The most ambitious undertaking for a company came in the form of WrestleMania 3, with the hot main event of Hulk Hogan vs. Andre The Giant.  The buildup for the show was torrid, and had tremendous heat behind it.  Meanwhile, crowds were down throughout the UWF, and unfortunately, Houston did not escape the downturn either.  In his book, Paul Boesch recalls how he received a phone call from Jim Barnett that shocked him.  Barnett claimed that the WWF had sold more than 60,000 tickets, with two weeks left to go.  With Watts going incognito as far as business decisions, Boesch began to think of switching allegiances.  With a possible business connection established through Barnett, Boesch waited to see what Watts would do.  
As many readers know, Bill Watts sold the UWF to Jim Crockett Promotions in early April 1987.  Amazingly, he had never talked to Paul Boesch about his plans.  Crockett then would make a big mistake by not calling Boesch to talk about arrangements of co-promotion in the Bayou City.  Feeling slighted, Boesch met with Vince McMahon, and closed the deal that would switch Houston Wrestling’s main provider of talent to the WWF.  On April 11, many fans reacted in shock as Boesch announced the change to WWF programming, and showed clips from WrestleMania 3.  Furthermore, Boesch announced the cancellation of the UWF card, and instead, said that the first card with WWF stars would be on May 15.  Needless to say, the transition was not a seamless one, and the aftershock was felt for sometime.  Also during this time, longtime Houston favorite Ted DiBiase would also defect to the WWF, setting a unique stage for what was to come. 

Summer:  The summer months would bring WWF action to full swing at the Coliseum, but the UWF would return to Houston for the Great American Bash at the larger Summit.  Without the steady salesmanship of Boesch, the card tanked at the box office.  WWF cards were drawing fairly well, and Houston fans relished in the return of longtime stars like Junkyard Dog (hadn’t been seen at the Coliseum in three years), Hacksaw Duggan and Jake Roberts.  In July, the first WWF based title changed hands in Houston, as Sherri Martel ended the last big reign of the Fabulous Moolah as WWF women’s champion.  However, more fireworks again were going off behind the scenes. 

Boesch was unhappy at the promotional tactics of the WWF.  He had prided himself and rightfully so, on providing the best to his public.  Boesch would go out of his way to insure that the men he had contracted to work for him, and perform for the buying public would actually be there and perform.  Long known as one of the best “pay off” men in the business, Boesch ventured that good pay would insure good work habits.  He was mystified with the WWF and the no shows that accompanied them.  At one card, there were 7 no shows, which were more than Boesch had in a year!!  Since McMahon would not buy Boesch out, Boesch decided that the August 28, 1987 card would be his last.  Boesch went out with a bang, as the card drew a complete sellout of 12,000 fans, with thousands more turned away.  Some estimates said that had the card been held at the larger Summit, it would have sold out there as well.  Many of the stars from the past and the present were there, as Duggan returned from his May 1987 drug bust with Iron Sheik to work the card, along with Ted DiBiase, One Man Gang, Mil Mascaras, Hulk Hogan, and many others. 

Fall-Winter:  After Boesch’s retirement, Houston was still in the spotlight as the angle between DiBiase and Hogan started with Hogan’s “first” title defense against DiBiase at the Coliseum, with DiBiase winning by countout.  As you all know, this angle would culminate in DiBiase’s “buying” of the WWF title after the February 1988 Main Event on NBC.  While the angle’s start was not acknowledged by the WWF at large, some mainstream wrestling publications (Apter mags) did pick up on the origin.  Crowds with Hogan during the fall and winter would remain strong, but crowds without him began to dwindle. 

The end of 1987 saw the landscape of Houston Wrestling looking much different than when the year began.  While longtime stars like DiBiase, Duggan, Roberts, and JYD were still on the scene, the surroundings and scenarios by which they performed were radically different.  Paul Boesch was gone, and seemingly not coming back.  Bill Watts was out of wrestling, and Jim Crockett’s version of the UWF would never catch on... due to his subsequent squashing/absorption  of all the talent.  For longtime fans, an era had truly come to an end. 

Fast Forward: 

For a time, Vince McMahon and the WWF would continue to run cards at the Sam Houston Coliseum, and Jim Crockett Promotions would run at the Summit.  However, an unexpected return from retirement would get McMahon to change his arena back to the more spacious Summit, where he would run the first edition on pay-per-view of the Royal Rumble (held for free in 1988).  To this day, McMahon runs the Summit (renamed Compaq Center) for his cards, most recently an April edition of Smackdown. 

NEXT MONTH: