Quick Links
Second-generation stars often have it harder than other wrestlers. While it might seem like they have an advantage because they have wrestling in their blood, there are also the expectations of fans for their careers. These wrestlers have to match up to their parents' success in the ring. Few do. Erik Watts is one second-generations star thrown into the limelight too early, and one that flamed out quickly. When Bill Watts put his son into major angles in WCW when he was the promoter there, fans hated him from the start.
Erik Watts Was A College Football Quarterback With No Wrestling Experience
When Bill Watts worked as promoter in his own company, Mid-South Wrestling, the fans loved him. He presented great episodic storytelling every week on TV, something that other companies had not embraced at that time in history. However, when he showed up in WCW, Watts was too old-school for fans in 1992. He made sweeping rule changes, like banning moves from the top rope, and then he brought in his own son Erik and pushed him to the top, despite Erik not earning that spot.
Erik Watts had a similar upbringing as other WCW stars. Like Brian Pillman, Steve Austin, and others, he was a former football star. Erik was a quarterback for the Louisville Cardinals in college football, and he had the size and body to be a star. What he didn't have was the in-ring wrestling experience, and despite having a father who was once one of wrestling's brightest minds, Erik wasn't ready for this spot on nationwide television.
RELATED: Road Warrior Animal's Completely Forgotten Heel Turn In WWE, Explained
Steve Austin Refused To Put Over Erik Watts
In 1992, WCW fans wanted something different from what Bill Watts gave them. They wanted high-flying action with stars like Brian Pillman and Watts took that away from them. They wanted the reunion of The Four Horsemen, and Watts screwed that up as well. Instead of getting what they wanted, Watts gave them mat-based wrestling action, and he made Erik Watts a major player in the company. With fans frustrated at Bill Watts ignoring what they wanted, they took it out on Erik.
Erik did little to shake the fans' hate, either. He seemed to have a chip on his shoulder, and in later interviews, he made comments about how he deserved better, even though fans rejected him outright. Steve Austin was a popular heel in WCW, and he came up the right way, working in the territories and training before making his way to TV. However, when WCW decided Austin should job out to Watts, the future "Stone Cold" refused to job to his inexperienced opponent. Watts remembered this in an interview with The Hannibal TV, where he said, "Austin told I think it was Grizzly Smith, ‘No, I’m not doing it,’ which in an industry standard, not because I’m who I am and not because he was who he was, nothing like that, that is a very dicey move no matter who you are."
RELATED: The Red Rooster: A WWE Gimmick That Completely Tanked Terry Taylor's Career
Erik Watts Went To WWE Before Returning To WCW
Fans didn't want to see Erik Watts in the ring, and they didn't want to see him winning big matches. However, what fans don't seem to understand when looking back at Watts is that, while he got a lot of TV time, he won very few big matches. He started his career beating a rookie Diamond Dallas Page, a pre-Raven Scotty Flamingo, and a young Vinnie Vegas (Kevin Nash). His first big win came over Bobby Eaton, and he went to a draw with Rick Rude a few times. By this point, fans felt that Erik wasn't very good in the ring, and they wanted any other wrestler on their TV other than him. However, other than his first two PPV events, Erik didn't win another PPV match before leaving the company in 1994.
Eric Bischoff said in his 83 Weeks podcast that Erik just didn't have what it took in WCW. "Now, was he horrible because they pushed him too soon? Was he horrible because he didn’t have the natural talent and instincts, was he horrible because he just wasn’t booked properly, and there was no chemistry with the people he was working with?" Bischoff asked. "I don’t know the answer to that. But I think anytime you get a second or third-generation wrestler, you’re starting out in a hole. Erik Watts started out in a deeper hole than almost anybody."
Erik Watts wanted to prove he could make it, and he followed his father to WWE. While Bill Watts didn't last long in WWE, neither did Erik. He formed a tag team called Tekno Team 2000 with Chad Fortune, which was as far from a Bill Watts' gimmick as a team could get. They had three televised matches and disappeared. Outside of this, Erik used the fans' hatred of him as his gimmick after this, returning to WCW in 1998 and then to TNA in 2002, but the fans never warmed to him, and the hatred never ended.
