My Life in Pro Wrestling

I have always been a wrestling fan every since I was a kid when you could only watch it on Saturday. There was one show that came on at noon and then another one late night on the same day. It was not a two or three times a week thing and the national show was not yet national. You watched shows that featured local superstars. The great thing about it being local was you could go to the National Guard armory or the coliseum and actually see the superstars from Saturday's show. Now you have to wait on the national stars to come to your area which is only once or twice a year if you don't have to drive a couple of hours to an arena where they are running a show. I got involved professionally in wrestling in 1989 as an announcer for a regional promotion that ran television in four states. This show only lasted for less than a year. When that promotion closed down, I stepped out of the shadows and launched a new wrestling show with a lot of the same performers. In 1989, I started New South Wrestling Alliance. I was the producer, owner, announcer and usually the one who set up the ring as well as the chairs. We were a big show on a little budget with a lot of self-promotion. I tried to put on the biggest show possible. I was only twenty-two years old and didn't know what I couldn't do. I didn't know that there were so-called alliances and rules in professional wrestling. No one really helped me with finances or connections in the beginning, so I didn't owe anybody any allegiance. What I did do was go out to arenas where wrestling shows were happening and passed out business cards. I had friends in the broadcasting business, so I was able to get tapes on television. After about six months, I landed a contract at the coliseum in Florence, Alabama which was a mecca for professional wrestling for more than two decades. Then I ran some other coliseums in a three hundred mile radius. I also ran every recreational center, school and public building that was big enough to house our show. Soon I had name wrestlers coming to me and wanting to do shows. I made friends quick in the business and contacts too. I had names like Bill 'Superstar' Dundee, Sting, Buff Bagwell, Tommy 'Wildfire' Rich, Wildcat Wendell Cooley, Koko B. Ware, The Rock (wrestled as Flex Kavana), Stone Cold Steve Austin (before his days at the WWF), Junkyard Dog and others that were featured on my cards. Everybody including the press thought that we had major financing. The truth was that we had enough money to do the promotion for the show. I owned the ring and borrowed everything else that I needed. I was in a situation where every show that I had to sell enough advanced tickets to cover the costs of the wrestlers before the show started. But with names like those, it turned out to be an easy task to do. I did have a partner who was a veteran of the wrestling business, but his only duties were to make contacts. He ended up helping me land local wrestlers, but was short on the big names. Bill 'Superstar' Dundee turned out to be my best ally and helped me land the majority of the big names. Dundee was a former World Tag Team Champion with partner, Jerry 'the King' Lawyer. Dundee was one of the main forces behind Mid-South Wrestling in Memphis, Tennessee where hundreds of name wrestlers like Hulk Hogan, Randy Savage and Lawyer have launched careers. New South Wrestling Alliance was recognized as one of the top Southern region wrestling shows behind WCW and Mid-South and ranked in the top ten by pro-wrestling magazines for three years in the early 90s. Our show turned out more than two dozen local wrestlers that went on to become WCW and WWF stars. With the rise of the big national shows, the local and regional shows took a hit in popularity. The expectations of a wrestling show became too expensive to maintain. This was the reason behind the collapse of many shows like New South and Mid-South as well as more than two dozen others. Wrestling's popularity runs in cycles. For a approximately a decade, its popularity and success is great. Then it will take a downturn for nearly a decade. This has been the case ever since the 1800s when pro wrestling was setting its roots in American culture. The national shows that can be seen on television four or five days a week provide for a consistent schedule of entertainment, but it also has had its flaws. The quality of the wrestling on these shows is second to the drama and gimmicks that they use. The popularity of massive men has promoted the use of steroids and diminished the talents of smaller, more natural athletes from days past. The national shows have also contributed to the destruction of so many regional shows that there is now a limited number of pro wrestlers available to move to the big shows. The regional and local shows were like the minor league baseball camps. They trained fresh talent and allowed them to season before moving up to the big league. In an attempt to collect the most money possible, these national shows have really clipped their own legs with a metal chair. New South Wrestling ran its last show in the Fall of 2000 and I exited the world of professional wrestling. I won't say that it is forever. Once the squared circle is in your blood and a part of your life, it is always there like a spotlight following you and calling you back. TJB