One of the most historically significant people in professional wrestling, Jim Crockett Jr., sadly passed away Wednesday night, aged 76 following a short stay in hospice care. The cause of death is understood to be both liver and kidney failure after he decided to stop dialysis recently.
His father founded Jim Crockett Promotions in 1931, which was an important part of the National Wrestling Alliance, and following his death in 1973, his son-in-law John Ringley took control of the company. However, after Ringley had an affair with a former beauty pageant contestant, he was replaced by Crockett Jr. despite him previously having little interest in the wrestling industry.
By 1980 he became the NWA’s president for the first of three terms, a position that had great power in the industry. He had great success during the territory days and was arguably the #1 promoter in the country and brought out struggling territories like Florida, Central States, and Bill Watts’ UWF. He’d fight Vince McMahon’s national expansion better than most other promoters. Still, growing financial losses resulted in him selling the majority interest in his company to Ted Tuner’s TBS for $9 million to avoid bankruptcy. Turner would rename the company to World Championship Wrestling, and Crockett Jr. remained on as a consultant but left once his non-compete expired.
He did get back in the wrestling business in the 90s, running shows at the Dallas Sportatorium. He launched the World Wrestling Network alongside Paul Heyman, and they booked talents such as Bob Orton, Terry Funk, Jake Roberts, Road Warrior Hawk, Sabu, Sherri Martel, and Nailz. The promotion held a show in Texas in August 1993 and a television taping in February 1994 but closed once Heyman decided to focus on ECW. Crockett would leave wrestling to work in real estate and the mortgage industry and only recently returned by speaking at Conrad Thompson’s Starrcast IV event.
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