 | |
| Company type | Private |
|---|---|
| Industry | Professional wrestling |
| Founded | August 26, 1990 |
| Founder | Herb Abrams |
| Defunct | July 23, 1996 |
| Fate | Assets acquired by Al Burke |
| Headquarters | Marina del Rey, California |
Area served | Worldwide |
| Products | Television,Merchandise |
| Owners | NGK, Inc. (Herb Abrams) |
Universal Wrestling Federation (UWF) was an Americanprofessional wrestling promotion owned byHerb Abrams that operated from 1990 to 1996. The company aired nationally onSportsChannel America, and later onPrime Ticket andESPN2.
Herb Abrams founded the UWF in 1990 to try to challengeVince McMahon'sWorld Wrestling Federation on a national level. He announced the promotion's formation at John Arezzi'sWrestling Fans Fantasy Weekend convention in August 1990. Despite having no experience in the wrestling business, Abrams was given a budget of $1 million bySportsChannel America to develop a weekly television series, which would becomeUWF Fury Hour.[1] The firstFury Hour tapings were held atReseda Country Club in fall 1990 and featured established stars such asBilly Jack Haynes,Bob Orton, Jr.,Brian Blair,Cactus Jack,Colonel DeBeers,Dan Spivey,David Sammartino,Don Muraco,Ivan Koloff,Ken Patera,Paul Orndorff, andSteve Williams.[2] The top homegrown talent included"Wild Thing" Steve Ray and"Cutie Pie" Louie Spicolli.Bruno Sammartino andLou Albano were hired as commentators.
The promotion held a taping inNew York City at theNew York Penta in January 1991 that became plagued with legal issues. The World Wrestling Federation sentcease and desist orders to the UWF afterHonky Tonk Man andRick Rude appeared on-camera.[3] Both had recently walked out of the WWF but were still under contract to the company. Honky Tonk Man would later explain that the check he received from Abrams for this taping bounced, and he filed a formal complaint with theNew York State Athletic Commission to get reimbursed.[4]
Abrams hired Howard Brody, the owner ofLadies Major League Wrestling, to help him expand UWF into the Florida market in mid-1991.[5] Following severalhouse shows and a television taping atUniversal Studios Florida, Brody was entrusted with finding a venue for the promotion's firstpay per view event in June 1991. Brody suggested theOdeum Expo Center in Chicago. Abrams insisted on holdingBeach Brawl atManatee Civic Center inPalmetto, Florida.[6] The pay per view was a disaster in both attendance and pay per view buys. Following Beach Brawl, Abrams ran one final television taping atWar Memorial Auditorium before running out of fresh footage forFury Hour. He struck a deal with Brody to use footage from Ladies Major League Wrestling to fulfill his content creation obligations to SportsChannel America, and the two parted ways in fall 1991.[7]
Abrams only ran three more shows after his SportsChannel America deal expired in late 1991. This included: a television taping atSpartanburg Memorial Auditorium in June 1992 that aired onPrime Ticket asThunder Hour; a television taping atAll Seasons Arena as part of theNorth Dakota State Fair in July 1993, which never aired; andBlackjack Brawl at Las Vegas'MGM Grand Garden Arena, in September 1994. The latter show aired live on SportsChannel America, yet was a disaster in both attendance and critical reception. Abrams left for New York City to care for his ailing mother in December 1994, and wrestler Al Burke was put in charge of the promotion.[8]
ESPN2 aired old episodes ofFury Hour andThunder Hour in 1995, albeit in heavily edited form.
A February 1996 card called St. Valentine's Day Massacre was scheduled to be broadcast live fromGrand Olympic Auditorium onPrime Sports Network, but was cancelled.[9]Zoogz Rift worked for the company during this time and claimed Abrams'cocaine addiction drained the company of money needed to produce such events.[10] Abrams died of a cocaine-related heart attack in July 1996 while still in New York.
Al Burke claimed ownership of UWF's tape library following Abrams' death.[8] In 2002, Burke partnered withTodd Okerlund of Classic Wrestling to repackage and license the library throughDirecTV andESPN Classic Canada.
Dark Side of the Ring aired an episode focused on the promotion titled "Cocaine & Cowboy Boots: The Herb Abrams Story" in May 2020.[11] It was the third-highest rated episode in the show's history.[12]
Jonathan Plombon released abiography on Abrams and his promotion titledTortured Ambition: The Story of Herb Abrams and the UWF in September 2021.[13]
Fury Hour was the company's weekly television show that aired Monday nights onSportsChannel America from 1990 to 1991. It was taped at various locations includingReseda Country Club,New York Penta,Universal Studios Florida, andWar Memorial Auditorium. It was briefly revived asThunder Hour in 1992 onPrime Ticket with episodes taped atSpartanburg Memorial Auditorium.
Beach Brawl was the only pay-per-view event in the company's history and was held on June 7, 1991 at theManatee Civic Center inPalmetto, Florida. The event was headlined by a match betweenSteve Williams andBam Bam Bigelow, which was the final round match of a sixteen-man tournament for the crowning of the firstUWF SportsChannel Television Champion. Williams defeated Bigelow to become the first SportsChannel Television Champion. The event was an overall failure with a low buyrate of 0.1 and a crowd of 500 in attendance at the arena.
The company aired a live television special called Blackjack Brawl on September 23, 1994 onSportsChannel America, which was UWF's last major attempt to secure a major television deal and survive in the professional wrestling industry. The event was held at theMGM Grand Garden Arena inLas Vegas,Nevada. Like its predecessor Beach Brawl, the event saw very low attendance of just 600 fans and received negative response from critics and audiences for weak quality, weakly performed matches, nonsensebooking and weak commentary. The event featured nine championship matches, with two vacant championships being decided at the event, and seven new championships being contested at the event. The event was headlined by aUWF World Heavyweight Championship match between defending championSteve Williams andSid Vicious. This would stand as the promotion's final event.
St. Valentine's Day Massacre was a planned live television special that would have been broadcast onPrime Sports Network on February 10, 1996. The event would have been held atGrand Olympic Auditorium inLos Angeles, California, and featured the promised rematch fromBlackjack Brawl betweenSteve Williams andSid Vicious in aSteel Cage match for theUWF World Heavyweight Championship.
In 1992, the UWF issued sixVHS releases in the United States through Best Film & Video Corporation:Beach Brawl,Tag Team Tandems,The Best of Paul Orndorff,The Lumberjack Match,The Steel Cage Match, andWrestling's Greatest Champions. In 1993, the UWF released six volumes ofPAL videos in Germany through Summit International Pictures under the "Wrestling Super Champs" banner. They were all compilations ofFury Hour matches. The same six "Wrestling Super Champs" volumes were re-released in Germany through Jünger Verlag under the "Super Wrestling" banner.
Recent years have seen the emergence of UWFDVDs in Australia through Payless Entertainment. Each of the sevenRegion 4 DVDs contains one episode ofFury Hour. The DVDs includeBody Slammin,Grand Slam,Grudge Matches,It's War,Tag Team Madness,The Main Event, andWrestling Wars. In Germany, aRegion 0 DVD titled "Wrestling Super 4 Champs" was released containing two episodes ofFury Hour. Also in Germany, the "Wrestling Super Champs" VHS compilations were re-released on DVD in six volumes as "American History of Wrestling - UWF".
