- I would like to take this time to introduce a man who has been involved in the Independent Wrestling scene for about 30 years in the Mid-South area. He is the mastermind behind the WOWF (Warriors of Wrestling Federation) which he founded in 1997, and he is a well known magician and entertainer. His name is Jim Princeton and I am sad to say that his involvement with the WOWF has come to an abrupt end and that end will be tonight Saturday Oct 19th. There have been issues between the Partners / Owners of the current brand of the WOWF. Ricky Hayes and Tim Davis have split, leaving Ricky Hayes as sole owner and now, Jim Princeton, the man behind the scenes is also leaving. I have spoken to Mr Princeton about his departure and I asked him if he would be willing to answer some questions as to his time in the WOWF and what has lead to his current decision to leave the WOWF. The following are the questions and answers we covered during our conversation.
Question: Mr Princeton, Could you please tell me about your time in the reincarnation of the current WOWF? Specifically, what role did you play in the creation and production of the product.
Answer: First off, I would like to personally thank you for contributions you have made with your photography services and sports analogy @ WOWF MidSouth. It was a honor asking you to step in cover WOWF for a short time. We both share a deep passion for creating moments using graphic images and marketing measures.
Short history; WOWF started its roots back in 1996 but didn't actually come together until 1997. Alvin Minnick came aboard as the primary booker as well as the late Hugh Rundles and HT Montel, Jr. Hugh Rundles was one of the best ringside announcers I knew other than Lance Russell around the MidSouth. Once up and running Hugh became a partner at the start of WOWF in1997 up to the end of 1999 where he turned the business back over to me. In 1999 my family decided to invest in building and the new construction of our 5000 sq building located on East Court St was built and named the Dyersburg Entertainment Center, in Dyersburg, Tn. After more than five years of running hard working a full time job, wrestling promotion and Magic Shows I was getting burned out. In 2001, I made a personal decision to walk away from the huge demands of wrestling due to the birth of my wife and I, first child and the increasing demands of Magic shows with our seasonal Corporate clients.
WOWF now 2013: At the end of 2012, long time friend Tim Davis called me on many occasions asking me if I was ready to come back to wrestling after 12 years of being out of business. I told him it would have to think hard about if I was ready or not and it would have to be the right show, the right people and the right direction. Tim wanted to start his own promotion somewhere, and run it his way after working with other promotions over the years. I didn't want a full time roll and sink hundreds of hours back in to a promotion again. You can't just be a weekend promoter. It's a full time job and you have to deal with so many egos and glory happy people. I never like working with people who are not 100% team players. I said, "aren't there already two wrestling promotions here now, both operating on weekends". Tim replied, yes put one maybe closing the doors soon.
At the beginning of 2013, I still had a few contracted magic shows and couldn't focus on wrestling at the moment. I asked Tim to call me if he found a building somewhere and we would talk. All through the months of January - March we talked ideas, what the arena layout should look like and who would be great as the team of talent. In a few of our conversation Tim asked me if he could use my WOWF name and if I would help him produce the show since I was involved in the huge success of WOWF in years past. I explained “well, you should create your own name to reflect you.” He insisted on using WOWF hoping to pull the fans back in. I told him I would think about it and let him know. My whole concern with using me and the name, WOWF, may knock down what was the greatest show ever in this area for years.
Tim did secure a building in Newbern Tn where the show is located at the present time. I met with Tim in March, after coming back off the road from my last Magic show, to look at all the work done inside the new building. Tim had hired a guy to rebuild walls, rewire some of the electric and pluming in the building. He also had secured a ring for the show as well. Once again Tim approached me in using the WOWF brand and Name. I told him yes under certain conditions. Weeks later, Tim called me back and said he had The Dazzlers (Ricky Hayes and Mike Dial) on board. When we talked that day, it was by phone, and Ricky Hayes was with Tim, sitting next to him at his restaurant. We talked about wrestling. We had a great conversation via speaker phone, it felt like old times. Ricky and Tim both worked with me back in the day and were an asset to me and the WOWF. Everyone was excited to get back together once again. Now here we are 6 months later and it's time for me to walk away once again for personal and private reasons.
Derrick you asked me what my roll was at the Newbern show? My roll and my direct involvement was as follows; marketing, WOWF webmaster, managing WOWF MidSouth Facebook, announcer, part of the think tank, live production, graphic design, music, lighting, consultant on talent, arena design, billboard designer (Studio Magic Production, Inc.), main spokesperson for WOWF and designated to secure Television prospects as well as video editing of the weekly show tapes. If you have been in the arena, look around and almost everything as to the look and design came from my creative thinking. The building needs lots of work to attract big sponsors. No one wants to drop big money in to a show that don't look like a national show. I understand what it takes to attract these kind of sponsors, to move you into the Television market. I did try on many occasion to give great ideas as to the matches but was often over looked. It takes money to make money, anyone in the business world will tell you that. It's always a gamble. I was reminded a few times “I did not run that show”. That was in my mind so disrespectful to me after all, it kind of was my show all over again. It was brought up to me that I didn't have money in the show. Far from the truth. I personally had over $9000 In equipment that was being used in that building, on top of that hundreds of hours marketing this show and my WOWF name. I never knew what was going on during the three months into the opening.
Question: I know that you are friends with both Mr. Davis and Mr. Hayes, but can you explain what has happened between Ricky Hayes and Tim Davis that caused them to decided to not be partners in the WOWF, and who now has controlling interest in the company?
Answer: Ricky Hayes is the owner now of the Newbern wrestling show.
Well, that answer is tough to explain. I didn't know Tim had taken on a partner till after the show was going. I was never his partner, just a great friend and consultant at first, then my roll changed. Tim and I had an agreement to my roll in the company before the doors opened. It started out as a team of friends, but started falling apart. Everyone has their own agenda. Mine was to do no harm to me or the integrity of the WOWF name! Tim and I had issues over stuff and started to argue. Ricky and I had issues. We all tried to work it out in the background from the fans. Tim and I had agreements as to the direction of the show and I don't think Ricky was totally on board with it. I also told Ricky that I felt shut out and was getting caught between both him and Tim. I told Tim I was going to walk away and pull my name, if things didn't pan out. Out of respect, I just never brought it up to Ricky at the time. I asked Tim to talk with Ricky since he was helping book the show. Ricky Hayes also had been my shot caller at the end of 2001 and did a great job. Back then we never had any issues. I didn't truly understand Ricky's roll in the new WOWF and I never knew of money being involved making Ricky and Tim partners till later in a conversation with both privately.
The show got off to a rough start with not having the best workers booked due to most guys commitments with other promoters around the area. Not knocking anyone, but I had a vision from the beginning and Tim agreed. What I mean by best is, like when we had WWE developmental guys working with WOWF thru Randy Hales at USWA in 90s and 2000s. These guys were mixed with our team of talented wrestlers. We had the best of the best! There were some things I didn't approve of with the talent, that I felt was way below the standards of the WOWF, but I won't disclose them in this interview.
There are wrestlers and managers who were very loyal to me and WOWF. Remember what I said earlier about certain agreements made between me and Tim using the WOWF to run under. I personally worked my butt off with countless hours, days, weeks, months and years building that name. Yes we had the very Best of the Best under WOWF. I had a Great success running a weekly live show, over 200 Television shows aired and were viewed on two different broadcast channels for almost five years. I did bring a huge amount of creativity, credibility, entertainment background, business back ground and skills to the table not matched by anyone else in this area!
These to guys just had different visions and directions of how the show should be ran. Ricky is old school where Tim is more modern with lots of ideas. Ricky has experience like me, more than 30 years under his belt. Tim took over the booking half way through the shows start up. He really tried working his ideas and consulted with me over the past couple months. I thought he did good considering that he had not been in the business as long as some of us. I pitched him great ideas that he was willing to use and tweak, based on the talent. Some of the ideas I gave were awesome and well thought out and some required more attention to details. I also pitched ideas to Ricky as well, that were used. There was a difference between them both. I really like to entertain people as everyone knows. I tend to lean to anything the gets people caught up in the story line. I like gimmicks and I see the fans week after week for three hours, so I know what they want. We have been drawing fans with packed houses over the past 6 weeks. Something was working right. The fans were loving it. They didn't mind telling me about the good and bad aspects. It has nothing to do with glory of a worker's ego. It is about the fans 100%. The card was shaping up to be main event matches from top to bottom.
Question: What will happen to the name of the WOWF, a name you have actually copy-write protection on, now that you are no longer involved with the company?
The WOWF name, graphics, pictures, videos, FB stuff and logos are all my properties! I have never gave anyone anything for free, nor has any of my work or properties been sold. My deal was with Tim using the WOWF in the very beginning and we had our agreement. I was paid a little each week, just as the announcer. They could have never afforded my services, if I was charging them for my services could be valued at by another company . Ricky bought out Tim's part of running the show and materials they bought together as a company like Championship belts, concessions stuff, etc. Nothing of mine was part of any buy out. You can't sell what is not yours!
Question: I hate to bring this up, but the Elephant in the room is, Why are you leaving the WOWF, a business you put so much time and effort into?
Answer: Well it is for a couple reasons as I have said. Personal and private. I do think that Ricky Hayes and Jeff O'Dell being the new owners should restart and recreate their own identity. Everyone knows WOWF is me and what I've done over the years up til now. This is no Disrespect to Ricky at all but I'm not there and have no voice on agreements. He should find his own direction. I believe He will do just great. Like I said he has more than 30 years in wrestling. He has been like a brother to me and we both share the love of Christ. I wish him and all the great workers, from staff to wrestlers the best. I also wish the Best to Tim as well. You should never let something as small as a local wrestling show destroy great friendships! I will be leaving October the 19th. I told Ricky, I wouldn't go to some other promotions to run against him and I won't. That's not me!.......Tim is doing his thing and I'm ok with that as well! I don't know what I will do in the future at this point. I will be very busy from now to January with work, magic and hunting with my father and son.
Question: What would you like for the fans to know about your experience with Wrestling as a whole and the WOWF?
Answer: First off I want to let anyone reading this interview that, I don't want anyone thinking I have no respect for Ricky or Tim. That would be far from the truth. The fans should know why I'm walking away and taking a needed break. I love all the fans and will time to time get involved in wrestling, plus I still will Facebook everyone. Thank you everyone for the great memories, I will be back soon!
Thank you, Mr. Jim Princeton, for your time and for your candid answers to these questions. I know it was a difficult decision to leave this business behind and I hope you have nothing but further success in your life after the WOWF.
Derrick O'Dell
Wrestling News Center
