Ken Patera: A Tale of Two Very Different Mid-Atlantic Wrestling Runs

by David Chappell
Mid-Atlantic Gateway

PART ONE

An exciting newcomer by the name of Ken Patera came onto the Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling landscape in February of 1975. Ken came to the territory with great credentials, primarily from the world of amateur weightlifting. Ken won a gold medal at the Pan American games in 1971, and participated in the 1972 Olympic Games in the sport of weightlifting. Patera, rightly so, was introduced as “Wrestling’s Strongest Man” during his first Mid-Atlantic stint, which lasted for about a year.

The Ken Patera of 1975 and early 1976 was a friendly, soft spoken and educated man, often referring to the fact that he had attended Brigham Young University in his interviews. Despite all of his credentials, Ken was exceedingly modest, a trait that seemed to endear him to the Mid-Atlantic fans. Patera showcased his strength in a number of incredible feats of strength shown on the Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling television show in the spring and summer of 1975. The most memorable of these feats was Ken holding back a pickup truck, his back against a wall with his feet against the bumper, with announcer Les Thatcher having the vehicle in reverse, flooring the accelerator with smoke bellowing from the screeching tires!

Patera’s in-ring feats were also noteworthy during his first stint with Jim Crockett Promotions. Ken was an excellent tag team wrestler, and came close numerous times to dethroning World Tag Team Champions Gene and Ole Anderson with a series of partners from the “good guy” side of the fence. On the singles side of things, Patera had interesting feuds with none other than Johnny “The Champ” Valentine during the spring and summer of 1975, and with Blackjack Mulligan and Steve Strong during the fall of 1975.

Patera tricked Valentine on a TV segment where Johnny was putting lower card wrestlers’ names in a fish bowl, saying he would randomly draw a name out and give the lucky man a shot at his 2000 silver dollars. Valentine’s 2000 silver dollar TV challenge was legendary around the area at this time. During a commercial break, Ken exchanged all the names in the fish bowl with his own name, and Valentine about had a coronary when he drew the name “KEN PATERA” out of the fish bowl! This led to a silver dollar match on TV where Ken had Johnny flat out in the ring at the 10 minute mark, but the referee decided that Valentine didn’t submit so the “Champ” kept his money.

The two battled evenly in the areas’ arenas over the next few months, with Patera getting a number of shots at Johnny’s prestigious United States Title. These bouts had tremendous intensity, and often revolved around Patera cinching Valentine in a headlock or bear hug with his powerful arms sapping the strength out of the “Champ.” Valentine would often somehow manage to pull out a victory, but Ken typically walked out of the ring immediately while Johnny lay motionless on the canvas for a number of minutes!

Ken’s last major angle during his first run in Jim Crockett Promotions played off of his weightlifting background. In October of 1975, Superstar Billy Graham challenged Patera to a bench press weightlifting contest on TV. Graham put forth his friend, the muscular Mid-Atlantic newcomer Steve Strong, to actually participate in the competition. By the time the contest actually took place, a couple of weeks later, Blackjack Mulligan had joined Patera and Strong in the contest to see who could bench press the most weight. After the weight had risen to over 400 pounds, Mulligan and Strong attacked Patera as he was attempting to lift, with the result being that the weight crashed down on Ken’s neck and chest. Patera was out of action for about a week, but it was amazing that he wasn’t hurt more seriously. This incident led to a brief feud in November and December where Patera attempted to exact revenge on Mulligan and Strong.

The “World’s Strongest Wrestler” was then deemphasized and left the Mid-Atlantic area in February of 1976. Other than making a couple of “guest” appearances in the territory later in the year, Mid-Atlantic fans didn’t see Patera again in the territory until the early months of 1978. During the interim, fans saw Ken participate in the CBS “World’s Strongest Man” contest and for the fans that read the national wrestling magazines, they saw that Patera was wrestling in the WWWF territory in the northeast.

The Ken Patera that was wrestling in New York was a far different grappler than the one Mid-Atlantic fans grew to love in 1975, in appearance, personality and wrestling style. The hair had become long and blonde, the modesty had been replaced by arrogance and the scientific wrestling had been replaced by ruthless rulebreaking. The question then became, if Ken Patera came back to the Mid-Atlantic area, which version of the Olympic strongman would we get? It wouldn’t take long to find out!


... To be continued in Part Two

 

Originally published December 2015

U.S. Champion Terry Funk

Edited from Original NWA Promotional Photograph

 

If you are looking at this photograph and thinking to yourself, "Wow, I've never seen a photo of Funk with the old Crockett U.S. title belt," well - - you still haven't.

You see, even to this day as of this writing, there has never been a legitimate photo to surface of Terry Funk wearing the Crockett/Mid-Atlantic Wrestling version of the U.S. title belt. The night he won the championship in a tournament in Greensboro in 1975, the actual belt wasn't present and they used a stand-in (a WWWF tag belt of all things.) Funk then only wore the original belt to the ring one time, in his first defense on Thanksgiving night against Paul Jones, the man he beat in the finals of the aforementioned tournament. While there certainly had to have been a photo taken by the wrestling media that night, one has never surfaced, and believe me  - - we have searched long and hard. One may show up one day.

The above photo is a well done photoshopped image originally from a mid-1970s promotional photograph when Terry Funk was NWA World Heavyweight Champion. In the original, Terry is wearing the "domed-globe" NWA title belt. Longtime Mid-Atlantic Wrestling fan Steven Chandler (aka Jesse Santana in his wrestling persona) did a great job in modifying the photo to have Terry wearing the Crockett version of the U.S. title belt from that same era. It gives us all a great idea of what Terry would have looked like wearing that classic cast U.S. title belt.

Funk briefly held that U.S. title in November 1975, in the weeks leading up to his historic win over Jack Brisco for the NWA World title in Miami Beach, FL in December 1975. It was all part of classic booking from that era to simultaneously build Funk up as top world title contender as well as establish Paul Jones as U.S. champion and the #1 contender for Funk's world title when he would later win it. 

You can read more about the famous tournament Funk won in Greensboro to win the U.S. title, as well as the aftermath that Thanksgiving, in our feature on its 40th Anniversary published back in 2015. You can also read about my brief interaction with Funk at the NWA Wrestling Legends Fanfest in Charlotte in 2010 where he posed for a photo with a cast replica of the U.S. belt. 

Poster: Christmas Night in Charlotte (1975)

by Brack Beasley
Mid-Atlantic Gateway Contributor

Imagine going back to Christmas Day, 1975. After time spent with family and friends, a big holiday dinner, and perhaps a visit from Santa. And if you lived in the Charlotte, NC area you could stroll down to the Park Center for an exciting night of Mid Atlantic Championship Wrestling. What a great way to wind up a special day.

 

This poster promotes the Christmas card at the Park Center where The Anderson Brothers, Gene and Ole, defended their NWA World Tag Team titles against fan favorites Tim Woods and Johnny Weaver.

Tiger Conway Jr. collided with Spoiler #1 (Doug Gilbert under the hood) in the semi while a rarely seen mixed tag team match had Little Tokyo and Leilani Kai versus The Haiti Kid and Vicky Williams. The undercard included Steve Keirn, Jerry Blackwell, Greg Peterson, and Joe Soto.

The horizontal layout of this poster really pops with all black print (except for the main event names in high impact red) on a two tone blue and yellow background along with the "Wrestling" oval in upper left corner. 

* * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Gateway Notes:

Christmas night was always a "return to work" night after the 10-day Christmas break for Jim Crockett Promotions. Christmas 1975 was a challenging time for the company, reeling from the loss of their two top heels following the Wilmington plane crash in October (Ric Flair temporarily, Johnny Valentine permanently) and in a promotional war with the rival IWA. 

There were three different shows taking place on Christmas night in 1975, this one in Charlotte, plus Greenville SC (headlined by Paul Jones and newcomer Blackjack Mulligan) and Norfolk VA (headlined by Wahoo McDaniel vs. Professor Boris Malenko in a Russian Chain Match.)

For more on Christmas Night memories through many years, visit Mid-Atlantic Wrestling on Christmas Day.  

NO. 21 IN SERIES.  ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED ON THE MID-ATLANTIC GATEWAY IN DECEMBER 2021.

Bob Caudle's Most Dangerous Place

by David Chappell
Mid-Atlantic Gateway

On the Wednesday night April 23, 1975 television taping of the Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling TV show, announcer Bob Caudle told the fans that he wasn’t in a comfortable place. The early bouts on the show were dominated by the “bad guys.” Talented Doug Gilbert decisively defeated youngster Kevin Sullivan in the opener, gaining the advantage by feigning to help Sullivan up when Kevin was tangled up in the ropes, but instead Gilbert sucker punched him into oblivion.

The second match on the show featured the newly formed duo of the veteran Art Nelson and Mid-Atlantic newcomer Mr. Fuji easily handling the duo of Don Kernodle and Tio Tio. Fuji put Tio Tio to sleep with his devastating submission hold, the Japanese Cobra. Those three rulebreakers would join Bob for the show’s first interview segment.

Caudle began, “Fans at ringside right now, and I can’t think of any more dangerous place for a person to be than I am right now between three really notorious wrestlers, like Art Nelson here on my left, Doug Gilbert, and then Mr. Fuji.” Nelson gruffly responded, “Well let me say this, not notorious, well-conditioned athletes.”

Art continued, “Let me say this, when you get in that ring then you’d have to be worried. As long as we’re on the floor here, we don’t bother anybody. If you get in that ring, if you’re not in condition, you can’t take it, then you’d have to be worried about it. This is a man’s business, we’re men, and we go in that ring and we don’t fool with babies.”

Nelson added, “Fuji and I were here a few weeks ago and we were talking about wrestling top teams. Where are they? Where’s the Indian [Wahoo McDaniel]? Where’s little boy blue [Paul Jones], the guy with the belts, where’s he at? Where’s the strongman [Ken Patera]? I don’t see them around, I hear them, but I sure can’t see them. But as long as they’re scared to get in the ring with us, nothing we can do about it because we said we would meet all comers, we would wrestle anybody, right Fuji?

The man from Japan answered, “Right! Very, very true Mr. Nelson. You see fans, you see how very devastating, Japanese cobra hold is! Samoan boy [Tio Tio] he paralyzed already; he’s no good, like wrestling an old lady! Right Mr. Gilbert?”

Caudle interjected, “I gotta say Doug Gilbert, you know I thought you were gonna help Kevin Sullivan out, it looked like you were gonna commit an act of sportsmanship in your match and then all of a sudden you hit him. That’s very unsportsmanlike!” Gilbert deadpanned, “I won the match didn’t I?” Bob agreed, “You won the match, right.” Doug continued, “Well, you’re gonna have to realize that when you get in a profession like professional wrestling, sportsmanship doesn’t count very much. What counts is ability. What counts is winning the match, and that’s what happened. I won the match, these gentlemen won their match. That’s what counts…winning!”

Caudle then commented, “Doug Gilbert shows a lot of wrestling ability up there. You got a lot of moves and you use them up there. Why do you have to resort to some of the other type tactics?” Gilbert candidly responded, “It’s a lot easier.” Bob had to do a double take saying, “A lot easier to win that way then, Doug?” Gilbert nodded in the affirmative.

Nelson concluded the segment telling the fans that boiling it all down…making money, and lots of it, was the overriding aspiration in professional wrestling. Art exclaimed, “Green power is what’s important! Green power…that’s the dollar bill, ten dollars, a hundred dollars!” But with that final comment the three “notorious” wrestlers departed the set, making Bob Caudle’s interview area a much less dangerous place!

Poster: Valentine and Wahoo Headline Stacked Card in Greensboro (1975)

by Brack Beasley
Mid-Atlantic Gateway Contributor

This poster takes us back to Sunday, September 28th, 1975 and features an absolutely loaded card at the Greensboro Coliseum. 

Johnny Valentine defended his United States Heavyweight title in the main event against perennial foe Wahoo McDaniel in what was sure to be a hard hitting, violent affair. Unfortunately, it turned out to be Valentine's last match in Greensboro due to the Wilmington, NC plane crash less than a week later. 

In the semi, Gene and Ole Anderson put their NWA World Tag Team belts on the line against the exciting duo of Dusty Rhodes and Paul Jones, while Ray Stevens came into town trying to collect Valentine's bounty on Tim Woods. 

The mid-card match had Ric Flair vs. Tiger Conway Jr. and the undercard included Ken Patera, The Avenger (Reggie Parks), Great Malenko, Spoiler No. 2, Danny Miller, and Steve Keirn. 

The poster's horizontal layout has red and black print over a two tone hot pink and yellow background. In addition, images of seven wrestlers adorn both sides and are accompanied by the signatures of Wahoo and Ole. 

Oh, what we wouldn't do to go back maybe just once and experience an event such as this one, professional wrestling as it should be.

NO. 37 IN THE BRACK BEASLEY POSTER SERIES

Flair and Valentine at WRAL

by Dick Bourne
Mid-Atlantic Gateway
Photographs from the Bleachers at WRAL by Ric Carter



We've been featuring a series of rare photographs taken by photographer Ric Carter from the bleachers of the studio during an hour of "Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling" in July of 1975.

Now we take a second look at the team of Johnny Valentine and Ric Flair in a great photograph in the moments after their victory over Kevin Sullivan and Bob Bruggers. (See more photos from that match here.)

At left, Sullivan kneels over his partner who had just taken a vicious suplex and elbow drop from "The Champ" Johnny Valentine.  Referee Johnny Heidmann checks up on the losing team as well.

Johnny Valentine had taken Flair under his wing somewhat during this time and the two teamed frequently on TV. Valentine was the reigning United States Heavyweight champion and Ric Flair held the Mid-Atlantic Television title.

In another great photo from the bleachers, Ric Cater grabbed a shot of the new United States Heavyweight title belt as it lay on the ring apron before the match, just moments before ring attendant scooped it up. You can see the ring attendant in the background, just placing Flair's TV belt over his left arm. This was the first time the new U.S. title belt, with its sparkling gold plated cast plates and shiny red crocodile leather, had been seen on T.V.

 

The story on every title change and every belt from the Crockett Promotions years.

As mentioned in our earlier post on this match, it was Johnny Valentine's first TV appearance as United States Heavyweight champion. He had just defeated Harley Race six days earlier for that title in Greensboro. During Valentine's TV match, Les Thatcher told fans that they would be reviewing tape of the title change from Greensboro on next week's show.

Champions At This Time:
NWA World Champion: Jack Brisco
World Tag Team Champions: Gene and Ole Anderson
United States Champion: Johnny Valentine
Mid-Atlantic Champion: Wahoo McDaniel
TV Champion: Ric Flair

This show was taped Wednesday, 7/9/75 and aired on Saturday, 7/12/75. Other matches on this show included Chief Wahoo McDaniel vs. The Blue Scorpion, "No. 1" Paul Jones and Rufus R. "Freight Train" Jones vs. "Crusher" Jerry Blackwell and George "Two Ton" Harris, plus Ole Anderson vs. Bob Burns.

This is the fifth and final installment in our series of photos from WRAL studio in 1975. 

1975 Photo Feature Summary
1. Wahoo McDaniel vs. The Blue Scorpion (Part 1)
2. Wahoo McDaniel vs. The Blue Scorpion (Part 2) 
3. Johnny Valentine & Ric Flair vs. Sullivan & Bruggers (Part 1)
4. Paul Jones & Rufus R. Jones vs. Blackwell and Harris 
5. Johnny Valentine & Ric Flair vs. Sullivan & Bruggers (Part 2) (This post)

All photographs in this series by Ric Carter, © CartersRXd.net. Used with permission.

Vintage audio provided by Gary Wray.

Edited from an original post in August 2018.

July 4th Flashback: Andre and the Andersons Headline Richmond (1975)

A GIANT 4th of July Card in Richmond

The Andersons Battle Wahoo McDaniel and Paul Jones in Richmond

by David Chappell

Mid-Atlantic Gateway

Like most cities, Richmond, Virginia back in 1975 had its share of spectacular fireworks displays to commemorate the Independence Day holiday. But none of those displays held a candle to the “fireworks” that were unleashed on fans inside the Richmond Coliseum, watching a super spectacular card of Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling on the evening of July 4, 1975!

To those that have followed the Mid-Atlantic Gateway, you may recall that this card ranked #21 on my listing of Richmond’s greatest Mid-Atlantic cards. The most intriguing match to me going in was a rare Richmond appearance of Andre the Giant, going against the seemingly indestructible Super Destroyer, who was saying at the time that he had held onto his mask for thirteen years. But the match that really stole the show was a NWA World Tag Team Title bout between champions Gene and Ole Anderson against Paul Jones and Wahoo McDaniel.

About three weeks prior to this Richmond show, the Anderson Brothers had regained the World Tag Team Title belts on television in the dramatic “Supreme Sacrifice” match, where Ole ran Wahoo’s head into Gene’s head, knocking Gene out in the process. This return bout in Richmond had the big match feel of a title change, and the apparent sellout crown at the Coliseum was at a fever pitch anticipating a win for the challengers. But…it wasn’t meant to be on this night. An even bout turned the challengers way towards the end, but it was too little too late. The Andersons stalled out the final minutes, and escaped with a 60 minute draw. This match set up four return bouts between these four during the summer and fall of 1975, with the challengers coming tantalizingly close to winning back the belts.

In the semi-final, many in attendance thought Andre the Giant would finally be the man to unmask the Super Destroyer. After all, if a GIANT couldn’t do the deed nobody else had in 13 years, who possibly could? Andre physically manhandled the masked man to a degree that nobody could believe, but that didn’t stop the Destroyer’s active mind from escaping one precarious predicament after another. A disqualification win for Andre got the Giant’s hand raised and validated a dominating performance, but at the same time frustrated many fans who were expecting a hood to come off. However, the Super Destroyer haters were about to get the last laugh. As fate would have it, the masked man would wrestle only one more time in Richmond and within a month or so was out of the area under a cloud, never to return, with his unmasked face plastered all over the Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling television shows.

The supporting card, honestly, was not as strong as many Richmond saw, but it did have its moments. The “best of the rest” was a unique pairing of the Mid-Atlantic TV Champion Ric Flair and the underrated Doug Gilbert, against the “good guy” duo of big Swede Hanson and Sonny King. Flair was rising fast at this juncture, so I expected the “bad guys” would take this one. The big Swede was dropping down the cards, and Sonny King was being de-emphasized and would be leaving the area in about two weeks as time would tell. However, Flair and Gilbert couldn’t control their anger issues, giving Hanson and King a disqualification victory to the delight of the Richmond fans.

The other tag team match of the night saw Bob Bruggers and Sandy Scott dispatch the team of Charlie Fulton and the Blue Scorpion. The Bruggers/Scott combination was a smooth one, and they ran circles around their confounded opponents this night. Unfortunately for his many fans, Sandy Scott wrestled very little after this Richmond match, though he did continue to stay active with the promotion, primarily behind the scenes. And after a promising start as a main event performer a year and a half before, Bruggers continued to drop down the cards until the airplane crash in Wilmington, North Carolina in early October of 1975 brought his wrestling career to an end.

Three single matches rounded out this holiday spectacular, and the curtain raiser was by far the best of the bunch! The good guys notched a couple of wins as Greg Peterson outlasted Larry Sharpe, and the highly popular Klondike Bill took the measure of Joe Soto. But the first bout of the night stood out, and was really outstanding. 1974 NWA rookie of the year Steve Keirn and veteran Art Nelson wrestled to a 20 minute draw, which was a battle of contrasting styles and youth versus experience. Nelson, the aging veteran, was still in exceptional condition, but had trouble dealing the speed of Keirn. Conversely, the strength of Nelson gave the youngster Keirn fits. Each man had their chances at victory, but ultimately had to settle for a draw. As clearly Keirn was going up the “Mid-Atlantic ladder” as Nelson was going down that same ladder, it was befitting that they would meet in the middle of that proverbial ladder in this early July 1975 confrontation. But to show how this trend continued over the next few months for both, by October of 1975 Keirn was in a main event program with Tiger Conway, while Nelson was set to depart the Mid-Atlantic area, and would never return.

Originally published July 4, 2015, and republished in July of 2018, and 2021
on the Mid-Atlantic Gateway

Poster: Super Destroyer and Paul Jones Battle in Lynchburg (1975)

by Jody Shifflett
Mid-Atlantic Gateway Contributor

This poster is from July 25, 1975 and took place at the Lynchburg Armory, a venue that saw a lot of great Mid-Atlantic wrestling action. Just look at the rundown on this poster, from the Super Destroyer to Paul Jones to Ric Flair to Swede Hanson. Also featured are Kevin Sullivan and Bob Bruggers. This is when men were men.

This event took place roughly two months before the October plane crash, of which Ric Flair and Bob Bruggers were a part. I was only three years old at the time of this event but how great it would be to travel back in time and see these guys perform when wrestling truly was wrestling.

Features great light pink to blue coloring, and as always the historic 8:15 start time!

NO. 3 IN THE SHIFFLETT POSTER SERIES

Poster: Greensboro Just One Part of Big Night in the Territory

by Brack Beasley
Mid-Atlantic Gateway Contributor

February 20th, 1975 was a special night in Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling history for a number of reasons. Not only did the Crocketts run this loaded card at the War Memorial Coliseum in Greensboro, they also ran a card in Charlotte in order to go head to head with the IWA. Many of the stars wrestled on both shows the same night. 

In Greensboro, Jack Brisco successfully defended his NWA World Heavyweight Championship against Wahoo McDaniel in a no disqualification match. The NWA World Tag Team champs Gene and Ole Anderson collided with Mid-Atlantic Tag Team champs Paul Jones and Tiger Conway Jr. in a title vs. title match. The Andersons beat Jones and Conway and as a result, the Mid-Atlantic Tag Team titles were retired and not to be seen until they were brought back well over a year later. 

If I'm not mistaken, I believe this is the first ever match between Dusty Rhodes and Ric Flair. It ended up with a double count-out and would be the first of many bouts between Rhodes and Flair in Greensboro as well as other venues. 

The rest of the card included Jerry Brisco, Ken Patera, Art Nelson, Sandy Scott, and Kevin Sullivan. The poster itself has a horizontal layout with black print (other than the high impact red "Wrestling" oval, city, and main event names) over a two tone yellow and pink background and great images of Wahoo, Brisco, Jones, and Conway Jr. The Wahoo autograph adds a nice touch as well. 

I'm just trying to figure out how all those main eventers (Andersons, Wahoo, Jones, and Dusty) managed the amazing feat of making both shots on the same night.

* * * * *

Mid-Atlantic Gateway Notes
by Dick Bourne, Mid-Atlantic Gateway

As Brack points out, Jim Crockett Promotions ran two big cards in North Carolina that night, one in Greensboro and one in Charlotte in opposition to the insurgent IWA. Even more remarkable, they also ran their other normal Thursday night town, Norfolk, VA, 

The Charlotte Card included:

• The Anderson Brothers defending their new NWA World Tag Team titles against the team that would give them fits for most of 1975, Wahoo McDaniel and Paul Jones. All four men also appeared on the Greensboro show that same night, indicating that they appeared very early in the card on one of the two shows. 
• Former NWA World Champion Harley Race made a rare appearance in the area against the special-attraction Haystacks Calhoun.
• Dusty Rhodes, also on that Greensboro card against Ric Flair, met El Gaucho. It's interesting that Ric Flair only wrestled in Greensboro and not in Charlotte since his Greensboro opponent (Rhodes) made both shows. Flair may have been involved in the Greensboro card later in some sort of outside interference role.

The Norfolk Card included:

• Johnny Valentine and the Super Destroyer vs. Bearcat Wright and Sonny King
• The Avenger and recently-turned babyface Swede Hanson vs. Mr. Fuji and Brute Bernard
• Others, including Klondike Bill, Blue Scorpion, Abe Jacobs, Two Ton Harris, Charlie Cook and more. 
  

NO. 34 IN THE BEASLEY POSTER SERIES

The Origins of Wahoo McDaniel vs. Ric Flair (1975)

by Dick Bourne
Mid-Atlantic Gateway 

“That’s a good friend of mine laying there. You say you want some competition, well you’ve got some competition right here, right now!”
- Wahoo McDaniel

Bill Janosik Photo

Things were so simple back in the day. You didn’t have to set anyone on fire to start a feud with them. It could be something as simple as coming to the aid of a friend.

I’ve been listening to old audio tapes of Mid-Atlantic Wrestling from 1975, and I think I’ve found the very beginning of the classic feud between Wahoo McDaniel and Ric Flair.

On the Mid-Atlantic Wrestling show taped July 23, 1975, Ric Flair, the Mid-Atlantic TV champ at that time, is wrestling Bob Bruggers. Les Thatcher is doing commentary and is giving Bruggers' athletic background, talking about how he played football at the University of Minnesota and played NFL football for the Miami Dolphins. He roomed with Wahoo McDaniel while in Miami.

Flair and Bruggers have a pretty even and competitive match, but at the end Flair gains the upper hand, wins the match, and then relentlessly goes after Bruggers after the match, screaming for someone to bring him some competition. Wahoo McDaniel, currently the Mid-Atlantic Heavyweight champ having defeated Johnny Valentine less than a month earlier, hits the ring for the save.

Wahoo gets the microphone and tells Flair “That’s a good friend of mine laying there. You say you want some competition, well you’ve got some competition right here, right now!” and they launch into a wild brawl, with Flair finally bailing out after a series of Wahoo’s chops.

Here is about 2:30 of that vintage audio. The sound quality is a little muffled, but you can make most of the key points mentioned above. Your host is Les Thatcher, with color commentary by NWA Rookie of the Year Steve Keirn. The audio picks up with about a minute left in the match.

The feud between Wahoo and Flair lasted for over 11 years, and included battles over the Mid-Atlantic, United States, and NWA World Heavyweight titles. But it all started over Wahoo coming to the aid of a friend, his old NFL roommate. That was enough is get things started. It made sense to everyone watching. We all bought into it because we all would have done the same in that position.

Flair beats Wahoo
for the Mid-Atlantic Title

Flair would soon lose the TV title to Paul Jones and mount a challenge for Wahoo’s Mid-Atlantic title. The two would battle over the next couple of months until Flair finally beat Wahoo for the title on September 20, 1975 in Hampton, VA in a title-vs.-hair match; if Flair lost, he would have to shave his head.

A few weeks later in early October, the private airplane Flair was on with Bob Bruggers, Johnny Valentine, Tim Woods, and David Crockett crashed near Wilmington NC. Despite suffering a broken back in the crash, Flair was back in action by late January 1976 and defending the Mid-Atlantic title against the former champion Wahoo McDaniel.

The two would trade the title several times over the entire year of 1976, with Wahoo eventually getting the title back for good in December 1976. Flair and new partner Greg Valentine began a family battle with Flair’s cousins the Anderson Brothers for the World Tag titles. Wahoo moved on to a feud with Greg Valentine in 1977 that eventually cost Wahoo a broken leg. But the paths of Wahoo McDaniel and Ric Flair would cross again and again over the coming years.

Thanks to David Chappell's vintage audio, you've just listened to those paths crossing to begin their feud on Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling TV taped in Raleigh, NC, July 23, 1975.

Read about all of these great events and much more in the Mid-Atlantic Wrestling 1975 Yearbook, on sale now.


(The story above is edited and expanded from an original story published on the Mid-Atlantic Gateway titled "A Simpler Time" in July of 2006.)

Originally published July 2015 on the Mid-Atlantic Gateway

Poster: Andre the Giant in big Six Man Tag in Salem VA

by Brack Beasley
Mid-Atlantic Gateway Contributor 

This poster takes us back to the Commonwealth of Virginia and promotes a card held on Saturday, November 29th, 1975 at the Salem Civic Center (referred to as the Salem Coliseum here). 

It boasts an attractive horizontal layout with all black print over a two tone orange and bright yellow background. 

Whenever Andre the Giant was scheduled to appear on a card that usually meant a packed arena. I'm confident that was the case in Salem this particular night with a main event six man tag featuring Andre, Tim Woods, and Rufus R. Jones versus the Anderson Brothers, Gene and Ole, and newcomer to the area Steve Strong. 

Other exciting matches included Swede Hanson versus Angelo Mosca (misspelled Moska here), strongman Ken Patera versus Jerry Blackwell, and Mike "The Judge" DuBois and partner Bill White took the challenge of Johnny Weaver and rookie Tony Atlas. Tony Rocca wrestled Don Serrano in the opening bout. 

NO. 28 IN A SERIES

 ***

Mid-Atlantic Gateway Notes
by Dick Bourne

Andre the Giant was in for the big Thanksgiving week for Jim Crockett Promotions, including this six-man tag in Salem VA as seen in the poster above. Here is how Andre's big week shaped up in the Mid-Atlantic area:

• Monday 11/24/75 - Greenville SC - Andre & Tiger Conway, Jr. vs. Gene and Ole Anderson for the NWA World Tag Team championships.
• Tuesday 11/25/75 - Columbia SC - Andre & Rufus R. Jones vs. Gene and Ole Anderson for the NWA World Tag Team championships
• Wednesday 11/26/75 - Raleigh NC - TV Tapings at WRAL-5 Studio
• Thursday 11/27/75 (Thanksgiving) - Norfolk VA - Andre, Rufus R. Jones and Ken Patera vs. Steve Strong and the Anderson Brothers, plus Andre vs. Superstar Billy Graham in an arm wrestling contest.
• Friday 11/28/75 - Richmond, VA - Andre & Paul Jones vs. Blackjack Mulligan and Steve Strong
• Saturday 11/29/75 - Salem VA - Andre, Rufus R. Jones, and Tim Woods vs. Gene and Ole Anderson and Steve Strong (poster seen above)
• Sunday 11/30/75 - Asheville NC - Andre, Tim Woods, and Paul Jones vs. Gene and Ole Anderson and Blackjack Mulligan
• Monday 12/1/75 - Charlotte NC - Andre & Ken Patera vs. Blackjack Mulligan & Steve Strong
  
  

Best of: Ric Flair's Crystal Ball Was Clear in 1975

by David Chappell
Mid-Atlantic Gateway 

On June 18, 1975 Ric Flair was about a year into his tenure with Jim Crockett Promotions. While Flair was the Mid-Atlantic Television Champion at that time, the young “Nature Boy” was still clearly a work in progress. The Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling TV show that was taped that night featured a bout between reigning NWA World Heavyweight Champion Jack Brisco and the 1974 NWA Rookie of the Year, Steve Keirn. The rare appearance of the NWA World Champion on Mid-Atlantic TV was not lost on the supremely confident Flair.

In a brief interview segment on that show with announcer Bob Caudle, Ric exclaimed,

“I just want to take one minute here to tell everybody that I had a dream! You know, I have a lot of girlfriends around the country and one of ‘em happens to be a fortune-teller. And one day she looked at one line of my palm and she said, ‘You’re the best lookin’ man in the world!’ And the next day she looked at another line in my hand and she said, ‘You got the greatest body in the world!’ And the next day she looked at a line in my hand and said, ‘You’re gonna beat Paul Jones, you’re gonna beat Wahoo McDaniel, you’re gonna beat Jack Brisco, WOOOO, and you’re gonna be the World’s Champion! Because there’s only one Nature Boy, and you are the greatest wrestler in the world today Nature Boy, know it for a fact!’”

Flair concluded by saying, “I am the best, I am the good, I am the bad…I am everything daddy, and don’t you forget it!” Caudle deadpanned in response, “Well, there’s no doubt what Ric Flair thinks of himself.”

Self confidence has never been an issue for Ric Flair, even back in 1975. But when I watched this interview segment nearly 42 years ago, I didn’t see the young brash Nature Boy as a World Champion. Back then, that prospect seemed almost laughable to me. Was Flair entertaining back then? Yes, without a doubt. But, Ric Flair as a World Champion? Not even a remote possibility in my humble opinion!

As the years progressed, my opinion of Ric Flair and his World Title possibilities certainly changed. But while myself and others had to come around to the idea of Flair as a World Heavyweight Champion, the Nature Boy’s crystal ball on this subject was clear all the way back to June of 1975. And when Ric ascended to the NWA mountaintop for the first time on September 17, 1981, I vividly remember hearkening back to this interview, and realizing that he had one heck of a fortune-telling girlfriend in his past!

Originally published January 2017 on the Mid-Atlantic Gateway

Poster: Christmas Night in Charlotte (1975)

by Brack Beasley
Mid-Atlantic Gateway Contributor

Imagine going back to Christmas Day, 1975. After time spent with family and friends, a big holiday dinner, and perhaps a visit from Santa. And if you lived in the Charlotte, NC area you could stroll down to the Park Center for an exciting night of Mid Atlantic Championship Wrestling. What a great way to wind up a special day.

 

This poster promotes the Christmas card at the Park Center where The Anderson Brothers, Gene and Ole, defended their NWA World Tag Team titles against fan favorites Tim Woods and Johnny Weaver.

Tiger Conway Jr. collided with Spoiler #1 (Doug Gilbert under the hood) in the semi while a rarely seen mixed tag team match had Little Tokyo and Leilani Kai versus The Haiti Kid and Vicky Williams. The undercard included Steve Keirn, Jerry Blackwell, Greg Peterson, and Joe Soto.

The horizontal layout of this poster really pops with all black print (except for the main event names in high impact red) on a two tone blue and yellow background along with the "Wrestling" oval in upper left corner. 

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Gateway Notes:

Christmas night was always a "return to work" night after the 10-day Christmas break for Jim Crockett Promotions. Christmas 1975 was a challenging time for the company, reeling from the loss of their two top heels following the Wilmington plane crash in October (Ric Flair temporarily, Johnny Valentine permanently) and in a promotional war with the rival IWA. 

There were three different shows taking place on Christmas night in 1975, this one in Charlotte, plus Greenville SC (headlined by Paul Jones and newcomer Blackjack Mulligan) and Norfolk VA (headlined by Wahoo McDaniel vs. Professor Boris Malenko in a Russian Chain Match.)

For more on Christmas Night memories through many years, visit Mid-Atlantic Wrestling on Christmas Day.  

NO. 21 IN SERIES

Paul Jones Reflects on Thanksgiving Night 1975

U.S. Champion Paul Jones

by Dick Bourne
Mid-Atlantic Gateway

Paul Jones still gets angry when he looks at the poster promoting the annual Thanksgiving wrestling card in Greensboro for 1975.

"Terry Funk and I worked so hard the night of the [11/9/75] U.S. tournament in Greensboro," Jones told me in a phone conversation in November 2005. I called him to specifically ask him about htis night for a feature on the Gateway. "We both wrestled four times that night, none of them quick matches. That tournament drew a record house and a record gate, and we had this memorable match that had the whole territory talking."

Indeed they did. One only needs to listen to the audio tapes of the tournament matches that were broadcast on Mid-Atlantic television in the weeks following the tournament to know just how into that show Greensboro fans were. And make no mistake about it, fans were shocked that an outsider such as Terry Funk had won the tournament and the U.S. title. Fans had gotten comfortable with the U.S. title now being their title after Johnny Valentine won it from Harley Race earlier that summer. The U.S. title had been a Mid-Atlantic-based title ever since. Now this brash young Terry Funk was promising to take the title back to Texas, telling the Greensboro Record that future contenders would have to come to the panhandle of Texas to vie for the title.

But as the story played out, promoter Jim Crockett, Jr. and booker George Scott along with Paul Jones himself, lobbied NWA President Jack Adkisson for a rematch at the upcoming annual Thanksgiving wrestling extravaganza. Minutes before Funk cradled Jones for the tournament victory, Jones had covered Funk for an apparent three-count, only referee Greg Peterson was unable to make the count due to be knocked off his feet moments earlier. Adkisson himself, at ringside for the big event, was on his feet as Jones covered Funk. It was based on this fact that Adkisson forced Funk to return to Greensboro on Thanksgiving night for the rematch with Paul Jones.

The stage was set. Paul Jones and Terry Funk were set to draw another record gate in Greensboro. The advance was huge based on this match as the main draw alone.

It's here where Paul Jones still holds a small grudge against booker George Scott.

"George had Brisco booked in the territory the week of Thanksgiving and decided to have him defend the NWA title against Wahoo on the Thanksgiving night show. But this show didn't need that match. Terry and I were the draw and deserved to be on top of that card."

Paul is likely pointing to the fact that having Brisco on the show meant 10% of the house gate would automatically go to him,  as well as a fee back to the St. Louis office that booked him. This was was the norm for the NWA champion at that time. Having that match with Wahoo on top of the card also meant Wahoo would receive a high percentage of the gate, watering down what would have gone to Funk and Jones had they been on top of the card. Paul firmly stands by his assertion that the show would have sold out without the addition of the NWA title match on the card.  One would find it hard to credibly argue against that claim based on the interest in the U.S. title and his re-match with Funk, both set up by the memorable tournament three weeks earlier.

"When I see that poster, I get hot because it was Terry and I that drew that house, not Jack and Wahoo. That would be lost on someone today looking at that old poster and not knowing the history."

For the casual fan, that's likely so. For the die-hard Mid-Atlantic Wrestling fans that grew up in that era, the month of November 1975 and the two Greensboro cards held that month will always be remembered for the outstanding matches fans witnessed between Terry Funk and Paul Jones.

"I guess it's a small thing, really," Paul Jones told me as he laughed. "But I wanted to set the record straight!"

Edited from a post originally published in November of 2015 on the Mid-Atlantic Gateway

For more on the U.S. championship tournament that Paul mentioned, take a moment to check out the 5-part series we did commemorating the 40th anniversary of that big event in Greensboro. Lots of memorabilia and sound clips there from 40 years ago this month!

Poster: Johhny Valentine and Ric Flair Heat Up Lynchburg

by Brack Brasley
Mid-Atlantic Gateway Contributor

Lynchburg, VA was a regular stop on the Mid Atlantic Championship Wrestling circuit for so many years and this particular poster promotes a great card held on Saturday, August 23, 1975 in the City Armory.

The tag team main event featured the short lived but formidable team of Johnny Valentine and Ric Flair versus fan favorites Tim Woods and Paul Jones. The Fabulous Moolah also defended her Women's World Championship against Susan Green. It was billed as a "Ladies Title Match" although Moolah was anything but a lady the couple of times I saw her wrestle live in the late 70s.

The midcard match featured Tony Atlas White, as he was promoted at the beginning of his career anytime he wrestled near his hometown of Roanoke, VA.

With a vertical layout the poster has all black print over a light pink background and images of Valentine, Flair, Jones, Green, Moolah with her World title belt, and Danny Miller with the old Eastern States title around his waist. Peter's News Stand would have been your source for advance tickets.

As hot as it must have been on this August night in the Armory, I'm sure it was nothing compared to the heat Valentine, Flair, and Moolah were drawing.  

NO. 14 IN A SERIES

Poster: Andersons battle Keirn and Conway on Plane Crash Saturday

by Brack Beasley
Mid-Atlantic Gateway Contributor

October 4th, 1975 is an infamous date in Mid Atlantic Championship Wrestling history and for that matter, professional wrestling history as a whole. The participants on this card at the Starland Arena in Roanoke, VA  must have been grateful that they were not booked on that ill-fated chartered flight out of Charlotte to Wilmington which ended the careers of "The Champ" Johnny Valentine and Bob Bruggers, injured Tim Woods and David Crockett, and almost stopped Ric Flair's rise to the top of the wrestling world. The Wilmington plane crash this Saturday evening no doubt changed the landscape of wrestling. 

The Starland main event featured Tiger Conway Jr. and Steve Keirn continuing their quest for Gene and Ole Anderson's NWA World Tag Team belts with an undercard that included Ken Patera, Mike " The Judge" Dubois, Johnny Weaver, and Two Ton Harris.

This vertical poster, as most all Starland posters were, has a pretty basic layout with all black print on a bright yellow background and the western style "Wrestling" logo.

Imagine how different the wrestling world would have become if the Roanoke and Wilmington cards had been reversed.

NO. 12 IN A SERIES

4th of July Flashback: The Andersons Battle Wahoo McDaniel and Paul Jones in Richmond

A GIANT 4th of July Card in Richmond

by David Chappell

Mid-Atlantic Gateway

Like most cities, Richmond, Virginia back in 1975 had its share of spectacular fireworks displays to commemorate the Independence Day holiday. But none of those displays held a candle to the “fireworks” that were unleashed on fans inside the Richmond Coliseum, watching a super spectacular card of Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling on the evening of July 4, 1975!

To those that have followed the Mid-Atlantic Gateway, you may recall that this card ranked #21 on my listing of Richmond’s greatest Mid-Atlantic cards. The most intriguing match to me going in was a rare Richmond appearance of Andre the Giant, going against the seemingly indestructible Super Destroyer, who was saying at the time that he had held onto his mask for thirteen years. But the match that really stole the show was a NWA World Tag Team Title bout between champions Gene and Ole Anderson against Paul Jones and Wahoo McDaniel.

About three weeks prior to this Richmond show, the Anderson Brothers had regained the World Tag Team Title belts on television in the dramatic “Supreme Sacrifice” match, where Ole ran Wahoo’s head into Gene’s head, knocking Gene out in the process. This return bout in Richmond had the big match feel of a title change, and the apparent sellout crown at the Coliseum was at a fever pitch anticipating a win for the challengers. But…it wasn’t meant to be on this night. An even bout turned the challengers way towards the end, but it was too little too late. The Andersons stalled out the final minutes, and escaped with a 60 minute draw. This match set up four return bouts between these four during the summer and fall of 1975, with the challengers coming tantalizingly close to winning back the belts.

In the semi-final, many in attendance thought Andre the Giant would finally be the man to unmask the Super Destroyer. After all, if a GIANT couldn’t do the deed nobody else had in 13 years, who possibly could? Andre physically manhandled the masked man to a degree that nobody could believe, but that didn’t stop the Destroyer’s active mind from escaping one precarious predicament after another. A disqualification win for Andre got the Giant’s hand raised and validated a dominating performance, but at the same time frustrated many fans who were expecting a hood to come off. However, the Super Destroyer haters were about to get the last laugh. As fate would have it, the masked man would wrestle only one more time in Richmond and within a month or so was out of the area under a cloud, never to return, with his unmasked face plastered all over the Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling television shows.

The supporting card, honestly, was not as strong as many Richmond saw, but it did have its moments. The “best of the rest” was a unique pairing of the Mid-Atlantic TV Champion Ric Flair and the underrated Doug Gilbert, against the “good guy” duo of big Swede Hanson and Sonny King. Flair was rising fast at this juncture, so I expected the “bad guys” would take this one. The big Swede was dropping down the cards, and Sonny King was being de-emphasized and would be leaving the area in about two weeks as time would tell. However, Flair and Gilbert couldn’t control their anger issues, giving Hanson and King a disqualification victory to the delight of the Richmond fans.

The other tag team match of the night saw Bob Bruggers and Sandy Scott dispatch the team of Charlie Fulton and the Blue Scorpion. The Bruggers/Scott combination was a smooth one, and they ran circles around their confounded opponents this night. Unfortunately for his many fans, Sandy Scott wrestled very little after this Richmond match, though he did continue to stay active with the promotion, primarily behind the scenes. And after a promising start as a main event performer a year and a half before, Bruggers continued to drop down the cards until the airplane crash in Wilmington, North Carolina in early October of 1975 brought his wrestling career to an end.

Three single matches rounded out this holiday spectacular, and the curtain raiser was by far the best of the bunch! The good guys notched a couple of wins as Greg Peterson outlasted Larry Sharpe, and the highly popular Klondike Bill took the measure of Joe Soto. But the first bout of the night stood out, and was really outstanding. 1974 NWA rookie of the year Steve Keirn and veteran Art Nelson wrestled to a 20 minute draw, which was a battle of contrasting styles and youth versus experience. Nelson, the aging veteran, was still in exceptional condition, but had trouble dealing the speed of Keirn. Conversely, the strength of Nelson gave the youngster Keirn fits. Each man had their chances at victory, but ultimately had to settle for a draw. As clearly Keirn was going up the “Mid-Atlantic ladder” as Nelson was going down that same ladder, it was befitting that they would meet in the middle of that proverbial ladder in this early July 1975 confrontation. But to show how this trend continued over the next few months for both, by October of 1975 Keirn was in a main event program with Tiger Conway, while Nelson was set to depart the Mid-Atlantic area, and would never return.

As everyone celebrates July 4, 2015, I hope there are Independence Day Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling memories that will find their way into those festivities. For me, a GIANT Richmond Coliseum card 40 years ago will always without question be part of my 4th of July remembrances!
 

Originally published July 4, 2015, and republished July 4, 2018
on the Mid-Atlantic Gateway

Poster: Wahoo McDaniel and Johnny Valentine Battle it Out in Greensboro

by Brack Beasley
Mid-Atlantic Gateway Contributor

Here we have a poster promoting a spectacular triple main event at the Greensboro Coliseum dated Thursday, March 13th, 1975. The famous feud between Johnny Valentine and Wahoo McDaniel continued this night with an Indian strap match, and I'll bet the fans in Greensboro were on their feet bell to bell. 

It was a matchup of masked men with The Super Destroyer vs. The Avenger, Reggie Parks himself, the legendary belt maker. Reggie's belts were handmade pieces of art that showed his great talent other than professional wrestling. 

Ric Flair and Dusty Rhodes faced off in a return grudge match, and three new names not so familiar to Mid-Atlantic fans at the time appear on the undercard: Blackjack Mulligan, Mr. Fuji, and Chris Taylor.

Southern Poster did a great layout on this one showing black print on a two-tone pastel blue and bright yellow background with the date and three main events in high impact red. I like how the older Greensboro posters say "War Memorial Coliseum" as opposed to the later "Greensboro Coliseum" and this one also has the familiar "Wrestling" splash in the top left corner. 

One other thing that stands out here is the six images of completely contrasting individuals, a Chief, a tough guy, a big masked man, a brash young blonde, an up and coming African American star, and a bald lunatic. Something for everyone I suppose.

 NO. 7 IN A SERIES

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Gateway Notes:
This was during Blackjack Mulligan's first short run in the Mid-Atlantic area before moving on to the WWWF where he and Blackjack Lanza would hold the WWWF Tag Team titles. Later that same year of 1975, though, Mulligan would be recruited by JCP booker George Scott to come back to the area to replace Johnny Valentine as the top heel in the promotion following Valentine's career ending injury in the October 1975 Wilmington plane crash. Read more about that first short stint for Mulligan in our series "Mulligan Faces the Indian Strap."

The Flair/Rhodes confrontation was one of the earliest matches between the two men who would later be involved in a feud that defined pro-wrestling in the 1980s. Flair and Rhodes met several times in Greensboro in the 1970s. 

Chris Taylor was a bronze-medal winner in the 1972 Munich Olympics in wrestling, and was making a short string of appearances in the territory at this time. Check out Chris Taylor's Mid-Atlantic Cup of Coffee on the Gateway.

The Anderson Family Tree: How Ric Flair and Rip Hawk were all Part of Wrestling's Greatest Family

We've joked over the years that if Flair was Rip Hawk's nephew and he was also Gene and Ole Anderson's cousin, then that must have meant that Rip Hawk and the Anderson Brothers were somehow related.

THE ANDERSON FAMILY TREE
(aka, All in the Family)
by Dick Bourne
Mid-Atlantic Gateway

It's probably fair to say that in the storybook world of pro-wrestling, especially back in the territory days, worked family connections were just as common as bonafide family relationships.

For all the Funks, Briscos, and Von Erichs there were just as many Valiants, Fargos, and Andersons.

Ric Flair and Rip Hawk
Mid-Atlantic Tag Team Champions

Sometimes wrestling would even take an actual truthful family relationship (like father and son Johnny and Greg Valentine) and create a worked relationship (Johnny and Greg Valentine as brothers in the mid-1970s when Greg first arrived in the Mid-Atlantic.)

But then there is the special case of the "Nature Boy" Ric Flair. Flair would, for a very short time, be a member of two different wrestling families soon after arriving to Jim Crockett Promotions.

RIP HAWK'S NEPHEW
Flair arrived in Charlotte in May of 1974, debuting for Jim Crockett Promotions against Abe Jacobs at the Charlotte Coliseum on Monday night, May 13.

Within two weeks, booker George Scott was toying around with different ways to align Flair to begin his slow push. There were two family relationships that sprung up almost at the same time.

Ric was first said to be the nephew of Rip Hawk, the "blond bomber" who had a notorious reputation in the area going back more than a decade. George Scott teamed Hawk and Flair up early, only a few weeks after Flair arrived, and the two would soon win the Mid-Atlantic Tag Team championship from Paul Jones and Bob Bruggers on the Fourth of July in Greensboro. Flair's star was quickly on the rise.


COUSIN TO THE ANDERSON BROTHERS
But during this same time, the story was also floated on TV and in newspaper event ads that Flair was a cousin of Gene and Ole Anderson, playing off the fact they were all three from Minnesota.

A newspaper article written in advance of a 5/24/74 show in Burlington, NC, listed the matches for the upcoming card, and included this little new factoid:

"Singles action has Ric Flair, a relative of the Anderson Brothers, facing Billy Ashe."

Three days later on 5/27 in Greenville, SC -- exactly two weeks after his debut - - Flair and Rip Hawk teamed for the first time, getting an upset win of sorts over area veterans Nelson Royal and Danny Miller. Flair's push was on.  Less than seven weeks later, they won the Mid-Atlantic tag team titles.

We've joked over the years that if Flair was Rip Hawk's nephew and he was also Gene and Ole Anderson's cousin, then that must have meant that Rip Hawk and the Anderson Brothers were somehow related. Maybe Flair wasn't a member of two different wrestling families - - maybe both were all one big happy family.

Now, go ahead and try to figure out that family tree. I dare you.


THE ANDERSON FAMILY TREE (WE PROMISE)
Extensive research (really) has unearthed the following genealogical information. This is our story and we are stickin' to it:

1. There was a family of Andersons that immigrated to Minnesota from Sweden in the late 1800s. The patriarch was Noah Anderson. He and his wife Alma had four children, two boys and two girls.
2. Their first son, Nils Anderson, married and had four sons of his own: Gene, Lars, Nils Jr., and Ole. All became pro wrestlers.
3. Their first daughter, Alma Anderson, married a Minnesota physician named Morgan Flair. They had a son named Richard "Ric" Flair who also became a pro-wrestler. (This makes Ric a first cousin to the four Anderson brothers by blood.)
4. The second daughter, Catherine Anderson, married a pro wrestler named Harvey "Rip" Hawk. (This makes Rip an uncle by marriage to Ric Flair and, as an aside, an uncle by marriage to the four Anderson brothers, too. Apparently Rip never wanted to publicly acknowledge them.)
5. Unrelated to this article, but to finish out the family tree, Noah and Alma's second son, Liam Anderson, had a son named Arn, which makes Arn blood cousin to the four Anderson brothers and Ric Flair, and as it works out, also a nephew by marriage to Rip Hawk. Liam and his wife Lesa moved to Georgia when Arn was just a baby, which would explain Arn's south-Georgia accent (as well his penchant for uttering classic southern phrases like "If I tell you a grasshopper can pull a freight train, hook him up!")
   
   

Mythical Anderson Family Tree (Click image to enlarge.)

Confused? Don't worry. As Ole Anderson would say, this is all horsesh*t. And it may go quite the way of making the argument that I had too much free time on my hands when writing this.

This article was originally published May of 2018 on the mid-Atlantic Gateway.

Johnny Weaver: Not Going Gently Into the Good Night

by David Chappell

Mid-Atlantic Gateway

 

PART ONE

When I think of the late great Johnny Weaver, the term that has always comes to my mind for him is “Mr. Mid-Atlantic Wrestling.” But that nickname would probably be more accurate if it was amended to “Mr. Jim Crockett Promotions.” As from the early 1960s through the early 1970s there was not a more decorated wrestler in the Carolinas and Virginia than Johnny Weaver. Be it as a singles or tag team grappler, Johnny undoubtedly ruled the roost in the territory for that decade.

But at the same time that All-Star Wrestling was rebranded as Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling in 1973, Johnny’s aging star slowly began to lose a bit of its luster. By the middle of 1974 Weaver was no longer a main event attraction, and he departed the area in November of 1974 where he would wrestle primarily in Florida and Canada. It was strange indeed to watch Mid-Atlantic Championship at that time with no Johnny Weaver in sight.

Johnny would make his return to the Carolinas in September of 1975, just a few days before the infamous Wilmington, North Carolina plane crash. I remember at the time wondering what the promotion’s plans would be for the great veteran who had done so much for the territory, but seemed to be phased out before his departure late in 1974. Would he be re-slotted as a main event star, or would be become an enhancement talent as many of his cohorts of the 1960s had become by the mid-1970s. The answer to that question, and the focus of this piece, is that Johnny would occupy a unique position somewhere in-between those two poles.

As I began to think more about Johnny in the decade between the mid-70s to the mid-80s, it dawned on me that a mid-card Johnny Weaver still always had one main event program or angle during each of those years. Weaver would clearly not go gently into that good night! When Johnny became a dear friend of the Mid-Atlantic Gateway during the final few years of his life, I wanted to kiddingly ask him if he had a “one angle per year” clause written into his contract during that time frame, but regrettably I never got the chance to pop the question before he passed away. 

When Johnny reentered the Crockett territory in the fall of 1975, he was working in mid-card matches, but even then it was clear the promotion did not view him as simply a mid-card worker. Weaver would help with television color commentary at times when David Crockett was recovering from his injuries in the Wilmington plane crash, and Johnny even won a first round match in the historic U.S. Title Tournament in Greensboro, North Carolina in November. Several weeks later on Mid-Atlantic TV, Johnny was part of a confrontation involving his partner Rufus R. Jones against newcomers Angelo Mosca and Steve Strong who were all main event stars, leading to a tag team match between the two teams on TV the following week.

While the dust-up with Mosca and Strong was not followed up on as a program involving Johnny, the framework had been laid positioning Johnny in a unique position in the territory straddling the line between mid-card and something more. As the calendar flipped to 1976, Johnny would settle into this role that would carry on for the next decade.

COMING UP NEXT:
Johnny Weaver is injured by new arrival Greg Valentine in November of 1976!