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Who Dat? The Junkyard Dog and Searching for the Next Great Black Hope

Posted: Dec 4th 2024 By: Brian Damage - RingTheDamnBell.Wordpress.com

If you question many wrestling fans and ask them who was one of the most popular wrestlers during the 1980’s…more than likely most would name Hulk Hogan as the guy. It is understandable considering what Hulk Hogan meant to pro wrestling in the expansion era of the World Wrestling Federation. While Hogan may be on the top of almost every fan’s list, there was one wrestler who rivaled Hogan’s in the beginning of the 80’s. As crazy as it might sound, The Junkyard Dog aka Sylvester Ritter could have easily rivaled Hogan’s popularity during that time.

Now granted, Hogan was popular on a much grander scale nationally….but JYD was THE man in the Mid South territories. So much so, Mid South promoter Bill Watts never fully recovered after the Dog left the territory. It was Grizzly Smith (Jake Roberts father) and right hand man to Watts who discovered JYD up in Calgary, Alberta, Canada working for Stu Hart. Smith recommended JYD to Watts who was looking for wrestlers of color. The reason being is many of the areas that Mid South performed at, had a high number of African American fans and Watts wanted to capitalize on that demographic.

While JYD wasn’t the best wrestler Watts had on his roster, he certainly was one of the most charismatic and soon….JYD would become the guy in all of Mid South. Not only did he appeal to black fans which Watts coveted, he appealed to everyone, men, women and children of every race, creed and color. The height of The Junkyard Dog’s popularity came when he feuded with The Fabulous Freebirds. The Freebirds “blinded” JYD and weeks later, JYD would face Michael Hayes in a Steel Cage/Dog Collar match. That main event match took place at the New Orleans Superdome and attracted well over 31,000 fans.

The fans demand of seeing JYD wrestle forced Watts to hold more shows at the Superdome. It went from a once a year thing to four times a year. The Municipal Auditorium in Shreveport, Louisiana hosted big name acts like Hank Williams, Johnny Cash and Elvis Presley….it was unofficially renamed ‘The Dog’s Yard’ by wrestling fans who packed the venue every time JYD was in town. Opponents of JYD would fear for their lives as fans would often assault them as they made their way to and from the ring. Ted Dibiase had all four tires on his car slashed when he turned heel on the beloved Dog.

The Times-Picayune…a big newspaper in the New Orleans area..once conducted a poll asking readers who was the top sports star in all of Louisiana. Shockingly, The Junkyard Dog was voted number one beating out legendary players like Archie Manning and ‘Pistol’ Pete Maravich. JYD also had a fan chant that became his calling card. Fans would scream… ‘Who Dat! Who Dat! Who Dat say they gonna beat that Dog? Who Dat!’ The Who Dat chant did not originate with JYD…it actually originated sometime in the 19th century. The wrestling fans popularized it in the New Orleans area…and legend has it…that the New Orleans Saints football team adopted that chant for themselves after the fact.

The JYD phenomenon ended in 1984, when Vince McMahon and the WWF started their national expansion. The WWF convinced JYD to quit Mid South and was rumored to be paid an extra bonus if he left without notice. The loss of JYD severely hurt Bill Watts’ business. While his territory was still hot, it now lacked JYD’s attraction. Watts decided to go on television and badmouth the Dog saying he couldn’t handle the pressure and showed old video clips of JYD getting beat down. Watts almost immediately tried to catch lightning in a bottle and create a “new” black superstar.

His first attempt was bringing in ex football player George Wells. He named him Master Gee and was given a break dancer type gimmick. George Wells was athletic, but lacked the charisma of Junkyard Dog and ultimately left for the WWF himself. Watts then turned heel Butch Reed into a babyface and gave him a push as the territory’s top guy…fans just didn’t gravitate to him either. Bill Watts next try was a wrestler called The Snowman Eddie Crawford. The Snowman had great charisma and did okay…but nothing near JYD levels.

Bill watts still never gave up and tried pushing a wrestler named Savannah Jack and he too flopped in the grand scheme of things. It almost became an obsession with Watts to create the next black superstar to replace JYD. It never happened. To add insult to injury, Vince McMahon ran a show in New Orleans, yjay featured a main event that saw Junkyard Dog team with WWF champion Hulk Hogan. On that same card, McMahon used George Wells (JYD’s initial replacement) and had him job in the opening match.

Of course, Watts eventually sold Mid South (later renamed The Universal Wrestling Federation) to Jim Crockett Promotions. Watts never really gave up on his quest to create a new African American wrestling star. When Watts took over booking for WCW, he pushed Ron Simmons and made him WCW world champion. He also got a little bit of revenge on JYD, as he was wrestling for WCW at the time and Watts buried him in preliminary matches.

Coincidentally, Bill Watts was fired from WCW in 1993 when he made several insensitive racial remarks in an interview. Watts said things like “That’s why I went into business, so that I could discriminate.” I can’t tell a fag to get the fuck out. I should have the right to not associate with a fag if I don’t want to. I mean, why should I have to hire a fuckin’ fag, if I don’t like fags? Fags discriminate against us, don’t they? Sure they do.” “Who’s killed more blacks than anyone? The fuckin’ blacks. But they want to blame that bullshit Roots that came on the air. That Roots was so bullshit. All you have to do if you want slaves is to hand beads to the chiefs and they gave you slaves. What is the best thing that has ever happened to the black race? That they were brought to this country. No matter how they got here. You know why? Because they intermarried and got educated. They’re the ones running the black race.”