Johnny Powers made a fight, business influence in the Carolinas | Struggle

Editor’s Note: This is the third of a four-part series on the late Johnny Powers.

Johnny Powers was a savvy booker and promoter, but admitted he made some mistakes when he moved to Carolina after being talked out of wrestling retirement.

“I retired from the business after Cleveland in 1975,” Powers said in a 2013 interview. “I ran a small public company that owned a hockey arena franchise and an ice skating franchise and a lot of things like that. I came in to make a creative change from ticket sales and revenue streams.”

Meanwhile, old partner Pedro Martinez, along with TV sports entrepreneur Eddie Einhorn, started the first truly national wrestling organization called the IWA (International Wrestling Association).

“He was a pro-wrestling money guy,” Powers said of Einhorn. “He was not savvy about the business. Pedro met him. It was Einhorn’s idea and his network. He had a good amount of locks on every college basketball program at the time. He sold that to Corinth Broadcasting for a very good sum at the time.

Martinez had only been working with the Chicago businessman for a few months when he called Powers for help.

“Pete, I’m not in the wrestling business, I’m doing good,” Powers explained to Martinez. “I take a reasonable stake in a small public company. I’m in the sports promotion business, not the wrestling business.

But Martinez told Powers the new team has no roots. They were doing well in most cases, he said, but were holding demonstrations across the country with “a bunch of renegades”.

In other words, Powers said, they had no basic job.

“In a region, you might have one or two or three good cities, like McMahon had in New York, Boston and Philadelphia. But you’d better have a place show to keep the guys busy five or six or seven nights a week and keep them out of trouble and offset your state’s expenses,” he said.

Martinez knew his only chance of success was to convince Powers to come out of retirement and take over the creative and booking end.

“No one understands what I’m saying. you do. I trained you how to build it and operate it,” he told Powers.

“As a favor to Pedro, and not as much as I wanted to get back into the business, I agreed,” Powers said. Martinez told him to keep him as an employee.

Powers flew from New Jersey, rented a car and drove to Winston-Salem, N.C., where he already had a television show.

“I booked myself through some radio ads, got out a map and looked at some things, found towns like Mount Airy around it and got the buildings. Within four to six weeks, I had infrastructure in at least three states, North and South Carolina and the state of Virginia.

Powers to the rescue

Johnny Powers, who died on December 30 at the age of 79, was a naturalist.

“I knew what to look for. I didn’t know anything about the business from the state building. I did that with Pedro,” he said. “But he slept with Pedro. He died. I went and re-arranged all the TV shows in Schenectady, Albany, Utica, Syracuse, Rochester, Erie, those cities. I went to places like Rochester and made a modest $400 a week for 13 weeks.” I’ll pay, I’ve owned the watch, I’ve done it all before.

IWA, with its high-end production values, was ahead of the big promotions in many aspects. The company offered guaranteed money to attract top names and placed the footage in television markets across the country. Subtle production techniques such as freeze frames and slow motion were employed.

The empire slowly began to build, with Winston-Salem as its key city.

Then, out of the blue, Powers gets a call from Martinez informing Einhorn that he’s canceled all television shows.

“We’re off the air starting this weekend,” Martinez told Powers.

According to Martinez, Vince McMahon Sr. called the owner of Corinth Broadcasting and asked him why he was allowing the “prize” to buy a college basketball network — a legitimate business like pro wrestling.

Einhorn was smack dab in the middle of McMahon’s territory with a strong television presence on WOR in New York. The IWA was seen as an “illegal” promotion operating outside the jurisdiction of the NWA and WWWF.

“None of the promoters have ever cooperated with each other. This is a myth. If there was any cooperation, it was of a self-serving nature,” Powers said.

“He[McMathon Sr.]was worried because Einhorn went to a ballpark in New Jersey and spent $108,000. In 75 this is not a shame. McMahon was worried. He was still a regional promoter.

Powers, in fact, tried to buy the empire from McMahon and Toots Mondt in the late ’60s.

“I was very brave to try,” Powers said. “Pedro Martinez once owned a portion of his territory from Tots Mondt. Why couldn’t I get his understanding and buy your Makma?”

Einhorn lost an estimated $500,000, and the promotion effectively folded in October 1975.

Unable to get into major arenas like Madison Square Garden and the Nassau Coliseum, the sports magnate called it quits.

Powers, meanwhile, had moved his family to the Carolinas, leaving behind a place and a stock portfolio.

But he wasn’t ready to quit.

“I’m here to help you. I don’t think I want to do that,” Martinez said.

Forces asked for two hours. He called stations in Winston-Salem, Raleigh, Lynchburg and Charleston. He asked the station managers to keep the spot open for Saturday’s IWA fight.

“I produced a television show. I had a show that weekend,” he said. “I was involved with IWA Wrestling in North Carolina. We changed the name of the TV show and left.” he said.

After the Buffalo-Cleveland system was used for a three-state state, Powers consolidated the state model in the Carolinas and Virginia.

“I knew the formulas and structures very well. I always believed that if I could get in a car and drive somewhere, I could influence the television station, the media and the stage. Now I’ve moved on, but with a smaller base.

Some talents remained. Some went to the opposition.

They stole the Mongols and finally stole Igor. (Mil) Mascars has gone his own way. But I waited for (Bulldog) Brower, (Ernie) Ladd and a bunch of those guys,” Powers said.

“I already knew the Brower-Powers program was going to work, so I used that as the main seed for the state corner. I ran that for about a year and found out that Winston-Salem put money in.”

It was a major setback for Powers and his plans to consolidate his company’s existence.

“It was our biggest city, and we almost sold out there,” he said. All you need is one good city and two mid-sized cities, along with several border towns, and you’ve got yourself a ballpark. Crockett is the same thing it once was. Then we went to court and I lost. I never thought I might have won.

Battles on arenas in the cricketing realm culminated in costly court battles.

Powers loved a challenge, and that’s why he bought the empire from Martinez.

But by the time we lost Winston-Salem, Powers said, “she drove the capital out.

Antitrust charges

Powers argued that two North Carolina promoters — Jim Crockett of Charlotte and Joe Murnick of Raleigh — illegally controlled wrestling shows in several state cities.

The suit seeks $1.5 million in damages for business allegedly lost due to lease negotiations with the promoters. Cities named in the suit include Charlotte, Greensboro, Winston-Salem, Raleigh, Fayetteville, NC; Greenville, SC; and Richmond, Va.

The lawsuit alleges that the IWA was being forced out of the cities by illegal lease and patronage agreements that gave Crockett and Murnick a monopoly on public arenas suitable for wrestling. He argued that the lease violated state and federal laws.

The City of Winston-Salem was named as a defendant in the decision by the Mayor and Board of Aldermen to rent Crockett for 12 events a year at the Coliseum.

“That doesn’t mean other buildings didn’t give you a lock,” Powers said. “We really had keys at Buffalo State. But it was like a chess move that caught me off guard, and I didn’t have the skills or financial resources to live through it. Sometimes the door is only half open. The product is not exactly the right product at the right time to get the legs under it.

The court case took more than two years to resolve. In the year In 1978, a federal jury ruled that Crockett did not have obstructions at his venues in Charlotte and Winston-Salem.

Powers had filed a lawsuit alleging that Cricket’s leases for wrestling venues in Charlotte and Winston-Salem violated antitrust laws, but the jury found no violations.

“Jury’s decision vindicates Jim Crockett for operating illegal wrestling events in Charlotte. “This shows that the Crockett family acted legally,” Crockett’s attorney said after the verdict.

next week: Johnny Powers saw the writing on the wall for the IWA.

Contact Mike Mooneyham at bymikemooneyham@gmail.com or follow him on Twitter at @ByMikeMooneyham and on Facebook at Facebook.com/MikeMooneyham. His latest book – “The Last Bell” – is now available at https://evepostbooks.com and Amazon.com.

Did you know…

In the year

Rollins began working with friends at the age of 14, setting up a trampoline-style ring, before landing his first official match under the ring name Jixx, which was a local independent promotion for several years.

On this day…

Seventeen years ago today (January 29, 2006): At WWE’s Royal Rumble in Miami, runner-up Rey Mysterio defeated Randy Orton in a record-setting 62 minutes and 12 seconds to win the World Championship. The record still stands.

Mysterio entered at number 2, becoming the second man to win the Rumble. Another person who did this was Vince McMahon in 1999.

Photo of the week