Friday, December 21, 2018

Classic Poster Friday: Valentine and Hawk challenge Jones and Bruggers

Winston-Salem, NC    June 13, 1974
by Dick Bourne
Mid-Atlantic Gateway

What a classic poster featured here, a show in Winston-Salem, NC, from June 13, 1974. It features the rare pairing of Johnny Valentine and Rip Hawk together as tag team partners in a Mid-Atlantic Tag Team title challenge against reigning champions "No. 1" Paul Jones and Bob Bruggers.

Championship Context:
Reigning tag champs Paul Jones and Bob Bruggers had defeated Gene and Ole Anderson for the titles two months earlier in Fayetteville, NC. and were defending the titles here against the reigning Mid-Atlantic Heavyweight champion Johnny Valentine and his partner Rip Hawk.

Hawk had taken several different partners over the preceding months in an attempt to take the titles from Jones and Bruggers, including Ivan Koloff, Chuck O'Connor (later Big John Studd), and Gene Lewis. But it was a rare opportunity to see Johnny Valentine and Rip Hawk team up together.

Not long after this show in Winston-Salem, Hawk would take a very young up-and-coming star named Ric Flair as his regular partner, and less than three weeks after this Winston-Salem show defeated Jones and Bruggers for the titles on a big Independence Day card in Charlotte.


The poster before digital restoration
by Uptown Color
Newspaper Results
Winston-Salem NC 6/13/74
  • Jones/Bruggers defeated Valentine/Hawk by DQ
  • Scott/Conway defeated Ota/Hiyashi
  • Ivan Koloff pinned Danny Miller
  • Scott Casey drew Mike Paidousis
  • Amazing Zuma defeated Frank Morrell
  • Les Thatcher defeated Pedro Godoy by DQ


Poster Restoration
Having this crisp image of this poster is a small miracle in and of itself. The original poster we had collected was terribly marked up by the original owner (seen above) with the winners circled and various notes written on the poster. We found a print shop in Richmond that agreed to take on the challenge of cleaning it up for us and results were incredible! We can't say enough good things about the professionalism and craftsmanship of our friends at Uptown Color! 

Poster from the collection of Brack Beasley, originally the Mid-Atlantic Gateway
Restoration project coordinator: David Chappell
Digital Restoration service provided by Uptown Color, Richmond VA