Welcome to the internet home of the legendary WCCW from the 1980's. We will be adding more notes from this fed's history in the coming months and let us know if you want anything added.

And now, a history lesson, if you will.......

 World Class Championship Wrestling   

        Jack Adkisson played the part of an evil Nazi heel named Fritz Von Erich, though he phased out that aspect of his character by the time he became an established promoter for the NWA in the Dallas area in the 1960's. You can still see some old footage from time to time of when he worked in the upstate New York area.

     By the time the 1970's rolled around, he was a powerful member of the National Wrestling Alliance and served as its president for a time. People from that era still talk about how he would piss people off by
bringing his sons to the annual NWA conventions and boast that each of them would one day be NWA champion. 
       

     Adkisson has widely been blamed by various historians and certain members of the NWA at the time for the weakening of the Alliance that led to its demise in the 1980's. This was attributed to the NWA champion not being booked as strong in order to appease the promoters throughout the territories that complained about business suffering when their top attraction would lose in convincing fashion to the touring champion. This was evident throughout the title
reigns of Harley Race and Ric Flair, as they were booked to lose by disqualification or being counted out of the ring on many occassions, which made it appear that they were not dominant
champions.
       

     The legendary Von Erich brothers around whom the promotion was based were groomed to stardom by appearing throughout the various territories, most notably making a name for themselves in the flagship promotion of the NWA, the St.Louis office run by Sam Muchnick.
Adkisson saw the once strong NWA  crumbling as many promoters weren't cooperating within the established system.

     Vince McMahon,Sr. was already making waves in the direction of his New York territory expanding, but shortly before the WWF had a national audience, Fritz Von Erich had his company's program in a widely syndicated television network.
       

     Even though the Dallas office had been around since the late 1960's, it wasn't until 1982 that they adopted their famous name, the title of their new TV show (at that period in time, that is). Having served as president of the NWA, he pushed for his sons to become World Champion, and David was scheduled to win the belt from Harley Race and become the perrenial champion.

     For some unknown reason, Fritz went back on his idea and the title went to Ric Flair in 1983. It wasn't until the promotion peaked in the mid-1980's that Kerry Von Erich was given a run as a transitional
champion that lasted three weeks, but the promotion's greatest heights were attained by attracting fans to the wild and intense feuds, whether it was the Von Erichs battling the Freebirds, or the Dynamic Duo of Gino Hernandez and Kevin Von Erich's childhood pen pal from England, Chris Adams.

     We also can't forget about the popularization of chicks at ringside, as Sunshine, Precious, and Missy Hyatt each got her start here, and this office saw its share of talent passing through that would go on to become headliners, like Jim Cornette's Midnight Express,
Rick Rude, the Dingo (Ultimate) Warrior, and Shawn Michaels.
       

     Fritz is very hated in the wrestling industry as his legacy, and the legacy of the World Class promotion, is the many deaths associated with the performers; a direct result of irresponsible drug use. Out of a large family of sons, the only survivor was Kevin Von Erich.

     Numerous others had legal trouble and death due to the heavy partying. Business was declining at the end because of the sons showing up for matches or public events like autograph signings,
and being doped up and incoherent. The break with the NWA in 1985 further helped the territory's decline and, at the end, Jerry Jarrett was given control of the company and slightly garnered some interest with an interpromotional feud with his Memphis office, before Kevin took the company back and it folded.

     The sad part about the end of World Class is that much of what caused its downfall could have been prevented. Was it a curse?