Bill Watts

So what’s the final take on Bill Watts career as a wrestling promoter? Mid-South was frequently a wonder to behold with Watts running the show. Lots of guys speak very highly of him. Yet his WCW run is a ridiculous failure. Was he another example of a guy who couldn’t change with the times?

​It’s more that he didn’t have the tools to change with the times. His entire business collapsed around him due to the economy dying and he was essentially forced out of wrestling for years due to a no-compete clause signed when Crockett bought him out. His WCW run was laughably old-school, of course, but he had no personal financial stake in things. He was just brought in to do a job and keep losses to a minimum, not revitalize the company. It’s not like Verne, who was getting destroyed by Vince day after day and just refused to see the forest for the trees. I’m sure if Bill had been following wrestling in the years since the UWF folded he would have been ready to make a go of it again, but he was admittedly out of the loop in 92 and just collecting a payday. I think Mid-South was so revolutionary in how it influenced TV production and the talent that it developed that Bill earned himself a place in the good column regardless of what a debacle his WCW stint was.​