Rise and Fall of the World Bodybuilding Federation

[EdwardKnoxII 0]

Saw this on a website seems, like a interesting read about the WBF.

 

http://www.getbig.com/articles/faq-wbf.htm

 

 

The World Bodybuilding Federation (WBF) was an ill-fated attempt to set up another pro bodybuilding group which would rival the IFBB. It lasted only 18 months, from January 1991 to July 1992. Here is the history of the WBF, by Peter McGough, from Flex Magazine, October 1993.

 

 

 

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It started as a rumor in the late spring of 1990. Wrestling czar Vince McMahon (President of the World Wrestling Federation and TitanSports) was planning to launch a bodybuilding magazine as a precursor to forming a rival pro federation to the IFBB.

All summer of that year, McMahon and his associates denied they had any designs on creating a bodybuilding federation, saying that they proposed only to produce a magazine called 'Bodybuilding Lifestyles'. In mid summer, it was announced that Tom Platz, one of bodybuilding's favorite sons, had joined the 'Bodybuilding lifestyles' team.

 

In order to promoted the magazine, TitanSports booked an exhibitor booth at the 1990 IFBB Mr. Olympia contest to be held on September 15th in Chicago. At the conclusion of the contest, the 'Bodybuilding Lifestyle' staff, in Trojan-horse style, scurried around the Arie Crown Theater handing out a press release that announced the formation of a new bodybuilding federation: the WBF. The release stated that the WBF would 'revamp professional bodybuilding with dramatic new events and the richest prize money in the history of the sport'. Furthermore, Tom Platz had been appointed Director of Talent Development for the WBF.

 

Throughout that fall and winter, potential WBF candidates were flown first class to TitanSport's Connecticut headquarters and given VIP treatment. Speculation ran wild as to who the WBF would sign.

 

All was revealed at a glitzy press conference staged at New York's Plaza Hotel on January 30th, 1991, when out strode the following 13 athletes: Aaron Baker, Mike Christian, Vince Comerford, David Dearth, Berry DeMey, Johnnie Morant, Danny Padilla, Tony Pearson, Jim Quinn, Mike Quinn, Eddie Robinson, Gary Strydom, and Troy Zuccolotto.

 

In recruiting the 13 musclemen, the WBF has flourished megabucks. For instance, it was reported that Gary Strydom had a three-year deal worth $400,000 per year.

 

McMahon announced that the WBF's first contest would be held in Atlantic City on June 15th, 1991 at the opulent Taj Mahal casino, owned by Donald Trump. The Plaza Hotel lineup was more impressive than anyone had previously thought, and Tom Platz further said that the signing of other 'biggies' would occur before June 15th. It seemed that a potent force was being assembled, and in reaction to the threat, the Weider / IBFF began signing athletes to contracts. In retrospect, that press conference can be viewed as the WBF's finest hour.

 

Eighteen months later on July 15th, 1992, Vince McMahon was reduced from 'kicking BUTT' to kissing it when he called Ben and Joe Weider, pronounced them the fathers of bodybuilding, and told them he was closing down his bodybuilding magazine production and the WBF.

 

Since the January 1991 press conference, the history of the WBF has been nothing but a catalog of disasters, including two lackluster contests that prompted the comment that WBF stood for 'We bore fans'; the Lou Ferrigno now you see him, now you don't farce, and McMahon's involvement in an ongoing drug scandal, during which he had been forced to admit to his own 'experimental' use of anabolic steroids.

 

The reason for McMahon's astonishing phone call to the brothers Weider, presumably, was that he wished to ensure he would be able to advertise Icopro products (the supplement he had millions invested in) in Muscle & Fitness, and Flex.

 

Having lost a reported 15 million dollars on his foray into bodybuilding, McMahon bowed out, disgracefully, many of the athletes said, as they were left to fend for themselves. After several variations of an appropriated penalty for re-entering the IFBB area had been mooted, it was announced in February 1993 that the WBF athletes would be allowed to compete at IFBB events: the fine being 10% of each individual's annual WBF salary, deducted from contest winnings and guest appearances. Of the 13 WBF athletes, six competed in May 1993 IFBB contests. None of them gained an Olympia qualifying place. The WBF came into being in 1991 with 13 athletes and, after a two-contest lifespan, expired in 1992 with 13 athletes.

 

It took a special kind of conceit on McMahon's part to think he could achieve more in two years than what it took Joe and Ben Weider 50 years to build. But if your life's work has been one of being satiated in the pantomime of pro wrestling, it must be difficult at times to know where acting ends and reality begins.

 

The athletes who signed with the WBF did so for financial gain. There's nothing wrong for that, and the IFBB, understanding that 'business is business', allowed them to return with a much milder penalty than anyone had first imagined. To those who say there should have been no penalty, how would they explain such leniency to those who refused the WBF's bait?

 

The opening of May's 1993 Night of Champions celebrated the return of the WBF athletes to the IFBB fold. Against a graveyard setting, they were resurrected and reunited with their former colleagues. The tableau concluded with the strains of John Sebastian singing 'Welcome Back'. Perhaps the symbolism of that scenario, made unquestionably complete by the reality of an onstage Icopro banner, and the sentiments within the song bear further scrutiny. The WBFers are now IFBB pros, and no future stigma should be inferred or attached to them for the former allegiance. THE WBF story is over and done with.

[Guest JMA]

I don't think the WBF really had any kind of "rise." They fell flat on their faces pretty much at the start.

 

Still, it's a good article.

[Si82 0]

I don't think the WBF really had any kind of "rise." They fell flat on their faces pretty much at the start.

 

Still, it's a good article.

I thought that too. When will Vince understand that if he try to promote anything other than wrestling it's just gonna fail?

 

And yes, it is a good article.

[reign 0]

No mention of when Vince started using the WBF as a platform for Lex Lugers entrance into the WWE(F)....

[Si82 0]

No mention of when Vince started using the WBF as a platform for Lex Lugers entrance into the WWE(F)....

I thought that Luger didn't want to wrestle at the time and that's why he joined the WBF and that he was only brought in as a wrestler becuase he was still under contract when the WBF went under.

[Dobbs 3K 0]

I believe that is accurate. Lex basically had to start wrestling to justify the money he was making.

 

As far as Vince's ventures outside the WWE...I think one problem is that he always tries to start at the top right away, at least with the WBF and XFL. It took years for him to build up the WWF. But with WBF, he started out with PPVs and signing a bunch of expensive bodybuilding guys right away. With the XFL, he started with this big long season and big TV deal on NBC. There wasn't any slow build up or anything.

[Slayer 0]

I thought he couldn't wrestle for some time in mid-92 as a condition of his release from WCW (post-dropping the title to Sting)

 

He could appear on WWF broadcasts, but not actually compete in the ring.

[spman 0]

I believe that is accurate. Lex basically had to start wrestling to justify the money he was making.

 

As far as Vince's ventures outside the WWE...I think one problem is that he always tries to start at the top right away, at least with the WBF and XFL. It took years for him to build up the WWF. But with WBF, he started out with PPVs and signing a bunch of expensive bodybuilding guys right away. With the XFL, he started with this big long season and big TV deal on NBC. There wasn't any slow build up or anything.

 

While I do agree for the most part with this statement, I think it's actually the fact that he basically did take his fathers small regional territory and turned it into the #1 wrestling promotion in the country in a very short span of time that led to this. It really didn't take Vince years at all to build up the WWF. He took over in late 83, took the belt off Backlund within a couple of months, put the belt on Hogan a month after that, and it just took off from there. After the Rock and Wrestling Connection and Wrestlemania became such a huge success a year later, Vince had already firmly established that in less then a year and a half in control of his fathers wrestling promotion, he had taken to the top of the industry and was not only #1 but was also for the most part the only game in town left for most of the country.

Edited December 6, 2005 by spman

[EdwardKnoxII 0]

The only thing I really remember about that WBF was that Lex Luger was apart of it and was suppose the be on the first PPV but, had his motorcycle accident. That Vince and some bodybuilding lady (can't think of her name) hosted the show on Saturday after WWF Mania. And the theme song for the WBF had the words "GO FOR IT" yelled alot during the song.

[UseTheSledgehammerUh 0]

Lex has a 1-year No Compete clause, from what I recall.

 

I watched WBF Bodystars on USA Network for Cameo Kneuer.

 

I remember Vince hyping "THE LEGEND" Lou Ferrigno appearing on one of the WBF Pay Per View events...sigh.

[Slayer 0]

He didn't actually wrestle his first match until RAW a couple weeks after his debut at RR'93, nearly a year after SB'92, so that sounds about right

[Guest hasbeen]

I believe that is accurate. Lex basically had to start wrestling to justify the money he was making.

 

As far as Vince's ventures outside the WWE...I think one problem is that he always tries to start at the top right away, at least with the WBF and XFL. It took years for him to build up the WWF. But with WBF, he started out with PPVs and signing a bunch of expensive bodybuilding guys right away. With the XFL, he started with this big long season and big TV deal on NBC. There wasn't any slow build up or anything.

 

 

The XFL was a lot better than what many thought. A lot of the players were All American types in college who didn't have the skills for the NFL but were better than nearly everyone else in their age range available. A few of them went on to the NFL, I think Brad Hoover, Rod (He Hate Me) Smart and Tommy Maddox were some of the future NFL starters though none is a pro bowler they can still play the game. The games were pretty exciting at least to me, but I had to watch them on tape usually, just like Friday Smackdown now. The league never had a chance because ESPN and the like wouldn't give it a chance. Instead of focusing on some good players, close exciting games, they focused on penalties, some mistakes made in games and other stuff-one dropped pass in the end zone was shown over a weekend literally 20 times on one network or another, show me an NFL game this weekend that doesn't have a critical dropped pass-and that was their example of inferior play. I am a huge fan of football on all levels, so I'm biased, but I do feel it had a chance if there hadn't been a crusade to get it stopped before it even began and made a mockery of it just because of who owned it.

[Jericholic82 0]

I believe that is accurate. Lex basically had to start wrestling to justify the money he was making.

 

As far as Vince's ventures outside the WWE...I think one problem is that he always tries to start at the top right away, at least with the WBF and XFL. It took years for him to build up the WWF. But with WBF, he started out with PPVs and signing a bunch of expensive bodybuilding guys right away. With the XFL, he started with this big long season and big TV deal on NBC. There wasn't any slow build up or anything.

 

 

The XFL was a lot better than what many thought. A lot of the players were All American types in college who didn't have the skills for the NFL but were better than nearly everyone else in their age range available. A few of them went on to the NFL, I think Brad Hoover, Rod (He Hate Me) Smart and Tommy Maddox were some of the future NFL starters though none is a pro bowler they can still play the game. The games were pretty exciting at least to me, but I had to watch them on tape usually, just like Friday Smackdown now. The league never had a chance because ESPN and the like wouldn't give it a chance. Instead of focusing on some good players, close exciting games, they focused on penalties, some mistakes made in games and other stuff-one dropped pass in the end zone was shown over a weekend literally 20 times on one network or another, show me an NFL game this weekend that doesn't have a critical dropped pass-and that was their example of inferior play. I am a huge fan of football on all levels, so I'm biased, but I do feel it had a chance if there hadn't been a crusade to get it stopped before it even began and made a mockery of it just because of who owned it.

I agree, the media helped to paint a picture of the XFL as a joke so no casual fan would take it seriously. Most wrestling fans watched it to support Vince but for the most part smarks were pissed at the idea and also made it out to be a joke.

 

as for the WBF, I remember watching the WBF "Bodystars" porgram on sat mornings, hoping that some wrestler might actually be on there for once. Yes I was dumb.

[MDH257 0]

From an On Field persepective, Vince's biggest mistake was not having a real preseason. I think they did one or two practice games, but the purpose of those was for the televison production to have a test run.

 

The play had gotten better by week four or five, but it was too late.

[cabbageboy 0]

Cameo Kneuer was seriously hot, what happened to her? As far as Luger goes, I think it was just his no compete with WCW that had him dick around in the WBF until he debuted at the 93 Rumble.

[landy1987 0]

as for the WBF, I remember watching the WBF "Bodystars" porgram on sat mornings, hoping that some wrestler might actually be on there for once. Yes I was dumb.

 

In the Spring or Summer of 1992 they did have an interesting show where several WWF stars appeared and I believe there was a Tug Of War contest between the WWF (heel wrestlers such as Dibiase) and WBF stars with the WBF winning. I believe this was also Bill Alfonso's first appearance to be involved with the WWF as he was the referee for the contest (he had just left WCW a very short time before jumping over)

[Guest hasbeen]

From an On Field persepective, Vince's biggest mistake was not having a real preseason. I think they did one or two practice games, but the purpose of those was for the televison production to have a test run.

 

The play had gotten better by week four or five, but it was too late.

 

 

True, but ESPN and the like had to treat it as a relatively serious event for it to last and reach the average sports fan. I remember the 2nd week, a game with the LA team winning in the closing seconds, maybe overtime on a long pass. The ESPN co-anchor said something to the effect of wow, the crowd's excited, the players are excited, maybe this league has some potential...I could just hear the other anchor getting an earful through his earpiece, because he came back with some smart remark how the receiver catching the ball didn't last in the NFL. It wasn't the NFL and never pretended to be. Their hyprocrisy was proven when the Arena league and World league began getting national airings regularly, and were promoted by networks including ESPN as "a fun alternatives to the NFL during its offseason" when the XFL was called garbage. Most of the bad play took place in the first two weeks. No random 50 NFL players could be thrown together and be polished, and when the XFL couldn't have polished teams-including some players that had been out of the game-in just a couple of weeks they were blasted for being second-rate.

Edited December 21, 2005 by hasbeen

[Jericholic82 0]

From an On Field persepective, Vince's biggest mistake was not having a real preseason. I think they did one or two practice games, but the purpose of those was for the televison production to have a test run.

 

The play had gotten better by week four or five, but it was too late.

 

 

True, but ESPN and the like had to treat it as a relatively serious event for it to last and reach the average sports fan. I remember the 2nd week, a game with the LA team winning in the closing seconds, maybe overtime on a long pass. The ESPN co-anchor said something to the effect of wow, the crowd's excited, the players are excited, maybe this league has some potential...I could just hear the other anchor getting an earful through his earpiece, because he came back with some smart remark how the receiver catching the ball didn't last in the NFL. It wasn't the NFL and never pretended to be. Their hyprocrisy was proven when the Arena league and World league began getting national airings regularly, and were promoted by networks including ESPN as "a fun alternatives to the NFL during its offseason" when the XFL was called garbage. Most of the bad play took place in the first two weeks. No random 50 NFL players could be thrown together and be polished, and when the XFL couldn't have polished teams-including some players that had been out of the game-in just a couple of weeks they were blasted for being second-rate.

Exactly, they never gave it a chance simply cuz it was Vinces league

[Steve J. Rogers 0]

From an On Field persepective, Vince's biggest mistake was not having a real preseason. I think they did one or two practice games, but the purpose of those was for the televison production to have a test run.

 

The play had gotten better by week four or five, but it was too late.

 

 

True, but ESPN and the like had to treat it as a relatively serious event for it to last and reach the average sports fan. I remember the 2nd week, a game with the LA team winning in the closing seconds, maybe overtime on a long pass. The ESPN co-anchor said something to the effect of wow, the crowd's excited, the players are excited, maybe this league has some potential...I could just hear the other anchor getting an earful through his earpiece, because he came back with some smart remark how the receiver catching the ball didn't last in the NFL. It wasn't the NFL and never pretended to be. Their hyprocrisy was proven when the Arena league and World league began getting national airings regularly, and were promoted by networks including ESPN as "a fun alternatives to the NFL during its offseason" when the XFL was called garbage. Most of the bad play took place in the first two weeks. No random 50 NFL players could be thrown together and be polished, and when the XFL couldn't have polished teams-including some players that had been out of the game-in just a couple of weeks they were blasted for being second-rate.

 

The other problem was that the mainstream media also seemed to treat it as a TV program rather than a sports telecast. Case in point TV Guide put it on its Top 50 Worst TV Shows of All Time list.

 

Please, there are a slew of sports related programing that can be put over XFL's televisied products. WCW Thunder comes to mind, NBC had an alternative to Wide World Of Sports called "Games People Play" that looked like the America's Funniest Home Video equvilant to Wide World Of Sports. MLB had a disaster of a project called "The Baseball Network" that can rank up there as a major sports programing blunder

 

Steve

[Art Sandusky 0]

The opening of May's 1993 Night of Champions celebrated the return of the WBF athletes to the IFBB fold. Against a graveyard setting, they were resurrected and reunited with their former colleagues. The tableau concluded with the strains of John Sebastian singing 'Welcome Back'. Perhaps the symbolism of that scenario, made unquestionably complete by the reality of an onstage Icopro banner, and the sentiments within the song bear further scrutiny. The WBFers are now IFBB pros, and no future stigma should be inferred or attached to them for the former allegiance. THE WBF story is over and done with.

 

Holy crap, how has this been going on for 50 years.

[BUTT 0]

There's a much better history of the WBF at http://pwchronicle.blogspot.com.

Edited December 28, 2005 by Sensei John Kreese

[Dobbs 3K 0]

I agree with most of the things people said above about the XFL. I do think some blame lies on Vince McMahon's shoulders. He should've distanced it from WWF, and presented it as it's own separate league. Having Steve Austin and the Rock appear at games on the first week, and having Jerry Lawler and Jim Ross call games didn't really help things, either. If the league was to be given credibility, it should've been distanced from WWF as much as possible.

[Jericholic82 0]

From an On Field persepective, Vince's biggest mistake was not having a real preseason. I think they did one or two practice games, but the purpose of those was for the televison production to have a test run.

 

The play had gotten better by week four or five, but it was too late.

 

 

True, but ESPN and the like had to treat it as a relatively serious event for it to last and reach the average sports fan. I remember the 2nd week, a game with the LA team winning in the closing seconds, maybe overtime on a long pass. The ESPN co-anchor said something to the effect of wow, the crowd's excited, the players are excited, maybe this league has some potential...I could just hear the other anchor getting an earful through his earpiece, because he came back with some smart remark how the receiver catching the ball didn't last in the NFL. It wasn't the NFL and never pretended to be. Their hyprocrisy was proven when the Arena league and World league began getting national airings regularly, and were promoted by networks including ESPN as "a fun alternatives to the NFL during its offseason" when the XFL was called garbage. Most of the bad play took place in the first two weeks. No random 50 NFL players could be thrown together and be polished, and when the XFL couldn't have polished teams-including some players that had been out of the game-in just a couple of weeks they were blasted for being second-rate.

 

The other problem was that the mainstream media also seemed to treat it as a TV program rather than a sports telecast. Case in point TV Guide put it on its Top 50 Worst TV Shows of All Time list.

 

Please, there are a slew of sports related programing that can be put over XFL's televisied products. WCW Thunder comes to mind, NBC had an alternative to Wide World Of Sports called "Games People Play" that looked like the America's Funniest Home Video equvilant to Wide World Of Sports. MLB had a disaster of a project called "The Baseball Network" that can rank up there as a major sports programing blunder

 

Steve

perhaps cuz it was vinces league they considered it sports-entertainment?

[Guest JMA]

I think I knew the league would die after I heard Ross and Lawler doing commentary.

 

Then again, the precise death would be that horrible cheerleaders skit. I wonder how much Rodney Dangerfield got paid for being in that?