Western States Sports

Western States Sports was founded by Dory Detton in 1946. Detton staged his first show in the Tri-State Fairgrounds on March 14, 1946, marking the first professional wrestling show to be held in Amarillo in over five years.^[2] In October 1951, Southwest States Enterprises joined the National Wrestling Alliance.^[9]

In 1955, retired wrestler Karl "Doc" Sarpolis purchased Western States Sports from Detton for $75,000 (equivalent to $880,000 in 2024).^[10] He offered local wrestler Dory Funk the opportunity to buy-in to the promotion, which he accepted.^[11] In addition to booking the promotion, Funk was its biggest star. Sarpolis was elected president of the NWA in 1962.^[10]

Funk's sons, Dory Funk Jr. and Terry Funk, began wrestling for the promotion in the mid-1960s. After Sarpolis died in 1967, Funk purchased his shares from his widow, giving him full ownership of Western States Sports.^[12][4] Dory Funk died in 1973, leaving the Funk brothers as owners of the territory.^[13]

In the early-1970s, the Funks developed a working relationship with Giant Baba, owner of the All Japan Pro Wrestling promotion. A talent exchange between the two promotions saw Japanese wrestlers such as Genichiro Tenryu and Jumbo Tsuruta debut in Western States Sports before debuting in AJPW.^[14][15]

By 1980, ticket sales were beginning to decline. The Funk brothers sold the territory to wrestlers Blackjack Mulligan and Dick Murdoch for $20,000 (equivalent to $76,000 in 2024).^[7][8][16] With business continuing to slump, the promotion closed in 1981.^[1]

Western States Sports aired an hour-long television program on KFDA-TV (Channel 10) each Saturday afternoon.^{[10][5][17][self-published source]} The program aired in West Texas along with New Mexico and Colorado. It was hosted by Steve Stack.^[18] The program featured a combination of matches recorded in the KFDA studios in Amarillo, matches recorded at house shows, interviews, and clips of matches from other territories.^[19]

• Bob Backlund^[14]
• Killer Tim Brooks^[35]
• Cyclone Negro^[14]
• Ted DiBiase^[5][36]
• Dory Funk^[11][37]
• Dory Funk Jr.^[37]
• Terry Funk^[4][37]
• Gory Guerrero^[38]
• Swede Hanson^[5]
• Rip Hawk^[5]
• Gene LeBell^[39]
• Wahoo McDaniel^[3]
• Sputnik Monroe^{[40][3][self-published source]}
• Pedro Morales^[41]
• Dick Murdoch^[35]
• Thunderbolt Patterson^{[42][self-published source]}
• Harley Race^[6]
• Dusty Rhodes^[43]
• Ricky Romero^[37][44]
• Merced Solis^[5]
• Dennis Stamp^[45]
• Jumbo Tsuruta^[14]
• Maurice Vachon^[38]
• Bill Watts^[46]
• Johnny Weaver^[5]