Universal Wrestling Federation (Bill Watts)
| 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 (UWF) was a 1986 re-branding of wrestler-turned-promoter 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) and Jim Crockett Promotions. However, Watts' business strategy quickly swung from "overnight" success to catastrophic failure, in large part due to financial difficulties stemming from the 1980s oil glut, resulting in the 1987 sale of the UWF to Jim Crockett Promotions (owner of Mid-Atlantic Wrestling, Georgia Championship Wrestling, controllers of the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA)'s most important championships, and the predecessor of World Championship Wrestling (WCW).) The promotion began as an NWA territory, NWA Tri-State, founded by Leroy McGuirk in the 1950s, and was purchased by Bill Watts in 1979. Tri-State/Mid-South/UWF promoted shows 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.