Poster: Wahoo chases Flair in Winston-Salem (1976)

By Brack Beasley
Mid-Atlantic Gateway Contributor

This poster promotes a fantastic card of Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling that took place at the old Winston-Salem Memorial Coliseum on Friday, April 23rd, 1976

 

There was a big double main event. Wahoo McDaniel continued his quest for Ric Flair's Mid-Atlantic Heavyweight belt and this match had a special stipulation of two referees (one of which would be NWA official George Scott) in an attempt to keep things in order. Wahoo would emerge victorious on this night but by disqualification, allowing Flair to escape with his title. 

The semi featured big, bad Angelo Mosca attempting to collect the $5,000 bounty placed upon Tim Woods by Blackjack Mulligan. Woods would come out the winner of this contest and Mosca left without a victory or the bounty money. 

In exciting tag team action Geeto and Bolo Mongol topped Ron Garvin and Tony Atlas, while the undercard included Doug Gilbert, Great Malenko, Big Bill Dromo, and Klondike Bill. 

The poster has a beautiful horizontal layout with six wrestler images on the sides, black print (except the main event participants in high impact red) on a bright blue background, and the familiar "Wrestling" oval in the upper left corner.

NO. 44 IN THE BEASLEY POSTER SERIES

Mid-Atlantic Wrestling in Niagara Falls, ONT (1980)

by Dick Bourne
Mid-Atlantic Gateway

Poster image submitted by Andrew Calvert and Barry Hatchet
MapleLeafWrestling.com

This is a very rare and somewhat unusual poster from June of 1980 for a show in Niagara Falls, Ontario. It features a United States title defense by Ric Flair against Great Hossein Arab, better known to fans in the traditional Mid-Atlantic territory as the Iron Sheik. The card took place at Niagara Falls Memorial Arena, which was just across the Canadian - U.S. border in Ontario.

The show was promoted by Tony Parisi as an extension of Frank Tunney's Toronto booking office. This was during the roughly 5-year period that Tunney was booking the majority of his talent for Toronto from Jim Crockett Promotions in partnership with Crockett and booker George Scott. One of the unusual things that makes this poster so rare is that it says "Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling" instead of Maple Leaf Wrestling. Andrew Calvert from Toronto told us that posters were generally pretty scarce to begin with up his way, but the ones they did have were almost always billed as Maple Leaf Wrestling. 

The Iron Sheik was generally billed in Toronto as Hossein the Arab or Great Hossein Arab. (His name was badly misspelled on the poster.) When he first arrived in the Mid-Atlantic area in early 1980, he was referred to on television by Bob Caudle and Rich Landrum as  "Hossein the Arab, the Iron Sheik." Later, it was simply shortened to the Iron Sheik. But in Toronto, it was usually Hossein the Arab.

At the time of this card, the Sheik was Canadian Heavyweight Champion, having defeated Dewey Robertson for the gold belt back in May in Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto. Oddly he is not billed as such on this poster, although newspaper articles in advance of this show mention he is champion. It appears Flair's United States title was the only championship on the line that night at the Falls arena. The Canadian title was mainly defended in Toronto, but it would seem a missed opportunity to not have a title-vs-title match, especially given that the finish of the match was reportedly a double count-out. 

Sheik was also the reigning Mid-Atlantic Heavyweight champion at this time. He is billed with neither title on this poster.

Others featured on the poster were local favorites (and former Canadian champions) Angelo "King Kong" Mosca and Dewey Robertson, teaming up to face the top heel team for Jim Crockett Promotions, Jimmy "Superfly" Snuka and Ray "The Crippler" Stevens. Snuka and Stevens won the NWA World Tag Team titles just three weeks earlier from Ricky Steamboat and Jay Youngblood in Greensboro, NC, although they are not billed as champions on the poster. Neither is their manager Gene Anderson, and it isn't clear if Anderson appeared with them on this show in Niagara Falls. Again, it seems like a missed opportunity for promoter Parisi to not bill Snuka and Stevens as tag champs and make the match a title match.

Parisi's office was spelling-challenged on this particular poster, too: they even botched local football and wrestling legend Angelo Mosca's name!

One other thing that seemed odd (and this was mentioned in the local paper, too) was the low placement on the card of Pedro Morales. To be sure, Morales was wrestling low-to-mid card for Jim Crockett Promotions during this era, even doing jobs on TV, but he had not so long ago been WWWF Heavyweight Champion, and was still occasionally a headliner in the WWWF during this era. With the WWWF television being seen in this area, and the history of the WWWF title being defended in Toronto, you would think that even being booked out of JCP, Morales would have had a more featured spot on the card here.

As seen in this image, the poster is in really rough shape, worn and torn, and with a lot of apparent water damage. It was recently sold on eBay, which is where Barry Hatchet noticed it and the image wound up making its way to us, via our mutual friend Andrew at MapleLeafWrestling.com.

 

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Poster: Woods and Mosca Square of at Starland (1976)

by Brack Beasley
Mid-Atlantic Gateway

This poster takes us back to the Starland Arena in Roanoke, Va and promotes a card held on Saturday, April 10th, 1976. 

The main event was a Texas Death Match between Angelo Mosca and Mr. Wrestling Tim Woods. These type matches were violent affairs and usually only ended when one of the participants could no longer continue. Woods managed to be the man left standing at the end of this one, but on a television taping that aired exactly one week later, Mosca defeated him in the finals of a tournament to crown a new Mid Atlantic TV champion (although Mosca needed a handful of tights in order to pin Woods).

The semi featured tag team action with Sgt. Jacques Goulet and Mike "The Judge" Dubois versus Emanuel and Roberto Soto while the preliminaries consisted of Klondike Bill versus Doug Gilbert, Angelo Poffo versus Randy Colley, and Greg Peterson versus George McCreery.

The poster's vertical layout has all black print over a colorful two tone bright pink over bright blue background with images of Woods and Roberto Soto. 

NO. 29 IN A SERIES

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MID-ATLANTIC GATEWAY NOTES
This would have been a fun card. Mosca was a terror in the territory at this point, and his big weapon was a big elbow forearm smash, often times with a foreign object in the elbow pad, undetected by the official of course.

Two of our favorite semi-main event tag teams at this time faced off here. We loved the bad guys, Goulet and Dubois, as well as the popular high-flying team of Roberto and Emmanuel Soto. Emmanuel had previously wrestled at Roberto's partner under a mask as El Rayo. He had unmasked to reveal himself to be Roberto's brother.

The Soto brothers introduced the Mid-Atlantic territory to the lucha libre style of wrestling, which they wove into a lot of their matches. That style proved quite popular. We always thought both teams should have had at least a small run as Mid-Atlantic Tag Team champions. The Sotos had upset the Andersons in a non-title bout and had proven themselves worthy of top contendership. Goulet and Dubois would later make it to the finals of a tournament to crown new Mid-Atlantic Tag Team champions, but could never quite get over the hump. 

Madman Angelo Mosca Arrives in 1975

by David Chappell
Mid-Atlantic Gateway

In November of 1975, fans of the Mid-Atlantic area were introduced to a fearsome newcomer…one who would wreak havoc in Jim Crockett Promotions for the next calendar year.

Online World of Wrestling

On the November 26, 1975 taping of the Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling TV show, announcer Bob Caudle began, “Fans, a tremendous athlete, all-American at Notre Dame and eleven years All-Pro...Angelo Mosca. Terrific athlete and a whale of a wrestler, but they call you the ‘Madman’ now Angelo!” Mosca responded, “Call me what they want, as long as they don’t call me late for breakfast...let me tell you something.”

Angelo then continued, “You know, when I was in my formative years I had a deed, and that deed was to have character and charisma which I did, believe me. And out of character and charisma you have a destiny, and my destiny was to be the best football player which I was…now I plan to be the best wrestler and in this area I will dress it up, I will be the best wrestler.”

The Madman then asked, “Who says Paul Jones is  Number One?” Caudle exclaimed, “Number One, Paul Jones!” Angelo countered, “Let me tell you something, you just let me tell you something...they have not seen the likes of me very often here. What’s this, third or fourth time? They’re  gonna see a lot of me, and they’re gonna forget all about Paul Jones because I will soon be Number One!”

Mosca bellowed, “l told you about my formative years and my deeds and my charisma and my character, therefore they have developed since my childhood and therefore I shall not lose and will not lose, believe me!

Caudle then noted, “You were talking about Paul Jones...look at Wahoo McDaniel up there just a minute ago, there’s another one for you.” Mosca quipped, “Let me tell you something about Wahoo McDaniel...he sat on the bench all those years in Miami and New York. You know why he does that dance?” When Caudle smiled, Mosca admonished him, “Don’t  laugh at me while I’m talking to you, you just hold the mic, you just hold the mic! Let me tell you something, the reason he does that dance is to get those slivers out of his behind, that’s why!” Caudle commented, “Oh, from sitting on the bench?” Angelo fired back, “From sitting on the bench all those years…I was a player!”

Caudle countered, “He’s a great wrestler, he’s taken on all the great wrestlers around the world, Angelo.” Mosca testily replied, “You want me to start naming all the great wrestlers I’ve taken on around the world? Gene Kiniski, the Sheik, just to name a few people. And I’ll tell you what, like I said, I’m here to dress up this area and I will dress up this area with my skills as a professional wrestler in the ring.” Caudle then conceded, “Of course we’re going to admit you’re great.” Angelo retorted, “It’s about time you recognized that!”

Caudle concluded, “But they’re a lot of great wrestlers around the area Angelo and it’s not going to be an easy task.” Mosca finished by saying, “Like I said, when you get the likes of 300 pounds put together with charisma and character, there is no way I can possibly lose!”

Angelo Mosca didn’t lose much during the following twelve months, becoming the Mid-Atlantic TV champion and along with Ric Flair and Blackjack Mulligan ran roughshod over many of the Mid-Atlantic fan favorites during 1976. And while Angelo appeared back in Jim Crockett Promotions for sporadic shots from 1980-84, to me, he was never as menacing as he was as that “Madman” that suddenly appeared on the Mid-Atlantic scene back in November of 1975.

 Originally published July 25, 2017 on the Mid-Atlantic Gateway.

Fake News: Greensboro's Incredibly Bad Newspaper Results (1976)

by Dick Bourne
Mid-Atlantic Gateway

We enjoy wrestling clippings, and we include many of them in our posts here on the Gateway. But this one had us laughing a little bit. 

Greensboro NC 10/16/76

The actual winners of the three main events are correct. But it's like someone on the late shift at the sports desk decided that alone wasn't  sufficient; they felt the need to make up how they won. Fake news!

This clipping is notable for two reasons. First, it is from a historic show at the Greensboro Coliseum (October 16, 1976) where the three top championships in the territory changed hands on one night. This was very rare in those days, and I guess very rare for any era.

But it is also memorable for how the reported finishes were clearly made-up from whole cloth by whomever wrote this little blurb for the sports section.

At least the actual winners were correct.

Risking his hair against Wahoo McDaniel's Mid-Atlantic championship belt, Ric Flair took the belt with a double wristlock and head scissors in 21 minutes.

He had the stipulations right, he had the right title on the line. He had the winner right. He may have even had the time right. So why make up the finish?

Paul Jones dethroned Blackjack Mulligan for the U.S. Heavyweight championship with a double bar toehold in 39 minutes.

Sorry, dude. Blackjack Mulligan ain't tapping out to no "double bar toehold." (I doubt they went 39 minutes, either.)

Tim Woods took the Mid-Atlantic TV championship from Angelo Mosca, winning on a half-nelson, leg hold and cradle in 10:35.

Bizarre!

It should be noted that these made up finishes stand in stark contrast to the nice reporting in the first paragraph of how wrestling outdrew other recent sporting events at the coliseum. Plus, he did get the actual results right. I guess someone called those in, because this guy clearly wasn't at the show. And goofy stuff like this wasn't that uncommon for the Greensboro paper during this time.

Newspaper clippings for old wrestling shows are always interesting to us, just sometimes for odd reasons!

(Newspaper clipping from the collection of Mark Eastridge.)

Blooper: Jay WHO??

Time for another wrestling blooper, this time on a poster instead of our usual newspaper clippings.

When I saw this one I literally laughed out loud. Something caught me off guard about Jay "YOUNGBLOOB."

The "B" and the "D" keys are not really close to each other on the keyboard, so not sure how this one happened!

Interesting poster in 1982 from a small community right outside Richmond VA. Funny to see Jimmy Valiant and Paul Jones teaming together given that soon would begin a feud that would last off and on for 5 years.

and Posters, too!

Also, an interesting main event of Angelo Mosca challenging Ric Flair for the NWA World title. Mosca was in during this time primarily as a participant in the ongoing NWA World Tag Team championship tournament with partner Killer Khan. So I don't normally think of him as a top singles competitor during that time period. However, that said, he was the reigning Canadian Heavyweight champion for the Toronto office, which had strong booking ties with Jim Crockett Promotions. Perhaps ol' Angelo had to come all the way to Midlothian, VA in the USA to get his well earned shot at the champ!

Jay "Youngbloob." That's one for the ages.

Classic Poster Friday: All Star Tag Team Match

by Dick Bourne
Mid-Atlantic Gateway

It's hard to imagine a tag team match-up that would be more exciting, unpredictable, and out of control than the tag match headlining this June 20, 1976 card in Greensboro, NC.

Not only did this match feature three of the top stars in the territory in Blackjack Mulligan, Ric Flair, and Wahoo McDaniel, but it added a special appearance by an outside star in Dusty Rhodes.

The icing on the cake was that the match was a non-sanctioned "Lights Out" match and was fought with Texas Tornado rules - - all four men in the ring at the same time!

Flair and Mulligan were a regular tandem at this point, months before Greg Valentine would enter the area and become Ric's main partner. Both men held the area's top two singles titles: Mulligan was the United States champion and Flair held the Mid-Atlantic Heavyweight title.

Wahoo McDaniel was in the middle of a year long feud with Flair over the Mid-Atlantic title, and Mulligan had been interfering in their matches to aid Flair in keeping his title. Wahoo enlisted the aid of the "American Dream" to give Mully and Flair a good thrashing.

And so they did. It was a wild affair by all accounts, with Wahoo and Rhodes coming out on top.

In the semi-main, Paul Jones defeated TV champion Angelo Mosca, but the title wasn't on the line. The victory earned Jones future title shots.

The undercard featured familiar names such as Danny Miller, Tony Atlas, Larry Zbyszko, Two Ton Harris, Klondike Bill, Burrhead Jones, and many others, including one of our favorite mid-card teams at that time: Mike "The Judge" Dubois and Sgt. Jacques Goulet.

The Madman Arrives

by David Chappell
Mid-Atlantic Gateway

In November of 1975, fans of the Mid-Atlantic area were introduced to a fearsome newcomer…one who would wreak havoc in Jim Crockett Promotions for the next calendar year.

Online World of Wrestling

On the November 26, 1975 taping of the Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling TV show, announcer Bob Caudle began, “Fans, a tremendous athlete, all-American at Notre Dame and eleven years All-Pro...Angelo Mosca. Terrific athlete and a whale of a wrestler, but they call you the ‘Madman’ now Angelo!” Mosca responded, “Call me what they want, as long as they don’t call me late for breakfast...let me tell you something.”

Angelo then continued, “You know, when I was in my formative years I had a deed, and that deed was to have character and charisma which I did, believe me. And out of character and charisma you have a destiny, and my destiny was to be the best football player which I was…now I plan to be the best wrestler and in this area I will dress it up, I will be the best wrestler.”

The Madman then asked, “Who says Paul Jones is  Number One?” Caudle exclaimed, “Number One, Paul Jones!” Angelo countered, “Let me tell you something, you just let me tell you something...they have not seen the likes of me very often here. What’s this, third or fourth time? They’re  gonna see a lot of me, and they’re gonna forget all about Paul Jones because I will soon be Number One!”

Mosca bellowed, “l told you about my formative years and my deeds and my charisma and my character, therefore they have developed since my childhood and therefore I shall not lose and will not lose, believe me!

Caudle then noted, “You were talking about Paul Jones...look at Wahoo McDaniel up there just a minute ago, there’s another one for you.” Mosca quipped, “Let me tell you something about Wahoo McDaniel...he sat on the bench all those years in Miami and New York. You know why he does that dance?” When Caudle smiled, Mosca admonished him, “Don’t  laugh at me while I’m talking to you, you just hold the mic, you just hold the mic! Let me tell you something, the reason he does that dance is to get those slivers out of his behind, that’s why!” Caudle commented, “Oh, from sitting on the bench?” Angelo fired back, “From sitting on the bench all those years…I was a player!”

Caudle countered, “He’s a great wrestler, he’s taken on all the great wrestlers around the world, Angelo.” Mosca testily replied, “You want me to start naming all the great wrestlers I’ve taken on around the world? Gene Kiniski, the Sheik, just to name a few people. And I’ll tell you what, like I said, I’m here to dress up this area and I will dress up this area with my skills as a professional wrestler in the ring.” Caudle then conceded, “Of course we’re going to admit you’re great.” Angelo retorted, “It’s about time you recognized that!”

Caudle concluded, “But they’re a lot of great wrestlers around the area Angelo and it’s not going to be an easy task.” Mosca finished by saying, “Like I said, when you get the likes of 300 pounds put together with charisma and character, there is no way I can possibly lose!”

Angelo Mosca didn’t lose much during the following twelve months, becoming the Mid-Atlantic TV champion and along with Ric Flair and Blackjack Mulligan ran roughshod over many of the Mid-Atlantic fan favorites during 1976. And while Angelo appeared back in Jim Crockett Promotions for sporadic shots from 1980-84, to me, he was never as menacing as he was as that “Madman” that suddenly appeared on the Mid-Atlantic scene back in November of 1975.