On the Friday night after Thanksgiving, November 27, 1981, Johnny Weaver and Jay Youngblood formed an unlikely duo and upset the Russian team of Chris Markoff and Nikolia Volkoff (managed by Lord Alfred Hayes) to win the Mid-Atlantic Tag Team championship. The match took place at a small spot show in the town of Appalachia, VA, for the Knoxville TN based NWA promotion affiliated with Jim Crockett Promotions.
The next morning Johnny and Jay appeared on the TV taping of NWA Championship Wrestling in Knoxville hosted by Les Thatcher, who conducted one of his trademark "Personality Profile" segments with Weaver. Weaver talked about all the times he held the same title with partner George Becker. He was, of course, talking about the Atlantic Coast Tag Team championship that was renamed the Mid-Atlantic Tag Team championship in 1973. But the Mid-Atlantic tag title does trace its lineage back to that amazing string of title reigns held by Weaver and Becker.Jay Youngblood wrestled in a singles match, but Johnny did not wrestle on this show.
The two appeared together on the show in an interview with Thatcher following Youngblood's match. Photos from that interview are included here. Special thanks to Wendi Weaver for providing these photographs from her father's personal collection.
Earlier that same week, Johnny and Jay served as Grand Marshalls at the annual Christmas parade in China Grove NC. A link to an article about that day and a photograph can be found here: Grand Marshalls.
(This feature is edited from the original story posted on the Johnny Weaver Blog, Jan. 9, 2009.)
