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UWF Tag Team Championship

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63-625: (Redirected from UWF World Tag Team Championship ) Professional wrestling tag team championship UWF Tag Team Championship Details Promotion Mid-South Wrestling (1979-1986) Universal Wrestling Federation (1986-1987) Date established September 28, 1979 Date retired November 26, 1987 Other name(s) Mid-South Tag Team Championship Statistics First champion(s) Mike George and Bob Sweetan Final champion(s) The Sheepherders ( Butch Miller and Luke Williams ) Most reigns (As

126-703: A "five-time rookie of the year." As the UWF's merge with "the NWA" was taking place, Terry Taylor , who held the UWF Television Championship , began an angle with the NWA World Television Champion , Nikita Koloff . Taylor stole the NWA TV title belt during an NWA show, but Koloff (with help from Dusty Rhodes ) reclaimed it before their official in-ring encounter. They met at Starrcade 1987 , and Nikita unified

189-680: A feud with Ric Flair for the World Heavyweight Championship. After gaining disqualification and non-title victories in house show matches, JYD defeated Flair by DQ on June 13 at Clash of the Champions XI . JYD was then part of the short-lived Dudes with Attitudes faction along with Sting , Paul Orndorff , and El Gigante . In the fall he feuded with Television Champion Arn Anderson , defeating him in non-title matches in less than 10 seconds on three house shows in September. He finished

252-675: A fireball at Hacksaw Jim Duggan ("blinding" him temporarily), and the Freebirds breaking Steve Williams' arm. Williams recruited Oklahoma Sooners (and future Dallas Cowboys head coach) Barry Switzer into training and getting back into the ring. It paid off on July 11, 1987 when Dr. Death defeated Big Bubba Rogers (Ray Traylor) to win the UWF Heavyweight Championship . The Freebirds became faces around that time, as they began feuding with Skandor Akbar's army as well as The Angel of Death. A prelim wrestler, Mike Boyette, wrestled in

315-1654: A match against The Fantastics. 40 Eddie Gilbert (3) and Sting August 31, 1986 UWF show Tulsa, Oklahoma 2 27 Won the rematch. 41 The Fantastics ( Bobby Fulton and Tommy Rogers ) September 27, 1986 UWF show Tulsa, Oklahoma 2 29 42 John Tatum and Jack Victory October 26, 1986 UWF show Tulsa, Oklahoma 1 14 43 Bill Irwin and Leroy Brown (3) November 9, 1986 UWF show Tulsa, Oklahoma 1 48 44 Terry Taylor and Jim Duggan (2) December 27, 1986 UWF show Ft. Worth, Texas 1 27 — Vacated January 23, 1987 — — — — Duggan lost loser-leaves-town match to One Man Gang . 45 Terry Taylor (2) and Chris Adams February 7, 1987 UWF show Ft. Worth, Texas 1 64 46 Sting (3) and Rick Steiner April 12, 1987 UWF show Atlanta, Georgia 1 35 47 The Lightning Express ( Brad Armstrong and Tim Horner ) May 17, 1987 UWF show Tulsa, Oklahoma 1 152 48 The Sheepherders ( Butch Miller and Luke Williams ) October 16, 1987 UWF show Kansas City, Missouri 2 41 — Deactivated November 26, 1987 — — — — Title abandoned due to purchase of UWF by Jim Crockett Promotions Footnotes [ edit ] ^ The exact date that Junkyard Dog and Murdoch lost

378-462: A match and injured him, thus Adams had to choose another tag partner. He chose Terry Taylor, whose team lost a semi-final match to Rick Steiner and Sting. Taylor and Adams eventually won the UWF tag team titles, and held the belts for two months. Meanwhile, Adams and Parsons engaged in a lengthy feud, which lasted for more than a decade (the two had feuded earlier in WCCW when Adams was the heel and Parsons

441-589: A nickname he received while working in a wrecking yard . He was posthumously inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame class of 2004 . Entering the ring with his trademark chain attached to a dog collar, to the music of Queen 's " Another One Bites the Dust ," JYD often headlined cards that drew large crowds and regularly sold out the Louisiana Superdome and other major venues, becoming "the first black wrestler to be made

504-564: A press conference, where Taylor spoke about his situation with Adams and then left. Chris later took questions, which prompted Taylor to attack Adams with a chair. The following week, Adams conducted an interview vowing revenge against both Taylor and Eddie Gilbert. Other famous UWF angles included promoter Bill Watts being attacked and having the flag of the Soviet Union draped on him by Eddie Gilbert, Missy Hyatt cold-cocking John Tatum after joining forces with Gilbert, Skandor Akbar throwing

567-584: A regional territory show. In the mid-1980s, MSW began to expand nationally. In 1985, longtime wrestling fan Ted Turner invited Watts to air MSW's weekly TV show on Turner's SuperStation TBS network. Turner wanted an alternative to the World Wrestling Federation show airing in the coveted 2-hour, Saturday-evening timeslot, which the WWF had acquired when it bought out the majority ownership of Georgia Championship Wrestling . (see: Black Saturday ) Turner

630-399: A severe recession in late 1986. This left the blue collar core of the UWF's fanbase with far less disposable income to spend on things like attending wrestling shows. Watts sold the UWF to JCP on April 9, 1987, and many of the UWF's top stars were either retained by JCP, or immediately left for the WWF or WCCW. Unlike the other NWA-affiliated promotions JCP had bought out in the mid-1980s,

693-467: A steel cage dog collar match. Other notable feuds involved Ernie Ladd , Ted DiBiase , Kamala , King Kong Bundy , and Butch Reed . The 1982 feud with DiBiase was particularly notable as DiBiase, once JYD's friend and tag-team partner, turned heel and subsequently won a loser-leaves-town match against JYD with the help of the loaded glove, which was a DiBiase calling card, at the time forcing JYD to leave town for an extended period of time. In 1982, JYD

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756-623: A tag team) The Rock 'n' Roll Express , The Samoans , Junkyard Dog and Dick Murdoch (3 times) (As individual) Junkyard Dog (8 times) Longest reign Junkyard Dog and Mr. Olympia (175 days) Shortest reign Junkyard Dog and Dick Murdoch (1 hour) In professional wrestling , the UWF Tag Team Championship was a tag team championship contested in the Universal Wrestling Federation (UWF) and its predecessor, Mid-South Wrestling . The title

819-535: A two-year promotional war against International Championship Wrestling that included the "outlaw" promotion filing an antitrust lawsuit against McGuirk and Watts. In 1979, Bill Watts acquired the Tri-State Wrestling territory from Leroy McGuirk, and re-branded it Mid-South Wrestling (MSW; officially, the Mid-South Wrestling Association). One of Watts' first acts as owner was to withdraw

882-557: A year; however, one wrestler would go from UWF midcarder/tag team act, to breakout star in JCP, and the wrestling industry as a whole: Sting . Sting's UWF tag team (as The Blade Runners ) partner would later become a WWF wrestling legend, too: The Ultimate Warrior . In October 1988, JCP, one of the biggest and late stage casualties of the "going national" war with the WWF, sold its collection of territories and titles to Ted Turner's TBS . Turner re-branded JCP "World Championship Wrestling," naming

945-506: The Fabulous Freebirds where they blinded him with hair cream. At the peak of the feud, his wife gave birth to their first child, which was made part of the storyline. It was explained that JYD could not see his new daughter, something that increased the heat on the Freebirds to the point where they needed police escorts in and out of arenas. The feud ended with the still-blinded JYD and Freebird leader Michael "P.S." Hayes wrestling in

1008-486: The Hulkamania -era WWF, Mid-South Wrestling's content focused on: energetic matches performed before raucous and packed crowds; characters whose personas blurred the line between good and evil; an intensely physical, athletic wrestling style; and an episodic TV show format. The promotion ran shows in a mix of small venues and gigantic arenas. In 1980, a card pitting a "blinded" Junkyard Dog against Freebird Michael Hayes in

1071-636: The Sam Houston Coliseum (one of the most famous arenas in professional wrestling), and other parts of southeastern Texas . Mid-South used Shreveport, Louisiana as the base for its television tapings, which were first housed in the studios of KTBS-TV until they were moved around 1982 to the Irish McNeel Sports for Boys club, located on the Louisiana State Fairgrounds. Instead of the cartoon-ish characters and interviews common to

1134-525: The Stampede North American Heavyweight Championship twice. He wrestled for Stampede until August 1979. In April 1979, Ritter toured Japan with International Wrestling Enterprise as part of its Big Challenge Series. Wrestling as "Big Daddy Ritter", his opponents included Isamu Teranishi, Great Kusatsu, and Mighty Inoue . In September 1979, Ritter moved to Mid-South Wrestling , where booker "Cowboy" Bill Watts gave him

1197-542: The Universal Wrestling Federation , and securing a syndication deal airing their two one-hour, weekly TV programs (the lesser show, Power Pro Wrestling debuted in 1984) in major markets across the United States. The TV tapings were also taken out of Shreveport and moved on location at various live shows throughout the Mid-South/UWF territory. New wrestlers, mostly from World Class Championship Wrestling (WCCW), joined

1260-687: The "Universal Wrestling Federation" name with the United States Patent and Trademark Office, businessman Herb Abrams was able to use it to launch an unrelated wrestling promotion of the same name in 1990. A former territory wrestler who was blinded in a 1950 auto accident, Leroy McGuirk eventually took over promoting a wrestling circuit covering Oklahoma , Louisiana and Mississippi . Until 1973, "Cowboy" Bill Watts had been one of Tri-State's most popular wrestlers. After leaving Tri-State for Eddie Graham 's Championship Wrestling from Florida , Watts returned to Tri-State in 1975. NWA Tri-State fought

1323-686: The Champions VI in New Orleans. Before the match he was accompanied to the ring by a jazz band. On May 7, 1989, JYD no showed the PPV, Wrestlewar 89 and was promptly fired. A year later at the Capitol Combat PPV, he made a surprise appearance after being hired by then Booker, Ole Anderson. JYD began a main event run in May 1990. On May 20 he defeated Mean Mark Callous in 39 seconds. He quickly became embroiled in

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1386-469: The Dog in chicken feathers. The two had a series of matches, many of the bouts were for the prized North American Heavyweight Championship. These matches were also notable for their brutality, which included "ghetto street fights", "dog-collar matches", two-out-of-three pin-fall matches and steel-cage matches. JYD was lured to the WWF at the peak of the feud with Reed. In the summer of 1984, Ritter left Mid-South for

1449-724: The Funk Brothers ( Dory Funk Jr. and Terry Funk ), Adrian Adonis , Greg "The Hammer" Valentine and "Outlaw" Ron Bass . He lost to Rick Rude by disqualification at the inaugural SummerSlam . He left the company in November 1988. Ritter made his debut for the National Wrestling Alliance on December 7, 1988, at the Clash of the Champions IV . He appeared during an altercation between The Russian Assassins and Ivan Koloff , saving

1512-553: The Saturday timeslot from McMahon, and become TBS' sole pro wrestling show. Watts made one more attempt at going national the following year. As part of that plan, Watts replaced Mid-South Wrestling's parochial brandname with a more corporate, ambitious (and WWF-like) one: the Universal Wrestling Federation. In March 1986, MSW "went national" (the goal of the most ambitious regional promotions of this era), re-launching as

1575-485: The UWF and is believed to be one of the very few wrestlers to never win a match. Video editors for the show even put together a music video of his various losses in the ring, set to the Little River Band song " Lonesome Loser ". "Gorgeous" Gary Young also competed in the UWF, claiming that he was a rookie. He actually had five years experience under his belt. Young's claims prompted Jim Ross to begin referring to him as

1638-625: The UWF did not immediately end; JCP kept its brand—and its three championships—alive in TV storylines until December 1987, when JCP's NWA-affiliated characters defeated all of the UWF characters in a series of "title vs. title" unification matches, among others. Only a few UWF wrestlers were well-received by JCP's fanbase; they included: the Fabulous Freebirds , Shane Douglas , Rick Steiner , Eddie Gilbert , and UWF centerpiece "Dr. Death" Steve Williams . Most UWF imports were gone from JCP's roster within

1701-535: The UWF to another rival: Jim Crockett Promotions (owner of Mid-Atlantic Wrestling , Georgia Championship Wrestling , the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA)'s most important championships, and the predecessor of World Championship Wrestling ). The promotion began as an NWA territory , NWA Tri-State , founded by Leroy McGuirk in the 1950s. Tri-State/Mid-South/UWF promoted in Oklahoma , Arkansas , Louisiana and Mississippi until 1987. Because Watts did not register

1764-461: The WWF would shoot local, in-studio matches, but only infrequently, and they were usually predictable squash matches .) MSW quickly became TBS' highest-rated show, so Watts positioned MSW to take over once Turner could force the WWF off his network. Watts' luck ran out, however, when former Georgia Championship Wrestling co-owner Jim Barnett helped broker a deal enabling North Carolina-based Jim Crockett Promotions' (led by Jim Crockett, Jr. ) to buy

1827-553: The World Wrestling Federation (WWF), where he was a mid-card wrestler but still a heavily over face. JYD debuted on a Georgia Championship Wrestling taping held at the Kiel Auditorium on August 10, 1984, when he defeated Max Blue. While in the WWF, JYD made a habit of interacting with the growing number of young people in attendance, often bringing them into the ring after matches and dancing with them. He wrestled at

1890-3477: The championship has not been documented, which means that their reign lasted between 35 and 64 days. ^ The exact date that the Wild Samoans won and lost the championship has not been documented, which means that their reign lasted between 1 day and 29 days. ^ The exact date that Junkyard Dog and Murdoch lost the championship has not been documented, which means that their reign lasted between 26 and 55 days. See also [ edit ] Universal Wrestling Federation NWA Tri-State Tag Team Championship GWF Tag Team Championship References [ edit ] ^ Hoops, Brian (November 24, 2019). "Daily Pro Wrestling history (11/24): The First Starcade" . Wrestling Observer Newsletter . Retrieved November 24, 2019 . ^ F4W Staff (May 5, 2015). "On this day in pro wrestling history (May 5): Bruno Vs. Gorilla in Puerto Rico, 2nd annual Von Erich Memorial Parade of Champions" . Wrestling Observer Figure Four Online . Retrieved February 10, 2017 . {{ cite web }} : CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list ( link ) ^ F4W Staff (May 3, 2015). "On this day in pro wrestling history: Low Ki Vs. Dewitt, Punk wins OVW title, Mutoh wins IWGP belt, Bret wins NA title, Dibiase & Dr. Death, Sheik, Watts, Fargos" . Wrestling Observer Figure Four Online . Retrieved February 11, 2017 . {{ cite web }} : CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list ( link ) ^ Hoops, Brian (January 23, 2020). "Pro wrestling history (01/23): Hulk Hogan defeats Iron Sheik for WWF title" . Wrestling Observer Newsletter . Retrieved January 25, 2020 . ^ Hoops, Brian (February 7, 2017). "On this day in pro wrestling history (Feb 7): Bobby Roode & Austin Aries wins tag gold" . Wrestling Observer Figure Four Online . Retrieved February 15, 2017 . v t e NWA Tri-State / Mid-South Wrestling / Universal Wrestling Federation championships NWA Tri-State NWA World Heavyweight Championship NWA World Junior Heavyweight Championship NWA Tri State North American Championship NWA United States Tag Team Championship NWA Tri-State Louisiana Championship NWA Tri-State Heavyweight Championship NWA Tri-State Tag Team Championship NWA Tri-State Brass Knuckles Championship NWA Louisiana Heavyweight Championship Mid-South NWA World Heavyweight Championship Mid-South North American Heavyweight Championship Mid-South Television Championship Mid-South Tag Team Championship Mid-South Louisiana Championship UWF UWF Heavyweight Championship UWF Television Championship UWF Tag Team Championship Retrieved from " https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=UWF_Tag_Team_Championship&oldid=1222034868 " Categories : Mid-South Wrestling championships Universal Wrestling Federation (Bill Watts) championships Tag team wrestling championships Hidden categories: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list Articles with short description Short description matches Wikidata Articles with hCards Mid-South Wrestling The Universal Wrestling Federation

1953-595: The closure of Leroy McGuirk's Tri-State promotion in Oklahoma, and remained through the transition to UWF. Bill Watts's son Joel Watts was later added to the Mid-South/UWF broadcasting team, and also worked behind-the-scenes as a producer of the TV program. Following Jim Crockett Promotions' purchase of the UWF, both Bill and Joel Watts exited the promotion and Jim Ross was joined by various partners including Magnum T. A. , Michael P.S. Hayes and Missy Hyatt . Veteran JCP announcer Bob Caudle became Ross's permanent partner near

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2016-543: The closure of UWF. Frank Dusek and Toni Adams also served as ringside commentators during the course of its UWF tenure; both of whom moved on to World Class. Junkyard Dog Sylvester Ritter (December 13, 1952 – June 1, 1998) was an American professional wrestler and college football player , best known for his work in Mid-South Wrestling and the World Wrestling Federation as the Junkyard Dog (or JYD ),

2079-808: The company from the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA). However, MSW would remain loosely aligned with the NWA, continuing to have the NWA World Heavyweight Champion defend the title on MSW shows, which spiked live event sales. (During the "territory" system [1940s-1980s], the NWA World Heavyweight Champion would travel to each NWA-affiliated territory to defend the title against its top-drawing local star.) MSW then added Arkansas to its circuit. In 1982, MSW expanded to Oklahoma when McGuirk closed his personal, Oklahoma-based promotion. McGuirk also formed an alliance with Houston promoter Paul Boesch to feature Mid-South talent on shows at

2142-437: The company, as did former WCCW co-promoter Ken Mantell . Despite the UWF's strong early ratings and critical praise, it could not compete nationally with Jim Crockett Promotions (JCP) and the WWF, as both had stronger TV distribution and larger live event, pay-per-view (and, in the WWF's case, merchandise licensing) revenue streams. The UWF was further hurt when the oil-based economy of its richest local market—Oklahoma—fell into

2205-631: The estate of Paul Boesch , who was the Houston territory's promoter. Select episodes of Mid-South are available for viewing on the WWE Network and on the NBCUniversal -owned Peacock streaming service in the United States. The Battle of New Orleans was a long-playing brawl between Eddie Gilbert, Terry Taylor , Chris Adams and Sting , which began in the ring and spilled out into the concession area. Beer kegs , chairs, tables, popcorn machine and anything

2268-556: The floor. The Taylor-Adams war proved to be one of the most violent feuds in the UWF, with an equal intensity to the feud Adams had with the Von Erichs in World Class. The feud did have a short interruption when Taylor was injured in an automobile accident, but picked up again by the summer and carried over to World Class by 1988. Taylor and Adams promoted a famous angle in August which involved

2331-451: The four wrestlers could get their hands on were used in the brawl which lasted nearly 15 minutes. Sting and Gilbert fought outside the ring, when Rick Steiner came in and piledrived Shane Douglas. With Taylor on top, referee Randy Anderson made the pinfall. Later, Adams came out and told Anderson what had happened, which prompted Gilbert and Taylor to gang-up on Adams. Sting came in to even the sides, and that resulted in an all-out brawl outside

2394-399: The inaugural WrestleMania I , defeating Intercontinental Champion Greg Valentine by countout, but did not receive the title. Ritter won The Wrestling Classic tournament by defeating Randy Savage by countout in the finals, as well as beating Moondog Spot and The Iron Sheik in earlier rounds getting to the final. JYD's most notable feuds in the company came against King Harley Race ,

2457-477: The latter. His first match came shortly after in a television taping in Atlanta against Trent Knight. JYD finished the year winning a $ 50,000 bunkhouse battle royal on December 26, which was held as a dark match after Starrcade '88 went off the air. He spent the first few months of 1989 teaming with Ivan Koloff and then Michael Hayes against The Russian Assassins. On April 2, 1989, JYD defeated Butch Reed at Clash of

2520-569: The main event drew nearly 30,000 fans for a show presented by a promotion less than one year old. In 1984, Watts came out of retirement to team with a masked Junkyard Dog (under the name Stagger Lee ) to face the Midnight Express to cap an angle in which the Express and manager Jim Cornette beat Watts on TV . Its undercard featured a showdown between Magnum T.A. and Mr. Wrestling II . The 1984 show drew 22,000 fans—an unimaginably large crowd for

2583-666: The merger, left in mid-1988 for the WWF, where they were renamed the Bushwhackers . Terry Taylor also departed, appearing in World Class for a few months (feuding with Chris Adams and Kevin Von Erich), then the WWF in mid-1988 as The Red Rooster . Taylor would go on to have a long WWF/WWE career behind-the-scenes, holding various management and creative team roles. Mid-South's main television broadcasting team included Bill Watts and Boyd Pierce, with KTBS-TV staff announcer Reisor Bowden serving as ring announcer. Jim Ross joined Mid-South after

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2646-416: The name and gimmick Junkyard Dog, as he would wear a long chain attached to a dog collar, and white boots. He originally came to the ring pushing a cart filled with junk called the "junk wagon" and lost most of his early matches before his character caught on and became the top face in the company. While on top he feuded with some of the top heels in the company, including a now infamous angle with

2709-532: The new Wild West Wrestling promotion, which later merged with World Class Championship Wrestling . "Gentleman" Chris Adams , who initially stayed with Jim Crockett Promotions post-UWF, left due to a money dispute and returned to World Class in November 1987. DiBiase, Big Bubba Rogers, One Man Gang, and Sam Houston joined the WWF, joining fellow UWF alumnus " Hacksaw Jim Duggan ", who the WWF had signed in February 1987. The Sheepherders, who originally joined Crockett after

2772-578: The new company after its TBS TV show. Ironically, "Cowboy" Bill Watts ended up running the same business that had swallowed his own: In spring of 1992, WCW hired Watts as its latest Executive Vice President; he held the role less than a year. World Wrestling Entertainment acquired most of the Mid-South/UWF video archive, absorbing it into its WWE Libraries collection in 2012 -- with a notable exception: Mid-South/UWF matches taped for Houston Wrestling which aired on KHTV in Houston . Those rights are held by

2835-489: The next few months. In April and again in June, JYD faced former Six-Man Championship partner Ricky Morton, defeating him on each occasion. He also formed another tag-team, this time with The Big Cat . They feuded with The Vegas Connection ( Diamond Dallas Page & Vinnie Vegas ) the rest of the summer. In April 1993 he formed a new tag-team with Jim Neidhart and began a feud with Dick Slater and Paul Orndorff that would last

2898-453: The next few months. After defeating Slater on July 28, 1993, he left the promotion. After WCW, JYD went to the independent circuit where he wrestled for NWA Dallas. In 1995 he wrestled for National Wrestling Conference in Las Vegas where he had matches with former WWF stars; The Iron Sheik , Mr. Hughes , and The Honky Tonk Man . Ritter had stayed active in professional wrestling until

2961-419: The ring to attack Williams and DiBiase. The match ended when Williams and DiBiase were counted out, and Adams and Parsons won the match. Adams, who was helping Williams and DiBiase fight off Akbar and his army, wanted the match to continue, but Parsons wanted the win. After a lengthy argument, Adams and Parsons split, and Chris chose Savannah Jack as his new tag team partner. Iceman sucker-punched Savannah during

3024-543: The ring. Gilbert was the mastermind of this famous angle and received huge praise from fellow promoters and wrestlers. Adams was engaged in a storyline involving Iceman King Parsons and Taylor, which evolved out of the UWF Tag Team Championship tournament in February 1987. Originally, Adams and Iceman were one of the eight teams participating, and Taylor was teamed with Sam Houston . In a semi-finals match, Adams and Iceman wrestled against "Dr Death" Steve Williams and Ted DiBiase until Skandor Akbar's Devastation Inc. charged

3087-632: The time of his death, appearing at Extreme Championship Wrestling 's 1998 Wrestlepalooza event , just one month prior. He was the founder of the Dog Pound stable in an independent Mid-South promotion, based in southern Louisiana . Ritter died on June 1, 1998, at the age of 45, in a single-car accident on Interstate 20 near Forest , Mississippi, as he was returning home from his daughter LaToya's high school graduation in Wadesboro , North Carolina. Among Ritter's last contributions to professional wrestling

3150-585: The title until June 3, when they were defeated by The Freebirds in Birmingham, Alabama. He left the promotion in August. After dropping a significant amount of weight to improve his conditioning, Junkyard Dog returned on February 29, 1992, at SuperBrawl II . During a segment where Abdullah the Butcher was attacking Ron Simmons , JYD came out of the crowd to make the save. He found himself wrestling in tag-team matches with Ron Simmons, Barry Windham , or Big Josh for

3213-1885: The titles, similar to an angle used in 1980 in Georgia Championship Wrestling for the Georgia tag team titles . 30 The Rock 'n' Roll Express ( Ricky Morton and Robert Gibson ) October 1, 1984 MSW show New Orleans, Louisiana 2 63 31 Ted DiBiase (4) and Hercules Hernandez December 3, 1984 MSW show New Orleans, Louisiana 1 22 32 The Rock 'n' Roll Express ( Ricky Morton and Robert Gibson ) December 25, 1984 MSW Show New Orleans, Louisiana 3 129 33 Ted DiBiase (5) and Steve Williams May 3, 1985 MSW Show Houston, Texas 1 117 34 Al Perez and Wendell Cooley August 28, 1985 MSW Show Shreveport, Louisiana 1 75 Defeat Williams and Bob Sweetan , substituting Ted DiBiase. 35 Eddie Gilbert and The Nightmare November 11, 1985 MSW Show New Orleans, Louisiana 1 45 36 Ted DiBiase (6) and Steve Williams December 26, 1985 MSW Show Biloxi, Mississippi 2 80 Championship renamed "UWF Tag Team Championship" in 1986 37 The Sheepherders ( Butch Miller and Luke Williams ) March 16, 1986 UWF show Oklahoma City, Oklahoma 1 14 38 The Fantastics ( Bobby Fulton and Tommy Rogers ) March 30, 1986 UWF show Tulsa, Oklahoma 1 112 39 Eddie Gilbert (2) and Sting July 20, 1986 UWF show Tulsa, Oklahoma 1 28 — Vacated August 17, 1986 — — — — Held up after

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3276-779: The two titles as the final leg of the NWA-UWF merger was finished. Williams would successfully defend the UWF Heavyweight Title on the same show versus Barry Windham . Williams immediately left to do a series of lucrative performances in Japan; the title was retired while he was in Asia. Sting, Rick Steiner, Eddie Gilbert, Missy Hyatt, announcer Jim Ross , Brad Armstrong and the aforementioned Taylor became permanent NWA roster members, among others. The Freebirds, Savannah Jack, Iceman King Parsons , matchmaker Frank Dusek, and promoter Ken Mantell joined

3339-503: The undisputed top star of his promotion". WWE author Brian Shields called Junkyard Dog one of the most electrifying and charismatic wrestlers in the country, particularly during his peak in the early 1980s. JYD was most known for his headbutt and upper body strength, the latter of which saw him regularly bodyslam such large wrestlers as the One Man Gang , Kamala , and King Kong Bundy . The word "thump," which referred to JYD's powerslam,

3402-483: The year defeating Moondog Rex, The Iron Sheik, and Bill Irwin on the house show circuit. On February 17, 1991, he won his first WCW title, teaming with Ricky Morton and Tommy Rich to defeat Dr. X , Dutch Mantell , and Buddy Landel and gain the WCW Six-Man Tag-Team Championship. He also began a short feud that month with The Master Blaster , winning each encounter. JYD and his partners held

3465-404: Was a 1986 re-branding of wrestler-turned-owner Bill Watts ' Mid-South Wrestling promotion. Watts' goal was to elevate his promotion from a relatively smaller, regional-level business, to a national-level rival of the World Wrestling Federation (WWF, now known as WWE ). However, Watts' business strategy quickly swung from "overnight" success to catastrophic failure, resulting in the 1987 sale of

3528-793: Was a no disqualification steel cage match in which if Mr. Wrestling II's team lost, Mr. Wrestling II would have to unmask. Magnum T.A pinned a distracted Jim Neidhart to win the titles. Highlights of this match aired on Mid-South TV on December 31st, 1983. 27 The Midnight Express ( Bobby Eaton and Dennis Condrey ) March 13, 1984 MSW show Lafayette, Louisiana 1 50 28 The Rock 'n' Roll Express ( Ricky Morton and Robert Gibson ) May 2, 1984 MSW show Shreveport, Louisiana 1 21 29 The Midnight Express ( Bobby Eaton and Dennis Condrey ) May 23, 1984 MSW show Shreveport, Louisiana 2 131 Jim Cornette used an "ether rag" on Robert Gibson to win

3591-445: Was angered by the WWF show because McMahon had promised him it would feature matches and promos taped in TBS' Atlanta studios (as Georgia Championship Wrestling had done for years). But instead of fresh, locally-produced content, the WWF's TBS show only presented clips and highlights from other WWF TV shows – some, depending on TV market, airing at the same time the TBS show did. (Eventually,

3654-4400: Was established in 1979 as the Mid-South Tag Team Championship , renamed the UWF Tag Team Championship in 1986, and abandoned the following year when the UWF was acquired by Jim Crockett Promotions . Title history [ edit ] Key No. Overall reign number Reign Reign number for the specific team—reign numbers for the individuals are in parentheses, if different Days Number of days held No. Champion Championship change Reign statistics Notes Ref. Date Event Location Reign Days 1 Mike George and Bob Sweetan September 28, 1979 MSW show Shreveport, Louisiana 1 45 Won battle royal. 2 Bill Watts and Buck Robley November 12, 1979 MSW show N/A 1 25 3 The Fabulous Freebirds ( Michael Hayes and Terry Gordy ) December 7, 1979 MSW show Shreveport, Louisiana 1 94 4 Ted DiBiase and Paul Orndorff March 10, 1980 MSW show New Orleans, Louisiana 1 12 5 The Fabulous Freebirds ( Michael Hayes and Terry Gordy ) March 22, 1980 MSW show Shreveport, Louisiana 2 15 6 Junkyard Dog and Buck Robley (2) April 6, 1980 MSW show Monroe, Louisiana 1 64 7 The Fabulous Freebirds ( Terry Gordy (3) and Buddy Roberts ) June 9, 1980 MSW show New Orleans, Louisiana 1 102 8 Junkyard Dog (2) and Terry Orndorff September 15, 1980 MSW show Shreveport, Louisiana 1 46 9 Ernie Ladd and Leroy Brown October 31, 1980 MSW show Shreveport, Louisiana 1 90 10 Junkyard Dog (3) and Killer Karl Kox January 29, 1981 MSW show Biloxi, Mississippi 1 3 11 Ernie Ladd and Leroy Brown February 1, 1981 MSW show Lake Charles, Louisiana 2 57 12 Junkyard Dog (4) and Dick Murdoch March 30, 1981 MSW show N/A 1 0 — Vacated March 30, 1981 — — — — Stripped due to Bill Watts not being an acceptable referee. 13 Super Destroyer and The Grappler April 18, 1981 MSW show New Orleans, Louisiana 1 9 Defeated Junkyard Dog and Dick Murdoch. 14 Junkyard Dog (5) and Dick Murdoch April 27, 1981 MSW show New Orleans, Louisiana 2 15 The Samoans ( Afa and Sika ) June 1981 MSW show N/A 1 16 Junkyard Dog (6) and Dick Murdoch June 1981 MSW show N/A 3 17 The Samoans ( Afa and Sika ) July 26, 1981 MSW show Monroe, Louisiana 2 81 18 Junkyard Dog (7) and Mike George (2) October 15, 1981 MSW show Jackson, Mississippi 1 139 19 The Samoans ( Afa and Sika ) March 3, 1982 MSW show Shreveport, Louisiana 3 63 20 Junkyard Dog (8) and Mr. Olympia May 5, 1982 MSW show Jackson, Mississippi 1 175 21 The Rat Pack ( Ted DiBiase (2) and Matt Borne ) October 27, 1982 MSW show Shreveport, Louisiana 1 136 22 Mr. Wrestling II and Tiger Conway Jr. March 12, 1983 MSW show Houston, Texas 1 26 23 Ted DiBiase (3) and Mr. Olympia (2) April 13, 1983 MSW show Shreveport, Louisiana 1 102 24 Magnum T. A. and Hacksaw Jim Duggan July 24, 1983 MSW show Tulsa, Oklahoma 1 80 25 Butch Reed and Jim Neidhart October 12, 1983 MSW show Shreveport, Louisiana 1 74 26 Magnum T. A. (2) and Mr. Wrestling II (2) December 25, 1983 MSW show New Orleans, Louisiana 1 79 This

3717-566: Was in fact JYD, they were unable to unmask him to prove their suspicions. Stagger Lee disappeared once the loser-leave-town clause in the JYD-DiBiase match had expired, and JYD returned and reclaimed the North American Heavyweight Championship. The feud with Reed was notable in that Reed, a protégé of JYD, had turned heel. Reed with the help of Buddy Landel attacked the Dog many times. On a couple of occasions, they covered

3780-407: Was involved in a cross promotional Match for NWA and AWA against Nick Bockwinkel that aired on NWA Mid South Wrestling and AWA programming which he won by pinfall. A masked man physically resembling JYD, known as "Stagger Lee", subsequently appeared in the region and began to defeat the competition, one by one, including DiBiase. Though DiBiase and the other heels strongly suspected that Stagger Lee

3843-571: Was prominently displayed on his wrestling trunks. Ritter played football at Fayetteville State University , twice earning honorable mention All-American status, and is a member of the Sports Hall of Fame. He graduated with a political science degree. Ritter signed with the Green Bay Packers in April 1976. He was placed on injured reserve after suffering a knee injury during the offseason. He

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3906-416: Was the babyface ), with Parsons frequently referring to Adams as "Jailbird," a reference to Adams serving jail time in 1986 on an assault conviction. Taylor and Adams, who dominated the UWF tag team scene, lost a match to Steiner and Sting when Taylor kicked Adams foot off the rope as he was being pinned by Sting. A face-vs-face bout between Adams and Taylor marked Taylor's heel turn as he piledrived Adams on

3969-744: Was waived from injured reserve in October 1976. Ritter debuted in 1976. He initially wrestled for NWA Tri-State , the Continental Wrestling Association , and Southeastern Championship Wrestling under his real name. In late-1977, Ritter moved to Nick Gulas 's NWA Mid America promotion and adopted the ring name "Leroy Rochester". In December 1977, he won the NWA Mid-America Tag Team Championship with Gypsy Joe . In late-1978, Ritter moved to Stu Hart 's Stampede Wrestling as "Big Daddy Ritter", where he captured

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