Universal Wrestling Federation (UWF) was an American

professional wrestling promotion A professional wrestling promotion is a company or business that regularly performs shows involving professional wrestling that has little relationship to the rules of the amateur olympic form. "Promotion" also describes a role which entails mana ...

owned by Herb Abrams from 1990 to 1996. The company aired nationally on

SportsChannel America SportsChannel is the collective name for a former group of regional sports networks in the United States that was owned by Cablevision, which from 1988 until the group's demise, operated it as a joint venture with NBC. Operating from March 1, ...

, and later on Prime Ticket and

ESPN2 ESPN2 is an American multinational pay television network owned by ESPN Inc., a joint venture between The Walt Disney Company (which owns a controlling 80% stake) and Hearst Communications (which owns the remaining 20%). ESPN2 was initially fo ...

History

Herb Abrams founded the UWF in 1990 to try to challenge

Vince McMahon Vincent Kennedy McMahon (; born August 24, 1945) is an American media proprietor and retired professional wrestling promoter, executive, and performer. From 1982 to 2022, he served as the chairman and chief executive officer (CEO) of WWE, the ...

World Wrestling Federation World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc., d/b/a as WWE, is an American professional wrestling promotion. A global integrated media and entertainment company, WWE has also branched out into other fields, including film, American football, and var ...

on a national level. He announced the promotion's formation at John Arezzi's ''Wrestling Fans Fantasy Weekend'' convention in August 1990. Despite having no experience in the wrestling business, Abrams was given a budget of $1 million by

to develop a weekly television series, which would become '' UWF Fury Hour''. The first ''Fury Hour'' tapings were held at Reseda Country Club in fall 1990 and featured established stars such as

Billy Jack Haynes William Albert Haynes III (born July 10, 1953) is an American retired professional wrestler, better known by the ring name Billy Jack Haynes. Professional wrestling career Early career (1982–1984) Haynes started wrestling in 1982 at the ag ...

Bob Orton, Jr. Robert Keith Orton Jr. (born November 10, 1950), better known by the ring name "Cowboy" Bob Orton, is an American semi-retired professional wrestler. He is the son of professional wrestler Bob Orton Sr., the brother of professional wrestler Bar ...

Brian Blair Brian Leslie Blair (born January 12, 1957) is an American retired professional wrestler and politician. He is best known for his appearances with the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) under the ring name B. Brian Blair as one half of the tag t ...

, Cactus Jack, Colonel DeBeers, Dan Spivey, David Sammartino, Don Muraco,

Ivan Koloff Oreal Donald Perras (August 25, 1942 – February 18, 2017) was a Canadian professional wrestler, better known by the ring name "The Russian Bear" Ivan Koloff. He was the third wrestler to hold the WWWF Championship. Early life Perras was ...

, Ken Patera, Paul Orndorff, and Steve Williams.Foley, Mick. Have A Nice Day: A Tale of Blood and Sweatsocks (p.184) The top homegrown talent included "Wild Thing" Steve Ray and "Cutie Pie"

Louie Spicolli Louis Mucciolo Jr. (February 10, 1971 – February 15, 1998) was an American professional wrestler. He performed in Mexico under the ring name Madonna's Boyfriend, for the World Wrestling Federation as Rad Radford, and in Extreme Championship Wr ...

Bruno Sammartino Bruno Leopoldo Francesco Sammartino (October 6, 1935 – April 18, 2018) was an Italian-born American professional wrestler, best known for his work with the World Wide Wrestling Federation (WWWF, now WWE). There, he held the WWWF World Heavy ...

and Lou Albano were hired as commentators. The promotion held a taping in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

at the

New York Penta The Hotel Pennsylvania was a historic hotel at 401 Seventh Avenue (15 Penn Plaza) in Manhattan, across the street from Pennsylvania Station and Madison Square Garden in New York City. Opened in 1919, it was once the largest hotel in the wor ...

in January 1991 that became plagued with legal issues. The World Wrestling Federation sent

cease and desist A cease and desist letter is a document sent to an individual or business to stop alleged illegal activity. The phrase "cease and desist" is a legal doublet, made up of two near-synonyms. The letter may warn that, if the recipient does not disc ...

orders to the UWF after Honky Tonk Man and Rick Rude appeared on-camera. Both had recently walked out of the WWF but were still under contract to the company. Honky Tonk Man would later explain that the check he received from Abrams for this taping bounced, and he filed a formal complaint with the

New York State Athletic Commission The New York State Athletic Commission or NYSAC, also known as the New York Athletic Commission, is a division of the New York State Department of State which regulates all contests and exhibitions of unarmed combat within the state of New York, ...

to get reimbursed. Abrams hired Howard Brody, the owner of Ladies Major League Wrestling, to help him expand UWF into the Florida market in mid-1991. Following several

house show A house show or live event is a professional wrestling event produced by a major Professional wrestling promotion, promotion that is not televised, though they can be recorded. Promotions use house shows mainly to cash in on the exposure that t ...

s and a television taping at

Universal Studios Florida Universal Studios Florida (also known as Universal Studios or USF) is a theme park located in Orlando, Florida. Primarily themed to movies, television and other aspects of the entertainment industry, the park opened to the public on June 7, 1990 ...

, Brody was entrusted with finding a venue for the promotion's first pay per view event in June 1991. Brody suggested the

Odeum Expo Center The Odeum Expo Center was a convention center located in Villa Park, Illinois. It featured of exhibit space at the North Hall and of exhibit space at the South Hall. Both halls had pitched roofs as high as . The South Hall was also used as ...

in Chicago. Abrams insisted on holding

Beach Brawl Beach Brawl was the only live professional wrestling pay-per-view event produced by Herb Abrams' Universal Wrestling Federation (UWF). The event took place on June 9, 1991 at the Manatee Civic Center in Palmetto, Florida. Eight professional wre ...

Manatee Civic Center Bradenton Area Convention Center, formerly Manatee Civic Center, is a 4,000-seat multi-purpose arena and convention center in Palmetto, Florida. It was home to the Florida Stingers of the Continental Basketball Association and Florida Scorpion ...

in Palmetto, Florida. The pay per view was a disaster in both attendance and pay per view buys. Following Beach Brawl, Abrams ran one final television taping at War Memorial Auditorium before running out of fresh footage for ''Fury Hour''. He struck a deal with Brody to use footage from Ladies Major League Wrestling to fulfill his content creation obligations to SportsChannel America, and the two parted ways in fall 1991. Abrams only ran three more shows after his SportsChannel America deal expired in late 1991. This included: a television taping at Spartanburg Memorial Auditorium in June 1992 that aired on Prime Ticket as ''Thunder Hour''; a television taping at All Seasons Arena as part of the North Dakota State Fair in July 1993, which never aired; and

Blackjack Brawl Blackjack Brawl was the first and only major live television supercard event produced by Herb Abrams' Universal Wrestling Federation (UWF). The event took place on September 23, 1994 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada and aired li ...

at Las Vegas'

MGM Grand Garden Arena The MGM Grand Garden Arena (originally known as the MGM Grand Garden Special Events Center) is a 17,000-seat multi-purpose arena located within the MGM Grand Las Vegas on the Las Vegas Strip. Sporting events From its opening on December 18, 1993 ...

, in September 1994. The latter show aired live on SportsChannel America, yet was a disaster in both attendance and critical reception. Abrams left for New York City to care for his ailing mother in December 1994, and wrestler Al Burke was put in charge of the promotion.

aired old episodes of ''Fury Hour'' and ''Thunder Hour'' in 1995, albeit in heavily edited form. A February 1996 card called St. Valentine's Day Massacre was scheduled to be broadcast live from Grand Olympic Auditorium on

Prime Sports Network Prime Sports (originally known as the Prime Sports Network (PSN), and also known as Prime Network or simply Prime) is the collective name for a former group of regional sports networks in the United States that were owned by Liberty Media, oper ...

, but was cancelled. Zoogz Rift worked for the company during this time and claimed Abrams'

cocaine Cocaine (from , from , ultimately from Quechua: ''kúka'') is a central nervous system (CNS) stimulant mainly used recreationally for its euphoric effects. It is primarily obtained from the leaves of two Coca species native to South Am ...

addiction drained the company of money needed to produce such events. Abrams died of a cocaine-related heart attack in July 1996 while still in New York. Al Burke claimed ownership of UWF's tape library following Abrams' death. In 2002, Burke partnered with

Todd Okerlund Todd Eugene Okerlund (born September 6, 1964) is an American former professional ice hockey right winger. Okerlund was drafted 168th overall by the New York Islanders in the 1982 NHL Entry Draft and then spent four seasons playing for the Uni ...

of Classic Wrestling to repackage and license the library through

DirecTV DirecTV (trademarked as DIRECTV) is an American multichannel video programming distributor based in El Segundo, California. Originally launched on June 17, 1994, its primary service is a digital satellite service serving the United States. I ...

and ESPN Classic Canada. '' Dark Side of the Ring'' aired an episode focused on the promotion titled "Cocaine & Cowboy Boots: The Herb Abrams Story" in May 2020. It was the third-highest rated episode in the show's history. Jonathan Plombon released a

biography A biography, or simply bio, is a detailed description of a person's life. It involves more than just the basic facts like education, work, relationships, and death; it portrays a person's experience of these life events. Unlike a profile or c ...

on Abrams and his promotion titled ''Tortured Ambition: The Story of Herb Abrams and the UWF '' in September 2021.

Programming

Fury Hour

'' Fury Hour'' was the company's weekly television show that aired Monday nights on

from 1990 to 1991. It was taped at various locations including Reseda Country Club,

, and War Memorial Auditorium. It was briefly revived as ''Thunder Hour'' in 1992 on Prime Ticket with episodes taped at Spartanburg Memorial Auditorium.

Beach Brawl

Beach Brawl was the only pay-per-view event in the company's history and was held on June 7, 1991 at the

in Palmetto, Florida. The event was headlined by a match between Steve Williams and Bam Bam Bigelow, which was the final round match of a sixteen-man tournament for the crowning of the first UWF SportsChannel Television Champion. Williams defeated Bigelow to become the first SportsChannel Television Champion. The event was an overall failure with a low buyrate of 0.1 and a crowd of 500 in attendance at the arena.

Blackjack Brawl

The company aired a live television special called Blackjack Brawl on September 23, 1994 on

, which was UWF's last major attempt to secure a major television deal and survive in the professional wrestling industry. The event was held at the

Las Vegas Las Vegas (; Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Veg ...

Nevada Nevada ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, Western region of the United States. It is bordered by Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. N ...

. Like its predecessor Beach Brawl, the event saw very low attendance of just 600 fans and received negative response from critics and audiences for weak quality, weakly performed matches, nonsense

booking Booking may refer to: * Making an appointment for a meeting or gathering, as part of event planning/scheduling * The intake or admission process into a prison or psychiatric facility. * ''Booking'' (manhwa), a Korean comics anthology magazine pub ...

and weak commentary. The event featured nine championship matches, with two vacant championships being decided at the event, and seven new championships being contested at the event. The event was headlined by a UWF World Heavyweight Championship match between defending champion Steve Williams and

Sid Vicious John Simon Ritchie (10 May 1957 – 2 February 1979), better known by his stage name Sid Vicious, was an English musician, best known as the bassist for the punk rock band Sex Pistols. Despite dying in 1979 at age 21, he remains an icon of the ...

. This would stand as the promotion's final event.

St. Valentine's Day Massacre (cancelled)

St. Valentine's Day Massacre was a planned live television special that would have been broadcast on

on February 10, 1996. The event would have been held at Grand Olympic Auditorium in

Los Angeles, California Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...

, and featured the promised rematch from

between Steve Williams and

in a Steel Cage match for the UWF World Heavyweight Championship.

Championships

Herb Abrams holding the UWF SportsChannel Television Championship at New York Penta in May 1991

* UWF Americas Championship (1994) * UWF Intercontinental Heavyweight Championship (1993) * UWF Israeli Championship (1991) * UWF Junior Heavyweight Championship (1994) * UWF MGM Grand Championship (1994) * UWF Midget World Championship (1994) * UWF North American Championship (1991) * UWF Southern States Championship (1992, 1994) * UWF SportsChannel Television Championship (1991-1992, 1994) *

UWF Women's World Championship Universal Wrestling Federation (UWF) was a professional wrestling promotion based in Marina del Rey, California from 1990 to 1996. This is a list of titles that were awarded and defended in the UWF. Not all championships were active during the en ...

(1991, 1994) * UWF World Heavyweight Championship (1994) * UWF World Tag Team Championship (1994)

Home video

In 1992, the UWF issued six VHS releases in the United States through Best Film & Video Corporation: ''Beach Brawl'', ''Tag Team Tandems'', ''The Best of Paul Orndorff'', ''The Lumberjack Match'', ''The Steel Cage Match'', and ''Wrestling's Greatest Champions''. In 1993, the UWF released six volumes of PAL videos in Germany through Summit International Pictures under the "Wrestling Super Champs" banner. They were all compilations of '' Fury Hour'' matches. The same six "Wrestling Super Champs" volumes were re-released in Germany through Jünger Verlag under the "Super Wrestling" banner. Recent years have seen the emergence of UWF DVDs in Australia through Payless Entertainment. Each of the seven Region 4 DVDs contains one episode of '' Fury Hour''. The DVDs include ''Body Slammin'', ''Grand Slam'', ''Grudge Matches'', ''It's War'', ''Tag Team Madness'', ''The Main Event'', and ''Wrestling Wars''. In Germany, a Region 0 DVD titled "Wrestling Super 4 Champs" was released containing two episodes of '' Fury Hour''. Also in Germany, the "Wrestling Super Champs" VHS compilations were re-released on DVD in six volumes as "American History of Wrestling - UWF".

Awards

Wrestling Observer Newsletter The ''Wrestling Observer Newsletter'' (''WON'') is a newsletter that covers professional wrestling and mixed martial arts. Founded in print in 1982 by Dave Meltzer, the ''Wrestling Observer'' website merged with Bryan Alvarez's ''Figure Four W ...

**1990 - Worst Television Announcer ( Herb Abrams) **1991 - Worst Promotion of the Year (UWF) **1991 - Worst Television Show ('' Fury Hour'') **1991 - Most Obnoxious ( Herb Abrams) **1994 - Worst Major Wrestling Show (

)

References

External links

Herb Abrams' UWF Tribute SiteHerb Abrams' UWF
on Archive.org
Herb Abrams' UWF
on Pro Wrestling History {{Universal Wrestling Federation (Herb Abrams) 1990 establishments in California 1996 disestablishments in California American professional wrestling promotions Entertainment companies established in 1990 Entertainment companies disestablished in 1996 Defunct companies based in Greater Los Angeles Independent professional wrestling promotions based in California Marina del Rey, California de:Universal Wrestling Federation#UWF (Herb Abrams)