The Final Show at WPCQ Studio in Charlotte (1983)

A series of posts about our favorite episodes available for streaming on the WWE Network
by Dick Bourne
Mid-Atlantic Gateway

Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling

WWE Network Data: First Airdate Saturday July 2, 1983
(Taped Wed. June 29, 1983) [WWE Network Link]

United States Heavyweight Champion Greg Valentine

FINAL SHOW AT WPCQ STUDIO
This show would be the very last taping at WPCQ studios in Charlotte, and the last time Mid-Atlantic and World Wide Wrestling would ever be taped in a studio setting. Jim Crockett Promotions had moved their TV production to these cramped quarters two years earlier, moving from WRAL in Raleigh when that station needed the studio every night for their locally produced insert-segments of the new show "PM Magazine."

WPCQ was a real step down in production quality for the programs with noticeable declines in the quality of video and audio during this time. Additionally, and most noticeably, the studio was too small, and the ring had to be turned catty-cornered in order to have room for Bob Caudle's set, as well as the cameras and production crew.

So the move of TV production out into the arenas was a welcome development, although I love the old studio settings by and large, and miss that era. But there wasn't a Saturday that at some point during a show from WPCQ that I didn't think to myself, boy, do I miss WRAL.

They certainly went out with a bang as this episode was a ton of fun, particularly due to the work of Jerry Brisco on the mic as one of the most annoyingly cocky heels ever. His performance, along with brother Jack, is just masterful.

The Briscos confront Ricky Steamboat

THE BRISCOS

This episode is a showcase for the Brisco brothers as heels.  Jerry calls it "The Brisco Brothers Hour." Jack and Jerry are basking in the glow of their victory over Ricky Steamboat and Jay Youngblood for the NWA World Tag Team titles, and are really rubbing it in. The Briscos are on my list of all-time favorite tag teams, largely due to their work in this area as heels in 1983.

During this episode they get in the face of Mike Rotundo at the opening of the show, and later provoke Ricky Steamboat to lose his temper, although Jerry came out on the wrong end of that as Steamboat knocks him out cold!

The Briscos wrestle Keith Larson (aka Wally "Rocky" Kernodle) and Rick McCord on this show in what can only be called a scientific wrestling clinic. As part of their heel personas, the Briscos were always out to prove they were superior technical wrestlers and they just have their way with Larson and McCord who, by the way, were two of the more talented undercard/mid-card wrestlers to ever work the territory.

Rufus R. Jones defends the honor of the winner of Paul Jones's picture.

PAUL JONES GIVES AWAY HIS PICTURE
For about six weeks leading up to this show, manager Paul Jones has been conducting a contest where the winner will receive a huge, oversized poster of Paul in a Tuxedo. The big poster has been on display for weeks and provided some hilarious moments over that time as Paul talked weekly with Bob Caudle about the contest. This week, he finally awards the photo to the contest winner at the end of the show. Paul is very rude to her and Rufus R. Jones comes out to defend the honor of the contest winner. Paul and the two wrestlers he manages, Dory Funk, Jr. and Jake "The Snake" Roberts, beat up Rufus in the ring as the credits roll at the end of the show.


DORY FUNK, JR.'s LOVE AFFAIR WITH MIKE ROTUNDO
One thing is clear re-watching these late 1982 and early-to-mid 1983 episodes: booker Dory Funk, Jr. was in love with Mike Rotundo. There can be no other way to describe it. No other wrestler during this time period got more exposure in the ring, on interviews, and doing color commentary on TV than the mid-card All-American from Syracuse.

This week, Rotundo is the color commentator with host Bob Caudle. As great a performer as Rotundo would prove to be in the ring, he was just as bad on the mic during this early part of his career. Rotundo definitely got his groove going and developed a personality in 1988 when he was a heel in the Varsity Club and was playing off goofy, lovable babyface Rick Steiner. But in 1983 he was as green, dry, and dull as you could possibly imagine. But Dory was intent on giving Rotundo ample opportunities to improve. And this was one of them, doing color commentary the entire program. I actually love Rotundo's work in the ring. But this was painful. Somehow, it did not detract from me enjoying this awesome episode, though, and I hope it won't for you, either.


THE LOCAL PROMO SPOTS
Most of these episodes on the WWE Netowrk do not include the local promotional spots that were some of the most entertaining parts of the programs back in the day. Those localized interviews were recorded during the day prior to the taping of the shows and then inserted into the tape that went out to the various market stations. Since these archived episodes don't have the local promos, they include a "live" studio interview taped right along as the main program was being taped. For much of late 1982 and 1983, these segments were largely aimed at the Florida territory. The Mid-Atlantic show was seen on a few select stations throughout Florida and so the guys being interviewed would aim many of their comments towards the wrestlers in Florida. Fans in the Mid-Atlantic area would not see these interviews; they were seeing their local promotional spots at that moment.

A good example of these is the interview Dick Slater does in the second promotional spot location. Slater directly addresses Dusty Rhodes (at that time a regular in Florida, and also the booker of the territory) and tells him he might be the American Dream and the Midnight Cowboy (a reference to Dusty working as the Midnight Rider) but he will never be the Errol Flynn of wrestling!


TIDBITS:

• Interesting to see a very young Joel Deaton on this show. Deaton would later wrestle under a mask as "Thunderfoot" managed by James J. Dillon in 1985. He would work several smaller southern territories in the late 1980s before making a name for himself in the 1990s in Japan. I always liked Deaton's work in the ring.
• Greg Valentine methodically works over John Bonello in an entertaining opening match.
• Roddy Piper mentions he has a new partner "Mr. T" - - and then pulls out a tire iron. I did do a double-take when he said that though, thinking about where Piper would be less than two years later with the real Mr. T at the first Wrestlemania.
• During Dick Slater's match, Bob Caudle mentions that the Assassins are coming into the area soon, and that one of them is reportedly the son of the Great Bolo. This would turn out to be the new Assassin #2, which later turned out to be Hercules Hernandez under the mask. They played up the Great Bolo son angle for several months. The Great Bolo was a huge star for Jim Crockett promotions in the late 1950s and early 1960s, and it's cool that they were calling back that far into their history.
  
• Harley Race makes it clear he doesn't want to wrestle Flair anymore, and claims Flair was a "fluke" champion since all he really did was slip past a "fat man" to win the title. This was a shot (a "rib on the square" as Steve Austin is famous for saying) at the wrestler Flair beat for the NWA title, Dusty Rhodes.
• Flair, Piper, and Race all appeared in pre-taped interviews from the brand new make-shift studio at the main office building of Jim Crockett Promotions on Briarbend Drive. The studio was established as the location for taping the local interviews that would be inserted to the syndicated programs. The interviews had previously been taped at the WPCQ studios prior to the taping of the shows. But with the move out to the arenas to begin next week, JCP needed a spot to record the shows, and so they set up a make-shift studio at the Briarbend offices.
• Wahoo McDaniel does his famous war dance and tomahawk chop (Bob Caudle affectionately called it the "tommy-hawk" chop over the years) before defeating the Magic Dragon. Considered by most to be politically incorrect today, that war dance and chop was one of the things that made Wahoo so exciting and so special to me when I first started watching wrestling.

CHAMPIONS ROLL CALL
NWA World Champion: Harley Race
NWA World Tag Champions: Jack & Jerry Brisco
United States Champion: Greg Valentine
Mid-Atlantic Champion: Dory Funk, Jr.
NWA TV Champion: The Great Kabuki

STUDIO MATCHES ON THIS PROGRAM
[1] Greg Valentine (US Champion) vs. John Bonello
[2] The Briscos (NWA Tag Champs) vs. Keith Larson / Rick McCord
[3] Jimmy Valiant & Bob Orton Jr. vs. Bill Howard & Joel Deaton
[4] Dick Slater vs. Vinnie Valentino
[5] Dory Funk Jr. (Mid-Atlantic Champ) & Jake Roberts vs. Bret Hart & Mike Davis


FILMED MATCHES FROM THE ARENA:
Wahoo McDaniel vs. The Magic Dragon (with Gary Hart)

INTERVIEWS
Jack and Jerry Brisco
Ric Flair and Roddy Piper (pre-taped at the Briarbend Drive studio)
Mike Rotundo
Ricky Steamboat & Jay Youngblood
Harley Race (pre-taped at the Briarbend Drive studio)
Dick Slater
Paul Jones (with Jake Roberts and Dory Funk, Jr.)

WWE NETWORK
FREE MONTH FOR NEW SUBSCRIBERS!
Check out all of the Mid-Atlantic episodes currently available!

MID-ATLANTIC CHAMPIONSHIP PODCAST

Don't miss this great podcast, hosted by Mike Sempervive and Roman Gomez, as they look back at classic early 80s episodes of Mid-Atlantic Wrestling as seen on the WWE Network.

 

MID-ATLANTIC TV REPORT AND SUMMARIES

David Taub reviews and summarizes all the episodes of Mid-Atlantic Wrestling airing on the WWE Netowrk. Visit our TV Report & Podcast page for links to all the shows.

Edited from a story originally posted January 30, 2018 on the Mid-Atlantic Gateway. 

Favorite Episodes: Paul Jones wins the Mid-Atlantic Championship on TV (9/4/82)

by Dick Bourne
Mid-Atlantic Gateway

On of the Gateway's Favorite Episodes
Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling,  Saturday, September 4, 1982

We all have our favorite episodes of old wrestling shows. The labor day weekend edition of Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling in 1982 is one of mine, mainly for the main event of that show, but for some other small reasons as well.

 

The show was taped on Wednesday, September 1, 1982 in the cramped confines of WPCQ channel 36 in Charlotte, and featured Jack Brisco defending his Mid-Atlantic title against "No. 1" Paul Jones. It aired in the primary markets that Saturday, September 4, 1982 as part of the extended Labor Day weekend.

In those days, a match between two main eventers was rare on TV, where most matches pitted main event guys against "enhancement talent" designed to repeatedly familiarize viewers with a star's moves, finishers, and even weaknesses. So when there occasionally was a title match between two main event stars, it was special, and you knew something special was likely to take place - - either an angle or even better, a title change!

Actually, 1982 featured a handful of great main event matches on TV, including Ric Flair vs. Jack Brisco, Sgt. Slaughter vs. Wahoo McDaniel, Dory Funk, Jr. vs. Jack Brisco, Roddy Piper vs. Jack Brisco, and several others. Brisco seemed to be a common thread in many of the matches, and so it was he had another great match with his old rival Paul Jones on this episode.

There was some history between the two: Jones and Brisco had a hot feud in Florida in 1972 when Paul first turned heel, and the success of that program was helped by their in ring chemistry; the two loved working with each other. Jones also was a top contender for Brisco's NWA World championship belt when Jack wore the ten pounds of gold in the mid-1970s.

In the months leading up to this Mid-Atlantic match in September of 1982, Jones career was floundering and he was languishing in the mid-card of most shows without much of a program with anyone. Paul knew he was soon to retire; it was just a matter of when. Booker Dory Funk, Jr. gave him a gift of sorts, putting him in a program with Brisco over the Mid-Atlantic title, letting Paul work the final months of his full-time in-ring career with the guy he most enjoyed working with more than anyone. The improvement in Paul's work was noticeable. It was like the old "No. 1" was back again.

This match was so great to me because it reminded me of Paul in his prime as a heel in the Mid-Atlantic area in 1979, when he turned on Ricky Steamboat (or was it the other way around?) and teamed up with Baron Von Raschke. No one was more hated than Paul Jones in 1979. His cocky arrogance was off the charts, and their was great wrestling humor, too, in his heel character, especially entertaining when teaming with the Baron. All of that resurfaced in this match, as Paul pulled every dirty trick in the book in a well executed finish to steal the title belt from Brisco.

The set up was that a week earlier, Jack had been jumped in the parking lot by the House of Humperdink, Sir Oliver Humperdink's band of bad guys that included Jones, and although Brisco was on crutches in the week leading up to this title defense, he was determined to take on Jones. Paul was ducking him, but Jack told him he would put the title on the line if Paul would fight him on TV. With a sly grin, Jones gladly accepted that challenge. The trap was laid.

Jerry Brisco tries to reason with his brother Jack before the title defense against Paul Jones.

 As the story played out, Jack was still suffering the effects of the parking lot beating. The week before in a TV interview, both Ricky Steamboat and Jay Youngblood directly questioned Jack if he was at 100% to face Jones. Jack hesitated momentarily and simply replied, "I'll be ready." Moments before the match, Jack's brother Jerry tried to talk him into waiting a another week before wrestling Jones. Just watching these exchanges, you had the feeling danger was ahead for Jack in this match.

Sure enough, Jones took advantage of the injured leg of Brisco. Even then, though, Jack maintained an advantage through much of the match, but Jones always regained that advantage by going after the leg.

The finish developed like this: Brisco thwarted an attempt by Jones to apply his signature Indian death lock and the match devolved into a fist fight, with referee Stu Schwartz struggling to maintain control. With Jones in trouble, Brisco went for his patented figure four leglock, but stopped mid-stream when Jones' manager Sir Oliver Humperdink climbed to the apron and looked as though he would enter the ring. Brisco chased after him, but when Jack jumped to the floor in pursuit of Humperdink, his injured knee gave way. Jones took full advantage when Brisco crawled back into the ring, pounding the leg repeatedly with a barrage of punches, kicks, and knee drops. Still, Brisco managed to valiantly fight to his feet and whip Jones into the turnbuckle. As Brisco followed him in, Jones shot his right hand up with a karate thrust to the throat of Brisco, out of the sight of the referee. It was a direct callback to a familiar move he used in 1979, an illegal move he used often in his heated feud with former partner Ricky Steamboat. Brisco collapsed holding his throat, and Jones quickly covered him and as he went to hook the leg for the pin, grabbed a full hand of Brisco's trunks to illegally secure the pin. Schwartz missed that, too, and awarded the match - - and more importantly the Mid-Atlantic title - - to Paul Jones. As luck would have it, there was no camera angle to clearly show Jones holding the trunks, either, giving Jones more cover for his dirty deed. But the studio crowd was furious about it, and that more than told the story to the viewers at home.

Paul Jones pins Jack Brisco to win the Mid-Atlantic Heavyweight Championship.
It sure looked to most fans like Jones had a hand full of Brisco's trunks.

Jones celebrated as though he had just won the biggest match of his life, arms in the air in celebration, hugging Sir Oliver Humperdink. A huge smile on his face, he looked as though he was almost in tears! But it took the trifecta of Jack's injured leg, the karate thrust, and a hand full of trunks for Jones to win the Mid-Atlantic championship.

Paul and Jack would feud over the Mid-Atlantic title for most of the remainder of 1982, trading the title back and forth several times that fall.


OTHER MEMORABLE MOMENTS ON THIS SHOW

• One of the most stiff, brutal contests you'll ever see on TV took place between newcomer Jos Leduc and up-and-coming Kelly Kiniski. There may have been some bad blood at play between the two Canadians, perhaps going back to when Kelly's father Gene Kiniski was NWA champion. Who knows? Regardless, Leduc just totally beat the crap out of Kiniski for most of the match. To Kiniski's credit, he never backed up, and even managed to try and get in a few licks of his own. But this was one legitimately stiff wrestling match.
• Paul's victory interview was funny, as he declared in typical fashion "I've always been a man of my word!" He accused Brisco of hiding the title in a closet, but now he had won the championship and took it out of the closet. "Number One" was sure in a good mood. 
• Sir Oliver Humperdink announces he's offering Abdullah the Butcher to come in and take out Chief Wahoo McDaniel. Wahoo and Abdullah had a history going back one year earlier when Piper paid Abdullah to take out Wahoo which cost Wahoo the U.S. title. Greg Valentine says once Abdullah has softened up the Indian, it will be easy for him to break Wahoo's leg again, just like he did many years ago.
• Mike Rotundo gives Greg Valentine all he can handle in a good match, but in the end it was the big Valentine elbow that put Rotundo away.
• Wahoo McDaniel and relatively new fan-favorite Roddy Piper teamed up to take on the Medic and the Gladiator.  

The September 4, 1982 episode can bee seen in its entirety on the WWE Network, along with other episodes from 1981-1986. Even if you don't follow today's wrestling, the WWE Network is worth the $9.99 a month just for the classic content which includes complete shows in pristine quality from the Mid-Atlantic, Mid-South, World Class, 1980s NWA on WTBS, and many other of the old territories. And they offer a free 90-day trial.

David Taub's detailed summary of this show is available here on the Gateway, and we look forward to the eventual Mid-Atlantic Championship podcast on this show coming in a few months. For links to all the show reviews and podcasts, as well as direct links to the shows themselves on the WWE Network, visit our TV and Podcast Index.

Favorite Episodes: The Final Show at WPCQ (July 2, 1982)

A series of posts about our favorite episodes available for streaming on the WWE Network
by Dick Bourne
Mid-Atlantic Gateway

Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling

WWE Network Data: First Airdate Saturday July 2, 1983 (Taped Wed. June 29, 1983)

United States Heavyweight Champion Greg Valentine

FINAL SHOW AT WPCQ STUDIO
This show would be the very last taping at WPCQ studios in Charlotte, and the last time Mid-Atlantic and World Wide Wrestling would ever be taped in a studio setting. Jim Crockett Promotions had moved their TV production to these cramped quarters two years earlier, moving from WRAL in Raleigh when that station needed the studio every night for their locally produced insert-segments of the new show "PM Magazine." WPCQ was a real step down in production quality for the programs with noticeable declines in the quality of video and audio during this time. Additionally, and most noticeably, the studio was too small, and the ring had to be turned catty-cornered in order to have room for Bob Caudle's set, as well as the cameras and production crew.

So the move of TV production out into the arenas was a welcome development, although I love the old studio settings by and large, and miss that era. But there wasn't a Saturday that at some point during a show from WPCQ that I didn't think to myself, boy, do I miss WRAL.

They certainly went out with a bang as this episode was a ton of fun, particularly due to the work of Jerry Brisco on the mic as one of the most annoyingly cocky heels ever. His performance, along with brother Jack, is just masterful.

The Briscos confront Ricky Steamboat

THE BRISCOS

This episode is a showcase for the Brisco brothers as heels. Jack and Jerry are basking in the glow of their victory over Ricky Steamboat and Jay Youngblood for the NWA World Tag Team titles, and are really rubbing it in. The Briscos are in my top 5 of all-time favorite tag teams, all due to their work in this area as heels in 1983.


During this episode they get in the face of Mike Rotundo at the opening of the show, and later provoke Ricky Steamboat to lose his temper, although Jerry came out on the wrong end of that as Steamboat knocks him out cold!

The Briscos wrestle Keith Larson (aka Wally Kernodle) and Rick McCord on this show in what can only be called a wrestling clinic. As part of their heel personas, the Briscos were always out to prove they were superior technical wrestlers and they just have their way with Larson and McCord who, by the way, were two of the more talent undercard wrestlers to ever work the territory.

Rufus R. Jones defends the honor of the winner of Paul Jones's picture.

PAUL JONES GIVES AWAY HIS PICTURE
For about 6 weeks leading up to this show, manager Paul Jones has been conducting a contest where the winner will receive a huge, oversized poster of Paul in a Tuxedo. The big poster has been on display for weeks and provided some hilarious moments over that time as Paul talked weekly with Bob Caudle about the contest. This week, he finally awards the photo to the contest winner at the end of the show. Paul is very rude to her and Rufus R. Jones comes out to defend the honor of the contest winner. Paul and the two wrestlers he manages, Dory Funk, Jr. and Jake "The Snake" Roberts, beat up Rufus in the ring as the credits roll at the end of the show.



THE LOVE AFFAIR WITH MIKE ROTUNDO
One thing is clear rewatching these late 1982 and early-to-mid 1983 episodes: booker Dory Funk, Jr. was in love with Mike Rotundo. There can be no other way to describe it. No other wrestler during this time period got more exposure in the ring, on interviews, and doing color commentary than the mid-card All-American from Syracuse.

This week, Rotundo is the color commentator with host Bob Caudle. As great a performer as Rotundo would prove to be in the ring, he was just as bad on the mic during this early part of his career. Rotundo definitely got his groove going and developed a personality in 1988 when he was a heel in the Varsity Club and was playing off goofy, lovable babyface Rick Steiner, but in 1983 he was as green, dry, and dull as you could possibly imagine. But Dory was intent on giving Rotundo ample opportunities to improve. And this was one of them, doing color commentary the entire program. I actually love Rotundo's work in the ring. But this was painful. Somehow, it did not detract from me enjoying this awesome episode, though, and I hope it won't for you, either.



THE LOCAL PROMO SPOTS
Most of these episodes on the WWE Netowrk do not include the local promotional spots that were some of the most entertaining parts of the programs back in the day. Those localized interviews were recorded during the day prior to the taping of the shows and then inserted into the tape that went out to the various market stations. Since these archived episodes don't have the local promos, they include a "live" studio interview taped right along as the main program was being taped. For much of late 1982 and 1983, these segments were largely aimed at the Florida territory. The Mid-Atlantic show was seen on a few select stations throughout Florida and so the guys being interviewed would aim many of their comments towards the wrestlers in Florida. Fans in the Mid-Atlantic area would not see these interviews; they were seeing their local promotional spots at that moment.

A good example of these is the interview Dick Slater does in the second promotional spot location. Slater directly addresses Dusty Rhodes (at that time a regular in Florida, and also the booker of the territory) and tells him he might be the American Dream and the Midnight Cowboy (a reference to Dusty working as the Midnight Rider) but he will never be the Errol Flynn of wrestling!


TIDBITS:

• Interesting to see a very young Joel Deaton on this show. Deaton would later wrestle under a mask as "Thunderfoot" managed by James J. Dillon in 1985. He would work several smaller southern territories in the late 1980s before making a name for himself in the 1990s in Japan. I always liked Deaton's work in the ring.
• Greg Valentine methodically works over John Bonello in an entertaining opening match.
• Roddy Piper mentions he has a new partner "Mr. T" - - and then pulls out a tire iron. I did do a double-take when he said that though, thinking where Piper would be less than two years later with the real Mr. T at the first Wrestlemania.
• During Dick Slater's match, Bob Caudle mentions that the Assassins are coming into the area soon, and that one of them is reportedly the son of the Great Bolo. This would turn out to be the new Assassin #2, which later turned out to be Hercules Hernandez under the mask. They played up the Great Bolo son angle for several months.
• Harley Race makes it clear he doesn't want to wrestle Flair anymore, and claims Flair was a "fluke" champion since all he really did was slip past a "fat man" to win the title. This was a shot at the wrestler Ric beat for the NWA title, Dusty Rhodes.
• Flair, Piper, and Race all appeared in pre-taped interviews from the brand new make-shift studio at the main office building of Jim Crockett Promotions on Briarbend Drive. The studio was established as the location for taping the local interviews that would be inserted to the syndicated programs. The interviews had previously been taped at the WPCQ studios prior to the taping of the shows. But with the move out to the arenas to begin next week, JCP needed a spot to record the shows, and so they set up a make-shift studio at the Briarbend offices.
• Wahoo McDaniel does his famous war dance and tomahawk chop (Bob Caudle affectionately called it the "tommy-hawk" chop ovder the years) before defeating the Magic Dragon. Considered by many to be politically incorrect today, that war dance and chop was one of the things that made Wahoo so exciting and so special to me when I first started watching wrestling.

CHAMPIONS ROLL CALL
NWA World Champion: Harley Race
NWA World Tag Champions: Jack & Jerry Brisco
United States Champion: Greg Valentine
Mid-Atlantic Champion: Dory Funk, Jr.
NWA TV Champion: The Great Kabuki


STUDIO MATCHES ON THIS PROGRAM
[1] Greg Valentine (US Champion) vs. John Bonello
[2] The Briscos (NWA Tag Champs) vs. Keith Larson / Rick McCord
[3] Jimmy Valiant & Bob Orton Jr. vs. Bill Howard & Joel Deaton
[4] Dick Slater vs. Vinnie Valentino
[5] Dory Funk Jr. (Mid-Atlantic Champ) & Jake Roberts vs. Bret Hart & Mike Davis


FILMED MATCHES FROM THE ARENA:
Wahoo McDaniel vs. The Magic Dragon (with Gary Hart)

INTERVIEWS
Jack and Jerry Brisco
Ric Flair and Roddy Piper (pre-taped at the Briarbend Drive studio)
Mike Rotundo
Ricky Steamboat & Jay Youngblood
Harley Race (pre-taped at the Briarbend Drive studio)
Dick Slater
Paul Jones (with Jake Roberts and Dory Funk, Jr.)

WWE NETWORK
FREE MONTH FOR NEW SUBSCRIBERS!
Check out all of the Mid-Atlantic episodes currently available!

Republished on 01/14/2021 on the Mid-Atlantic Gateway.