NWA Tri-State Wrestling (1958-1982)
Tri-State Wrestling headed by Leroy McGuirk ran successfully for years in this tough area of the United States. The
physical area was huge and the population to draw from was small, but many stars came through and developed there over the
promotion's twenty year run. McGuirk was a junior heavyweight himself and mainly promoted them with some excellent talents
to get behind, namely Danny Hodge and Jack Brisco. The promotion's name, Tri-State, refers to Oklahoma, Arkansas and
Louisiana, but Mississippi became a key state and they even ran spot shows in Missouri and Texas. The focal cities were:
Tulsa and Oklahoma City, Oklahoma; Little Rock and Fort Smith, Arkansas and Shreveport, Louisiana. After struggling in the
early 1960s, McGuirk aligned himself with Verne Gagne and Fritz Von Erich for a time and eventually partnered up with Bill
Watts and his long-time top star Danny Hodge. The promotion came alive in the late 1960s and was reformed in the early
1970s under McGuirk and Watts, shifting its focus away from being just another NWA territory. They even pulled out of the
Alliance and bought out Gagne and Von Erich in hopes of running bigger shows and promoting itself better. New Orleans,
Louisiana, became their big money city and Watts felt they had to shift their focus toward it instead of Oklahoma. By this
point, the company had split into Northern and Southern operations. Like Tennessee, the old-timer stuck with his main
region (the Northern part), while the secondary part (the Southern part) was allowed to grow and it eventually broke away
and the old part eventually died off. McGuirk had lost touch and Watts bought the Southern portion of Tri-State Wrestling.
George Scott came in to book the remained Northern part and McGuirk's daughter took over promoting, but it struggled for
the next few years before Watts bought it in 1982.
Skandar Akbar
The Assassins
Tarzan Baxter (The Wrestling Pro)
Jack Brisco
Danny Hodge
Hollywood Blondes (Dale Roberts & Jerry Brown)
Chuck Karbo
Don Kent
Killer Karl Kox
Leroy McGuirk
Sputnik Monroe
Dick Murdoch
Bruiser Bob Sweetan
Waldo Von Erich
Bill Watts
CLICK HERE for a full NWA Tri-State alumni list
Mid-South Wrestling (1979-1986)
Mid-South Wrestling is one of well-respected pro-wrestling organizations of the sport’s unique history. It became
legendary for its athletic matches, wild angles and distinct personalities. Its mastermind, Bill Watts, had been a
successful booker in Oklahoma, Georgia and Florida before deciding to start his own promotion in 1979. New Orleans was big
money city for Tri-State Wrestling and Watts decided to take it, its home state of Louisiana and neighboring Mississippi
and create a top notch wrestling promotion. Watts was an innovative promoter and turned Mid-South into one of the premier
companies in the early 1980s. He broke away from the NWA, but remained loosely affiliated with them. Over the next few
years, Watts bought out and expanded into Leroy McGuirk's territory of Oklahoma and Arkansas. He also accumulated more
power by creating beneficial relationships with Paul Boesch in Houston, Joe Blanchard in San Antonio and Jerry Jarrett in
Memphis. As the WWF and Jim Crockett Promotions grew and other promoters were unsure of their futures, Watts made an
attempt to go national himself. He secured a TV deal with Turner Broadcasting and quickly garnered a strong viewing
audience. Watts was position to take over the WWF’s two-hour Saturday slot in 1985, when it was snatched away from him and
JCP bought the spot in their own national push. Watts was not deterred, he reorganized and tried again.
Chris Adams
Skandar Akbar
Andre the Giant
Brad Armstrong
Tony Atlas
Bruiser Brody
Crusher Broomfield (One Man Gang)
Bob Brown
King Kong Bundy
Porkchop Cash
Wendell Cooley
Jim Cornette
Krusher (Barry) Darsow
Ted DiBiase
The Dirty White Boys (Len Denton & Tony Anthony)
Jim Duggan
Kim Duk
Bill Dundee
The Fabulous Freebirds (Michael Hayes, Terry Gordy & Buddy Roberts)
The Fabulous Ones (Stan Lane & Steve Keirn)
The Fantastics (Tommy Rogers & Bobby Fulton)
Ric Flair
Jimmy Garvin
Mike George
Eddie Gilbert
Ryuma Go
Terry Gordy
The Grappler
Chavo Guerrero
Michael Hayes
Gino Hernandez
Hercules Hernandez
Tim Horner
Bill Irwin
Rufus R. Jones
Junkyard Dog
Kabuki
Kamala
Killer Khan
Killer Karl Krupp
Krusher Krushchev (Barry Darsow)
Ernie Ladd
Buddy Landel
Stagger Lee (Junkyard Dog)
Mark Lewin
Marty Lunde (Arn Anderson)
Magnum T.A.
Dutch Mantell
Masked Superstar
Wahoo McDaniel
Bugsy McGraw
Shawn Michaels
Midnight Express (Bobby Eaton & Dennis Condrey)
Angelo Mosca
Kareem Muhammad
Dick Murdoch
Kendo Nagasaki
Mr. Olympia (Jerry Stubbs)
One Man Gang
Paul Orndorff
King Parsons
Al Perez
Lanny Poffo
Tom Prichard
P.Y.T. Express (Koko B. Ware & Norvell Austin)
Butch Reed
Dusty Rhodes
Buddy Roberts
Jake Roberts
Dewey Robertson (The Missing Link)
Buck Robley
Rock-N-Roll Express (Ricky Morton & Robert Gibson)
Rip Rogers
Bob Roop
Tito Santana
Buzz Sawyer
The Sheepherders (Luke Williams & Butch Miller)
"Mr. Unpredictable" Dick Slater
Rick Steiner
Adrian Street
Big John Studd
Super Destroyer
"Bruiser" Bob Sweetan
Terry Taylor
Nikolai Volkoff
David Von Erich
Kerry Von Erich
Kevin Von Erich
Koko B. Ware
"Cowboy" Bill Watts
Wild Samoans (Afa & Sika)
"Dr. Death" Steve Williams
Mr. Wrestling II
UWF - Universal Wrestling Federation (1986-1987)
Bill Watts’ Mid-South Wrestling was one of the premier territorial promotions in the United States in 1985. The WWF
was successfully moving into markets and forcing competitors to close or sell out, the other promotions were not only
unable to unify, but they began vying for the #2 spot. Watts was confident in himself as a businessman, who understood his
market, his product and his bottom line. He also had the best right-hand man around - Jim Ross. After failing to buy the
WWF's Saturday TV slot on TBS, Ross became the man who brokered TV deals that expanded the company's viewing audience.
Though their talent pool was not what it was several years prior, it was still strong and they offered a gritty version of
pro-wrestling that was tough to match. The major change was the name, in an attempt to get away from the regional feel,
they became the “Universal Wrestling Federation” and declared their own World Champion. It was not to last. While the
other companies lost their fortunes trying to keep up with McMahon, the UWF’s home territory simply bottomed out with the
oil crunch. They had once had a lucrative, albeit widespread region. When the money left, so did the demand for amusement
like pro-wrestling. Watts struggled for a while, but soon sold his assets to Jim Crockett Promotions. The UWF talent was
largely buried and many of them found work elsewhere after a while. Notorious promoter Herb Abrams rekindled the UWF name
in the early 1990s when he ran several forgettable shows under the UWF banner. Time has largely washed away the UWF name
and the legacy of the region is its predecessor - Mid-South Wrestling.
Chris Adams
Skandar Akbar
The Blade Runners (Rock & Sting)
Mike Boyette
Leroy Brown
Jim Cornette
Ted DiBiase
Shane Douglas
"Hacksaw" Jim Duggan
The Fabulous Freebirds (Michael Hayes, Terry Gordy & Buddy Roberts)
The Fantastics (Tommy Rogers & Bobby Fulton)
Eddie Gilbert
Terry Gordy
Chavo Guerrero
Sam Houston
Kamala
Ivan Koloff
Nikita Koloff
Buddy Landel
The Lightning Express (Brad Armstrong & Tim Horner)
Masked Superstar
The Midnight Express (Bobby Eaton & Stan Lane)
The Missing Link
Dick Murdoch
One Man Gang
King Parsons
Dusty Rhodes
The Road Warriors (Hawk & Animal)
Buddy Roberts
Big Bubba Rogers
Buzz Sawyer
The Sheepherders (Luke Williams & Butch Miller)
Dick Slater
Tracy Smothers
Rick Steiner
Sting
The Super Ninja (Keiji Muto)
Terry Taylor
Koko B. Ware
Bill Watts
"Dr. Death" Steve Williams
Barry Windham