Universal Wrestling Federation ( Bill Watts ) The Universal Wrestling Federation was owner Bill Watts ' attempt at taking his Mid - South Wrestling promotion to a national level in 1986 . The attempt failed and in 1987 , Watts sold the promotion to Jim Crockett Promotions and became part of what would later be known as World Championship Wrestling . The promotion had started out as an NWA Territory known as NWA Tri - State founded by Leroy McGuirk in the 1950s . Tri - State would promote in Oklahoma , Arkansas , Louisiana and Mississippi , the same area that Watts ' Mid - South wrestling ran in before attempting to go national . In 1990 , Herb Abrams started an unrelated wrestling promotion with the same name . NWA Tri - State . A former territory wrestler who was blinded in a 1950 auto accident , Leroy McGuirk eventually took over promoting a wrestling circuit that covered Oklahoma , Louisiana , and Mississippi . Until 1973 , Watts had been a fan favorite for Tri - State Wrestling . After a short break in Eddie Graham ' s Championship Wrestling from Florida , he returned to Tri - state in 1975 . Mid - South Wrestling . In 1979 , Bill Watts bought out the Tri - State Wrestling circuit from McGuirk , and renamed the circuit Mid - South Wrestling ( known officially as the Mid - South Wrestling Association ) . One of his first acts as owner was to withdraw from the NWA , though MSW would still remain loosely aligned with the organization and continue to have the NWA World Champion defend his title on MSW shows . MSW began adding shows in Arkansas to its circuit . In 1982 , the promotion grew to include Oklahoma when Leroy McGuirk shut down his Oklahoma - based promotion . He also formed an alliance with Houston , Texas promoter Paul Boesch to feature Mid - South talent on the cards at the Sam Houston Coliseum , one of the largest cities in America and one of the most fabled arenas in professional wrestling , as well as other parts of southeastern Texas . At the time , Bill Watts was seen as one of the best promoters in America , and his show garnered high ratings . Instead of focusing on cartoonish characters and cheesy interviews , Mid - South Wrestling focused on energetic matches and characters whose personas blurred the lines between good and evil . Moreover , unlike the WWF , Watts focused more on a physical style and episodic format . The promotion ran shows in a mix of small venues and gigantic arenas . Its finest hours came during the shows at the Louisiana Superdome . In 1980 , a card pitting a " blinded " Junkyard Dog against Freebird Michael Hayes in 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 . The latter card also featured a showdown between Magnum T . A . and Mr . Wrestling II in one of the hottest feuds of the early 1980s . The 1984 show drew 22 , 000 fans . In the mid - to - late 1980s , the MSW began to expand nationally . In 1985 , Ted Turner invited Watts to air his Mid - South Wrestling program on SuperStation TBS as an alternative to the World Wrestling Federation programing that ran on Saturday nights . Turner was angered with Vince McMahon and the WWF because McMahon reportedly promised Turner a studio - produced program , but he instead presented a two hours of highlights from other WWF programming ( See : Black Saturday ) . MSW quickly became the highest - rated program on TBS , and Watts positioned himself to take over the two - hour Saturday block occupied by the WWF . His luck ran out when former Georgia promoter Jim Barnett helped broker a deal that allowed NWA promoter Jim Crockett , Jr . to buy the slot from McMahon and become the exclusive wrestling promotion for TBS . The deal , however , forced the elimination of the Mid - South Wrestling program from the TBS schedule . Watts made one more attempt at going national the following year under the auspices of the Universal Wrestling Federation . The Mid - South / UWF tape library is one of the last historical wrestling libraries which has not been acquired by WWE . The Mid - South Wrestling / UWF library is owned by Ene Sooro Watts ( Bill Watts ' ex - wife ) and operated by their youngest son Micah . The library is now known as UWA ( Universal Wrestling Archives ) , which offers the footage for sale or syndication and sells tapes and DVDs online . Universal Wrestling Federation . In March 1986 , MSW went national and was relaunched as the Universal Wrestling Federation so it wasn ' t stigmatized as a southern group . From that point , many newcomers ( mostly from World Class Championship Wrestling ) joined the federation , as did former WCCW co - promoter Ken Mantell . However , despite the federation ' s success , it could not compete against Jim Crockett Promotions and the WWF . In addition , the WWF also reached the pinnacle of its success through WrestleMania III . Watts was also harmed when the oil - based Oklahoma economy went into a severe recession in the fall of 1987 , affecting all businesses and cutting down on fans able to pay to see the shows . Watts would end up selling the UWF to Crockett on April 9 , 1987 , and many of the federation ' s top names went on either to the NWA , WWF , or WCCW . Unlike the other NWA promotions JCP purchased , the UWF didn ' t immediately end ; it was kept alive until December 1987 . Despite promises at the time , Crockett buried the UWF , letting its various titles die out and , with the prime exceptions of Sting , the Fabulous Freebirds , Shane Douglas , Rick Steiner , and for a while Steve Williams , none of its various stars made headway into Crockett ' s promotion . Crockett ' s circuit was sold to Ted Turner and eventually become WCW . In the early 1990s , Watts found himself as WCW President . Famous UWF angles . One of the most famous of all UWF angles was the so - called " Battle of New Orleans " , 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 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 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 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 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 a match and injured him , thus Adams had to chose 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 was the face ) , 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 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 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 all - star interview vowing revenge against both Taylor and Eddie Gilbert . Other famous UWF angles included promoter Bill Watts being attacked and having a USSR flag draped on him by Eddie Gilbert , Missy Hyatt cold - cocking John Tatum after joining forces with Gilbert , Skandor Akbar throwing a fireball at Hacksaw 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 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 the UWF and is believed to be one of the very few wrestlers to never win a match . " 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 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 Television Champion , Nikita Koloff . Taylor stole the NWA TV title belt during an NWA show , but Koloff ( with help from Dusty Rhodes ) reclaimed it prior to their official in - ring encounter . They met in 1987 , and Nikita unified 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 and then left on a tour of Japan , only to have the title retired while he was still overseas . Sting , Rick Steiner , Eddie Gilbert , Missy Hyatt , announcer Jim Ross , Brad Armstrong and the aforementioned Taylor became permanent NWA members , among others . The Freebirds , Savannah Jack , Iceman King Parsons , matchmaker Frank Dusek , and promoter Ken Mantell joined the new Wild West Wrestling promotion , which later merged into World Class . Chris Adams , who stayed with the NWA after the merger with the 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 after its fall , joining fellow UWF alumnus Hacksaw Jim Duggan , who had been signed by the WWF in February 1987 . The Sheepherders , who originally joined the NWA after the merger , left in mid - 1988 to join the WWF , where they were renamed The Bushwhackers . Around the same time , Taylor also left for the WWF . Talent . Announcers . Boyd Pierce , Reeser Bowden Joel Watts , and Jim Ross are the most famous announcers identified with the Mid - South / UWF . By the time the UWF began , Ross was the main announcer , with Bill Watts and later Michael Hayes assisting him . Ross was known for getting over - excited during the match , and in 1986 , Ross received the unofficial " I can scream the loudest during a match " award from " Pro Wrestling Illustrated " ( he shared the honor with the NWA ' s David Crockett ) .