Jim Crockett was trying to do what he could to combat the rising success of Vince McMahon and the WWF especially during "Hulkamania" and the Rock 'n' Wrestling Connection between rock 'n' roll music on MTV and the WWF and the first WrestleMania grand event.
Crockett had some success teaming with Verne Gagne of the AWA, Ole Anderson of Georgia Championship Wrestling, Jerry Lawler and Jerry Jarrett of the Memphis-based CWA, and other NWA territories to form Pro Wrestling USA and promote their joint-venture shows in WWF territories in an attempt to ruin them like McMahon was trying to do to them.
One thing McMahon did that was considered a failure was purchase Georgia Championship Wrestling's Saturday evening time slot and their flagship show World Championship Wrestling to air his WWF programing. The fans of GCW were furious with McMahon's disregard of the Southern wrestling tradition and culture by airing his own "Yankee" promotion and it did not fly with them.
Due to losing money and poor ratings, McMahon was forced to sell the GCW World Championship Wrestling time slot to Crockett and the NWA Mid-Atlantic promotion. One thing Crockett did with World Championship Wrestling on TBS that McMahon did not was have the show filmed in Ted Turner's Atlanta studios
Crockett bought out Ole Anderson's GCW promotion and merged it with Mid-Atlantic. Crockett also purchased the St. Louis Wrestling Club in the St. Louis territory to form NWA Jim Crockett Promotions (JCP). Crockett was also re-elected NWA President in a further attempt to take down McMahon.
The top event of Pro Wrestling USA was the SuperClash '85 - The Night of Champions event at Comiskey Park in Chicago on September 21, 1985 with over 20,000 fans in attendance. The headlining matches for the event were Ric Flair defeating Magnum T.A. to retain the NWA World Heavyweight Championship and AWA World Heavyweight Champion Rick Martel and Stan Hansen fighting to a double count out.
Pro Wrestling USA only lasted a few more months as arguments between promoters, mostly Crockett and Verne Gagne, led to the breakup of Pro Wrestling USA in January 1986. Pro Wrestling USA shows would mostly be shows for the AWA.
Crockett added a second annual supercard to his lineup in addition to Starrcade as The Great American Bash became the annual summertime supercard. The first Great American Bash was held on July 6, 1985 in Charlotte, North Carolina.
Ric Flair defended his NWA World Heavyweight Championship against "The Russian Nightmare" Nikita Koloff and defeated him to retain the title. Flair was in the middle of a brutal feud with Koloff and his uncle Ivan Koloff during the summer of 1985. Flair had been a babyface in the Mid-Atlantic territory but a heel anywhere else in the other NWA territories.
NWA-JCP head booker Dusty Rhodes defeated Tully Blanchard in a Steel Cage match to win the NWA World Television Championship. Rhodes also won the services of Blanchard's valet Baby Doll for 30 days.
At an event on September 29 at The Omni in Atlanta, Flair defeated Nikita Koloff in a Steel Cage match. Koloff and his uncle Ivan attacked Flair after the match until Rhodes ran in and chased them away. Flair's storyline cousins The Andersons (Arn and Ole Anderson) came in to thank Dusty for helping Flair.
All of a sudden, the Andersons locked the cage door and in a major double-cross, they along with Flair viciously attacked Rhodes. Flair hit a knee drop off the top rope onto Rhodes' ankle, "breaking" it. Flair then applied the Figure Four Leg Lock until other face wrestlers came in and saved Rhodes. This was one of the biggest moments in NWA-JCP history as it started the Flair-Rhodes rivalry that lasted over a year as Flair was a total mega heel.
Rhodes managed to come back from the ankle injury to challenge Flair for the NWA World Title at Starrcade '85 on November 28 from The Omni. With the referee, Tommy Young down, The Andersons ran into the ring and attacked Rhodes. Rhodes, however, rolled Flair into an inside cradle to pin him and win the match and the NWA World Heavyweight Championship.
It appeared that Flair's year-and-a-half long reign as champion was over and Rhodes won the title for the third time in his career. However, Tommy Young announced that he reversed his decision due to the interference from Arn and Ole Anderson from a Rhodes' pinfall win to a Rhodes' disqualification win. That meant that Flair retained the title as the title cannot change hands on a disqualification or a count out.
This was just the beginning of the intense Flair-Rhodes rivalry that was about to add some more "horses" to the stable as we go into 1986.
Showing posts with label AWA. Show all posts
Showing posts with label AWA. Show all posts
Thursday, October 6, 2016
Wednesday, October 5, 2016
NWA-Mid Atlantic-JCP 1984: Vince McMahon Invades the NWA Territories; JCP, NWA, and AWA Join Forces in Response to McMahon and the WWF
With Vincent Kennedy McMahon taking over the WWF from his ailing father Vincent James McMahon, the younger McMahon broke several major cardinal rules such as not invading other territories and taking them over and raiding the other promotions of their top talent. He'd even book his shows in other's respective territories.
McMahon acquired many top wrestlers, managers, and announcers in late 1983 and 1984 from various NWA top affiliates as well as Verne Gagne's AWA such as "Rowdy" Roddy Piper, Greg "The Hammer" Valentine, Bob Orton Jr., Bobby "The Brain" Heenan, Ken Patera, "Mean" Gene Okerlund, and the biggest acquisition Hulk Hogan, who was the number one promoter in the WWF.
Even though the elder McMahon and his WWF was not affiliated with the top and oldest wrestling promotion at the time the NWA and it's various territories throughout the United States, the elder McMahon still respected the code of staying in his territory. This was a lot like Gagne and his Minneapolis-based AWA, who also wasn't affiliated with the NWA but stayed only in his region and did not dare go to the other territories and they left him alone.
In 1984, the younger McMahon took over a major NWA affiliate by purchasing Georgia Championship Wrestling and taking over its Saturday night time slot to show his WWF programming beginning on July 14, 1984. The incident was known on as "Black Saturday." The war was on.
Promoters knew they had to either team up against McMahon or be out of business. The owner and promoter of the NWA's therefore wrestling's top promotion Jim Crockett Jr. of Jim Crockett Promotions (JCP) Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling decided to fight back.
Crockett formed an alliance with other promoters Gagne of the AWA, Jerry Jarrett and Jerry Lawler of Continental Wrestling Association (CWA), and Ole Anderson of Georgia Championship Wrestling along with other promoters of various NWA territories to create Pro Wrestling USA.
The joint venture was created to promote shows throughout the country and take it to McMahon and the WWF. They taped many shows in East Rutherford, New Jersey in the heart of WWF country in an attempt to undermine them.
Even though the WWF was on its way up with "Hulkamania", the NWA Mid Atlantic-JCP was still the top promotion in 1984 and the NWA World Heavyweight Champion Ric Flair was recognized as the top world heavyweight champion in wrestling, even more than the WWF World Heavyweight Champion Hulk Hogan.
Flair won the title, his second reign as NWA world champion, from the legendary Harley Race on Thanksgiving Night November 24, 1983 at the inaugural Starrcade supercars from Greensboro, North Carolina. The inaugural Starrcade event changed the face of professional wrestling as super cards were shown only on closed circuit television and eventually on pay-per-view (PPV).
Both the NWA and soon after the WWF, beginning with WrestleMania, began showing these supercards on PPV once a year and soon added another, and another, and another. Soon there would be a PPV event up to six times a year to now where there is one every month of the year.
Flair was the NWA world champion, the best in the business. After trading the championship with Race during an international tour in March 1984, Flair's next challenger was a kid from Dallas, Texas Kerry Von Erich.
Kerry was from the famous Von Erich family from Texas' NWA affiliate World Class Championship Wrestling (WCCW) as the NWA recognized Kerry as the number one contender to Flair's NWA World Title. Before Kerry, his brother David Von Erich was actually the number one contender to the NWA World Title.
The NWA Championship Committee supposedly voted David to defeat Flair for the title in either March or April 1984. Sadly, on February 10, 1984 during a tour of Japan, David Von Erich died suddenly from an intestinal rupture caused by a stomach ailment. This was the start of the "Von Erich family curse" where brothers Mike, Chris, and Kerry would eventually kill themselves in later years.
Flair defended the NWA title against Kerry at Texas Stadium on May 6, 1984 in the David Von Erich Memorial Parade of Champions event held in the honor of David Von Erich. Over 45,000 fans witnessed the Texan Kerry Von Erich defeating Flair to win the NWA World Heavyweight Championship.
18 days later in Yokosuka, Japan, Flair won back the NWA World Title from Kerry Von Erich for his fourth reign as world champion. This reign as world champion for Flair would last for over two years, 793 days.
Flair defended the title against Dusty Rhodes in a one million dollar challenge at Starrcade '84 on Thanksgiving Night, November 22, 1984 from Greensboro. Flair defeated Rhodes to retain the title when special guest referee and Boxing legend "Smokin" Joe Frazier stopped the match due to excessive blood from Rhodes.
Flair dominated 1984 on his way to an even more successful 1985. The NWA and JCP was quiet outside of the Pro Wrestling USA merger, but things would get interesting as Jim Crockett and the NWA would start consolidating territories into one super power to take on Vince McMahon and the WWF.
McMahon acquired many top wrestlers, managers, and announcers in late 1983 and 1984 from various NWA top affiliates as well as Verne Gagne's AWA such as "Rowdy" Roddy Piper, Greg "The Hammer" Valentine, Bob Orton Jr., Bobby "The Brain" Heenan, Ken Patera, "Mean" Gene Okerlund, and the biggest acquisition Hulk Hogan, who was the number one promoter in the WWF.
Even though the elder McMahon and his WWF was not affiliated with the top and oldest wrestling promotion at the time the NWA and it's various territories throughout the United States, the elder McMahon still respected the code of staying in his territory. This was a lot like Gagne and his Minneapolis-based AWA, who also wasn't affiliated with the NWA but stayed only in his region and did not dare go to the other territories and they left him alone.
In 1984, the younger McMahon took over a major NWA affiliate by purchasing Georgia Championship Wrestling and taking over its Saturday night time slot to show his WWF programming beginning on July 14, 1984. The incident was known on as "Black Saturday." The war was on.
Promoters knew they had to either team up against McMahon or be out of business. The owner and promoter of the NWA's therefore wrestling's top promotion Jim Crockett Jr. of Jim Crockett Promotions (JCP) Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling decided to fight back.
Crockett formed an alliance with other promoters Gagne of the AWA, Jerry Jarrett and Jerry Lawler of Continental Wrestling Association (CWA), and Ole Anderson of Georgia Championship Wrestling along with other promoters of various NWA territories to create Pro Wrestling USA.
The joint venture was created to promote shows throughout the country and take it to McMahon and the WWF. They taped many shows in East Rutherford, New Jersey in the heart of WWF country in an attempt to undermine them.
Even though the WWF was on its way up with "Hulkamania", the NWA Mid Atlantic-JCP was still the top promotion in 1984 and the NWA World Heavyweight Champion Ric Flair was recognized as the top world heavyweight champion in wrestling, even more than the WWF World Heavyweight Champion Hulk Hogan.
Flair won the title, his second reign as NWA world champion, from the legendary Harley Race on Thanksgiving Night November 24, 1983 at the inaugural Starrcade supercars from Greensboro, North Carolina. The inaugural Starrcade event changed the face of professional wrestling as super cards were shown only on closed circuit television and eventually on pay-per-view (PPV).
Both the NWA and soon after the WWF, beginning with WrestleMania, began showing these supercards on PPV once a year and soon added another, and another, and another. Soon there would be a PPV event up to six times a year to now where there is one every month of the year.
Flair was the NWA world champion, the best in the business. After trading the championship with Race during an international tour in March 1984, Flair's next challenger was a kid from Dallas, Texas Kerry Von Erich.
Kerry was from the famous Von Erich family from Texas' NWA affiliate World Class Championship Wrestling (WCCW) as the NWA recognized Kerry as the number one contender to Flair's NWA World Title. Before Kerry, his brother David Von Erich was actually the number one contender to the NWA World Title.
The NWA Championship Committee supposedly voted David to defeat Flair for the title in either March or April 1984. Sadly, on February 10, 1984 during a tour of Japan, David Von Erich died suddenly from an intestinal rupture caused by a stomach ailment. This was the start of the "Von Erich family curse" where brothers Mike, Chris, and Kerry would eventually kill themselves in later years.
Flair defended the NWA title against Kerry at Texas Stadium on May 6, 1984 in the David Von Erich Memorial Parade of Champions event held in the honor of David Von Erich. Over 45,000 fans witnessed the Texan Kerry Von Erich defeating Flair to win the NWA World Heavyweight Championship.
18 days later in Yokosuka, Japan, Flair won back the NWA World Title from Kerry Von Erich for his fourth reign as world champion. This reign as world champion for Flair would last for over two years, 793 days.
Flair defended the title against Dusty Rhodes in a one million dollar challenge at Starrcade '84 on Thanksgiving Night, November 22, 1984 from Greensboro. Flair defeated Rhodes to retain the title when special guest referee and Boxing legend "Smokin" Joe Frazier stopped the match due to excessive blood from Rhodes.
Flair dominated 1984 on his way to an even more successful 1985. The NWA and JCP was quiet outside of the Pro Wrestling USA merger, but things would get interesting as Jim Crockett and the NWA would start consolidating territories into one super power to take on Vince McMahon and the WWF.
WWF 1984: The Year the Territorial Wrestling Died and National and International Wrestling Was Created; The Birth of "Hulkamania"; "Rowdy" Roddy Piper; Black Saturday
For years, wrestling promoters in each territory had an "unwritten rule" not to invade or bury the other promoters in their respective territories. Vincent Kennedy McMahon and his Titan Sports, Inc. acquired the Capital Wrestling, Co. and the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) from his father and promoter Vincent J. McMahon in 1982.
The younger Vince McMahon had been working for his father's company starting in 1969. He was a promoter and also was an announcer on WWF TV. McMahon wanted to be a wrestler, but his father was against that saying that promoters should stay away from the wrestlers. His father let him be an announcer so he can appear on television. McMahon would still be an announcer long after becoming the owner of the WWF, but kept it a secret on TV until the mid-to-late 1990s.
The elder Vince McMahon had owned Capital Wrestling since taking over from his father Jess McMahon after he passed away in 1954. McMahon founded the modern day what is now known as the WWE (then known as the World Wide Wrestling Federation (WWWF) and changed simply to the WWF in 1979) in 1963 after Capital broke away from the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA).
The Capital-WWF territory was in the northeast, primarily New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, New England, Baltimore, and Washington D.C. Despite not being affiliated with the NWA, the oldest and top wrestling promotion at the time, Vincent J. McMahon did not do anything to ruin or take over the other promoters in their respective NWA territories, you just did not do that in those days.
The younger Vince McMahon, however, did not abide by these unwritten rules. But for McMahon to make his promotion number one and make wrestling as a whole number one, he knew had to break these rules and create a juggernaut instead of just sitting in territories and never growing.
McMahon has stated numerous times: he's not in the wrestling business, he's in the entertainment business. More specifically, he's in the "sports entertainment" business so he's not there to abide by some old unwritten rule and code. He's there to put the best possible product out there to put the most amount of fans in seats to be number one and if you couldn't compete with that, you were out of luck.
McMahon had quickly began expanding the WWF out of the Northeast and into the other territories and began to run them out of business by taking over that territories' market. McMahon went up north and bought out the Toronto-based Maple Leaf Wrestling and made Jack Tunney the on-air President of the WWF. McMahon then moved out west to purchase Stu Hart's Stampede Wrestling in Calgary.
In addition to committing the Cardinal sin of running a territorial promotion out of business and taking them over, McMahon did another no-no and that was take the promotions' top talents and put them in his WWF. McMahon brought in Bret "The Hitman" Hart, Jim "The Anvil" Neidhart, Davey Boy Smith, and the Dynamite Kid from Stampede after buying them out.
He raided some of the top wrestlers and managers in both the NWA territories and Verne Gagne's American Wrestling Association (AWA) such as "Rowdy" Roddy Piper, Greg "The Hammer" Valentine, Bobby "The Brain" Heenan, "Cowboy" Bob Orton, Junkyard Dog, Mike Rotundo, Dave Schultz, Ken Patera, and "Mean" Gene Okerlund.
The biggest acquisition McMahon made was Hulk Hogan, who was the most popular and top drawing wrestler in the AWA. After Gagne did not want to put the AWA World Heavyweight Championship around Hogan's waist and did not to give him a larger percentage of merchandise sales, McMahon went ahead and hired Hogan to be his top draw in his new powerhouse federation.
Hogan had competed in the older McMahon's WWF from 1979 to 1981. Hogan was a heel and while he was a draw, he wasn't the top guy in the company. McMahon decided to fire Hogan after Hogan went against McMahon's wishes and acted in Rocky III as "Thunderlips." The younger McMahon knew how big of a star Hogan was in the AWA and figured he'd be an ever bigger star by making him the number one in his promotion.
McMahon further drew the ire from Gagne by having the wrestlers not follow the normal procedure for leaving the AWA, which is to give six weeks notice in advance. McMahon allegedly paid the wrestlers to leave the AWA earlier than six weeks.
According to Verne's son Greg Gagne, McMahon attempted to purchase the AWA from Verne the year earlier. Due to a falling out between McMahon and Gagne, the deal fell through and McMahon did everything in his power to put the AWA under, especially bringing in Hogan.
This ticked off the promoters of the other territories who were quickly going out of business after many years. They were furious at the elder McMahon for his son ruining them. Love it or hate it, this was the way the professional wrestling business was heading as it was going more national and international instead of simply in territories.
You either had to compete with McMahon and the WWF or it was over. The older McMahon did not get to see his son's vision of the WWF being the top promotion come to fruition. Sadly, Vincent J. McMahon passed away on May 24, 1984 at the age of 69 years old.
The event that really sparked the tipping point of professional wrestling turning from a local or regional sport to a national and international phenomenon took place in the summer of 1984 when Vince McMahon purchased the NWA's Georgia Championship Wrestling (GCW) and merged it with his WWF.
McMahon bought out the stocks of Jack and Jerry Brisco (who were the primary and majority shareholders of GCW) for less than a million dollars and guaranteed job security in the WWF. Jerry Brisco still to this day works in the WWE for McMahon.
Besides putting another territorial promotion out of business, McMahon wanted to buy GCW for another reason and that was their Saturday Night time slot for their flagship show World Championship Wrestling on Superstation WTBS to put his WWF programming on national television and showcase it to the rest of the country.
The first episode of the new WWF World Championship Wrestling show was on July 14, 1984 and is commonly referred to as "Black Saturday." Fans who turned on Superstation WTBS to watch their favorite NWA Georgia Championship Wrestling show, the World Championship Wrestling Saturday night show on July 14, 1984 were absolutely stunned at what they saw on TV.
Fans who never thought this man would appear on one of their shows saw Vince K. McMahon on the show to announce that he bought Georgia Championship Wrestling and his WWF programming would now be on the Saturday night time slot on WTBS.
The Georgia fans were accustomed to their good old fashioned Southern "rasslin" were turned off by McMahon and the WWF and their "Yankee" brand of wrestling. The WWF on TBS was a ratings disaster from the beginning as the fans demanded to know why GCW was off the air replaced by the WWF. McMahon soon pulled out of the agreement less than a year later.
What angered WTBS owner and founder Ted Turner was that he hoped McMahon would use his WTBS studios to film his WWF TV shows, but McMahon instead used the WWF World Championship Wrestling show as a recap show.
Also in 1984, McMahon started a relationship with a major cable television network, the USA Network to show his wrestling shows. With WTBS, USA, and his nationally-syndicated TV shows, McMahon's WWF was seen by millions of fans each and every week as it gained so much recognition and national exposure.
The biggest story in 1984 was McMahon making Hulk Hogan the WWF World Heavyweight Champion shortly after he rejoined the WWF. When McMahon hired Hogan in December 1983, he was looking for a new face for his company to go global as nearly six-year WWF Champion Bob Backlund was no longer the face of the company due to fans being sick of him and McMahon wanted it to be Hogan.
At Madison Square Garden on December 26, 1983, Backlund lost the WWF Championship after a 2,135-day reign to The Iron Sheik when Sheik put Backlund in his Camel Clutch and Backlund's manager Arnold Skaaland threw in the towel for Backlund. The Sheik was a transitional champion as McMahon took the belt off one babyface to put it on a heel so that he could put the belt on another babyface.
Sheik was supposed to defend the title against Backlund in a rematch at Madison Square Garden on January 23, 1984, but Backlund was battling a storyline neck injury and was replaced by Hogan. Hogan was locked into The Sheik's Camel Clutch finishing hold, which Sheik has used to beat everyone including Backlund for the title, but Hogan used "super human" strength to power out of the hold.
Hogan picked up Sheik on his back and ran him into the turnbuckles. Hogan then hit Sheik with a running Atomic Leg Drop that would be his signature finishing move to pin The Sheik to win his first career WWF World Heavyweight Championship and his first World Heavyweight Championship of any kind. "Hulkamania" was born that night and professional wrestling would never be the same again.
Hogan would defeat anyone that came his way as he remained the champion for the rest of the year. Hogan became a superstar overnight and was the most popular wrestler. Hogan's fans were known as "Hulkamaniacs" who were swept in the "Hulkamania" phenomenon.
Hogan used the word "brother" a lot in his interviews and told his fans about his three "demandments": training, saying your prayers, and eating your vitamins. Hogan would wear yellow-and-red ring attire with a muscle shit and a headband (later a bandana).
Hogan would play to the audience by ripping off his muscle shirt and begin posing and flexing his muscles. Hogan would also put his hand up to his ear to signal he really wants to hear the audience scream and shout. Hogan would do much of the same in his post-match celebration.
During his matches, Hogan would usually get a second wind when he looked beaten and began to "Hulk up!" as he would be impervious to pain by no-selling his opponents attacks. Hogan would then point at his opponent and shout "You!"
Hogan then gave his opponent three right hand punches and then throw him into the ropes, where he would deliver a big boot. If the opponent was a giant, he would then bodyslam them after the boot. Hogan would then run to the ropes and deliver his signature Atomic Leg Drop to win the match.
The other really big acquisition McMahon made was a boisterous loud mouth by the name of "Rowdy" Roddy Piper. If Hogan was the WWF's #1 babyface, then Piper was the #1 heel. Piper came to the ring wearing a kilt and sometimes even playing the bagpipes, a play off his Scottish heritage.
Piper debuted as a manager for "Mr. Wonderful" Paul Orndorff and "Dr. D" David Schultz as injuries from his Dog Collar match with Greg Valentine at Starrcade before he came to the WWF prevented him from wrestling right away.
Eventually, he became a full-time wrestler. To further cement his status as the biggest heel in the company, he was given his own interview segment shown on WWF TV called "Piper's Pit", which he had until 1987. Piper would spout off on the WWF's babyfaces and fans. His trash talking back in the old school days actually would have made the Attitude Era of more than a decade later jealous.
Piper's heat as a heel really turned up on an episode of Piper's Pit when he interviewed Jimmy "Superfly" Snuka. He made fun of Snuka's heritage and then attacked him by hitting him in the head with a coconut and then smashed a banana in his face.
The next big incident involving on December 28 when musician Cyndi Lauper, her boyfriend and manager at the time David Wolff, and Captain Lou Albano were in the ring as Lauper and Wolff were presenting an award to Albano.
Piper came to the ring as he insulted her music and the connection between rock music and the WWF that was starting up at that time. He then took the award and smashed it over Albano's head. Piper then attacked Lauper and Wolff until Hulk Hogan ran into the ring to chase Piper away.
This started the Rock 'n'Wrestling Connection as well as the stepping stone to first-ever WrestleMania Super Card that was ahead in 1985.
The younger Vince McMahon had been working for his father's company starting in 1969. He was a promoter and also was an announcer on WWF TV. McMahon wanted to be a wrestler, but his father was against that saying that promoters should stay away from the wrestlers. His father let him be an announcer so he can appear on television. McMahon would still be an announcer long after becoming the owner of the WWF, but kept it a secret on TV until the mid-to-late 1990s.
The elder Vince McMahon had owned Capital Wrestling since taking over from his father Jess McMahon after he passed away in 1954. McMahon founded the modern day what is now known as the WWE (then known as the World Wide Wrestling Federation (WWWF) and changed simply to the WWF in 1979) in 1963 after Capital broke away from the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA).
The Capital-WWF territory was in the northeast, primarily New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, New England, Baltimore, and Washington D.C. Despite not being affiliated with the NWA, the oldest and top wrestling promotion at the time, Vincent J. McMahon did not do anything to ruin or take over the other promoters in their respective NWA territories, you just did not do that in those days.
The younger Vince McMahon, however, did not abide by these unwritten rules. But for McMahon to make his promotion number one and make wrestling as a whole number one, he knew had to break these rules and create a juggernaut instead of just sitting in territories and never growing.
McMahon has stated numerous times: he's not in the wrestling business, he's in the entertainment business. More specifically, he's in the "sports entertainment" business so he's not there to abide by some old unwritten rule and code. He's there to put the best possible product out there to put the most amount of fans in seats to be number one and if you couldn't compete with that, you were out of luck.
McMahon had quickly began expanding the WWF out of the Northeast and into the other territories and began to run them out of business by taking over that territories' market. McMahon went up north and bought out the Toronto-based Maple Leaf Wrestling and made Jack Tunney the on-air President of the WWF. McMahon then moved out west to purchase Stu Hart's Stampede Wrestling in Calgary.
In addition to committing the Cardinal sin of running a territorial promotion out of business and taking them over, McMahon did another no-no and that was take the promotions' top talents and put them in his WWF. McMahon brought in Bret "The Hitman" Hart, Jim "The Anvil" Neidhart, Davey Boy Smith, and the Dynamite Kid from Stampede after buying them out.
He raided some of the top wrestlers and managers in both the NWA territories and Verne Gagne's American Wrestling Association (AWA) such as "Rowdy" Roddy Piper, Greg "The Hammer" Valentine, Bobby "The Brain" Heenan, "Cowboy" Bob Orton, Junkyard Dog, Mike Rotundo, Dave Schultz, Ken Patera, and "Mean" Gene Okerlund.
The biggest acquisition McMahon made was Hulk Hogan, who was the most popular and top drawing wrestler in the AWA. After Gagne did not want to put the AWA World Heavyweight Championship around Hogan's waist and did not to give him a larger percentage of merchandise sales, McMahon went ahead and hired Hogan to be his top draw in his new powerhouse federation.
Hogan had competed in the older McMahon's WWF from 1979 to 1981. Hogan was a heel and while he was a draw, he wasn't the top guy in the company. McMahon decided to fire Hogan after Hogan went against McMahon's wishes and acted in Rocky III as "Thunderlips." The younger McMahon knew how big of a star Hogan was in the AWA and figured he'd be an ever bigger star by making him the number one in his promotion.
McMahon further drew the ire from Gagne by having the wrestlers not follow the normal procedure for leaving the AWA, which is to give six weeks notice in advance. McMahon allegedly paid the wrestlers to leave the AWA earlier than six weeks.
According to Verne's son Greg Gagne, McMahon attempted to purchase the AWA from Verne the year earlier. Due to a falling out between McMahon and Gagne, the deal fell through and McMahon did everything in his power to put the AWA under, especially bringing in Hogan.
This ticked off the promoters of the other territories who were quickly going out of business after many years. They were furious at the elder McMahon for his son ruining them. Love it or hate it, this was the way the professional wrestling business was heading as it was going more national and international instead of simply in territories.
You either had to compete with McMahon and the WWF or it was over. The older McMahon did not get to see his son's vision of the WWF being the top promotion come to fruition. Sadly, Vincent J. McMahon passed away on May 24, 1984 at the age of 69 years old.
The event that really sparked the tipping point of professional wrestling turning from a local or regional sport to a national and international phenomenon took place in the summer of 1984 when Vince McMahon purchased the NWA's Georgia Championship Wrestling (GCW) and merged it with his WWF.
McMahon bought out the stocks of Jack and Jerry Brisco (who were the primary and majority shareholders of GCW) for less than a million dollars and guaranteed job security in the WWF. Jerry Brisco still to this day works in the WWE for McMahon.
Besides putting another territorial promotion out of business, McMahon wanted to buy GCW for another reason and that was their Saturday Night time slot for their flagship show World Championship Wrestling on Superstation WTBS to put his WWF programming on national television and showcase it to the rest of the country.
The first episode of the new WWF World Championship Wrestling show was on July 14, 1984 and is commonly referred to as "Black Saturday." Fans who turned on Superstation WTBS to watch their favorite NWA Georgia Championship Wrestling show, the World Championship Wrestling Saturday night show on July 14, 1984 were absolutely stunned at what they saw on TV.
Fans who never thought this man would appear on one of their shows saw Vince K. McMahon on the show to announce that he bought Georgia Championship Wrestling and his WWF programming would now be on the Saturday night time slot on WTBS.
The Georgia fans were accustomed to their good old fashioned Southern "rasslin" were turned off by McMahon and the WWF and their "Yankee" brand of wrestling. The WWF on TBS was a ratings disaster from the beginning as the fans demanded to know why GCW was off the air replaced by the WWF. McMahon soon pulled out of the agreement less than a year later.
What angered WTBS owner and founder Ted Turner was that he hoped McMahon would use his WTBS studios to film his WWF TV shows, but McMahon instead used the WWF World Championship Wrestling show as a recap show.
Also in 1984, McMahon started a relationship with a major cable television network, the USA Network to show his wrestling shows. With WTBS, USA, and his nationally-syndicated TV shows, McMahon's WWF was seen by millions of fans each and every week as it gained so much recognition and national exposure.
The biggest story in 1984 was McMahon making Hulk Hogan the WWF World Heavyweight Champion shortly after he rejoined the WWF. When McMahon hired Hogan in December 1983, he was looking for a new face for his company to go global as nearly six-year WWF Champion Bob Backlund was no longer the face of the company due to fans being sick of him and McMahon wanted it to be Hogan.
At Madison Square Garden on December 26, 1983, Backlund lost the WWF Championship after a 2,135-day reign to The Iron Sheik when Sheik put Backlund in his Camel Clutch and Backlund's manager Arnold Skaaland threw in the towel for Backlund. The Sheik was a transitional champion as McMahon took the belt off one babyface to put it on a heel so that he could put the belt on another babyface.
Sheik was supposed to defend the title against Backlund in a rematch at Madison Square Garden on January 23, 1984, but Backlund was battling a storyline neck injury and was replaced by Hogan. Hogan was locked into The Sheik's Camel Clutch finishing hold, which Sheik has used to beat everyone including Backlund for the title, but Hogan used "super human" strength to power out of the hold.
Hogan picked up Sheik on his back and ran him into the turnbuckles. Hogan then hit Sheik with a running Atomic Leg Drop that would be his signature finishing move to pin The Sheik to win his first career WWF World Heavyweight Championship and his first World Heavyweight Championship of any kind. "Hulkamania" was born that night and professional wrestling would never be the same again.
Hogan would defeat anyone that came his way as he remained the champion for the rest of the year. Hogan became a superstar overnight and was the most popular wrestler. Hogan's fans were known as "Hulkamaniacs" who were swept in the "Hulkamania" phenomenon.
Hogan used the word "brother" a lot in his interviews and told his fans about his three "demandments": training, saying your prayers, and eating your vitamins. Hogan would wear yellow-and-red ring attire with a muscle shit and a headband (later a bandana).
Hogan would play to the audience by ripping off his muscle shirt and begin posing and flexing his muscles. Hogan would also put his hand up to his ear to signal he really wants to hear the audience scream and shout. Hogan would do much of the same in his post-match celebration.
During his matches, Hogan would usually get a second wind when he looked beaten and began to "Hulk up!" as he would be impervious to pain by no-selling his opponents attacks. Hogan would then point at his opponent and shout "You!"
Hogan then gave his opponent three right hand punches and then throw him into the ropes, where he would deliver a big boot. If the opponent was a giant, he would then bodyslam them after the boot. Hogan would then run to the ropes and deliver his signature Atomic Leg Drop to win the match.
The other really big acquisition McMahon made was a boisterous loud mouth by the name of "Rowdy" Roddy Piper. If Hogan was the WWF's #1 babyface, then Piper was the #1 heel. Piper came to the ring wearing a kilt and sometimes even playing the bagpipes, a play off his Scottish heritage.
Piper debuted as a manager for "Mr. Wonderful" Paul Orndorff and "Dr. D" David Schultz as injuries from his Dog Collar match with Greg Valentine at Starrcade before he came to the WWF prevented him from wrestling right away.
Eventually, he became a full-time wrestler. To further cement his status as the biggest heel in the company, he was given his own interview segment shown on WWF TV called "Piper's Pit", which he had until 1987. Piper would spout off on the WWF's babyfaces and fans. His trash talking back in the old school days actually would have made the Attitude Era of more than a decade later jealous.
Piper's heat as a heel really turned up on an episode of Piper's Pit when he interviewed Jimmy "Superfly" Snuka. He made fun of Snuka's heritage and then attacked him by hitting him in the head with a coconut and then smashed a banana in his face.
The next big incident involving on December 28 when musician Cyndi Lauper, her boyfriend and manager at the time David Wolff, and Captain Lou Albano were in the ring as Lauper and Wolff were presenting an award to Albano.
Piper came to the ring as he insulted her music and the connection between rock music and the WWF that was starting up at that time. He then took the award and smashed it over Albano's head. Piper then attacked Lauper and Wolff until Hulk Hogan ran into the ring to chase Piper away.
This started the Rock 'n'Wrestling Connection as well as the stepping stone to first-ever WrestleMania Super Card that was ahead in 1985.
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