WWE Hall of Fame 2009 Cowboy Bill Watts
The Cowboy is the Fifth Inductee in the Class of 2009
Mar 29, 2009
Little known by many WWE fans, 'Cowboy' Bill Watts is perhaps better known for his talents as a booker and promoter than a wrestler. Many consider him the creator of the storyline based show, which WWE has used for many years to great effect.
Wrestling Career of Bill Watts
Despite having twenty-six championship reigns (involving fourteen different title belts, most notably the AWA United States Championship and the WWWF United States Tag Team Championship with Gorilla Monsoon) during his wrestling career, he never claimed one of the 'big three' World Heavyweight Championships.
Although never winning the AWA (American Wrestling Association), NWA (National Wrestling Alliance) or WWWF (World Wide Wrestling Federation) World Heavyweight Championship, Watts did challenge for all three of them throughout his career.
His most memorable feud was against Bruno Sammartino for the WWWF World Heavyweight Championship. The two men had been partners for a long while and eventually resentment grew between them, leading to a number of matches for Sammartino's WWWF World Heavyweight Championship.
When Watts challenged for the title Sammartino was only two years into what would become the longest continuous World Title reign in men's wrestling history, lasting seven years, eight months and one day. Despite not being able to claim the title, Watts does claim that his match against Sammartino in 1965 holds the attendance record for the 'old' Madison Square Garden Arena, when hundreds of fans were allegedly turned away as they tried to see the first confrontation between the former partners.
Bill Watts Booking for UWF and WCW
After retiring from active competition Watts began the Mid-South Wrestling promotion which he then attempted to take to a national level in 1986, re branded as the Universal Wrestling Federation. Despite being popular with fans, having a solid roster and good storylines the UWF failed to take off due to a number of contributing factors and was sold to Jim Crockett Promotions just a year after its launch in 1987, with most of the roster failing to make ground in JCP. The few exceptions to this rule being Sting, The Fabulous Freebirds, Rick Steiner, Shane Douglas and 'Dr Death' Steve Williams.
By the early 90's Watts had been made Vice President of Turner Industries (who had bought out Jim Crockett Promotions in 1988) and put in charge of World Championship Wrestling where some of his former talent were now working. Watts was a big fan of 'old school' values, in particular of wrestlers not breaking 'Kayfabe' (character) and as a result would always insist on heel and face wrestlers having separate locker rooms and where possible make sure that they did not appear together publicly.
Bill Watts leaving WCW
His tenure with WCW didn't last long and following his exit from the company there were a number of allegations made suggesting that his release was due to racial insensitivity, in relation to a comment he had made during an interview long before he had taken the job. Watts disputed this and claimed he had discussed the matter at length with the Turner Organisation before taking the job and that he had already decided to leave the company, which was then confirmed by (at the time) head of WCW; Bob Dhue.
Far from being racially insensitive, Watts had often championed African-American wrestlers, building his mid-south promotion around fellow Hall of Fame inductees Junkyard Dogg and 'Big Cat' Ernie Ladd and making Ron Simmons the first widely recognised African-American World Heavyweight Champion when he was in charge of WCW.
Bill Watts Career 1993 - Present Day
Following his short-lived career in charge of WCW Watts had an even briefer stint working for Vince McMahon as part of the WWE creative team for a period of three months. After parting ways with WWE Bill decided to leave the wrestling industry for good and focus on his new passion in life; Christianity.
In 2006 he released an autobiography entitled 'The Cowboy and the Cross: The Bill Watts Story: Rebellion, Wrestling, and Redemption' which documents his journey from an angry teen with a rocky upbringing to a successful promoter and finally to an ardent follower of Christ.
Watts also hosts a talk sports show on Tulsa Radio and delivers spiritual podcasts named 'daily devotionals' on his website.
To find out who else is set to join The Cowboy in the WWE Hall of Fame Class of 2009 Click Here.
 |
