This message was edited by Gerry K Fabian on August 16th, 2016 17:00 GMT
He was a legit officer of the law who rose to fame by capturing the notorious criminal Billie Sol Estes. (For Estes's complicated history, check Wikipedia.) Slatton used that fame to break into wrestling. Eventually he owned the promotion in Abilene, which was part of the Funks' Amarillo territory. He offered a bloodier product than the rest of the territory, with himself as top star. (He was not able to work the technical style the Funks preferred.) He worked other towns in the territory, but did not seem to be a great draw outside Abilene.
His most famous accomplishment, if you can call it that, was double-crossing Harley Race for the NWA title. Here's my summary, from a recent post on WCMB:
Wednesday, May 10, 1978 – Taylor County Coliseum – Abilene, TX
1) Rip Hawk defeated Terry Garvin
2) Lord Jonathan Boyd defeated Barry Orton
3) Ted DiBiase defeated Mr. Pogo
4) Terry Funk fought Roger Kirby to a draw
5) Chain Match: The Lawman (w/ Terry Funk) defeated World Heavyweight Champion Harley Race
(Results courtesy of Kriss).
As the story goes, Race and Slatton agreed to a screwy finish: Slatton would be on the verge of touching the fourth corner to win the title when outside interference or something of that sort would stop the match. Slatton would look like a hero to his hometown fans; Race would remain champion. However, when it came time for the finish, Slatton actually touched the forth corner, got his hand raised, grabbed the belt, ran back to the locker room and bolted the door. Race instantly ran after him, kicked the door down, beat Slatton unconscious, dragged him and the belt back to the ring and, with much of the crowd still watching, pinned him in the middle of the ring and left him lying. Race then left with the belt.
For kayfabe purposes, Slatton stood behind his victory. He claimed Race had jumped him from behind and stolen the belt, then used a technicality or something to remain champ. As a result, the local promotion began to recognize Slatton as the World Chain fighting champion. He actually defended this title, lost it and won it back on at least one occasion.
I don’t know how much of this story to believe. The Funks continued to do business with Slatton without interruption, and Race was back defending his title on one of Slatton’s cards a few months later. If it really happened, everybody seems to have pretty much gotten over it.
After the Funks sold Amarillo, Slatton apparently had a falling out with the new owners (Murodch and Mulligan) and sued them. Not sure how that worked out, but the whole territory soon folded. Slatton worked for San Antonio around that time. There used to be a San Antonio match on Youtube that began with Slatton firing a weapon in the ring. It's not as interesting as it sounds.
After his wrestling career, Slatton worked as a bondsman and (one hears) bounty hunter.
[edited for typos]
Your Time is Running Out. . . [url]www.deadlykingdom.com[/url]
This message was edited by Kriss on August 16th, 2016 18:12 GMT
The disagreement between Slatton and M&M came about because M&M were trying to promote all the towns themselves, I guess to make more money. They had just bought Odessa from Pat O'Dowdy, but O'Dowdy was in his 80s at this point. Slatton had no intentions to sell up, and stopped running cards. Since Slatton had the licence to promote in Abilene, there were no shows for a a few months. When he started promoting again, I think that the Amarillo territory had already started to break down, and M&M were less involved in the day to days and weren't even wrestling in the territory much. Slatton was able to book anyone who had a free day. His cards were a mixture of Amarillo and Dallas wrestlers. Slatton had always booked wrestlers the odd Dallas wrestler in past years.
Slatton didn't just promote Abilene. He had his own mini-territory so to speak. Abilene and San Angelo were run almost weekly, but he also ran cards in smaller towns around central Texas including Brownwood, Big Spiring, Sweetwater and Breckinridge. If you look closely at the cards from the territory, some wrestlers worked in the Amarillo territory without ever working cards for Slatton.
Slatton wrestled some matches Central States at the start of his career. Funk students were often sent away from the territory for their first matches.
When he finally finished promoting, Slatton ended his career in Dallas, mostly jerking the curtain.
Quoted from: Gerry K Fabian, August 16th, 2016 16:56 GMT
He was a legit officer of the law who rose to fame by capturing the notorious criminal Billie Sol Estes. (For Estes's complicated history, check Wikipedia.) Slatton used that fame to break into wrestling. Eventually he owned the promotion in Abilene, which was part of the Funks' Amarillo territory. He offered a bloodier product than the rest of the territory, with himself as top star. (He was not able to work the technical style the Funks preferred.) He worked other towns in the territory, but did not seem to be a great draw outside Abilene.
His most famous accomplishment, if you can call it that, was double-crossing Harley Race for the NWA title. Here's my summary, from a recent post on WCMB:
Wednesday, May 10, 1978 – Taylor County Coliseum – Abilene, TX
1) Rip Hawk defeated Terry Garvin
2) Lord Jonathan Boyd defeated Barry Orton
3) Ted DiBiase defeated Mr. Pogo
4) Terry Funk fought Roger Kirby to a draw
5) Chain Match: The Lawman (w/ Terry Funk) defeated World Heavyweight Champion Harley Race
(Results courtesy of Kriss).
As the story goes, Race and Slatton agreed to a screwy finish: Slatton would be on the verge of touching the fourth corner to win the title when outside interference or something of that sort would stop the match. Slatton would look like a hero to his hometown fans; Race would remain champion. However, when it came time for the finish, Slatton actually touched the forth corner, got his hand raised, grabbed the belt, ran back to the locker room and bolted the door. Race instantly ran after him, kicked the door down, beat Slatton unconscious, dragged him and the belt back to the ring and, with much of the crowd still watching, pinned him in the middle of the ring and left him lying. Race then left with the belt.
For kayfabe purposes, Slatton stood behind his victory. He claimed Race had jumped him from behind and stolen the belt, then used a technicality or something to remain champ. As a result, the local promotion began to recognize Slatton as the World Chain fighting champion. He actually defended this title, lost it and won it back on at least one occasion.
I don’t know how much of this story to believe. The Funks continued to do business with Slatton without interruption, and Race was back defending his title on one of Slatton’s cards a few months later. If it really happened, everybody seems to have pretty much gotten over it.
After the Funks sold Amarillo, Slatton apparently had a falling out with the new owners (Murodch and Mulligan) and sued them. Not sure how that worked out, but the whole territory soon folded. Slatton worked for San Antonio around that time. There used to be a San Antonio match on Youtube that began with Slatton firing a weapon in the ring. It's not as interesting as it sounds.
After his wrestling career, Slatton worked as a bondsman and (one hears) bounty hunter.
[edited for typos]
Thank you. Great info and a great story about the Race double cross.
The disagreement between Slatton and M&M came about because M&M were trying to promote all the towns themselves, I guess to make more money. They had just bought Odessa from Pat O'Dowdy, but O'Dowdy was in his 80s at this point. Slatton had no intentions to sell up, and stopped running cards. Since Slatton had the licence to promote in Abilene, there were no shows for a a few months. When he started promoting again, I think that the Amarillo territory had already started to break down, and M&M were less involved in the day to days and weren't even wrestling in the territory much. Slatton was able to book anyone who had a free day. His cards were a mixture of Amarillo and Dallas wrestlers. Slatton had always booked wrestlers the odd Dallas wrestler in past years.
Slatton didn't just promote Abilene. He had his own mini-territory so to speak. Abilene and San Angelo were run almost weekly, but he also ran cards in smaller towns around central Texas including Brownwood, Big Spiring, Sweetwater and Breckinridge. If you look closely at the cards from the territory, some wrestlers worked in the Amarillo territory without ever working cards for Slatton.
Slatton wrestled some matches Central States at the start of his career. Funk students were often sent away from the territory for their first matches.
When he finally finished promoting, Slatton ended his career in Dallas, mostly jerking the curtain.
These business relationships fascinate me--so much going on behind the curtain, unsuspected by us fans.
Regarding Slatton's early career, I also came across results for him from Indianapolis and Detroit.
Your Time is Running Out. . . [url]www.deadlykingdom.com[/url]
Interesting that in the commentary on the Slatton match it says that Slatton used to be tag partners with the legendary Buford Pusser during his in ring career.
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