World Class Championship Wrestling - USWA Dallas - 1990

1990

Two major feuds erupted in 1990: one between Chris Adams and "Stunning" Steve Austin (later "Stone Cold" Steve Austin), and the other between Kerry Von Erich and Matt Borne (later the first Doink the Clown). The Adams-Austin feud started slow, but eventually picked up huge heat thanks in part to good promoting by Adams, whom decided to bring in former wife Jean Clarke (also known as Jeanie Adams for a time, and later married to Austin) and then-current wife Toni Adams into the feud; resulting in a mixed tag-team war very similar to the Adams-Sunshine vs. Garvin-Precious battles of the early 1980s. On a few occasions, Jeanie was spanked by Adams in the center of the ring; and on one interview segment, Clarke and Austin showed pictures of Adams with different women, including a 1986 picture with Sunshine and the World Class belt, and another of Adams and Clarke from his early days in England. The angle even gained national headlines, as the National Enquirer ran a story on the Adams-Toni-Jeanie-Austin angle.

The climax of the Austin-Adams feud occurred just before the USWA/World Class breakup; when Austin wrestled in a come-as-you-are match, with Austin wearing his football gear from his playing days at UNT, and Adams wearing his Judo gi and using a kendo stick.

The Kerry Von Erich-Matt Borne feud began in May 1990 when Borne turned heel by attacking Chris Von Erich during an interview segment with the soon-to-be departed Marc Lowrance at the Sportatorium. A week or so later, Borne and Von Erich battled in a pinfall counts anywhere in the building match, which eventually continued outside the Sportatorium. During the outside confrontation (in a thunderstorm, among other things), Von Erich slammed Borne onto the hood of a parked vehicle and also attempted to attack him with a piece of two-by-four. Minor damage occurred with the vehicles, and the ensuing fight continued until Chris Adams, Jeff Jarrett, and others broke up the brawl.

Promoter Max Andrews suspended Kerry for his actions, but no time frame was given as to how long he was suspended. This drew the ire of Borne, who demanded the USWA forfeit Kerry's Texas heavyweight belt. Instead, Kerry was reinstated days later as the two battled for the belt, which Borne won thanks to interference by Percy Pringle.

Pringle joined Borne in his feud with Kerry, until June 1990, when Von Erich left for the WWF. Borne also left a short time later to join that organization as Doink The Clown. Percy later joined Austin and Clarke in their feud with Chris and Toni Adams, with Chris Von Erich and at times Kevin Von Erich getting involved.

Another feud that drew headlines was between "Hollywood" John Tatum and Bill Dundee, with valet Tessa in the middle of the feud. Originally brought in by Tatum, Tessa, like Sunshine years before, turned face and joined Dundee's side. During a match against Tatum, Kevin Von Erich, who beat Tatum, swept Tessa off her feet and carried her into the dressing room much to the dismay of Tatum.

During a July 1990 match, Tatum knocked Tessa unconscious following a superkick to the head, resulting in Tessa being carried out on a stretcher. In that same event, Toni Adams was carried out on a stretcher following a flying splash from the top rope onto Toni in the ring by Steve Austin, while Toni was on top of her husband Chris, who was piledrived on the concrete floor by Austin earlier, to protect him. These two incidents resulted in a few stations canceling its USWA broadcasts due to its violent nature.

Under Jarrett, World Class/USWA Dallas was finally able to turn itself around financially, and became modestly profitable during the 1989–1990 period. However, because of a revenue dispute with the Adkissons (who still owned 40 percent of the Dallas promotion), Jarrett ultimately pulled the promotion out of Dallas in September 1990. Shortly before Jarrett's departure, KTVT dropped its long-running Saturday night wrestling telecasts; according to some reports, the cancellation was the result of frequent on-air profanity (mostly used by Eric Embry), despite multiple warnings from station management, as well as the controversial superkick incident between Tatum and Tessa.

Kevin Von Erich, without the benefit of television (as the result of KTVT's cancellation of Saturday Night's Championship Sports), the absence of his brother Kerry (who was in the WWF as The Texas Tornado), and longtime World Class guru Gary Hart (who was starting his Texas Wrestling Federation promotion at the time), began promoting Sportatorium wrestling himself, bringing back the World Class Championship Wrestling name. Longtime World Class mainstays Chris Adams, King Parsons, Kevin's brother Chris Von Erich, Percy Pringle, John Tatum, David Sheldon, Stone Cold Steve Austin, Jeanie Clarke and Toni Adams remained, while wrestlers associated with the Memphis end of the USWA left. Steve Simpson and Brian Adias also returned to the promotion, with a few appearances by former WCCW referee David Manning. Initially, the return of World Class proved to be a modest success (which included the return of ring announcer Marc Lowrance and a few appearances by Bill Mercer), but financial sources ran out quickly and attendance at the Sportatorium dropped considerably to sometimes fewer than 500. As a result, on November 23, 1990, Von Erich held its last World Class Championship Wrestling card at the Sportatorium, which featured Kevin winning the Texas heavyweight championship from David Sheldon (The Angel of Death) in the card's final match. After that match, referee Bronko Lubich announced his retirement from the sport. Lubich would return a few times as a special referee afterwards in the Global Wrestling Federation, with his last appearance in 1994. Lubich died in 2007.

A month later, the USWA returned to the Sportatorium, but only for a limited basis, as promoters Max Andrews, Joe Pedicino, Grey Pierson and Bonnie Blackstone were getting their Global Wrestling Federation promotion ready to go for the summer of 1991. WCCW veterans went on to compete in other promotions, including Gary Hart's Texas Wrestling Federation group in North Dallas.