I just came across an interesting interview with Chief Wahoo McDaniel on an episode of "Championship Wrestling '85", formerly known as Championship Wrestling from Florida. The episode has two interesting connections to Jim Crockett Promotions and Mid-Atlantic Wrestling as it relates to Wahoo McDaniel.
The episode originally aired Saturday, 3/16/85 in Florida. It was taped the prior Wednesday morning 3/13/85 at the famous Sportatorium in located at 106 North Albany Avenue in Tampa.
THE UNITED STATES TITLE The first Mid-Atlantic connection was that Wahoo McDaniel was the reigning United States Heavyweight Champion for Jim Crockett Promotions at the time of this appearance in Florida. He was just over a week away from losing the title to Magnum T.A. in their famous cage match back in Charlotte on 3/23/85. So when Wahoo appeared on Florida TV, he was wearing the Crockett U.S. title. he was not acknowledged by the ring announcer or announcer Gordon Solie as champion, but was wearing the belt in the ring. Wahoo teamed with Jay and Mark Youngblood who were former Mid-Atlantic stars and the reigning United States Tag Team champions, a Florida-based title at the time. (Wahoo and Mark Youngblood had held the NWA World Tag Team titles a year earlier in the Mid-Atlantic area.)
THE APOLOGY The second Mid-Atlantic connection was the interview Wahoo did with host Gordon Solie at the desk. Wahoo had been one of the most popular wrestlers in the history of Jim Crockett Promotions throughout the mid-1970s to the mid-1980s. But in 1984 he had "turned heel" over his frustration with being stripped of the United States title after defeating Ricky Steamboat for the belt in Greensboro. Wahoo became bitter and found an unlikely ally in Tully Blanchard, the two dubbing their tag team combination as the "Awesome Twosome." Suddenly, Wahoo had become one of the most hated wrestlers in the territory.
So when he appeared in Florida, still with the U.S. title, it was perhaps surprising for him to team with the babyface tag team of the Youngblood brothers.
After the match was over, Wahoo sat down with Solie and the two discussed Wahoo's return to Florida and his ongoing chase of Ric Flair and the NWA World Heavyweight title, a chase that had been going strong back in the Mid-Atlantic area, but now would continue in Florida. It was here that Wahoo actually apologized to the fans.
"You know, I've done a lot of things in the last couple of months," Wahoo told Solie. "My style of wrestling has changed some. I'd like to apologize to a lot of people, because in some places I've done some things I wouldn't ordinarily do."
Wahoo's use of the phrase "in some places" may have been a little cryptic for most Florida fans who would have been largely unaware of Wahoo's heel run in the Mid-Atlantic unless they had read about it the wrestling magazines or perhaps seen some of his occasional appearances in Georgia on WTBS. But that was directly aimed at Mid-Atlantic fans, some of whom could see the weekly Florida TV show on their cable systems.
Wahoo would apologize a second time, this time directly to Mid-Atlantic fans a few months later in a video tape sent in from Florida. It was in advance of a special return appearance for Jim Crockett Promotions to aid Dusty Rhodes against Tully Blanchard and Abdullah the Butcher in Greensboro.
A week after this Florida episode aired, Wahoo lost the U.S. title to Magnum T.A. in Charlotte, and immediately left the territory to take the booking job in Florida.
The entire episode is embedded below, although you can go directly to Wahoo's match and interview using the links embedded in the paragraphs above.
(The complete episode is on the "106NAlbany" YouTube channel.)
On May 17, 1981 at the Omni in Atlanta, there was a one-night tournament for the vacated Georgia Heavyweight Championship. Ten men were entered in the tournament, including a couple of guys advertised as coming in from outside the territory to compete including Bruiser Brody and Greg Valentine.
Brody no-showed (or perhaps was never really going to appear to begin with, who knows) but Valentine came in from the Mid-Atlantic area and went all the way to the finals, defeating Mr. Wrestling II in the quarter finals and Iron Mike Sharpe in the semi-finals before losing to "Wildfire" Tommy Rich in the finals.
Prior to the tournament, Greg Valentine sent in a taped interview from Raleigh to promote his appearance in the tournament. The interview was conducted by Rich Landrum (host of "World Wide Wrestling") in the studios of WRAL TV.
The video below, which is the final seven minutes of the Georgia TV show leading up to that big Omni card, contains the Greg Valentine promo plus another tape from the Mid-Atlantic area featuring the reigning NWA World Tag Team champions Gene and Ole Anderson.
(No idea why the person who posted this clip labeled it from "WGHP-TV High Point Fox 8..." because the clip has nothing to do with any of that.)
GENERAL NOTES
The match with the Anderson Brothers from WRAL is from the summer of 1981 and is from "Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling" with Bob Caudle and Lord Alfred Hayes calling the action.
Tommy Rich was wrestling in that tournament with a $10,000 bounty on his head, allegedly placed there by NWA World Champion Harley Race, who was trying to avoid having to face Rich for the NWA title. Greg Valentine mentions being interested in collecting the bounty in his promo, but was apparently unable to do so as Rich defeated him in the tournament finals to win the Georgia title and then went on to challenge Race for the NWA title at the next show at the Omni on 5/31/81. Race would successfully defend against Rich on 5/31, but then lost the NWA world title to Dusty Rhodes on the following Omni show on 6/21/81.
If you look closely, you will see part of the Georgia championship belt extending off the front of Gordon Solie's podium.
In a Studio Wrestling note, the backdrop you see in the Valentine interview (as seen in the image at top) was the Mid-Atlantic set used from 1975-1977 and is my favorite of all the old sets, mainly because it was first one I really remember and was used during the years I first really loved wrestling.
This Georgia Championship Wrestling show featured two other Mid-Atlantic clips not seen in the video above. The first featured a match between Greg Valentine and Steve Muslin from 1980 on "Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling." The second was a promotional interview similar to Greg Valentine's with Rich Landrum interviewing "The Dream." (I hope to present those in a future post.)
GEORGIA TOURNAMENT NOTES
Gordon Solie promoted the tournament as a round-robin tournament, although it was not competed in such a fashion. There were 10 men announced as appearing in the tournament: Dusty Rhodes, Iron Mike Sharpe, Mr. Wrestling II, Tommy Rich, Ray Candy, Bruiser Brody, Greg Valentine, Ken Patera, Mike Boyer, and Bill Irwin. Brody and Boyer diod not appear, but Nickolia Volkoff and Jim Duggan replaced them.
From the tournament results posted on The History of the WWE website, it appears that 2 of the 10 (Rhodes and Volkoff) received byes, but I've been unable to figure out the elimination brackets from these results. But they are listed as:
Quarter Finals: Tommy Rich defeated Bill Irwin
Quarter Finals: Ken Patera defeated Ray Candy
Quarter Finals: Greg Valentine defeated Mr. Wrestling #2
Quarter Finals: Iron Mike Sharpe defeated Jim Duggan
Semi Finals: Ken Patera fought Dusty Rhodes to a no contest
Semi Finals: Tommy Rich defeated Nikolai Volkoff
Semi Finals: Greg Valentine defeated Iron Mike Sharpe
Finals: Tommy Rich defeated Greg Valentine to win the title
Originally posted November 2016 on the Mid-Atlantic Gateway.
The recent spate of excellent quality uploads of old "Georgia Championship Wrestling" shows on YouTube had me fondly remembering Roddy Piper's one-year stint in Georgia and particularly his early feud with "Bullet" Bob Armstrong.
In the fall of 1981, Ole Anderson became booker for both the Mid-Atlantic and Georgia territories, something pretty unheard of in that time. One result of his having that dual responsibility was the cross-over of talent between the two promotions. This was yet another chapter in the long history of what I have dubbed the "talent exchange" or partnership between the Mid-Atlantic and Georgia territories that went back to the mid-1970s.
Gordon Solie and Roddy Piper, hosts of
"Georgia Championship Wrestling" on SuperStation WTBS
One of the most visible examples of this was Roddy Piper becoming the co-host of "Georgia Championship Wrestling" alongside Gordon Solie in late October of 1981. Piper proved to be the perfect bombastic and colorful compliment to Solie's rather dry style of calling matches. It's not clear what Solie must have first thought of Piper when he debuted alongside him on WTBS on Halloween evening of 1981, but after a few weeks he warmed up to him pretty quickly as there was great chemistry between the two and they became one of the top pro wrestling broadcasting duos in the country with broad exposure on the nationally televised Georgia program.
Piper was such a hit in the color commentary role that Ole Anderson also paired him with Bob Caudle on "Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling" a few months later. Piper was perhaps the only wrestler to ever be a color commentator on two top shows for two different promotions at the same time. It was this experience that would first get him noticed in that role and would later serve as a foundation for the groundbreaking "Piper's Pit" segments on WWF television shows in 1984.
Bob and Brad Armstrong
Along with his commentary duties in Georgia, Piper also would occasionally conduct interviews. In his first few months, he seemed particularly enamored of the father and son combination of Bob and Brad Armstrong, and his passive-aggressive confrontations with the two eventually led to fireworks between Piper and Bob Armstrong.
For several weeks in a row, Piper would interview the Armstrongs at ringside, complimenting the tag team prowess of the team, but also questioning their strategies and execution. He even went so far as to get personal with Bob, suggesting he was perhaps a bad father for occasionally letting his son take a beating in a match.
Bob, for his part, handled all of this masterfully in the slow build to the inevitable explosion with Piper, at first just just acting mildly annoyed at Piper's antics, usually brushing him off or ending the interviews before Piper was ready to end them, leaving the rowdy Scot occasionally flummoxed and at a loss for words.
Bob Armstrong was the perfect foil for Piper, aptly able to hold his own in a verbal joust with him, using his popular southern wit to confound the west coast bullying and arrogance of Piper. Armstrong was now looked at as one of the wise old veterans in the territory by the fans, and fans enjoyed watching Armstrong put Piper in his place over those early weeks.
But Piper was relentless. And as he turned the volume up on his criticism of the Armstrongs, it began to get under Bob Armstrong's skin. However, the two never touched for nearly three months.
That wild melee led to an actual match between the two at the Omni on Sunday, February 7. It was Piper's long awaited first match in Georgia and part of a big night at the Omni which included National Heavyweight Champion Tommy "Wildfire" Rich defend that title against former NWA world champion Harley Race.
There are different accounts as to the result of the February match. Most reports say it was a double DQ or a no-contest finish. The match would actually serve as a springboard to a progression of matches Piper would have over the next few months at the Omni, moving from one challenge up to the next. Following Armstrong, there was Tommy Rich and then Dick Slater. Others opponents down the line in 1982 for Piper included Dusty Rhodes, Ole Anderson, and Don Muraco.
Even though Piper moved on to other opponents in Atlanta, his feud with Bob Armstrong would continue outside the territory. Piper's only real role in Georgia was doing TV's with Gordon Solie on Saturday mornings, and matches on the Omni cards every three weeks or so. He didn't wrestle often on the house show circuit in Georgia because he was a full-time wrestler for Jim Crockett Promotions, and was actually booked out to Atlanta through the Charlotte Crockett office. In fact, through much of this time period Piper was Mid-Atlantic Heavyweight Champion, feuding first with Ricky Steamboat and then with Jack Brisco over that title belt.
THE PIPER/ARMSTRONG FEUD MOVES TO THE MID-ATLANTIC TERRITORY
Their feud was a quite unusual because it began in Georgia, but was largely carried out in the Mid-Atlantic territory, even though Armstrong never appeared in person on Mid-Atlantic television. The feud had incubated every Saturday on WTBS for nearly three months (November 1981 - January 1982) without the two ever touching.
Then soon after that one Atlanta match on 2/7/82, things moved directly to the Mid-Atlantic territory, where Piper was the reigning Mid-Atlantic Heavyweight Champion. But other than isolated matches in Norfolk and Greensboro, their war took place entirely in the city of Greenville, SC on Monday nights.
Over a two month period, beginning on February 22 and culminating on April 19, the two had five (5) different matches in the Greenville Memorial Auditorium.
2/22/82 - Mid-Atlantic title match (mid-card)
3/01/82 - No Disqualification match (semi-main)
3/22/82 - 2 out of 3 falls match (main event)
3/29/82 - Indian Strap match (main event)
4/19/82 - Canadian Lumberjack match (main event)
With Armstrong not appearing in person on any Mid-Atlantic TV shows, and only a few isolated clips shown from Georgia, it is astounding that Piper and Armstrong went for five events in Greenville, headlining the last three of them. it is a testament to the chemistry they had together and how well things clicked on the Georgia show, which was seen on cable channel WTBS in the Greenville market, although cable penetration in 1982 was far more limited than today.
Piper and Armstrong also headlined three shows in Cincinnati, OH, a city which featured talent from both Mid-Atlantic and Georgia promotions. The local promoter for the Cincy shows was Les Thatcher.
Piper and Armstrong also headlined three shows in Cincinnati, OH which were part of the Georgia Wrestling tours of Ohio and Michigan at that time. The local promoter for the Cincy shows was Les Thatcher, and lots of Mid-Atlantic talent was booked on those shows as well.
It was a wonderful feud and a great memory from that time where so much
talent was appearing in both territories simultaneously.
******
Thanks to Brian Rogers for his help with these Greenville newspaper clippings.
Originally posted October 30, 2016 on the Mid-Atlantic Gateway.
Mac Davis and Billy Strange wrote these words in 1968:
Memories, pressed between the pages of my mind Memories, sweetened through the ages just like wine
I have been a wrestling fan for well over 40 years. The many wonderful memories I have are surely pressed between the pages of my mind. Over the last many years the loss of so many legends and friends has caused the memories to become sweeter.
A recent visit to the George Tragos/Lou Thesz Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame and Museum in Waterloo, Iowa, was a true walk down memory lane. I would highly suggest to any serious wrestling fan that they make the trip to Waterloo if at all possible.
Upper left: Photo of Gordon Solie and Jack Brisco. Center left: Andy McDaniel (who wrote this article)
Lower left: Painting of Gerry Brisco
Right: Bill Murdock and Gerry Brisco with Jack Brisco exhibit.
Walking in the door was a treat as I was greeted by none other than Gerry Brisco and one of the key members of the museum, Bill Murdock. Bill and I have been friends for the last 20 years. It was great sharing a few stories with Gerry after I presented him with a copy of my County Hall reunion book. He had some funny Henry Marcus stories, including some memories of Miss South Carolina. Might have to share that later.
Walking around the museum for the first time I must say there is so much to take in you are almost overwhelmed. The pictures, the memorabilia, the art work; it is all amazing. However, there were several items that stood out to me.
The case holding Jack Brisco’s boots is right up front, and it truly stands out.
As I said, this was just the beginning. I realize that some might wonder if Mid-Atlantic wrestling has a strong presence at the museum. Let me assure you, there are some wonderful pieces here. When you turn the corner in the first art gallery, there sits Baron Von Raschke. (And that is “all the people need to know!”)
Left: Jack Brisco's boots and replica of the "Ten Pounds of Gold"
Right: Paintings of Baron Von Raschke and Jack Brisco
Another few turns and there is Jack and Gerry Brisco and then there is the incredible painting of Ric Flair and Harley Race in action.
The walk around the hall of fame portion is an absolute who’s who of pro wrestling and indeed, Mid-Atlantic wrestling is well represented. Abe Jacobs, Ric Flair, The Funks, Tim Woods, The Briscos, Ricky Steamboat, Ivan and Nikita, Dusty, Harley Race, Jimmy Valiant, just to name a few.
Upper left: Abe Jacobs' Japan tour jacket. Upper right: Harley Race's bronzed boot.
Bottom: Painting of Harley Race vs. Ric Flair
One of the special items on display is a bronzed boot from Harley Race, along with a ring jacket and mask from Mr. Wrestling Tim Woods. Even a jumpsuit from Abe Jacobs when he was touring Japan.
The Lou Thesz displays are amazing. His NWA belt is there, his boots and robe, along with many pictures, wrestling cards from the shows he was defending the title on, and many items from Japan and countless other things.
Top: Lou Thesz display including his NWA World title belt.
Bottom left: Tim Woods' ring jacket. Bottom right: Baron Von Raschke's amateur gear.
My review of the Hall of fame and museum here in Iowa are very high. It was great time seeing friends and seeing some items I had never seen before. If you are ever over this way, indeed take the time to visit, you will be glad you did. They have done a wonderful job preserving the history of wresting and the historical characters that were involved. If you are a fan of NWA and Mid-Atlantic wrestling you will not be disappointed, they are well represented. I will surely be going back, and hopefully next time have my friends from the Gateway with me.
The 1982 NWA World Tag Team Championship Tournament PART TWELVE - The Final Chapter by Dick Bourne Mid-Atlantic Gateway
If you missed earlier posts in this series, check them out in the links below, especially the INTRODUCTION, which puts the whole tournament in a perspective and serves as a launching point for the discussions that follow.
Wahoo & Muraco Dissolve Their Partnership
Two things happened in May of 1982 that sent the NWA World Tag Team Tournament flying off the rails. One was the story taking place on camera for the fans to see. The other was a story taking place behind the scenes that fans never knew about.
In front of the camera, Wahoo McDaniel regained the United States Championship. It was a title which had been taken from him by the NWA in the summer of 1981 due to some shenanigans pulled by Roddy Piper and Abdullah the Butcher. When Wahoo returned to the Mid-Atlantic area in April of 1982 fresh off the Western Division tournament victory with partner Don Muraco (a fictitious part of the tournament), he received a non-title shot at U.S. champ Sgt. Slaughter on TV, which he won. This ignited a feud between Slaughter and Wahoo over the belt, and Wahoo eventually came out on top. Now with new title defense obligations that the championship required, Wahoo's focus turned to the U.S. title and this proved to be very disappointing to his partner Don Muraco.
Muraco, by his own admission a little bit crazy, lost his composure about the whole matter in quick fashion, walking off on Wahoo in the same interview where he intended to congratulate him. Only five days after Wahoo had won the U.S. title, Muraco turned his back on the Chief after a misunderstanding in a standard TV match. Muraco thought Wahoo had turned his back on him first in the ring, being solely focused on his feud with Slaughter. (You can read all about that here.)
Muraco's paranoia ran wild and he went a bit off the deep end, telling a crazy story about Wahoo coming to Hawaii to borrow money from King Curtis before seeking Muraco out to be his partner. Muraco said he was furious that he had moved his family across the continent so that he and Wahoo could chase the World tag team titles in this multi-month tournament. Muraco felt Wahoo had now abandoned that goal to focus on his newly won U.S. title.
In a way, you can see his point. (And I love booking where the heel actually has a point, but just goes about resolving it in the wrong way.)
Behind the scenes, as we've discussed in previous parts of this series, booker Ole Anderson and Jim Crockett Promotions were about to head their separate ways. I talked with Ole Anderson twice about these tournaments, once in 2008 (with mutual friend Peggy Lathan visiting Ole and Paul Jones outside Atlanta) and again in 2011 (at the NWA Wrestling Legends Fanfest in Atlanta.) I asked Ole for details about that falling out, but he basically explained (in the colorful language he is known for) that everyone else was an idiot that didn't see things his way. (Ole is nothing if not consistent.)
Just as Crockett Promotions announced the Best-of-Seven series between Eastern and Western winners for the championship, Ole basically left JCP and based himself in Georgia full time, where he continued as booker there. The Championship - and the Belts - - go to Georgia
What also happened when Ole left JCP was that he took the NWA World Tag Team title belts with him. When Stan Hansen returned from Japan commitments, Ole and Stan were named NWA World Tag Team champions in Georgia on the nationally broadcast "Georgia Championship Wrestling" show on WTBS. This took place on Saturday, June 26, 1982.
Gordon Solie offered a reasonable explanation for that title development, basically explaining that since the Western Division winners had broken up as a team, Ole and Stan, the Eastern Division winners, were awarded the tittles basically by default.
Here is a brief video of that explanation:
As Gordon Solie pointed out, "by default" was really not an apt way to look at it. In fairness to Anderson and Hansen, they were the only team to enter all six regional/city tournaments, and the only team to win more than one. They had certainly earned their way to the Eastern Division Championship.
Ole Anderson and Stan Hansen
NWA World Tag Team Champions in 1982
The Belts Go Back to Crockett Promotions
Eventually, Jim Crockett Promotions wanted their belts back, and a deal was struck for Ole to bring them back to Charlotte. He even arranged a booking out of it for the trip, working a Charlotte house show on 8/22/82 in a six-man team event.
The belts were clearly returned on that trip, as Anderson and Hansen had them on Georgia TV the day before Ole's trip to Charlotte, Saturday, 8/21/82, but no longer had them the following Saturday 8/28/82.
The titles were not mentioned again on Georgia TV.
New Champions Named in Jim Crockett Promotions
For their part, Jim Crockett Promotions waited until a month later to resolve the situation and name new tag team champions. A story was concocted in the interim that Sgt. Slaughter had headed to Japan and had summoned Pvt. Don Kernodle to join him there, and Kernodle immediately hopped on a plane. A few weeks later, on the Mid-Atlantic TV shows that aired 9/29/82, Slaughter and Kernodle showed up with the NWA World Tag Team title belts and were announced as new champions. The story was told that they had won a tournament for the vacant titles in Japan, defeating Antonio Inoki and Giant Baba in the finals. This, it goes without saying, was a fictitious tournament.
A Theory as to What Was Supposed to Have Happened
I've had a theory (that is as good as any theory out there otherwise, I suppose) that the original booking plan all along was for Muraco to turn on Wahoo, but that it would have happened during the Best-of-Seven finals series for the championship. A Muraco turn was foreshadowed from first day he arrived in the territory, as Muraco told fans he would "never turn his back on a friend."
Regardless, Ole and Stan would have still wound up winning the titles in the end.
I've even fantasy-booked in my head that Wahoo might have been forced by Slaughter to defend the U.S. title on the same night as match #7 in the Best-of-Seven series, forcing Wahoo to wrestle twice in that night and causing Muraco and himself to lose to Ole and Stan.
But when Ole and the Crocketts had their falling out and Ole left before the finals could take place, JCP went forward with the Muraco turn early, thereby creating a plausible explanation why the tournament wouldn't continue to its conclusion.
Title History Clarified
For the record, since most title histories have this wrong, here are the dates related to the status of the NWA World Tag Team titles, as documented in this 12-part series:
01/23/82 - Gene and Ole Anderson stripped of the NWA World Tag Team titles for failure to defend. Tournament announced.
06/26/82 - Ole Anderson and Stan Hansen awarded championships after Wahoo McDaniel and Don Muraco default for the final series in the tournament for the vacant championship. (Anderson and Hansen were Eastern Division winners.)
08/22/82 - Ole Anderson and Stan Hansen vacate the championship.
09/29/82 - Sgt. Slaughter and Don Kernodle announced as champions having won a tournament for the vacant titles in Japan.
Postscript
The elaborately conceived tournament that had been announced back in January and had gotten underway in Greensboro in February, had come to an unceremonious end in June. Anderson and Hansen defended the titles regularly for Georgia Championship Wrestling, not only in Georgia, but in their tours of Ohio, Michigan, and West Virginia. Eventually JCP got their title belts back and new champions Sgt. Slaughter and Don Kernodle went on to have a classic, industry-changing feud with Ricky Steamboat and Jay Youngblood. And the rest, as they say, is history.
For his part, Ole Anderson's run as NWA World Tag Team champions with Stan Hansen was Ole's last. He and brother Gene Anderson, making a brief run out of retirement, took one last stab at getting the titles in March of 1985 when they unsuccessfully challenged Ivan and Nikita Koloff for the titles in the Omni in Atlanta.
* * *
Special thanks to Mark Eastridge and Brian Rogers.
"World Championship Wrestling is the best. The best! To me, and I'm
double sure by saying...World Championship Wrestling is far better than
Hulk Hogan, the World Wrestling Federation champion. I come to see Ric
Flair and the guy that...you know, here's two guys that are twice World
champions, they come down here, and you let Baltimore have it. This is
Georgia Championship Wrestling come to Baltimore, and it's far better
than Madison Square Garden."
by Dick Bourne Mid-Atlantic Gateway
Preach! This was one of the great TV moments in the final months of Georgia Championship Wrestling on WTBS in 1984.
Ole Anderson talks to an obviously knowledgeable fan at ringside in Baltimore before Georgia Championship Wrestling's big show at the Baltimore Civic Center on April 7, 1984. This was during the time Georgia Wrestling was attempting to expand into the traditional WWF territory after Vince McMahon's WWF was aggressively making inroads into every territory in the country.
The main event that night in Baltimore was Ric Flair defending the NWA World Heavyweight championship against former champion Jack Brisco in what would be one of Brisco's last shots at the NWA title.
The WWE Network recently added the Flair/Brisco match to its "Hidden Gems" section of the the Vault.
The video began with some of the footage shown on WTBS of Ole Anderson
talking to several fans that was shown on WTBS. But they understandably
omitted the footage above. That gentleman passionately spoke for a lot
of true wrestling fans at the time, and represented the genuine
excitement fans felt about Georgia wrestling and the NWA champion coming
to Baltimore.
Sadly, three months later, the WWF would take over the TV time of Georgia's "World Championship Wrestling" on WTBS. Black Saturday.
The video is from the show that aired on Saturday, April 14, 1984.
The 1982 NWA World Tag Team Championship Tournament PART ELEVEN by Dick Bourne Mid-Atlantic Gateway
If you missed earlier posts in this series, check them out in the links below, especially the INTRODUCTION, which puts the whole tournament in a perspective and serves as a launching point for the following discussions.
Tournament in Shambles
As we discussed in previous posts, the NWA World Tag Team Tournament that started back in early February of 1982 began to fall apart as booker Ole Anderson and Jim Crockett Promotions had a falling out that eventually led to a parting of the ways. It's never been clear what the genesis of the problems were between the two parties, but it was likely to have centered around the dual-booking arrangement by which Ole Anderson was booking both the Mid-Atlantic and Georgia territories at the same time.
Just as it was announced that the final round of the four-month tournament would take place in the form of a best-of-seven series between the Eastern and Western winners, Ole Anderson left Jim Crockett Promotions.
Here is a timeline of how things played out:
Best of Seven Series Announced
On the Saturday 5/15 episode of "Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling", David Crockett announces that the Western winners Wahoo McDaniel and Don Muraco will meet the Eastern Division winners Ole Anderson and Stan Hansen in a best-of-seven series to take place in various cities to be announced soon.
New U.S. Champion Wahoo McDaniel talks with Bob Caudle
as Don Muraco stands by looking somewhat annoyed.
Wahoo McDaniel Wins the U.S. Title
On Friday 5/21, Wahoo McDaniel defeats Sgt. Slaughter for the United States Championship in Richmond, VA. On Saturday TV 5/22 (which was taped on Wednesday 5/19), Bob Caudle announces that Sandy Scott will be back the following week 5/29 to announce the seven cities that will host the best-of-seven series. Wahoo's first TV appearance as new U.S. champion would not be until that show that airs on 5/29.
Muraco Turns on Wahoo
By the time TV is taped again the next week on Wednesday 5/26 (to air 5/29), Ole Anderson is basically no longer working with JCP and disappears from Mid-Atlantic TV without comment. Wahoo McDaniel is introduced as the new U.S. champion and they announce that due to his scheduled title defenses conflicting with dates of the finals of the tag team tournament, the tournament best-of-7 will have to be pushed back.
Don Muraco is noticeably frustrated with this development. As Wahoo talks with Bob Caudle, Muraco interrupts. He's not being aggressive, but he is clearly upset:
"You come to me in Hawaii, and I spend close to $15,000 to move my family to the East coast, we win the [West] coast regional and, well congratulations on winning the U.S. title, I know you deserve it, beating Slaughter. But originally, I thought I was coming here for the World Tag Team championships, not to fool around with a bunch of other belts. You got your belt, that's fine." - Don Muraco
Muraco walks off in frustration, almost to avoid getting more upset. Wahoo, for his part, admits that he never thought he'd win the U.S. title when he and Muraco came in as Western Division winners. But now, as awkward as things are, he has the U.S. belt and he plans to defend it.
"It's embarrassing to me because we have been friends for a long time, we're a good team together, and I'd hate to see anything come between us.." - Wahoo McDaniel
Wahoo and Muraco are the first match on the 5/29 show with a tag team match against Juan Renosa and Bill White. The two are working well together as a team until Sgt. Slaughter, angry over having lost the U.S. title to Wahoo, starts interfering in the match. Wahoo chases Slaughter out of the studio, briefly leaving Muraco alone to be double teamed by Renosa and White. Muraco is able to escape the double-team, but when he goes over to make the tag to Wahoo, he finds that Wahoo isn't there. Wahoo returns as Muraco continues to fight both opponents. This time Muraco angrily makes the tag to McDaniel and then walks out of the ring, leaving Wahoo now to fend for himself.
Wahoo is able to win the match, and is noticeably surprised that Muraco would leave him in the ring, but tells Bob Caudle that he believes he and Muraco will work things out in the end.
World Tag Team Titles Forgotten in Mid-Atlantic Area
After four months of building toward new world tag team champions with this elaborate tournament, Jim Crockett Promotions simply ceases to mention the tag team titles further. Behind the scenes, the booker who put it all together, Ole Anderson, has left the territory - - - and taken the NWA World Tag Team title belts with him.
On the Saturday 6/5 Mid-Atlantic TV show, Don Muraco tells a crazy story about Wahoo showing up broke in Hawaii
earlier that year looking to borrow money from King Curtis, and then begging Muraco to be his
partner in the tag team tournament. Wahoo responds by telling Muraco he sees him all
the time on cable TV making money there (a reference to Muraco's weekly appearances on
"Georgia Championship Wrestling" on WTBS) and that he feels he should be
able to defend his U.S. title and make some money of his own. Muraco completely disavows McDaniel, and their time as a team is now completely finished.
Even though we're told the finals of the tournament are simply delayed, this is the last time the NWA World Tag Team titles are mentioned again in the Mid-Atlantic area until September of that year when Sgt. Slaughter and Don Kernodle are introduced as new champions having won a fictitious tournament in Japan.
But in the meantime, new NWA World Tag Team Champions would indeed be announced - but only in Georgia Championship Wrestling, as it turned out.
COMING UP IN PART 12: THE FINALE!
The NWA Tag team Champions are announced, but not in the Mid-Atlantic area. We'll take a look at how Gordon Solie explained it on WTBS (including video) and we'll also propose a theory as to what the original plans for the conclusion of the tournament were to be. Stay tuned!
"I am the greatest. I'm just...doggone, I'm the greatest! And I love it!"
- Ric Flair
This is one of my favorite Ric Flair interviews ever, mainly for the finish. One of the reason Ric's interviews always worked is because he believed every word that came out of his mouth. And he made you believe, too.
Gordon Solie's reactions are priceless and perfect during this, too. Notice his almost blushing reaction when Ric says "That's right ladies; sixty minute man!"
And right after that, when Ric slaps the desk and says "Doggone, I'm the greatest! And I love it." Gordon just sort of cocks his head in amazement with a little smile. He knows it's true, too.
I loved it during these final years of the territory era where Ric would always mention opponents he would be getting ready to face in other places. In this interview he mentions Kerry Von Erich, the Midnight Rider, and Bruiser Brody in addition to Butch Reed and Paul Orndorf who he would be facing while on tour in Georgia and Ohio.
Back in mid-1970s, the fledgling HBO cable network occasionally featured pro-wrestling cards, usually from the WWWF in Madison Square Garden. However, in 1976 they aired a card from Georgia Championship Wrestling in the Omni in Atlanta.
While video of his event has never surfaced, a brief clip of Vince McMahon opening the broadcast with Georgia host Gordon Solie was included on an HBO interview with Vince McMahon conducted by Bob Costas.
The date of this wrestling event was December 10, 1976 and featured an NWA World Heavywight title match between champion Terry Funk and challenger Mr. Wrestling II.
Here is the full card:
NWA World Championship: Terry Funk vs. Mr. Wrestling II
NWA World Tag Team Championship: Gene and Ole Anderson vs. Ricky Steamboat and Dusty Rhodes
Georgia Championship: Dick Slater vs. Mr. Wrestling I
Mongolian Stomper vs. Bill Dromo
Mike Graham vs. Bob Orton Jr
Black Atlas (Tony Atlas) vs. Scott Irwin
Raymond Rougeau vs. Bill Howard
What a rare and unusual pairing of Ricky Steamboat and Dusty Rhodes challenging the Anderson Brothers for the NWA World Tag Team Championship.
Very cool finding out that the NWA World title was defended on HBO. A little less than two months after this card, Funk would lose the NWA title to Harley Race.
SOME MID-ATLANTIC CONTEXT TO THIS GEORGIA CARD:
The Andersons had taken the Crockett version of NWA World Tag Team titles with them to Georgia Championship Wrestling when they left the Mid-Atlantic area in the fall of 1976. They lost the titles to Ric Flair and Greg Valentine a couple of weeks after this Atlanta card. Flair and Valentine brought the titles back to the Mid-Atlantic area at that time, although their feud with the Andersons continued throughout 1977.
Ricky Steamboat was still for all practical purposes a rookie, and was in the middle of a long stint in Georgia. He would come to the Mid-Atlantic area in the spring of 1977 and break into the main events when he upset Mid-Atlantic TV champion Ric Flair on television for that title. It began one of the classic feuds in all of pro wrestling history.
Tony Atlas, wrestling on this show as Black Atlas, got his start in the Mid-Atlantic area, but was about to break big in the Georgia territory. I don't know the storyline here, but I believe he was wrestling on this show under a mask.
It's not often that one of the top wrestling announcers in the country mentions your name on national television. But such was the case in May of 1984 when "World Championship Wrestling" host Gordon Solie mentioned it was nice to have our friend (and Gateway contributor) Peggy Lathan in the audience for the TV taping.
During a WTBS studio match between Jerry "Crusher" Blackwell and Dale Veasy, Solie gave a shout out to several special guests in attendance:
We've always known Peggy was the queen of Mid-Atlantic Wrestling. On that particular Saturday it was Georgia, too, and a nationwide audience on the SuperStation.
Wrestling came across on such a personal level back in those days. It was a regular thing on the territory TV shows (especially those emanating from the television studio as opposed to an arena setting) for wrestling hosts such as Solie, Bob Caudle, Lance Russell, Charlie Harville and others to mention folks who were in attendance. It was often a local church group or the local Boy Scout troop. Solie would often mention those that were in Atlanta for the taping that had come from some distance, as you heard in this clip. It is a nice touch that has long since passed us by and is one of the little things I miss about territory wrestling.
Thanks to Andy Tolbert who caught the reference while watching old Georgia Wrestling on YouTube.
On May 17, 1981 at the Omni in Atlanta, there was a one-night tournament for the vacated Georgia Heavyweight Championship. Ten men were entered in the tournament, including a couple of guys advertised as coming in from outside the territory to compete including Bruiser Brody and Greg Valentine.
Brody no-showed (or perhaps was never really going to appear to begin with, who knows) but Valentine came in from the Mid-Atlantic area and went all the way to the finals, defeating Mr. Wrestling II in the quarter finals and Iron Mike Sharpe in the semi-finals before losing to "Wildfire" Tommy Rich in the finals.
Prior to the tournament, Greg Valentine sent in a taped interview from Raleigh to promote his appearance in the tournament. The interview was conducted by Rich Landrum (host of "World Wide Wrestling") in the studios of WRAL TV.
The video below, which is the final seven minutes of the Georgia TV show leading up to that big Omni card contains the Greg Valentine promo, plus another tape from the Mid-Atlantic area featuring the reigning NWA World Tag Team champions Gene and Ole Anderson.
(No idea why the person who posted this clip labeled it from "WGHP-TV High Point Fox 8..." because the clip has nothing to do with any of that.)
GENERAL NOTES
The match with the Anderson brothers from WRAL is from the summer of 1981 and is from "Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling" with Bob Caudle and Lord Alfred Hayes calling the action.
Tommy Rich was wrestling in that tournament with a $10,000 bounty on his head, allegedly placed there by NWA World Champion Harley Race, who was trying to avoid having to face Rich for the NWA title. Greg Valentine mentions being interested in collecting the bounty in his promo, but was apparently unable to do so as Rich defeated him in the tournament finals to win the Georgia title and then went on to challenge Race for the NWA title at the next show at the Omni on 5/31/81. Race would successfully defend against Rich on 5/31, but then lost the NWA world title to Dusty Rhodes on the following Omni show on 6/21/81.
If you look closely, you will see part of the Georgia championship belt extending off the front of Gordon Solie's podium.
In a Studio Wrestling note, the backdrop you see in the Valentine interview (as seen in the image at top) was the Mid-Atlantic set used from 1975-1977 and is my favorite of all the old sets, mainly because it was first one a really remember and was used during the years I first really loved wrestling.
This Georgia Championship Wrestling show featured two other Mid-Atlantic clips not seen in the video above. The first featured a match between Greg Valentine and Steve Muslin from 1980 on "Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling." The second was a promotional interview similar to Greg Valentine's with Rich Landrum interviewing "The Dream." (I hope to present those in a future post.)
GEORGIA TOURNAMENT NOTES
Gordon Solie promoted the tournament as a round-robin tournament, although it was not competed in such a fashion. There were 10 men announced as appearing in the tournament: Dusty Rhodes, Iron Mike Sharpe, Mr. Wrestling II, Tommy Rich, Ray Candy, Bruiser Brody, Greg Valentine, Ken Patera, Mike Boyer, and Bill Irwin. Brody and Boyer diod not appear, but Nickolia Volkoff and Jim Duggan replaced them.
From the tournament results posted on The History of the WWE website, it appears that 2 of the 10 (Rhodes and Volkoff) received byes, but I've been unable to figure out the elimination brackets from these results. But they are listed as:
Quarter Finals: Tommy Rich defeated Bill Irwin
Quarter Finals: Ken Patera defeated Ray Candy
Quarter Finals: Greg Valentine defeated Mr. Wrestling #2
Quarter Finals: Iron Mike Sharpe defeated Jim Duggan
Semi Finals: Ken Patera fought Dusty Rhodes to a no contest
Semi Finals: Tommy Rich defeated Nikolai Volkoff
Semi Finals: Greg Valentine defeated Iron Mike Sharpe
Finals: Tommy Rich defeated Greg Valentine to win the title
Republished in November 2021 on the Mid-Atlantic Gateway.
There is no debating that Greensboro was the premier city in the Mid-Atlantic territory in the 1960s-1980s. One of the great things about Greensboro was that on a majority of the cards there, Jim Crockett Promotions brought in "outside talent" - that is, stars from other territories. While this occasionally took place in other big towns in the territory, too, it was the rule rather than the exception in Greensboro. One of the teams that would visit Greensboro on occasion was the brother combination of Jack and Jerry Brisco, who were primarily based in Florida.
In February 1978, Ric Flair and Greg Valentine were running roughshod over the territory as NWA world tag team champions. They primarily feuded with the Mid-Atlantic tag team champions Paul Jones and Ricky Steamboat, many of those matches being "title-vs.-title" matches.
They also had some violent encounters with the unusual combination of Wahoo McDaniel and Ole Anderson. The Anderson Brothers had taken the world tag titles to Georgia in 1977, but the family feud between Ric Flair and his cousins had continued to boil. Flair and Valentine defeated Gene and Ole Anderson in October of 1977 to bring the world titles back to the Mid-Atlantic area. In doing so, they also put Gene Anderson out of action for several months, and as a result, Ole Anderson had turned to a former foe that held mutual disdain for Flair and Valentine, that being the big Chief Wahoo McDaniel. The unlikely duo were huge fan favorites battling Flair and Valentine.
Jack and Jerry Brisco were a championship combination in the state of Florida and were the number one contenders for Flair and Valentine's world title in the Sunshine State. Jim Crockett was able to sign the huge title match between the two teams for Greensboro, forcing the Briscos to leave their home area for the title shot, on February 26 at the Coliseum.
As was the standard practice at the time, the outside talent sent in a video-taped interview promoting their upcoming match. In this case, it was Championship Wrestling from Florida host Gordon Solie interviewing the Brisco brothers from the Sportatorium in Tampa, FL. The promo is introduced by Rich Landrum.
Jack and Jerry Brisco from Florida
"I'd like to thank Jimmy Crockett for this contract right here. If it hadn't been for the Crocketts, we wouldn't have this match. Flair and Valentine, you've done everything that you can to avoid us. We've chased you through Florida, St. Louis, California, everywhere - - just for a match. And finally, in Greensboro, North Caolina, we've got it, and we're going to walk out the champions." - Jerry Brisco
Flair and Valentine retained the championships with an impressive win over the Briscos that only further solidified their reputation as the top tag team in the world.
While the Briscos were not successful in this 1978 outing, they would eventually achieve their goal of winning the world tag team titles when they topped Ricky Steamboat and Jay Youngblood for the honors in 1983. That feud led to one of the top main events at the first Starrcade later that November.
