I love interviews with the backstage people like promoters more than the ones with wrestlers. No matter what you think about Watts,you have to admire how he stuck to his view on how to book wrestling and didn’t change that for anyone!
The part where he spoke about WCW instituting a non-steroid policy which went nowhere after the 5 top stars tested positive, and 3 of them were dead by the time of this interview was shocking.
I never got a chance to meet Bill Watts in person but I have heard a lot about him . One thing I know for sure is when he said real emotion came from making Ron Simmons the first Black Wrestling Champion was true. I was in the audience that night with my two Black Sons and they jumped out of their seats cheering and I had to stop and think about what we got a chance to witness in person in Baltimore that night. To anyone else it didn't matter but as a wrestling fan, it meant the world to us. I still get chills thinking about Ron and Vader that night and we will never forget it. Thanks Bill for making that call. The roof almost came off that building because that Pop was louder than the Road Warrior Pop and that's saying something. Wow
I thought it was definitely cool, and I liked the way they pushed Ron because he's a legitimate athlete and bad ass, they didn't book it on virtue signaling and identify politics. They didn't allow these things to detract from his winning of the championship.
Well they always say the faces in wrestling are real life heels and the heels are the good guys. Within 10 minutes of listening to him that seems to ring true here.
Ted Turner's problem besides losing control of WCW at the exact wrong time was hiring either non-wrestling people or inexperienced wrestling people to run the company. Ole Anderson was the only wrestling guy who was head booker, and he wasn't great either. Kevin Sullivan wasn't bad, but then again, he was one of the guys who let Brian Pillman work himself out of a WCW contract for a bigger payday with the competition. Turner was well intentioned, but like Tony Khan it would seem, he only knew about wrestling from the perspective of a fan and let people who didn't have a clue what they were doing run the business. Making Ron Simmons the champion was really the only good thing he ever did while in charge of WCW, but he was also so stupid that he chased his biggest star out of the company trying to make him a Roman centurion. He wanted to create WWF-light and alienated the entire NWA fanbase. Say what you want about Eric Bischoff, and I do, but at least he created new fans - he just didn't know how to keep them. If they'd kept the belt on Simmons and made him the top babyface long term, things might have been different, but then again, we're talking about a traditionally southern promotion based out of Georgia and the Carolinas, and those areas aren't known for being high on racial equality. Ironically, Ron would move on to WWF via ECW and become a cartoon Roman gladiator before becoming various iterations of the Farroq Assad character that started as a gladiator, then a racially insensitive take on the Nation of Islam to a member of the Acolytes tag team. But there were a lot of guys in those days that WCW dropped the ball on, whether it was Ron Simmons, Brian Pillman or Steve Austin. They even had Shane Douglas for awhile and didn't have a clue how to book him either.
I agree with Bill on Reagan, my dad started working in 1947 and never was out of work til Reagan...UAW workers got laid off for years and all our white neighbors put their houses up for sale and moved to where work was.
I don't because that was going on even before Reagan. Reagan got the country back where it needed to be. Oil, no jobs, businesses going under that was going on when Carter was in office. I don't know where he gets Reagan was the reason for barrels of oil going down in cost.
Bill is hilarious he should stick to Amway. I will never forget Erik's patented drop kick that couldn't even land above his opponents' waist, he was as miserable to look at has he was an in-ring performer. Watts' rookie son beat much better talents like Bobby Eaton, Rip Rogers, Cactus Jack, Brian Pillman, Kevin Nash, DDP, Arn Anderson, Mike Graham, Barbarian, Tony Atlas, Chris Benoit, Paul Orndorff and wrestled Steve Austin to several time limit draws. He was talentless and unbeatable. I would love to see Erik fight some of those guys. He is so delusional, PPV buys dropped to the lowest in history under Watts (except Halloween Havoc with Jake Roberts, who Watts then fired) and The Omni crowd fell to its lowest in history up till that point, around 1,600 in some shows.
WCW was stupid if they hired Watts and had dusty before that , no wonder it didn't work out for WCW if everytime someone was canned executives just being there boy back .... Watts bottom line concept is great , they should have hired a ex wrestling executive so they could be broken in since they wanted to keep wrestlers around with no understanding of why they need to go
Watts is a proponent of slashing taxes across the board for businesses which is a typical Republican position. Ronald Reagan in 1982 was responsible for the largest tax increase in modern times and this is why Watts doesn't like Reagan. I happen to agree with him that Ronald Reagan was one of the worst presidents in modern times, but for completely different reasons.
Same with Cornette....if you want to hear his wrestling genius you have to put up with his political nonsense(because this country is doing SO GREAT now with Biden) hahahhahahahahhahahahahhaahhahahahahahahahhahahahahahhahahahahaahhahahhahahahahahahahahahhahaah
Man Bill Watts is more of a legend then I thought , I've heard alot of his past and Legacy in peices , so hearing alot of it at once is amazing
Crazy how everything he said about politics is STILL going on to this day.
Yeh it’s a shame with no end in sight
I love interviews with the backstage people like promoters more than the ones with wrestlers.
No matter what you think about Watts,you have to admire how he stuck to his view on how to book wrestling and didn’t change that for anyone!
I hate to say this, Bill Watts is a very knowledgeable person with his theory outside of wrestling……
Watts is one of the smartest men to walk through wrestling he is a gangster no doubt
The part where he spoke about WCW instituting a non-steroid policy which went nowhere after the 5 top stars tested positive, and 3 of them were dead by the time of this interview was shocking.
One of greatest minds that ever lived, in terms of professional wrestling! 🤠🤠🤠🤠🤠
Bill Watts is sports savvy
I never got a chance to meet Bill Watts in person but I have heard a lot about him . One thing I know for sure is when he said real emotion came from making Ron Simmons the first Black Wrestling Champion was true. I was in the audience that night with my two Black Sons and they jumped out of their seats cheering and I had to stop and think about what we got a chance to witness in person in Baltimore that night. To anyone else it didn't matter but as a wrestling fan, it meant the world to us. I still get chills thinking about Ron and Vader that night and we will never forget it. Thanks Bill for making that call. The roof almost came off that building because that Pop was louder than the Road Warrior Pop and that's saying something. Wow
I thought it was definitely cool, and I liked the way they pushed Ron because he's a legitimate athlete and bad ass, they didn't book it on virtue signaling and identify politics. They didn't allow these things to detract from his winning of the championship.
Wow what a very smart old school man.
I grew up watching Cowboy Bill Watts . He was the big face of the territory then later the promoter .
Well they always say the faces in wrestling are real life heels and the heels are the good guys. Within 10 minutes of listening to him that seems to ring true here.
@@josheisert8380 He has a huge ego .
I really enjoyed this.
Legend
Ted Turner's problem besides losing control of WCW at the exact wrong time was hiring either non-wrestling people or inexperienced wrestling people to run the company. Ole Anderson was the only wrestling guy who was head booker, and he wasn't great either. Kevin Sullivan wasn't bad, but then again, he was one of the guys who let Brian Pillman work himself out of a WCW contract for a bigger payday with the competition. Turner was well intentioned, but like Tony Khan it would seem, he only knew about wrestling from the perspective of a fan and let people who didn't have a clue what they were doing run the business. Making Ron Simmons the champion was really the only good thing he ever did while in charge of WCW, but he was also so stupid that he chased his biggest star out of the company trying to make him a Roman centurion. He wanted to create WWF-light and alienated the entire NWA fanbase. Say what you want about Eric Bischoff, and I do, but at least he created new fans - he just didn't know how to keep them. If they'd kept the belt on Simmons and made him the top babyface long term, things might have been different, but then again, we're talking about a traditionally southern promotion based out of Georgia and the Carolinas, and those areas aren't known for being high on racial equality. Ironically, Ron would move on to WWF via ECW and become a cartoon Roman gladiator before becoming various iterations of the Farroq Assad character that started as a gladiator, then a racially insensitive take on the Nation of Islam to a member of the Acolytes tag team. But there were a lot of guys in those days that WCW dropped the ball on, whether it was Ron Simmons, Brian Pillman or Steve Austin. They even had Shane Douglas for awhile and didn't have a clue how to book him either.
I agree with Bill on Reagan, my dad started working in 1947 and never was out of work til Reagan...UAW workers got laid off for years and all our white neighbors put their houses up for sale and moved to where work was.
I don't because that was going on even before Reagan. Reagan got the country back where it needed to be. Oil, no jobs, businesses going under that was going on when Carter was in office. I don't know where he gets Reagan was the reason for barrels of oil going down in cost.
@@packpock4369 biggest dope dealer since the British Empire...
@@packpock4369 cause he was making all his money selling cocaine
His biggest,mistake was not paying Dennis Nedry what he asked for.
He is so smart
The story of Bill Watts is "there Will be blood" story of professional wrestling
No wonder so many people dislike this guy . He is awful quiet lately . Hypocrite
He's in his 80's now so of course he's not gonna be in the public eye, he had really bad Covid too but overcame it.
People forget Shawn Michaels started in Mid South....
Yeah whom
I would say he started more in World Class in Dallas, but you're correct how he worked Mid-South early on as well.
No he didn't he stared in World class when they were booking All Star San Antonio
He corrected you when he said the game not the same it was 20-30 year’s ago!
Do you also have the 57 talk interviews with Fred Curry and Capt. Ed George too? If so, please post them.
Bill Watts is entitled to his opinion about wrestling…..
Bill watts was best
Bill is hilarious he should stick to Amway. I will never forget Erik's patented drop kick that couldn't even land above his opponents' waist, he was as miserable to look at has he was an in-ring performer. Watts' rookie son beat much better talents like Bobby Eaton, Rip Rogers, Cactus Jack, Brian Pillman, Kevin Nash, DDP, Arn Anderson, Mike Graham, Barbarian, Tony Atlas, Chris Benoit, Paul Orndorff and wrestled Steve Austin to several time limit draws. He was talentless and unbeatable. I would love to see Erik fight some of those guys. He is so delusional, PPV buys dropped to the lowest in history under Watts (except Halloween Havoc with Jake Roberts, who Watts then fired) and The Omni crowd fell to its lowest in history up till that point, around 1,600 in some shows.
WCW was stupid if they hired Watts and had dusty before that , no wonder it didn't work out for WCW if everytime someone was canned executives just being there boy back .... Watts bottom line concept is great , they should have hired a ex wrestling executive so they could be broken in since they wanted to keep wrestlers around with no understanding of why they need to go
What year was this interview?
2009
Interesting take on Reagan. I figured Bill would have been a Reagan guy. Shows you how much I know about both Ron and Bill.
Watts is a proponent of slashing taxes across the board for businesses which is a typical Republican position. Ronald Reagan in 1982 was responsible for the largest tax increase in modern times and this is why Watts doesn't like Reagan. I happen to agree with him that Ronald Reagan was one of the worst presidents in modern times, but for completely different reasons.
@@yojoeski is dumb thinking politicians are obligated to save you from self-destructive behavior? 🤗
Let's Hook 'em up
Punk
Business was dog eat dog too many management egos.
I could do without his inane social views .
Are we not individuals?? Can we not make informed decisions about What We See Every Day !
@@brainhakker7133 I did not know I was in for a right wing disertation when I clicked on a wrestling shoot .
Same with Cornette....if you want to hear his wrestling genius you have to put up with his political nonsense(because this country is doing SO GREAT now with Biden) hahahhahahahahhahahahahhaahhahahahahahahahhahahahahahhahahahahaahhahahhahahahahahahahahahhahaah
Keep listening to Watts. You'll learn something.
@@sncconway Yeah that I shouldn't listen to him .