Tri-State Wrestling (McGuirk) Discussion

Posted: Fri Sep 11th, 2020 10:56 am
Tamalie

Al, thanks so much for sharing this. The McGuirk territory gets lost in the wash by history due to all the focus since the split going to Mid-South. This is the most comprehensive set of results I've ever seen collected for this territory. Here is my understanding of what happened with the split and the eventual reunion of the territory under Bill Watts' control. Please forgive the length of this post.

Watts became a major star for McGuirk in the 1960s, then headed out to make his star elsewhere, headlining in the WWWF and then the AWA. In early 1970, Watts was finishing up in the AWA and McGuirk asked him to come back since the houses were down from when Watts was on top. Watts wanted to come back, because he wanted to be back in Oklahoma, but asked for the book and for a piece of the promotion in order to do so. Getting three income streams as a wrestler, booker, and part owner would make it worth his while to return.

McGuirk was 60 at the time, which was a much older age physically and psychologically back then in comparison to now. He was alright with cutting in Watts because he eventually wanted to sell, but worried about whether Watts had the goods to run the show on his own one day. To hedge his bets, he offered Watts 5% with Verne Gagne getting 22.5%, Fritz Von Erich getting 22.5%, and McGuirk keeping 50%. The idea was that if Watts wasn’t up to it, Verne or Fritz would be there to collectively or individually buy out McGuirk down the line. Watts said this offer wasn’t worth it to him to accept, so McGuirk changed the offer to Watts getting 17%, McGuirk keeping 33%, Verne getting 20%, Fritz getting 20%, and Dany Hodge getting 10%. Watts accepted this offer.

By 1973, the relationship between Watts and McGuirk had declined enough that they couldn’t find a way to work together productively. Watts left to wrestle and book in Georgia and then Florida while still retaining his 17% ownership. He knew that business went down again without him and in the fall of 1975 reconciled enough with McGuirk to return to Oklahoma. Upon his return, Watts arranged for him and McGuirk to buy out Fritz and Verne. I am not sure what became of Danny Hodge and his 10%, but my understanding is that from this point onward Watts and McGuirk were equal partners, at 45% each if Hodge retained his shareholding.

Things fell apart for good in 1979. Watts no longer wanted to work with McGuirk whom he saw as a grumpy obstructionist who brought no value to the promotion beyond his name. Watts was running the show and wanted to end their partnership. Watts stated that McGuirk claimed in the Tulsa World that Watts had embezzled from the promotion. Watts responded privately to McGuirk, stating this wasn’t true and that the financial records proved it. He threatened to sue McGuirk for slander. McGuirk was worried enough about the possibility of losing his real estate holdings that he agreed to split the promotion with Watts. McGuirk took Oklahoma, Arkansas, Ozark Missouri, and the sliver of Texas that got TV from Oklahoma. Watts took Louisiana and then reconciled with the Culkins to get Mississippi too.

Leroy McGuirk brought in George Scott as booker in late 1981 or early 1982. Scott rebranded the promotion as Midwest Championship Wrestling and made efforts to improve the in ring product and TV show, both of which had badly fallen off since the split. I heard somewhere along the line that Scott hoped to either buy into the promotion or eventually buy out McGuirk. However, that did not happen. I assume the promotion was too far gone by then for any of the changes to matter.

Bill Watts lived in Oklahoma while running Mid-South and eventually wanted his home state back in his own territory. He knew of the struggles McGuirk’s territory was having and my understanding is he made Leroy an offer to clear the promotion’s debts and give Leroy a bit of money in exchange for getting out. In the aftermath, Jim Ross made some appearances on Mid-South TV to help with the transition, well ahead of becoming a full time TV announcer for Mid-South, and a small number of the McGuirk wrestlers like Billy Starr and Bruno (David) Sammartino Jr. were used by Watts in prelim roles.

Posted: Mon Sep 14th, 2020 01:31 pm
tamalie

I found my copy of Bill Watts' autobiography and found out a few more details about what happened in 1982. Keep in mind that this is Watts' point of view. The McGuirk side might have a different version or interpretation of what happened.

Watts was well aware that McGuirk's territory was in trouble. Seeing his chance to get Oklahoma and McGuirk's other markets, he went into action. He said he got McGuirk's TV station in Little Rock to show Mid-South and also got TV in Tulsa. At that point he went to McGuirk and said that he was on the brink of getting TV in Oklahoma City, which would effectively mean the end of McGuirk's promotion. He made an offer to buy out McGuirk so he could make a graceful exit from the promotion. McGuirk said he needed to discuss the matter with George Scott. Watts didn't mention much about Scott other than not liking him or respecting him as a booker, believing Jim Crockett Sr.'s former son in-law John Ringley had set the table by getting Johnny Valentine and that Scott then road the wave.

Watts didn't mention anything about Scott buying from McGuirk and considered it Leroy stalling for time. That said, I believe Leroy was looking to sell to Scott and wanted to see if Scott could pull off a deal. Soon afterwards, McGuirk accepted Watts' deal. Watts didn't mention what he paid, but said he told Leroy he could mention the amount publicly if he wanted to as a face saving move. However, Watts said a significant portion of the sales price went to paying Leroy's promotion's creditors, especially the TV stations. To the stations, which were behind on money from McGuirk and figured they wouldn't get paid, this made Watts a hero and ensured that he'd have a strong business relationship with those stations.