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The Universal Wrestling Federation to air on ESPN Classic Print E-mail
Wednesday, January 02, 2008
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Cactus Jack in the UWF
In one of those "what the heck?!?" stories, Herb Abrams' Universal Wrestling Federation will return to the air January 8th at 1am and 1:30am on ESPN Classic. Depending on the person, this is either horrible or wonderful news. Episodes will be 30 minutes most likely made up from the old "Fury Hour" shows that aired in the early '90s on SportsChannel America, and are probably the same episodes that aired on ESPN2 in the mid-90's and later on ESPN Classic in Canada.

The Universal Wrestling Federation was an attempt to create another national promotion, but to say that it never really caught on would be a bit of an understatement. The promotion used several well known competitors but the wrestling, production and booking was not well received, though many found the unintentional comedy to be very entertaining.

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Terry Gordy in the UWF
The UWF ran their only pay-per-view, "Beach Brawl", on June 9th, 1991 in Palmetto, FL at the Manatee Civic Center, drawing only 500 fans in a 4,000 seat arena. The show had a pretty stacked lineup, but the show was not well received and was seen as a failure in every possible way. Three years later though the UWF would top even that great feat when they ran a TV special on SportsChannel America called "Blackjack Brawl" at the MGM Grand on September 23, 1994. The show drew roughly 600 fans in a 17,000 seat building.

Perhaps the most enduring legacy of Herb Abrams' Universal Wrestling Federation was the owner's bizarre death in 1996. According to the New York Daily News, police were called to a office building in Manhattan on July 23rd and found Abrams, naked and covered in baby oil, running around and destroying furniture. He was arrested and taken to St. Vincent's Hospital where he died of a massive heart attack shortly after arriving.

UWF Wrestling airs at 1:00 and 1:30am every Monday night/Tuesday morning through Friday night/Saturday morning starting January 8th.
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