NWA World Champs in WWF

It's because that era of wrestling was dominated by Hulk Hogan. I am sure that Race, Steamboat, Funk, Garvin and such were just happy making all that sweet cash from having Hogan being on top.

Dont forget guys like Race, Garvin, Dory Funk were all also coming to the end of their careers. Rhodes has said his deal was more about "not being the guy" and being able to just relax and have fun. There was a ton of heat and pressure on him from his NWA days with him being the booker and former champ and arguably the biggest face they had. In the WWF he could just relax and work. Also most older fans will tell you, Ronnie Garvin should have never held the NWA title himself so its no surprised he was a mid carder in WWF.

with steamboat that was 87 man.shortly after he won the IC title from Savage,Steamboat wanted time off.thus he was jobbed out to Honky as punishment from Vince who was Legit furious with Steamboat.

Harley Race was in the twilight of his in ring career and he knew he was there to be fed to Hogan and beef up the Heenan family with a "name"

Garvin(as said above should never have been champ)and left down south over $$.just like Arn,Tully,Windham and many others.

Von Erich.....whoo boy.Vince pushed Von erich to the moon.he was said to be very fond of him........initially

1)He got the injured Beefcakes spot AND result @ Summerslam 90...the then prestigous IC belt.
2)As IC Champ he spent heaps of time tagging with WWF Champ The Warrior and was on the joint main team at Survivors Series 90 with 2 of the 3 most over acts in the Company -Warrior and LOD.

BUT Kerry was such a weak pillhead its unreal.he held up a plabe of wrestlers leaving Stamford because he couldnt record his vignette he was so burnt.by December 90 its felt Vince HAD to take the belt from him.

I think I read that he didn't want to put The Undertaker over.

Vince gave all the former NWA champs decent pushes and even better money.


-Race was given the King moniker and mainevented a good amount of cards even though his days as a top guy were over before he came to the WWF.

-Terry Funk was a part time wrestler , and full time actor at the time he joined the WWF and like Race was given plenty of main event matches.

-Kerry Von Erich was given a huge push and the IC title when it meant something, he probably would have been given the WWf title instead of Bret Hart had his addictions not got him depushed and eventually fired.

-Dusty was given polka dots, but was also given tons of tv time and used it to get over like crazy, even though he was no longer able to carry a promotion as the top dog.

-Ron Garvin was a token NWA champ, but in the WWF he was given a mid card run which is what he was before winning the NWA title, and again after quickly losing it. Garvin was also given a chance to make great money and work a year long program with Valentine that really got him over, even as a referee.

-Dory was prehistoric when he came into the WWF and was a journeymen veteran in various US territories and a Japan mainstay at the time he came to the WWF, and had he not been paired with his brother Terry he would never have been brought in due to his lack of charisma or drawing power during that time period, but was still given a run when he really shouldn't have.

- Steamboat was not a former NWA champ during his initial run in the WWF, but he was pushed to the moon and then decided to go on paternity leave after getting a massive rub at WM3, so it's only obvious that he would have been humbled during his return, both of them.

Agreed 100%. From what I understand though, it was Funk that got fed up with the WWF and bailed, so I suppose that one's not on Vince. I think he would have remained upper-midcard or main event level as a heel, had he stayed.

Regarding Harley Race, I think he was use better and given more of a push than he probably warranted at that point in his active career. And as I recall from his Hall of Fame acceptance speech, Harley probably would agree.

He basically said he knew he was getting old and slow and wasn't who he once was, but Vince not only hired him, he made him "king" and gave him a decent push, and Harley seemed really grateful for that.

If a guy as tough, confident and accustomed to being the top dog as Harley Race thinks he was over the hill in 1986, I guess we're not in a place to second-guess him.

Funk probably got sick of being jobbed out to JYD, he still had a lot to offer in 86, don't forget the barnburner he had with Flair in 1989.

I'm not really sure of anything I'm about to say since I practically wasn't even born during these guys run's in the WWF but this is 2 reasons that come to mind for me.

1. Most of those guys either shouldn't have been top guys or they were on the tail end of their careers.

2. To make his guys look that much better. He gets the the guys that were on top at different times in these promotions and then mid-cards/jobs them out and it makes his guys look even better. You watch a guy that goes from being the top dog in NWA, WCCW, wherever and now he's basically the curtain jerker in WWF.

Don't forget Jack Brisco. He and Gerry were also near the end when they arrived in the mid 1980s. Good workers...wrong era.