Best of the Gateway: Five Teams That Never Held the Mid-Atlantic Tag Team Titles (But Should Have)

by Dick Bourne and David Chappell
Mid-Atlantic Gateway

Growing up watching Mid-Atlantic Wrestling in the 1970s, there seemed to always be an up-and-coming tag team combination that got your attention, that stood out from the rest. I'm not talking about established main-eventers who are paired together like Wahoo McDaniel and Paul Jones were in 1975. We knew they were headed for a world championship. I'm talking about two new-comers to the area or perhaps the pairing of two guys that had been toiling away on the undercard. You see them, and you think, "Hey, these guys have got something."

After the NWA world tag team titles were established in early 1975, the Mid-Atlantic tag team championships were a good place for teams to take that next step. Previously, that title had been the number one tag team title in the territory. But with the world tag team championship making its home here, the Mid-Atlantic tag titles seemed an appropriate way to recognize other teams. These should be  teams that weren't necessarily going to make it on the world title level, but were championship calibre none-the-less.

COUNTDOWN

We've selected five teams that we felt fit that mold and should have been recognized or rewarded by the booker or the promotion with the Mid-Atlantic tag team championships but for whatever reason were never given that shot.

We are going to spotlight those five teams over the next few weeks, counting down to the number one team we thought should have been given that championship - - but wasn't.



NUMBER FIVE: Randy and Lanny Poffo (1976)

DC: These two young and talented performers teamed in the Mid-Atlantic area during much of 1976, and for the large majority of time when the Mid-Atlantic Tag Team Titles were inactive. The Poffos came into the territory with a bit of a push, and getting the Mid-Atlantic tag belts would have been a great way to give them a major rub. Despite their youth at the time, with their athletic ability and work on the mics that we saw in later years, there is little chance the Poffos wouldn't have thrived as the Mid-Atlantic Tag Team Champions.

DB: One could easily argue that this legit-brother team deserved to be higher on this list. They got a decent mid-card push and were second generation wrestlers (father was Angelo Poffo) that already showed a good amount of ring savvy. Randy would go on to have a monster solo career as Randy "Macho Man" Savage. Both were gifted on the mic. This team above all others would have been a great excuse for Jim Crockett Promotions to bring back the Mid-Atlantic tag titles a lot earlier than they did when the titles were dormant in 1975 and the first half of 1976.


Coming up next in the countdown - a high-flying team comes in at #4! 

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This first in a series of six posts was originally published on September 25, 2015.