Talent deals and exchanges helped WCCW bring in future stars such as Chris Adams, The Fabulous Freebirds, Jake Roberts, Mick Foley, a young Shawn Michaels, Gino Hernandez and Iceman King Parsons, and others.

Fritz's other classic rivalries during this early period were with such stars as Johnny Valentine, Stan Stasiak, Professor Toru Tanaka, Lord Alfred Hayes, The Sheik, Bruiser Brody and The Great Kabuki.

Babyface wrestlers playing secondary roles in the promotion at various times included Wahoo McDaniel, Pepper Gomez, Red Bastien, Jose Lothario and Lonnie "Moondog" Mayne.

Freebird Michael Hayes, whose popularity in WCCW at that point was second only to the Von Erichs themselves, was selected to officiate, and his tag team partner Terry Gordy was at ringside to guard the cage door.

His death was front-page news in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex, triggering an area-wide outpouring of shock and grief among fans, and was the beginning of the Von Erichs' decline and fall (and WCCW's as well, although attendance levels would remain high for a time).

A March 3, 1984 telecast of World Class Championship Wrestling was dedicated exclusively to the life of David Von Erich, with wrestlers Michael Hayes, Jimmy Garvin, Harley Race, Chris Adams and Ric Flair paying tribute to the fallen hero.

One of the top angles of the summer of 1984 was a mixed feud between Gino Hernandez and Nickla Roberts (aka Baby Doll, billed as Andrea The Lady Giant) against Mike Von Erich and Stella Mae French.

In an ill-advised desperation move that would later infamously backfire, Fritz brought in Pacific Northwest Wrestling Champion, Ricky Vaughn,[4] as "cousin" Lance Von Erich to fill the gap while Mike was recovering.

The main participants on the Israel tour included Kevin and Mike Von Erich, Chris Adams, Gino Hernandez, Iceman King Parsons, Freebird Buddy Roberts, Scott Casey, Brian Adias, Rip Oliver, Kelly Kiniski and Johnny Mantell.

[5] As a result of the NWA withdrawal, the WCWA also introduced a title-change rule in which a champion could lose the belt on a disqualification or a countout, much to the dismay of heel wrestlers, who opt to DQ themselves to keep the championship (most notably Ric Flair).

Between July and September 1986, many of the top stars of World Class, including Adams, Parsons, Hyatt, John Tatum, and the Freebirds, defected to the Universal Wrestling Federation, following longtime WCCW booker Ken Mantell, who had resigned and joined the UWF after a falling-out with Fritz.

World Class heavyweight champion Chris Adams was forced to relinquish his championship on September 17, 1986; one day after being convicted of misdemeanor assault from an incident on June 30, 1986 inflight between San Juan, Puerto Rico and Dallas.

As a result of these multiple catastrophes, attendance in both Dallas and Fort Worth plummeted; according to some former WCCW wrestlers, many fans became disillusioned with the Von Erichs as the supposedly "clean-living" brothers' drug use became harder to cover up, and they frequently no-showed cards the promotion booked in smaller towns.

In April, World Class suffered another death when Mike Von Erich, after being diagnosed with toxic shock syndrome,[5] was found dead near Lewisville Lake, having committed suicide by overdosing on Placidyl.

Eric Embry, Frankie Lancaster, The Rock 'n' Roll RPMs (Mike Davis and Tommy Lane), and Jason Sterling (the son of The Missing Link) also competed for a time in World Class.

As the UWF/NWA merger was complete, many top names returned to World Class, including Buddy Roberts, Terry Gordy, The Angel of Death Iceman King Parsons, Jason Sterling, and Jeff Raitz.

WCWA champion Al Perez and Kerry Von Erich were scheduled to face each other in a steel cage main event for the title, with Gary Hart handcuffed to Fritz to prevent interference.

Buddy Roberts, Iceman King Parsons and the late Angel of Death stormed the ring and handcuffed Fritz to the cage, delivering a furious beating while Kerry was being ganged up by Gordy.

Upon leaving the ring, Fritz staged a seizure by self-collapsing onto the floor of Reunion Arena, and was supposedly rushed to a hospital; local news media reported this as a top story, not realizing until later that the entire incident had been a work.

In another strange angle, Adams wrestled Taylor while wearing a catcher's mask in Fort Worth, in order to protect Chris from legit injuries he sustained during an earlier match in Missouri.

In the summer of 1988, the major storyline pitted Michael Hayes and Steve Cox against the Samoan Swat Team, managed by Buddy Roberts; along with a series of bouts between Jerry Lawler and Kerry Von Erich over the World Class and AWA titles.

A major pay-per-view card, AWA SuperClash III, was held in Chicago in December 1988, featuring a world title unification match in which Jerry Lawler defeated Kerry Von Erich.

After the match, Embry and manager Percy Pringle walked to the D section of the Sportatorium and tore the World Class Championship Wrestling banner off of the wall (in the same spot where the American flag once was displayed).

A week before Jarrett's departure, KTVT dropped its long-running Saturday night wrestling telecasts; according to some reports, the cancellation was the result of frequent on-air profanity (mostly from Eric Embry), despite multiple warnings from station management, as well as the controversial superkick incident between John Tatum and Tessa.

This organization, known as World Class II: The Next Generation, featured only a few of the surviving wrestlers from the original WCCW group (most notably Chris Adams, Iceman Parsons and Maniac Mike Davis), as well as Gary's son, Chad Hart; it folded in less than a year.

Adams, Mike Davis and Terry Gordy died in 2001, and the Sportatorium, which stood since 1934, was demolished in 2003, but not before Kevin Von Erich toured the damaged arena for the last time, along with filmmaker Brian Harrison.

Rumors of an impending WWE buyout of the WCCW syndicated broadcast video library began to spread on internet message boards the following year, and on June 5, 2006, the company issued a press release announcing that the purchase had been finalized.

The documentary featured interviews from several of the key figures in World Class, including Kevin, Mercer, Grant, Hart, Adams, Skandor Akbar, Marc Lowrance, David Manning and Johnny Mantell.

Craig Johnson replaced Lowrance for the final two months of telecasts, due to the unavailability of Bill Mercer, who was a ringside announcer for Gary Hart's wrestling promotion at the Metroplex Arena.

Lowrance was also the ring announcer at the Sportatorium for several years before moving to TV full-time; he was originally hired in 1980 to replace Boyd Pierce, who had been with the group since the 1960s and left to join Bill Watts' Mid-South Wrestling promotion.