10 Biggest Promotion Killers In Wrestling History
4. Dusty Rhodes
Bill Watts caught massive flak for his handling of WCW upon succeeding Jim Herd.
He was said (with some justification) to be stuck in the past. In stripping away the histrionics of Herd's regime, Watts took his retrograde stylings much too far. Banning manoeuvres from the top rope, and doing away with protective matting, Watts did his level best to remove the aerial and ultra-violent excitement generated by the likes of Brian Pillman and Cactus Jack.
Watts, however, was once a peerless booker. His Mid-South territory, and later the ill-advised Universal Wrestling Federation-branded expansion attempt, were legendary for the meticulous manner with which they were booked - the DNA of which exists in wrestling to this day. Every angle added intrigue to the wider picture. Everything mattered. The promotion's star-power benefitted from a carefully structured ecosystem - one which was manned by a rotating cast of bookers to avoid burnout.
The UWF expansion was a bust - but when it was acquired by Jim Crockett Promotions, itself attempting to go national, there was scope to position it as its own entity. Instead, JCP booker Dusty Rhodes closed that window by frogmarching JCP midcarder Ray "Big Bubba Rogers" to win the UWF Title on his first night. A mouthwatering inter-promotional rivalry was dead in the water - and so, too, was the UWF.