Athletes - Bill Watts

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	Athletes - Bill Watts

Bill Watts, born on May 5th 1939 in Bixby, Oklahoma, is a former American professional wrestler and promoter.

Watts was famous under his "Cowboy" gimmick in his actual wrestling career, and then as a tough, no-nonsense promoter in the Mid-South area of the United States, which grew to become the Universal Wrestling Federation.

In 1992, he was the Executive Vice President of World Championship Wrestling but after clashes with management over a number of issues, he resigned.

Wrestling Career

He was a former football player and wrestler at high school, and went on to play for the Houston Oilers and the Minnesota Vikings.

As a pro wrestler, he famously feuded with WWWF Champion Bruno Sammartino, but was unable to win away the belt. In the 1960's, he wrestled in many areas, such as San Francisco, Chicago, St. Louis, and even Japan, for All Japan Pro Wrestling. During these periods, Watts challenged for both the National Wrestling Alliance and American Wrestling Association versions of the World Title.

Booking Career

Bill Watts is perhaps even more famous for being a pioneering promoter in the Mid-South area of the USA. He is often credited with creating the current and popular "episodic" style of TV wrestling, building solid creative storylines week-on-week, with an emphasis on solid in-ring action with dependable wrestlers like Steve Williams, Ted DiBiase and Jim Duggan. His tenure in Mid-South also proves any accusations of racism made against him are false as he employed more black wrestlers than any other US promotion at the time. After becoming the UWF, the promotion was sold to the NWA, who kept a lot of their stars, such as Sting.

Later on, Bill Watts actually became head booker, or promoter, of World Championship Wrestling in the early nineties. He took a lot of his old-school values with him, such as banning moves from the top rope, and having the babyfaces and heels not be seen together near the arena after a show. His tenure was not long, nor were his ideas overly embraced. He introduced his son, Erik Watts, to WCW around this time, who many felt was not ready for big-time wrestling yet.

Bill later went on to a position of booking power in the World Wrestling Federation, but its believed he clashed with Vince McMahon a bit too often, and his WWF tenure lasted considerably less than his WCW one.

Awards

Wrestling Observer Newsletter

:*He is a member of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter Hall of Fame (inducted in 1996)

[ Visit the complete Wikipedia entry for Bill Watts ]

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