When McLemore dies of a heart attack in ’69, Fritz becomes the territory’s sole owner and a hero to the wrestling fans in Texas. A secondary feud was born between Jimmy Garvin, who had spent much of 1983 feuding with David Von Erich, against England's Chris Adams. Two weeks later, Adams and Embry faced each other in the ring, with the majority of the crowd cheering for Embry in the beginning, and the hint of a possible heel turn by Adams. WWE released a DVD entitled The Triumph and Tragedy of World Class Championship Wrestling on December 11, 2007. Feb. 20, 1986Breaking AwayA longtime affiliate of the National Wrestling Alliance, World Class Championship Wrestling headlined many of its biggest shows with Kevin or Kerry Von Erich battling Ric Flair for the illustrious NWA Title. Once upon a time, the pro wrestling scene was divided up into territories that operated within their own region and collectively made up the National Wrestling Alliance. In 2008, Gary Hart died from a heart attack shortly after returning home from an autograph session. Fritz's other classic rivalries during this early period were with such stars as Johnny Valentine, Stan Stasiak, Professor Toru Tanaka, Lord Alfred Hayes, The Sheik, Bruiser Brody and The Great Kabuki. The red World Class ring aprons were covered by the Renegades Rampage logo except for one section of the ring, but all of the aprons would be replaced as well as the ring itself. In an attempt to keep World Class hot, by means of running long-term angles, Brian Adias, who was billed as the childhood friend of the Von Erichs (which is legitimate, since Brian grew up with the Adkissons in Denton and also went to high school with Kerry), began a storyline with them by turning heel against Mike Von Erich during a match, then eventually began feuding with Kevin Von Erich later on. Travis later feuded with Chris Adams, Jeff Jarrett and Kevin Von Erich. Adams and Taylor took their angle to Memphis and competed against each other several times at the Mid-South Coliseum. Title renamed NWA Texas Hardcore Championship on April 1. Summers' brief announcing career in 1981 lasted from March 8 to May 31. Founder By the fall of 1983, the opening sequence of World Class' syndicated broadcasts began with a NASA photo of Earth, taken during the Apollo 16 mission back in 1972. Kevin Von Erich released a compilation DVD of classic Von Erichs matches in 2004. Adams won with a small package when interference from Rude's manager Percy Pringle backfired. Chris Adams, who stayed with the NWA following their buyout with the UWF, abruptly left the NWA over a money dispute (reportedly against the wishes of Michael Hayes to stay), and returned to World Class soon thereafter. Lowrance left World Class/USWA in May 1990 to become a full-time Methodist minister, after nearly 10 years with the organization. An animated satellite would beam down over Dallas, and as it moves east, the World Class logo would appear and move across to the upper left hand corner of the picture. Established Originally brought in by Tatum, Tessa, like Sunshine years before, turned face and joined Dundee's side. The Amazin' Raisins 6. During the outside confrontation (in a thunderstorm, among other things), Von Erich slammed Borne onto the hood of a parked vehicle and also attempted to attack him with a piece of two-by-four. Sept. 30, 1989Legendary DebutAfter years of watching the action from the stands of the Sportatorium, a young Texas kid named Steve competes in his first match, defeating Frogman LeBlanc. Weekly wrestling shows were staged there on Tuesday nights until August 1978, then were moved to Sunday nights until the early '80s, and finally were held on Friday nights until the promotion's demise. The battle carried out into the Sportatorium parking lot, when a hand came through the fire door to kidnap Embry (later revealed to be Killer Tim Brooks). WCCW was one of the truly great… ( PHOTOS). By 1986, the entire wrestling world was in a state of anarchy. Buddy Roberts, Iceman King Parsons and the late Angel of Death stormed the ring and handcuffed Fritz to the cage, delivering a furious beating while Kerry was being ganged up by Gordy. A New Year Begins World Class Championship Wrestling took forward, but tentative steps into 1986. Hart's decision to stay away from World Class (other than being under contract with the NWA) was mostly due to his concern about the federation that he, Mercer and Grant help build in a time span of eight years, go out of business two years after leaving the federation, as he mentioned in the Heroes of World Class DVD documentary, as well as not liking the idea of Ken Mantell buying a portion of the company, which he also revealed on the Triumph and Tragedy of WCCW DVD. In 1969, Von Erich took sole control over the Office after McLemore died from a heart attack, and also gained ownership of the Dallas Sportatorium. World Class Championship Wrestling. In that same event, Toni Adams was carried out on a stretcher following a flying splash from the top rope onto Toni in the ring by Steve Austin, while Toni was on top of her husband Chris, who was piledrived on the concrete floor by Austin earlier, to protect him. As a result, on November 23, 1990, Von Erich held its last World Class Championship Wrestling card at the Sportatorium, which featured Kevin winning the Texas heavyweight championship from David Sheldon (The Angel of Death) in the card's final match. World Class Light Heavyweight Championship. During World Class' heyday, the Adkissons owned the majority of the promotion, with partial ownership held by Bill Mercer, Mickey Grant, Gary Hart and Bronko Lubich. Steve Simpson and Brian Adias also returned to the promotion, with a few appearances by former WCCW referee David Manning. Heroes Of WCCW High Society 7. No one did this better than the wrestlers of World Class Championship. Cal Farley was the original promoter of the NWA, but eventually it was passed down through many people such as Dory Funk Sr. and Jr., Terry Funk, Dick Murdoch and Bob Windham. Adias lacked the charisma and talent that Adams had during his feud with the Von Erichs, and Kevin and Mike dominated this feud from start to finish. Adams won the match by DQ as a result. Chu-Hi (Phil Hickerson) as manager Tojo Yamamoto berated Lowrance. Lowrance and Chris Adams, who celebrated Embry's victory in the ring, did not partake in the post-match festivities, showing respect to the Adkissons and the World Class name, and neither Kevin or Kerry were on hand during the celebration. Kerry later wrestled against Mark Calaway, who was known as The Punisher at that time, while Embry was involved in a blinding angle (similar to the angle used with Chris Adams nearly four years before) involving a white bottle (which may have been Freebird Hair Cream) which Travis used against Embry to blind him. Meanwhile, Kerry Von Erich won the World Class title from Perez; and lost it to Iceman Parsons following an infamous incident during a March 1988 card in which the lights at the Sportatorium went out during the match, and when the lights returned, Kerry was down on the mat, with Parsons pinning him. Abdullah, Mulligan and Bruiser Brody were involved in a three-way feud during that time; while South African Steve Simpson joined World Class as an ally of Adams and the Von Erichs. The February 13 card, featured Marc Lowrance and David Manning in the ring alongside Sunshine, Adams, Parsons, Adias, Junkyard Dog, Chief Jules Strongbow, Jimmy Phillips, Bronko Lubich and Johnny Mantell as a ten-bell salute to honor David Von Erich was carried out. That promotion was also co-owned by Bill Mercer and Mickey Grant, and some believe that Adams was also a silent partner in World Class II. Harris, who was using a British accent to make people believe he was from England (prompting Frank Dusek to say that if Harris was from England, then Chris Adams was Paul McCartney), drew controversy for favoring the heels, and on a few occasions, like the WWE's Danny Davis and the NWA's Teddy Long, Harris would execute fast three-counts on the heels and slow three-counts on the babyfaces. Event history Adams responded by attacking Kevin with a chair. Over the course of the next three months, Chris defended the title almost every week, against challengers like Rude, Kabuki, One Man Gang, Blackjack Mulligan and others. The WWE Classics team would like to thank WWE Hall of Famer Kevin Von Erich for his invaluable help in compiling this timeline. Two more satellite beams aired two highlights from World Class: one involving a match between Kerry Von Erich and Michael Hayes, and another between David Von Erich and Jimmy Garvin. However, because Kerry already had a reputation within the industry for being unreliable due to substance abuse, the NWA only allowed him a brief title reign; he lost the belt back to Flair in Yokosuka, Japan on May 24 (May 23 in the U.S.) in another hard-fought match. A then-unknown Shawn Michaels wrestled in a few matches in World Class, including one against Billy Jack Haynes. The popularity of Embry reached its point when he lost a loser leaves town match to Gary Young, due to outside interference by Cactus Jack Manson. His death was front-page news in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex, triggering an area-wide outpouring of shock and grief among fans, and was the beginning of the Von Erichs' decline and fall (and WCCW's as well, although attendance levels would remain high for a time). It was said to be among the first mixed tag-team matches in modern wrestling history, and would pave the way for future mixed tag team matches, including one Adams promoted himself six years later involving two of his ex-wives (Jeanie Clark and Toni Adams) and his protégé Steve Austin. With that, the promoter invests in more modern television production, bringing cutting edge music videos, sharp graphics and unique vignettes to markets across the country and, eventually, the world. This angle, similar to the one used with Chris Adams in 1984, proved to be unsuccessful, and pairing Adias with Alberto Madril to form a newer version of The Dynamic Duo (and even going so far as using Adams and Hernandez's "Bad to the Bone" as their ring entrance music) made matters worse. With the patch gone, Chris became the number one contender to Rude's World Class heavyweight title, and on July 4, 1986, he won it after a hard-fought and bloody battle at Reunion Arena in Dallas. Chris Adams, Kerry Von Erich and Jimmy Jack Funk then carried a bloodied Embry out of the parking lot back into the arena following that vicious attack. Out of nowhere, Adams blasted Kevin with a superkick, which prompted Hernandez and Roberts to throw French out of the ring and attack Kevin, while Adams and Hart walked away. The February 10 non-televised card at the Dallas Sportatorium was to have Kamala, The Missing Link and Jimmy Garvin face Chris Adams and Kevin and Kerry Von Erich in the main event. WCCW veterans went on to compete in other promotions, including Gary Hart's Texas Wrestling Federation group in North Dallas. Hayes. After walking to the ring to his brother’s entrance theme, Tanya Tucker’s “Texas (When I Die),” The Modern Day Warrior defeats “The Nature Boy” to win the title and fulfill a family dream. In addition, the NWA President at the time, Jim Crockett, Jr., had also decided that he would no longer book the NWA World Champion at the time, Ric Flair, to wrestle in the state of Texas. This modern approach to sports-entertainment creates a generation of new Superstars in “Gorgeous” Jimmy Garvin, The Great Kabuki, Gino Hernandez and many others. Initially, the return of World Class proved to be a modest success (which included the return of ring announcer Marc Lowrance and a few appearances by Bill Mercer), but financial sources ran out quickly and attendance at the Sportatorium dropped considerably to sometimes fewer than 500. Edit. You must remember that in the infancy of cable TV it was these regional "superstations" that made up a large part of the cable system programming (WGN in Chicago, WTBS in Atlanta and the list goes on and on.) Other ring announcers in WCCW included George Preston (1960s), Joe Rinelli (from the 1960s until 1988) and Ralph Pulley (mid-1980s), who also served as a referee for a time. The Freebirds-Von Erich war reignited in late 1985, with Hayes, Gordy and Roberts against Kevin, Kerry and Lance Von Erich; reborn following a surprise gang-up on Kevin and Kerry during a match in Fort Worth, with announcer Marc Lowrance exclaiming that The Devil has emerged when returning from the commercial break. Evelyn Carter 4. The Dallas Sportatorium received a facelift with a new ring and red, yellow and blue ring ropes with a World Class banner placed at Section D of the arena, with the American flag moved to Section C. By now, attendance for WCCW shows was nearly dead. Much like WTBS did for Georgia Championship Wrestling, KTVT allowed World Class to not only showcase itself locally, but also regionally. The Freebird-Von Erich rivalry was one of the most violent feuds in modern-day wrestling history, and continued off-and-on for much of the decade; Parsons, Adams, "Gorgeous" Jimmy Garvin and members of Skandor Akbar's Devastation Inc. stable were also involved in the Freebird-Von Erich feud directly or indirectly during the course of the angle. Adams missed at least six weeks of action as a result of his injury. After several minutes with Chris and Kevin standing in the center of the ring, Kevin extended his hand, and Chris shook it and the two embraced in the center of the ring, signaling the end of World Class Championship Wrestling's most storied feud. ( WATCH), April 1, 1982Bigger ThingsLooking to give his company more of a national appeal, Fritz changes the name of his Big Time Wrestling to World Class Championship Wrestling. On October 27, Adams and Von Erich squared off at the Cotton Bowl, with Kevin winning the match, amid controversy when Adams lifted his shoulder at the count of one, but referee David Manning counted to three with Adams lifting his shoulder again, believing he was at the count of two. After the match, Embry and manager Percy Pringle walked to the D section of the Sportatorium and tore the World Class Championship Wrestling banner off of the wall (in the same spot where the American flag once was displayed). Trending pages. During WCCW's golden years (1981–1985), the company was booked for the most part by Ken Mantell, with David Von Erich, Gary Hart, Bruiser Brody and (after David's death) Kevin Von Erich as the go-to people to keep the success of World Class going. The angle even gained national headlines, as the National Enquirer ran a story on the Adams-Toni-Jeanie-Austin angle. Owner Another angle involved the late referee Harold Harris. Soon after, when no one was found, Lowrance's stay with World Class became permanent. Upon returning, Adams worked an angle with Al Perez and manager Gary Hart, engaging in several matches — including one in which he supposedly won the World Class title following a victory over Perez. Several new WWE NXT UK signings have been officially announced. With The Freebirds out of the picture, and attempting other angles that proved to be not as highly successful as the Freebirds-Von Erichs wars, World Class decided to turn Chris Adams heel and start a long and legendary war which lasted for over a year, and at the same time, drawing revenues that exceeded the Freebirds-Von Erichs angle. Marc Lowrance exclaimed the incident as being "absolutely sickening," then later said that he was told not to use those words. After only a few months, Mantell agreed to return to WCCW as co-promoter with Kevin and Kerry Von Erich, following Fritz's decision to sell out his interest in the promotion; Wild West was absorbed into WCCW, and most of its talent — with the notable exception of Fabulous Lance, who was now considered persona non grata by the Adkissons after his abrupt departure earlier in the year — returned along with Mantell. Parent During a July 1990 match, Tatum knocked Tessa unconscious following a superkick to the head, resulting in Tessa being carried out on a stretcher. Lowrance would later be paired by former wrestler-turned-matchmaker Frank Dusek for one year, then later by "The Beauty" Terrance Garvin, a pro wrestler who resembles Jimmy Garvin. Madi Wrenkowski 2. Wild West Wrestling continued promoting cards at Billy Bob's until late 1988, with its programming now featuring its Championship Sports broadcasts from the Sportatorium. With Gordy and Von Erich outside the ring, Taylor sucker-punched Adams, then piledrived Adams twice in the ring with the second one legitimately breaking Adams left hand.