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: Rip Hawk and Swede Hanson Battle Each Other in Norfolk

by Brack Beasley
Mid-Atlantic Gateway Contributor

This poster promotes a card held at the Norfolk Arena in Norfolk, VA on Thursday, November 7th, 1974.

The main event, promising to be a violent affair, was a Fence Match between former allies Rip Hawk and Swede Hanson with a special stipulation making the pile driver legal. At the time, the pile driver was an illegal maneuver in the National Wrestling Alliance.

The semi main event featured promising newcomers Tiger Conway Jr. and Chuck O'Connor (who later would become Big John Studd). 

While this poster gives few details on the other bouts on this card, we know from the newspaper ad for this show that Klondike Bill teamed with Tio Tio vs. Two Ton Harris and Frank Morrell, Danny Miller took on rookie Ric Flair, and Billy Ash met Ken Dillinger in the opener. 

The poster is the smaller variety measuring only 14 by 22 inches and has a vertical layout with all black print over the two tone pink and yellow background. I would assume this card took place at the old arena built during World War II as opposed to the larger Scope Exhibition Hall which opened in 1971 but I could be mistaken. Nevertheless, Crockett held cards at the Scope starting in 1972 and for many years forward.

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

Mid-Atlantic Gateway Notes
by Dick Bourne

• Promotional posters from Richmond, Hampton, and Norfolk are hard to come across. Nice to see this one from Brack's amazing collection, especially from the less familiar venue of the Norfolk Arena.
• For fans from that era, seeing long-time tag team partners Rip Hawk and Swede Hanson fighting each other had to be surreal. Swede had turned "good guy" following a split between himself and then-partner the Super Destroyer (aka The Spoiler, Don Jardine) in February of 1974. When Rip Hawk returned to the Mid-Atlantic area in the spring of 1974 from his NWA suspension for using the piledriver (actually had been away working in Florida), he would occasionally cross paths with Swede in tag matches, but the singles feud between the two former partners broke wide open in August and continued throughout the fall of 1974.
• Rookie Ric Flair defeated veteran and longtime area star Danny Miller on this card, an indication that Flair's star was continuing to rise as a singles competitor within Crockett Promotions. Flair and Rip Hawk were the reigning Mid-Atlantic Tag Team champions at the time of this card in Norfolk.
  

 NO. 26 IN A SERIES

Poster: Johhny Valentine and Ric Flair Heat Up Lynchburg

by Brack Brasley
Mid-Atlantic Gateway Contributor

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

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

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

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

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

NO. 14 IN A SERIES

Poster: Andre the Giant's First Night in Greensboro (1974)

by Brack Beasley
Mid-Atlantic Gateway Contributor

This poster is from the famed Greensboro Coliseum and dated June 6, 1974. It represents Andre the Giant's first appearance in Greensboro, during his first tour of the Mid Atlantic territory. 

Can you imagine the reaction of the fans that night to seeing the Giant in person? I know I'll never forget the first time seeing Andre in the late 1970s, also in a battle royal. 

The layout is pretty simple on this one with black print standing out against a light orange background but as usual, it promotes a loaded Greensboro card. 

While Johnny Valentine is most remembered for his singles work, the team of himself and the Super Destroyer Don Jardine appears quite intimidating. Other Mid-Atlantic legends such as Rip Hawk, Swede Hanson, Johnny Weaver, Abe Jacobs, Sandy Scott, and Danny Miller are also featured.

Andre the Giant, announcer Big Bill Ward, and Andre's friend,
driver, and interpreter Frank Valois.

 

Notice Frank Valois is in an early match vs. Sandy Scott. Valois was Andre's driver and interpreter (and great friend.)

My apologies in advance if any of these posters have been posted on the Gateway in the past but maybe some of the newer visitors will see them for the first time. 

* * * * 

For more on Andre the Giant's first tour of the Mid-Atlantic area, see the following articles by Dick Bourne and Les Thatcher:

• Andre The Giant's First Tour Through the Mid-Atlantic Area - Part One
• Les Thatcher's Lost Opus: Andre the Giant Arrives - Part Two
• Andre The Giant's First Tour Through the Mid-Atlantic Area - Part Three
• Andre the Giant's First Night in Charlotte

Previous poster: Flair/Valentine vs. Wahoo/Steamboat (Winston-Salem 1977)

NO. 2 IN A SERIES

Classic Poster: Wahoo McDaniel vs. Ric Flair in Roanoke

Mid-Atlantic Gateway Collection

by Dick Bourne
Mid-Atlantic Gateway

This beautifully designed classic poster is from 1975 and features one of the definitive main events of the era - - Wahoo McDaniel vs. Ric Flair for the Mid-Atlantic Heavyweight championship.

At first glance, you might think this was a poster form 1976 when the Flair/Wahoo feud was one of the main feuds of that year, and lasted nearly the entire year. But it is actually from the summer of 1975, less than three months before the Wilmington, NC, plane crash that threatened to prematurely end Flair's career.

Wahoo was the reigning Mid-Atlantic champion here, having defeated Johnny Valentine for the title three weeks earlier in Asheville, NC. With Valentine having subsequently defeated Harley Race for the U.S. title and no longer a threat to Wahoo, the Chief had moved on to the challenge presented by Valentine's protege, Ric Flair. The feud with Flair was in its very early stages, but it was already clear to anyone paying attention that this was a money program.

Flair would win the Mid-Atlantic championship from Wahoo in Hampton, VA, almost exactly two months after this Roanoke stadium show. Two weeks later, the private charter plane Flair was on went down short of the Wilmington runway and put Flair out of action for nearly four months. The 30-day rule was apparently waived through special dispensation and he was allowed to keep the Mid-Atlantic title until he returned to action in early 1976 and immediately began the long program with Wahoo. The two traded the Mid-Atlantic title back and forth for all of 1976, and they remained rivals for most of the rest of Wahoo's career, as Wahoo would become a top challenger for Flair's NWA world title at various times in the 1980s.


THINGS TO LOVE ABOUT THIS POSTER

• Roanoke posters always had the cool designation at the top: "Roanoke Sports Club Presents." The Roanoke Sports Club was the name of the promotional company run by local Roanoke promoter Pete Apostolou. 
• This is my favorite of all the typical designs for wrestling posters in that era: portrait (vertical) orientation with the main event in big block letters so that it jumps off the poster. Notice also in this case that Flair's name stacked on Wahoo's made the perfect pyramid. Just a great looking poster.
• Advance tickets for wrestling in Roanoke were always on sale at The Sportsman, a bowling and entertainment facility owned by Pete Apostolou in downtown Roanoke.
• Interesting to see Jerry Blackwell early in his career billed here as "Man Mountain Blackwell."
• Victory Stadium was one of three regular venues for wrestling in Roanoke, the other two being Starland Arena and the Roanoke Civic Center.

Jaws 2: 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, 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 one "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 the Jaws in our original post. 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 locla 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!

Mooneyham: Miller Leaves Behind a Treasure Trove of Memories

Wrestling great Danny Miller leaves behind a treasure trove of memories
by Mike Mooneyham, Charleston Post & Courier
June 12, 2016

Provided / Charleston Post & Courier

“I’m just not sure anybody would remember me.”

That’s what Danny Miller told me shortly after he was invited to the Mid-Atlantic Wrestling Legends Fanfest in Charlotte back in 2013.

Miller had been selected as member of that year’s Hall of Heroes class, a high distinction that honors some of the greatest stars to ever appear in the old Mid-Atlantic territory.

Even though I assured him that certainly wasn’t the case, he still expressed reservations.

“It’s been a long time,” he said, pointing to the fact that 40 years had transpired since his last major run on the circuit.

What the veteran star would come to discover, however, was that nobody had forgotten Danny Miller, a fact borne out by the large, receptive crowd that turned out to meet and honor him during the weekend gathering.

WWE Hall of Famer Jerry Brisco was on hand that night to present Danny at the awards ceremony....

Read Mooneyham's entire article on the Post & Courier website.

Danny Miller Passes Away

Our heartfelt condolences go out to the friends and family of the great Danny Miller, who passed away Monday, June 6.

He was the first Mid-Atlantic TV champion, crowned in 1974 after defeating Ole Anderson in the finals of a tournament that took place on television. He was the 3rd ever Eastern heavyweight champion after that title was created in our area. He defeated the Missouri Mauler (Larry Hamilton) in 1971 for the honors. The Eastern title later evolved into the Mid-Atlantic Heavyweight Championship.

Miller was a mainstay in the area for years and was a major player behind the scenes working as local promoter for the Crockett's in the mid-1970s in the Greenville/Spartanburg/Asheville market. He credits then-booker George Scott for teaching him the business side of wrestling.

He was a tag-team partner of Les Thatcher's in the early 1970s and they were an extremely popular duo.


For a look at Miller's entire career, check out this bio and obit on Canoe Slam! Wrestling.

Below is the newspaper clipping for one of Miller's biggest victories in the Mid-Atlantic area, defeating the Missouri Mauler for the Eastern Heavyweight title in the main event of a big Greensboro card.