Global Wrestling Federation
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Global Wrestling Federation was a professional wrestling promotion based in Dallas, Texas. It started in June 1991 and folded in September 1994. At one time its shows were presented on the ESPN television network. On many weeks, the promotion provided programming five days a week airing at 4 PM Eastern with current matches.
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[edit] Brief history
Max Andrews & Joe Pedicino were the original GWF promoters. The organization was a mix of established names and newcomers, many of whom would launch their national careers after appearances on the daily ESPN show. The original stars included The Patriot (Del Wilkes, who was the Trooper in the AWA), Stan Lane, Scott Anthony (Raven of ECW), The Handsome Stranger (Marcus Bagwell of WCW) and Cactus Jack. In late 1991, Hot Stuff Eddie Gilbert entered the promotion and took over much of the creative direction of the show introducing The Dark Patriot (his brother, Doug Gilbert) and "The Winner" Barry Horowitz (a character created by Gilbert and announcer Craig Johnson.)
The GWF began airing weekly shows in the local Dallas and Fort Worth metroplex television market from the Dallas Sportatorium, which was billed for a short time as The GlobalDome. The promotion's announcers were Craig Johnson, Scott Hudson, Steven Prazak (as "Steven DeTruth"), and Joe Pedicino, with Boni Blackstone as ringside interviewer. Scott Hudson left the announcer's table and in his place was "The Expert" Bruce Pritchard (Brother Love of WWF/WWE). In one of the stranger angles in wrestling, during a commercial break, Pritchard and Johnson argued in an expletive filled exchange only to reveal that Pritchard was orchestrating many of the nefarious activities of the heels.
The original GWF was notable for many of its wrestling broadcast innovations, most importantly, the acknowledgement of other promotions within the broadcast. Competitors former titles were mentioned as well as departures of wrestlers to other promotions. Also included in the innovations were behind the scenes footage and news segments with features from around the sport.
Texas attorney Grey Pierson took over the promotion in summer 1992. Pierson is the son of Don Pierson, the founder of Wonderful Radio London, Swinging Radio England and Britain Radio and two freeport ventures, one in Haiti and the other in Dominica in which his son also participated.
Following a massive cutback of budget, Pedicino and Johnson left the promotion, and shortly thereafter, so did Eddie Gilbert. By 1992, the GWF began promoting exclusively under Pierson, and many former World Class Championship Wrestling stars began appearing, including Chris Adams, Kerry Von Erich and Iceman Parsons, among others. Doyle King, David Webb and other guest announcers (including former World Class announcers Bill Mercer and Marc Lowrance) were brought introduced as the show became more of a theatrical presentation. Mercer, a veteran of Sportatorium wrestling since the 1950s, hosted a weekly segment on many memorable events that took place in the venerable Dallas arena.
The local television shows boasted that it was also being aired over a fictitious global television network as Pierson persuaded many of his friends and associates to don the garb of equally fictitious and bizarre characters. In one of its more interesting angles, GWF hired a "psychiatrist" as a valet. The "psychiatrist" was actually Dr. Allan Saxe, a political science professor at the nearby University of Texas at Arlington.
Other strange angles at that time included a "moon rock" match in which Steven Dane wrestled against Mike Davis in a scaffold match outside the Sportatorium; and another weird angle in which announcer David Webb, having "amnesia" following an attack by Manny Fernandez, believed that he was Elvis Presley (who performed at the Sportatorium in the late-1950s during the Big D Jamboree days).
The shows were also presented in an abbreviated and more serious format for a brief time over the ESPN television network.
In 1992, the Global Wrestling Federation was sued by then World Wrestling Federation because they felt the use of the word "Global" was in the same definition as the word "World"
[edit] Kerry Von Erich
In 1993, a memorial wrestling card was held in memory of Kerry Von Erich, who committed suicide on February 18th. Von Erich previously was to have faced the Angel of Death that day. Instead, a memorial service was held at the Sportatorium prior to the matches, with former World Class announcer Marc Lowrance making a special appearance to pay his tributes to Kerry (Lowrance was the ring announcer who called Von Erich's NWA World title victory over Ric Flair in 1984). The following April, a memorial tribute card was held at the Dallas Sportatorium, featuring many former World Class wrestlers, referees and other officials. In that card, the main event was the official last match between the Freebirds and the Von Erichs. Kevin Von Erich and Chris Adams faced Michael Hayes and Buddy Roberts, with Skandor Akbar in Hayes and Roberts' corner, and Fritz Von Erich in Chris and Kevin's corner (his last appearance in a professional wrestling match). The match ended with Kevin applying the claw on Roberts for the win, while Fritz applied the iron claw on Skandor Akbar. Adams meanwhile was ganged up by Hayes and Rod Price when The Angel of Death came in to save Adams. Sid Vicious and Booker T also competed on the memorial card. The Ultimate Warrior was scheduled to wrestle, but no-showed.
Bill Mercer, Marc Lowrance, David Manning and Bronco Lubich were among the many WCCW officials and personalities whom appeared on the memorial card. Manning officiated Kerry's 1984 NWA World title-clinching match against Ric Flair at Texas Stadium nearly 9 years earlier.
Proceeds of this card went to a trust fund established for Kerry's daughters Hollie Adkisson and Lacey Adkisson. In 1994, the GWF paid tribute to Kerry again in a month-long series of past matches Kerry was involved in, including some from World Class.
Afterwards, the federation centered mostly on Adams, who again ran his wrestling school and was working a feud with both Price and Iceman Parsons. During one match, Adams accidentally tore the hair weave off the hair of Price, resulting in stitches on his head. Chris' former second wife Toni Adams was also involved, siding with Price and Parsons; and during one match, she attempted to rub Freebird Hair Cream into Chris' eyes. The former couple also was wrestling in Memphis' USWA promotion, where Toni was billed as Nanny Simpson.
A renewed feud between Adams and Jimmy Garvin took place, but the closing of the GWF on September 21, 1994, ended any prospects of a long angle between the two former rivals.
After the GWF folded, promoter Jim Crockett brought the NWA back to the Sportatorium for a tenure lasting less than a year. After several other attempts to keep wrestling going, the Sportatorium was demolished in 2003.
[edit] GWF Wrestlers and Personalities
- Kerry Von Erich
- The Patriot
- Al Perez
- Eddie Gilbert
- Dark Patriot (Doug Gilbert)
- Scotty Anthony, (aka Raven)
- Cactus Jack
- Lightning Kid
- Jerry Lynn
- Rip Rogers
- The Soultaker
- Makhan Singh
- Booker T
- Stevie Ray
- Axl Rotten
- Ian Rotten
- Steve Simpson
- Iceman Parsons
- Chris Adams
- Butch Foot Odor
- Michael Hayes
- Jimmy Garvin
- Terry Gordy
- Handsome Stranger
- Chaz Taylor
- Black Bart
- John Tatum
- Rod Price
- Chris Walker
- Bobby Duncum, Jr.
- Johnny Hawk
- Gary Young
- Boni Blackstone
- Joe Pedicino
- Sam Houston
- Osamu Nishimura
- Moadib
[edit] GWF Titles
- GWF North American Heavyweight Championship
- GWF Television Championship
- GWF Texas Heavyweight Championship
- GWF Brass Knuckles Championship
- GWF Light Heavyweight Championship
- GWF Tag Team Championship
[edit] Trivia
- The GWF was the last pro wrestling promotion to be seen on ESPN regularly. Beginning in the mid-1990s, the network would begin to emphasize talk shows in the mid-afternoon hours, supplanting pro wrestling. The sale of 80 percent of ESPN to the Walt Disney Company in 1995 (Hearst owns the other 20 percent) may also have been a factor.
- Due to a pay dispute, "Hot Stuff" Eddie Gilbert, along with his brother Doug Gilbert (working under a mask as the Dark Patriot) left the GWF in 1992. Eddie Gilbert took with him the GWF North American Heavyweight Championship belt. He made a few defenses of the title in the United States Wrestling Association as the GWF World Heavyweight champion, despite being stripped of the belt and not being recognized as such by the GWF. It was around this time that Grey Pierson and Joe Pedicino had their falling out, with Pierson taking over promoting duties for the GWF and cutting back to a roster featuring mostly Texas mainstays, and bringing in legendary Texas stars, mostly those from the World Class era.
[edit] See also
Don Pierson, father of Grey Pierson
