Then, in the late summer of 1987, World Class slowly began to regain some ground. They drew their largest house show crowd in some time as over 4,000 fans filled the Rodeo Arena in Mesquite, Texas for a night of action. Al Perez, who was the WCCW champion after Kevin Von Erich, was a good heel champion, and was a good enough worker. Soon after the Mesquite card, the promotion received another shot in the arm when Kerry Von Erich announced that he would return for a "pre-comeback" workout at the fall Cotton Bowl Card. Kevin was also coming back. Now you might be wondering right now, "why in the world is he spending so much time about World Class???"

See, World Class Championship Wrestling, while based in North Texas, had a strong South Texas television market, with its crown jewel being Houston. Every Saturday morning, on KTXH Channel 20, World Class would come on the air at 9:00. At the time, World Class was the highest rated weekend show for Channel 20, despite the poor attendance in the territory. Much to our surprise, World Class was about to try and make Houston, their "second" home.

Also, World Class saw the opportunity to run Houston as revenge for Bill Watts’ UWF running Dallas in 1986 and 87. During the early 80’s Bill Watts and Fritz Von Erich would help each other out, swapping talent with regularity. Von Erich would book the Junkyard Dog, especially for big shows like the Holiday Star Wars in Reunion Arena, and the David Von Erich Parade of Champions. Watts, in turn, would book Kerry Von Erich, Chris Adams, and Jimmy Garvin. All of the friendliness changed in June 1986, when Watts hired booker Ken Mantell, The Freebirds, John Tatum, Jack Victory, Missy Hyatt, and others away from World Class to work for the UWF. A subsequent UWF/NWA card in Dallas actually drew more money than the World Class July 4 card. Lawsuits were threatened by Von Erich, and Watts responded by beginning to tape his Power Pro Wrestling from Ft. Worth, Texas, the heart of World Class territory. Needless to say, when the UWF was bought out in 1987, someone who didn’t shed a tear was Fritz Von Erich. When the opportunity arose to promote in Houston, Von Erich jumped at the chance.

In the fall of 1987, with both Kevin and Kerry Von Erich back in action (the discussion on the ethical ramifications of their returns will and can be held elsewhere), Fritz decided to gamble on what he thought was a chance to regain some lost "market share," by putting the boys on the road in what was called "Von Erichs Over America Tour." It was in essence an attempt at a national tour. Surprisingly, some of the cards drew well, while many more were disasters. One card that drew fairly decent was held in ….you guessed it: Houston.

Running in what is now called Aerial Theatre at Bayou Place, the then named Arena Theatre was home to World Class’ cards while they ran Houston. The fall 1987 card, while not selling out the 2,500 seat venue, did draw enough fans to warrant a return.

In January 1988, in a voiceover from the Sportatorium, announcer Mark Lowrance let us in Houston know, that we were now the second home of World Class, and that the promotion would be running regular cards in the Bayou City. The promotion was heavy on indicating that World Class would try to be the "home" promotion for Houston. Did it work?????

The answer to that question was and is a very resounding…..NO. World Class ran cards in Houston until May 1988. Coming off of a semi-successful 1988 Parade of Champions which saw them draw more than 7,000 fans, World Class was riding a wave of momentum….until they ran Houston.

With a loaded card which feature the "Triple Dome of Terror" that Dusty Rhodes and the NWA would rip off just two months later, a return match between Kerry Von Erich and Iceman Parsons, and Michael Hayes on the card, the event drew less that 100 paying customers. World Class Championship Wrestling would never return to Houston again. Needless to say, their project was a dismal failure.

For better or worse, Houston fans were used to and wanted Paul Boesch, and Mid-South/UWF wrestling. Although this article is about 80’s wrestling in Houston, a historical footnote is in order. In early 1990, Ivan Putski tried to revive Houston Wrestling again by promoting his W.W.A. Putski barely lasted four months, although producing two interesting prospects, G.I. Bro, and Super Collider. Those two men would eventually travel to the GWF, where they would become the Ebony Experience. From there, the two men would travel to WCW, where they would rise to stardom as Harlem Heat. No promotion except the WWF would achieve any lasting stronghold in the Houston area again.

NEXT MONTH: 

Hulk Hogan and the WWF arrive in Houston to challenge Bill Watts and Paul Boesch. Who won???