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Missy's Manor: Rise And Fall Of World Class Championship Wrestling

Posted: Jan 6th 2009 By: CMBurnham

Over the last few years, there have been numerous DVD's and articles that try to put in perspective the rise and fall of World Class Championship Wrestling. Usually they point the demise of the promotion based on the Von Erich tragedies. I point to the major decline of WCCW on the talent deflections to the UWF. Hopefully this article can explore other variables on what sped up the death of one of the most legendary promotions that was a hit for many old school wrestling fans.

Business in the spring of 1986 was decent for WCCW. The promotion just survived the death of Gino Hernandez in February. This death put the kibosh to a program of Gino against his former and recently turned partner in Chris Adams. Chris Adams was temporarily written out of the story line by being "blinded" by Gino. This was going to set up a major program with Gino VS. Chris. Chris Adams would have gotten over big time with this program. Gino was such a strong heel at the time. Plus Chris was one of the few wrestlers that can rival the Von Erichs in drawing ability and popularity.

The Freebirds were on their way out of the territory. The height of the Von Erichs VS. Freebirds has already been peeked. The Freebirds have already been baby faces and heels. They were already running the risk of getting stale if they stayed any longer in the Dallas market. The Freebirds eventually got a guaranteed contract with Bill Watts. Guaranteed contracts were rare in the 1980's on a regional level. The Freebirds would be fresh by returning to the Mid South area ran by Bill Watts. I wouldn't consider the Freebirds leaving as a talent raid, but broadening their appeal by playing to a fresh audience

The worst thing to do was stay in a territory past your peak. The fans eventually grow tiresome in seeing the same act and you are no longer perceived as being special. Moving to a new territory kept many wrestlers fresh. It allowed new talent to be elevated in to the top mix. While it gave another territory a new wrestler that can be a shot in the arm in new storylines and matches. I remember in WCCW that if you heard all of Bronko Lubich's stories, than you stayed in the territory too long.

Several established WCCW acts decided to give their notice in order to move on to the bigger UWF territory. This was due to the promises of guaranteed contracts, more $$$, and UWF was planning to expand in to more markets. The talent deflections was out of financial reasons and not personal animosity towards Fritz Von Erich.

UWF made a major acquisition in acquiring Ken Mantell as their booker. Ken Mantell was one of the major bookers that was instrumental in the youth movement that was making WCCW appeal to a younger demographic. It was a very simple formula. Younger wrestlers that were perceived as rock stars/athletes that were within the same age as their audience. It made many of the wrestlers in to teen idols. The best comparison would be having multiple John Cena's & Jeff Hardy's on a roster.

There were many wrestlers that made the jump to UWF out of loyalty to Ken Mantell. Many of us felt it would be best to stay with the booker that had the best grasp on how to utilize our talent. WCCW would lose The Freebirds, Skandar Akbar, One Man Gang, Sunshine, John Tatum, Fantastics, Missing Link, and myself in a relatively short period of time. We all fulfilled our commitments and stayed for the major Parade Of Champions show.

Unfortunately WCCW could not replace so many established wrestlers in such a short period of time. I challenge any promotion with that scenario. The end result is stale talent is still being pushed. The promotion uses new talent that is not established and is thrust in to new programs. The talent roster also gets replenished with cheaper talent. The end result is a inferior product. People still need a few established wrestlers that they are familiar with. It will take many fans a period of time to get familiar enough with the talent in order to invest a emotional interest in to the new wrestlers. The end result is many fans start watching UWF television that was expanding its television penetration in to the Dallas market. Some of the long time WCCW fans started watching UWF for their old favorites in new story lines and feuds.

The end result is the WCCW house shows become less special. UWF started coming to the Fort Worth market with loaded line ups in order to compete with the WCCW market. Bill Watts would augment his invasion line up with Jim Crockett wrestlers. No weekly territory can compete against a promotion juggernaut that is combining UWF and Jim Crockett Promotions talent rosters. Most fans felt the weekly shows were no longer special against a UWF roster that came monthly.

UWF's first show in the Von Erich territory had Dusty Rhodes, Ric Flair, Magnum T. A., & The Road Warriors with the UWF talent. All WCCW could do to counteract that invasion was a meet and great with the wrestlers. Unfortunately that is not enough to persuade the local fan base to remain loyal to the WCCW weekly shows. Eventually the local fans would probably start adapting the mentality of waiting to see which promotion presents the best card for their money.

This was the line up on 7/27/86 for the first UWF show in Reunion Arena:

Road Warriors & Bill Watts VS. Michael Hayes, Terry Gordy, & Buddy Roberts
Dusty Rhodes VS. Ric Flair
Sting W/ Eddie Gilbert VS. Brett Sawyer
Koko B. Ware VS. Gustavo Mendoza
Magnum T. A. VS. Baron Von Raschke
Terry Taylor VS. Eddie Gilbert
Battle Royal
Fantastics VS. Jack Victory & John Tatum w/ Missy Hyatt
Midnight Express W/ Jim Cornette VS. Rock-N-Roll Express
Jim Duggan VS. Kamala

World Class was only able to counteract the invasion with a meet and greet session with Kevin Von Erich, Brian Adias, Lance Von Erich, & Steve Simpson to their Mesquite Rodeo Show on 7/27/86. They also had a main event of Abdullah The Butcher VS. Bruiser Brody with the standard WCCW regulars at the time.

Eventually with the UWF having television clearance in the Dallas/Fort Worth territory, the fans became exposed to a superior roster that was dueling with the diminishing WCCW roster. The UWF was already presenting one of the best television shows at the time period with their fast pace matches, soap opera story lines, and superior talent. They were also taping television at Billy Bob's in Forth Worth for the Power Pro Wrestling television show.

The UWF roster at this time period consisted of:
Freebirds, Eddie Gilbert, Sting, Terry Taylor, Jim Duggan, Steve Williams, Ted Dibiase, Fantastics, Brett Sawyer, Koko Ware, Missing Link, Dark Journey, Kamala, Skandar Akbar, One Man Gang, Sheepherders. John Tatum, Jack Victory, Rick Steiner, & myself

The WCCW roster at this time consisted of:
Chris Adams [who would be going to jail in a few months], Lance Von Erich, Kerry [out on the shelf from the motor cycle accident], Mike Von Erich [suffering from Toxic Shock Syndrome], Kevin Von Erich, Steve Simpson, Bruiser Brody [between Japan tours & indys], Brian Adias, Batten Twins, Mark Youngblood, Skip Young, Rick Rude, Tim Brooks, Grapplers, Buzz Sawyer, Matt Borne, Gary Hart, Dingo Warrior, & Abdullah The Butcher [betweem Japan tours & indys].

Unfortunately we can't gloss over "Von Erich Tragedy". I personally love the Von Erich family and try to never besmirch their reputations in interviews. I still have my first WCCW pay check framed and my booking sheets. I felt it was a honor to manage Lacey Von Erich last year on a WSU show, since I loved and respected her family. Kevin Von Erich was already drifting in and out of the business in 1986. Kerry who was a star that was coveted by every promotion, would get in to a motor cycle accident. The accident left Kerry on the shelf for over a year. Mike Von Erich was battling against toxic shock syndrome and his own personal demons. WCCW no longer had any Von Erich's left to main event their own shows.

The people saw right thru Lance Von Erich as a phony. Lance was nothing but some pretty boy that David Manning found on the golf course. Many of the fans knew he wasn't related. I heard he even refused a heel turn, since it would interfere with modeling gigs and his gimmick sales. This sucked, since you couldn't even have him feud with Kevin Von Erich over family jealousy. Eventually Lance jumped to Texas Lone Star Wrestling. Fritz would foolishly expose Lance as a fake Von Erich. This was foolish on so many levels. It exposed the Von Erich's as liars and it was a slap in the face to the audience that was lead to believe that Lance was a legitimate relative.

Bruiser Brody couldn't be the lone savior of the promotion. Brody was juggling high paying Japan tours, stints in WWC, and countless indys all across the country. Brody was in in and out of the promotion, based on his busy schedule.

Cable television also exposed the Texas area to way too much wrestling. I recently found a old WCCW/UWF program that was put out by Dennis Brent. It broke down all of the television that was available in the Dallas/Forth Worth market. Talk about over exposure, there were 2-3 wrestling shows on television per day. Eventually the Dallas/Fort Worth market was perceiving the WCCW television show to be inferior to the superior UWF & WWF televison shows that had their eyes on the Texas territory.

Here is day to day breakdown on all of the wrestling shows that were available in the Dallas/Fort Worth television market:

Monday: WWF Championship Wrestling [KDAF] & WWF Prime Time Wrestling [USA]
Tuesday: USA All Star Wrestling From Gilleys [repeat] [KDAF], AWA All Star [ESPN], WWF Prime Time [repeat] [USA]
Wednesday: WWF All Star Wrestling [KDAF] & WWF TNT Wrestling [USA]
Thursday: UWF Power Pro [KDFI] & Mid South Classics [KDAF]
Friday: ICW [KDFI], NWA World Wide [KDAF], & WCCW [ESPN}
Saturday: WCCW [KTVT], UWF [KTXA], WWF Championship Wrestling [repeat] [KDAF], USA All Star Wrestling [KDAF], Best Of WCCW [KXTX], NWA Championship Wrestling [TBS], AWA [repeat] [ESPN], California Championship Wrestling [FNN], California [Tempo], USA All Star [Tempo], & UWF Power Pro [Tempo]
Sunday: WWF All Star [repeat] [KDAF], WWF All Star [KDAF], WCCW [KXTX], Best Of NWA [TBS], WWF All American [USA]

I know my points can be disputed. But I always linked Ken Mantell & the talent deflecting to UWF to be the main reason for the death of WCCW. Ultimately WCCW ran out of talent to fill up their roster. We can also include Von Erich Tragedies as another component that destroyed the territory.

I can't wait for January 10, for K&S Promotions Wrestlefest Convention @ the Radisson Hotel - 30 Minue Street Carteret, NJ 07008. I love to meet with old time former co workers like Abdullah The Butcher, Paul Ellering, Animal, Jody Hamilton, Ivan, Nikita Koloff, & many other wrestlers. Don't forget to stop by at my table and we can discuss old school wrestling, psychology, current wrestling, and more. K&S has done a great job in running autograph conventions and autograph signings in the past. You will not be disappointed by the hard work that Steve & Ken put in their signings to accommodate everybody. You can email K&S @ www.kandswrestlefest.com. I'm very sure that they will accomadate anybody who wants to make last minute plans on attending.

I also can't wait to for the WSU show on January, 10 on the same day as the convention. The show is located at 615 Main Street, Boonton, N.J. 07005. The show starts at 3 P.M., so it gives everybody plenty of time to hit the convention and the show in the same day. WSU has been doing a excellent job in building up their Cage Match Main event of Angel Orsini VS. Mercdes Martinez. Plus they got Roxxi Cotton & Annie Social VS. Awesome Kong & Amy Lee. You can never go wrong with a live Missy's Manor segment. I also can't wait to see Rain wrestle live. I seen tapes of herself & she is a great heel. I will also start campaigning to be inducted in the WSU Hall Of Fame at the show.

Tags: Missy Hyatt, WCCW, Von Erichs, UWF, Gino Hernandez, Chris Adams, Fabulous Freebirds, Bill Watts, Bronco Lubich, Fritz Von Erich, Ken Mantell, Skandar Akbar, One Man Gang, Sunshine, John Tatum, Fantastics, Missing Link, Dusty Rhodes, Ric Flair, Magnum T. A