The Wrestling Observer Yearbook '97: The Last Time WWF Was Number Two

by Dave Meltzer

  Absolutely nobody seems to have a clue what is going to happen next week, but the show certainly put the television future of the promotion in jeopardy. There were several reports that WMC-TV was unhappy about all the goings on surrounding the wrestling show, and now with it airing Saturday nights at midnight, the ratings are way down and patience with trying to salvage what had for years been the most popular local television show in the market was wearing thin within the station due to the problems with the power struggle and the idea that an armed guard came to the studio the previous week and a confrontation took place when Lawler and Burton were originally served.

  In addition, the syndication contract that USWA has with its generally weak line-up of UHF stations around the country calls for first-run programming 50 weeks per year (they are allowed recap shows during December for the holiday season), and this show was a clear violation of the contract. Even Lawler himself during the week called the time shift in Memphis as the “kiss of death” to the group in the market, particularly on the heels of the 9/14 house show drawing just 207 fans, to the Wrestling Observer Hotline.

  The Selkers filed a suit asking for $1.5 million plus punitive damages from Lawler and Burton in Federal Court claiming the two made false representation of facts when selling he and his investors the company. Apparently Selker claimed in the lawsuit to be the head of the group that controls 55% of the stock in the company although most reports that have come out list the Selker group and Burton as each controlling 50%

  The crux of the situation is that Lawler and Jarrett each owned 50% of the company dating back to the early 80s. In December, Lawler purchased Jarrett’s 50% for either $250,000 or $262,000, of which Jarrett himself received, depending upon the source, somewhere between $175,000 and $187,000 with the remaining $75,000 supposedly going to Burton for being the intermediary in the deal. Jarrett at the time was seriously thinking about folding the company, which was no longer profitable and had openly said that receiving any money at that time for his stock in USWA he saw as a gift from above.

  The Selkers, who had raised $1.5 million to buy the company outright, were then told that Burton had purchased Lawler’s 100% of the company for $2 million, $500,000 of which was paid immediately and the remaining $1.5 would be forthcoming in six payments of $250,000 apiece. The Selkers began making payments to Burton for 50% of the company based on half the company being worth $1 million.

  If all of that is correct, then Lawler came out of it with money eventually promised to total $2 million for his original stock and the 50% that Jarrett owned, for which he paid theoretically Jarrett $250,000 or $262,000. The other key points are whether Burton actually paid Lawler the $500,000 and payments on the other $1.5 million at that price before selling half the company to the Selkers and whether Lawler really paid Burton the $75,000. Where this gets even more intriguing is that the Selkers were given paperwork to show that Burton was working for USWA on a $750,000 per year salary plus performance bonuses.

  In other words, if all these allegations are correct and one were to put all the pieces together, it would appear that Lawler, the 100% owner of the company, was on paper paying Burton this ridiculous amount of money (the entire company grossed less than $500,000 from all sources in 1996), which then got kicked back to him as a huge purchase price for his shares. Plus Lawler theoretically paid Burton $75,000 as the intermediary on the Jarrett deal, so there may be a paper trail of Lawler and Burton paying each other huge sums of money as salary and a brokering fee in one direction, and as the purchase price for the company in the other direction, with them using the same money to pay each other and thus little or no actual money changing hands, but making it on paper appearing to greatly inflate the actual value of the company.

  Lawler wouldn’t confirm the $750,000 figure when asked but has admitted to Pro Wrestling Torch that Burton was hired for a huge salary because he believed with the money from the Selkers being put into the company that USWA was going to greatly increase in business, although he has changed his spin on the latter point 180 degrees over the past week, claiming the Selkers were people who got into a business they knew nothing about and were losing money hand over fist.

  It has been a common wrestling scheme of the past to use the money of outside “money marks” to fund wrestling companies. Another scheme, generally credited to former promoter Ron Fuller (Ronald Welch) although he assuredly wasn’t the first to do it, was to sell his territory to outsiders who didn’t understand the wrestling industry, who would then lose money like it was going out of style, and then after not making a go of it, sell the company back to Fuller at a much smaller price. Fuller would then buy it, build the territory back up, and sell it again to a new money mark for a higher price. He did this until he felt running territorial wrestling could no longer be profitable due to the changes in the industry as a whole caused largely by Vince McMahon, and is now a minor league ice hockey owner.

  It is believed the Selkers, who Lawler claimed raised $1.5 million from a group of investors to buy half the company but only paid $1 million for it, attempting to muddy the waters against the parties that have sued him, thought they’d make their money back largely from new revenue streams, mainly television syndicated ad sales, along with merchandising based on how WWF, ECW, and WCW were raking in money on that end and not predominately from live event business.

  This would be in total contrast to the policies of Lawler and Jarrett as owners that kept USWA alive and profitable when all other regional offices had failed—basically spending almost no money at all and paying the guys $40 per night and $25 for television because there are always people around who are willing to almost pay to be television stars, or see it as paying dues with the hopes of being discovered by the big-time offices, and virtually all the money coming in came from selling tickets to live shows with the babyfaces able to add extra money to hustling their own gimmicks to fans.

  The payment structure had changed with the new ownership in that experienced wrestlers were getting $100 per night with the younger undercard guys getting $40, however the promotion was now controlling the merchandising, although little money was coming in from that direction.

  The new group went to the other extreme, with the idea of expanding into more bordering states along with spending money to theoretically make money from new revenue streams. They hired non-wrestling industry people as company executives at high salaries, some in excess of six-figures, and rented a $3,000 per month office in Memphis, bought a new television set for $20,000 and were quickly realizing a lot of money was being spent and no money was coming in.

  The basic problem, the same that has faced everyone (remember AWF, POWW, GLOW, Global, et al) with the idea they’d make their money from national advertising sales as opposed to selling tickets is that it just doesn’t work. Few advertisers generally look at spending big money on pro wrestling, even if it gets good ratings. Those that do are already with WWF and/or WCW.

  If television syndication was such a cash cow, why was Titan Sports, at the time it was the leading company in the industry, at one point contemplating getting out of the syndication business because it was no longer cost effective? If the brand name leader wasn’t making a profit in syndication, how could a far smaller group expect to do so? Pro wrestling gets pennies on the dollar in advertising as compared with other shows that would do similar ratings with similar national penetration, which is one of the reasons USA Network preempts Raw with the U.S. Open, despite it drawing only half the viewing audience, every September.

  Despite hiring someone to sell national advertising at a six-figure salary, the USWA had yet to sell one national ad spot, still had only one revenue stream, which was the house shows which were bringing in virtually no money compared with the new overhead, was no longer being paid $1,500 per week by WMC-TV to pay for production of the show with the move to midnight, and it has been questioned who knew and how far in advance it was known about the move of TV time in the flagship city on the circuit
. If this all winds up as nothing more than a power struggle between the Selker group and Burton over control of the company, the natural question becomes is the winner the real loser, or is the loser the real winner?

  OCTOBER 6

  Things remained largely status quo this week. Larry Burton failed to get his injunction to get the video equipment away from the Selker group, which had it locked up. In addition, the main house show of the week scheduled for 9/23 in Louisville was canceled by the Kentucky State Athletic Commission because nobody had a promoters license. The 9/16 show was saved when they used Jerry Lawler’s license, however with Lawler having to be in Albany, NY for WWF tapings, he wasn’t there. The commission shutting down the show garnered some local publicity, particularly since the wrestlers picketed the building.

  The television this week was another highlights from the past with them doing no hints or angles or storylines or building up to anything for the future. The featured stuff on the show was showing some angles leading up to and the match where Lawler beat Curt Hennig in Memphis to win the AWA title back in 1988. Ironically, the 9/20 television show which was a taped highlights show from the past did a five rating, which is better than some of the poorer rated Saturday morning live shows had done. However, reports are that WMC-TV isn’t going to take sides in the current dispute and won’t let either tape a show until their differences are settled, and there are people who believe if they aren’t settled within a week or two, that the station will simply cancel the wrestling show and it would leave the company without its by far most valuable station.

  OCTOBER 13

  The latest on the trials and tribulations from what was once the United States Wrestling Association saw cancellation of its flagship wrestling show and the opening of a new promotion in its territory.

  WMC-TV in Memphis, the local NBC affiliate, which had run pro wrestling since 1977, announced this past week that its final wrestling television show would be on 10/4. The decision, which came as no surprise to anyone following the story, made by WMC General Manager Mason Granger was based on a lawsuit for control of USWA that wasn’t going to be settled, and until it was, the company was largely no longer in operation. The USWA canceled all its house shows this week and there are no more cards scheduled. The final television show was another highlight show, although the highlights were more current than in the previous two weeks.

  Also on 10/4, Bert Prentice, who had run opposition to USWA for several years before joining the group just prior to it falling apart, opened up a new promotion with a show in Lebanon, TN before about 200 fans using Wolfie D vs. Billy Travis as the main event. The show was a television taping, using mostly the same wrestlers Prentice used in his old North American All-Star Wrestling office (some of which aren’t doing this group and are instead working for yet another rival group run by former Prentice wrestler Farren Foxx).

  The big news with the new promotion, called Music City Wrestling, is the surprising involvement of Jerry Jarrett. Jarrett is providing some funding for the group and is trying to downplay his involvement with the group although has admitted to an involvement, which will be largely run by Prentice.

  The belief is that this group will wind up taking over the USWA syndication network due to the fact USWA isn’t providing any new programming and the contract with the syndicator and the station only allows for two highlight shows per year, a quota of which they topped with the third highlight show this past week. In addition, with the WMC cancellation, it is questionable if USWA will even tape new highlight shows.

  NOVEMBER 3

  For all real purposes, it appears that we can officially signal the death of the United States Wrestling Association.

  The group, which was the latest of numerous names throughout the years of the promotion owned by Jerry Jarrett, and later Jarrett and Jerry Lawler dating back to the late 70s when Jarrett gained control of the territory from Nick Gulas, at this point doesn’t exist except as a name on a lawsuit.

  Mason Granger, the General Manager of WMC-TV in Memphis, which had been the flagship station for the promotion since before Jarrett even owned it, officially canceled pro wrestling a few weeks back. Contrary to stories circulating within the industry, Granger has made it clear that he isn’t interested in adding a new wrestling show on his station having turned down a number of promotions.

  There had been an attempt at a deal worked out between the two sides involved in the USWA lawsuit, the Larry Burton/Jerry Lawler side and the Mark Selker side, to attempt to save the company’s most valuable asset, the WMC-TV slot, by having a neutral party, namely former USWA General Manager Randy Hales, produce a weekly television show before the court decides who controls USWA, but that deal fell apart before it ever started.

  Most of the existing stations and the syndicated network, generally weak UHF stations that use the program as something of a “C” program distributed by the World Wrestling Federation (which gained control of syndicating the show away from World Championship Wrestling as a way to improve in comparison in the highly misleading weekly syndicated ratings standings) will wind up carrying Bert Prentice’s Music City Wrestling promotion after a deal struck between Prentice, former USWA syndicator Bill Behrens and WWF officials on 10/21.

  Michael St. John and Prentice will handle the announcing of the television show, with the first major taping to be on 10/30 in Nashville at the Fairgrounds, the long-time home of USWA. The idea on the boards is for Music City to use a Country Music backdrop on the show since the tapings will be coming from Nashville, and use Doug Gilbert, Billy Travis and Flash Flanagan as the top stars. Jerry Jarrett was offered ownership in the Music City group, but turned it down, but is working with the group in an advisor role, and his mother, Christine, will be the promoter for matches in the Nashville area.

  Jerry Jarrett, along with Eddie Marlin and Frank Morrell were at a show last week at the Nashville Fairgrounds which drew about 150 fans. In addition, they are hoping to use wrestlers under WWF developmental contracts. The group will also get television in Memphis on WLMT-TV at the old USWA time slot of 11 a.m. on Saturdays.

  For legal reasons, largely due to a non-compete clause he has in his old USWA contract, Jerry Lawler won’t be used by the new promotion even though his name still means something in Memphis, nor, at this point, will Brian Christopher for other reasons.

  Music City won’t be running the Louisville market, as the old USWA time slot on WBNA on Saturday afternoons, was taken over by a new company called Kentuckiana Championship Wrestling run by Mike Samples and Jerry Faith out of Campbellsville, KY that has had a small-time television presence in the latter market for a few weeks, and using the two co-owners along with Flanagan and Steven Dunn as the top stars, and they will probably fight with Ian Rotten’s IWA for control of the grass roots of the Louisville market.

  Larry Burton—or at least the person who goes by the name Larry Burton, as it has since come out in discovery in the lawsuit that no such person exists under the name Larry Burton—has been talking about starting his own wrestling company out of Cleveland. Those close to the situation believe now that the lawsuits will simply disappear because there is nothing to gain anymore from winning, and the company will never return, and friends of Lawler claim he’s resigned himself to the fact that the company he built is really kaput.

  At this point, with the syndication gone, the only thing that the winner of the legal battle would get for winning is a large debt as there are tens of thousands of dollars in unpaid bills to arenas and television stations throughout the old USWA territory. In addition, there may be IRS problems to deal with as well as apparently the company never paid payroll taxes on those inflated salaries they were paying to those in management positions.

  NOVEMBER 10

  In the battle for the old USWA territory, here’s the latest on the scoreboard. USWA no longer exists, however Jerry Lawler is continuing to run one show per week at a casino in Mississippi to hold onto that deal for himself using himself (despite a
no compete clause in his USWA contract), Brian Christopher and Spellbinder as the top stars. In Louisville, the battleground is between Kentuckiana—a group run by Mike Samples and Jerry Faith—and Ian Rotten’s IWA.

  Both will be running on Tuesdays and Rotten will be putting together television for local promotion for the first time using Les Thatcher as his announcer. Samples’ group will start running the traditional weekly shows at the Louisville Gardens and has the old USWA time slot. Between the weekly Gardens rent and time slot costs, that’s an $1,800 nut per week.

  In Nashville, Bert Prentice’s Music City Wrestling—which through a deal with former USWA syndicator Bill Behrens and the World Wrestling Federation, is taking over the old USWA syndication—is battling with a group called New South Wrestling headed by former Prentice wrestler Farren Foxx and local mainstay Tony Falk.

  Prentice taped television on 10/30 with a three-camera shoot for syndication, drawing 400 fans to the old Nashville Fairgrounds, about 200 paying $3 a head and the other 200 from about 1,000 freebies passed out around town. PG-13 are in for that group and Doug Gilbert returns this week after Japan. They drew 337 fans to a house show in Nashville two nights later. There is talk of using both Tommy Rich and Adrian Street this month and they are going to attempt to use the Harris Twins (Skull & Eight Ball in WWF) when they are home in Nashville for the holidays provided WWF gives the okay.

  This group debuts on 11/15 on WLMT, Ch. 30 in Memphis at 11 a.m., the traditional time slot of USWA, and will run its first show in the Memphis market at the Big One Expo on 11/28, and plans to run once or twice per month in Memphis.