Just imagine Klondike Bill’s workbench in his shop behind the office on Briarbend Drive a few days after Greensboro, July 26, 1986.
It was rumored to not have existed, that Dusty Rhodes name plate. Jim Crockett told us on TV that one had been ordered. We verified later it had been ordered because we had seen the Crumrine order form and art work (it's in the book, thank you Teddy Srour.) But we didn't know that it indeed had been made until Cody Rhodes posted about it on Twitter several years ago.
The original photo was taken by Clint Beckley, and we created the special fantasy image above.
The story has been told so many times over the last three decades that it's accepted by many today as fact. "Magnum T.A. was going to win the NWA title at Starrcade '86."
Yes, Magnum was a sure bet to eventually wear the ten pounds of gold, but it wasn't going to happen at Starrcade '86. That's nothing but romanticized wishful thinking by fans over the years out of love and respect for a guy whose career was cut short by the tragic automobile accident of October 1986, just over six weeks away from Starrcade.
A sure bet to be champion? Magnum T.A. leaves the ring with the Ten Pounds of Gold
after a confrontation with champion Ric Flair on the nationally televised
"World Championship Wrestling" program in June of 1985.
There is no doubt Magnum T.A. would have been a top choice for the NWA title, especially once it basically became a Jim Crockett Promotions company-title by 1986, and especially with Dusty Rhodes in charge. Magnum was Dusty's guy, and he had proven himself to be a big box office draw for the company.
Magnum T.A. was perfect in the role of challenger. He was brilliant in it, in fact, and had already proven to be so three times over in his relatively short main event career.
Let's take a look at each of those three cases, all which drew very well at the gate:
MAGNUM T.A. VS. WAHOO McDANIEL - After arriving in Jim Crockett Promotions in late 1984, Magnum chased Wahoo McDaniel for the U.S. title for roughly three months and beat him cleanly in front of a crazy Charlotte crowd in March of 1985. The message was clear - Magnum had defeated a bona fide wrestling legend in McDaniel, and it immediately propelled him into the upper tier of babyfaces in the promotion, second only to Rhodes.
MAGNUM T.A. vs. TULLY BLANCHARD - Then in the summer and fall 1985, Magnum chased Tully Blanchard for the same title. These two guys were opposite sides of the same coin. This feud was a bit different than the shorter program with Wahoo. It was a long hard five month chase that culminated in one of the most memorable, brutal Starrcade matches of them all - the 1985 "I Quit" match in Greensboro.
MAGNUM T.A. vs. NIKITA KOLOFF - Finally, after having the U.S. title stripped from him by an overly-legislative NWA president Bob Geigle, Magnum would chase the title again in a legendary best-of-seven series with the "Russian Nightmare" Nikita Koloff in 1986. This was made to order during the era of the cold war: the Great American Hero vs. the hated Communist Russian. Magnum found himself down 0-3 in the series before heroically battling back to tie the series 3-3 in what was the best match of the series in Asheville, NC. But then the unthinkable happened. Koloff won the title in match #7 in Charlotte, once again setting up Magnum as the classic babyface challenger chasing the title. Except this time it wasn't a regional battle against venerable aging legend in Wahoo McDaniel. It wasn't a national battle on the Superstation against the man on the other side of the mirror in Tully Blanchard. No, this battle now seemed world wide in scope - - the U.S.A. vs. Russia. And there can be little doubt that this program, which started way back at the beginning of 1986 would culminate in Magnum's greatest triumph ever up to that point, at Starrcade '86. It was one of the greatest wrestling stories ever told, except sadly we never got to see the finish.
The story with Nikita pretty much shatters any Magnum-wins-the-NWA-title-at-Starrcade-'86 theories, because Magnum was always going to regain the U.S. title from Nikita at Starrcade. Dusty had spent the entire year of 1986 setting that up. And consider these facts: Magnum's accident was on 10/12/86 which was only six
weeks before Starrcade. There was NOTHING at that moment in time that
even hinted at a Flair-Magnum match-up at Starrcade '86. In fact, all of Magnum's interviews that were taped in some cases mere hours before the accident were focused on a program with Jimmy Garvin. It was a program to run a few short weeks to keep Magnum out of the ring with Nikita at house shows in the weeks leading up to Starrcade. Magnum was going to face Nikita Koloff at Starrcade to get his U.S. title belt back,
a match Dusty had meticulously booked toward since February of that
year. Six weeks out from Starrcade, he wasn't going to suddenly put Magnum with Flair and abandon his entire year-long Magnum/Nikita program he had worked so hard to create.
And it doesn't even matter if Dusty or Jim Crockett or Ric Flair or anyone else - - some 30 years later through the fog of time - - ever said that it would have happened at Starrcade '86. I'll never be convinced that it was going to happen. Never. Not ever. To assert otherwise is an insult to the memory of the booking acumen, prowess, and style of Dusty Rhodes, especially during the hottest booking year of his entire career. Everything about Dusty's booking in Jim Crockett Promotions up until that point during that era was gold. And everything about the Magnum-Nikita story that had been told for the entire year of 1986 pointed to a giant Starrcade finale.
If Magnum were to eventually win the NWA title from Flair after Starrcade '86, my guess for his earliest opportunity would be after a six-month build at the Great American Bash '87 or, much more likely, at Starrcade '87.
Nothing can be really known for sure. Keep in mind that during Flair's title era with Jim Crockett Promotions in the the 1980s, guys like Barry Windham and Lex Luger that were also "certain" to win the NWA title from Flair never got the strap in that era, either. And they were both Dusty's boys just like Magnum.
A sure bet to be champion? One can certainly envision Magnum eventually carrying the Ten Pounds of Gold. Just not then. But the photo above lets us actually see what it might have looked like. Magnum knew how to carry a belt.
Still, though, the best story to my way of thinking would have always been Magnum chasing the belt. And Dusty Rhodes was really good at writing those great stories.
* * * * *
Edited and expanded from an original post titled "A Sure Bet to Be Champion?" in 2012 on the Domed-Globe website.
Pro Wrestling's Heroes and Villains May Change But Show Remains Same
by Steve Phillips, Salisbury Post
June 11, 1986
One hundred degrees and rising. The overhead television lights beam down from the rafters and render the air circulation system at Goodman Gymnasium virtually worthless. At ringside, things are getting hotter. Referee Tommy Young has turned his back to admonish Robert Gibson of the Rock and Roll Express for attempting to enter the rang without mating a legal tag. Ric Flair and Arn Anderson know this is their chance. They've got an illegal doable-team going on Ricky Morton and they're having a field day. The crowd responds with an angry collective roar. Why doesn't Young turn around? How can any referee worth his salt allow two thugs like Flair and Anderson to flout wrestling's code of ethics?
By the time Young finally gets back to the business at hand, Flair and Anderson have brought Morton to his knees. But Flair has re turned to his corner, a picture of wide-eyed innocence. He answers Young's glare of suspicion with an exaggerated shrug.
* * * * *
NWA World Champion Ric Flair
Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling returned to Salisbury Tuesday night with the creme de la creme of the profession in attendance. Dusty Rhodes made the scene, Baby Doll in tow. Jim Cornette waved his tennis racket and screamed at the TV cameras. Magnum T.A. made the ladies swoon. The Rock at Roll Express, clearly the crowd favorite, wrestled no less than three matches.
I had seats at ringside in Section B, courtesy of a friend who went after advance tickets the day they went on sale. He wasn't the only one. The Salisbury Jaycees reported that all 400 ringside seats ($10 apiece ) were gobbled up three weeks ago.
General admission seats ($8.00) went on sale at 5 o'clock Tuesday afternoon, 2 1/2 hours hours before the start of the first match. A line already stretched from the ticket window down the steps and onto an adjoining sidewalk.
"I must have gotten 100 calls at work and 30 more at home about this thing," said WSTP radio announcer and Jaycee Doug Rice. The Catawba Sports Information office also fielded a number of calls even though the college had no official connection with the event.
Pro wrestling keeps packing 'em in, and will continue to do so as long as the forces of good and evil tug at one another. The names eventually change (although many of the assorted heroes and villains hang around for eternity) but the show remains the same.
And as long as pro wrestling endures, so will the Great Debate. But the lines are clearly drawn on each side and one is better off arguing ACC basketball, politics, or the relative merits of liquor by the drink.
Detractors scoff at the showmanship of the whole affair. Sports purists resent the attention the spectacle receives. Sports Illustrated did a full-color spread on pro wrestling last year and received a slew of nasty letters, mostly from high school and collegiate coaches bemoaning the comparative lack of coverage for their "legitimate" sport.
But supporters point to the numbers. Roughly 3,000 people turned out Tuesday night. That's about as many as you'll get for anything in Salisbury, be it American Legion baseball, Catawba football or a meeting on a high school merger.
In my high school days, I followed wrestling with a passion. Flair, then a cocky 24-year old fresh out of the University of Minnesota, became my personal favorite. His weekly TV exchanges with the likes of Paul Jones, Chief Wahoo McDaniel, and tiger Conway were classics. Flair always seemed one step ahead, just a little smarter.
The verbal sparring inevitably set up a big match at Raleigh's Dorton Arena the following Tuesday. My friends and I would fork over the $6 for ringside seats.
Pro wrestling and I went our separate ways during my college years. I did pick up on enough to know that Flair finally won the world heavyweight title. But the antics of Hulk Hogan, Cindy Lauper and Rowdy Roddy Piper that sparked such widespread interest a few years back aroused no more from me than passing attention.
Some of the old spark returned Tuesday night. But I also felt old beyond my 28 years.
Flair remains a big drawing card, but he has become an elder statesman. Johnny Weaver, the big name of the '60s and early '70s, is out to pasture as a television commentator. And what of Paul Jones, the All-American hero of my wrestling days, the man loved by all except those of us who cheered for rogues like Flair, Greg Valentine and Blackjack Mulligan?
Well, it seems old Paul has become a rogue himself. He was always short, 5-foot-8 or so. Now he sports a military uniform and a bushy black mustache that makes him a suitable candidate for the lead role in a documentary on the rise of the Third Reich.
Jones has gained 20 pounds and he doesn't wrestle anymore. He manages an "army" that includes a bald-headed German "baron," a slick talking black guy in a top hat and some evil looking character who wears a mohawk haircut and war paint.
Only on a soap opera, I told myself, could people and events change so in 10 years time. But therein, I think, lies the answer to what makes the whole thing tick.
If I can scurry home at lunch-time to watch "All My Children" and you can plan your Wednesday nights around "Dynasty," can professional wrestling enthusiasts live in that much of a different world?
* * * * *
The match is over. The Rock and Roll Express have done it. The crowd roars its approval. Flair charges Young, claiming Morton's pin on Anderson was illegal. It's a wasted argument. The overhead TV lights flick off. The boos begin as Flair pleads his cased to a ringside cameraman. "You saw it!" Flair yells. "Tell him (Young) what they did!" The cameraman backs away. His expression tells Flair to "leave me out of it." Flair shakes his head. "You know that's not right" he says. Wadded-up Coke cups fly as the boos intensify. Finally, Flair gives in. But the strut is still there and the blond hair still bounces as he marches towards the dressing room under police escort. Flair reaches the exit and throws a few choice comments over his shoulder. But in this business, no one ever gets the last word. Somewhere tonight, the show goes on.
Originally published in August of 2015 on the Mid-Atlantic Gateway.
Back in 2016, on the eve of the 30th Anniversary of Dusty Rhodes' historic third NWA World Heavyweight Championship win over Ric Flair at the Great American Bash in Greensboro on July 26, 1986, Dusty's son Cody Rhodes posted these thoughts in a 4-part tweet (the original tweets are embedded at the bottom of this post):
"If you've read "Big Gold" by Dick Bourne you know the nameplate for my Father was never on the actual Title after my Father defeated Ric at The GAB. It was rumored to not even exist, but it was ordered and it does exist. I found it in a cigar-box. And on the eve of the 30th ANNIVERSARY and with @HeyHeyItsConrad 's help, it officially goes on the original "Big Gold". The "hard times" for you Pop are over. Just good times ahead sir." - Cody Rhodes
Needless to say, I'm honored that Cody has my book, and thrilled that the discussion within its pages regarding the "Dusty Rhodes" nameplate led to his sentimental post on Twitter celebrating one of his father's greatest victories.
American Dreams do come true: for the first time since Dusty Rhodes won
the Big Gold in 1986, the nameplate finally goes on the belt.
Fans of this legendary belt owe Cody a debt of thanks for sharing the nameplate with all of us. Stars truly aligned for this to have ever happened to begin with.
The back story, if you don't own the book (but you really ought to own the book), is that a nameplate was ordered to go on the belt after Dusty's big win at the Great American Bash in Greensboro. Nelson Royal, on behalf of Jim Crockett Promotions, placed the order with Crumrine Jewelers in Nevada (the company that made the Big Gold Belt) on July 29, three days after Dusty's victory.
On the same day that order was placed, Jim Crockett, Jr. appeared with Dusty on a television taping of "World Wide Wrestling" and told fans that a new nameplate had been ordered and would go on the belt, replacing the Ric Flair plate.
But before the nameplate was delivered, Dusty lost the NWA championship back to Flair after a Horseman ambush in Kansas City led to an injured Rhodes dropping the title back to Flair in St. Louis only a few weeks later.
Crumrine provided scans of the original paperwork for the book showing the special order form and the artwork for the Rhodes nameplate. (Cody's first tweet shows the book opened to that page.) But because we never got to see the nameplate appear on the Big Gold belt, we never knew if the order for that nameplate had ever really been filled and delivered.
Until now.
A few months back, Cody Rhodes read about the nameplate in "Big Gold" and with the help of Conrad Thompson, Ric Flair, and the collector who owns the belt today, arranged for a dream to come true - - an American Dream, if you will. What for the last 30 years would have seemed unthinkable has now been made possible - - the original 1986 Dusty Rhodes nameplate was placed on the original 1986 NWA world heavyweight championship belt for the very first time.
Sparks actually flew when the two pieces of gold first touched. Stardust. (That's my story, and I'm stickin' to it.)
Here are the original tweets from the official Twitter account of Cody Rhodes (@CodyRhodes):
(1/4) If you've read "Big Gold" by Dick Bourne you know the nameplate for my Father was never on the actual Title... pic.twitter.com/t2fTo8U8wd
On a recent edition of the "What Happened When" podcast, Tony Schiavone revealed some previously undisclosed history regarding the origins of the iconic Jim Crockett, Sr. Memorial Cup tournament trophy that was presented to the winners of the annual event during it's all-to-short three year history.
During the "Superstars on the Superstation" primetime special from February 7, 1986, Jim Crockett Promotions announced that the NWA would dedicate a new annual tag team tournament to his late father, naming it the Jim Crockett Sr. Memorial Cup. At that point in the time, the site of the first annual event had not been announced, but Crockett announced he hoped it would be in their hometown of Charlotte. Of course, the NWA part of this was just part of the storyline; this was all a Jim Crockett Promotions event, part of the Crockett's follow-up to the 50th anniversary celebrations that had taken all during the year before.
A photograph of the trophy was shown on the screen.
Tony Schiavone and Conrad Thompson were reviewing the program in watch-along fashion on Tony's "What Happened When" podcast, when Tony took a moment to explain the little-known history of that actual trophy.
"That cup had been with the Crocketts for a number of years," Tony told Conrad. "It was just a big silver cup, no inscription on it."
Tony knew this history well because his earliest work for the Crockett family was as a radio play-by-play announcer for the Charlotte O's, the minor league farm team of the Baltimore Orioles that the Crockett family owned.
"The Charlotte O's won the Southern League championship, Doug Dellinger walked out with that cup and presented it to our manager, John Hart," Tony laughed. "I remember the report from Tom Sorenson said, 'The Charlotte O's won it, they celebrated, and a big ol' policeman with a big ol' cup came out and gave them their championship.'"
In fine pro-wrestling tradition, though, that presentation was a bit of a swerve.
"That was not the Southern League championship [trophy], that was Frances Crockett being a promoter," Schiavone explained. "And the fans popped!"
Souvenir Program from the 1984 Championship Season (funwhileitlasted.net)
The Crockett's bought the Asheville Orioles in 1976 and renamed the team the Charlotte Orioles, which would popularly become known as the Charlotte O's. The family then bought historic old Griffith Park, an old ballpark that had been home to the Charlotte Hornets which disbanded after the 1972 season, and they renamed it Jim Crockett Memorial Park (fondly known to the locals as simply Crockett Park) in 1977. Jim Crockett, Jr. promoted wrestling shows their in the summer for several years, too.
Frances Crockett became the manager of the team, becoming the first woman to hold that role in professional baseball. Under her stewardship, and led on the field by future Hall of Famer Cal Ripkin, the O's won the Southern League Championship in 1980 after which she was named General Manager of the Year by The Sporting News. They won again in 1984. Although Tony didn't mention which year Doug Dellinger brought out the big cup, we're guessing it had to have been 1984 since Tony didn't begin work for the Crocketts until 1981.
Crockett Park burned to the ground in 1985, but the big silver cup apparently was not stored in the storage bunkers under the bleachers, or it would have been destroyed like lots of other wrestling and baseball memorabilia was with the fire.
As plans were formulated for the first Crockett Cup, someone in the family remembered the big silver trophy. It would soon be engraved with the Crockett Promotions 50th anniversary logo and presented to the winning team of the tournament each year.
The tournament only lasted three years (1986-1988), ending after the family sold the business to Ted Turner in November of 1988. New Orleans, Baltimore, and Greensboro were the only three cities to see that trophy presented to the tournament champions. Sadly, Charlotte never got the cup as Jim Crockett had hoped for in 1986.
Here at the Mid-Atlantic Gateway, it's often the little details we love learning the most. Thanks to Tony for sharing this bit of history on his podcast that otherwise would be lost to the sands of time.
On a long-ago episode of The J.J. Dillon Show podcast (mlwradio.com), J.J. and co-host Rich Bocchini discussed the infamous incident in October of 1986 where the Four Horsemen jumped Dusty Rhodes in the parking lot of Jim Crockett Promotions on Briarbend Drive in Charlotte. That ambush left the American Dream with a broken arm as he prepared for a big steel cage tag-team battle with the Horsemen that weekend in Charlotte.
Dusty got the inspiration for this scene where he is tied to Klondike Bill's ring truck
from Marlon Brando in the movie "One Eyed Jacks."
As it played out, the Horsemen, in two separate vehicles, followed an unsuspecting Rhodes in his little red convertible to the offices of Jim Crockett Promotions where they attacked Rhodes in the parking lot, beat him down, and tied him to a ring-truck, arms stretched out as if he were to be crucified.
One of the most often-discussed moments in that big angle was when Dusty cried out three famous words just before the Horsemen whacked his right hand with a baseball bat - -
"Make it good!"
There was much discussion by fans at the time suggesting this was Rhodes' attempt to verbally direct the action in the skit taking place that he was a part of. But J.J. maintains that wasn't the case.
"There were critics that didn't like Dusty," Dillon told Bocchini, "who said, 'Oh, there's Dusty, he had to let everyone know that he was orchestrating everything' - - which was not true."
J.J. explained that it all had to do with Dusty's fondness for the cinema. Especially westerns.
"Dusty was somebody who loved the movies," Dillon said. "and he loved seeing moments in a movie and re-creating those moments. And one of those moments was in the movie 'One Eyed Jacks' where Marlon Brando was this gunslinger who was terrorizing this town."
In the movie, Marlon Brandon's character Rio had been betrayed by his partner and fellow-outlaw "Dad" Longworth (portrayed by Karl Malden) following a bank robbery the two had committed together. Many years later, Longworth had become Sheriff, and when Rio returns to town to confront Longworth, Rio is captured, tied to a hitching post and whipped. But the worst blow of all was still yet to come.
Sheriff "Dad" Longworth (Karl Malden) taunts Rio (Marlon Brando) in the 1961 film "One Eyed Jacks."
Rio, barely able to speak, tells Longworth, "You better kill me." His meaning was that after all you've done to me - - you've betrayed me, you've whipped me - - you might as well kill me. Because if you don't, I'll be back to kill you.
But Longworth says killing him isn't necessary. He picks up his rifle and smashes it down on Rio's right hand, the hand this gunslinger used to draw and shoot his gun. Without the use of that right hand, he would be no threat to anyone.
J.J. said it is this scene that Rhodes was channeling in the angle with the Horsemen. Rhodes was telling the Horsemen that if you are going to try and take me out, you better make it good.
In Dusty's recreation of the scene from "One Eyed Jacks" with the Horsemen, the rifle became Ole's baseball bat, and the hitching post became one of Klondike Bill's ring trucks. The Horsemen tied him to the truck, and you hear Ole telling J.J. to make sure his paid cameraman zooms in close. Even though Rhodes was tied to the truck, Ole and Arn held him tightly as Tully Blanchard wielded the blow of the baseball bat on Rhodes' right hand.
You better kill me. Make it good.
It was a bit of revenge for Blanchard in particular, who was on crutches due to an earlier injury from a match in Greensboro when Rhodes refused to release a figure-four leg lock.
At the very end of the video tape of the Horsemen angle, you hear J.J. Dillon tell Dusty, "I want this to serve as a warning, Rhodes. We'll see you tomorrow night in Charlotte, you cripple!"
At the end of the movie "One Eyed Jack," Longworth might have wished he had killed Rio because, with his drawing hand now healed, Brando returns to kill Malden in a final showdown.
And even though Rhodes had warned the Horsemen to "make it good", they didn't make it good enough. The next night in Charlotte, Ole and J.J. Dillon (substituting for the injured Blanchard) entered the cage in Charlotte. Rhodes, his right hand and arm in a cast, introduced his mystery partner - - - Nikita Koloff. The hated "Russian Nightmare" had joined the "American Dream" Dusty Rhodes to battle the Four Horsemen in the wake of Magnum T.A.'s career-ending automobile accident.
The huge crowd in Charlotte loved it. It wound up being one of the most dramatic, emotional moments of the year.
Edited from a post originally published on September 26, 2017 on the Mid-Atlantic Gateway.
"We will let the fans know what the disposition of this title will be very soon." - Jim Crockett, Jr., 12/27/86
Those words still echo with me all these years later. I'm still waiting for someone to tell me what would become of my beloved Mid-Atlantic Heavyweight championship.
The sequence of images above from "World Championship Wrestling" on 12/27/86 show Ronnie Garvin handing over the Mid-Atlantic Heavyweight championship belt to Jim Crockett, Jr. in the studios of WTBS in Atlanta.
Garvin forfeited the title after he and Barry Windham had won the United States Tag Team championships. He is wearing the US Tag Team title belt. Jim Crockett told Ronnie he couldn't hold both titles, and he had to decide which one to forfeit.
"Well you know, it's a big disappointment to me ... it's a lot of work behind this belt and it represents the Mid-Atlantic area. And I don't mean no disrespect for it, because parting with this means a whole lot to me. But I don't want to disappoint my partner Barry Windham" - Ronnie Garvin, 12/27/86
While Jim Crockett told Tony Schiavone that he would announce later what would be done with the title (we assumed a tournament), the belt and the championship were never seen or mentioned again.
Click to enlarge.
It was a sad day for long time fans of Mid-Atlantic Wrestling who had
witnessed such great wrestlers hold that title including Danny Miller, Ole Anderson, Jerry Brisco,
Johnny Valentine, Wahoo McDaniel, Ric Flair, Paul Jones, Jack Brisco,
Roddy Piper, Greg Valentine, Ricky Steamboat, Ray Stevens, and so many others.
Earlier that same year, the name of the flagship syndicated program for Jim Crockett Promotions was changed from "Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling" to "NWA Pro Wrestling." With that name change and the disappearance of the championship, the great era known as "Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling" had quietly come to an end.
For more on the origin and history of the Mid-Atlantic championship, check out our book "Mid-Atlantic Championship," a detailed title history with over 50 photographs of the champions and the belts, as well as dozens of newspaper clippings.And the story of each and every title change, over 60 of them in a period of 13 years.
This story was originally published May 12, 2018 on the Mid-Atlantic Gateway.
Originally posted July 3, 2015 on the Mid-Atlantic Gateway
Late Edit: The WWE Network has just added this complete show from 7/5/86 to the Hidden Gems section of the Vault, as well as the complete Greensboro show from 7/26/86.
My friend Rob Riddick once told me that one of his favorite trips was to New Orleans in April of 1986 for the inaugural Jim Crockett Sr. Memorial Cup tag team tournament. George Napolitano, through the assistance of Tony Schiavone in the Crockett office, made it possible for him to get credentials.
Ironically, it would be an event where he wasn't allowed to shoot many of the matches, since they limited the number of photographers that could shoot ringside, and those would be the guys like Napolitano, Bill Apter, and the photographers from Japan. But what made the trip so memorable for him was that he was able to get this shot.
Rob told me he was walking through one of the long hallways in the Super Dome before the evening session and noticed Jim Crockett and Bill Watts having a conversation in front of a set where they had the Crockett Cup trophy on display in front of a huge board with the tournament brackets. He worked up the nerve to interrupt them and asked them could he get a picture, sensing the rare opportunity to get them together in such a setting. Watts told him, "I don't have my jacket with me." Rob assured him that wasn't a problem in the slightest.
Without being asked, the two reached up and each held the trophy for the photograph which Rob told me was one of his all-time favorites given these two giants in wrestling together for that rather historic show.
THE CROCKETT CUP RETURNS
This April the National Wrestling Alliance, in conjunction with the Crockett Foundation and Ring of Honor Wrestling, will bring back the Jim Crockett Sr. Memorial Cup Tag Team Tournament. The original event, promoted by Jim Crockett Promotions in the 1980s, only lasted three years, from 1986-1988. The company was sold to Ted Turner late in 1988.
When Jim Crockett, Jr. announced that the NWA had selected New Orleans to host the inaugural tournament in 1986, he told fans that it was his dream to host the tournament in the home city of Crockett Promotions, Charlotte, NC. Mr. Crockett never got to fulfill that dream, but the modern day NWA is about to come close for him.
The 2019 tournament will be held in Concord, NC, just outside Charlotte, at Cabarrus Arena. The venue has been host to several ROH events over the last few years. We'll be following news of the Crockett Cup closely and look forward to seeing that event return to the landscape of pro-wrestling.
THIRTY-TWO YEARS AGO ON THIS DAY - STARRCADE '86 GREENSBORO, ATLANTA, AND KANSAS CITY
Thirty-two years ago on Thanksgiving day (on that year Thanksgiving was on November 27), Starrcade '86 took place in the dual venues of the Omni in Atlanta and the traditional Greensboro Coliseum in Greensboro. It was the second of two years that JCP split the event between two cities with alternating matches in each locations closed-circuited back to the other. What is often forgotten is that Kansas City, KS was the third city that year to be a part of Starrcade '86, hosting live matches at Memorial Hall and then presenting the entire closed circuit telecast.
"We will let the fans know what the disposition of this title will be very soon." - Jim Crockett, Jr., 12/27/86
Those words still echo with me all these years later. I'm still waiting for someone to tell me what would become of my beloved Mid-Atlantic Heavyweight championship.
The sequence of images above from "World Championship Wrestling" on 12/27/86 show Ronnie Garvin handing over the Mid-Atlantic Heavyweight championship belt to Jim Crockett, Jr. in the studios of WTBS in Atlanta.
Garvin forfeited the title after he and Barry Windham had won the United States Tag Team championships. He is wearing the US Tag Team title belt. Jim Crockett told Ronnie he couldn't hold both titles, and he had to decide which one to forfeit.
"Well you know, it's a big disappointment to me ... it's a lot of work behind this belt and it represents the Mid-Atlantic area. And I don't mean no disrespect for it, because parting with this means a whole lot to me. But I don't want to disappoint my partner Barry Windham" - Ronnie Garvin, 12/27/86
While Jim Crockett told Tony Schiavone that he would announce later what would be done with the title (we assumed a tournament), the belt and the championship were never seen or mentioned again.
It was a sad day for long time fans of Mid-Atlantic Wrestling who had
witnessed such great wrestlers hold that title including Danny Miller, Ole Anderson, Jerry Brisco,
Johnny Valentine, Wahoo McDaniel, Ric Flair, Paul Jones, Jack Brisco,
Roddy Piper, Greg Valentine, Ricky Steamboat, Ray Stevens, and so many others.
Earlier that same year, the name of the flagship syndicated program for Jim Crockett Promotions was changed from "Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling" to "NWA Pro Wrestling." With that name change and the disappearance of the championship, the great era known as "Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling" had quietly come to an end.
For more on the origin and history of the Mid-Atlantic championship, visit this page:
In September of 1985, six months after Jim Crockett Promotions had taken over the wrestling slots on Superstation WTBS, they began airing taped segments during Sunday's "Best of Championship Wrestling" program called "Pro Wrestling Illustrated Scouting Report." The segments were in conjunction with Weston Publishing's "Pro Wrestling Illustrated" (PWI) magazine and were hosted by Senior Editor of PWI Bill Apter.
Bill Apter and Magnum T.A. on the set of "Pro Wrestling Illustrated Scouting Report"
Initially the segments were all co-hosted by NWA World Champion Ric Flair. It became a running gag in those early weeks of the show that Flair would tell Apter that he (Ric) was actually the host of the segments and that Apter served as co-host at Flair's pleasure. By late October, other JCP wrestlers began co-hosting the segments (Magnum T.A., Tully Blanchard, Dusty Rhodes, and many others) and even some wrestlers outside of the promotions such as Jerry Lawler and Ted DiBiase. Apter now referred to them as his guests. Flair was would continue to be the guest most featured throughout the segment's entire run.
"Scouting Report" had been a segment on other territory wrestling TV shows at various times in the past, sometimes co-hosted by Craig Peters in addition to Apter, but this was the first time a promotion had hosted a series of segments than ran for this long of a period of time. There were 44 weekly segments in all, stretching though late August of 1986. The show ended in advance of the end of the "Best of" show which became "World Championship Wrestling Sunday Edition" in September of 1986, a live-to-tape show that would no longer feature the pre-taped "Scouting Report" segments.
"Scouting Report" usually lasted two complete show segments, with a WTBS commercial break in the middle. Apter would select 2-3 wrestlers to "scout" and his guest would provide analysis. When Flair was the guest, they usually reviewed his top contenders for the NWA title, not only in Crockett Promotions but in other territories as well. Sometimes tapes were shown of the wrestlers being "scouted", other times just photos or slides that occasionally included stats on the scouted wrestler.
Jim Crockett Promotions created a special set for the show, with "Superstars" and "The Superstation" featured in the background as well as a chroma-key screen for showing video clips. Apter would always be seated on the left, while the co-host would be seated on the right. A coffee-table would be between them, usually with an issue or two of the magazine on display, as well as occasionally the title belt held by the wrestler featured as guest or co-host.
The set was located at the Crockett Promotions main office on Briarbend Drive in Charlotte, NC. They would tape three to four episodes at a time to air over the next several weeks on "Best of Championship Wrestling." The shows were taped on the same day that they taped the local promotional inserts for the syndicated shows (Mid-Atlantic and Wide World Wrestling) at Briarbend Drive.
Listed below are all 44 installments of "Pro Wrestling Illustrated Scouting Report." There was one episode that aired on Saturday's "World Championship Wrestling", and there were a handful of episodes hosted by someone other than Bill Apter. They are notated within the list.
NWA TV Tournament
Highlights,
Arn Anderson, Bobby Jaggers (Pacific Northwest),
Ted DiBiase (Mid-South), Nikita Koloff
Q&A: Ronnie Garvin
19
01/19/86
Ron Garvin
Ric Flair, Q&A: Ricky
& Robert
20
01/26/86
Ric Flair
Dusty Rhodes, Ole Anderson,
Magnum T.A.,
Ron Garvin, Q&A: Magnum T.A.
21
02/02/86
Ricky &
Robert
(Rock & Roll Express)
Midnight Express, Q&A:
Ric Flair
22
02/09/86
Baby Doll
(No Bill Apter)
Dusty Rhodes, Tully
Blanchard
23
02/16/86
Jim Cornette
Jim Crockett Sr. Memorial
Cup, Dusty Rhodes and Magnum T.A (America's Team), Sam
Houston & Nelson Royal, Q&A: Dusty Rhodes
24
03/09/86
Ted DiBiase
(originally pre-empted by Braves Baseball on 2/23/86)
Jim Crockett Sr. Memorial
Cup
Dr. Death Steve Williams (Mid-South),
Wahoo McDaniel & Mark Youngblood,
The Koloffs, Rock & Roll Express, Q&A: Jim Cornette,
Stan Hansen & Bruiser Brody,
Road Warriors, Ric Flair
25
03/02/86
Dusty Rhodes
Jim Crockett Sr. Memorial
Cup
Terry Funk history, Four Horsemen: Ole Anderson, Arn
Anderson, Tully Blanchard, Ric Flair,
Carlos Colon & Invader (UWC),
Q&A: Ted DiBiase (Mid-South), Magnum T.A.
26
03/16/86
Bill Watts
Crockett Promotions
Co-Ventures,
Jim Crockett Sr. Memorial Cup,
Mid-South Wrestling, Q&A: Bill Watts
27
03/23/86
James J. Dillon
Jim Crockett Sr. Memorial
Cup,
Baby Doll, Tully Blanchard & Arn Anderson, Ric Flair,
Q&A: J.J. Dillon
28
3/30/86
Paul Boesch
Houston Wrestling History
Johnny Valentine, Wild Bill Curry
29
04/06/86
Paul Boesch
History of Team Wrestling,
Jim Crockett Sr., George "Two Ton" Harris, Q&A: Bill
Apter
30
04/13/86
Bob Taylor
(No Bill Apter)
Jim Crockett Sr. Memorial
Cup Brackets
31
4/27/86
Paul Boesch
Houston Wrestling in the
1950s
32
05/04/86
Paul Boesch
The Graham Brothers, Buddy
Rogers,
Killer Kowalski
33
05/11/86
Paul Boesch
Killer Kowalski
34
05/18/86
Gloria Allen
(Magnum's Mom)
Wrestling News by Bill
Apter: Stan Hansen (AWA), The Fabulous Ones Stan Lane and
Steve Keirn (Florida), Garvin vs. Blanchard, Freebirds Sign
with the UWF, plus clips of Ron Garvin, Tully Blanchard, Ric
Flair, Ricky Morton, Midnight Express, and Baby Doll
35
05/25/86
Baby Doll
Magnum T.A., Tully
Blanchard, Midnight Express, Q&A: Baby Doll
36
06/01/86
Ricky &
Robert
(Rock & Roll Express)
Guest host: Bob Taylor
Ric Flair
37
06/08/86
Ricky &
Robert
(Rock & Roll Express)
Guest host: Bob Taylor
Rock & Roll Express
Super Summer Sizzler Tour
The Russians, Ric Flair
38
06/15/86
Ricky &
Robert
(Rock & Roll Express), Ric Flair
Guest host: Bob Taylor
Rock & Roll Express
Super Summer Sizzler Tour
Great American Bash Tour
39
06/22/86
Magnum T.A.
Nikita Koloff, Phone
Call with Bob Geigel
40
06/29/86
Ricky &
Robert
(Rock & Roll Express)
Rock & Roll Express
Super Summer Sizzler Tour
Q&A: Ricky & Robert
"Best of Championship Wrestling" on Sundays
preempted the entire month of July for the Goodwill Games
and Braves Baseball
41
08/03/86
Paul Jones
(Joined in Progress)
Jimmy Valiant
42
08/10/86
Ron Garvin
Tully Blanchard
43
08/17/86
Ric Flair
Dusty Rhodes, Four
Horsemen,
Kansas City & St. Louis,
4th NWA World Title Victory
On a recent episode of "The JJ Dillon Show" podcast (mlwradio.com), JJ and co-host Rich Bocchini discussed the infamous incident in October of 1986 where the Four Horsemen jumped Dusty Rhodes in the parking lot of Jim Crockett Promotions on Briarbend Drive in Charlotte. That ambush left the American Dream with a broken arm as he prepared for a big steel cage tag-team battle with the Horsemen that weekend in Charlotte.
Dusty got the inspiration for this scene where he is tied to Klondike Bill's ring truck
from Marlon Brando in the movie "One Eyed Jacks."
As it played out, the Horsemen, in two separate vehicles, followed an unsuspecting Rhodes in his little red convertible to the offices of Jim Crockett Promotions where they attacked Rhodes in the parking lot, beat him down, and tied him to a ring-truck, arms stretched out as if he were to be crucified.
One of the most often-discussed moments in that big angle was when Dusty cried out three famous words just before the Horsemen smashed his right hand with a baseball bat - -
"Make it good!"
There was much discussion by fans at the time suggesting this was Rhodes' exposed attempt to verbally direct the action in the skit taking place that he was a part of. But JJ maintains that wasn't the case.
"There were critics that didn't like Dusty," Dillon told Bocchini, "who said, 'Oh, there's Dusty, he had to let everyone know that he was orchestrating everything' - - which was not true."
JJ explained that it all had to do with Dusty's fondness for the cinema. Especially westerns.
"Dusty was somebody who loved the movies," Dillon said. "and he loved seeing moments in a movie and re-creating those moments. And one of those moments was in the movie 'One Eyed Jacks' where Marlon Brando was this gunslinger who was terrorizing this town."
In the movie, Marlon Brandon's character Rio had been betrayed by partner and fellow-outlaw "Dad" Longworth (portrayed by Karl Malden) following a bank robbery the two had committed together. Many years later, Longworth had become Sheriff, and when Rio returns to town to confront Longworth, Rio is captured, tied to a hitching post and whipped. But the worst blow of all was still yet to come.
Sheriff "Dad" Longworth (Karl Malden) taunts Rio (Marlon Brando) in the 1961 film "One Eyed Jacks."
Rio, barely able to speak, tells Longworth, "You better kill me." His meaning was that after all you've done to me - - you've betrayed me, you've whipped me - - you might as well kill me. Because if you don't, I'll be back to kill you.
But Longworth says killing him isn't necessary. He picks up his rifle and smashes it down on Rio's right hand, the hand this gunslinger used to draw and shoot his gun. Without the use of that right hand, he would be no threat to anyone.
JJ said it is this scene that Rhodes was channeling in the angle with the Horsemen. Rhodes was telling the Horsemen that if you are going to try and take me out, you better make it good.
In Dusty's recreation of the scene from "One Eyed Jacks" with the Horsemen, the rifle became Ole's baseball bat, and the hitching post became one of Klondike Bill's ring trucks. The Horsemen tied him to the truck, and you could hear Ole telling JJ to make sure his paid cameraman zooms in close. Even though Rhodes was tied to the truck, Ole and Arn held him still as Tully Blanchard wielded the blow of the baseball bat on Rhodes' right hand.
Make it good. You better kill me.
It was a bit of revenge for Blanchard in particular, who was on crutches due to an earlier injury from a match in Greensboro when Rhodes refused to release a figure-four leg lock.
At the very end of the video tape of the Horsemen angle, you hear JJ Dillon tell Dusty, "I want this to serve as a warning, Rhodes. We'll see you tomorrow night in Charlotte, you cripple!"
In the movie "One Eyed Jack," Marlon Brando warns Karl Malden he'd better kill him. But Malden chose not to do so and at the end of the movie, his drawing hand healed, Brando returns to kill Malden in a final showdown.
And even though Rhodes had warned the Horsemen to "make it good", they didn't make it good enough. The next night in Charlotte, Ole and JJ Dillon (substituting for the injured Blanchard) entered the cage in Charlotte. Rhodes, his right hand and arm in a cast, introduced his mystery partner - - - Nikita Koloff. The hated "Russian Nightmare" had joined the "American Dream" Dusty Rhodes to battle the Four Horsemen in the wake of Magnum T.A.'s career-ending automobile accident. The huge crowd in Charlotte loved it. It wound up being the most dramatic and emotional moment of the year.
This post was republished in edited form on Friday, February 27, 2021.
Four Horsemen 1986: Ric Flair, Ole Anderson, Arn Anderson, and Tully Blanchard
Four Horsemen 1988: NWA World Tag Team Champions Arn Anderson and Tully Blanchard,
United States Champion Barry Windham, and NWA World Heavyweight Champion Ric Flair
This is one of my all-time favorite episodes of "World Championship Wrestling" from 1/4/86 and features the Four Horsemen reeling after Dusty Rhodes and the Road Warriors break the leg of Ole Anderson on New Year's Night in Atlanta's Omni. The Horsemen, who were really just coming to be known under that moniker, would be without Ole until his dramatic return later that June.
The program features some outstanding promos, including the famous (and hilarious) interview where Ric Flair winds up in the floor of the studio demonstrating what it would be like for Baby Doll if she ever rode Space Mountain.
The show also spotlights a major development for the Horsemen, as James J. Dillon becomes the Executive Director of Tully Blanchard Enterprises and soon after the de facto leader of the Four Horsemen.
The show also features a rare appearance by former NWA World champion and reigning Missouri State Champion Harley Race.
Featuring an NWA title defense: Ric Flair vs. Dusty Rhodes, Baby Doll's infamous heel turn, a near riot, my favorite Ric Flair robe, Bob Caudle and Johnny Weaver, and one of the craziest bumps you'll ever see by Sam Houston in his match with Buddy Landel.
