Glossary of professional wrestling terms
Professional wrestling has accrued a considerable nomenclature throughout its existence. Much of it stems from the industry's origins in the days of circuses. In the past, professional wrestlers used such terms in the presence of fans so as not to reveal the worked nature of the business. In recent years, widespread discussion on the Internet has popularized these terms. Many of the terms refer to the financial aspects of professional wrestling in addition to in-ring terms. A-show A wrestling event where a company's biggest draws wrestle. Compare B-show and C-show. A-team A group of a wrestling promotion's top stars who wrestle at an A-show. Compare B-team. Abort To discontinue a feud, angle, or gimmick due to a lack of fan interest without explanation. Ace A term only used in Japanese puroresu for a wrestler designated as the face of the promotion. Not the same as the top champion. Examples of aces include Hayabusa in Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling, Hiroshi Tanahashi in New Japan Pro Wrestling and Suwama in All Japan Pro Wrestling.
Agent Also producer. A management employee a former wrestler, who helps wrestlers set up matches, plan storylines, give criticisms on matches, relay instructions from the bookers. Agents act as a liaison between wrestlers and higher-level management and sometimes may help in training younger wrestlers, they are referred to by WWE as "producers". Alliance A cooperative relationship developed between two or more wrestlers, whether wrestling as a tag team or in individual matches. Differentiates from a stable and a faction as the wrestlers are not packaged together, but are presented as a group of individuals working together for a common short term goal. Alliances are formed for the specific purpose of retaining titles between the members of the alliance, or to counter a specific foe or group of foes; the formation of an alliance can be a storyline of its own. Angle A fictional storyline. An angle begins when one wrestler attacks another, which results in revenge. An angle may be as small as a vendetta that lasts for years.
It is not uncommon to see an angle become retconned due to it not getting over with the fans, or if one of the wrestlers involved in the angle is fired. Apter mag An old-style professional wrestling magazine; the term refers to the magazines at one time connected to journalist Bill Apter, such as Pro Wrestling Illustrated. B-show A wrestling event featuring the middle and lower-level talent of a wrestling promotion. Sometimes includes well-known wrestlers making a return or finishing up their career. Compare A-show and C-show. B-team The group of wrestlers on a B-show; the B-team will wrestle at a venue the same night wrestlers on the A-team are wrestling in a different event, although a promotion will sometimes schedule an event with B-team wrestlers to test a new market. Compare A-team. Babyface See face. Beat down An angle in which a wrestler or other performer is the recipient of a one-sided beating by a group of wrestlers. Blading Also juicing and getting color. A wrestler intentionally cutting themselves to provoke bleeding to sell the opponent's offense.
Blind tag 1. A tag made in a tag team match where the wrestler on the apron tags his partner unbeknownst to them or without their consent. 2. A tag where the tagger's opponent is unaware a tag has occurred, leaving them open to a blindside attack. Most occurs when the partner in the ring is thrown against the ropes or backed into their own corner. Blown spot See missed spot. Blow off The final match in a feud. While the involved wrestlers move onto new feuds, sometimes it is the final match in the promotion for one or more of the wrestlers. Blow up To become exhausted during a match. Book Also booking. To determine and schedule the events of a wrestling card; the person in charge of setting up matches and writing angles is a "booker". It is the wrestling equivalent of a screenwriter. A booker can be described as someone who recruits and hires talent to work in a particular promotion; the United States District Court for the Southern District of Iowa defined a booker in 1956 as " any person who, for a fee or commission, arranges with a promoter or promoters for the performance of wrestlers in professional wrestling exhibitions".
Booking is the term a wrestler uses to describe a scheduled match or appearance on a wrestling show. Botch Something which does not go as planned due to a mistake. Bret's rope The second rope of a wrestling ring, the middle rope. Broadway Also going broadway. A match that ends in a time limit draw. Bump To fall on the mat or ground. A flat back bump is a bump in which a wrestler lands solidly on their back with high impact, spread over as much surface as possible. A "phantom bump" occurs when a referee takes a bump without a plausible reason. Burial Also buried; the worked lowering of a wrestler's status in the eyes of the fans. The opposite of a push, it is the act of a promoter or booker causing a wrestler to lose popularity and credibility through means such as forcing them to lose in squash matches, losing continuously, allowing opponents to no-sell or kick out of said wrestler's finisher, or forcing them to participate in unentertaining or degrading storylines. A burial is used a form of punishment due to real-life backstage disagreements between the wrestler and the booker, the wrestler falling out of favor with the company, or sometimes to demote an unpopular performer or gimmick.
Business Professional wrestling. Bust
Antonio Inoki
Muhammad Hussain Inoki is a Japanese professional wrestling and mixed martial arts promoter and retired professional wrestler and martial artist, best known by his ring name Antonio Inoki. Inoki's ring name is a homage to fellow professional wrestler Antonino Rocca. Inoki began his professional wrestling career in the Japanese Wrestling Association under the tutelage of Rikidōzan. Inoki became one of the most popular stars in the history of Japanese professional wrestling. Inoki parlayed his wrestling career into becoming one of Japan's most recognizable athletes, a reputation bolstered by his 1976 fight against world champion boxer Muhammad Ali; the fight against Ali served as a predecessor to modern day mixed martial arts. With Ric Flair, Inoki headlined two shows in North Korea in 1995 that drew 150,000 and 190,000 spectators, the highest attendances in professional wrestling history. Inoki was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2010. Inoki began his promoting career in 1972, he remained the owner of NJPW until 2005 when he sold his controlling share in the promotion to the Yuke's video game company.
In 2007, he founded the Inoki Genome Federation. In 2017, Inoki founded ISM and the following year left IGF. In 1989, while still an active wrestler, Inoki entered politics as he was elected to the Japanese House of Councillors. During his first term with the House of Councillors, Inoki negotiated with Saddam Hussein for the release of Japanese hostages before the outbreak of the Gulf War, his first tenure in the House of Councillors ended in 1995, but he was reelected in 2013. Inoki was born in an affluent family in Yokohama in 1943, he was the second youngest of the seven boys and four girls. His father, Sajiro Inoki, a businessman and politician, died. Inoki entered the Higashidai Grade School. Inoki was taught karate by an older brother while in 6th grade. By the time he was in 7th grade at Terao Junior High School, he was 180 centimeters tall and joined the basketball team, he quit and joined a track and field club as a shot putter. He won the championship at the Yokohama Junior High School track and field competition.
The family fell on hard times in the post-war years, in 1957, the 14-year-old Inoki emigrated to Brazil with his grandfather and brothers. His grandfather died during the journey to Brazil. Inoki won regional championships in Brazil in the shot put, discus throw, javelin throw, the All Brazilian championships in the shot put and discus. Inoki met Rikidōzan at the age of 17, he went back to Japan for the Japanese Wrestling Association as Rikidōzan's disciple. One of his dojo classmates was Giant Baba. After Rikidozan's death, Inoki worked in Baba's shadow until he joined the original Tokyo Pro Wrestling in 1966. After a long excursion of wrestling in the United States, Inoki found a new home in Tokyo Pro Wrestling. While there, Inoki became their biggest star; the company folded in 1967, due to turmoil behind the scenes. Returning to JWA in late 1967, Inoki was made Baba's partner and the two dominated the tag team ranks as the "B-I Cannon", winning the NWA International tag team belts four times.
Wrestling legend Bruno Sammartino tells a story about Inoki trying to "shoot" him during a tag match in Osaka to build his reputation against the then-world champ. Bruno pounded Inoki mercilessly and threw him out of the ring. Inoki refused to re-enter the ring with Sammartino and tagged in Baba to finish the match. Fired from JWA in late 1971 for planning a takeover of the promotion, Inoki founded New Japan Pro-Wrestling in 1972, his first match as a New Japan wrestler was against Karl Gotch. In June 1979, he fought with Pakistani wrestler Zubair Jhara Pahalwan and lost the fight in the fifth round. In 2014, twenty two years after Zubair Jhara's death, he announced to take Jhara's nephew Haroon Abid under his guardianship. On November 30, 1979, Inoki defeated WWF Heavyweight Champion Bob Backlund in Tokushima, Japan to win the title. Backlund won a rematch on December 6. However, WWF president Hisashi Shinma declared the re-match a no contest due to interference from Tiger Jeet Singh, Inoki remained Champion.
Inoki refused the title on the same day, it was declared vacant. Backlund defeated Bobby Duncum in a Texas Death match to regain the title on December 12; as Inoki refused the title, his reign is not included nor is it recognized by WWE in its official history, Backlund is recognized as having one reign from 1978 to 1983. In 1995 the Japanese and the North Korean governments came together to hold a two-day wrestling festival for peace in Pyongyang, North Korea; the event drew 150,000 and 190,000 fans to Rungnado May Day Stadium. The main event saw the only match between Ric Flair, with Inoki coming out on top. Days before this event and the Korean press went to the grave and birthplace of Rikidōzan and paid tribute to him. Inoki's retirement from professional wrestling matches came with the staging of the "Final Countdown" series between 1994 and 1998; this was a special series in which Inoki re-lived some of his mixed martial arts matches under professional wrestling rules, as well as rematches of some of his most well known wrestling matches.
As part of the Final Countdown tour, Inoki made a rare World Championship Wrestling appearance. Inoki faced Don Frye in the final match of his professional wrestling career. In 2005, Yuke's, a Japanese video company, purchased Inoki's co
Bull Curry
Fred Thomas Koury Sr. was an American of Lebanese descent, best known as a professional wrestler under the name ”Wild Bull” Curry. Bull Curry is recognized as the originator of the hardcore style predating legends such as The Sheik and Abdullah the Butcher. Curry’s tumultuous career spanned 5 decades of in ring action. At the age of sixteen Curry joined the circus in order to help provide for his four brothers and sisters, his job at the circus was that of the “tough man” who took on all comers from the audience in a fight. He had 65 straight wins without anyone going past one 5 minute round. In his twenties, Curry became a policeman in his hometown of Hartford, Connecticut where he put his “tough man” background to good use in the streets earning him a reputation for toughness, it has been claimed that on one occasion a wild steer bull broke out of the Hartford stockyard and ran wild in the streets. Curry grabbed the bull by the horns and managed to wrestle it to the ground, however it is this was in fact nothing more than a fictional story created by wrestling promoters in order to give reason to his nickname of “Wild Bull” that stuck with him for the rest of his life.
On in the 1930s, Curry began wrestling in Detroit under promoter Adam Weissmuller who trained him for his professional career. Curry stayed in Detroit for several years developing his brutal, hardcore style of wrestling that made him a top name in the territory. Curry was so well known that he faced legendary heavyweight pro boxer Jack Dempsey in an exhibition match in 1940. Years Curry would claim that he knocked Dempsey out in the match but the truth is that Curry was stopped in the second round. In the early part of the 1950s Bull Curry relocated to Texas to work. Curry’s combination of unpredictable violence, unique look and intensity made Curry a big star in Texas more or less upon arrival. Curry’s brawling style made him a success but it kept the promoters from giving him the “main” title of the territory despite being the biggest draw in the territory. Instead of letting Bull Curry win the top title of the Texas territory the bookers created a brand new title to match Bull Curry’s Hardcore style of wrestling: the NWA Texas Brass Knuckles Championship which Bull Curry won in a tournament final over Danny McShain on March 6, 1953.
Between 1953 and 1967 “Wild Bull” Curry personified the Texas Brass Knuckles Championship as he held it 20 times defeating such names as Fritz Von Erich, Tony Borne, Waldo Von Erich, Louie Tillet, Killer Karl Kox and Brute Bernard for the title. In 1953 Curry would briefly hold the Texas version of the NWA World Tag Team Championship with Lucas Pertano as well as the NWA Texas Heavyweight Championship for three weeks but soon focused on the Brass Knuckles Title. In the 1960s Bull Curry’s son Fred Thomas Koury, Jr. took up wrestling under the name "Flying" Fred Curry. Unlike his father Fred was a clean cut, high flying face but the two Currys did team on a regular basis early in the younger Curry’s career; the two won the NWA International Tag Team Championship in 1964 and held it until 1966 as well as beating Nikolai and Boris Volkoff for the Ohio version of the NWA World Tag Team Championship. In his career Fred Curry struck out on his own more and more trying to get away from his father’s legacy of rule-breaking and violence to establish a legacy of his own.
Fred’s attempts to get out of his father’s shadow never caused any problems between the two Currys. One of the trademarks of Bull Curry was his “wildman” look with bushy eyebrows, maniacal facial expressions and insane eyes that could scare the crowd just by looking at them. In one case he scared a girl at ringside so badly she had to be carried from the ring in terror; the wild look coupled with his wild brawling style made Bull Curry one of the most hated rule-breakers in wrestling, he was so hated in places that riots broke out more than once as irate fans attacked Curry in the ring. 1955: a match between Curry and Ray McIntyre resulted in more than a 140 fans being taken to the hospital after a riot broke out. 1956: Curry was jumped by a fan, displeased with Curry’s brutal treatment of local star George Becker. Curry broke the fans jaw with a single punch. 1958: During a match with Pepper Gomez in Galveston, Texas a fan struck Bull Curry with an iron pipe. Curry chased the fan out of the ring.
1968: While wrestling Emil Dupreé in Worcester, Massachusetts a fan jumped in the ring and jumped on Curry’s back. Curry punched the fan so hard that he was unconscious for two days. Year unknown: During a match in Texas Curry got a bucket of yellow paint dumped over his head by a fan. Late sixties: During a televised match, Curry used a cinder block on his opponent; the man went into the hospital for stitches. Curry was sentenced to jail for his actions; the only time he was allowed out was to wrestle, so for the next four weeks of televised matches, he was escorted to and from the ring in handcuffs by police, being cuffed and returned to jail when he was finished with his match for that week. Curry retired from wrestling in the mid to late 1970s well past turning 60 years old, he died on March 8, 1985. Cauliflower Alley Club Posthumous Award Maple Leaf Wrestling NWA International Tag Team Championship – with Tiger Jeet Singh Mid-South Sports NWA Southern Heavyweight Championship New England Pro Wrestling Hall of Fame Class of 2013 Southwest Sports, Inc. / NWA Big Time Wrestling NWA Brass Knuckles Championship NWA International Tag Team Championship – with Fred Curry NWA Texas H
The Crusher (wrestler)
Reginald Lisowski was an American professional wrestler, better known by his ring name, The Crusher. In his obituary, The Washington Post described him as "a professional wrestler whose blue-collar bona fides made him beloved among working class fans for 40 years". Lisowski was raised in the Milwaukee suburb of South Milwaukee. Early on he was more interested in football, playing fullback for the South Milwaukee High School football team, but took up wrestling while stationed in Germany with the U. S. Army. Having developed a liking for the sport, he continued training with Ivan Racy and Buck Tassie at Milwaukee's Eagle's Club when he returned wrestling Marcel Buchet in his first recorded match late in 1949, his early career included wrestling three to four nights per week at a Chicago armory earning $5 a night. To support himself and to stay in shape, Lisowski worked various blue collar jobs by day, from meat packing to bricklaying. Fred Kohler was the first promoter to put him on TV, by 1954 he had developed a barrel-chested physique that would stick with him for most of his career.
Decades before Stone Cold Steve Austin and The Sandman, Lisowski perfected the gimmick of the beer drinking tough guy. To further his career he bleached his dark hair blonde and started to get over as a strongman heel, famous for his bolo punch as well as a devastating full nelson; this led to him winning the Chicago-area NWA World Tag Team Championship with partner Art Nielson. Lisowski continued to have tag team success throughout the remainder of the 1950s paired with his wrestling "brother" Stan Lisowski. By 1959, he was being billed as "Crusher" Lisowski, which legend came from a promoter's off-hand comment that he "just crushes everybody." Until early 1965, Crusher was a heel in the AWA. After meeting the team of Larry Hennig & Harley Race for the first time, the fans adopted Crusher and his wrestling "cousin" Dick the Bruiser as full-fledged heroes in AWA territory, his bluster was legendary, as he would threaten to maul opponents in the ring and afterward "have a party, take all the dollies down Wisconsin Avenue and go dancing."
Besides his impressive physique, The Crusher's gimmick was to absorb a tremendous amount of punishment and still be able to make a comeback for the win. Over the next 15 to 20 years Crusher and Bruiser were tag partners off and on, a natural combination due to their common background and brawling wrestling style. If Dick the Bruiser and Crusher felt they hadn't bloodied their opponents enough during a match, they would trade punches with each other afterwards, they won the AWA World Tag Team Championship 5 times, the WWA Tag Team Titles 6 times, the NWA International Tag Titles among others. Introduced at the beginning of wrestling matches as "The Wrestler That Made Milwaukee Famous", Crusher was successful as a solo wrestler, winning the AWA World Heavyweight Championship three times, the first time unifying it with the Omaha version of the World Heavyweight Championship on July 9, 1963, in a match where he defeated Verne Gagne, he was skillful at cutting promos, as he would brag about his "100 megaton biceps" and offer to pummel "da bum" he was facing in the ring with ease, he delighted in calling opponents "turkeynecks."
His most quotable and famous phrase though was: "How'bout'dat?" When asked how he trained for a match, he'd claim he ran along the waterfront in Milwaukee carrying a large full beer barrel over either shoulder for strength, that he'd dance polka all night with Polish barmaids to increase his stamina. Although much of Crusher's popularity came from the idea that he was a big beer drinker, in actuality, he never drank beer, according to Baron Von Raschke, he preferred wine; the Crusher's wrestling career ended in 1981, when the 450-pound Jerry Blackwell botched a top rope move and landed on Lisowski's right arm, causing nerve damage from his shoulder all the way to his wrist. Doctors told him he'd never wrestle again, but Crusher did strength training for two years while he was unofficially "retired," returning to the ring in 1983, he had a successful run in the WWWF in the early 1960s where he was a nemesis of Johnny Valentine and a young Bruno Sammartino in the Pittsburgh promotion. He drew large crowds to Forbes Field with battles against each man.
In the mid-1980s, seeing that the American Wrestling Association promotion with which he had the most success over the years was crumbling when Hulk Hogan and many of the other top talent jumped ship to Vince McMahon's World Wrestling Federation, Crusher went to work for McMahon on a part-time basis, appearing at WWF house shows all over the Midwest. Lisowski claimed that he made more money working part-time for McMahon than he did working for the frugal Gagne on a full-time basis. In 1986, Lisowski teamed with The Machines as Crusher Machine; the Crusher's last match was at a WWF house show in Omaha on February 15, 1988. He replaced Billy Jack Haynes to team with Ken Patera and face Demolition, who were disqualified when Mr. Fuji tripped Crusher with a cane about three minutes in; the Crusher's last television appearance was at WWF's 1998 pay-per-view Over the Edge: In Your House where was shown sitting alongside Mad Dog Vachon in the front row. Jerry Lawler made fun of the two men's age, tried to steal Vachon's artificial leg, but Vachon hit him over the head with it, Crusher punched him.
As Lawler bailed, the two forme
Canada
Canada is a country in the northern part of North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic to the Pacific and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering 9.98 million square kilometres, making it the world's second-largest country by total area. Canada's southern border with the United States is the world's longest bi-national land border, its capital is Ottawa, its three largest metropolitan areas are Toronto and Vancouver. As a whole, Canada is sparsely populated, the majority of its land area being dominated by forest and tundra, its population is urbanized, with over 80 percent of its inhabitants concentrated in large and medium-sized cities, many near the southern border. Canada's climate varies across its vast area, ranging from arctic weather in the north, to hot summers in the southern regions, with four distinct seasons. Various indigenous peoples have inhabited what is now Canada for thousands of years prior to European colonization. Beginning in the 16th century and French expeditions explored, settled, along the Atlantic coast.
As a consequence of various armed conflicts, France ceded nearly all of its colonies in North America in 1763. In 1867, with the union of three British North American colonies through Confederation, Canada was formed as a federal dominion of four provinces; this began an accretion of provinces and territories and a process of increasing autonomy from the United Kingdom. This widening autonomy was highlighted by the Statute of Westminster of 1931 and culminated in the Canada Act of 1982, which severed the vestiges of legal dependence on the British parliament. Canada is a parliamentary democracy and a constitutional monarchy in the Westminster tradition, with Elizabeth II as its queen and a prime minister who serves as the chair of the federal cabinet and head of government; the country is a realm within the Commonwealth of Nations, a member of the Francophonie and bilingual at the federal level. It ranks among the highest in international measurements of government transparency, civil liberties, quality of life, economic freedom, education.
It is one of the world's most ethnically diverse and multicultural nations, the product of large-scale immigration from many other countries. Canada's long and complex relationship with the United States has had a significant impact on its economy and culture. A developed country, Canada has the sixteenth-highest nominal per capita income globally as well as the twelfth-highest ranking in the Human Development Index, its advanced economy is the tenth-largest in the world, relying chiefly upon its abundant natural resources and well-developed international trade networks. Canada is part of several major international and intergovernmental institutions or groupings including the United Nations, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, the G7, the Group of Ten, the G20, the North American Free Trade Agreement and the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum. While a variety of theories have been postulated for the etymological origins of Canada, the name is now accepted as coming from the St. Lawrence Iroquoian word kanata, meaning "village" or "settlement".
In 1535, indigenous inhabitants of the present-day Quebec City region used the word to direct French explorer Jacques Cartier to the village of Stadacona. Cartier used the word Canada to refer not only to that particular village but to the entire area subject to Donnacona. From the 16th to the early 18th century "Canada" referred to the part of New France that lay along the Saint Lawrence River. In 1791, the area became two British colonies called Upper Canada and Lower Canada collectively named the Canadas. Upon Confederation in 1867, Canada was adopted as the legal name for the new country at the London Conference, the word Dominion was conferred as the country's title. By the 1950s, the term Dominion of Canada was no longer used by the United Kingdom, which considered Canada a "Realm of the Commonwealth"; the government of Louis St. Laurent ended the practice of using'Dominion' in the Statutes of Canada in 1951. In 1982, the passage of the Canada Act, bringing the Constitution of Canada under Canadian control, referred only to Canada, that year the name of the national holiday was changed from Dominion Day to Canada Day.
The term Dominion was used to distinguish the federal government from the provinces, though after the Second World War the term federal had replaced dominion. Indigenous peoples in present-day Canada include the First Nations, Métis, the last being a mixed-blood people who originated in the mid-17th century when First Nations and Inuit people married European settlers; the term "Aboriginal" as a collective noun is a specific term of art used in some legal documents, including the Constitution Act 1982. The first inhabitants of North America are hypothesized to have migrated from Siberia by way of the Bering land bridge and arrived at least 14,000 years ago; the Paleo-Indian archeological sites at Old Crow Flats and Bluefish Caves are two of the oldest sites of human habitation in Canada. The characteristics of Canadian indigenous societies included permanent settlements, complex societal hierarchies, trading networks; some of these cultures had collapsed by the time European explorers arrived in the late 15th and early 16th centuries and have only been discovered through archeological investigations.
The indigenous population at the time of the first European settlements is estimated to have been between 200,000
Bill Watts
William F. Watts Jr. is an American former professional wrestler, WWE Hall of Fame Inductee. Watts was famous under his "Cowboy" gimmick in his wrestling career, as a tough, no-nonsense promoter in the Mid-South United States, which grew to become the Universal Wrestling Federation. In 1992, Watts was the Executive Vice President of World Championship Wrestling but after clashes with management over a number of issues, as well as feeling pressure from Hank Aaron over a racially sensitive piece of correspondence, he resigned, he was subsequently replaced by Ole Anderson, succeeded by Eric Bischoff. As a professional wrestler, he famously feuded with WWF Champion Bruno Sammartino, but was unable to win the title. In the 1960s, he wrestled in many areas, such as San Francisco, Chicago, St. Louis, Japan for All Japan Pro Wrestling. During these periods, Watts challenged for both the National Wrestling Alliance and American Wrestling Association versions of the World Title. Bill Watts is even more famous for being a pioneering promoter in the Mid-South area of the USA, with his base of operation being in the Shreveport, Louisiana area.
His promotion was known as the Mid South Wrestling. He is credited with creating the current and popular "episodic" style of TV wrestling, building solid creative storylines week-on-week, with an emphasis on solid in-ring action with dependable wrestlers like "Dr. Death" Steve Williams, The Junkyard Dog, Ted DiBiase and Jim Duggan. He's an outspoken critic on breaking kayfabe and "smart" wrestling fans. A Watts-run promotion always had face and heel wrestlers dress in different locker rooms and to have faces and heels not meet publicly, he has been known to revamp his booking plans in order to protect the business from such fans. When a newspaper mentioned a wrestling event being the last one Jake "The Snake" Roberts would wrestle in Watts' territory and talked about the tradition of a wrestler jobbing in his last match to put his opponent over and to expect the finish to be in that fashion, Watts changed it so Roberts won the match and got put over on his way out of the territory. After losing over half a million dollars, Watts sold the UWF to NWA Mid-Atlantic's Jim Crockett Promotions, who kept a lot of their stars, such as Sting.
Instead of having UWF as a separate organization, Crockett sent his mid-card wrestlers to the UWF and had them win their titles. The UWF folded, Crockett would be bought out by Ted Turner in 1988. In April 1989, after firing George Scott, WCW offered Bill Watts the chance to book, but he declined the offer and WCW instead decided to go with a booking committee, which included Ric Flair, Kevin Sullivan, Eddie Gilbert, Jim Ross, Jim Herd. Watts became Executive Vice President of World Championship Wrestling in 1992, he took a lot of his old-school values with him, such as banning moves from the top rope and the babyfaces and heels separation. His tenure was not long, nor were his ideas overly embraced. According to his biography, Controversy Creates Ca$h, Eric Bischoff felt Watts would intimidate anyone he was talking to and was only interested in taking the WCW product back to 1970s standards, with poorly lit arenas and house shows in remote rural towns, he introduced his son, Erik Watts, to WCW around this time, who many felt was not ready for national wrestling.
As a promoter, he championed and pushed African-American wrestlers as his top stars—first Junkyard Dog in Mid-South Wrestling, as well as "Big Cat" Ernie Ladd, who he inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame, Ron Simmons in WCW—in order to appeal to the African-American fan base. Under Watts' reign as WCW chief, Ron Simmons became the first African-American professional wrestler to hold a recognized World Heavyweight Championship. Mick Foley referred to Watts' history of "creating a black babyface and building the company around him", while talking about his match with Simmons; the circumstances of Watts' departure in 1993 are controversial. Prior to 1992, he had given an interview to a wrestling newsletter. Most notably, Watts had commented on Lester Maddox, a restaurant owner, told he had to serve black people but instead closed down his business. Watts felt Maddox stood up for what he acted accordingly, he made several other controversial statements pertaining to race and sexual orientation. When he was hired by WCW, Watts had explained the situation to Turner president Bill Shaw to his satisfaction.
However, a year wrestling journalist Mark Madden brought the interview to the attention of Hank Aaron, himself a vice president in the Turner organization with the Atlanta Braves, who pushed for Watts' removal. While Madden takes credit for Watts getting fired, Watts himself disputes this account, saying he was not fired for the comments but quit his position out of frustration over "backstabbing" by Shaw and had resigned by the time Aaron got the newsletter. Watts was replaced by Ole Anderson. Bill went on to a position of booking power in the World Wrestling Federation, his tenure there was short, as Watts stated in interviews that he was only there on a three-month contract and had no interest in staying long-term. On April 4, 2009, Watts was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame as a part of the Class of 2009. Bill Watts is a Republican, in an ROH shoot interview with Jim Cornette, he criticised Bill Clinton and the Democrats numerous times, he said, "All men are equal, but some men are more talented than others, worth more."
Watts served as co-host of a sports talk radio show on The Sports Animal in Tulsa, Oklahoma until late
Al Costello
Giacomo Costa was an Italian Australian professional wrestler best known by his ring name, Al Costello. Costello was the first professional wrestler to be nicknamed "The Man of a Thousand Holds" because of his innovative and technical style. Costello was the creator and original member of the tag team The Fabulous Kangaroos, whose "Ultra Australian" gimmick complete with boomerangs, bush hats and the song "Waltzing Matilda" as their entrance music, existed in various forms from 1957 until 1983. Costello was either a manager in all versions of The Fabulous Kangaroos, he and Roy Heffernan are arguably the most famous version of The Kangaroos, regarded as one of the top tag teams to compete in professional wrestling, are credited with popularizing tag team wrestling in the late 1950s and 1960s. Costello formed other versions of The Fabulous Kangaroos with Ray St. Clair, Don Kent and Tony Charles, he managed the team of Don Kent & Bruno Bekkar and on "Johnny Heffernan" under The Fabulous Kangaroos name.
Costello retired from wrestling in 1983 but still made a few brief returns to the ring after that. In 1993, he managed The New Fabulous Kangaroos before retiring from the wrestling business. Both Costello and his tag team partner Heffernan died before Kangaroos were honored as the first tag team to be inducted into the Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame in 2003, which started a tradition of inducting a new team every year. Costa was born in Lingua di Salina, near Sicily, lived there until his family immigrated to Australia when he was six years old; the family settled in New South Wales, where Costa helped out in his father's fruit store. He excelled at school sports, became interested in weightlifting at an early age. At age 16, Costa took up amateur boxing despite his father’s wishes that he should become an opera singer. Costa was approached by Australian middleweight wrestling champion "Basher Bonas", who convinced him to try wrestling. Costa made his debut under an assumed name, he came up with the name "Al Costello", thinking it sounded tough like a portmanteau of Al Capone and Frank Costello.
Al Costello made his professional wrestling debut in 1938, but the man that would be known as "The Man of a Thousand Holds" 20 years found little success early in his career. The general belief in Australian professional wrestling at the time was that a wrestler had to go to North America and learn how to be a pro before the bookers would consider pushing them up the card. Costello travelled across Asia. During the 1950s, Costello started to turn heads at home by winning the Australasian title. In 1952, Costello began wrestling in America, hoping to break through and make a big name of himself. For years, Al Costello had been working on an idea for a new tag team; because Costello and Heffernan had lost touch over the years, the idea remained dormant until Costello toured Hawaii in 1956. Costello mentioned his idea of an "Ultra Australian" tag team to fellow wrestler, future promoter, Joe Blanchard. Blanchard happened to be a good friend of Roy Heffernan and knew he was working in Stampede Wrestling at the time.
Blanchard put the two in touch with each other, Costello was soon off to Calgary, Canada to join Heffernan and make his tag team a reality. Costello and Heffernan debuted as "The Fabulous Kangaroos" on 3 May 1957 for Stu Hart’s Stampede Wrestling promotion in a match against Maurice LaPointe and Tony Baillargeon. Only weeks after that first match, The Kangaroos were working with the top tag teams in the promotion. After working in Stampede for a while, The Fabulous Kangaroos started to travel across the United States, headlining shows wherever they went due to their ability to rile up crowds with their heel tactics. On one occasion in August 1958, The Kangaroos, or "Kangaroo Men" as they were billed, nearly caused a riot in Madison Square Garden during a match against Antonino Rocca and Miguel Pérez. After the match ended without a decisive winner, the promoters stepped in, turned up the arena lights, played the National Anthem to stop a potential riot; this was a common tactic used at the time by the New York promoters in order to prevent riots and help the heels leave the arena unharmed.
That year and Heffernan started working for Dory Funk’s NWA Western States promotion based in Amarillo, Texas. Here, The Kangaroos won their first title as a team when they defeated Pepper Gomez and El Medico to win the Texas version of the NWA World Tag Team Championship on 17 November 1958, their first title reign was short lived, however, as Gomez and Rito Romero defeated them to regain the titles two weeks later. Between 1957 and 1965, The Kangaroos wrestled in the United States, Canada and select tours of Australia and New Zealand, they worked for such companies as Capitol Wrestling Corporation, Championship Wrestling from Florida, NWA Ohio, the Japan Wrestling Association and the World Wrestling Association in Los Angeles, California. The Kangaroos never continued to work in Canada off and on through the years. Costello featured in a National Film Board of Canad
