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| Acronym | UWF |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1950s (NWA Tri-State) 1979 (Mid-South) 1986 (UWF) |
| Defunct | 1987 |
| Style | American wrestling |
| Headquarters | Bixby, Oklahoma |
| Founder(s) | Bill Watts (UWF) Leroy McGuirk (NWA Tri-State) |
| Owner(s) | Leroy McGuirk (1950s–1979) Bill Watts (1979–1987) Jim Crockett, Jr. (1987) |
| Parent | Jim Crockett Promotions (1987) |
| Sister | Houston Wrestling |
| Formerly | NWA Tri-State (1950s–1979) Mid-South Wrestling (1979–1986) |
| Website | http://www.universalwrestling.com |
The Universal Wrestling Federation was a 1986 re-branding of wrestler-turned-owner Bill Watts' Mid-South Wrestling promotion. Watts' goal was to elevate his promotion from a relatively smaller, regional-level business, to a national-level rival of the World Wrestling Federation (WWF, now known as WWE). However, Watts' business strategy quickly swung from "overnight" success to catastrophic failure, resulting in the 1987 sale of the UWF to another rival: Jim Crockett Promotions (owner of Mid-Atlantic Wrestling, Georgia Championship Wrestling, the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA)'s most important championships, and the predecessor of World Championship Wrestling). The promotion began as an NWA territory, NWA Tri-State, founded by Leroy McGuirk in the 1950s. Tri-State/Mid-South/UWF promoted in Oklahoma, Arkansas, Louisiana and Mississippi until 1987.
Because Watts did not register the "Universal Wrestling Federation" name with the United States Patent and Trademark Office, businessman Herb Abrams was able to use it to launch an unrelated wrestling promotion of the same name in 1990.