Posted on by bdamage1
Brian Damage
Some championship titles stand the test of time, while others simply fade away. This piece focuses on a title that faded away years ago….but the memories remain. Today on the blog, we look at the creation and the downfall of the National Wrestling Alliance’s Western States Heritage championship. Why was it created? Who held it? Why did it disappear?
In 1987, Jim Crockett Promotions was red hot and trying to keep up with Vince McMahon and his ever expanding World Wrestling Federation. Crockett did so, by purchasing Bill Watts Universal Wrestling Federation based in Oklahoma. Just a year earlier, Watts attempted his own national expansion, but fell short due to a slow oil economy in the mid west. So Bill Watts sold the UWF to Crockett Promotions. The purchase would help Crockett expand his company to the western portion of the United States.
The head booker for Jim Crockett Jr was Dusty Rhodes, who opened an office in the Dallas, Texas area. Crockett initially had all intentions of keeping the UWF alive and a separate brand from JCP. After all, he now had another complete and full roster of wrestlers on his payroll. To mark his stamp on his UWF purchase, Dusty and Crockett created a title worthy of the acquisition. It was called the NWA Western States Heritage Championship.
The Western States title was suppose to be a championship that was solely defended in the western territories that Crockett bought. It was intended to be a secondary title to the UWF heavyweight championship. On June 20th, 1987 in Houston, Texas…a joint NWA/UWF show took place with a one night tournament to crown the first ever NWA Western States Heritage Champion. Wrestlers from both the UWF and NWA competed in the tournament including Chris Adams, Pez Whatley, Sting, Rick Steiner and Buddy Roberts. The NWA’s own Barry Windham defeated Black Bart in the tournament finals to be crowned the inaugural champion.
Windham would defend the title on the western side of the country against several opponents including Big Bubba Rogers and Tully Blanchard. Windham was then deemed the number 1 contender for the UWF heavyweight title due to his holding of the Western States belt. He would unsuccessfully challenge UWF champion Dr. Death Steve Williams for that title. Ultimately, Jim Crockett Jr absorbed the UWF and merged it with the NWA instead of keeping the UWF a separate brand.
Crockett was quickly finding out why Bill Watts was so eager to sell off his promotion. The western expansion was killing Crockett’s profit margin and they began wrestling less and less in that area. With that, Windham was defending the Western States title less and less. His last title defense didn’t even take place in the west…but in Uniondale, Long Island in New York as he lost the belt to Larry Zbyszko.
Zbyszko rarely defended the title and if he did, it was usually against low to mid card opponents. By 1989, Larry Z had decided to jump ship back to the AWA and leaving the title without a champion. The writing was on the wall and the NWA Western States Heritage title was no more. It only lasted for about a year and a half.