After he was demoted, and because of the arrival of Buddy Rogers as the featured star at MSG in 1961, he left the WWWF and briefly set up a competing promotion (which was supported by Jim Crockett, Sr. and others) based at the Sunnyside arena in Queens, NY but it was believed to have failed and it shut down. During the mid-1970s, he teamed up with Vince McMahon to handle the color commentary on the WWWF's weekly television show. On February 25, 1977, he made an appearance with World Wide Wrestling Federation and officiated a boxing match between Gorilla Monsoon and André the Giant at the famed Madison Square Garden.