Mid-Atlantic Gateway
We enjoy wrestling clippings, and we include many of them in our posts here on the Gateway. But this one had us laughing a little bit.
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| Greensboro NC 10/16/76 |
The actual winners of the three main events are correct. But it's like someone on the late shift at the sports desk decided that alone wasn't sufficient; they felt the need to make up how they won. Fake news!
This clipping is notable for two reasons. First, it is from a historic show at the Greensboro Coliseum (October 16, 1976) where the three top championships in the territory changed hands on one night. This was very rare in those days, and I guess very rare for any era.
But it is also memorable for how the reported finishes were clearly made-up from whole cloth by whomever wrote this little blurb for the sports section.
At least the actual winners were correct.
Risking his hair against Wahoo McDaniel's Mid-Atlantic championship belt, Ric Flair took the belt with a double wristlock and head scissors in 21 minutes.
He had the stipulations right, he had the right title on the line. He had the winner right. He may have even had the time right. So why make up the finish?
Paul Jones dethroned Blackjack Mulligan for the U.S. Heavyweight championship with a double bar toehold in 39 minutes.
Sorry, dude. Blackjack Mulligan ain't tapping out to no "double bar toehold." (I doubt they went 39 minutes, either.)
Tim Woods took the Mid-Atlantic TV championship from Angelo Mosca, winning on a half-nelson, leg hold and cradle in 10:35.
Bizarre!
It should be noted that these made up finishes stand in stark contrast to the nice reporting in the first paragraph of how wrestling outdrew other recent sporting events at the coliseum. Plus, he did get the actual results right. I guess someone called those in, because this guy clearly wasn't at the show. And goofy stuff like this wasn't that uncommon for the Greensboro paper during this time.
Newspaper clippings for old wrestling shows are always interesting to us, just sometimes for odd reasons!
(Newspaper clipping from the collection of Mark Eastridge.)
