Poster: Superstar/Mulligan battle Jones/Igor in Pilot Mountain (1977)

By Brack Beasley
Mid-Atlantic Gateway Contributor

The spot shows in Jim Crockett Promotions offered some of the more intriguing match-ups that one may not see at a big Coliseum event. An example is this poster that promotes a card held at the East Surry High School gym in Pilot Mountain, NC on December 3rd, 1977. 

The main event was a tag team match pitting The Masked Superstar and Blackjack Mulligan against Paul Jones and The Mighty Igor. No doubt, it must have been quite an exciting bout for the fans in Pilot Mountain this Saturday night. 

Following three preliminary matches, the semi had fan-favorite Dino Bravo taking the challenge of The Missouri Mauler.

With a vertical layout, the poster has all black print over a striking tricolor background and images of Superstar, Jones, and Igor.

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Mid-Atlantic Gateway Notes:
Like Brack, we loved the spot-show main events that would often combine two singles feuds into a grudge tag team match. In this case, Paul Jones was battling the Superstar in a white hot feud (you may remember the famous haircut?) and Blackjack Mulligan and the Superstar both had issues with the Mighty Igor. Plus Blackjack had a long running feud with Jones that went back to late 1975 over the U.S. Heavyweight title. Good stuff in Pilot Mountain, NC, just down the road apiece from my hometown of Mount Airy (aka, Mayberry.) - D. Bourne

NO. 45 IN THE BEASLEY POSTER SERIES

No Repect at All: Tully Blanchard in Lynchburg

By Dick Bourne
Mid-Atlantic Gateway

There are classics, and then there are classics. Two big bloopers appear in the newspaper ad below, but one is an all-time blooper, right up there with "Old Anderson" and "Tigger Conway" that we posted here earlier.

In the second half of 1977, a young wrestler named Tully Blanchard was learning the ropes and getting some seasoning away from his Dad Joe Blanchard's San Antonio promotion by touring with Jim Crockett Promotions in the Carolinas and Virginia. He never worked above mid-card that 7 months in the Mid-Atlantic territory, but was clearly on his way to a bright future in the business. On this night in Lynchburg, Tully would open the show in a match against the "French Tank", veteran Rick Ferrara.

JOLLY Blanchard in the opener in Lynchburg, VA
Lynchburg City Armory, November 18, 1977

Tully had a bit of a reputation throughout his career of being somewhat in a perpetual bad mood. How ironic is it then that he be listed in this ad as JOLLY Blanchard? As we often do with these bloopers, we wonder how in the heck this one happened!

Then there is blooper #2 for the match of Baron Von Raschke and Masked Superstar vs. Mr. Wrestling Tim Woods and #1 Paul Jones. Except the ad writer struggled with how to spell the big German's name and came up with Baron Von RASHICE.

Rashice? Really? Sounds like a bad skin condition.

I think it's a safe assumption that the newspaper ad writer wasn't a wrestling fan, and clearly not familiar with the names that would be appearing on this card.

There are a couple of other anomalies in the ad. They split Superstar into two words (Super Star) and Ferrara's name is misspelled, but that happened a lot with his last name. Misspellings in general were common in these ads. We really don't count simple misspellings as bloopers anyway.

The write-up in the newspaper promoting the show wasn't much kinder to Tully, as it listed TONY Blanchard in the opener against Rick Ferrara. Tully Blanchard couldn't catch a break in Lynchburg.

But JOLLY Blanchard made us laugh the most. It is one of our favorite bloopers we've ever posted in our ongoing Bloopers feature.

Want to see the other bloopers? You can always click the Bloopers link on the right side of this page and it will filter all of our posts to show only the Blooper posts. Or you can see a master list by clicking here: The Blooper Directory.

Thanks as always to Mark Eastridge for the clippings.

Originally published February of 2018 on the Mid-Atlantic Gateway.

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Tag Team Warfare: A Changing of the Guard (1977)

By David Chappell
Mid-Atlantic Gateway

The year of 1977 saw the fabulous young team of Ric Flair and Greg Valentine strip away the aura of invincibility from the veteran duo of the Minnesota Wrecking Crew, Gene and Ole Anderson. Flair and Valentine took the coveted NWA World Tag Team Titles away from Gene and Ole in Greensboro, North Carolina on December 26, 1976. 

NWA World Tag Team Champions
Ric Flair and Greg Valentine

In 1977, Ric and Greg slowly turned the tide of this bitter feud against the Anderson’s in their favor, but it wasn’t done without many classic battles. Flair and Valentine held onto the World Tag Team Titles through the Spring of 1977, but were dethroned by Gene and Ole in May in a match that Wahoo McDaniel served as a special referee. After that bout, the Andersons primarily had their base of operations in Georgia, but again dropped their Titles back to Ric and Greg in late October in a brutal encounter where they injured Gene Anderson.

In the 1977 Year-In-Review Wide World Wrestling television program that aired in most Mid-Atlantic markets on December 24, 1977, Flair and Valentine gave a rather biased review on the tag team battles between these four combatants in 1977. Announcer Sandy Scott led off by saying, “In ’77 and the tag team warfare, the World Tag Team Championship changed hands and we have two of the champions right here now. We’ve got Greg Valentine and Ric Flair.” 

Greg Valentine responded, “Well, you know, since you’ve spent about 35 minutes talking to all the losers it’s about time you brought a couple of winners on. Because that’s exactly what you’re looking at. The World’s Champions! You know, you’re talking about us being the World’s Champions, we had to chase the Andersons down for eight or nine months. The reason why we lost the belts in the first place was because of a certain individual by the name of Wahoo McDaniel being a referee in the match.”

Valentine continued, “[Wahoo] should have never had the license to be a referee, but we finally tracked him down, we nailed them right on television and made them sign a contract. And then just like we told all the people, we met ‘em in the Greensboro Coliseum and we beat ‘em fair and square, one, two, three right in the middle of the ring and now we’re the new World Champions. And Gene Anderson is suffering a very severe shoulder injury because of this, but you know that’s tough. That’s the breaks of the game.”

The Nature Boy then chimed in, “Sandy, what can I say? I’ve told you; I’ve told the people out here thousands of times. They gotta be sick of hearing me saying it! But they also have to know that it’s true. We are the greatest team of all time! Everything we do, everything we say is first class. Look at us! Tailor made clothes, big cars, pretty ladies, and the gold belts that symbolize the World’s Tag Team Championship. The gold belts that symbolize number one in the world today.”

Flair concluded, “And all you people out there that just can’t quite get it through your heads that we are the best. But you better open your eyes because ‘78 is gonna even be a bigger year. Bigger money, bigger cars, prettier ladies, finer clothes is all gonna happen to the World Champions in ’78! WOOOO!!” 

Flair and Valentine retained their World Tag Team belts into the Spring of 1978, when the NWA stripped them of the Titles alleging that Ric and Greg did not show up for matches and on occasion left the ring before verdicts were reached. Despite that inauspicious ending of their Title reign in 1978, this young and talented team of Ric Flair and Greg Valentine took the wrestling world by storm during 1977. Truly, a changing of the guard.

Funk vs. Wahoo: History Had Other Plans

By Brack Beasley
Mid-Atlantic Gateway Contributor

At first glance I figured this poster to be from 1976 but upon researching the date, found it to be Valentines Day, 1977. 

It promotes an NWA World Title match at the Sampson County Middle School gym in Clinton, NC with Terry Funk defending against Chief Wahoo McDaniel. Unfortunately for Funk, he lost the championship to Harley Race in Toronto only 8 days prior, so this scheduled defense by Funk never transpired.

The question is, did Race defend the NWA World Title in Clinton? One would have to assume so as he probably took over Funk's bookings upon winning the belt. In addition, Race defended the belt against Wahoo in Charlotte on the 13th and Columbia, SC on the 15th.

Other familiar Mid Atlantic names on the card included Tiger Conway Jr., Crusher Blackwell, Sgt. Jacques Goulet, Johnny Eagle, and young Macho Man Randy Poffo.

The poster itself has a vertical layout with all black print over a two tone background and great images of Funk and Wahoo with their names in big bold letters. 

NO. 43 IN THE BEASLEY POSTER SERIES

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Mid-Atlantic Gateway Notes
by Dick Bourne

Always interesting to see future world champions working the opening matches on cards in their early careers. In this case Tatsumi Fujinami, billed here as Dr. Fujiani (and occasionally Dr. Fujinami) would later become IWGP and NWA World Champion. The second match of the night featured pre-macho Randy Poffo who would later win the WWF World Title as Randy "Macho Man" Savage.

Wahoo McDaniel was reigning Mid-Atlantic Heavyweight Champion when he presumably wrestled the world champion in Clinton. It was also around this time that Wahoo was presented with a brand new Mid-Atlantic belt, the familiar white-faced title belt most associated with the championship, and would be worn by many future hall-of-famers between 1977 and 1985.

Poster: Flair & Superstar battle Bobo and Igor in in Winston-Salem

by Brack Beasley
Mid-Atlantic Gateway Contributor

Promoting a card held at the Winston-Salem, NC Memorial Coliseum on Saturday June 25th, 1977, this poster features two very interesting tag team matchups.

In the main event, fan favorites Bobo Brazil and the Mighty Igor faced off with Ric Flair and the Masked Superstar while in the semi, Johnny Weaver and Ricky Steamboat took on Kim Duk and Great Malenko. With familiar names on the undercard such as Danny Miller, Big Bill Dromo, Two Ton Harris, and Klondike Bill, it made for quite an exciting night of Mid Atlantic Championship Wrestling.

The poster has a horizontal layout with both black and high impact red print over a light pink background and five nice wrestler images.

No. 40 in the Beasley Poster Collection Series

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Mid-Atlantic Gateway Note
Interesting to see Malenko on this poster billed as 'Great Melanko.' He was known that way in most southern territories during this era, but in our territory, he was almost always known as Professor Boris Malenko.

Flair Confronts Wahoo on the Set of Mid-Atlantic Wrestling (1977)

Wahoo McDaniel Regains the Mid-Atlantic Title from Greg Valentine (1977)
Ric Flair confronts the new champion on the set of Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling
by Dick Bourne
Mid-Atlantic Gateway

On Tuesday, August 9, 1977, Wahoo McDaniel regained the Mid-Atlantic heavyweight championship from Greg Valentine at the Dorton Arena in Raleigh, NC. Valentine had defeated the Chief earlier that summer in Greensboro.

The next night at the taping of "Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling", David Crockett introduced the studio audience at WRAL-TV to the new champion, and the crowd gave Wahoo a huge ovation.

These were always some of my favorite moments - - when a new champion was introduced at the beginning of that week's TV show.

Wahoo's celebration was cut short when he was interrupted by the U. S. champion Ric Flair, who made it clear that Wahoo had no chance of getting his title from him.

Wahoo told host Bob Caudle that he was going to make history that week, as he had shots at both the U.S. title held by Flair and the NWA world title held by Harley Race.

"If the man wrestled with his mouth, he'd be unbeatable. But he has to get in there and defend that title, and I'm on a lucky streak right now, I'm gonna take his title and get Harley Race - - I got a chance at the world title. Three belts in one week, it's never been done." - Wahoo McDaniel

Here are the first 5 minutes of Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling that aired on Saturday, August 13, 1977.

Indeed, Wahoo was ready to go after Flair that very night. He and Flair left the WRAL studio (separately, I'm sure!) and drove to nearby Rocky Mount, NC where Wahoo fought Flair for the U.S. title that same night. He had another shot at Flair two nights later in Richmond. Then on Sunday, he challenged Race for the NWA world title in Greensboro.

While Wahoo wasn't successful in winning those three belts in a week, it was nevertheless quite a six day span for the big Chief!

AUGUST 1977
08/09 Raleigh, NC Wahoo McDaniel beat Greg Valentine to win NWA Mid Atlantic Title
08/10 Rocky Mount, NC Ric Flair beat Wahoo McDaniel (U.S. title match)
08/11 Lynchburg, VA Wahoo McDaniel & Mighty Igor beat Blackjack Mulligan & Masked Superstar
08/12 Richmond, VA Ric Flair beat Wahoo McDaniel (U.S. title match)
08/13 Spartanburg, SC Wahoo McDaniel double DQ Greg Valentine (Mid-Atlantic title match)
08/14 Greensboro, NC Harley Race beat Wahoo McDaniel (NWA world title match)
 

 

 

Originally published December 2015 on the Mid-Atlantic Gateway.

Poster: Mulligan and Rhodes Headline Roanoke

by Jody Shifflett
Mid-Atlantic Gateway Contributor

This event took place back in February of 1977 at the Roanoke Civic Center and featured a very stacked card!

The main event and featured a great battle between two tough Texans, Blackjack Mulligan and Dusty Rhodes. The second main event was a battle between Wahoo McDaniel and The Masked Superstar. But I can’t help but believe it should have been Ric Flair vs Wahoo, but Flair was out with gallbladder surgery at this time. 

Another match featured fan favorite Mighty Igor against Kim Duc. 

The lineup was great this night and also a young Randy Savage was on the card. I would loved to have been there! Great coloring on t he poster, with a 7:30 start time.

Jaws: The Mystery of Charlotte's Land-Shark

by Dick Bourne
Mid-Atlantic Gateway

JAWS
Photograph by Jackie Crockett
© Crockett Foundation.
Used with permission.

Back in January of 2017, we posted on the Gateway about an unusual wrestler in the Mid-Atlantic area in 1977 by the name of JAWS. He was (for a very short period of time) under the managerial direction of "Professor" Boris Malenko, who, as head of 'The Family', managed the Masked Superstar and the "Korean Assassin" Kim Duk.

In the spring of 1977 Malenko's "family" was in the middle of a big feud with the Mighty Igor, and Malenko brought in a paid assassin in an attempt to eliminate Igor from the wrestling scene. He was a masked wrestler named Jaws.

You can read all about Jaws in our original post, including info on the movie on which this whacky character was based. There are rare photographs of him in the Crockett Foundation's book "When Wrestling Was Wrestling."  

Recently, we even thought we had figured out who he was under that mask. But that mystery remains. 

A fellow on Facebook by the name of Barry Hatchet posted a photo of Jaws wrestling in Japan on our Facebook page and informed us it was the legendary Danny Miller under the hood. A quick text to Danny's daughter Corinna from mutual friend Peggy Lathan confirmed it was indeed Corinna's father in the photo from Japan.

Danny Miller as Jaws in Japan
(Photo courtesy of Corinna Miller)

"Yes," she replied to Peggy in a text message, "it was Dad. He was Jaws."

So we momentarily thought we had solved the mystery of who was under the mask in the photo taken by Jackie Crockett in Charlotte in 1977 (seen above.)

But Corinna poured cold water on us when she also told Peggy that the man in the photo from Charlotte wearing the Jaws mask was not her father. She and her mother Karin said the Charlotte Jaws had a different physique than Danny. "He always had his gear with him, though" she told Peggy, "and might have loaned that to someone else."

She forwarded on another photograph of her father (seen at right), a shot that she found in his personal scrapbook wearing the Jaws gear while in Japan.

Despite the fact that the identity of Jaws in the Charlotte photo remained a mystery, this was some exciting news for us. We never knew that Danny Miller wrestled in Japan as a land-shark!

Danny Miller

The legendary Danny Miller wrestled here in the 1960s and 1970s and was one of our childhood favorites. He held championships here, including the Eastern Heavyweight Championship that was the forerunner to the Mid-Atlantic Heavyweight title. He was a frequent tag partner of Les Thatcher and Jerry Brisco, and later worked for Jim Crockett Promotions as one if its local promoters on the ground in Greenville, SC.

Thanks to Barry for the tip and Corinna for the information regarding her Dad and his secret alter-ego in Japan. We will, however, continue to seek out the identity of the man who wrestled under that hood in Charlotte - - one of Mid-Atlantic Wrestling's most obscure and long forgotten characters - - JAWS!

Originally published in February 2017 on the Mid-Atlantic Gateway

Poster: Woods and Raschke Battle in Charlotte (1977)

by Brack Beasley
Mid-Atlantic Gateway Contributor

This poster takes us to the famous Park Center in Charlotte, NC and promotes a card held on Monday night (as was the norm for the Park Center), November 7th, 1977. 

It boasts an attractive vertical layout with all black print over a tri-colored background and the bowtie "Wrestling" banner along the top. 

In the main event, Mr. Wrestling Tim Woods continued his quest for Baron Von Raschke's NWA Television title while the Mighty Igor challenged Blackjack Mulligan in the semi. 

The undercard included Hartford Love, Rick McGraw, Ted Oates, Bill White, and Charlie Fulton. 

The image of Mr. Wrestling is one not often found on these posters. It is accompanied by a great pic of wrestling star in the making, Rick McGraw.

NO. 36 IN THE BEASLEY POSTER SERIES

 

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MID-ATLANTIC GATEWAY NOTES
by Dick Bourne

The main event on this Charlotte card featured two of the greatest amateur wrestlers to have made successful careers out of professional wrestling.

Tim Woods (George Burrell Woodin) wrestled collegiality for Michigan State University, winning two Big Ten titles in 1958 and 1959. He also finished second in the NCAA tournament in 1958 and 1959, and was a two-time NCAA All American.

Baron Von Raschke (James Donald Raschke) wrestled collegiate for the University of Nebraska from 1960-1962, where he also played football for the Corn Huskers. He won the Big Eight Conference championship as a heavyweight in 1962. He was a bronze medalist in the 1963 World Games and qualified for the 1964 Olympic Games.

Hard to beat such astounding amateur credentials by two different wrestlers in one professional ring.

Poster: Wahoo and Andre battle Flair and Valentine

by Jody Shifflett
Mid-Atlantic Gateway Contributor

Here is another great card from UVA's University Hall, aka "The Clam Shell." It took place Friday, July 8, 1977.

In my opinion this was a dream team against a dream team. You take the largest athlete in the world at the time, Andre The Giant, and the real baddest man on the planet, Wahoo McDaniel, and put them against Ric Flair and Greg Valentine and you have have what could only be absolute pandemonium.  

I checked the results and it did not say who won but I can only imagine Wahoo and Andre were probably the victors. 

A great under-card featuring Mr. Wrestling Tim Woods, Danny Miller, and a young Tully Blanchard. 

Great yellow to light pink colors and an 8:00 PM start time, and not the famous 8:15 PM of that era.

NO. 4 IN THE SHIFFLETT POSTER SERIES

The Anderson/Flair Feud Puts Gene Anderson in the Hospital

During the year of 1977, the Anderson brothers had a torrid feud with their young cousin Ric Flair and his partner Greg Valentine. The two teams battled over the NWA World Tag Team titles.

What was unusual about the feud was that the two teams wrestled out of different territories. Flair and Valentine were the top heel team in the Mid-Atlantic area, while the Anderson Brothers were the top heel team for Georgia Championship Wrestling.

The Andersons left Jim Crockett Promotions in the fall of 1976 after Ole Anderson lost a series of "Loser Leaves Town" matches to Wahoo McDaniel. Behind the scenes, Ole had taken the job as booker for Georgia Championship Wrestling and he and Gene had moved to Atlanta. 

The Andersons were NWA World Tag Team champions at the time, and took those titles with them to Georgia. Flair had a falling out with his cousins in October of 1976 and formed a new tag team with partner Greg Valentine. The Andersons returned to the area for a title defense against Flair and Valentine in Greensboro the night after Christmas of 1976. The "blond bombers" upset the Minnesota Wrecking Crew to take the tag titles.

Mid-Atlantic booker George Scott maintained a working relationship with Georgia booker Ole Anderson and there were several talent exchanges throughout the year of 1977. This allowed for the Andersons to continue their feud in the Mid-Atlantic area with Flair and Valentine throughout the year of 1977, with the  Andersons making sporadic appearances in the territory, usually over weekends, to continue the feud. 

In the Mid-Atlantic area, the Andersons had become 'fan favorites', but were still hated heels in Georgia.

The Andersons regained the titles from Flair and Valentine in Charlotte on May 7, 1977 in a famous cage match where Wahoo McDaniel was the special referee. However, on October 30 in Greensboro, Flair and Valentine got the titles back and badly injured Gene Anderson in the process.

Behind the scenes, Gene Anderson was in need for neck surgery, and the injury angle was shot to explain his long absence during his recovery. 

The interview with Gene and Ole Anderson seen in the YouTube video embedded above was shot in Crawford Long Hospital in Atlanta as Gene was recovering from that surgery. It was shot by the Georgia office, hosted by Freddie Miller, and the tape sent to Jim Crockett Promotions and aired on their syndicated television shows.

In the months that followed, Ole Anderson took different paths in the two different territories. in Georgia, he took Sgt. Jacques Goulet as his new tag team partner and the hated team went on to win the Georgia Tag Team titles. In the Mid-Atlantic area, though, Ole became even more of a fan favorite when he asked Wahoo McDaniel to become his tag team partner to challenge Flair and Valentine for the NWA World tag titles. 

It was all part of a long feud between the Andersons against Flair and Valentine that lasted off and on for the better part of nine years, until finally "the family" was reunited in 1985 when the Four Horsemen were formed. Gene retired and the younger 'cousin' of Ole Anderson and Ric Flair emerged on the scene to make the Anderson family stronger than ever.  

For complete details on every twist and turn in the Anderson/Flair family feud over the years, check out our timeline history book on the Minnesota Wrecking Crew, available at Amazon.

Magazine Memories: The SuperStar Grapevine (1977)

The SuperStar Grapevine column in "Wrestling Superstars" was always one of our favorite sections of that newsstand magazine.

And of course we believed every word of it. Who were we to question the journalistic standards of Stanley Weston and his fine group of editors?

So hear are a few classic entries worth hanging onto that appeared in that literary tome in late 1977. The titles are ours.

Nobody Does it Better
Ric Flair claims the song "Nobody Does It Better" was not inspired by James Bond, but by him. "The songwriter, Carol Sager, obviously has seen me wrestle. Who can blame the woman for becoming overcome by my brilliance?" Don't you wish you had Flair's imagination?

Move Over Mother Teresa
Wahoo McDaniel doesn't want any publicity for his many charitable works, but someone should publicly congratulate him. Wahoo is a tireless worker for the downtrodden and helpless. We're lucky to have Wahoo living in our world.

A Dish Best Served Cold
Terry Funk, back on the road to success, declares, "Harley Race cheated when he took my title. That doesn't bother me anymore. I don't want revenge. I just want to break him in two for the fun of hearing him scream."

Two Legs A Week
Feeling no remorse whatsoever for breaking Wahoo McDaniel's leg, Greg Valentine has gone on to break the leg of young rookie "Irish" Pat McKillan. "I hope to break at least two legs a week," says Valentine. "Maybe four, if I get lucky."

Originally published in May 2018 on the Mid-Atlantic Gateway.

Magazine Memories: Paul Jones vs. Terry Funk

by Dick Bourne
Mid-Atlantic Gateway

This was always one of my favorite photos in the old Weston magazines, it ran in many issues over the years in stories or mentions about Paul Jones and/or Terry Funk.

What I like is the way Funk is selling. It was a familiar look for him when selling during the 70s and early 80s.

Jones is working over Funk's leg, perhaps setting him up for his trademark Indian deathlock. Funk has his arms wrapped around his head - - his right over his eyes, his left over his ear. I used to joke this was the "see no evil" method of selling. If I can't see you and and I can't hear you, then you can't hurt me.

One of the best matches on tape to see Funk sell in this way is the famous Toronto match in 1977 where he loses the NWA title to Harley Race.

It's a small thing, really, but it always stood out to me, and it did in this great photo as well.

Originally published May 2018 on the Mid-Atlantic Gateway. Republished 5/30/2020, 4/14/2022.

Florida's Role in the Race/Funk NWA Title Change in Toronto

Today (February 6) marks the anniversary of Harley Race's historic NWA title win over Terry Funk in Toronto, Canada, that took place on February 6, 1977. It was Race's second NWA title win, with six more to come over the next seven years.

Forgotten by many is the key role Championship Wrestling from Florida played in the key events that led up to title change in Toronto.

The following is an article about all of that magic originally published on The Domed Globe website and republished on the Mid-Atlantic Gateway in May of 2021.

 

by Dick Bourne
Mid-Atlantic Gateway

We're always appreciative of newspapers that do a good job of presenting wrestling in a journalistic fashion. This is a particularly good article in the Tampa Tribune promoting an upcoming card for Championship Wrestling from Florida on February 8, 1977, just two nights after Harley Race defeated Terry Funk with an Indian deathlock to win the NWA World Heavyweight Championship. 

Who knows who wrote the piece. It doesn't really sound like it came from the office, but it sounds way too informed to be written by the a staff sports writer either.

The article captures all the complete twists and turns in the wonderful story leading up to this night at the fabled Fort Homer Hesterly Armory. There were actually two separate stories being told.

The first story cemented former champion Jack Brisco as Florida's top contender for the NWA title. Many of the fans coming to the Hesterly Armory that Tuesday night had witnessed Brisco cleanly beat Harley Race, also a former champion, that past Saturday in St. Petersburg. Surely Brisco could beat Race again, this time with his newly won NWA World championship at stake in Tampa.

The second story told answered a question many might have had following the finish to the title change match in Toronto. As a teenage fan watching wrestling in 1977, when the film of the match from Toronto was shown on Mid-Atlantic television, it seemed strange to me that Race had won by submission with an Indian deathlock. I had only ever seen our local hero Paul Jones win with that hold. In the wrestling magazines, it seemed the reports usually suggested Race typically won with various suplexes or his infamous flying headbutt from the top turnbuckle, resulting in wins by three-count pinfall. Why had Race instead gone for the submission for the win against Funk in Toronto? 

The answer, it turned out, played out the night before in Florida.

The main event of the card in St. Petersburg on Saturday night was Terry Funk defending the NWA title against Dusty Rhodes. As the article above reports, Funk injured his knee in the match against Rhodes, and "against his better judgement" went ahead with the scheduled title defense against Race the next night in Toronto.

The rest, as they say, is history. Race knew what most fans didn't about the night before in the St, Petertsburg Bayfront Arena. Funk was hurt, and Race took advantage. He defeated Funk in 14:10 with an Indian death-lock to capture the gold belt. (I can still hear ring announcer Norm Kimber make the famous call.) It was a hold Race used infrequently (if ever?) and seemed almost out of place as it happened that night in Maple Leaf Gardens.

As the author of the article pointed out. Brisco's victory over Race in St. Petersburg came three days too early. Race got the better of him in Tampa this night to retain.  

• SAT FEB 5, 1977 - St. Petersburg, FL - NWA Champ Terry Funk injures his knee in a successful world title defense against Dusty Rhodes. On the same card, Jack Brisco defeats Harley Race.
• SUN FEB 6, 1977 - Toronto, ON - Harley Race defeats Terry Funk to win the NWA World Title. Race deploys a rarely-used Indian deathlock to win the match, exploiting Funk's hurt knee from the night before in St. Petersburg.
• TUE FEB 8, 1977 - Tampa, FL - New NWA Champion Harley Race defeats Jack Brisco to defend title, the result of the match written about in the article seen above.
  
  

The injury to Funk's knee in St. Petersburg gave Funk an excuse he could bandy about after his loss to Race in Toronto the next night.

The article also colors between the lines nicely, accurately reporting key dates in the NWA title history of Brisco and the Funk Brothers, and even including a reference to an NWA title change in the same building eight years earlier to the week.

It's just an all around amazing piece to be found in a newspaper, and one of my favorite clippings from the history of the NWA title changes during the domed-globe era. And for those curious, it explains one of the mysteries about the historic Toronto finish some fans may have had at the time. 

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Video of Harley Race's win over Funk in Toronto can be found on the Domed-Globe website here.

See three pages from the Florida program "The Grapevine" for the Feb. 5 show in St. Petersburg that set the stage for Toronto. (Thanks@bobbynorton9115 on Twitter.)  

2/5/77 NWA Champion Terry Funk loses by DQ against Dusty Rhodes at the Bayfront Center. Funk loses the championship belt in his next match against Harley Race 2/8/77 in Toronto. @wrestlerweekly @magateway @ByMikeMooneyham pic.twitter.com/xVRo5lqzlx

— Championship Wrestling from Florida Guy (@bobbynorton9115) May 21, 2021

This article was originally posted on The Domed Globe in May 2021 and the Mid-Atlantic Gateway that same month.

Flair and Valentine Talk Rhodes and Slater

For the complete story on what should have been an epic NWA World Tag Team title match - - but wasn't, check out the following story on the Mid-Atlantic Gateway:

Dusty Rhodes and Dick Slater Defend the World Tag Team Titles
in the Mid-Atlantic Area - - Almost (1977)

And thanks to Mike Sempervive and the Mid-Atlantic Championship Podcast for their support of the "Mighty" (we love that) Mid-Atlantic Gateway.

Mid-Atlantic Championship Podcast Website
Mid-Atlantic Championship Podcast Twitter
Mid-Atlantic Championship Podcast on YouTube

Poster: All Three Mid-Atlantic Singles Titles On the Line in Charlotte

by Brack Beasley
Mid-Atlantic Gateway Contributor

A sensational triple main event was on tap for wrestling fans at the old Charlotte Coliseum on Saturday night, October 15th, 1977 as all three Mid Atlantic singles titles were up for grabs. 

Ric Flair defended his United States title against Dusty Rhodes, Greg Valentine defended his Mid-Atlantic title against Paul Jones, while Baron Von Raschke's TV title was on the line for the first 15 minutes in a rematch with Ricky Steamboat, whom the Baron had just defeated for the belt at a television taping a few days prior.

The mid card match was an interesting 6-man tag with Dick Murdock, Mr. X #1, and Mr. X #2 versus Roberto Soto, Tiger Conway Jr., and Johnny Weaver, while the undercard featured familiar Mid-Atlantic grapplers such as the Missouri Mauler, Charlie Fulton, Abe Jacobs, and Danny Miller.

There were seven matches in all but unfortunately for most fans in Charlotte this particular night. all three heel champions managed to retain their respective championships against the babyfaces, although I imagine Rhodes, Jones, and Steamboat gave the reigning champs a run for their money.

The poster itself has a horizontal layout with black print on a two tone pink over yellow background while the date and six main-event participants really stand in high impact red.

There are also great images of Flair, Rhodes, Jones, Valentine, Steamboat, and Soto along each side and it's neat how they put "The American Dream" under Rhodes' name opposite "Champion" under Flair's.

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Mid-Atlantic Gateway Notes: The American Dream Dusty Rhodes
As was often the case in the mid-to-late 1970s, and on this night, Dusty Rhodes made sporadic short-term appearances in the area, usually over a weekend. Rhodes was a special draw all over the country in those days, and for all three major organizations: WWWF, AWA, and many of the NWA territories, particularly Mid-Atlantic, Georgia, and Florida.) Much like Andre the Giant or the NWA Champion coming to town for a small number of dates, Dusty would hit lots of different promotions in any given week. In this case, Rhodes was only in for Saturday (for this card in Charlotte vs. Flair) and Sunday in Asheville NC (matinee show vs. Valentine for the Mid-Atlantic title) and Savannah GA (then a Mid-Atlantic town, for a second shot at Flair's U.S. title.)

Also of note related to Rhodes, it is worth pointing out that the Friday night before this Charlotte card, Rhodes and partner Dick Slater lost the NWA World Tag Team titles back to Gene and Ole Anderson in Atlanta, bringing an end to their short one-month reign. In the prior two weeks, Rhodes had also challenged Harley Race for the NWA title in a couple of matches in Florida, and Superstar Billy Graham for the WWWF title in Madison Square Garden. Yes indeed, the American Dream was on quite a roll.

NO. 24 IN A SERIES

Poster: Wahoo and Andre challenge Flair and Valentine in Charlotte

 
by Brack Beasley
Mid-Atlantic Gateway Contributor

The old Charlotte Coliseum, nowadays named the Bojangles Coliseum, was and still is an awesome venue for live events. On Sunday March 27th, 1977 it hosted a great card of Mid Atlantic Championship Wrestling with a tag team main event of NWA Worlds Tag Team champions Ric Flair and Greg Valentine defending against Andre the Giant and Wahoo McDaniel. 

The odds would seem to be on the Giant and the Chief and sure enough they walked out of the arena this night with a victory, but by disqualification, allowing the champions to retain their titles.

Blackjack Mulligan continued to defend his U.S. title against Dino Bravo and the Hollywood Blondes defended their Mid-Atlantic tag team titles vs. Ron Starr and Rick McGraw. The undercard included young Ricky Steamboat who would soon catch fire in the territory. 

The poster itself has a seldom seen off-white background with black print and the venue, date, and main event in high impact red, along with 5 great images of the main event participants and Jerry Brown of the Blondes. 

NO. 11 IN A SERIES

Poster: Wahoo battles Flair in Patrick County, VA

by Brack Beasley
Mid-Atlantic Gateway

This poster takes us back to a terrific card held Thursday, June 16th, 1977 in beautiful Patrick County, VA at the high school in Stuart. It promotes a belt vs. belt main event with Wahoo McDaniel putting his Mid-Atlantic Championship title on the line against Ric Flair and his Mid-Atlantic Television title.

Per TV title stipulations, Flair's belt would be at stake for the first 15 minutes but unfortunately Wahoo lost his Mid Atlantic belt only 5 nights before to Greg Valentine in Greensboro, NC, so the belt vs. belt match did not transpire.

The Hollywood Blondes defended their Mid-Atlantic Tag Team titles against the exciting duo of Dino Bravo and Tiger Conway Jr., and the mid-card match featured Ricky Steamboat who was in the midst of his rise to being a true superstar.

The poster has an attractive two-tone vertical design with all black print on an orange-fading-to-yellow background and a western style  "WRESTLING" script on top. The two main eventers really stand out as well in big block letters with the stipulations of the match just below and it's always neat to see the local businesses where you could buy advance tickets.

Patrick County really hasn't changed too much since 1977, I wish I could say the same about professional wrestling.

NO. 10 IN A SERIES

Johnny Weaver's Big Angle in 1977: Greg Valentine (Part 2)

JOHNNY WEAVER 1975-1984
NOT GOING GENTLE INTO THAT GOOD NIGHT
A Multi-Part Series
by David Chappell
Mid-Atlantic Gateway

Series Introduction
1976 - Greg Valentine (Part One)


1977 - GREG VALENTINE (PART 2)
Johnny Weaver’s big angle of 1977 was a natural continuation of his being put out of wresting by Greg Valentine in the fall of 1976. After an extended absence, Johnny returned to action in the Mid-Atlantic area in late February of 1977 and he had but one thing on his mind…and that was to exact revenge on Valentine!

While being absent from Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling during the autumn and winter of 1976 until mid-February of 1977, Johnny had a successful stint in the Amarillo territory winning the NWA International Title and even battling old Crockett foes Rip Hawk and Swede Hanson in tag team competition. When Johnny returned to the Carolina’s, his immediate goal was to get revenge on Valentine as Greg was on top of the mountain as one half of the NWA World Tag Team Champions.

The Johnny Weaver revenge tour began almost immediately upon Johnny’s return to the Crockett territory. Initially, it began with Weaver and Valentine being on opposing tag teams. On March 7, 1977 in Charlotte, Ric Flair and Valentine defeated Weaver and Paul Jones, and the following night in Columbia, South Carolina Johnny and Greg faced off as part of six-man tag team competition. 

The singles battles between Weaver and Valentine started soon thereafter, with the first such singles confrontation being in Gastonia, North Carolina on March 10th. The following night in Richmond, Virginia saw Johnny and Greg square off in their most brutal match to date!

The promos leading up the match at the Richmond Arena on March 11, 1977 showed the intensity of both combatants leading up to that Richmond encounter. Announcer Les Thatcher began, “In main event number two, Johnny Weaver returns to battle Greg Valentine.” 

Valentine began, “You know Lester, I’ve got to admit it to you and I’ve got to admit it to the fans…that Johnny Weaver has got a lot of guts. The man has been out for four or five months now, and the first thing he wants to do is get back in the ring with the man that put him out of action for over five months.” 

Greg continued, “Well look at me Johnny Weaver, I’m a World Champion now! I’m one-half of the World Tag Team Champions! And when I come to that Richmond Arena, Johnny Weaver, I’m gonna teach you some respect and I’m gonna teach all those fans some respect. I’m gonna use you as another example, Johnny Weaver. Don’t forget about the elbow, don’t forget about the man that jumped off the top rope on your throat! This time I’m not gonna do it just once Weaver, I’ll do it two, maybe three times, and then you’re gonna take a long, long vacation!”

On the same Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling television show that was taped on March 2, 1977, Weaver came out and confronted Valentine before Greg’s TV match with Danny Miller. Weaver called out Valentine, “We’re here in front of the television audience and I don’t want no excuses or hem hawing around about it, I want what’s left of you after this match and if you’re as man as you say you are you’ll put your name on that contract.”

Valentine’s tag team partner, Ric Flair, was with Greg and weighed into this situation. Flair yelled out, “Weaver, my partner right here has a $1000 match coming up, but I’m going to tell you something and I want everybody out there that thinks Johnny Weaver is a heck of a dude, a big man, to hear what I’ve got to say. When we think you’re worth 1000 bucks, then we’ll wrestle you! That’s me, him or anybody else.”

Flair finished up, “When we think you’re worth 1000 bucks. And let me tell you something else, the day we think you’re worth 1000 bucks you’ll be in a lot of trouble. You better get back in the mothballs where you belong, brother!”

Les Thatcher then returned for promos and spoke with Weaver saying, “In main event number two, Johnny Weaver returns to battle Greg Valentine. Johnny, welcome back and I know revenge is certainly on your mind.”

Weaver began, “It certainly is, and you know one thing about Greg Valentine…he put me out of wrestling for four or five months. People all know that, they witnessed how he did it. He got the job done, but it wasn’t too professional. But it’s not over, and I’m back!”

Johnny continued, “And I’ve been hurt before in wrestling, I’ve been hurt by guys…I’ve had every joint in my body hurt and dislocated. I’ve been busted in my head, you can see all the scars, I was even burnt once by fire! But not one of them guys that hurt me before is still around here to wrestle. Not one of them will come around and show their face Valentine, they’ve all been beaten, humiliated and gone, and you’re the last one.”

Weaver concluded, “And I’m not gonna let a half tough punk come in here and run Johnny Weaver over because the fans here have been behind me for a long time, and they know that I’m not gonna get on here and say anything that I don’t think I can do. I’m back, and I’m a 100 percent. You said something about using me, well if you think you’re gonna use me as a steppingstone, you’re gonna find out that it’s still a little slippery! And you talk about a fan’s Dream Match, well this is gonna be a Dream Match because you installed something in me that I had almost lost in this wrestling business…and that’s when I get you down not let you up. Just stomp and kick you when you’re down, because you’re gonna do it when I get up!”

The Richmond bout was a wild affair that saw Valentine completely lose control, giving Johnny the victory by disqualification. The same result occurred in Charlotte three days later. And on March 15th in Raleigh, North Carolina, Johnny teamed with Rufus R, Jones, losing to Greg and Ric Flair in a thrilling contest.

The end of the month of March 1977 had lots of action for Johnny as he battled Valentine tooth-and-nail as Weaver’s revenge tour continued to barrel ahead. On March 17th at the Augusta Expo in Fishersville, Virginia Weaver and Valentine met again in singles competition in a bloody contest. The Weaver/Valentine feud closed the month of March out as on March 21st in Greenville, South Carolina, Johnny and Rufus dropped a spirited challenge to Ric Flair and Greg Valentine. The last match for Johnny and Greg for the month of March was in Raleigh the next night where the two had a stellar bout with lots of blood that saw both participants disqualified for being totally uncontrollable!

Johnny’s main event revenge contests with Valentine continued to be competitive bouts, with Greg slowly gaining the upper hand as spring turned to summer. On April 3rd in Greensboro, Johnny was the one who couldn’t keep his composure, leading to Greg being declared the victor by DQ. The following evening in Greenville, South Carolina saw Greg get the dukes, while the night after in Columbia, South Carolina Johnny prevailed by disqualification when Greg ran afoul of the referee!

The following week in April saw Johnny team with Rufus R. Jones, Wahoo McDaniel and Thunderbolt Patterson against Valentine and Flair with the bad guys coming out on top on each occasion. In the middle of the month of April, Weaver and Valentine went back to singles matches in Spartanburg, South Carolina, Fayetteville, North Carolina, Anderson, South Carolina and Charleston, South Carolina. While the bouts were competitive, Valentine was continuing to be more dominant.

May of 1977 saw the Weaver revenge tour essentially come to an end. On May 3rd Flair and Valentine prevailed against Weaver and Bobo Brazil in Columbia, South Carolina. The remainder of the month of May saw Greg defeat Johnny in Texas Death Matches in Columbia, Greensboro and Greenville. The final confrontation in this program occurred on June 24th back in Richmond, where Flair and Valentine defeated Weaver and Wahoo in dominant fashion. 

Johnny Weaver battled Greg Valentine for approximately three months in Johnny’s main event angle for 1977 in a spirited quest for revenge for Greg’s injuring him in 1976. After the program ran its course, Weaver settled into a solid mid-card role for the rest of 1977. But it didn’t take long when the calendar flipped over to 1978 for Johnny to rise back into the main event ranks against a world-renowned newcomer to the Mid-Atlantic area!

UP NEXT---Johnny Weaver’s 1978 main event angles with Baron von Raschke!

Memories of a Lincoln Continental Tournament in Roanoke VA (1977)

by Dick Bourne
Mid-Atlantic Gateway

When working on formatting Brack Beasley's recent poster entry about the Lincoln Continental Tournament in Roanoke in 1977, I emailed Mid-Atlantic Gateway contributor Thom Brewer who grew up going to wrestling matches in Roanoke. Ric Flair defeated Wahoo McDaniel in the finals of that tournament to win the car. I wanted to know if Thom was at that show show and if he had any specific memories about the tournament and the match-ups. 

BRACK BEASLEY COLLECTION

Thom was indeed there that night. I received this email back with Thom's detailed memories.

If you missed it, check out Brack's post about that big tournament card in Roanoke and some of the context of the times. Then come back and read Thom's note below. 

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Email from Thom Brewer
Mid-Atlantic Gateway Contributor

I was actually there [in Roanoke] that night and the strap match two weeks later.  I didn't keep notes, but I remember a few things because it was a big night in my personal history.  

I had gotten a Kodak XL55 movie camera for Christmas.  I was 12 years old and it cost over $100, which is about $500 in today's money.  That was a LOT of money to us back then.  It was one of the best gifts I had ever gotten and it literally got my career as a photographer started.  I shot this tournament and a few other Mid-Atlantic Wrestling events.  And quite honestly the films were stunning. Unfortunately my parents moved a lot while I was in college and the films got lost.  

Anyway I remember some details very well.  I remember that car like it was yesterday. It was a bright, shiny maroon Lincoln Continental.  It was long and beautiful.  It was set up on one end of the floor near the ring and was roped off to protect it from the fans.  You could get close enough to get a good look, but not close enough to touch it.  It was IMPRESSIVE to a 12 year old.

I'm sketchy about the early matches featuring the enhancement guys.  I think Greg Valentine eliminated Johnny Weaver.  Wahoo eliminated Greg Valentine, I believe, to get to the finals with Flair.

Because I watched the movie a hundred times, I know for a fact that Ric Flair eliminated Dino Bravo, but it was pretty creative.  Bravo tossed Flair around for much of the match, which was okay with me because I wanted him to win the car. At one part of the match, the referee got thrown out of the ring.  I'm pretty sure it was Tommy Young.  While he is sitting on the floor, Flair is on the opposite side in the ring.  Bravo was not near him, but Flair runs across the ring, dives over the top rope, and lands right in front of the referee.  Tommy Young immediately disqualifies Bravo, thinking he threw Flair over the top rope.  The crowd was livid.  

That leaves Flair and Wahoo in the final match for the car.  I don't exactly remember how it ended.  I think Flair rolled Wahoo up and used the ropes for leverage for the pin.  I do remember that they chopped the heck out of each other.  The batteries in my camera were dying and because of it, it "undercranked" the film.  It made the action look twice as fast.  When I got my film back about a week later, those chops were coming hard and REALLY fast. It made Wahoo and Flair look like wrestling's version of the Keystone Kops.

Just about everyone in the pretty large crowd was mad that Flair had won the car.

Man, I would love to have those films today. I'd probably be an accountant or a short order cook without that camera. It set me on a path to being a journalist.

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Thom Brewer works for WDBJ-TV channel 7 in Roanoke VA, where local promoter  Pete Apostolou once staged live television wrestling matches from the channel-7 studios there. Thom provided some amazing photographs to us from his research about those studio TV tapings in the 1960s. They are featured in our page on WDBJ studio wrestling on the old Mid-Atlantic Gateway Archive site.