- Shannon Steward

In January of 1987, Jim Crockett Promotions was thriving. Coming off the success of Starrcade, the promotion went into the new year on a roll. The build began for the Jim Crockett Sr. Memorial Cup. Behind closed doors however, a much more significant event was about to transpire. 

Bill Watts' UWF promotion (formely Mid-South Wrestling) seemed primed to give Crockett a battle for the #2 spot behind McMahon as the top promotion in the country. The UWF television shows were generally considered the best around, providing competitive matches between pushed competitors, rather than the old formula of all squash bouts with one main event calibre match. Jim Ross added a lot to the show on commentary and the wrestlers were top notch workers. In many areas of the country, the UWF television show actually drew more viewers than Crockett's or McMahon's. 

By March of 1987, the UWF train began to come to a halt. Some of their television time slots had been taken over by Crockett's and McMahon's shows. Watts' finances were taking a tumble and he began to realize that sticking it out would be a losing endeavor. Watts ended up selling the promotion to Jim Crockett in April. Out of the deal, Crockett landed some television timeslots, got his mitts on a full crew of talent, and had eliminated a strong competitor. For Watts, he was able to secure a large sum of money and get out of the wrestling business. 

The UWF name was kept alive, but many Crockett wrestlers were incoporated into the mix. One of the first moves was giving the UWF World Title to Big Bubba Rogers and the UWF Tag Team Titles to Brad Armstrong and Tim Horner, two talented wrestlers that Crockett had no plans for. Competitive matches were replaced by squash matches, and while still promoting some feuds exclusive to UWF, the shows became a backdrop to promote Crockett storylines and events.

By the summer, the rosters were interchangeable. UWF wrestlers filled out the bottom of Crockett cards, while Crockett competitors headlined some UWF cards. Only Steve Williams and The Fabulous Freebirds were given pushes on NWA television as being top level wrestlers.  

Crockett houses did well at the Bash shows, but lacked the fire overall in 1987 that it had in 1986. There are several reasons for that, including Dusty Rhodes continuing to center the promotion around himself, screwjob finishes leaving fans pissed off every night and to the public at large, the promotion became stale.

Two hours of squash matches surrounded by long interviews grew old. Ego feeding became priority over drawing. 

In November, a brief program began between UWF Television champ Terry Taylor and NWA Television champ Nikita Kolloff. Terry Taylor, a tremendous talent on the level of an Arn Anderson or Tully Blanchard, had not been on Crockett television since the buyout, and when finally brought in, he was made to look hopeless and was soundly defeated by Nikita Kolloff at Starrcade in a Unification match for the Television titles.  Despite his talent, Taylor dissapeared after that match, with Crockett having no use for him. 

On the same Starrcade event, Steve Williams successfully defended the UWF World Title against Barry Windham. This World Title match was the second match on the card, and hardly given the time or storyline to work a World Title calibre match. By this point the UWF in itself was meaningless, with it having been belittled into a minor league. It wouldn't be long before the UWF name, as well as the titles, were completely dropped by Jim Crockett Promotions. When the buyout occured eight months earlier, Crockett had a crop of great (and fresh) talent at his grasp. By December, only a few remained. The ball had been dropped, and Crockett's houses went down with it.