Bill Watts

[8.0] "Bill Watts was the head of WCW for less than a year. Basing an entire rating on that is a fool's errand, to put it as nicely as possible. Mid South was a great promotion and the clutched pearls over "no jumping off the top rope" for a style of wrestling in the 70's and 80's is absurd. There was no high flying wrestling the way we see it today back then. Watts was a very good booker and understood his audience very well. Was he racist? I think so. I also think it was in the way your dumb father/uncle/grandfather is in private. Watts was quoted as saying his favorite color was green. Mid South's main demo was black people. He saw JYD's charisma and ran with it. He tried it with Ron Simmons and while Ron was a far better athlete and worker and deserved a chance, he lacked that level of charisma."

[0.0] "Bill Watts thought it would be a good idea to be an authority figure who mistreated his employees. He was primarily a booker and promoter (hence his power and esteem), and that was the worst mistake anyone could make (working for him or hiring him). Bill had authority, and he truly took advantage of everything he had, including mistreatment, racism, extortion, humiliation, and more. His booking was strange; he had a great ability to select talent, but behind that was an abusive contract with low pay. Bill Watts was awful and should never have been an authority figure. And I'm surprised Ron Simmons was World Champion, but I assume Watts also withheld half his salary. Yes, Bill also withheld half of the wrestlers' salaries to use as an incentive."

[0.0] "i really like early 90's wcw, but, after doing some research, the quality of the wrestling during that era was in spite of his booking decisions, not because of it. between the "no off the top rope" bullshit, his gross mismanagement of ron simmons, and constantly putting his son on cards instead of literally anybody else, it's a wonder wcw even made it to nitro. never seen him wrestle, but if erik watts is anything like his father, i imagine he must have been horrible at that as well."

[8.0] "The best promoter not named Vince McMahon or Jim Crockett. Bill Watts was the man when it came to discovering and producing talent in wrestling."

[4.0] "Never watched his matches, but as a booker he was very 50/50 in what he did to WCW. Dude had a hard on for tag team wrestling so in 1992 we got a golden age of quality tag matches but he also enacted that stupid "no off the top rope" crap and he tried pushing his son which went over like a fart in church. Also heard he was a dick to people behind the scenes and only put the world title on Ron Simmons because he was trying to shake off some racism allegations."

[4.0] "Ugh. The "coming off the top rope is illegal" was CRAP in Midsouth and it ALMOST MURDERED WCW. The whole Erik Watts fiasco (not saying anymore). His constant, incessant mispronunciation of names was disrespectful and aggravating. The Steiner Brothers situation was one of the stupidest mistakes anyone in WCW ever made. His OPEN racism (right up front in the commentary no less) makes me want to punch him right in the face and kick him in the testicles simultaneously. This jerk has 4 saving graces that each get a point: #1 an eye for talent #2 not letting mediocrity slide #3 Ron Simmons becomes WCW World Champion, becoming the first World Champion of African descent. #4 most of the booking in MidSouth. Bill Watts was/is a c0cksvk1n m0th3rfvk1n a$sh0L3 and he made some beyond moronic mistakes that glare far stronger than his positives. because we're gonna circle back to say His commentary mostly pisses me off! Go away/mute heat. (when he wasn't doing commentary, the MidSouth product was freakin AWESOME! )"

[10.0] "I've never seen much of Watts' matches but man what a fantastic promoter, booker and it's fun to listen to him on commentary. I'm going back watching Mid-South Wrestling and it's one of the best, if not the best pro wrestling program ever."

[8.0] "In his booking prime, Bill Watts was one of the smartest men in the business, a creative genius. But as time went on, Watts remained firmly rooted in the past; his WCW run was a complete disaster on every level."

[9.0] "I'm surprised by the low number of ratings here for this man. While his time in WCW was controversial, and perhaps he wasn't the best fit for that company, when it came to old school territorial rasslin', this man blazed trails and set precedents in how a good show should be done. Plus, if nothing else, his time in WCW allowed Ron Simmons to become the first African American world heavyweight champion, a groundbreaking move. He's worthy of his WWE Hall of Fame entry."

[8.0] "As booker for the Mid-South territory, Watts would get a 10. A fantastic area with star power and high quality matches throughout his time there. He only gets an 8 because of his WCW run where he was not so good with the book and his attitude showed that he wasn't with the times when it came to the wrestling business."

[8.0] "A very good wrestler back in the day. Bill Watts is also known for training none other than Dr. Death Steve Williams."