Everything about Bill Watts totally explained
Bill Watts, (born
May 5 1939 in
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma), is a former
American professional wrestler and promoter. Watts was famous under his "
Cowboy"
gimmick in his wrestling career, and then as a tough, no-nonsense promoter in the Mid-South area of the United States, which grew to become the
UWF.
In 1992, he was the Executive Vice President of
World Championship Wrestling but after clashes with management over a number of issues as well as feeling pressure from
Hank Aaron over a racially sensitive piece of correspondence, he resigned. He was subsequently replaced by
Eric Bischoff.
Wrestling career
As a pro wrestler, he famously feuded with
WWWF Champion Bruno Sammartino, but was unable to win away the belt. In the 1960s, he wrestled in many areas, such as
San Francisco,
Chicago,
St. Louis, and even
Japan, for
All Japan Pro Wrestling. During these periods, Watts challenged for both the
National Wrestling Alliance and
American Wrestling Association versions of the
World Title.
Booking career
Universial Wrestling Federation
Bill Watts is perhaps even more famous for being a pioneering promoter in the Mid-South area of the USA, with his base of operation being in the
Shreveport area. His promotion was known as the Mid South Wrestling. He is often credited with creating the current and popular "episodic" style of TV wrestling, building solid creative
storylines week-on-week, with an emphasis on solid in-ring action with dependable wrestlers like
Steve Williams,
The Junkyard Dog,
Ted DiBiase and
Jim Duggan. He's an outspoken critic on breaking
kayfabe and
"smart" wrestling fans. A Watts-run promotion always had face and heel wrestlers dress in different locker rooms and to have faces and heels not meet publicly. He has also been known to revamp his booking plans in order to protect the business from such fans. When a newspaper mentioned a wrestling event being the last one
Jake "The Snake" Roberts would wrestle in Watts' territory and talked about the tradition of a wrestler
jobbing in his last match to put his opponent over and to expect the finish to be in that fashion, Watts changed it so Roberts actually won the match and got put over on his way out of the territory.
After losing over half a million dollars, Watts sold the UWF to NWA Mid-Atlantic's
Jim Crockett Promotions, who kept a lot of their stars, such as
Sting. Instead of having UWF a separate organization, Crockett sent his mid-card wrestlers to the UWF and had them quickly win their titles. Eventually, the UWF folded, and Crockett would be bought out by
Ted Turner in 1988.
World Championship Wrestling
Later on, Bill Watts became a Vice President of Turner Entertainment and was put in charge of
World Championship Wrestling in the early nineties. He took a lot of his old-school values with him, such as banning moves from the top rope (due to its overuse at the time), and the aforementioned
babyfaces and
heels separation. His tenure wasn't long, nor were his ideas overly embraced. He introduced his son,
Erik Watts, to WCW around this time, who many felt wasn't ready for big-time wrestling yet. Bill was fired from his position after comments from an interview he'd done a few years earlier, which had comments considered racially insensitive to African-Americans, were brought to the attention of all-time Home Run King
Henry Aaron, who himself was a vice president in the Turner organization with the
Atlanta Braves by future WCW announcer Mark Madden, then just a wrestling journalist..
Radio
Cowboy Bill Watts currently serves as co-host of a sports talk radio show on
The Sports Animal in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
Autobiography
In
March 2006 Watts released his autobiography
The Cowboy and the Cross: The Bill Watts Story: Rebellion, Wrestling and Redemption through
ECW Press. The book chronicles his upbringing, his career as first a wrestler then a promoter along with events in his personal life. The book also details his becoming a born-again Christian.
In wrestling
Finishing and signiture moves
Championships and accomplishments
American Wrestling Alliance » *AWA United States Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
Championship Wrestling from Florida
Georgia Championship Wrestling
Gulf Coast Championship Wrestling
Japan Wrestling Association
NWA Tri-State | Mid-South Wrestling Association
Southwest Sports, Inc.
World Wide Wrestling Federation
Wrestling Observer Newsletter
Further Information
Get more info on 'Bill Watts'.
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