Quickly, Boesch prepared the NWA for the Coliseum, and even got the U.S. Title tournament held there.  Barry Windham emerged victorious, beating a “hairy” Nikita Koloff in the finals.  It would be the most dominant Horseman group title wise ever, with Ric Flair the NWA champion, Windham number two with the U.S. title, and Blanchard and Arn Anderson as the NWA tag champs.  The Horsemen, even though rulebreakers, were somewhat popular in Houston.  Enthusiasm picked up among some fans, who saw the NWA as a link to their “style” of wrestling.  This was probably due to the fusion of the NWA and the UWF.  As for Dusty Rhodes’ handling of a possible interpromotional feud, we will leave for another discussion in another place.  

Some of the highlights of the reasonably short NWA run in Houston included the aforementioned U.S. title tournament, and a July Great American Bash card that drew in excess of 8,000 fans.  The card saw a scaffold “Skywalker” match between The Road Warriors and what should have been the Powers of Pain.  However, just before summer, the Powers of Pain bolted for the WWF, and were replaced by Ivan Koloff and the Russian Assassin.  Longtime Houston favorites The Rock-n-Roll Express took on longtime Houston hated The Midnight Express.  Ric Flair, Dusty Rhodes, Barry Windham, Sting, Ron and Jim Garvin, and more highlighted what might have been the biggest NWA card to ever hit the Coliseum.  But, things were not going to stay that good. 

As many of you who visit this web site frequently know, the “Dusty” finish that came into prominent display at the July 1988 Great American Bash pay per view main event between Ric Flair and Lex Luger began to erode what was an upswing in Jim Crockett’s house show business.  Also, numerous no shows and defections (most notably Ron Garvin, who was in the middle of a huge feud with Rhodes) contributed to dwindle house show attendance down to frightening figures.  The onslaught did not escape Houston.  Although drawing well for the Bash card and others, Houston also began to see a downturn in attendance, especially after a key Ron Garvin defection/no show resulted in Rhodes having to wrestle Al Perez instead.  Now, while Perez was a quality heel, especially the year before in World Class, he didn’t have any heat with Rhodes going into the match, making it a no-drawing waste. 

The September Sam Houston Coliseum card also marked the last time Tully Blanchard and Arn Anderson would wrestle in Houston under the NWA banner.  In one of their last matches before leaving for the WWF, Blanchard and Anderson wrestled the Midnight Express for the NWA tag titles only.  Days later, Blanchard and Anderson would drop the belts to the Express and head up north as the Brainbusters.   

Heading into the winter, crowds were beginning to get as cold as the weather, although in Houston, cold is more a state of mind than actual reality.  Not many people knew of the overwhelming turmoil that was engulfing the promotion (Rhodes-Flair power struggle, Crockett trying to sell to Turner, Horsemen breaking up, etc), but cards were beginning to be less organized and structured than in years and months past.  On December 10, the last card of the year was held at the Coliseum, with a less than sellout crowd attending.  What no one could have known at the time was that the December 10, 1988 card would be the last ever promoted under the Houston Wrestling banner.  Sadly, just a few months later, Paul Boesch passed away, and Peter Birkholtz never really tried to follow Boesch’s footsteps.  

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