling was preserved. On August 9, 1982, the WWF came to the city for the first time in more than six years, and planted its flag. The promotion was reclaiming the entirety of upstate New York, adding Buffalo to a circuit that already included Rochester and Syracuse. In addition to its program on the WOR cable network, the WWF had begun a local show on WUTV in March to prepare the town for its arrival. With a boom, the WWF made its debut, featuring heavyweight champion Bob Backlund and Jimmy Snuka, while former world champion (and future Hall of Famer) the Destroyer, born and raised in the region, wrestled on the undercard.