Mulligan vs. Slaughter in the Third Round of the "Greatest U.S. Champion" Tournament

We're on to the third round of the "Greatest U.S. Champion of All Time" tournament. Author Mike Rickard has had a fun time weaving a great tale for this fantasy tournament and we are headed for a great finish I'm sure.

This week it's the first match of the third round featuring Blackjack Mulligan vs. Sgt. Slaughter!

The tournament is taking place over at Canadian Bulldog's World website and has been going on for the past several months.

So who ya got?

Rickard's match can be found here:
Round Three, Match 1: Blackjack Mulligan vs. Sgt. Slaughter

Check out other links to all the previous matches in the tournament below!

THIRD ROUND ROUND

Blackjack Mulligan vs. Sgt. Slaughter
The Match


SECOND ROUND

Greg Valentine vs. Wahoo McDaniel
The Lumberjack Match

Nikita Koloff vs. Sgt. Slaughter
The Match

Greg Valentine vs. Wahoo McDaniel
Gateway Preview |  The (Non) Match

Blackjack Mulligan vs. Ricky Steamboat
Gateway Preview | The Match

"No. 1" Paul Jones vs. "Nature Boy" Ric Flair
Gateway Preview | The Match

"Rowdy" Roddy Piper vs. "Handsome" Harley Race



FIRST ROUND

Sgt. Slaughter vs. Johnny Valentine

Dusty Rhodes vs. Greg Valentine

"Mr. Wrestling" Tim Woods vs. Roddy Piper

Lex Luger vs. Dick Slater



Nikita Koloff vs. Bobo Brazil

Harley Race vs. Tully Blanchard 
Gateway Preview | The Match


Paul Jones vs. Barry Windham
Gateway Preview | The Match

Jimmy Snuka vs. Magnum T.A.
The Match

Terry Funk vs. Ricky Steamboat
The Match

 
Nikita Koloff vs. Bobo Brazil
The Match

Johnny Valentine and Wahoo McDaniel Close Out 1974

by David Chappell
Mid-Atlantic Gateway

Johnny “The Champ” Valentine and “The Chief” Wahoo McDaniel had many memorable battles inside the ring while in Jim Crockett Promotions, but one of their most memorable exchanges for me didn’t involve fisticuffs, but was of the verbal variety. The two squared off during the Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling 1974 year-end highlights show hosted by Sam Menacker, and the verbal sparks would fly!

With Wahoo and Valentine together in the empty TV studio in December of 1974, Menacker showed a clip of Valentine brutalizing the preliminary wrestler Tapu on TV several months earlier with Wahoo coming in the ring to aid the fallen Samoan grappler. The Chief caught the Champ with a suplex and left Valentine in an exceedingly rare posture…on his back, looking up at the television studio lights.

Wahoo couldn’t help but gloat a bit at the clip saying, “There’s your champion right there. Now that’s a championship position for Johnny Valentine…prone lookin’ at the lights. Now, does that look like a champion?” When Johnny didn’t immediately respond, the Chief continued to push the point. Wahoo asked, “What do you have to say about that Valentine, you see it? You’re not on the winning end now, what’s the matter…you lost for words?” Menacker joined in, “Yeah, you’re out cold there Valentine!”

A visibly upset Valentine fired back exclaiming, “You had no reason to come in that ring, you had no right in that ring and you attacked me from behind!” Wahoo countered, “I only came in the ring to save the boy and you hit me, and I just retaliated.” The Champ followed, “Well, it will be a different story when you’re face to face with me.”

Menaker, now trying to keep order noted, “Look, I’m not taking sides. Listen, the fact remains John, you saw what happened there. He came in there to try and help.” Johnny would have none of it saying, “Well, it wasn’t his concern. I wasn’t expecting anything and he was able to accomplish something that he wouldn’t have accomplished if I had been watching him, which I wasn’t. I wasn’t expecting to be suplexed by the man with my own suplex.”

The Chief dismissively answered, “You know, they should start calling Johnny Valentine ‘Alibi Jones.’ That’s when you can’t get it done. And all the time when he’s on the top he has wonderful things to say about himself, but when you’re laying down lookin’ up Valentine, it’s hard for you to find anything nice to say about yourself.” Johnny retorted, “Anyone can be hurt and upset when they’re not expecting something. I wasn’t expecting the suplex I will admit, and that suplex hurt because it was my favorite hold so it’s bound to hurt me too.” Wahoo countered, “That’s right, you should know that somebody else is gonna use it and if it does that much for you and somebody else should know the same hold and you should be able to guard against it.”

Wahoo McDaniel and Johnny Valentine had a feud for the ages.

The Champ was getting increasingly exasperated and fired back, “You can make sure that I’ll have guards up whenever I get in the ring with you; you’ll never suplex me again, that’s for sure!” McDaniel shot back, “I’ll tell you one thing, I know about three or four different type suplexes…little different from yours. But they’re all the same…you land right on your head!” A seething Valentine replied, “You just have no idea how deep I run; how deep my bag of tricks are! You don’t know how many tricks I have at the bottom of that bag; I’ll dig way to the bottom and I’ll have tricks you’ve never heard of!”

“I know you, and I’ve probably wrestled you more than anybody. You’ve beaten me and I’ve beaten you; you’ve hurt me and I’ve hurt you,” Wahoo commented. Valentine replied, “Yeah, but I’ve got stronger for it and you’re weaker…look at you! You look terrible!” Wahoo beginning to lose his composure shouted, “I’m in the greatest shape of my career!”

Trying to end the segment without the two grapplers coming to blows, Menacker implored the two legends, “Just try to relax a little bit gentlemen…we are showing some highlights of 1974 and I realize there’s a lot of animosity.” Johnny then gleefully poked at the Indian, “I want you to see some of the scars on his head…I put ‘em there!” Wahoo pounced on that and responded in kind, “Well, ask him about the broken fingers he got and look at them scars he got there…he wouldn’t win any beauty contests in Atlantic City either, I can tell you that!” Valentine edged closer to Wahoo smirking, “Well, you got some more comin’!” The Chief then pressed his nose to Valentine’s snarling, “I can hardly wait!”

As Menacker bid the fans goodbye and the segment went to commercial, I couldn’t help but wonder if the verbal sparring between the Champ and the Chief would lead to immediate blows during the break, or rather if they would save the physicality for inside the squared circle in the New Year of 1975. For two all-time greats that weren’t necessarily blessed with the gift of gab, this entertaining verbal exchange put a nice bow on the year of 1974. And you just knew that each would follow up these heated words with scorching action against the other in 1975!

 Originally posted on June 21, 2017 on the Mid-Atlantic Gateway.

Hart and Ringley on Charlotte TV Special (1972)

"Playboy" Gary Hart and JCP's John Ringley (1972)

In 1972, John Ringley hosted a special episode of "Championship Wrestling" that aired on WBTV-3 in Charlotte that focused on Rip "The Profile" Hawk. Ringley and Hawk's manager, "Playboy" Gary Hart were situated on a set in the WBTV studio. They reviewed 16mm film footage shot at the Charlotte Coliseum and Greensboro Coliseum featuring Hawk against various opponents including Jack Brisco in a battle over the Eastern Heavyweight Championship.

Matches included:

• Rip Hawk and Swede Hansen vs. Johnny Weaver and Argentina Apollo
• Rip Hawk and Swede Hansen vs. Johnny Weaver and Art Nelson (Greensboro)
• Rip Hawk vs. Jack Brisco (Hawk wins Eastern title) (Charlotte)
• Rip Hawk vs. Art Nelson (taped fists match) (Greensboro)

We recently had a conversation with Mr. Ringley about booking changes back during this very time period. That article can be found on the Mid-Atlantic Gateway by clicking this link.

This post was originally published on the Studio Wrestling website, a sister-website of the Mid-Atlantic Gateway.

Originally published on the Mid-Atlantic Gateway.  

Wahoo vs. Valentine in a Lumberjack Match: Rickard's Tournament Continues

Lumberjacks!!

in the Greatest United States Champion of All Time Tournament!

From Rickard's post:

The fans are still reeling from the events of round two’s fourth match as arch-rivals Greg “The Hammer” Valentine and Wahoo McDaniel’s match never started. Instead, the two beat each other senseless with Ric Flair running in to aid Valentine and Ricky Steamboat making the save. As a result, Mid-Atlantic official Sandy Scott ruled the match will take place [at a later time.]

And that time is now.

Wahoo and Valentine will settle things out and determine who advances in this tournament in a LUMBERJACK MATCH.

The tournament is taking place over at Canadian Bulldog's World website and has been going on for the past several months.

So who ya got?

Rickard's match can be found here:
Round Two, Match 6: Greg Valentine vs. Wahoo McDaniel in a Lumberjack Match

Check out other links to all the previous matches in the tournament below!

SECOND ROUND

Greg Valentine vs. Wahoo McDaniel
The Lumberjack Match

Nikita Koloff vs. Sgt. Slaughter
The Match

Greg Valentine vs. Wahoo McDaniel
Gateway Preview |  The (Non) Match

Blackjack Mulligan vs. Ricky Steamboat
Gateway Preview | The Match

"No. 1" Paul Jones vs. "Nature Boy" Ric Flair
Gateway Preview | The Match

"Rowdy" Roddy Piper vs. "Handsome" Harley Race



FIRST ROUND

Sgt. Slaughter vs. Johnny Valentine

Dusty Rhodes vs. Greg Valentine

"Mr. Wrestling" Tim Woods vs. Roddy Piper

Lex Luger vs. Dick Slater



Nikita Koloff vs. Bobo Brazil

Harley Race vs. Tully Blanchard 
Gateway Preview | The Match


Paul Jones vs. Barry Windham
Gateway Preview | The Match

Jimmy Snuka vs. Magnum T.A.
The Match

Terry Funk vs. Ricky Steamboat
The Match

 
Nikita Koloff vs. Bobo Brazil
The Match

Check Out Starrcast IV This Week Live in Baltimore or On Demand on FITE!

The Gateway is at Starrcast IV in Baltimore! 

If you can't be at Starrcast in person, you can watch all the activities (including the historic session with Jim Crockett, Jr. and David Crockett) streaming Live or On Demand on Fite.tv.

See all the details:

STARRCAST IV on FITE.tv

Mid-Atlantic TV: April 17, 1982

Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling
on the WWE Network

Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling
TV Summaries & Reviews
by David Taub
Mid-Atlantic Gateway Contributor

This is a review of Mid-Atlantic Wrestling as it appeared on the WWE Network. Results are included for the week (Monday-Sunday of the given week) as available. Please email with any corrections, typos, results, other details at 1davidtaub@gmail.com. Follow @TaubGVWire

For links to all available summaries, visit our TV Summary Index.


Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling
Original broadcast: 4/17/82
(taped 4/14/82 at WPCQ-TV studios in Charlotte)
WWE Network feed.  [How to watch this show on the WWE Network.]
WWE Network Direct Link to this show: Mid-Atlantic 4/17/82

Bob Caudle is joined by Jack Brisco to open the show.

Caudle says the western final of the World tag team championship tournament are finished. The eastern final will wrap up soon. Brisco says he and his brother look forward to advancing.
Out comes Roddy Piper. Tons of faux sincerity. Piper asks Brisco how he would handle him, if he was afraid of him. Brisco acquiesces, calmly and quietly. He challenges Piper to get in the ring with him right now. Piper, in a three-piece suit, says he has nothing to prove. Brisco needs to work his way through the ranks.

[Break]

Match 1
Jack Brisco d. not Jim Dalton 
Commentary by Roddy Piper
Bill Alfonso is the referee for the hour. Although announced as Jim Dalton, Brisco’s opponent is really Jeff Sword. Piper stays at the announcer’s desk, and in his classic fauxness. Brisco is good, but not as good as me. Caudle says Angelo Mosca is on the show. Piper says wrestling is the #1 sport today. Brisco is a lefty. Piper says he is ambidextrous, which makes him better. Brisco wins with the figure-four.

[Break]

—Int. w/Bob Caudle: Jake Roberts
The Snake says broken arms are okay, but the eyes, that’s not [fast forward eight years!] We go to video from last week of Ninja spraying the green mist in Valiant’s eyes. Roberts says your eyes become real sensitive to light. Valiant seen one of the best doctors in Tampa, Jim Lanes.

Match 2
Keith Larson d. Tony Russo
An odd edit from the Roberts interview into this match. I wonder what was cut? Piper says if you play with the Russian bear, you are going to get bit in reference to Valiant. Piper has praise for Larson. More talk of Koloff vs. Valiant. Russo looks out of shape and it shows. Larson gets a surprise pin, a flying headscissor into a small package.

[Break]

Match 3
King Kong Mosca d. Vinnie Valentino
Mosca just bullies Valentino the entire match. He finishes him off with a pin after a right hand to the head.

[Break]

—Int. w/Bob Caudle: Ivan Koloff; Sgt. Slaughter & King Kong Mosca
Koloff feels good about last week. Valiant fell into his trap. He’s glad he is blind. Slaughter thanks Koloff for taking out Valiant. Slaughter introduces King Kong Mosca. They will be teaming up. He name drops Flair, Wahoo, Roberts, Mulligan Jr., Brisco. Mosca says he has one of the most devastating elbows in wrestling.

[Break]

—Int. w/Bob Caudle: Paul Jones
Jones talks about Wahoo coming back. We go to a tape of Wahoo vs. Ali Bey from a World Wide Wrestling show from 1981. Jones says the heels need to be stopped. Now, Caudle & Jones move on to Ric Flair. We go to the Feb. 21, 1981 Greensboro clip of Slaughter and the Marines attacking Steamboat and Flair. Jones says Flair will come back and get even.

Match 4
Mike George d. Steve Sybert
Caudle says he hope he paid attention to Paul Jones. Piper is complimentary of George. Talk revolves around the various babyfaces Piper and company will have to contend with. Piper asks Caudle who he thinks the top tag team is. Piper namedrops Jimmy the Greek. Geroge wins with the shoulderbreaker. Piper is very enthusiastic about it, kind of unusual praise for a babyface.

[Break]

Match 5
Terry Taylor & Tony Anthony NC Pvt. Kernodle & Pvt. Nelson
Caudle says Taylor wanted this match after the DDQ last week, and his fighting with Kernodle. Privates keep working on Anthony. He finally makes the tag, but Kernodle shoved him out of the ring and Anthony hits hard. Privates keep working on Taylor, as Jake Roberts comes to ringside, and jumps in the corner to substitute mid-match for Anthony. Taylor escapes the Privates’ corner and makes the tag to Roberts, who allows it. Slaughter tires to jump in the ring, and gets a knee lift from Roberts. The referee rings the bell. Piper is going nuts on commentary. We go to closing credits without an official announcement of the result, so we’ll call it a no contest. No formal close from Caudle. Hard to tell if that is a Network edit or not.
 

Results for the week, 4/12/82-4/18/82
(source: Clawmaster’s Archive via Sports and Wrestling blog posted by David Baker)

Mon., 4/12/82 Greenville, SC
Angelo Mosca & Sgt. Slaughter double DQ Paul Jones & Jack Brisco
Johnny Weaver beat Lord Alfred Hayes in a Texas death match
Blackjack Mulligan beat The Ninja
Tony Russo vs. Ron Ritchie
Steve Sybert vs. Terry Taylor
David Patterson vs. Kelly Kiniski

Wed., 4/14/82 Charlotte, NC(TV)
Jimmy Valiant beat Bill White
Carl Fergie beat Keith Larson
Ivan Koloff beat Tony Anthony
Tim Horner, Terry Taylor & Kelly Kiniski beat Rusty Roberts, Pvt. Kernodle & Pvt. Nelson
Jack Brisco beat Rusty Roberts
Sgt. Slaughter beat Vinnie Valentino
Angelo Mosca beat Mike Davis
Paul Jones & Blackjack Mulligan, Jr. beat Jeff Sword & Tony Russo

Fri., 4/15/82 Norfolk, VA
Kelly Kiniski d. Jeff Sword
Jim Dalton d. Mike Davis
Pvt. Kernodle & Pvt. Nelson d. Mike Geroge & Terry Taylor
Ninja d. Ray Stevens
Jack Brisco d. Roddy Piper
Sgt. Slaughter & Angelo Mosca d. Paul Jones & Jake Roberts
(Shedlock/Wrestling ’82)

Fri., 4/16/82 Knoxville, TN (Mulligan/Flair promotions)
Jimmy Valiant beat Ivan Koloff
Jay Youngblood beat The Ninja by DQ
Johnny Weaver double DQ Bill White
Tim Horner beat Jeff Sword
David Patterson beat Vinnie Valentino
Kelly Kiniski draw Rick Conner
Mike Davis beat Steve Sybert

Fri., 4/16/82 Charleston, SC
Jake Roberts & Blackjack Mulligan, Jr. vs. Pvt. Nelson & Pvt. Kernodle
Porkchop Cash vs. Lord Alfred Hayes
Carl Fergie vs. Mike George
Keith Larsen vs. Ken Timbs

Sun., 4/18/82 Asheville, NC
NWA World Champion Ric Flair beat Ole Anderson
Roddy Piper & Angelo Mosca double DQ Wahoo McDaniel & Jack Brisco
Carl Fergie & David Patterson beat Jay Youngblood & Mike George
Kelly Kiniski beat Rick Connors
Tim Horner beat Jim Dalton

Sun., 4/18/82 Charlotte, NC
Ric Flair & Wahoo McDaniel double DQ Angelo Mosca & Sgt. Slaughter
Jack Brisco beat Ole Anderson
Jimmy Valiant & Jake Roberts beat The Ninja & Ivan Koloff
Terry Taylor beat David Patterson
Tony Anthony beat Jeff Sword
Vinnie Valentino beat Ken Timbs

"Nature Boy" Ric Flair Makes Several Appearances for Georgia Championship Wrestling in 1977

PART SEVEN

by Dick Bourne and Mark Eastridge
Mid-Atlantic Gateway
Originally published in 2015

As we've discussed in 6 earlier installments in this series, full time wrestlers from both Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling and Georgia Championship Wrestling made appearances in each other's territories for one night special events. Augusta, GA was "ground zero" for this talent exchange for Georgia Championship Wrestling in the early part of 1977, but Atlanta was another hot spot, especially for the visiting "Nature Boy" Ric Flair.

In the second half of 1977, Ric Flair made nearly a dozen appearances in the state of Georgia, many of them on WTCG-TV channel 17 in Atlanta. WTCG would later become Superstation WTBS. He also wrestled on several big shows at the Atlanta City Auditorium and the Omni.

But first, back to Augusta's historic Bell Auditorium:

AUGUSTA, GA - 10/17/77
On October 17, Ric Flair and Rufus R. "Freight Train" Jones made the trip from the Mid-Atlantic territory for another in a long series of cards in Augusta, GA in 1977 that featured Mid-Atlantic talent. Flair defended the United States championship against Dick Slater. Rufus teamed up with Georgia star Tony Atlas to challenge Gene and Ole Anderson for the NWA world tag team championships which they had just regained in Atlanta three days earlier from Dusty Rhodes and Dick Slater.

Flair escaped from Augusta with the U.S. title in hand, but four days later he lost the title to Ricky Steamboat in Charleston, SC. The Andersons would also soon lose their tag titles again, this time to Flair and Greg Valentine just two weeks later in Greensboro.


RIC FLAIR IN GEORGIA
Here is a list of Ric's Georgia appearances in the second half of 1977, many of them as the reigning United States Heavyweight Champion from Jim Crockett Promotions:

07/22 Atlanta, GA Ric Flair beat Sandy Scott
07/23 Atlanta, GA(TV) Ric Flair beat Randy Alls
09/02 Atlanta, GA U.S. Champion Ric Flair beat Steve Keirn
09/23 Atlanta, GA Tony Atlas beat U.S. Champion Ric Flair by DQ
09/24 Atlanta, GA(TV) U.S. Champion Ric Flair beat Ted Allen
10/17 Augusta, GA Dick Slater beat U.S. Champion Ric Flair by DQ
11/28 Augusta, GA Ric Flair vs. Dick Slater
11/30 Columbus, GA Ric Flair vs. Dick Slater
12/02 Atlanta, GA Dusty Rhodes beat Ric Flair by DQ

12/05 Augusta, GA Ric Flair vs. Dick Slater in a lumberjack grudge match

12/09 Atlanta, GA Dusty Rhodes beat Ric Flair

Take a look at all the posts in our series on the 1977 Mid-Atlantic/Georgia talent exchanges in our special directory here.


Coming next: A classic tag team clash between Mid-Atlantic and Georgia teams was set for Greensboro in late October 1977, but it never happened. Learn why in Part Eight - - coming soon!

Keeping up with blunders and bloopers in the newspaper ads, we might as well point out a few errors in the Augusta ad above.

Most are simple ones:
(1) Tommy RICK should be Tommy Rich who was just beginning to catch fire in Georgia.
(2) Stan HANSON is misspelled, it should be Hansen.
(3) And of course, there is the most often misspelled name of one of the greatest wrestlers of all time and it didn't matter if it was 1977 or 2007 (and it still occasionally happens today!) RICK Flair. (They did get it right in the result, though.)
(4) Lastly, there seemed to be some confusion over Mr. Kent's first name - Jim in the ad, Don in the result.

One other note: the Richard Blood in the opening match against Randy Savage was not Ricky Steamboat, it was Merced Solis, better known later as Tito Santana.

Originally published 11/2/15 on the Mid-Atlantic Gateway.