Legendary pro wrestling promoter Jim Crockett Jr. died on Wednesday at age 76. He had been hospitalized over the weekend and reports stated that he was suffering from liver and kidney failure. He started Jim Crockett Promotions, which Jim took over in the seventies and went on to be influential in the starting of World Championship Wrestling.
James (Jim) Allen Crockett Jr. was an American professional wrestling promoter. From 1973 to 1989, he was part owner of Jim Crockett Promotions (JCP), a wrestling company affiliated with the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA).
From 1976 to 1987, Jim Crockett Promotions also owned the Charlotte Orioles, a minor league baseball team based in Charlotte, North Carolina, the Winston-Salem Polar Twins in the Southern Hockey League from 1974 to 1975.
Crockett was at the helm for the creation of JCP and WCW’s top pay-per-view, Starrcade, as well as Clash of the Champions, which was a revolutionary show that provided fans with pay-per-view-quality cards on free television. While JCP was never quite able to truly rival WWE, Crockett put the promotion in a position to succeed by selling it to Turner.
WCW would go on to become one of the biggest wrestling companies ever, and from 1996 to 1998 it beat WWE’s Monday Night Raw in the ratings with WCW Monday Nitro for 83 consecutive weeks.
WWE eventually regained its stronghold and purchased WCW in 2001, but no company has come close to giving WWE the type of run WCW did since that time.
WWE Statement:
An influential promoter who helped champion the careers of WWE Hall of Famers such as Ric Flair, Ricky Steamboat and The Road Warriors, He stewarded the family’s Crockett Promotions from 1977 to 1989. As part of the promotion’s affiliation and was later named President of the National Wrestling Alliance in 1980. During his tenure, he helped expand the promotion’s footprint and held the inaugural Jim Crockett Sr. Memorial Cup at the Louisiana Superdome in New Orleans. Under his Jr.’s leadership, the NWA would eventually be sold and renamed World Championship Wrestling.