Jim Crockett Jr’s Last Stand

Posted on October 1, 2014 by bdamage1

Brian Damage

When you hear the name Jim Crockett Jr, what comes to your mind? The classic battles between the Rock N Roll Express versus The Midnight Express? Dusty Rhodes versus Ric Flair? Magnum TA versus Tully Blanchard? Whatever memory springs to mind…no doubt Jim Crockett Jr ran an entertaining…sometimes very successful wrestling promotion. Crockett was the antithesis of Vince McMahon’s World Wrestling Federation in that his promotions were based in reality, athleticism and true wrestling prowess. McMahon on the other hand, was into larger than life, almost cartoonish characters who were more likely to get a push if their physique was up to par.

Jim Crockett Jr like Vince McMahon…were born into the wrestling business. Jim Crockett Sr and Vincent James McMahon and Jess McMahon had carved out their own legacies years before. So it was no coincidence that these two generational promoters were running the #1 and #2 wrestling promotions in the United States. Their differing wrestling philosophies gave fans across the country true alternatives from one another. For the most part, while McMahon controlled the northern part of the country…Crockett controlled the south.

Both wanted to expand nationally and ultimately globally. The question was, who would make it to the finish line first? We all know who ended up winning that battle, but what stalled Crockett’s expansion? What led to him ultimately selling off his wrestling interests to the media mogul Ted Turner? While there are numerous reasons…let’s try and pinpoint just a significant few.

Dusty Rhodes as Booker

Is Dusty a legend in the ring? Yes. Was he a great Booker? That is debatable…depending which wrestlers you speak to. Some loved Dusty’s brand of booking wrestlers and matches, while others despised him and left the company because of him. Many fans felt the same way. They may have liked the wrestlers and match quality…but the classic “Dusty Finishes..” grew stale to some. For those who don’t know what a Dusty Finish is, it’s usually when a babyface appears to have won a title or big match…but at the last minute the decision is overturned due to some technicality.

Don’t get me wrong, I love Dusty. It was never the wisest move to put an active wrestler as booker considering that wrestler would always look out for himself first and foremost and then his close friends and allies second. Dusty was accused by wrestlers such as Ronnie Garvin for example…of always booking himself to look stronger than others. Garvin even quit the NWA, after feeling that Dusty was intentionally trying to bury him despite winning the NWA world title. Ron Garvin was not allowed to defend his title. Now I realize, you can’t please everyone when you call the shots…but in the late 1980’s it probably would have been more beneficial to have a long retired former wrestler as head booker instead of ‘The American Dream.’

Hand Shake Deals

Whether you love Vince McMahon or hate him, one thing was for sure, he was a forward thinker. While expanding the WWF nationally, he made the larger arenas around the country sign exclusivity deals with his company, meaning no other wrestling promotion could hold shows in those venues. Jim Crockett worked a little too old school by working on hand shake deals with various arenas instead. With the larger venues all but swallowed up by the WWF, Crockett was forced to work the smaller, secondary arenas for his shows.

To Crockett’s credit, with the strong TV deal he had in place with the Superstation TBS and a solid wrestling product…he was able to fill those smaller arenas. His revenues, however, would be much smaller.

Crockett Goes West

Seeing Vince begin to have a choke hold on most arenas on the east coast…Jim Crockett began to expand out west. The problem with the west coast expansion, was Jim Crockett’s desire to run shows out there every month. Crockett was yet fully established in those markets to do such a thing and the houses increasingly became smaller and smaller as the events became more routine. With the gates out west becoming smaller….it didn’t stop traveling expenses from increasing and money issues began to develop.

JCP Buys Smaller Territories

To keep pace with Vince McMahon and the WWF gobbling up territory after territory, Crockett decided to do the same. He took over smaller, weaker territories such as Central States and Championship Wrestling from Florida. The talent pools for those promotions was thin to begin with and purchasing them really started to put a financial strain on his company.

The Purchase of the UWF

This is considered by many as being one of Jim Crockett’s biggest missteps. While Crockett and McMahon were racing towards national expansion…Bill Watts was trying to attempt it himself by turning his great Mid South territory into the Universal Wrestling Federation. Despite great talent and solid booking…Watts ran into great debt and sold his promotion to Crockett. Crockett saw it as an opportunity to expand in those territories like Louisiana, Oklahoma and Arkansas.

There were a couple of problems with Crockett’s purchase of the UWF. First, while he did take some great young wrestlers like Sting and Rick Steiner…he didn’t take all of the top UWF talent with him…ie Ted DiBiase, Terry Taylor and Jim Duggan. Secondly, he didn’t properly capitalize on owning two separate wrestling promotions. While his “Super Cards” between the NWA and UWF were drawing well…he made his guys go over most of the UWF talent making them look weaker in comparison. Lastly, as we stated before, the UWF was in massive debt due to owing money to arenas and bad TV deals. When Jim Crockett Promotions bought the UWF…essentially they bought into their debt. So now, the debt became Jim Crockett’s problem which was rumored to be thousands upon thousands of dollars at least.

All in all, these were some of the reasons that Jim Crockett Promotions went into serious debt themselves and were forced to sell their interests to Ted Turner. While most times, Jim Crockett had the superior product, his race with Vince McMahon to national dominance went too fast. He simply couldn’t keep up. Hindsight is 20/20…but if he had moved at a slower pace and done things a little differently, maybe…just maybe JCP would still be around to this day. One can only wonder….