by Dick BourneMid-Atlantic Gateway
Last week on "Action Figures Friday", we posted a photo of many of the wrestlers who held the NWA (Mid-Atlantic) TV championship during the years 1977-1981. We listed a few of the guys not included like Ron Bass and Sweet Ebony Diamond. But then I got a message from Mike Simmerman (who puts these great photos together for us) regarding a very prominent champion (and Hall of Famer) he left out:
"One of your knowledgeable viewers caught my omission of Roddy Piper in the TV title group pic, " Mike wrote me. "I posted one of him [on the Gateway Facebook page] wearing the belt in the comments to make up for it. Here it is along with a shot of Hot Rod shortly after beating Ric Flair for the US belt. Loved that angle and the interview the two had on Mid-Atlantic Wrestling the following week."
So following up on last week's group photo of many of the TV champs, we thought we'd include Mike's great rendition of the Piper-Flair confrontation with Bob Caudle that took place in the Mid-Atlantic TV studios on 1/28/81. Piper had just defeated Flair in Raleigh's Dorton Arena the night before for the United States Championship and now held both the TV and U.S. titles. What came from that is one of my favorite segments on Mid-Atlantic Wrestling ever. We wrote about it back in July of 2015 here on the Gateway, complete with video of the whole thing and a the newspaper ad for the card in Raleigh which wound up being a historic night. Rad all about that here:
RIC FLAIR & RODDY PIPER (1981)
Video, story, and newspaper ad.
http://www.midatlanticgateway.com/2015/07/ric-flair-roddy-piper-1981.html
For a look at all the posts in the Action Figures Friday series, click here.
Here is a bonus photo this week showing Piper with both the NWA TV and his newly won U.S. title belt.
