Classic Poster Friday: All Three Anderson Brothers - 50 Years Ago Today

by Dick Bourne
Mid-Atlantic Gateway

Lexington NC  June 15, 1968

This week's Classic Poster goes all the way back to June 15, 1968 in Lexington, NC - - fifty years ago today! It's an especially rare poster because it features all three Anderson brothers in a six man contest.

That Saturday night at the Lexington YMCA, home of so many exciting weekly cards in that town over many years, Gene and Lars Anderson were joined by their little brother Ole to battle Paul Jones, Nelson Royal and Chief Little Eagle.

Alan "Rock" Rogowski had arrived in Charlotte just five days earlier and made his debut as the third brother in the Minnesota Wrecking Crew. Yes, Ole Anderson had arrived. It began a 4-month period where all three Anderson brothers were in the Crockett territory at the same time, wrestling in several six-man features over that time period.

Although special for its rarity, a small disappointment was a photo placed in error of the Torres brothers (looks like them, anyway) instead of the Anderson Brothers.  

MINNESOTA WRECKING CREW
Lars, Gene, and Ole Anderson

It was a small window of time to see all three of these brothers together. Lars left Jim Crockett Promotions to return to the AWA in October of 1968, just four months after Ole first arrived. From that point forward, the main Anderson team would be Gene and Ole Anderson, and that team would dominate the tag team scene in the area for the next 14 years.

As far as this big night in Lexington, here's the back story leading up to the this six-man tag team main event:

Over previous weeks, Gene and Lars Anderson had fought to several disputed tag-team decisions with Texas heroes Paul Jones and Nelson Royal. In hopes of providing a clear winner in the series of skirmishes, special stipulations were added to the final bout scheduled between the two teams on Saturday, June 8, 1968.  One stipulation was that the match be fought under no-disqualification rules. The second stipulation provided that Chief Little Eagle, who had his own history with the Anderson Brothers in Lexington, be assigned by the NWA as a special referee. Jones and Royal won the match, but the Andersons charged that it had been with the help of the special referee, and the brothers challenged Jones and Royal to take Eagle as their partner the following week and they would bring in a special partner of their own - - their brother Ole Anderson who had just entered the territory.

"With all the argument, a six-man has been arranged this week. Little Eagle will join Royal and Jones while another Anderson - brother to Gene and Lars - will complete the other team. Ole is moving into the territory and has a reputation as being just as rough as his brothers." - Lexington Dispatch Newspaper

The results of the wild six-man action can be read in the Lexington Dispatch article below.

Also of note is the preview of the following week's card which saw Mr. Wrestling (Tim Woods) make his debut in Lexington.

Special thanks to Mark Eastridge for the newspaper clipping and Brad Anderson for the photo of the Anderson Brothers, from his father's personal collection. The poster is from the Mid-Atlantic Gateway collection.