Monday, May 23, 2022

Poster: Greensboro Just One Part of Big Night in the Territory

by Brack Beasley
Mid-Atlantic Gateway Contributor

February 20th, 1975 was a special night in Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling history for a number of reasons. Not only did the Crocketts run this loaded card at the War Memorial Coliseum in Greensboro, they also ran a card in Charlotte in order to go head to head with the IWA. Many of the stars wrestled on both shows the same night. 


In Greensboro, Jack Brisco successfully defended his NWA World Heavyweight Championship against Wahoo McDaniel in a no disqualification match. The NWA World Tag Team champs Gene and Ole Anderson collided with Mid-Atlantic Tag Team champs Paul Jones and Tiger Conway Jr. in a title vs. title match. The Andersons beat Jones and Conway and as a result, the Mid-Atlantic Tag Team titles were retired and not to be seen until they were brought back well over a year later. 

If I'm not mistaken, I believe this is the first ever match between Dusty Rhodes and Ric Flair. It ended up with a double count-out and would be the first of many bouts between Rhodes and Flair in Greensboro as well as other venues. 

The rest of the card included Jerry Brisco, Ken Patera, Art Nelson, Sandy Scott, and Kevin Sullivan. The poster itself has a horizontal layout with black print (other than the high impact red "Wrestling" oval, city, and main event names) over a two tone yellow and pink background and great images of Wahoo, Brisco, Jones, and Conway Jr. The Wahoo autograph adds a nice touch as well. 

I'm just trying to figure out how all those main eventers (Andersons, Wahoo, Jones, and Dusty) managed the amazing feat of making both shots on the same night.

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Mid-Atlantic Gateway Notes
by Dick Bourne, Mid-Atlantic Gateway

As Brack points out, Jim Crockett Promotions ran two big cards in North Carolina that night, one in Greensboro and one in Charlotte in opposition to the insurgent IWA. Even more remarkable, they also ran their other normal Thursday night town, Norfolk, VA, 

The Charlotte Card included:

  • The Anderson Brothers defending their new NWA World Tag Team titles against the team that would give them fits for most of 1975, Wahoo McDaniel and Paul Jones. All four men also appeared on the Greensboro show that same night, indicating that they appeared very early in the card on one of the two shows. 
  • Former NWA World Champion Harley Race made a rare appearance in the area against the special-attraction Haystacks Calhoun.
  • Dusty Rhodes, also on that Greensboro card against Ric Flair, met El Gaucho. It's interesting that Ric Flair only wrestled in Greensboro and not in Charlotte since his Greensboro opponent (Rhodes) made both shows. Flair may have been involved in the Greensboro card later in some sort of outside interference role.

The Norfolk Card included:

  • Johnny Valentine and the Super Destroyer vs. Bearcat Wright and Sonny King
  • The Avenger and recently-turned babyface Swede Hanson vs. Mr. Fuji and Brute Bernard
  • Others, including Klondike Bill, Blue Scorpion, Abe Jacobs, Two Ton Harris, Charlie Cook and more. 

NO. 34 IN THE BEASLEY POSTER SERIES