Matt D Posted February 23, 2011 Report Share Posted February 23, 2011 It amazes me a little more everyday how little I actually know about the history of pro wrestling in the 80s. I grew up with it in MA starting in 90 and by then there really was just WWF and WCW and a hint of GWF for me and later on ECW. I've been going through old observers and listening to a lot of shoots lately and one thing has come up a few times and I'm curious just how much we know about it. Eddie Graham's Florida Championship Wrestling was one of the top territories in the early 80s. They had a big show at the Orange Bowl. Dusty felt like he got screwed on the house/payoff. He went to a two-bit Crockett promotion that had been barely drawing, taking a big chunk of the Florida talent with him and shortly thereafter raiding some of the Mid-South talent. Florida Championship Wrestling withers. Eddie Graham kills himself. Various owners/bookers come out of the woodwork, including Dusty and take charge of the company/booking. JCP prospers. I've pulled this together from Barry Windham, Bill Dundee, and Billy Jack Haynes shoots, mainly. I would not call this the best oral history of wrestling I could possibly get. Do we know much more of the puzzle? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kjh Posted February 23, 2011 Report Share Posted February 23, 2011 Eddie Graham's Florida Championship Wrestling was one of the top territories in the early 80s. They had a big show at the Orange Bowl. Dusty felt like he got screwed on the house/payoff. He went to a two-bit Crockett promotion that had been barely drawing, taking a big chunk of the Florida talent with him and shortly thereafter raiding some of the Mid-South talent. Florida Championship Wrestling withers. Eddie Graham kills himself. Various owners/bookers come out of the woodwork, including Dusty and take charge of the company/booking. JCP prospers. I think Dusty spent so much on talent to get a huge gate that the show wasn't as profitable as you would expect, which is why he felt screwed on his payoff. The talk about JCP barely drawing is a big exaggeration, two of JCP's biggest shows ever (Slaughter & Kernodle vs. Steamboat & Youngblood cage match, Starrcade '83) happened in the year immediately prior to Dusty getting the book. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KrisZ Posted February 23, 2011 Report Share Posted February 23, 2011 JCP was in a down period before Dusty took over in the late summer of 1984 here is an example of a card before Dusty took over. JCP @ Greenville, SC – Memorial Auditorium – June 11, 1984 Mark Fleming d. Kurt Von Hess Sam Houston d. Doug Vines Kamala d. Gary Quartenelii The Assassin & Paul Jones d. Rufus R. Jones & Jimmy Valiant by DQ Don Kernodle & Ivan Koloff d. Renegade & Mark Youngblood Buck Robley took the book from Dusty after he left but he didn't last too long and I'm not quite sure who replaced him but I think it ended up being Mike Graham. Eddie Graham had some bad business issues outside of wrestling especially in real estate and Blackjack Mulligan is positive that Eddie was murdered in a hired hit. Mike took over as owner and they would have some good talent come through with Wahoo doing some booking throughout 1985 that was fine but it wasn't the glory days. Kevin Sullivan came back in the fall of 1985 then Lex Luger exploded which was the last good business run in Florida. The talent kept getting worse and worse where you had cards like this in a 4 year span. CWF @ Tampa, FL – Sundome – December 6, 1983 Anthony Charles d. Mr. Olympia Sam Houston d. Mike Fever Florida Jr. Heavyweight Title: Hector Guerrero d. Denny Brown © Mike Davis & Mike Graham d. The Zambuie Express by DQ Mike Rotundo d. Kendo Nagasaki by DQ US Tag Titles: Blackjack Mulligan & Dusty Rhodes © d. Ron Bass & One Man Gang by DQ CWF @ Tampa, FL – Spartan Sports Center – December 4, 1984 King Cobra d. Angelo Mosca Jr. Mike Graham d. Madd Maxx Koko Ware d. Jay Youngblood Brian Blair d. Jesse Barr US Tag Titles: Krusher Khruschev & Jim Neidhart d. Sweet Brown Sugar & Pez Whatley © Street Fight: Dutch Mantell d. The Saint CWF @ Tampa, FL - Spartan Sports Complex - December 10, 1985 Frank Lang d. Jack Hart Hector Guerrero & Tyree Pride d. Cuban Assassin & Rip Oliver Ron Slinker & Kevin Sullivan d. Mike Graham & Kendall Windham Lumberjack: Wahoo McDaniel d. Maya Singh Southern Heavyweight Title: Barry Windham d. Lex Luger © by DQ Steel Cage: Blackjack Mulligan d. Mark Lewin CWF @ Tampa, FL – Spartan Sports Complex – December 2, 1986 Brickhouse Brown vs. Jerry Grey Bob Cook vs. Mark Starr Dewey Forte vs. Sir Oliver Humperdink Bahamas Heavyweight Title: The Falcon © vs. Sean Royal Dewey Forte & Ron Simmons vs. The Sheepherders Bad News Allen vs. Kendall Windham The Fabulous Ones vs. Ed Gantner & Hacksaw Higgins 2 out of 3 falls: Lex Luger vs. Mr. Kareem Muhammad Look at the difference in your lead heels there. Telling signs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kjh Posted February 23, 2011 Report Share Posted February 23, 2011 JCP was in a down period before Dusty took over in the late summer of 1984 here is an example of a card before Dusty took over. I thought Dusty took over the book immediately after Starrcade '83. So who was in charge between Starrcade and the late summer of 1984? Was it still Dory Funk Jr.? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loss Posted February 23, 2011 Report Share Posted February 23, 2011 The down period stuff is definitely reflected in Mid Atlantic TV at the time, as there was not much going on and the crowds were smaller and less heated than you usually consider Carolinas crowds to be. But they were coming off of a huge show that drew huge money, and in fact, had a really strong 1983 if you also consider the Steamboat/Youngblood vs Slaughter/Kernodle match months earlier that did turnaway business. How did they switch from Starrcade to business downturn so suddenly? What happened to JCP during the 1983 holiday season that killed business? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KrisZ Posted February 23, 2011 Report Share Posted February 23, 2011 Angelo Mosca took over the book after Dory and he was the one that pushed his son over all the top heels except Dick Slater because Slater was protected for Flair. In a funny move, Mosca then went back to Florida from June-August 1984 after Dusty left before then going to WWF in September. Mosca Jr. stayed in JCP oddly throughout until finally following dad. I think a key part of JCP TV being down from 83 to 84 was that Flair wasn't around as much after beating Race plus they were pushing the wrong guys especially as babyfaces. Dory & Valentine turned then you had Moscas, Rufus, & Valiant as the other top regular faces plus you had Steamer retiring for a while and no one was catching on as a face. Wahoo & Junkyard Dog would come in and the Youngbloods were still there but the booking just wasn't there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Al Posted February 23, 2011 Report Share Posted February 23, 2011 It seems to me that Piper leaving probably hurt a great deal. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KrisZ Posted February 23, 2011 Report Share Posted February 23, 2011 Piper was a big hit to them for sure. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jdw Posted February 23, 2011 Report Share Posted February 23, 2011 Valentine as well. Piper and Valentine, along with Flair going back on tour. Didn't Steamer also run a short term retirement angle? John Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KrisZ Posted February 23, 2011 Report Share Posted February 23, 2011 Yeah they turned Valentine babyface after Starrcade which wasn't the best idea and he was miscast through his last few months there. The Steamer retirement angle lasted through his All-Japan tour of February/March then came back for two matches with Flair in Greensboro in March/April which he returned full-time after the April match. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt D Posted February 24, 2011 Author Report Share Posted February 24, 2011 Darsow claims that it probably wasn't bad drawing which did Graham in since the territory was starting to pick up again a little when it happened. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KrisZ Posted February 24, 2011 Report Share Posted February 24, 2011 Eddie Graham was doing some shady dealings in real estate and it caught up with him. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil Schneider Posted February 24, 2011 Report Share Posted February 24, 2011 Man I cannot picture Valentine working babyface. He is not someone easy to root for. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt D Posted February 24, 2011 Author Report Share Posted February 24, 2011 Valentine had that face run in 91 WWF too. He turned after Jimmy screwed up a match he had with Saba Simba. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BruiserBrody Posted March 5, 2011 Report Share Posted March 5, 2011 re: Graham's suicide...I saw a shoot (Mike Graham? Sullivan?? Haynes???) where they said Eddie had to shoot himself twice as his 1st shot he flinched and merely blew his jaw off. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BruiserBrody Posted March 5, 2011 Report Share Posted March 5, 2011 re: Graham's suicide...I saw a shoot (Mike Graham? Sullivan?? Haynes???) where they said Eddie had to shoot himself twice as his 1st shot he flinched and merely blew his jaw off. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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