Jerry Blackwell and the Concession Stand

Greenville SC Memories
by Don Holbrook
Mid-Atlantic Gateway Contributor

In the early to mid 1970’s, before he was known as Crusher Blackwell, Jerry Blackwell came in for a couple stretches to work for Jim Crockett Promotions. He was in Greenville one Monday night on the undercard. I think he was in the second match of the night. I walked into the back stage area in the hallway that leads to the stairway going downstairs to the dressing rooms. I was standing there talking with the police officer who worked the door entering the arena floor area. The fans were forbidden from entering that door.

So I’m standing there and I heard someone coming up the stairway. I looked and it was Jerry Blackwell in his street clothes. He sort of nodded at me and I spoke to him. He walked past me to the exit door, opened it and took a look out back of the building. He walked back over and said, “Is there someplace around here I can get a coke?” I said, yes, and as I began pointing out into the arena and giving him the directions to the nearby concession stand.

"Crusher" Jerry Blackwell (History of Wrestling)

Blackwell stepped away from the arena door and I saw him begin reaching in his left front pants pocket. He pulled out a wad of cash and as he was peeling off a five dollar bill he said to me, “Recon you can go get me a coke?” I said sure, do you want a regular or a large? Blackwell said, “Get me one of the big-uns.” I said Okay.

So I came back, handed him his change then his coke. He sort of looked at the cup and he said- “I thought I told you to get me a big-un.” I said, "That is a big-un!" Back then, the auditorium only had two cup sizes a 12 ounce cup and a 16 ounce.

So anyway, Blackwell turned the coke up and in about two quick gulps it was gone. He sat the cup on a small wooden table in the hallway and wiped his mouth with the back of his left hand. Then he said, “What all else they got?” I said, "Well they have popcorn, good popcorn. They have candy bars, like Hershey’s, Snickers, Almond Joy, Baby Ruth." Blackwell said, “They got food?” I said, "Yes, they have hot dogs, hamburgers, cheeseburgers, fries and stuff like that." 

So Blackwell stood there a minute, and as he handed me a ten dollar bill, said, “Get me two cheeseburgers, an order of fries and two Cokes. And ketchup too.”

So I went and got the food, placed it all in one of those fold out cardboard carrying trays with about ten packs of ketchup. When I got back and handed Blackwell his food he thanked me and wasted no time rushing back downstairs. I often wondered if he found an empty dressing room and gobbled down his food. Or, if he just ate all that in front of the rest of the guys.

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More Memories from Don Holbrook
Don Holbrook is an occasional Gateway contributor as well as a history buff on late 1960s and 1970s wrestling in Greenville, SC. His mother worked for years in the Greenville Memorial Auditorium office and Don spent many afternoons hanging out there as a kid, as well as lurking around the entire place during those legendary Monday night cards every week in Greenville. He became known to all those in charge, which later gave him lots of great access and some great stories to tell.

WRAL Wednesday: Paul Jones and Rufus R. "Freight Train" Jones

by Dick Bourne
Mid-Atlantic Gateway
Photographs from the Bleachers at WRAL by Ric Carter

It's Wednesday, and for nearly two and a half decades, that meant Jim Crockett Promotions was taping television wrestling at the studios of WRAL channel 5 in Raleigh.

We've been featuring a series of rare photographs taken by photographer Ric Carter from the bleachers of the studio during an hour of "Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling" in July of 1975.

Ring announcer David Crockett introduces a "big" tag team event on Mid-Atlantic Wrestling:
Paul Jones and Rufus R. Jones vs. Jerry Blackwell and George "Two Ton" Harris

This week we take a look at the team we affectionately call the Jones Boys - "No. 1" Paul Jones and Rufus R. "Freight Train" Jones as they take on Jim Crockett Promotions' largest tag team combination "Crusher" Jerry Blackwell and George "Two Ton" Harris.

RING INTRODUCTIONS

There is no doubt that the Jones boys had their hands full with Blackwell and Harris. In fact, if you take a look at this second photo below, you will see what at a glance looks like a difficult backdrop at best! You would think there is no way Rufus is going to get big Jerry Blackwell over in this backdrop attempt, who was billed at 400 pounds during this time. But he did, which got a huge reaction from the studio crowd, as well as from host Les Thatcher and guest color commentator Gene Anderson.

Rufus R. "Freight Train" Jones attempts to backdrop big "Crusher" Jerry Blackwell.
Paul Jones and George "Two Ton" Harris watch from their respective corners.

Speaking of that, what a rare thing it was to have Gene Anderson of all people on commentary. During those years, Gene rarely spoke at all, letting his loudmouth younger "brother" Ole Anderson do all the talking for the team. If you look closely you will see Gene and Les Thatcher at the commentary desk, Gene on the left, Les on the right.

Paul Jones was a top contender for both the TV title and the World Tag Team titles (with partner Wahoo McDaniel) at this time. Rufus was always a contender for various titles as well. In fact, he and Wahoo would win the tag titles for exactly one week in early 1976, while Paul and Wahoo would never regain the titles. The Anderson brothers dominated the World tag team division for years.

Champions At This Time:
NWA World Champion: Jack Brisco
World Tag Team Champions: Gene and Ole Anderson
United States Champion: Johnny Valentine
Mid-Atlantic Champion: Wahoo McDaniel
TV Champion: Ric Flair

What a roll call of champions!

At this time, there were two separate hours of "Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling" taped each Wednesday evening at WRAL. The first hour (the "A" show) was hosted by Bob Caudle and was seen in every TV market that Crockett had at the time. The second hour (the "B" show) was hosted by Les Thatcher and was a second hour in markets where clearances for a second show could be obtained. The shows had the same theme music, but slightly different sets and graphics.

This particular show was taped Wednesday, 7/9/75 and aired on Saturday, 7/12/75. Other matches on this show included Johnny Valentine and Ric Flair vs. Bob Bruggers and Kevin Sullivan,  Chief Wahoo McDaniel vs. The Blue Scorpion, plus Ole Anderson vs. Bob Burns.

This is the fourth in an ongoing series of photos from WRAL studio that we are featuring each Wednesday. More good stuff from the bleachers of the WRAL Studios next week.

All photographs in this series by Ric Carter, © CartersRXd.net. Used with permission.

Vintage audio provided by Gary Wray.

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.