411’s Tales from The Territories Episode 4 Report: ‘CWF: Bloodstains in the Everglades

-Last week we were in Minnesota and the Midwest. This week it’s off to Florida with CWF. Let’s get to it!

-Roundtable: Steve Keirn, Kevin Sullivan, Bob Roop, Gerald Brisco, and Brian Blair

-For nearly 30 years Championship Wrestling from Florida was one of the most respected territories in the NWA. The promotion was owned by Eddie Graham and they churned out a lot of young wrestlers that got trained and their start in Florida before making it big somewhere else. They mention stars like Dusty Rhodes, The Briscos, and a “very young and very green Hulk Hogan.” Gerald: “Little did we know what kind of superstar he would become.”

-Gerald says when you came into Florida there was a lot expected from you. They discuss Jack Brisco and Sullivan says no technical wrestler could replace him. The entire territory was built on wrestling.

-Steve talks about Eddie Graham and how he filled the void as a father figure. He talks about his father being captured in Vietnam as a POW. He met Mike Graham in High School and they became friends. He would visit Mike’s house and that is where he met Eddie Graham. They all mention Eddie was known for deeply personal angles in wrestling. Eddie took Steve under his wing and introduced him to the business slowly by having him big up the stars from the airport and driving them to the shows.

-God Help You Know: Eddie demanded his wrestlers protect the business and be able to handle things in the off chance someone challenged them and called wrestling fake. Keirn talks about learning the sugar hold and seeing Eddie Graham beat the hell out of someone who tried to test them. Roop notes that you had to leave a mark because if you just stretched a guy they could lie and tell everyone it’s fake. If they have a broke face, or nose, or a broken wrist that is harder to hide.

-They talk about a video that is floating around of Roop stretching a guy in the ring who was claiming everything they were doing was fake. Roob tortured the guy, but couldn’t actually go through with breaking the guys leg.

-This Guy’s Different: Gerald says he would always look out in the audience and there was a guy who stood out as he was at every Tuesday show. He was a huge guy with blonde hair and Brisco asked if anyone knew him and he was told it was a guy in a local rock band named Terry Bollea. WOOOO! Sweet picture of Hogan and his band. Brisco was done early with a show and went to the bar where Terry and his band played. He was standing on stage in platform shows with a guitar that looked like a toothpick in his hand. A waitress set up a meeting with Terry and the boys. He was anxious to get in the business and put him in there with Matsuda. The idea was to let Matsuda work with him a bit and see what he had. They all note Terry had some athletic ability and grown man strength. They mention he was a real good baseball player and Gerald says he was a good bowler (“they’re athletes) which gets a laugh out of everyone. Terry fights back a bit against Matsuda so he takes Terry’s ankle and breaks it. Jack and Jerry can see the ankle is turning blue and is swollen, so they figured this was the end of Terry. It seems nothing was broken, so Terry came back and called every day to know when he could train again. They realized he wasn’t a quitter and had an idea that they had something. We get a Hogan highlight package including his Mania III slam of Andre. Sullivan asks what happens if Hogan never comes back, would the business be what it is today?

-Commercials!

-Back to Steve’s dad who was a POW in WW2 when he was shot down in the battle of The Bloody 100. He was liberated by The Russians when the war ended. The Vietnam War broke out and he was sent over there and was captured again and became a POW for the second time. He talks again how Eddie became a father figure and pushed for him to become a wrestler, but he went to college because that is what his mom wanted. He notes they only thing he learned in college was taking steroids. He ended up working out with Matsuda and goes over the crazy training regimen they had. His mom was amazed at the bruises and she asked him how it was happening since wrestling was fake. He told her he thought it was fake too.

-The Vietnam War ends and his father ends up on the first plane out. The press is there to capture them coming home and Keirn can’t help but run by everyone to get to his dad. He is crying like a baby as he picks up his dad, who is amazed at how big his son has gotten.

-They cut to a promo from Roop who crushes Steve’s dad for being captured, which made him a disgrace. Where have I heard that since?

-This is War: The key to a good feud is having a good guy and bad guy and building enough conflict that fans want to pay to see them fight. See, simple! It was Keirn’s idea to have the feud with Roop get so personal. They note Eddie Graham never would have okayed the angle, but he was in Australia for 3-4 months trying to buy some controlling interest over there. Keirn made sure to pitch the idea to his dad and make sure he was okay with it. His father was cool with anything that would help his son. Roop knew it was a chance of a lifetime and knew he had to jump on it. Roop went full fledged crazy heel as he calls Keirn’s dad a coward for getting capture twice. They were off and running as Keirn notes the only thing on his mind was to beat the shit out of Bob. Sullivan notes you can’t do that angle today and what helped was Bob had credibility as he was an Olympian and had served in the military. Eddie came back and told them they likely had gone too far. Jodi Hamilton was the booker and he told Roop to get a weapon for protection if he didn’t have one already.

-Commercials!

-Sullivan says they got two months out of the angle. They had every kind of match you could have and they were amazed at the crowd they were drawing. Bob notes he didn’t go out of his house for six months except to go to the shows. His girlfriend was a waitress at a bar and could hear fans talking about killing Bob. He tells a story of a guy in a military jacket pulling a .45 on him in the parking lot. Roop decided the best option was to turn his back and walk away and hope this military man had honor and wouldn’t shoot someone in the back. It was life threatening, but he was grateful as it took them from AAA to Major Leagues.

-The Army of Darkness: Babyface Kevin Sullivan not only turns heel, but turns evil! Sullivan notes he came in as a misunderstood babyface and it is weird seeing him with a full head of hair. Sullivan wrestled Windham on TV for the Florida Title and kicked Barry in the head to win. Mike Graham bitched on TV that Sullivan had changed, so Sullivan blasted him with the Title to tun heel. He started talking about eating the cosmic cookie and Gordon Solie played it straight as can be which helped sell the angle.

-Sullivan started recruiting an army and brought in Roop, Mark Lewin. They brought in Luna and shaved her head which freaked out people watching at home. He would go to grocery store living the gimmick and that helped sell people on all of this being a real cult. Dusty was the booker and Kevin had a feud with Mulligan. Dusty wanted to push the envelope and we cut to commercials.

-Commercials!

-The One Week Fight: Dusty is credited as a wrestling genius and he started booking things for Graham because of the crazy and brilliant ideas he had. The idea was for Blackjack Mulligan and Sullivan to start fighting on the floor and into the lobby. The fight went outside and down the ramp to the streets. Fans are following until the police push them back in the ring. A week later they brawl back into the arena and interrupt the second match on the card. The fans bought that they had been fighting for a week. Sullivan is asked if he had the same tights on and he said he did, but because it was the only pair he owned.

-Blair talks about being ribbed his first week in the business. Pat Patterson used to pull ribs on him all the time. We get a brief introduction of Pat and how he became Vince’s right hand man and a architect of what we see in pro-wrestling today.

-Moonlight at Yeehaw Junction: They were leaving West Palm Beach in Gerald’s car and they hear a horn honking. They look over and it is Patterson’s car with him driving and his boyfriend, Louie, mooning them. The Briscos tell Blair that he has to get them back. They tell Blair they will pull over to piss and for him to hide in the trunk and when Patterson’s car comes by they will pop the trunk and he will moon them. They drive for a bit and then pull over. They pop the trunk and Blair pulls his ass out and he hears the horn going again. He turns around and he sees they had backed in a parking spot next to the window of a local restaurant. Blair fell over and out of the trunk trying to pull his pants back up. He calls it the most embarrassing moment of his life. On TV Solie says “The people of Yeehaw Junction would like to thank Brian Blair for his public appearance.” Awesome!

-Commercials!

-They discuss Graham’s love of his community, but he was also a recovering alcoholic. He became sober for 13 years. Sullivan calls the territory the tightest run one he ever saw. He notes Eddie had an angel on one shoulder and a devil on the other. He was apparently a monster when he was drinking. They bring up he was sober for 13 years and was thinking crystal clear.

-Fireworks Flight: Eddie was a pilot and everyone felt secure when he would fly. He had an 8 Track Player in the plane and would play the same country song over and over again. They all know the song. Eddie was making out with his girlfriend at one of the shows and then disappeared to a bar or restaurant. They get on the plane and Eddie is blitzed. He doesn’t call the tower or put his head set on. Eddie took the plane and flew to Disney World during their nightly fireworks display. Instead of just looking at them from a distance, he flies right through the middle of them as he tells Keirn it’s what his dad was doing in Vietnam with explosions going off by his plane.

-Commercials!

-Next week it’s Stampede!

-Back to the flight through Disney with a drunk Eddie Graham! Keirn is terrified they are going down as Graham starts flying in tune with the country song. They make it through and Eddie opts to just land at Tampa airport. He never called the tower and picks a runway where an airliner is also landing. Eddie cuts across the grass which gets police and security involved. Eddie tells them he’s got this and walks out the door without the steps down. Graham takes a nasty fall and his pants split. That was probably the best thing that happened as the police check on him and Graham starts pretending that he has no clue where he is and that the last thing he remembered was he was still in the ring wrestling someone.

-Roop mentions that at the end, Eddie lost everyone. Keirn notes Eddie was a wrestler and it hurt him when he aged out of the ring. They all note that through all his demons there was nobody better to learn from and even now his tree is still growing.

-They mention that Keirn helped WWE with FCW and we get video of a young Dean Ambrose having a match. Big E, Dolph, Paige! That morphed into NXT which is still in Florida in Orlando. It meant a lot to Keirn that developmental stayed in Florida.

-In a nice touch they throw to video of Gordon Solie signing off. Sweet!

-This was fun as I don’t know as much about Florida as I did with Memphis and The AWA. I was hoping to get a little more from Sullivan and his craziness, but each story was given a solid amount of time and attention. Keirn and Brisco controlled the table which is fine and Blair didn’t get to offer much outside his mooning story. I am sure there was more from everyone on the cutting room floor. Good stuff and an enjoyable way to spend an hour. Thanks for reading!