Mid-South Wrestling
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 Tennesee, 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.
Skandor Akbar
Andre the Giant
The Assassins
Ron Bass
Jack Brisco
Jerry Brisco
The Brute (Bugsy McGraw)
Haystack Calhoun
Porkchop Cash
Ted DiBiase
Eric Embry
Don Fargo
Terry Garvin
Mike George
Eddie Gilbert
Frank Goodish (Bruiser Brody)
Great Zimm (Waldo Von Erich)
Stan Hansen
"Playboy" Gary Hart
Danny Hodge
Mr. Ito (Umanosuke Ueda)
Bobby Jaggers
Kim Duk
Stan Kowalski
Killer Karl Kox
Ernie Ladd
Billy Red Lyons
Ken Mantell
Great Matsuda (Hiro Matsuda)
Sputnik Monroe
Ricky Morton
Angelo Mosca
Dick Murdoch
Jerry Oates
Paul Orndorff
Chuck O’Connor (Big John Studd)
Ken Patera
Thunderbolt Patterson
Mr. Pogo
Bull Ramos
Ron Reed (Buddy Colt)
Dusty Rhodes
Buddy Roberts
Dewey Robertson
Billy Robinson
Buck Robley
Gypsy Joe Rosario
Dutch Savage
George Scott [Booker]
Bob Slaughter
The Spoiler
The Stomper (John Quinn)
Bob Sweetan
Rip Tyler
Greg Valentine
Karl Von Brauner
Waldo Von Erich
Bill Watts
Ed Wiskowski
Mr. Wrestling II
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
"Magnum" Terry Allen
Andre The Giant
Tony Anthony
Barbarian
Brad Armstrong
Blade Runners (Sting & Rock)
Tully Blanchard
Larry Booker (Moondog Spot)
Matt Bourne
Bruiser Brody
Leroy Brown (Ray Candy)
King Kong Bundy
Porkchop Cash
Wendell Cooley
Jim Cornette
Crusher Darsow
Ted DiBiase
Dirty White Boys (Tony Anthony & Len Denton)
Bill Dundee
"Hacksaw" Jim Duggan
Frank Dusek
Fabulous Freebirds (Michael Hayes, Terry Gordy, Buddy Roberts)
Fantastics (Tommy Rogers & Bobby Fulton)
Jimmy Garvin
Mike George
Eddie Gilbert
Terry Gordy
Luke Graham
The Grappler
The Great Kabuki
Chavo Guerrero
Stan Hansen
Hercules Hernandez
Tim Horner
Masao Ito
Junkyard Dog
Krusher Khrushchev (Barry Darsow)
Kim Duk
Ivan Koloff
Killer Karl Kox
Killer Karl Krupp
Krusher Kruschev
Ernie Ladd
Buddy Landell
Frankie Lane
Stan Lane
Ken Lucas
Marty Lunde (Arn Anderson)
Dutch Mantell
Ken Mantell
Wahoo McDaniel
Midnight Express (Dennis Condrey & Bobby Eaton)
Angelo Mosca
Kareem Muhammed (Ray Candy)
"Captain Redneck" Dick Murdoch
Mr. Olympia
One Man Gang
Paul Orndorff
Bob Orton Jr.
Tom Prichard
Dusty Rhodes
Tommy Rich
The Road Warriors
Jake Roberts
Buck Robley
Rock-N-Roll Express (Ricky Morton & Robert Gibson)
Bob Roop
Butch Reed
Buzz Sawyer
Rick Steiner
Adrian Street
Terry Taylor
Wild Samoans (Afa & Sika)
Dick Slater
Sgt. Slaughter
John Studd
Jerry Stubbs
Bob Sweetan
John Tolos
Nikolai Volkoff
David Von Erich
Kerry Von Erich
Bill Watts
"Dr. Death" Steve Williams
Ed Wiskowski
Mr. Wrestling
Mr. Wrestling II
Tom Zenk
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
General Skandor Akbar
Brad Armstrong
Ted DiBiase
"Hacksaw" Jim Duggan
Fabulous Freebirds
Fantastics
Mike George
Terry Gordy
Chavo Guerrero
Tim Horner
Sam Houston
Kamala
Nikita Koloff
Missing Link
Buddy Landell
Dick Murdoch
One Man Gang
Iceman King Parsons
Baron Von Raschke
Big Bubba Rogers
Buzz Sawyer
The Sheepherders
Rick Steiner
Sting
Terry Taylor
Bill Watts
"Dr. Death" Steve Williams
Barry Windham
I'd like to thank Bob Miller, Dennis McCaslin, Paul Weston from kayfabememories.com for their articles. And, of course Royal Duncun and Gary Will's contributions to wrestling-titles.com