Posted on by bdamage1
B. Dangerous
Remember the Time will take a nostalgic and opinionated look at ill-fated gimmicks, poorly conceived storylines, and forgettable moments in wrestling history. Now join me as we take a few moments to unearth that which should remain buried forever and do our best to Remember the Time…
Remember the time the GWF Television Title tournament felt like something really special?
In June of 1991 an upstart wrestling organization out of Dallas, Texas made their debut by holding a tournament for their Television Championship, which would be aired on ESPN.
The tournament emanated from the Global Dome, which was better known in its heyday as the “World Famous” Dallas Sportatorium. However, the new company, aware of both the age and deteriorated state of the facility, as well as its history of association with the now defunct World Class Championship Wrestling, took steps to disguise the famous venue early on. The backdrops and walls were now all painted black to hide the structure’s lackluster state, as well as to create what would appear on television to be more depth to the audience in attendance. The lighting was crisp and presented well for broadcast television and the ring looked new and unique. Gone were the local ads such as the Renegade’s Rampage logo on the mat and the company imprints on the apron and the mat itself was now a sharp maroon, which, in my 13 year old mind, looked like velvet. All considered, the production value was strong in these early tapings.
The GWF made an intelligent decision to make its first set of tapings focus almost exclusively on the company’s first singles title, thus making every match one of relative importance. Many of the names involved were known commodities, if not nationally, at least regionally.
The GWF opened its doors to former WWF, NWA, and AWA competitors, as well as talent from the local Texas and Georgia wrestling scenes. For a fan, such as myself, who was an avid reader of Pro Wrestling Illustrated and who would watch anything I could get my hands on, no matter how obscure, the Global Wrestling Federation was a cornucopia of names I was very well aware of and therefore very excited to see competing in this new and interesting environment.
One of the factors that most attracted me to the GWF initially was the fact that they were associated directly with Joe Pedicino, who had been presenting news from all corners of the wrestling world for years and brought that mindset into the GWF with him. That meant that wrestlers would have their past championships, teams, accomplishments, and employers mentioned on GWF Super Card broadcasts to help the casual fan understand who they were and why they should care about them. Or, in some cases, this also served to help the lapsed fan rekindle their passion for certain talents they may have not seen for some time as wrestling was still largely confined to territories and regions at that point.
According to the broadcast team there were over 100 names trying to get seeded in the inaugural TV Title tournament, but the field of competition was cut down and we were left with the following:
“Nature Boy” Buddy Landell, “Sweet” Stan Lane, “Conan” Chris Walker, Rasta the Voodoo Mon, “Exotic” Adrian Street, Axl Rotten, “Missouri Tiger” Jeff Gaylord, “Wild” Bill Irwin, El Fantasma, “Sweet Daddy” Falcone, Randy Rhodes, Billy Black, Brian Adias, “Pretty Boy” Doug Somers, The Hit Man (no, not that one), “Hustler” Rip Rogers, Makhan Singh, Pvt. Terry Daniels, The Zebra Kid, Terry Garvin, “Gorgeous” Gary Young, “Big Bully” Busick, Jimmy James, and the mysterious Patriot!
All considered, that is not a lineup to be ashamed of.
As the tournament progressed it was clear that the company was using it as a vehicle to not only establish themselves, but to build their homegrown babyface, The Patriot. This was a smart move as the 6’5″ powerhouse would carry the company on his star-spangled shoulders for a year and a half before going on to successful stays in All-Japan Pro Wrestling, WCW, and the WWF.
Match after match concluded, leaving the final three men in the tournament as The Patriot, “Conan” Chris Walker, and the sniveling heel, “Nature Boy” Buddy Landell. This would lead to an in-ring coin flip wherein the odd-man-out would get a bye to the finals and the other men would have a play-off match to earn their spot.
In true heel fashion, Landell did everything in his power to cheat the coin-flip, initially flipping the coin over out of view of the referee, which served to actually cause all three men to have the same result and not benefit him at all. This tactic served no real function, but Landell’s efforts to earn the bye in a crooked fashion was essentially a how-to manual for any would-be “chicken-sh*t” heel.
Eventually, following several attempts to delay the flip by the grossly underrated Landell, the flip commenced with Landell earning the bye in spite of himself, meaning The Patriot and Walker would compete to see who earned the last spot in the finals. After a grueling match with Landell making his presence felt outside the ring, The Patriot gained the victory and was rewarded with an immediate beat-down at the hands of “The Nature Boy” who allegedly had his lawyers confirm with the Championship Committee that no rest period would be mandated between matches, therefore presenting him with an advantage.
The final match of the tournament would be incredibly one-sided as Buddy Landell spent nearly the entire time working over The Patriot’s left arm, which had previously been injured in his match with Walker. Landell was gold throughout the match, showing that, had it not been for his addictions during the mid-80s, he very well could have been the top heel in the business! But ultimately it was Buddy’s heel tactics that got the best of him with The Patriot scoring a Schoolboy pinfall as Landell was jawing with the referee.
The Patriot was the first champion of the fledgling GWF and would help them establish a strong fan base early in their existence. Some time later he would win their next major tournament and be crowned the GWF North American Champion as well.
To me, this tournament meant that there was something viable out there besides the WWF and WCW. It was well put together, well presented, and made to feel like a big deal by ESPN. That said, this was 1991 and Kayfabe was still very much in effect, so there may have been some fabrications of fact surrounding the tournament and the company themselves, but they were presented in a believable enough way that it never bothered this little 13 year old “smart-mark”. It helped add to their believability that they acknowledged the world outside of the GWF. Did I believe that Mike Shaw was from Pakistan? No. I just saw him being Norman the Lunatic/Trucker Norm with a Michigan accent a few months prior. But I did know that Shaw had portrayed a Pakistani character in Stampede wrestling prior to that and the GWF acknowledged that fact, therefore helping it to make sense to me.
The Global Wrestling Federation started off hot! Joe Pedicino did a great job of making the GWF seem different, viable, and a potential threat to the WWF and WCW. A lot of wrestlers were just there for a short-time, but long enough to help build a solid foundation.
Unfortunately, due to changes in ownership and management, massive budget-cuts, a temporary closure, and new owner, Grey Pierson’s desperate desire to make the company WCCW 2.0, the GWF lost its way and was gone by 1994.
This Television Title tournament was a hopeful example of what could have been. In fact, since I grew up in a rural area with no cable television, a friend of mine recorded hours of wrestling for me each week. This would allow me to watch this very tournament numerous times and I did so to such a degree that I still have most of the spots memorized 30 years later!
In closing, I always had one question about this tournament that I’ve never had answered:
Whatever happened to the belt that The Patriot was given following his win? It appeared to be comprised of round silver plates on a black strap. By all accounts it looked fairly cheap from the few glances we get of it on the broadcast, but it was never showcased as would be common. But to this day I have never seen a clear picture of the belt, just a few low-quality stills. It was promptly replaced, but I’ve always wondered if it was a place-holder while the real championship was being finished or if something just happened to that first belt won by The Patriot.
That’s all for this time grappling fans. Until next we meet, Remember the Time…