Andrew Lutzke
From Ellbow Promotions and Highspots.com
David Crockett
Big Jim Crockett was ok with people making mistakes in his business. His family was exempt from this though as Big Jim knew the family had to set the tone for how operations should be run.
David’s father provided a wide range of entertainment properties to the Carolinas. If one property wasn’t clicking, Big Jim would find another venue to draw fans and make money.
A Broadway play was brought in. It wasn’t a moneymaker, but Big Jim had to try and test the waters with his audience.
David started in the wrestling business in grade school as a ring crewmember and ticket seller. This was only done on the weekends because of school.
Big Jim wasn’t around during the week since he had a business to run. The weekend wrestling provided a chance for his kids to spend time with him.
David’s parents did not want him to be a part of the wrestling scene. His parents hoped he would branch off to another business and expand the empire.
Dave ended up in the biz anyway as a wrestler named “Dave Finley”. Big Jim pushed him into being a wrestler to “see the other side of the business.”
Ole and Gene Anderson beat the tar out of David in training and in the ring.
Big Jim died in April of 1973. He was very heavy and had been seeking possible diet treatments.
Jim’s death was devastating since he ran the business based on his head and a small notebook; when he died, the knowledge went with him.
David’s father was the center of the family and his death created a vacuum for the family structure.
The biggest regret David has is that he didn’t tell his dad he loved him.
Mama Crockett spent hours in the kitchen to cope with her loss.
David left school to help JCP after his father’s death.
John Ringley was a salesmen who was married into the family. He took over as the head of JCP. Jim Jr. was considered too quiet to be the main man.
Big Jim had all the contacts and friends in the business, so the family basically had to start from scratch and rebuild the business in their own way.
George Scott was brought in as booker and did a masterful job of creating a wrestling boom.
Johnny Valentine is put over hard for his in-ring skills.
David took over as JCP announcer after their regular guy was unavailable due to being drunk.
Jim Jr. took over as company head man after Ringley was caught having an affair.
David thinks Jim should have listened to him more often as David could see some things going wrong during the 80’s boom period that Jim didn’t fix.
David was part of the infamous plane crash that injured Ric Flair and several other wrestlers.
The pilot dumped some fuel before take off and eventually the plane ran out of gas and the pilot ignored several landing spots when trouble was obvious.
David gives a bit of a chilling rundown of his version of the crash. Much of it David can’t recall. Johnny Valentine was pinned in the plane and was tormented by the incident.
During the mid-70’s and into the early 80’s, JCP appeared on 82 TV stations.
Being an announcer was a thrill for David as he was a devoted fan and his on air persona was very much his inner fan coming out.
Nikita Koloff didn’t like David and took great pleasure in doing an angle where Koloff clotheslined Crockett.
Roddy Piper and Ric Flair were crazy drinkers. Jim and David partook in the binge drinking as well. Dave is just glad the police liked JCP and ignored much of their behavior.
The wrestlers sucked up to Jim Jr. a lot since they knew he was the headman.
Business began to dip in the early 80’s and Ole Anderson was brought in to book at the same time as Ole was running and booking Geogria Championship Wrestling.
Ole loved to complain. Still does.
Anderson was let go as business was still in a lull and Ole wasn’t around to be a full-time booker who could listen and adapt to the locker room.
Dory Funk Jr. came in as booker. He booked too much blood on TV and sponsors complained.
David oddly doesn’t remember “The Final Conflict” card. That was the most famous event in years for JCP.
Dusty Rhodes was brought in to book “Starrcade ‘83”. Pyro, theme music and much ballyhoo went into making this event a spectacular.
JCP had the glitz and the in-ring action. The glitz took away from the bottom line though.
Jim convinced Dusty to come in full time and book JCP. Jim and Dusty wanted to build to a number of big shows as the year progressed.
Dusty was a big spender and liked to live big. Production costs escalated and Jim Jr. didn’t give Rhodes a budget to work with.
David and Jim argued over the costs of the extraneous things that went into production.
Ted Turner convinced Jim to buyout Vince McMahon for the 6:05 TV slot and Vince used the money to stay afloat as he expanded.
JCP justified giving their rival a million dollars by saying they needed to use national TV to fend off Vince and expand their own business.
David misses the business and wishes things had ended different.
The Four Horsemen were an incredible group of heels to watch cut promos and out shine everyone in the ring.
Magnum TA was being built to carry the promotion. He had the look and the charisma.
TA’s accident hurt the business but things had to go on.
Jim buying out the UWF was a mistake. The UWF was dying and JCP bought up Bill Watts’ debt and took on a massive syndication cost.
Ted Turner told JCP that if they didn’t sell the business to him that he’d kick JCP off TBS.
The Great American Bash had pyro, live music and stadiums – it was fun to experience but the money drawn didn’t cover the huzzah.
David doesn’t think contracts belong in wrestling. He was with WCW when the million dollar deals were being handed out left and right. At one point WCW had 17 million dollars in contracted talent sitting out and getting paid for “injuries”.
The JCP accountant tried to warn Jim that the cash wasn’t meeting the expenditures.
Big Jim’s widow ultimately convinced David to go along with the JCP buyout.
David blames his brother for not cutting back expenses for why JCP went under.
In regards to Dusty booking expensive acts and extras: “I don’t respect Dusty for what he did, he knew what he was doing”
The next generation of the Crocketts have missed out on what should have been an empire handed down from Big Jim.
David thanks the fans for their support and continued devotion to JCP.
Jackie Crockett
Jackie was a cameraman for JCP and WCW.
Jackie starts off with a weird bit about comparing hot dog quality by brand.
A WCW PPV was almost ruined by a batch of bad crayfish that gave everyone the shits.
Jackie would sneak under the ring during 5 hour TV tapings and smoke cigarettes in between matches.
Ric Flair came to JCP as an ill-dressed greaseball, his flair was quickly uncovered.
Jackie also was the JCP treasurer.
Jimmy Valiant had his wife get as big of implants that were possible at the time.
JCP ran 3 towns a night for many years.
Upwards of 55 wrestlers were regularly on the roster. During peak periods, Jackie claims over 100 people would be on the roster. (Both numbers sound incredibly exaggerated.)
A fan ran in during a midget tag match – the midgets beat the fan up.
Big Jim believed in telling the truth to his audience. Very rarely did plans not turn out.
Ray Charles missed a concert for JCP because he was too loaded with drugs.
James Brown was hired by JCP tons of times – he was a huge draw for African-Americans.
Jackie made it on wrestling TV as a kid when he was used in an interview where The Bolos were suppose to smash a coconut with their headbutts.
George Becker was a booker, and because of that, a top babyface in the 60’s and 70’s.
Big Jim was setting up the business for when he would retire. All the family had equal shares and heated arguments ensued in the wake of Big Jim’s death.
Jackie didn’t like suits, so being an on screen announcer wasn’t going to happen.
David’s wrestling career ended when his mother heard he coughed up blood.
JCP decided to expand to defend itself from Vince’s onslaught as well as get a slice of national advertising money.
JCP was buying territories, Vince was putting them out of business.
With national TV money, house shows could have been stopped as the core business costs would be more than covered.
Jackie was supposed to be on the plane that David crashed in.
Flair broke his back in the crash and was laid up for months, Jackie had to rub Ric’s belly to help him fart.
Jackie feels Dusty did a good job booking and didn’t push himself as hard as Becker had.
A Nikita Koloff drinking story is started…then cut off as Jackie figures Koloff is religious now and his dirty laundry shouldn’t be spread. Grrrr….
A jobber owned a gym in the area and let the guys work out for free. Jackie’s son went there on day and was kicked out for not being a wrestler. Jackie then had the jobber booked with Ronnie Garvin and Garvin beat the piss out of him, at Jackie’s request.
The airplanes that JCP bought came in handy for getting talent for from house shows happening hours apart.
They ask Jackie about the end of JCP and he asked to have the camera shut off. He told the interviewer his views off the air and when it turns back on he just says all the Crocketts are partially responsible for it.
The Turner buy out gave Jackie enough money to retire on, if he had wanted to.
We close with a news clip of the Bash 85 that states JCP averages 7500 fans a show and runs 700 shows a year. (LIES!)
Final thoughts:
David was a little bitter and had a bit of an ego. Jackie was a pleasant surprise, as I went in expecting nothing of note from him and he delivered a lot of interesting bits from his perspective. It’s sad that the family was basically torn apart due to JCP going under.
