by Dick Bourne
Mid-Atlantic Gateway  |
| Ric Flair vs. Buddy Landel - July 31, 1985 Dorton Arena, Raleigh NC |
During the summer months of 1985, Jim Crockett and booker Dusty Rhodes gave the Ric Flair vs. Buddy Landel feud a little test run to see if they had anything with the two of them. Landel, relatively new to the territory, was getting a great heel reaction everywhere and the "Nature Boy" vs. "Nature Boy" battle was bound to be big box office at some point.
However, Flair was in the middle of a big national run against Magnum T.A. off of WTBS, and back home in the Mid-Atlantic area he was the monster babyface against the Russian monster Nikita Koloff coming off the huge Great American Bash match at Charlotte's Memorial Stadium. Later that fall, Flair would be embroiled in a feud with Dusty Rhodes leading up to Starrcade 85, the same supershow where Landel would win the National heavyweight championship from Terry Taylor. So booker Dusty Rhodes wasn't ready to pull the trigger yet on the full blown Flair/Landel feud. He would save that for early 1986.
"Landel, managed by J.J. Dillon, was set for a major push in Jim Crockett Promotions, including a potential NWA title run or at least a major feud with Ric Flair," wrote Dave Meltzer on the Wrestling Observer website. "The two had set a record in Raleigh, NC, in a tryout match."
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| Buddy Landel holds up the NWA title belt after an earlier title match in Greensboro |
The result was a turn-away sellout of the Dorton Arena that stunned the Crockett front office. If you look closely in the photo up top, you'll notice fans jammed into every entrance way from the concourse into the arena and every seat taken in the building. It was truly "standing room only."
James J. Dillon told the Gateway during a conversation in the summer of 2013 that he and Landel were in a car traveling to the building and were stuck in traffic the last couple of miles. "I wondered if maybe the State Fair was in town that week," remembered Dillon, "but then it just dawned on us; they're trying to get to wrestling."
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| Buddy Landel 1962-2015 |
But we never had a chance to find out. Landel had his demons and missed a key television taping that was to set the angle with Flair. He was fired and Flair was programmed with Ron Garvin instead for the short term.
But there was always magic in the air when Flair and Landel got close to each other, and sparks flew when they had their handful of matches the summer of 1985. They just never had a chance to catch fire. And we'll always be left to wonder "what if."
In 2005, I had a short series of interactions with Landel. A mutual friend had introduced us and Landel had inquired about some video he thought I might have. He was looking for the aforementioned clip that aired on Mid-Atlantic television of the match where he had pinned Flair and was briefly handed the NWA belt. I had that original show on VHS and dubbed it to DVD for him, along with some other clips from that year-long run with Jim Crockett Promotions. For the next several years, every time our paths crossed, he would thank me for the DVD. Buddy was a nice guy. I think he enjoyed being able to show his family a glimpse of what might have been had it not been for those personal demons. Perhaps he was trying to pass on some hard lessons learned.
- Dick Bourne
Mid-Atlantic Gateway
Buddy Landel passed away on Monday, June 22, 2015. He was 53 years old.
Rest in Peace.