The Original Universal Wrestling Federation

When former wrestling star "Cowboy" Bill Watts became a promoter for Mid-South Wrestling, very few expected him to go national with his promotion in the booming years of the mid-1980s. Even though Watts is most responsible for the success and eventual downfall of the promotion, the company survived some up and down years before he took over.

Long before the Universal Wrestling Federation existed in 1986, two promoters started what would later become a national wrestling promotion around 1929. One of the promoters was Julius Sigel, who ran his part of the promotion in Houston, Texas. The other was Sam Avey, who was the promoter for the Tulsa, Oklahoma area. Avey was already a local entrepreneur who owned the Coliseum in town that housed many wrestling events well into the 1940s. Avey later established a local radio station, and that proved to be the major media outlet for establishing his product.

In the 1950s. local hero Leroy McGuirk was hired by Avey to run the Coliseum and take over the promotion. While Avey focused on other business ventures, McGuirk, who was legally blind, took over control of the entire promotion. During that period of time, television helped to create a boom in the wrestling business which helped McGuirk's promotion, Tri-State Wrestling, become part of the National Wrestling Alliance(NWA) in 1958.

Despite that area of the country having tough living standards and a small population to draw from, the promotion thrived. McGuirk did promote some stars for the fans to follow which included Jack Brisco and Danny Hodge. Tri-State Wrestling had shows in Oklahoma, Arkansas, and Louisiana during this period of time, but Mississippi would eventually be a frequent stop, too. The promotion occasionally hosted shows in Missouri and Texas as well.

The promotion did struggle in the early 1960s, but McGuirk was determined to get it back on track. He began to associate himself with Verne Gagne and Fritz Von Erich in the late 1960s. Popular wrestler and Tri-State North American Champion "Cowboy" Bill Watts along with Hodge began to work closely with McGuirk into the 1970s.

By the mid-1970s, the reformed promotion was split into the northern and southern parts of the region. McGuirk had controlled the northern operations while Watts was in charge of the southern region. McGuirk began to lose touch with fans in the southern part of the region, and this would allow Watts to buy that area out in 1979. Watts called his promotion Mid-South Wrestling and also withdrew from being part of the NWA though he would be still associated with the promotion.

Watts immediately recognized that New Orleans could draw big crowds as well as being a highly profitable city. In 1980, over 30,000 fans came to the Louisiana Superdome to witness "Freebird" Michael Hayes face the "blinded" Junkyard Dog in the main event.

McGuirk struggled with his promotion which saw his daughter coming in to help promote it. George Scott came in to book the shows in an attempt to revive the promotion, but McGuirk was forced to sell in 1982 to Watts after he began expanding in that area.

Under the direction of Watts, Mid-South Wrestling grew into one of the best promotions in the industry. At one point, Watts even came out of retirement to team with the Junkyard Dog(who was wrestling under a mask calling himself Stagger Lee) against the Midnight Express in 1984. That match also took place at the Louisiana Superdome and drew over 22,000 fans.

With the success and growth of Jim Crockett Promotions and the WWF, Watts made an attempt to go national with his promotion. In 1985, Watts landed a deal with Turner Broadcasting and Mid-South Wrestling drew well as a result. Watts was even in position to take over the WWF's two-hour time slot on the same station, but Jim Crockett bought the slot out. Watts was still determined to go national with his promotion.

Watts' right-hand man, Jim Ross, negotiated television deals that allowed Mid-South Wrestling to gain a larger audience. Finally in March of 1986, Watts was able to go national with his promotion by renaming it the Universal Wrestling Federation. The company did have some success, but it would not last.

While other smaller promotions folded or sold their company to the WWF or Crockett Promotions, the UWF couldn't keep up with them because of the oil-based economy in that region struggling terribly in early 1987. Watts did try to carry on despite losing money, but was forced to sell by the end of the year to Crockett Promotions.

The talent in the UWF went to Crockett Promotions while many of them left for the WWF. Very few UWF stars were able to establish themselves in the promotion. The UWF titles were still defended after being bought out, but they all were eventually fased out over time.

The UWF was revived later on in the 1990s by Herb Abrams, but they did not have much success. Crockett Promotions was bought out by Ted Turner and the company changed their name to World Championship Wrestling in 1991. Watts even became President of WCW in the early-90s.

The UWF video library now called the Universal Wrestling Archives is the last remaining historical library that the WWE does not own. The library is owned by Watts' ex-wife, Ene Sooro, and is run by their son, Micah.

Despite being out of business, the UWF is still largely remembered as a promotion that focused on entertaining fans with matches rather than using cartoonish gimmicks to get wrestlers over. Watts was an innovative promoter that took the promotion farther than most thought possible. From Tri-State to Mid-South to the UWF, the promotion gave fans lasting memories and wrestlers who later became mega-stars for other promotions in the industry.