Joe Briscoe is a hard man. You can clearly see this at a glance. He is barrel chested, his hands are calloused, his ears are slightly cauliflowered, his forehead bears the scares of years of physical combat. Briscoe was a wrestler when wrestling was real. Starting in the 1980’s, he worked under the legendary “Cowboy” Bill Watts in the Mid-South (UWF) Wrestling territory. Now, he is the President of his own territory, King of Sports!
The United States used to be littered with regional territories that each boasted their own stars and style. Mid-South was based in Louisiana and Oklahoma but shared areas with the Von Erichs in Dallas. It was known as the toughest and roughest that the United States offered. The competition was real, the fights were legitimate. It was a fighter’s territory.
This was all made very real to me when I first met Joe Briscoe. Briscoe is the President of King of Sports Wrestling. King of Sports is not what wrestling is on modern television, instead it is a return to the Mid-South territory days. KOS’s style of wrestling is “Texas Strong Style!” Raised in the hard rings and harder punches of that earlier era, Briscoe has brought that old style to a modern vision of wrestling. Wrestling that is real, legitimate, and a true athletic event, that is “Texas Strong Style.”
When I finally was able to speak with Briscoe for just a few moments, I wanted to know how and why KOS came about. He was quick and decisive with his answers. His voice was a deep baritone with an easily commanding southern drawl. He explained that he became “fed up” with the “ballet” he saw on television. “The past thirty years has seen wrestling defamed. King of Sports is something different. A true athletic contest that pits two competitors in a struggle to see who will be the victor. The rules matter, the time limits matter, the referee matters. King of Sports is not your everyday wrestling. It is a throwback.”
Briscoe’s passion began to rise as he spoke, “We need wrestling that is really wrestling. When wrestlers were tough and had rules. Not this television ballet that we see today,” Briscoe explained. “Wrestling used to be two tough men, athletes, challenging each other, not Cirque du Soleil flipping routines.”
“No one does wrestling for real any more. Nothing is as it used to be. I remember when grandparents and their grandkids would all come to the matches. We need to get that back,” his tone was charged with energy. Briscoe is a rare man, an owner that used to be an athlete, that could very well still be one of the toughest competitors around if he so chose.
On Saturday, October 30th at 7:00 pm, that tradition is reborn. King of Sports Wrestling has partnered with Leonard ISD to hold a student fundraiser event. This event will not only entertain all ages of fans, a true top-notch athletic contest, but also provided much needed funding to school budgets. When you think of family entertainment, the way it was in the ‘80s, nothing is better a KOS show. The action, drama, and intensity are on full display as the athletes battle for the winner’s purse. Wrestling the way it used to be, the way it should be. Tickets are available now!
