Today The Two Man Power Trip of Wrestling is joined by one of the true voices of the timeless World Class Championship Wrestling territory, Marc Lowrance. Fresh off the induction of the Fabulous Freebirds into the WWE Hall of Fame and WrestleMania’s success in Dallas Marc gives his take on the impact that both had on the Dallas area and how the Freebirds may have been the true defining stars to come out of the Dallas office. John and Chad also discuss the triumphs and tragedies of a polarizing organization known more for its untimely demise and the dark cloud that seemingly loomed over such promise.  

Full Episode Download Link:

http://tmptow.podomatic.com/entry/2016-04-11T21_00_00-07_00

WCCW Ring Announcer Marc Lowrance On The Overall Impact Of The Fabulous Freebirds On World Class:

https://youtu.be/aoeA1u1donE

If you use any of the quotes from this podcast, please credit The Two Man Power Trip of Wrestling with a H/T to John & Chad for the transcription.

Thoughts on The Fabulous Freebirds Induction into the WWE Hall of Fame:

I am happy for the "birds" and of course we've only got one of them left and that is very sad. Terry "Bam Bam" Gordy and Buddy Jack Roberts were both great individuals as well as great professionals and they highlight along with Michael Hayes the reality that while much credit went to the Von Erichs and they were a great family in their own regard, World Class's success was based around some other incredible talents.  I like to tease Michael Hayes about being an obnoxious blow-hard but when he goes on and on about the Freebirds value to World Class in that way I say listen to that obnoxious blow-hard because he is preaching the gospel and he is absolutely right. Their charisma, the diversity of their personalities, their abilities both in and out of the ring made them a tremendous part of the World Class wave of success and they absolutely deserve to be in any Hall of Fame.

Are there any Freebirds moments in World Class that stand out as a defining moment for the group:

Well, the cage door night was very exciting and was very well handled. Michael Hayes was an incredibly animated individual. He probably was no better than Buddy and Terry in terms of wrestling ability but his off-the-apron manner and his charisma, his flamboyance, his psychology, his antagonistic persona and his arrogance made him so incredible and so while the cage door showcased that well anytime that Michael was able to run free and be Michael it was exciting and so often in our office it was the heels who had more personality then the baby faces did. That made them a lot more fun to be around in terms of the excitement and the entertainment of it all.

The World Class office’s appeal to outside performers, the drawing power of the Dallas territory & similarities to WrestleMania 32:

This Dallas office was known for being particularly rough and the level of intensity was just rougher in this office and part of it was just the history of the office and part of it was the fact that the Von Erich ownership was known and there was some resentment to that and some resentment to the entitlement of the Von Erich boys and the favoritism in the payoffs. So it was just a rough place to come and you didn't come here unless you were willing to be rough. It was the emergence of World Class of that Dallas office that increased television production to new levels it had never been known in the world of pro wrestling.

You look at a deal like WrestleMania which obviously is a tremendous box office success with the high ticket prices and the huge crowd and in those days you were making money every week. It wasn't anything like 101,000 people and the revenue that generates but when you look at every Monday night in Ft. Worth and every Friday night in Dallas and we are talking back in the 80s with houses running anywhere from $12,000 to $30,000 a night and you are doing that 52 weeks a year that in itself adds up to tremendous financial profits and tremendous crowds and fan support. Then add the Wrestling Star Wars events, an annual Parade of Champions event, a State Fair event and although it wasn't the big event like we saw with WrestleMania here in Dallas but when you add the consistency of it up it was an incredibly impressive empire.

Was the death of David Von Erich a deflation to a territory that was possibly the hottest in the business:

The David deal was sad, it was confusing because no one would come clean as to what happened. I am not sure that I can tell you what happened because there are too many different stories. It sounds like it could have been prevented and he had sense enough to ask for help but it was a sad day because we had lost one of the great stars and over time we began to learn that David was most like his Dad and probably had the fortitude to run that office in due time which his brothers never had. They had their talents and their own effectiveness but they didn't have that hard-nosed passion to be the business man, they were too flakey, too immature, too narcissistic and too image oriented and so what proved over time was that the office lost its heir-apparent to the throne when Fritz was going to retire and get tired of it and there wasn't going to be anybody there. We didn't know that at the time, but we began to learn that over the coming years. His death did not hurt the promotion. In fact the promotion had its biggest years after his death. It's when the next death began to occur with Mike Von Erich, it's when Kerry got himself in trouble and was lost for a while due to running his motorcycle into the back of a Denton County Police car on drugs and cutting his foot off. All that was kept in secret. They tried to put it back together and did vascular surgery and thought they were successful but he didn't follow the doctor's orders and tried to walk on it too fast and ruined the surgery and then they had to do the prosthesis and of course he ends up losing his life. It was the series of  things that began to add up that had the demoralizing effect.

But there were others that had their troubles too, we had Bruiser Brody who had been murdered, we lost Gino Hernandez to a drug overdose and there were some other tragedies as well because the office never adjusted to the stardom it developed and no one ever sat down and coached these guys with ethical decisions and moral decisions, substance abuse and how to set boundaries. They were treated like it had been when there was a fraction of its size like it had been years before. The office staff never increased and so that all provided an atmosphere for the crash which really began to start in 1985 and 86 as it started its downward spiral.

Marc Lowrance also shares memories of the Sportatorium, the stars that passed through the territory, his favorite arena, working for Fritz Von Erich, relationship with Gary Hart and the impact of WCCW