Yesterday (June 9th, 2013) it was reported by Mike Johnson at PWInsider that WWE had finally acquired one of the last wrestling tape libraries in existence with the purchase of the Watts Mid South Wrestling/UWF footage.
The library includes: Mid South Wrestling Television, House Shows, Power Pro-Wrestling and the UWF, which was owned by Bill Watts’ ex-wife Ene Watts. It has been reported that several attempts have been made to purchase the footage over the years, however the sides were unable to come to terms on a deal, until now.
Mid South Wrestling is widely regarded as some of the very best weekly wrestling television and will be a fantastic addition to WWE’s video library. The purchase is very timely given the impending launch of the WWE Network, however the impact on DVD projects could also be huge. It has been reported that the company already plans on releasing a DVD retrospective documentary on the company (similar to the World Class, AWA, ECW and WCW sets) as well as using the footage on other DVD projects for Hall of Famers: Ted DiBiase, The Junkyard Dog and Hacksaw Jim Duggan. It’s very possible that the Ted DiBiase DVD set rumoured for release in 2011 was put on hold pending the purchase of this library – which was a huge part of Ted’s career.
However the library can be utilised on a number of different projects given the immense amount of talent which passed through the company. Some of the talent of Mid South/UWF include: Jim Ross, Bill Watts, Ric Flair, Shawn Michaels, Michael Hayes, Nikolai Volkoff , Sting, Ultimate Warrior, Paul Orndorff, Tully Blanchard, Butch Reed, One Man Gang, Dr Death Steve Williams, Dusty Rhodes, Ernie Ladd, Jake Roberts, King Kong Bundy, Andre The Giant, Rick Rude and Kamala (to name a few!).
Two best of Mid South Wrestling DVDs were released a few years ago by the Watts family under the Universal Wrestling banner, titled Giants, Midgets, Heroes & Villains Vol. 1 & 2.
The library includes: Mid South Wrestling Television, House Shows, Power Pro-Wrestling and the UWF, which was owned by Bill Watts’ ex-wife Ene Watts. It has been reported that several attempts have been made to purchase the footage over the years, however the sides were unable to come to terms on a deal, until now.
Mid South Wrestling is widely regarded as some of the very best weekly wrestling television and will be a fantastic addition to WWE’s video library. The purchase is very timely given the impending launch of the WWE Network, however the impact on DVD projects could also be huge. It has been reported that the company already plans on releasing a DVD retrospective documentary on the company (similar to the World Class, AWA, ECW and WCW sets) as well as using the footage on other DVD projects for Hall of Famers: Ted DiBiase, The Junkyard Dog and Hacksaw Jim Duggan. It’s very possible that the Ted DiBiase DVD set rumoured for release in 2011 was put on hold pending the purchase of this library – which was a huge part of Ted’s career.
However the library can be utilised on a number of different projects given the immense amount of talent which passed through the company. Some of the talent of Mid South/UWF include: Jim Ross, Bill Watts, Ric Flair, Shawn Michaels, Michael Hayes, Nikolai Volkoff , Sting, Ultimate Warrior, Paul Orndorff, Tully Blanchard, Butch Reed, One Man Gang, Dr Death Steve Williams, Dusty Rhodes, Ernie Ladd, Jake Roberts, King Kong Bundy, Andre The Giant, Rick Rude and Kamala (to name a few!).
Two best of Mid South Wrestling DVDs were released a few years ago by the Watts family under the Universal Wrestling banner, titled Giants, Midgets, Heroes & Villains Vol. 1 & 2.