Jim Crockett's Grand Slam Champions - Part Three: Greg Valentine

by Dick Bourne
Mid-Atlantic Gateway

In PART THREE of our "Grand Slam" feature, we take a look at "The Hammer" Greg Valentine.

Valentine was the third wrestler to hold all five of Jim Crockett Promotions' titles during the Mid-Atlantic years, something we here at the Gateway call Crockett's Grand Slam Championship.

The five Crockett titles were:

• NWA World Tag Team Championship
• United States Heavyweight Championship
• Mid-Atlantic Heavyweight Championship
• Mid-Atlantic Tag Team Championship
• Mid-Atlantic/NWA/World Television Championship

There were only four men that held all five titles though their complete tenure in our area. Those men are:

1. Paul Jones
2. Ric Flair
3. Greg Valentine
4. Ricky Steamboat

Here is a summary of Greg Valentine's amazing championship pedigree in Mid-Atlantic Wrestling:


PART THREE: GREG VALENTINE

MID-ATLANTIC TELEVISION CHAMPIONSHIP
Greg entered the Mid-Atlantic area in the fall of 1976, first presented as the brother of Johnny Valentine, but later would accurately be known as his son. It didn't take long for "The Hammer" to win gold in the territory, defeating "Mr. Wrestling" Tim Woods for the Television Championship on November 6, 1976 in Spartanburg, SC. He would trade the title with Rufus R. "Freight Train" Jones soon after for a second reign as TV champion.


NWA WORLD TAG TEAM CHAMPIONSHIP

Upon entering the Mid-Atlantic area, Greg had immediately struck up a friendship with Ric Flair and the two formed a tag team that immediately seemed destined for championship gold. Flair had a falling out with his cousins, Gene and Ole Anderson, who were the NWA World Tag Team champions at the time. Flair took Greg as his partner to challenge his family and the two defeated the Andersons too take the titles on December 26, 1976 in Greensboro, NC.

Valentine and Flair would continue to feud with the Andersons over the tag titles for the next year and half, trading them once more in a series of memorable matches and angles. Valentine would later hold the titles with partners Baron Von Raschke and Ray Stevens.


MID-ATLANTIC HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP

Valentine had many bitter singles feuds in the Mid-Atlantic area during his various tenures in the Mid-Atlantic area, but the most famous feud was with "Chief" Wahoo McDaniel over the Mid-Atlantic Heavyweight championship in 1977 and 1978. Greg first won the title from McDaniel on June 11, 1977 in Greensboro, but it was his second victory over Wahoo for the title that is stuff of legend. On September 7, 1977 at a TV taping in Raleigh, NC, Valentine not only defeated Wahoo for the title but broke his leg in the process. The angle was so memorable that it was brought up many times over the years, and was even part of a the build-up to their battles over the U.S. title five years later.


MID-ATLANTIC TAG TEAM CHAMPIONSHIP 
After the Anderson Brothers had regained the World Tag Team titles from Valentine and Flair, those titles were mostly defended in the Georgia area, and so the "Blond Bombers" set their sites on the Mid-Atlantic Tag Team titles until such time as they could gain another shot at the Andersons. On June 30, 1977 they defeated Dino Bravo and Tiger Conway, Jr. to win those belts, but lost them a less than two months later to Paul Jones and Ricky Steamboat.

So in less than one year's time, Valentine had won four of the five titles in Jim Crockett Promotions, with the United States title being the only championship to elude him early on. It would take another three years, but Valentine would finally take the "fifth jewel" in the Grand Slam crown.


UNITED STATES HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP

After four years dominating the championship scene in the Mid-Atlantic area, Valentine finally gained the one title that had eluded him. Returning from a successful stint in the WWWF in 1979 where he had headlined Madison Square Garden against WWWF kingpin Bob Backlund, Valentine was shocked to learn that his former partner-in-crime Ric Flair had become a fan favorite. Flair was involved in a bitter feud with "Anderson's Army" in the summer of 1980 and solicited his old friend and partner Valentine to aid him in a tag team match with Jimmy Snuka and the Iron Sheik. Valentine turned on his old friend, breaking Flair's nose with the cane of manager Gene Anderson. On July 26, 1980, Valentine defeated  Flair for the United States Championship in Charlotte, NC. The two former best friends had a bitter, bloody feud over that title for the rest of 1980.

Valentine would go onto hold the U.S. title on two other occasions over the next three years, renewing hostilities with Wahoo McDaniel and in a memorable feud with "Rowdy"Roddy Piper.

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COMING UP IN PART FOUR: 
We shift our focus to "The Hawaiian Punch" Ricky Steamboat, the fourth and final wrestler to have held all five of Jim Crockett promotions' championships. We'll detail how he did it next time.

Did you miss our stories on the first two Grand Slam Champions? Visit the links:
"No. 1" Paul Jones
"Nature Boy" Ric Flair

NWA Title Match: Cody Rhodes vs. The Mack!

It's been fun following along with the direction of the "reborn" NWA and its champion Cody Rhodes. Cody recently defended the NWA World Heavyweight Championship against Willie Mack, who is one of our favorites on Lucha Underground.

Johnny Weaver Battles Bruno Sammartino

Click Image for a Larger Look at the Clipping

What an interesting match-up featuring Johnny Weaver against Bruno Sammartino. It's a testament to how far back the Bobo Brazil/Sheik rivalry extends to see legends like Bruno and Weaver opening a three-match card.

From Terre Haute, Indiana in 1961. Clipping courtesy of the research of Carroll Hall.

This originally appeared on our Johnny Weaver Blog in November of 2014. 

David Chappell appears on Wrestler Weekly

Wrestler Weekly Presents S3:E13 Guest David Chappell of the Mid Atlantic Gateway

Scottie Richardson Founder and CEO of Wrestler Weekly and David Chappell of the Mid-Atlantic Gateway discuss 4 of the greatest MASKED Wrestlers of all time: MR. WRESTLING I/TIM WOODS, MASKED SUPERSTAR, MIL MASCARAS, and MR. WRESTLING II!

Scottie's New Book "FAMILY, BACON, RASSLIN" is now on Amazon! Pick up a copy by searching for Family Bacon Rasslin Book on Amazon!

Read our post on Family Bacon Rasslin':
"Family Bacon Rasslin" Rekindles some of our own Childhood Memories

Jim Crockett's Grand Slam Champions - Part Two: Ric Flair

by Dick Bourne
Mid-Atlantic Gateway

In PART TWO of our "Grand Slam" feature, we take a look at "Nature Boy" Ric Flair.

Flair was the second wrestler to hold all five of Jim Crockett Promotions' titles during the Mid-Atlantic years, something we here at the Gateway call Crockett's Grand Slam Championship. (For a more complete explanation of the Grand Slam, see PART ONE on Paul Jones.)


The five Crockett titles were:

• NWA World Tag Team Championship
• United States Heavyweight Championship
• Mid-Atlantic Heavyweight Championship
• Mid-Atlantic Tag Team Championship
• Mid-Atlantic/NWA/World Television Championship

There were only four men that held all five titles though their complete tenure in our area. Those men are:

1. Paul Jones
2. Ric Flair
3. Greg Valentine
4. Ricky Steamboat

Here is a summary of Ric Flair's amazing championship pedigree in Mid-Atlantic Wrestling:


PART TWO: RIC FLAIR
 
MID-ATLANTIC TAG TEAM CHAMPIONSHIP

Ric Flair's first title in Jim Crockett Promotions (his first championship of his pro wrestling career) came only a few months after he had entered the territory. Flair was initially billed as the nephew of area veteran Rip Hawk. He and "Uncle Rip" teamed up to defeat Paul Jones and Bob Bruggers on July 4, 1974 in Greensboro, NC.  Towards the end of the year, Hawk left the territory and Brute Bernard replaced him teaming with Flair in a title defense against Paul Jones and Tiger Conway Jr. on December 6, 1974 in Charleston's County Hall. Jones pinned Flair in that match and new champions were crowned. But Flair's star was on the rise, and he set his sights on his first singles title.


MID-ATLANTIC TELEVISION CHAMPIONSHIP

Flair began a feud with Paul Jones, who had defeated Ivan Koloff for the Television title in 1974. Koloff was to receive a rematch on February 8, 1975 in Winston-Salem, NC but due to travel circumstances, failed to appear for the match. Promoters gave Flair the title shot and the young blond bomber upset Jones for the title that night, under rather questionable circumstances it must be pointed out. Nevertheless, Flair was now on a main event track and was holding his second title, the second "jewel" in the Grand Slam championship crown. Flair lost that title back to Jones that summer, but would regain it two years later in a title reign that begat the famous Flair/Steamboat rivalry.

MID-ATLANTIC HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP

 

The loss of the TV title back to Jones didn't slow down Flair one bit. He immediately set his sites on the Mid-Atlantic Heavyweight title which was now held by Wahoo McDaniel, who had ended Johnny Valentine's 18 month reign as champion in July of 1975. Flair upset McDaniel on September 20, 1975 at the Coliseum in Hampton, VA. After the match, all the heels on that show emptied the locker room and celebrated with Flair in the ring. Flair was now a solid member of the main event class in Crockett Promotions and his feud with Wahoo McDaniel took center stage.

But before Flair had much time to celebrate his title win, his career was almost ended when the plane he was traveling on to a card in Wilmington, NC crashed short of the runway. This is the plane crash that did end the career of Johnny Valentine, and was thought to possibly end the career of Flair. But Flair made an amazing return to the ring three and a half months later. The NWA had allowed him to keep his title in the interim, and his feud with Wahoo McDaniel took off again as soon as Flair was back. The two traded the title back and forth for the entire year of 1976, before Wahoo got it back for good in December of 1976. Flair wouldn't hold that title again, but at this point he turned his attention elsewhere, forming a memorable "dream team" with new comer Greg Valentine.

NWA WORLD TAG TEAM CHAMPIONSHIP

 

Flair and Valentine traded the titles back and forth with the Andersons in 1977 and 1978 before ultimately stripped of the titles by the NWA in April 1978 because they refused to defend them against new #1 contenders Paul Jones and Ricky Steamboat.

Flair would hold the World Tag Team titles on one other occasion, in 1979 with Blackjack Mulligan. But it was this 1976 win over the Andersons that cemented his fourth jewel in his Grand Slam championship run. All that was left now was to win the United States title.


UNITED STATES HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP

 Flair had held the area's two regional singles championships, but he was hungry to win a national singles championship. On July 29, 1977 in Richmond, VA he defeated wrestling legend Bobo Brazil to win his first of six United States championships. With that victory over Brazil, he became only the second wrestler to hold all five of the Crockett championships, and he had done so by only his fourth year in the wrestling business.

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COMING UP IN PART THREE: 
We shift our focus to Ric Flair's biggest  rival "The Hawaiian Punch" Ricky Steamboat, who would become only the third wrestler to hold Crockett's Grand Slam. We'll detail how he did it next time.

Did you miss our story on the first Grand Slam Champion "No. 1" Paul Jones?
Paul not only was the first wrestler to hold all of Crockett's Mid-Atlantic territory titles, he did it all in one year! Check out PART ONE here.

Arn Anderson Homecoming This Saturday in Rome GA

"Mr. Wrestling" Tim Woods' Last Stand (Part 4)

by David Chappell
Mid-Atlantic Gateway 

Catch up on this story in PART ONE  | PART TWO  |  PART THREE

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PART FOUR

After the second violent attack against "Mr. Wrestling" Tim Woods by Jimmy Snuka and Buddy Rogers on Mid-Atlantic Wrestling television programming on September 19, 1979, Woods vowed another improbable comeback against the odds. The following week on Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling TV, Blackjack Mulligan told announcer Bob Caudle, "Jimmy Snuka, I want to make a comment about you and your manager, your owner or whatever kind of relationship you have with Buddy Rogers, I don't know, but this sport of wrestling has no place for people that will try to injure people like you did Tim Woods, and you're gonna have to reckon with Mr. Wrestling before it's all over."

When the first week in October of 1979 rolled around, there was still no "Mr. Wrestling" Tim Woods in the WRAL TV studios. But Woods was still the talk of the Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling television program that was taped on October 3, 1979. On that show Bob Caudle addressed Buddy Rogers, "You guys have been fined the biggest fine in the history of wrestling for what you did to Mr. Wrestling."

Rogers cackled in response, "It was well worth the fine; whatever fine we got I paid it. I don't care how big the fine was, or will be or anything else...we got the job done on 'Mr. Wrestling' Tim Woods. That's just a sample of what my clan is gonna do!" Caudle then exclaimed, "I gotta tell you, Tim Woods is gonna be back! Mr. Wrestling is gonna be back!" Rogers dismissively answered, "I heard he's coming back. Let me tell ya, he said he was comin' back just a week ago...he's still isn't back, right? He'll be out a long time!" Caudle shot back, "He's improving..." But before Bob could finish his thought Rogers interrupted, "He don't have the word 'guts' to come back. What do you think fellas?" John Studd, who was standing next to Buddy, yelled, "I KNOW he doesn't have the guts!"

As the Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling TV program that was taped on October 17, 1979 began, Bob Caudle opened it by welcoming Mr. Wrestling onto the set. The masked man came onto the interview area with both hands full...one hand holding a baseball bat with "Snuka" written on it and holding a "Wanted--Out Of Wrestling" poster with photos of Jimmy Snuka and Buddy Rogers on it in the other hand!



A smiling Caudle quipped, "Tim, come on in. I don't think it's baseball season here Tim!" A fired up Mr. Wrestling responded, "Yeah, it's baseball season." Bob clarified, "Is it open season or something?" Mr. Wrestling agreed, "It is OPEN season, but we'll talk about that in a minute. I hope the people can come in on this picture just a little bit...two of my favorite people, Buddy Rogers and Jimmy Snuka." At this juncture the fans were able to see a camera close-up of the "Wanted" posters that Mr. Wrestling had produced to distribute at the area's arenas.

Mr. Wrestling continued, "Now, we all get injuries in wrestling, and I'm not crying about anything...I've been wearing a neck brace for weeks now. Hopefully, the Doctor will let me take it off towards the end of this week. I'm wearing it only part of the time now; my neck is feeling much better and I'm coming along just very, very good. But, we all get injuries as I say. But it's the way you get them that makes you mad." Caudle added, "Deliberate injury too, I think, Mr. Wrestling."

Mr. Wrestling then made a very important symbolic gesture to the television audience saying while pointing to his mask, "I wanna say one thing...this mask has meant everything to me. I've defended it, I've worn it, I've been the World's Tag Team Champion with it; I've held a lot of titles wearing this mask and nobody has ever taken it off me." At this instant, Mr. Wrestling shockingly removed his mask exposing his face for all to see!

A startled Bob Caudle exclaimed, "Tim Woods! There he is, 'Mr. Wrestling' Tim Woods, David." In a very solemn tone Woods explained, "I'm gonna take this mask off and I'm gonna leave it off until I settle the score with Jimmy Snuka and Buddy Rogers. They hurt me once, they hurt me twice...but they're not gonna hurt me again. And if either one of them would like to come out right now I'll be more than happy to accommodate 'em."

Woods sternly finished, "I'm a believer in one thing and they can rely on it and I want 'em to go to bed tonight thinkin' about it...I've always been a believer in doing unto others as they do unto you. Think about that Snuka and Rogers, because I've never meant anything more in my life. When I make promises I keep 'em and I WILL get even with both of ya."

Caudle wrapped up the segment noting, "Alright, David, that's the story now from Tim Woods and it's great to see him out and great to see him up and as he says it won't be much longer and he'll be out of that brace and watch out Snuka and watch out Buddy Rogers." Crockett agreed, "That's right, it's unfortunate for Mr. Snuka and Mr. Rogers." Caudle concurred, "That's right, he's got more than blood in his eyes, David, if you know what I mean. If I were those two I'd be like he says, I'd be worried about that tonight when I go to bed."

Jimmy Snuka and Buddy Rogers respond to the newly unmasked Tim Woods and a confrontation ensues!

To be continued in Part 5!

Special thanks to Brack Beasley for the photographs of vintage Mr. Wrestling Tim Woods memorabilia. The baseball bat with Snuka's name on it and the "Wanted" poster are genuine vintage items from Tim Wood's personal collection.

Jim Crockett's Grand Slam Champions - Part One: Paul Jones

by Dick Bourne
Mid-Atlantic Gateway

In 1975, Jim Crockett Promotions introduced the United States Championship making a total of five total territory championships recognized by the promotion (not including, of course, the NWA World Heavyweight championship.)

The five Crockett titles were:

• NWA World Tag Team Championships
• United States Heavyweight Championship
• Mid-Atlantic Heavyweight Championship
• Mid-Atlantic Tag Team Championship
• Mid-Atlantic/NWA/World Television Championship

These five championships continued to be recognized throughout most of the the remainder of the company's existence. The Mid-Atlantic Tag Team titles disappeared in 1985 and the Mid-Atlantic Heavyweight singles title was retired in December of 1986. The NWA World Tag Team titles, the U.S. title, and TV title continued to be recognized in Ted Turner's WCW. And it's worth noting that Crockett's U.S. title is the forerunner of the modern day U.S. title in the WWE, which recognizes its title lineage.

There were only four men by our calculations (if we missed somebody, we trust you'll let us know) that held all five titles though their complete tenure in our area. Those men are:

1. Paul Jones
2. Ric Flair
3. Greg Valentine
4. Ricky Steamboat

At the Mid-Atlantic Gateway, we like to call these guys Crockett's "Grand Slam Champions."

In this 4-part series, we'll look at each of these great champions and their own story behind holding all five titles.

First up at number one is (appropriately enough) No. 1 Paul Jones.

Not only did Paul Jones hold all five of the Crockett championships, he is the only man in history to have done so all in the same calendar year. For Paul, that amazing year was 1975, and as the year began, he held not one, but two of the five titles simultaneously.

Here is a summary of Paul Jones's amazing Grand Slam year of 1975:


PART ONE: PAUL JONES
 
MID-ATLANTIC TELEVISION CHAMPIONSHIP

Paul began 1975 as the Mid-Atlantic TV champion. It was his second reign as TV champion having defeated Ivan Koloff to regain the title a second time on October 30, 1974 at the WRAL TV studios in Raleigh, NC. He would lose the title on February 8, 1975 to a young rising star named Ric Flair, who was a substitute for former champion Ivan Koloff in that match and shocked the wrestling world with his upset victory over Jones. It was Flair's first singles championship, and the second jewel in his own Grand Slam, which we will discuss later.

Jones would regain the TV title later in 1975 from Flair before relinquishing the title after a big win of another championship in November. He would hold it a couple more times in 1976 and two years later in 1978.


MID-ATLANTIC TAG TEAM CHAMPIONSHIP
Paul also began the year of 1975 as co-holder of the Mid-Atlantic Tag Team title with partner Tiger Conway, Jr. The two had defeated Rip Hawk and Ric Flair for the honors on December 6, 1974 at County Hall in Charleston, SC. They would go on to lose the titles to Gene and Ole Anderson on February 20, 1975 in Greensboro, NC. Jones would hold these titles again a few years later with partner and protege Ricky Steamboat.


MID-ATLANTIC HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP

Paul briefly held the Mid-Atlantic title in March of 1975 when he upset Johnny Valentine in a fence match in Charlotte on 3/9/75 at the Charlotte Park Center. That title reign is contested by many in history because NWA President Sam Muchnick wound up returning the title to Valentine 10 days later as a result of a controversial finish. However, it was described at the time as Jones being stripped of the title, and not a declaration of his win being null and void. During his 10-day reign he successfully defended the title on a number of occasions.

Jones would regain the Mid-Atlantic title seven years later, defeating rival Jack Brisco twice in 1982 for the honors, so even if you were to discount the win over Johnny Valentine (and we don't), he would still be a Grand Slam champion, just the last of the four instead of the first!


NWA WORLD TAG TEAM TITLES

Paul teamed up with Wahoo McDaniel and defeated the Anderson Brothers on May 15, 1975 in the Greensboro Coliseum. They lost the titles back to the Andersons on June 11, 1975 in the famous "supreme sacrifice" angle we've written about on this site many times over the years. Jones would hold the World Tag Team titles later in the 1970s with partner Ricky Steamboat, and in a memorable heel tag team combination with Baron Von Raschke. He had a final run in the early 80s with his partner the Masked Superstar.


UNITED STATES HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP 

 

The fifth and final jewel in Jones's Grand Slam crown came on Thanksgiving night in 1975, when he defeated Terry Funk for the United States Heavyweight championship in front of a capacity crowd at the Greensboro Coliseum. Funk had just recently that title in a tournament to fill the vacant championship after the plane crash that ended the career of then reigning champion Johnny Valentine. Two weeks after Jones beat Funk for the U.S. title, Funk upset Jack Brisco to win the NWA World title, which set up Jones as his number one challenger in the Mid-Atlantic area.


CONCLUSION

While many younger fans only remember the Paul Jones of the 1980s at the end of his ring career and as a manager throughout most of that decade, we should never forget what a major player he was in our area as one of the world's top wrestlers in the late 1960s and 1970s. He deserves special recognition as the only man to hold Crockett's Grand Slam in the same calendar year. And he was the first man to do it at all.


NEXT TIME IN PART TWO: "NATURE BOY" RIC FLAIR
Flair began his run of championships in JCP in 1974 and by 1977 had held them all, becoming the second Grand Slam Champion! Details coming in Part Two.

Updated 10/7/18 with an additional detail on Paul Jones tag team title history. Thanks Kyle Rosser.

Yearbooks for both 1975 and 1976 now available!

"Family Bacon Rasslin" Rekindles some of our own Childhood Memories

by Dick Bourne
Mid-Atlantic Gateway

I just finished reading Scottie Richardson's book of memories growing up a wrestling fan, and thoroughly enjoyed it!

The book is titled "Family Bacon Rasslin" and is on sale at Amazon.com.

Scottie is the man behind the popular "Wrestler Weekly" Twitter page and podcast, sharing memories of all things related to the territory days of pro-wrestling. Our own David Chappell has been a guest on Scottie's weekly YouTube show on a couple of occasions and we quickly found out that he was "one of us." We have thoroughly enjoyed talking everything old-school Mid-Atlantic Wrestling with him.

No matter how you grew up as a wrestling fan, especially if it was during the 1970s or 1980s, there is something in Scottie's stories that will connect with you and have you saying "Yeah, that happened to me, too!" His anecdotes are immediately relatable to anyone who grew up eagerly anticipating the moment that hour of local pro wrestling would air on Saturday afternoon or you got to go to the matches live.

I laughed reading about his vivid memories of the Saturday morning ritual of frying bacon and having a Pepsi before Bob Caudle welcomed him and his family to another hour of Mid-Atlantic Wrestling. Rituals such as those were such a part of my wrestling memories, too. For me, though, it was an ice-cold Coca-Cola straight from the bottle and a buttery, toasty, grilled cheese sandwich. My chores had to be completed first, but then it was that Coke, a handful of Lay's potato chips, and that grilled cheese. Every Saturday. 1 o'clock PM. WFBC channel 4. I'm sure many of you have similar memories.

Scottie shares his memories of what it was like when his family moved away to Florida and he was forced to discover new wrestling shows from Florida and Georgia. Again, if you ever moved away from your own territory, you can identify with the wrestling-culture shock. For me, it was moving away to live and work in Alabama in the early 80s and missing Bob Caudle every Saturday.

My point is - - most of Scottie's little memories will kindle similar memories of your own, and there are lots of them shared here, not only of back-in-the-day, but of what it's like to meet those heroes of yesteryear today.

"Family Bacon Rasslin" is available on Amazon.com. The "Wrestler Weekly" video podcast drops every Wednesday night at 9 PM on the Wrestler Weekly YouTube channel. You can follow all the daily posts full of wrestling memorabilia on the Wrestler Weekly Twitter feed @wrestlerweekly.

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As of this writing, the current Wrestler Weekly podcast features the legendary Les Thatcher (Season 3, Episode 11). Be on the lookout for the Gateway's David Chappell as Scottie's guest soon. We'll be linking to it right here on the Mid-Atlantic Gateway.

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Just released! The NEW Mid-Atlantic Wrestling 1976 Yearbook!