AND NOW A WORD FROM...: Longtime D/FW Area TV Wrestling Sponsors



Kissinger Auto Supply:
 This Fort Worth-area chain was a sponsor of Channel 11's Saturday Night Wrestling and Championship Sports for decades. The late commentator Dan Coates ("Visit Kissinger's tonight...and early in the morning") did the primitive early commercials at ringside while standing next to a large Kissinger sign (which was eventually destroyed by Lord Robert Duncum and Brute Bernard in a wild 1973 brawl), as the camera panned to show the items on sale, lined up on a table. In the late '70s and '80s, the spots were pre-recorded and voiced by a KTVT staff announcer, ending with a countrified jingle: "It's a real money saver/When you do the labor/Try Kissinger Auto Supply."

Lynn Smith Auto Sales (now Lynn Smith Chevrolet): "Don't you go to that little room until I finish tellin' you about Lynn Smith Auto Sales...why, they've got more cars there than you can throw a cowchip across. And ol' Lynn...he's a pussycat!" The spots' immortal closing line: "Now you can go to that little room!"

Joe Daiches Credit Jewelers: This Fort Worth store was a sponsor of KTVT's wrestling telecasts for many years.

Munden's Furniture: This Fort Worth store's spots (sometimes voiced by owner Steve Munden) pitched its weekly specials, always concluding with the tagline, "By the way, are you a Munden customer? You ought to be!"





Pizza Inn: Kevin, Kerry and Mike Von Erich appeared in a famous series of spots for the pizza chain in 1985, flirting with young ladies and singing the company's jingle: "For pizza out, it's Pizza Inn!"





Rodney D. Young Insurance: Kansas City-based company ("Think Young! Rodney D. Young"), now part of the Loya Insurance Group. RDY's 1980s commercials were infamous for their absurd, cornball gags; below are just a couple of the spots that aired on WCCW/USWA telecasts.





Westway Ford:
Westway's then-owner Joe Tigue appeared in the Irving dealership's commercials as "Joe Greed", wearing glittering suits and Elton John-sized shades bearing huge dollar signs. (Tigue later financed and sponsored the GWF during the Grey Pierson era, advertising "free Sportatorium wrestling tickets at Westway!"). Jim "Dingo Warrior" Hellwig appeared alongside Joe in innumerable spots for the company starting in 1987 -- in fact, so many skits were taped in advance for these commercials that new ones continued to air years later with Hellwig being referred to on screen as "Dingo," long after he had become a WWF headliner as the Ultimate Warrior!







1 comment:

richard said...

i came looking for that classic Joe Daiches commercial they only played at holidays that says "we always have time for the things we put first" they played it on TV every december for first 10 years of my life and i can find it no-where