Vince McMahon, Sr.
In 1981 Vince McMahon, Sr. booked Blair to wrestle for the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) most notably on their tours of Japan through New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) where he faced Japanese wrestlers Antonio Inoki and Tatsumi Fujinami. After gaining experience all over the world Blair returned to CWF. On July 11, 1982, Blair beat Jimmy Garvin for the NWA Florida Heavyweight Championship and defended it successfully against Stan Hansen and Bruiser Brody. In 1983 Blair joined the WWF once again as they began to expand to a national promotion. During his first stint with the WWF his self-proclaimed highlight was a match with Paul Orndorff in St. Louis. After the short run with the WWF, Blair moved on to Georgia Championship Wrestling as well as a return to Florida Championship Wrestling. In Florida, Blair picked up another Florida title run as well as unseating "Ravishing" Rick Rude as the Florida Southern Champion. During his run with the WWF in 1984, Blair often teamed with fellow wrestler Tony Garea. The team of Blair and Garea would dominate jobbers, but were unable to move up the card against more established tag teams. They teamed up until Blair left later in that same year.