PART FOUR - Richmond VA (Revised and Corrected)
by Dick Bourne
Mid-Atlantic Gateway
PART ONE: Introduction Overview and Background on the Tournament
PART TWO: Greensboro Anderson and Hansen Win the First Night
PART THREE: Charlotte The Briscos Win Big on Valentine's Night
RICHMOND, VIRGINIA
Date: February 26, 1982
Venue: Richmond Coliseum
Having concluded the first two city tournaments in Greensboro and Charlotte, North Carolina, the tournament moved to the Commonwealth of Virginia and the fabled Richmond Coliseum in the capitol city of Richmond, Virginia.
The Richmond leg of the tournament featured three returning teams and promised four new teams, although one didn't appear.
Returning teams that were also entered in Greensboro or Charlotte:
- Ole Anderson and Stan Hansen
- Jack and Jerry Brisco
- Sgt. Slaughter and Pvt. Jim Nelson
- Ray Stevens and Leroy Brown*
- Kelly Kiniski and Ron Ritchie
- John Studd and Austin Idol
- Tommy Rich and Bob Armstrong**
*In TV promos, Leroy Brown was announced as Ray Steven's partner while the newspaper ad (at right) named Mike George. It was Brown that made it that night to team with Stevens.
** Neither Armstrong nor Rich appeared.
ADVERTISED TEAMS FEATURING OUTSIDE TALENT
- Jack and Jerry Brisco - While Jack Brisco was now a full-time wrestler in the Mid-Atlantic area, he and brother Jerry Brisco had come in for the original two tournaments in Greensboro and Charlotte from Championship Wrestling from Florida. Jack wound up staying in the territory full time. Jerry would eventually join him as a full-time tag team partner in December of 1982.
- Tommy Rich and Bob Armstrong - One of the more exciting prospects of the Richmond tournament was the promise of Georgia Championship Wrestling stars Bob Armstrong and Tommy Rich, but the top babyface stars of the Peach State did not appear as advertised. Armstrong and Rich were two of the top stars for the Atlanta office. As mentioned in earlier posts, Ole Anderson was booking both territories at that time, and both Armstrong and Rich had made appearances for Jim Crockett Promotions around this time. Rich had appeared on the previous tournament show in Charlotte where he challenged NWA World champion Ric Flair in the singles main event. Armstrong had appeared on a number of Mid-Atlantic shows recently against Roddy Piper as part of their big feud in Georgia. Needless to say, Richmond fans, many of whom were very familiar with the two from the weekly show on Superstation WTBS, were highly disappointed that neither appeared.
- Ray Stevens and Mike George - In the lead-up to the Richmond tournament on television, Ray Stevens explained that his regular partner Pat Patterson had been injured in a previous tournament by Ole Anderson and Stan Hansen. [AUDIO CLIP] Ray Stevens picked a new partner for Richmond. The newspaper advertising promoted Mike George as his replacement partner for Patterson. Mike George was a veteran of the Central States (Kansas City) ring wars where he had been a multi-time Central States Heavyweight champion. In the localized promos for Richmond, Leroy Brown was interviewed as Steven's partner, and indeed it was Brown who teamed with Stevens. Brown was working both Mid-Atlantic and Georgia territories during this time, including challenging Ric Flair for the NWA World Championship in Atlanta's Omni in May.
- Stan Hansen and Ole Anderson. As mentioned in previous posts, Anderson and Hansen were largely considered a team from Georgia Championship Wrestling, as Stan was a regular there, but was making limited appearances in the Mid-Atlantic area, mostly related to the tournament. (See earlier posts for further details.) [AUDIO CLIP]
- Austin Idol teamed with Big John Studd as his new partner
in the tournaments after Idol and Ivan Koloff failed to advance in the
previous tournaments in Greensboro and Charlotte. They could be considered a Georgia/Knoxville hybrid team. While Studd was making appearances semi-regularly in the Mid-Atlantic area, he was the top heel in the Knoxville territory at the time, feuding with both Blackjack Mulligan and Blackjack Mulligan, Jr. Austin Idol had also been working both Mid-Atlantic and Georgia territories in 1981 and early 1982.
THE MID-ATLANTIC TEAMS
 |
| Sgt. Slaughter and his recruit Pvt. Jim Nelson |
- Sgt. Slaughter (reigning United States Champion) took his young protege Pvt. Jim Nelson as his partner in Charlotte, but the two came up short there. They would stun the wrestling world with a victory here in Richmond. Nelson had only recently come under the tutelage of Sgt. Slaughter. [AUDIO CLIP]
- Kelly Kiniski (son of former NWA World champion Gene Kiniski) teamed with Ron Ritchie, the "young lions" entry in the tournament.
With this Richmond tournament, Ole Anderson and Stan Hansen became the only team to appear in all three tournaments so far (Greensboro, Charlotte, and Richmond.) They received a bye in the Richmond tournament, as did the Briscos. It isn't clear who Armstrong and Rich would have faced had they appeared as advertised. (No insinuation made here that they irresponsibly no-showed. Booker Ole Anderson probably pulled them to appear on a Friday night house show in Georgia.)
The Richmond tournament only featured six teams.
The tournament came down to the Brisco Brothers and the team of Sgt. Slaughter and his young recruit Pvt. Jim Nelson in the championship round. In a big upset, the Marines got past the Briscos to take the honors in Richmond.
The Briscos defeated Ole Anderson and Stan Hansen in the semi-finals to advance to the tournament championship. It was their second win over Anderson and Hansen in these tournaments having defeated them in the finals of the Charlotte tournament on 2/14. Both teams received byes in Richmond.
Slaughter and Nelson advanced to the championship round by defeating Kiniski and Ritchie in the first round, Stevens and Brown in the second round, and then defeated the Briscos for the Richmond tournament championship. They were the only team to work three matches in the tournament.
Slaughter actually worked four times this night, also facing Blackjack Mulligan Jr. (Barry Windham) in Sarge's "$1000 Cobra Challenge." Sarge is reported to have gotten disqualified when Muligan Jr. was about to escape the hold.
RICHMOND WINNERS:
Sgt. Slaughter and Pvt. Jim Nelson
OTHER MAIN EVENTS
MID-ATLANTIC HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP
LUMBERJACK MATCH:
RODDY PIPER vs. RICKY STEAMBOAT
Roddy Piper and Ricky Steamboat were involved in a big feud over the Mid-Atlantic title and this match was toward the end of their run together. In this match, the ring would be surrounded by wrestlers in what was known then as a "lumberjack match." It was designed to keep wrestlers from running. If a wrestler left the ring, the lumberjacks would toss him back in again. In previous encounters, Piper had left the ring and been counted out in order to save his title. Piper won by pinfall.
SPECIAL ATTRACTION - $1,000 COBRA CHALLENGE
SGT. SLAUGHTER vs. BLACKJACK MULLIGAN JR.
Sgt. Slaughter should get a special iron man award for working this match in addition to the three tournament matches that night. Not only did he and Pvt. Nelson wrestle three times in the tournament, Slaughter met Blackjack Mulligan, Jr. in a special 5-minute challenge match to see if Junior could break Sarge's cobra hold and win $1,000. The angle that set this up went all the way back to December of 1981, when an episode of "Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling" went off the air with credits rolling as Mulligan Jr. was caught in the hold but about to escape it. (In promos leading up to the tournament [AUDIO CLIP], Slaughter told Pvt. Nelson he
would defeat Mulligan Jr. in the Cobra Challenge for the $1,000 and would
reimburse Nelson for his $1,000 entry fee. Mighty nice of the Sarge!)
JERRY BRISCO DEFEATED PVT. JIM NELSON
IN A SPECIAL SINGLES MATCH
Coming up in PART FIVE:
On to the Omni! The first tournament taking place outside of the Mid-Atlantic territory would be two nights later in Atlanta, GA for Georgia Championship Wrestling. This one rivaled Greensboro for the most diverse line-up of teams, including a top team in from All Japan Pro Wrestling. In fact, some of the Atlanta tournament was televised in Japan (and we'll have video of one of those matches in the Atlanta post.) Some big singles matches on the card as well, a show that was loaded with international stars. Stay tuned for our next post about the very interesting 1982 NWA World Tag Team Championship Tournament. (And as Freddy Miller would say, "Be there!")
Special thanks as always to Mark Eastridge for the newspaper clippings. Eddie Maccon, in attendance that night in Richmond, provided some of the bracketing information. The vintage audio recordings are from the collection of David Chappell.
Please note: This page was updated 3/23/2022 with new information and corrections related to the bracketing and tournament participation, particularly in relation to Bob Armstrong and Tommy Rich not being in Richmond. Thanks to Kyle Rosser and Mark James for additional information and resources.
