by David Chappell
Mid-Atlantic Gateway
Catch up on this story in:
PART ONE | PART TWO | PART THREE | PART FOUR | PART FIVE
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PART SIX
When the Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling show that was taped on October 24, 1979 from the WRAL TV-5 studios in Raleigh, North Carolina opened, Tim Woods was standing front and center with announcers Bob Caudle and David Crockett. Caudle quickly exclaimed, "Tim Woods [is] right here with that "Wanted Poster" and that baseball bat on your shoulder!"
Woods smiled and answered, "Well, this [bat] is my buddy...he's gonna be a real companion of mine until I get this score settled. You know, Buddy Rogers and Jimmy Snuka hurt me once, they hurt me twice, but I promise you they're not gonna hurt me again. I've made no bones about it, I've put "Wanted Posters" out all over. I've given thousands of them away and I've got thousands more to give away."
Tim continued, "And I want them to know that I mean what I say. Not only that, but I've proved it by taking off my mask which I've fought for, for a long, long time. And I hope if nothing else that will convince them that I'm very serious about this. They were fined and reprimanded by the National Wrestling Alliance but that's a small thing compared to what they've got in store for them."
While staring intently at the baseball bat on Woods' shoulder, Caudle queried Tim, "When you say you want them out, and you want them out of wrestling...is this right here have anything to do with the way they may go out of wrestling?" Woods answered, "I'll tell you what, I don't care how I put 'em out..." At this juncture, "Superfly" Jimmy Snuka was up in the ring and was barking loudly at Tim, and this was clearly starting to get under Woods' skin.
Woods snapped, "Jimmy Snuka's standin' up there right now but I guarantee..." Caudle interrupted, "Now wait a minute...now Snuka's standing up on the ropes and [Woods'] got that bat!" Crockett quipped, "Better watch out for that swing!" Caudle then laughed, "Yeah, I'm gonna be ducking, David!" But Woods was not in a jovial mood, taunting Snuka saying, "When there's two of them against one they're pretty tough. All I've got is a little equalizer...come on down, HEY come on down!"
At this point, an extremely agitated Woods is positioned in a batter's stance with the bat! Crockett deadpanned, "Looks like he's getting ready to hit a home run." Caudle responded, "Yeah, and I tell ya, when you have guys like Snuka and John Studd, not to mention Buddy Rogers, and you don't know what's gonna happen because..." Crockett then cut Bob off as the cameraman did a close-up of Snuka whose facial expression was extremely scary to say the least.
Crockett commented, "Look at Snuka right now, look at the expression!" Caudle concurred with seeing the far-out look that the "Superfly" was displaying, noting, "You know David, everybody has said that maybe Snuka and maybe Studd are hypnotized by Rogers or something, and if that's the case there's no telling what they're gonna do." Crockett followed, "Snuka's got to have more respect for a man with a baseball bat!"
Woods abruptly ended the interview with his bombshell announcement, proclaiming, "The neck brace is off; next week I'm gonna be wrestling right here!" A gushing Caudle responded, "The neck brace is off; he is recovered David! It's been a long haul for Tim Woods, but he's back." Crockett ended this tense segment by saying, "That's right, he is back and about the hypnotism we'll talk a little more about that later on.
Buddy Rogers addresses the charge that he hypnotizes Jimmy Snuka as a means to terrorize Tim Woods... to be continued in Part 7!