Bill Watts Bill Watts , ( May 5 , 1939 ) , is a former American Professional wrestler and promoter . Watts was famous under his " Cowboy " Gimmick in his wrestling career , and then as a tough , no - nonsense promoter in the Mid - South area of the United States , which grew to become the UWF . In 1992 , he was the Executive Vice President of World Championship Wrestling but after clashes with management over a number of issues as well as feeling pressure from Hank Aaron over a racially sensitive piece of correspondence , he resigned . He was subsequently replaced by Ole Anderson who was then succeeded by Eric Bischoff . Wrestling career . As a professional wrestler , he famously feuded with WWWF Champion Bruno Sammartino , but was unable to win away the belt . In the 1960s , he wrestled in many areas , such as San Francisco , Chicago , St . Louis , and even Japan , for All Japan Pro Wrestling . During these periods , Watts challenged for both the National Wrestling Alliance and American Wrestling Association versions of the World Title . Booking career . Mid - South / UWF . Bill Watts is perhaps even more famous for being a pioneering promoter in the Mid - South area of the USA , with his base of operation being in the Shreveport , Louisiana area . His promotion was known as the Mid South Wrestling . He is often credited with creating the current and popular " episodic " style of TV wrestling , building solid creative storylines week - on - week , with an emphasis on solid in - ring action with dependable wrestlers like " Dr . Death " Steve Williams , The Junkyard Dog , Ted DiBiase and Jim Duggan . He ' s an outspoken critic on breaking kayfabe and " smart " wrestling fans . A Watts - run promotion always had face and heel wrestlers dress in different locker rooms and to have faces and heels not meet publicly . He has also been known to revamp his booking plans in order to protect the business from such fans . When a newspaper mentioned a wrestling event being the last one Jake " The Snake " Roberts would wrestle in Watts ' territory and talked about the tradition of a wrestler jobbing in his last match to put his opponent over and to expect the finish to be in that fashion , Watts changed it so Roberts actually won the match and got put over on his way out of the territory . After losing over half a million dollars , Watts sold the UWF to NWA Mid - Atlantic ' s Jim Crockett Promotions , who kept a lot of their stars , such as Sting . Instead of having UWF a separate organization , Crockett sent his mid - card wrestlers to the UWF and had them quickly win their titles . Eventually , the UWF folded , and Crockett would be bought out by Ted Turner in 1988 . In April 1989 , after firing George Scott , WCW offered Bill Watts the chance to book , but he declined the offer and WCW instead decided to go with a booking committee , which included Ric Flair , Kevin Sullivan , Eddie Gilbert , Jim Ross , and Jim Herd . World Championship Wrestling . Watts became Executive Vice President of World Championship Wrestling ( succeeding Kip Frey ) in 1992 . He took a lot of his old - school values with him , such as banning moves from the top rope and the babyfaces and heels separation . His tenure was not long , nor were his ideas overly embraced . According to his biography , Controversy Creates Ca $ h , Eric Bischoff ( who worked under Watts at the time ) felt Watts would intimidate anyone he was talking to and was only interested in taking the WCW product back to 1970s standards , with poorly lit arenas and house shows in remote rural towns . He introduced his son , Erik Watts , to WCW around this time , who many felt was not ready for national wrestling . As a promoter , he often championed and pushed African - American wrestlers as his top stars — first Junkyard Dog in Mid - South Wrestling , as well as " Big Cat " Ernie Ladd , who he later inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame , and Ron Simmons in WCW — in order to appeal to the African - American fan base . Under Watts ' reign as WCW chief , Ron Simmons became the first African - American professional wrestler to hold a widely recognized World Heavyweight Championship . Mick Foley referred to Watts ' history of " creating a black babyface and building the company around him " , while talking about his match with Simmons . The circumstances of Watts ' departure in 1993 are controversial . Prior to 1992 , he had given an interview to a wrestling newsletter . Most notably , Watts had commented on Lester Maddox , a restaurant owner ( and future Governor of Georgia ) who was told he had to serve black people but instead closed down his business . Watts felt Maddox stood up for what he believed in and acted accordingly . He also made several other controversial statements in pertaining to race and sexual orientation . When he was hired by WCW , Watts had explained the situation to Turner president Bill Shaw , apparently to his satisfaction . However , a year later wrestling journalist Mark Madden brought the interview to the attention of Hank Aaron , himself a vice president in the Turner organization with the Atlanta Braves , who then pushed for Watts ' removal . While Madden takes credit for Watts getting fired , Watts himself disputes this account , saying he was not fired for the comments but quit his position out of frustration over " backstabbing " by Shaw and ( unbeknownst to Shaw ) had already resigned by the time Aaron got the newsletter . Watts was replaced by Ole Anderson World Wrestling Federation / Entertainment . Bill later went on to a position of booking power in the World Wrestling Federation , his tenure there was short , as Watts stated in later interviews that he was only up there on a three - month contract and had no interest in staying long - term . On April 4 , 2009 , Watts was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame as a part of the Class of 2009