Poster: Funk vs. Brisco in Greensboro (1972)

By Brack Beasley
Mid-Atlantic Gateway Contributor

This poster takes us way back to early 1972, February 17th to be exact, and promotes a card held at the Greensboro War Memorial Coliseum.

The NWA World Heavyweight Championship was up for grabs as champion Dory Funk, Jr. defended against perennial foe Jack Brisco. Funk retained his title as this classic match-up ended in a one hour draw and I have no doubt these two men put on a professional wrestling clinic for the fans in Greensboro. 

Johnny Weaver and Art Nelson topped Rip Hawk and Swede Hanson (managed by Gary Hart) in the semi while the undercard featured familiar names like Missouri Mauler, Brute Bernard, Sandy Scott, Jerry Brisco, Jim Dillon, and The Kentuckian Luke Brown.

The poster features a horizontal layout with the two main events listed side by side, black and red print over a two-tone pink and yellow background, and six great wrestler images adorning the sides.

 NO. 46 IN THE BEASLEY POSTER SERIES

Figure Friday: Jack and Jerry Brisco

Another great custom set up from Matty at WrestlingwClassics (@wrestlingwclass.) That Jerry Brisco figure is dead on. Love that sh*t-eating grin of Jerry's, straight out of the Brisco Brothers heel run of 1983-1984 in Mid-Atlantic Wrestling.

Also, note the Event Staff personnel in the background. Good stuff!

 

 

The Briscos Turn Heel in 1983

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Poster: Briscos battle Mauler/Brute in Greensboro

by Brack Beasley
Mid-Atlantic Gateway Contributor

This poster takes us back to March 16th, 1972 and promotes a card held at the War Memorial Coliseum in Greensboro, NC. 

As was the norm for this time period in Jim Crockett Promotions, tag team action headlined the bill. The Atlantic Coast Tag Team titles were up for grabs as the brother team of Jack and Jerry Brisco collided with the reigning champions Missouri Mauler and Brute Bernard.

The semi main event pitted fan favorites Johnny Weaver and Art Nelson against Rip Hawk and Swede Hanson who were being managed by Gary Hart. Boxing great Archie Moore was brought in as a special referee to keep things in order, if at all possible.

The remainder of the card consisted of singles action including Paul Jones versus Ole Anderson, Les Thatcher versus Gene Anderson, Argentina Apollo versus Johnny Heidman, Sandy Scott versus Bobby Paul, and Nelson Royal versus Krusher Karlson.

The poster itself features a striking horizontal layout with a two-tone yellow over green background and the "Wrestling" splash, "War Memorial Coliseum", and main event names in high impact red. The remainder is printed in black along with images of the featured stars lining both sides.

All in all, another exciting night of professional wrestling for the fans in Greensboro almost 50 years ago.

* * * * * * * *

Mid-Atlantic Gateway Notes
by Dick Bourne

The Brisco brothers were a key part of the main events in the Mid-Atlantic area in the early 1970s. They teamed here frequently (as in the main event this night in Greensboro), but also wrestled as top singles attractions. 

Jack Brisco was being groomed by Eddie Graham to become NWA World Heavyweight champion within the next year or so. Back in November of 1971, Brisco had defeated Missouri Mauler, one of his opponents this night in Greensboro, for the Eastern Heavyweight championship (the forerunner to the Mid-Atlantic title.)  He would feud with Rip Hawk over that title over the next several months. 

Jerry Brisco was on the cusp of the first big singles push of his career, something he would acknowledge and thank Jim Crockett, Sr. for during his WWE Hall of Fame induction speech some three decades later. He and Rip Hawk traded the Eastern Heavyweight title back and forth several times over the rest of 1972. 

Interesting to see Paul Jones and Ole Anderson in singles competition. Ole usually teamed with his brother Gene, but would get his first big singles push as well over the next year, also centered around the Eastern title (and Jerry Brisco.) Paul Jones and Ole Anderson would butt heads off and on for the next 13 years in tag team feuds, most notably in the famous Wahoo McDaniel/Paul Jones vs. Anderson Brothers wars of 1975. 

Johnny Heidemann (sometimes spelled Heidman or Heidmann), who faced high flyer Argentina Apollo on this show, would soon retire from full-time ring competition and become one of Crockett Promotions' regular referees.   

NO. 23 IN A SERIES

A Briscos/Funks Showcase on Thanksgiving Night in Greensboro: A Night for the Jim Crockett Scholarship Fund (1973)

by Dick Bourne

Mid-Atlantic Gateway

Ticket stub from Thanksgiving Night in Greensboro 1973
Nov. 22, 1973  -  48 years ago!

The Territory's Biggest Night

When Jim Crockett passed away in 1973, the family decided to establish a scholarship in his name. According to a report in the Greensboro News & Record, the traditional Thanksgiving night event in the Greensboro Coliseum was the first in a series of scholarship events to be held in the coming weeks to honor the legacy and memory of James Allen Crockett, Sr. Proceeds from the event would go to that fund.

The Thanksgiving event in Greensboro, which was always a big affair and one of the biggest shows of the year in the entire territory, was particularly loaded that evening. The NWA World champion Jack Brisco was booked to defend the ten pounds of gold against former champion Dory Funk, Jr. in what was another in a series of classic battles between the two wrestlers who defined pro-wrestling in the 1970s. Jack had defeated Harley Race in July of that same year for the title, and the angle now was that Brisco had never defeated his arch-rival Funk, Jr. in a title match.  This was a huge deal at the time and billed as a special event selected for Greensboro. To add even more star power to that main event, former legendary champion Lou Thesz was brought in as special referee for the title contest.

A number of other big names were brought in from outside the area for the show, which wasn't that unusual for big shows in Greensboro. Terry Funk was in to challenge Eastern (by then renamed Mid-Atlantic) Heavyweight champion Jerry Brisco in a battle of the younger brothers who were in the main event that night. Indeed, Thanksgiving night in Greensboro was a Funk vs. Brisco showcase.

Also in for this huge show were the father and son combination of Eddie and Mike Graham. Eddie and Mike were top stars for Championship Wrestling from Florida, and Eddie was also the promoter of that territory. They squared off against one of the Mid-Atlantic territory's top legendary heel tag teams Rip Hawk and Swede Hanson. What a classic brawl that must have been.

Another top star in for the big card that didn't wrestle regularly in the territory was Cowboy Bill Watts. A regular in Georgia and Florida, Watts had made several special appearances in Greensboro that year, but was not a regular member of the Crockett roster.

TRANSCRIPTS

Championships At Stake In Thanksgiving Wrestling  

Thanksgiving night in the Greensboro Coliseum will be wrestling championship night, the finest card ever presented to Piedmont sports fans. 

Jack Brisco, the new world heavyweight title-holder, will risk his crown against Dory Funk Jr. of Texas, the former champion. Funk lost his title some time ago to Harley Race, who in turn was beaten by Brisco ... and Jack Brisco has never beaten Funk in a title match. Lou Thesz, a former world champ, will be the special referee. 

Younger brothers of both champions clash In the Eastern Heavyweight title match. Jerry Brisco, who holds the crown, will take on Terry Funk. Both title features will be one hour time limit.  

This Thanksgiving special, which usually draws the season's largest wrestling crowd at the Greensboro Coliseum, will be the first in a series of Jim Crockett Scholarship Fund events throughout the area. Wrestlers and promoters alike are working to set up a series of college scholarships to honor the late Jim Crockett, regarded as the South's outstanding promoter at the time of his death last spring.  

Other matches include Cowboy Bill Watts versus Beauregard, Bob Bruggers versus El Gaucho and The Destroyer versus Rufus R. Jones. A special tag team match will have Rip Hawk and Swede Hanson against Eddie and Mike Graham. 

Wrestling Set Tonight  

The late Jim Crockett will be honored tonight during professional wrestling in the Greensboro Coliseum tonight involving world champions. 

Lou Thesz, who held the world crown for many years, will referee a match between current champ Jack Brisco and Dory Funk Jr.  Funk lost his title to Harley Race who was beaten by Brisco.

The Eastern Heavyweight title is also at stake with present titlist Jerry Brisco being challenged by Terry Funk. Rip Hawk and Swede Hanson will have a tag team battle against Eddie and Mike Graham and there will be several singles events. 

A Rare Thanksgiving Night Card in Charlotte

With so many big outside names taking the top spots on the Greensboro card, one could easily wonder where the rest of the Mid-Atlantic roster was that night. Typically, Norfolk, VA, also hosted a big card of wrestling on Thanksgiving night. But in 1973, Charlotte instead played host to a rare Thanksgiving night show that, like Greensboro, also featured some special guest stars.

The headline event for the Charlotte Coliseum featured the top two singles stars in the territory at the time, Johnny Valentine vs. Johnny Weaver. In the semi-main event, the Mid-Atlantic tag team titles were on the line as new champions Jay York and Brute Bernard defended against the area's most popular tag-team combination, former champs Sandy Scott and Nelson Royal. As an added bonus, former world boxing champion Joe Louis was in town and had been assigned as special referee for the title contest.

Two big outside names were brought in for the show as well. Area favorite Paul Jones had been campaigning in the state of Florida for the last couple of years and had won the Florida Heavyweight championship. He was in the midst of a red-hot feud with Buddy Colt. The two had traded the Florida title several times during the year of 1973 and now they brought their heated rivalry to Charlotte for Thanksgiving night. The Florida title was not on the line in Charlotte, but it was a bit of a homecoming for Jones who had wrestled on cards throughout the Mid-Atlantic territory for years before moving down to the sunshine state. Charlotte fans were well familiar with the feud because "Championship Wrestling from Florida" was seen on Charlotte area television in those years.

Charlotte's traditional night for wrestling was Monday night, and as a testament to the city's ability to support pro-wreslting, Jim Crockett Promotions returned to the city the very next Monday night 11/26, only four days following the big Thanksgiving night show. The main event back at the cozy confines of the Charlotte Park Center was Johnny Valentine vs. Rufus R. "Freight Train" Jones.

The death of Jim Crockett had saddened the entire Mid-Atlantic area earlier that year, but on this big night Jim Jr., David, Jackie, and Frances did their father proud with one huge night of wrestling in their showcase cities. It was the territory's biggest night of the year and was 1973's shining moment.

  Edited from a post originally published June 30, 2015 on the Mid-Atlantic Gateway

 

Jack and Jerry Brisco: NWA World Tag Team Champions

The Assassination of Pvt. Jim Nelson

The Brisco Brothers Send a Message to Steamboat and Youngblood
by Dick Bourne
Mid-Atlantic Gateway

"Jack and Jerry, you told me it was an accident." 
- Pvt. Jim Nelson

One of my favorite angles from Jim Crockett Promotions in the 1980s took place on the May 21, 1983  episode of Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling where Pvt. Jim Nelson confronted the Briscos over their dastardly turn on Ricky Steamboat and Jay Youngblood. Nelson's stand against the Briscos, their subsequent destruction of the young Marine Private, and the mayhem that followed is to this day one of my favorite moments to watch over and over again, even 38 years later. Happily, that show and this angle are included on the WWE Network.

First, a little background:

In the spring of 1983, Ricky Steamboat and Jay Youngblood were ready for new challengers to their NWA World Tag Team Championships, having just dispatched their arch enemies Sgt. Slaughter and Don Kernodle in a blood feud that had boiled over since it began back in the fall of 1982. Sarge was headed to the WWF, and Kernodle would eventually regroup and align himself with Ivan Koloff to win the World Tag Team titles once again in 1984.

During Ricky and Jay's run up to winning the titles, they had some behind-the-scenes help in tormenting Slaughter and Kernodle in the form of Pvt. Jim Nelson, a member of Sarge's "platoon" and former tag partner of Pvt. Don Kernodle, who were once Mid-Atlantic Tag Team champions. Nelson had been somewhat discarded by Slaughter as the Sarge and Kernodle had moved on to win the NWA World Tag Team titles and left him behind. Nelson became somewhat of a "double agent," the secret ally of Steamboat and Youngblood, and was involved in several mysterious pranks that tormented and distracted Slaughter and Kernodle. Only recently had Pvt. Nelson revealed himself to be the co-conspirator of Steamboat and Youngblood, and this had made him a fan-favorite.

BRISCOS CLASH WITH STEAMBOAT AND YOUNGBLOOD
New challengers emerged for Ricky and Jay in the form of unlikely foes - their close friends Jack and Jerry Brisco. The Briscos had been making "quiet noise" about their desire to go after the tag titles for several months, acknowledging that they both had held many singles and tag championships over their storied careers, but had never held the world tag team titles. It was the one title they wanted the most. 

In a series of what were thought to be friendly (although quite competitive) contests between the two friendly teams, Jack Brisco had injured Ricky Steamboat's knee on two occasions, each time falling on Steamboat's leg and knee as Ricky was trapped in Jerry's figure-four leglock. The first appeared to be an accident, but the second clearly wasn't. 

As the video-tape of the controversial second injury to Steamboat was shown again on TV, Steamboat's new friend Jim Nelson came out to confront the Briscos over what they had done. 

PVT. NELSON CONFRONTS THE BRISCOS
Nelson felt betrayed as well, indicating that Jack and Jerry earlier had both promised him that the first injury was an accident. Angry, Nelson called Brisco a coward and challenged him to get in the ring with him. Brisco obliged and the two battled for a few moments until Jack got the upperhand with the figure-four and then it was Jerry this time who came off the top turnbuckle and landed on Nelson, badly injriing his knee. The injury (all storyline, of course) was so severe that Pvt. Jim nelson was put out of wrestling permanently. It would be the last time he would be seen in a wrestling ring.

In actuality it was Nelson's farewell to the Mid-Atlantic area only, as he was leaving to go work in the Mid-South area for promoter Bill Watts under a new persona, the mad Russian Boris Zhukov, a persona he would maintain for the rest of his career, culminating years later as the tag team partner of Nicolia Volkoff in the WWF.

The Brisco's elimination of Pvt. Nelson was masterfully executed, and served to fully cement them as "bad guys" to the fans, some of whom were still unsure what was happening with them. Their assassination of Nelson in the WPCQ TV studio that early Wednesday in May made it clear to everyone they were now dirty heels.

THIRTY EIGHT YEARS LATER, NELSON REMEMBERS
During a recent conversation catching up with our friend Jim Nelson, I told him I was writing a little article about the memorable angle, and asked him who came to him with the idea and how it was presented. Nelson was working a notice around the circuit before he would leave for Mid-South, and was no longer working TV. Knowing Jim would no longer be around anyway, the Briscos, Steamboat and Youngblood cooked up the angle to put Nelson out for good, and help drive home to the fans that the Briscos were now bad guys.

"Jack and Jerry worked it all out with me," Jim told me. "Gene Anderson and Johnny Weaver [who produced the TV shows] pushed and encouraged me to be direct and aggressive with Jack to get across I was mad and upset with what happened. I remember vividly Jack told me to come at him hard. 'Your upset and ticked off, so show it.'" 

Nelson did go at him hard, shoving Brisco so suddenly it almost knocked him off his feet. 

What really made the angle work though, in my opinion, was when Nelson said to them, "Jack and Jerry, you told me it was a accident." He came across so sincerely at that moment, with such sad disappointment in his voice.  It got over that not only had the Brisocs betrayed Steamboat and Youngblood, but they had betrayed him, too. Beautifully done.

Jim told me he thought he had given them what they were looking for. "It's my favorite all time angle I was ever involved in."

That's a pretty big statement. Jim Nelson as Boris Zhukov worked many angles in Southeastern Wrestling, the AWA, and the WWF, including headlining with Sgt. Slaughter over the AWA Americas title and teaming with Nikolai Volkoff as part of the famous tag team the Bolsheviks at a Wrestlemania. It indicates how much it meant to him personally to do an angle with the Brisco brothers, for whom he had such immense respect, and especially to have had this opportunity so early in his career.   

FLOWN IN JUST FOR THE ANGLE
Interestingly, the angle almost never happened. Nelson was days away from leaving for the Mid-South territory, packing up his belongings at his home in Roanoke, VA. The whole thing came as quite a surprise to him when he got the phone call to come back to Charlotte for one last shot.

"Jim Crockett flew me into Charlotte from Roanoke. I did the angle, and then flew directly home from Charlotte after the taping. Mike Rotunda took me to the airport. The show was still going on and being taped. I headed out to Louisiana a few days later, before it even aired." 

Nelson never saw it until many years later.  

"I enjoyed it immensely," Jim told me. "All the years I grew up watching Mid-Atlantic Wrestling as a kid, and then to get in the business, looking forward to a moment like that, the opportunity to work with guys like that. It was key for me that day. I wanted to make it real. You do something like that, you give it your best, your all."

 

THE TRANSCRIPT
If you have the WWE Network, you can go the 5/21/83 episode in the Territories section and watch this angle in it's entity in wonderful quality. It takes place at 18:48 into the WWE version of the show. It's also probably available somewhere on YouTube in less than wonderful quality. Either way, it's worth the trouble to see it. 

If you can't see it on video, we've included the transcript below, which starts just after Bob Caudle and the Briscos finish reviewing video tape of the controversial match with Steamboat and Youngblood.

BOB CAUDLE: All right fans, and there it was, and Jack, Jerry, that's the controversial part of the match. 

JACK BRISCO: You can see right there when Rick Steamboat deliberately tried to hurt me, threw me out here on the cement floor, intentionally trying to injure me. I looked up there in the ring and there's Youngblood and Steamboat both on my brother, so I go in there and save my brother. 

CAUDLE: Alright, and Jerry what are your comments about that? 

JERRY BRISCO: Well that's exactly right, I looked up and I saw Jay Youngblood trying to give me another shot right in the throat, and I guarantee you, if it hadn't been for my brother, I might not be able to stand out here and talk to you today.

(Jim Nelson approaches the Briscos...)

BOB CAUDLE: And Jim Nelson right here...

JIM NELSON: I can't believe you two guys. You were great friends with Steamboat and Youngblood, you wanted a chance at the belts. You said you'd wrestle them for them. I thought the first time it was a mistake. Jack and Jerry, you told me it was an accident. And after that right there - - (points at Jack Brisco) - - You tried to hurt him, you tried to put [Steamboat] out of wrestling, those belts mean more to you than anything, just like Slaughter and Kernodle. You stoop that low, a former world's champion - - You're a coward, Jack Brisco!

JACK BRISCO: I'm a coward?? (flares up, pushes Nelson)

JIM NELSON: Yeah, you're a coward! Why don't you get in the ring with me right now!!

JACK BRISCO: You don't call me no coward!! 

JIM NELSON: (shoves Brisco hard) Get in the ring with me right now! (jumps into ring)

BRISCO: I'll get in the ring with you right now....(Angrily removes jacket and shirt) 

The crowd pops!

BOB CAUDLE: All right, Jim Nelson calling Jack Brisco a coward, says get in the ring, and Jack's taken off his coat...

Jack angrily takes off his shirt and prepares to enter the ring, as the crowd cheers

JERRY BRISCO: Nelson has turned into nothing but a stooge for Youngblood and Steamboat! He's completely loosing his mind, he's the one that caused an awful lot of trouble (for Slaughter and Kernodle)

Jack Brisco charges into the ring.

CAUDLE: Jack's got his street clothes on! His (cowboy) boots and his jeans...

Referee Ron West seems to indicate he'll allow a match. Brisco quickly gains the upper hand with punches that back Nelson into the corner. Brisco snap-mares him out of the corner...

CAUDLE: And here goes Jack with a knee drop right down across Jim Nelson! With a boot to the forehead now, a couple of kicks to Nelson...

Nelson gets to his feet, blocks Brisco's punch, and throws two haymaker tomahawk-type punches that have Brisco reeling. Nelson whips Brisco int the ropes and catches him with a big boot coming back off the ropes sending Brisco prone to the canvas. Nelson mounts Jack and begins to pound away with a series of right hand punches to Brisco's head. The crowd is loving it. Jerry Brisco, meanwhile, has climbed to the ring apron. Nelson picks up Jack and delivers a big body slam, bounces off the ropes and goes to deliver his own knee-drop...

CAUDLE: These two have really went at each other, Jim Nelson calling Jack Brisco a coward - - and Jack rolls right out from under that knee! 

Nelson crashes to the mat on his knee, and cries out in pain...

CAUDLE: And it looks like now he is going to the figure-four!! 

As Jack applies his patented figure-four leg-lock to a helpless Nelson, Jerry Brisco climbs to the top turnbuckle...

CAUDLE: And now here's Jerry Brisco on that top rope!...

Jerry Brisco dives from the top turnbuckle...

CAUDLE: ...right down across Jim Nelson's leg and knee! As Jack had him in the figure four - -

 Jim Nelson screams in agony on the mat, holding his injured knee.

CAUDLE: And now there is Jerry Brisco taking his coat off. The Brisco brothers simply going wild. Jim Nelson, who really baited Jack into a match - - and Jack is going to put the figure-four on him again!! Again he's going to put it on that leg, and he continues to apply the pressure...

Jerry taunts Nelson as Jack clamps down tighter on the figure four. Within moments, Johnny Weaver, Mike Rotundo, Rufus Jones, and Jimmy Valiant all hit the ring to save Nelson. The Briscos retreat to the set with Bob Caudle.

JERRY BRISCO: (back at the desk with Caudle) He comes out here and preaches to us, Nelson comes out here and preaches - - you know, that's the thing about it, all they can do is complain, come out preaching, trying to convert us. The only way, Bob, to win those world tag team championships is to prove we are the number one contenders.

JACK BRISCO: Jim Nelson's finished! I felt the knee go!

Johnny Weaver approaches the Briscos

JOHNNY WEAVER: I thought this was all an accident, I can't believe you guys would stoop this low..

JACK BRISCO: Another preacher, huh? Get back in that ring and check on your stooge!

WEAVER: You're darn right I'll get back in there and check on him, he's my partner!

JACK BRISCO: I felt that knee go, Bob, I had that figure-four on him, and Jerry came across there, I felt the knee go. Believe me, Jim Nelson's finished. You'll never see him wrestle around here again.

Jimmy Valiant now leaves the ring and approaches the Briscos

JIMMY VALIANT: (Pleading) C'mon baby, c'mon brother! Why?

Jack sucker-punches Valiant in the gut, and the Briscos both pick Valiant up...

BOB CAUDLE: And Jack Brisco now hits Valiant and they both pick him up and slam him to the floor! The Briscos slamming Valiant to the concrete floor, grab their jacks and out they go!

The Briscos leave the studio, with Valiant hurt on the floor and Jim Nelson still in agony in the ring.

* * * * * * * * *

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
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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. 

The First Mid-Atlantic Champion: Jerry Brisco

Jerry Brisco: First Ever Mid-Atlantic Champion 
by Dick Bourne
Mid-Atlantic Gateway 

Today we spotlight the very first Mid-Atlantic Heavyweight Champion, Oklahoma State's Jerry Brisco.

Jerry was the first wrestler to hold the title known by name as the Mid-Atlantic Heavyweight Championship, although that title evolved from (and shares a direct lineage with) the Eastern States Heavyweight title. Jerry was the reigning 4-time Eastern States champion when the title's name was changed in October of 1973, and as such is recognized as the first Mid-Atlantic champion.

Jerry Brisco's Four Mid-Atlantic/Eastern States Title Victories

Defeated Rip Hawk on 6/13/72 in Columbia, SC

Defeated Rip Hawk on 9/4/72 in Greenville, SC

Defeated Rip Hawk on 3/3/73 in Winston-Salem, NC

Defeated Ole Anderson on 7/3/73 in Columbia, SC

In his WWE Hall of Fame induction speech in 2008, Jerry took time to thank promoter Jim Crockett, Sr. for giving him a chance to shine as a singles competitor on a main event level. It was a special moment for fans of Mid-Atlantic Wrestling and the old Mid-Atlantic territory to hear Brisco invoke the name of the man who promoted wrestling in our area for over 40 years:

"I’d like to thank Jim Crockett, Sr., the great promoter in Mid-Atlantic Wrestling. They gave me my first opportunity to bust out on my own. I won the Eastern United States Championship there, I won the Mid-Atlantic Championship there…”

 - Jerry Brisco, WWE Hall of Fame speech, Class of 2008

At the Mid-Atlantic Legends Fanfest in 2010, I asked Jerry to take a photo with a replica of the first Mid-Atlantic championship title belt. The photo is seen in the collage above. The replica belt was made by Dave Millican from the original artwork created by Reggie Parks, who made the original belt in 1973. It was a special opportunity to recapture great championship imagery from the territory's past.

Jerry Brisco talks with "Championship Wrestling" host Big Bill Ward in Charlotte in 1972.
Jerry was in the middle of chasing Eastern States champion Rip Hawk in effort to regain that title.

In another bit of trivia, Jerry and his brother, Jack Brisco, were the only two wrestlers to hold both the Eastern States and Mid-Atlantic Heavyweight titles. "Sounds like one of us must have been booking," Jack joked to me during an autograph signing at Fanfest.

Jerry left the area in early 1974, but returned in the early 1980s to team with Jack in a memorable feud with Ricky Steamboat and Jay Youngblood over the NWA world tag team championships, a title they held on several occasions.

Regardless of what period you look at in Mid-Atlantic history, whether it be his run in the 1970s or the 1980s, Jerry Brisco is one of the most distinguished champions to ever hold gold in the Mid-Atlantic area.

Originally published July 28, 2016 on the Mid-Atlantic Gateway.

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Read all about Jerry Brisco's four Eastern and Mid-Atlantic title reigns and all the storylines associated with his landmark singles run for Jim Crockett Promotions in our book 'The Mid-Atlantic Heavyweight Championship", available in the Gateway Book Store and on Amazon.com.

Gene Gordon Letter to "Wrestling Guide" (1973)

by Carroll Hall
Publisher of the All Star Championship Wrestling website

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Carroll Hall publishes the excellent All Star Championship Wrestling blog that looks back at wrestling for Jim Crockett Promotions, primarily in the 1960s. From time to time we like to republish some of his posts here, with his permission of course, and we consider Carroll a friend of the Gateway as well as a Gateway Contributor.

Check out all of the wonderful nostalgia on Carroll Hall's All Star Championship Wrestling.

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Gene Gordon in Wrestling Guide Magazine
Longtime JCP photographer, the late Gene Gordon, wrote this letter to editor Tommy Kay. At that time Mr. Kay worked for Wrestling Guide, Official Wrestling, Big Book of Wrestling, Complete Wrestling Round-Up and several other sports publications.

Note: Swede Hanson was out of action from the end of July 1973 until early November 1973. Bobby Shane came in to team with Rip Hawk while Swede was out of action. They were managed by General Homer O'Dell.



Originally published11/16/19 on All Star Championship Wrestling.
Original Story Link

Brisco Brothers Challenge Steamboat and Youngblood in 1980

Nearly Three and Half Years Before Their Famous 1983 Feud
by Dick Bourne
Mid-Atlantic Gateway

Over the years, shows at the Greensboro Coliseum were famous for featuring star wrestlers from other territories, usually big national names that Greensboro area fans were familiar with from newsstand magazines or perhaps had seen on satellite TV from Georgia or syndicated from Florida.

Some of the names over the years that would come in for one-night territory appearances in Greensboro in the 1970s and early 1980s were Dusty Rhodes, Cowboy Bill Watts, Dory Funk Sr. and Jr. and Terry Funk, Harley Race, Eddie and Mike Graham, and others.

Two men who came in to Greensboro from Florida on a semi-regular basis over the years were Jack and Jerry Brisco. Both had done full-time stints as singles competitors here in the early 1970s, both holding the Eastern Heavyweight title. Jack, of course, wrestled here frequently as NWA World Champion in 1973-1975. They also were part of many tag team tournaments.

The most famous full-time run for the Briscos here was the 1983 run as a heel tag team (first time ever as a heel team) in a legendary feud with Ricky Steamboat and Jay Youngblood over the NWA World Tag Team titles. But those matches were not the first time the two teams clashed over the tag titles.

Some three and a half years earlier, the Briscos made a one-night shot in from Florida to challenge Steamboat and Youngblood for the titles during the latter's first run with the belts. The match took place on January 13, 1980 at the Greensboro Coliseum. It was by and large a "scientific" babyface match, but would foreshadow the exciting matches the two teams would have years later. Steamboat and Youngblood would successfully defend their championships this night.

For context, Steamboat and Youngblood were just finishing up their memorable feud with former tag champs Paul Jones and Baron Von Raschke (one of my favorite tag team feuds of all time) and soon were to face the challenge of (and eventually succumb to) the new team of Ray "The Crippler" Stevens and Greg "The Hammer" Valentine. The Briscos were working full-time in Florida and in the middle of a chase for Stan Lane and Bryan St. John's Florida Tag Team championship.

Also on that same big Greensboro show was the the big blow-off main event between Blackjack Mulligan and Big John Studd. It featured a combination of several stipulations (fence match, Texas death match, street fight rules) with the main stip being "loser leaves town." Mulligan won that brutal contest and sent Studd packing from Greensboro, and soon from the entire territory.

The usual number one contenders, Jones and Raschke, were on the mid-card of this show in singles matches, and took the opportunity to complain that Ricky and Jay were ducking them by going up against the Briscos. They should have stayed focused on their opponents, Jim Brunzell and Rufus R. Jones respectively, who won both of the singles contests.


Over the years in the Mid-Atlantic area, the Brisco brothers challenged several teams for those elusive NWA World Tag Team belts including Gene And Ole Anderson, Ric Flair and Greg Valentine, and now Steamboat and Youngblood. The brother duo from Oklahoma finally captured the gold in 1983 when they toppled "Youngboat", as Jerry liked to call them, before ending their feud at the landmark Starrcade '83 closed-circuit event.

Funny to note all of the bloopers and typos in the results clipping seen above, including Tony "Barea", "Luke" Bernard, "Rick" McGhee, and the funniest of all "Duck Summers."

Best Of: Jim Crockett's First Mid-Atlantic Champion

Jerry Brisco: First Ever Mid-Atlantic Champion 
by Dick Bourne
Mid-Atlantic Gateway 


Today we spotlight the very first Mid-Atlantic Heavyweight Champion, Oklahoma State's Jerry Brisco.

Jerry was the first wrestler to hold the title known by name as the Mid-Atlantic Heavyweight Championship, although that title evolved from (and shares a direct lineage with) the Eastern States Heavyweight title. Jerry was the reigning 4-time Eastern States champion when the title's name was changed in October of 1973, and as such is recognized as the first Mid-Atlantic champion.

Jerry Brisco's Four Mid-Atlantic/Eastern States Title Victories

Defeated Rip Hawk on 6/13/72 in Columbia, SC

Defeated Rip Hawk on 9/4/72 in Greenville, SC

Defeated Rip Hawk on 3/3/73 in Winston-Salem, NC

Defeated Ole Anderson on 7/3/73 in Columbia, SC

In his WWE Hall of Fame induction speech in 2008, Jerry took time to thank promoter Jim Crockett, Sr. for giving him a chance to shine as a singles competitor on a main event level. It was a special moment for fans of Mid-Atlantic Wrestling and the old Mid-Atlantic territory to hear Brisco invoke the name of the man who promoted wrestling in our area for over 40 years:

"I’d like to thank Jim Crockett, Sr., the great promoter in Mid-Atlantic Wrestling. They gave me my first opportunity to bust out on my own. I won the Eastern United States Championship there, I won the Mid-Atlantic Championship there…”

 - Jerry Brisco, WWE Hall of Fame speech, Class of 2008

At the Mid-Atlantic Legends Fanfest in 2010, I asked Jerry to take a photo with a replica of the first Mid-Atlantic championship title belt. The photo is seen in the collage above. The replica belt was made by Dave Millican from the original artwork created by Reggie Parks, who made the original belt in 1973. It was a special opportunity to recapture great championship imagery from the territory's past.

Jerry Brisco talks with "Championship Wrestling" host Big Bill Ward in Charlotte in 1972.
Jerry was in the middle of chasing Eastern States champion Rip Hawk in effort to regain that title.

In another bit of trivia, Jerry and his brother, Jack Brisco, were the only two wrestlers to hold both the Eastern States and Mid-Atlantic Heavyweight titles. "Sounds like one of us must have been booking," Jack joked to me during an autograph signing at Fanfest.

Jerry left the area in early 1974, but returned in the early 1980s to team with Jack in a memorable feud with Ricky Steamboat and Jay Youngblood over the NWA world tag team championships, a title they held on several occasions.

Regardless of what period you look at in Mid-Atlantic history, whether it be his run in the 1970s or the 1980s, Jerry Brisco is one of the most distinguished champions to ever hold gold in the Mid-Atlantic area.

Originally published July 28, 2016 on the Mid-Atlantic Gateway.

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Read all about Jerry Brisco's four Eastern and Mid-Atlantic title reigns and all the storylines associated with his landmark singles run for Jim Crockett Promotions in our book 'The Mid-Atlantic Heavyweight Championship", available in the Gateway Book Store and on Amazon.com.

Action Figures Friday: The Brisco Brothers on WTBS!

A cool display from our pal Matty over at Wrestling with Classics featuring Jack and Jerry Brisco on the set of World Championship Wrestling at WTBS.

For continuity's sake, will guess this would be during the early 1985 stretch of a few months where the WWF held tapings at Techwood Drive. That set was actually created for the WWF and then used for years after when Crockett took things over in Atlanta.

We love any tribute to the old TV studios that held wrestling. Great stuff!

Best of the Gateway: The Briscos' Million Dollar Smiles

by Dick Bourne
Mid-Atlantic Gateway
Originally published February 2016 


I just came across a great interview with Jerry Brisco conducted by Marshall Ward for the Canoe Slam! Wrestling website. While the interview is not dated, I believe it took place not long after the Cauliflower Alley banquet in 2015 where Jerry was presented with the 2015 Lou Thesz Lifetime Achievement Award.

There is lots of great Mid-Atlantic Wrestling content in the interview, particularly Jerry talking about his heel run in the Mid-Atlantic area being his favorite of his career.

He also mentions someone sending him a link to a video promo on YouTube:

There's a promo on YouTube now that somebody sent me the other day that I'd forgotten all about. And you know how Edge and Christian used to do that five-second photo op? Well, Jack and I were doing a promo with Bill Ward, the commentator in Mid-Atlantic Wrestling and so I come out and I said a couple words, something like: "I know you people are tired of what I've got to say, you're tired of listening to me, so I'm going to give everybody out there what you want the most. Jack and I standing here for five seconds smiling pretty for you."

So we just stood there and didn't say a word for five seconds, just smiling real arrogantly and then walked off the set. So I said to Edge, "You stole that!" and he said he never saw it. So I joked, that was the original five-second pose (laughs).

That 'somebody' that sent him the promo was the Gateway. I came across it on one of David Chappell's old VHS video tapes. I thought you might like to see the actual promo that Jerry mentions. It is just wonderful and embodies the total arrogance of the Brisco Brothers during their memorable heel run with Ricky Steamboat and Jay Youngblood ("Youngboat") over the NWA world tag team titles in 1983.

Jerry and Jack Brisco's Million Dollar Smile!

It didn't get any better than that! "The American Dream" Dusty Rhodes wasn't the only one with a "million dollar smile."

The Brisco Brothers remain one of my favorite tag teams of all time.

Fanfest Memories

Two of our favorite NWA/Mid-Atlantic Wrestling Legends Fanfest memories!

#FanfestFlashback at 2010 Hall of Heroes: Danny Hodge, Dory Funk Jr., Billy Robinson, Terry Funk, & Jerry Brisco. pic.twitter.com/I8gWu2sO8U

— Mid-Atlantic Gateway (@magateway) July 29, 2016

#FanfestFlashback @RicFlairNatrBoy and Bob Caudle share a "Woooo!" at @NWALegends Fanfest #Charlotte 2008 #Magic pic.twitter.com/MCtWVYoHIq

— Mid-Atlantic Gateway (@magateway) July 29, 2016

Mid-Atlantic Hidden Gems from Charlotte in the WWE Network Vault

FLAIR, RACE, BRISCOS, YOUNGBOAT, PIPER, VALENTINE ALL FEATURED IN PREVIOUSLY UNSEEN RAW FOOTAGE
by Dick Bourne
Mid-Atlantic Gateway

If you are a WWE Network subscriber, you'd never know they've added a few new Hidden Gems from Mid-Atlantic Wrestling in 1983 unless you just swerved into them.

The WWE Network itself does a terrible job in making folks aware of what has been added to the Vault section of the site. A great resource, however, to keep up with new additions is the unaffiliated WWE Network News website. That's how we recently learned that the network had added two new raw footage Jim Crockett Promotions matches from the Charlotte Coliseum in the summer of 1983.

Back in May, they added a match from Charlotte on July 9, 1983 between then United States Champion Greg Valentine and arch-rival "Rowdy" Roddy Piper. (We mentioned it on our Facebook page.) The two new matches are from the same big Charlotte card, making three matches in all (the three main events) from that show.

Here is a list of the three matches and a direct link to them on the WWE Network.


NWA WORLD HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP
HARLEY RACE (Champion) vs. RIC FLAIR

WWE Network Link: http://network.wwe.com/video/v2519768083


NWA WORLD TAG TEAM CHAMPIONSHIP
JACK & JERRY BRISCO (Champions) vs. RICKY STEAMBOAT & JAY YOUNGBLOOD

WWE Network Link: http://network.wwe.com/video/v2519768183


NON TITLE MATCH
GREG VALENTINE (U.S. Champion) vs. RODDY PIPER

WWE Network Link: http://network.wwe.com/video/v2073979883

Interesting to note these three main events in Charlotte on 7/9/83 would be the three main events for Starrcade '83 four months later. Jim Crockett Promotions was getting ready to move TV production out of the studio and into arenas a month later, and theri new production truck was taping lots of material from shows in Charlotte during this time.

For additional context, Race had just regained the title for a record breaking seventh time less than one month earlier. Race was making his first tour as new champion in the Mid-Atlantic area, and was defending against now-former champion Flair across the territory beginning on July 2 in Greensboro, followed by Savannah, Greenville, Raleigh, Sumter, Norfolk, Richmond, and finally July 9 in Charlotte.

These matches are great to watch, especially if you attended matches live during this era. They bring back great memories.  Without commentary and featuring great ambient sound, you get a good feel for what it was like to attend shows then. I love that there was no entrance music, no pyro, no video screens. Just warriors making their way through the crowd and up into the ring.

If you have have never subscribed to the WWE Network, its easily worth the $10/month to get the old Mid-Atlantic shows they currently have up from 1981-1983, plus hidden gems like these. New subscribers can try the network free for one month.

Very cool to see these "Hidden Gems" and we are hopeful for more coming down the line.

Ricky Steamboat Defends Mid-Atlantic Wrestling's United States Title in Florida

Flair and Steamboat Travel to Florida for an Extra Payday During Crockett's Christmas Break
by Dick Bourne
Mid-Atlantic Gateway
Special Thanks to Mark Eastridge

Mark Eastridge Collection

As I've written about before here on the Mid-Atlantic Gateway, I always loved when wrestlers with Crockett-area titles defended those belts in other territories. Specifically, the United States heavyweight championship and the NWA world tag team championships were occasionally defended outside the Mid-Atlantic territory in other areas such as Georgia, Florida, and Texas to name a few.

In December of 1977, just a few days before Christmas, Ricky Steamboat took the U.S. title to Championship Wrestling from Florida and successfully defended it in Miami Beach.

He didn't go alone. His top rival for the championship, "Nature Boy" Ric Flair, was also booked for Eddie Graham's promotion the same night, but not as the challenger for Steamboat.

It was a bonus payday for both Flair and Steamboat, who were in the middle of what was Jim Crockett Promotions' annual Christmas break. Each year in those days, the Crockett promotion would shut down for two full weeks right before Christmas, returning to action for big shows on Christmas night.

Barry Rose Collection

In 1977, the last Crockett shows before the Christmas break were on Tuesday, December 13 at their regular Tuesday stops in Columbia, SC and Raleigh, NC. The next night, they taped multiple episodes of "Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling" and "Wide World Wrestling" at WRAL in Raleigh, including the annual year-end highlights shows, to get them through the next several weeks of TV while the company was down.

During the Crockett break, Steamboat and Flair took the opportunity to get themselves booked in Florida exactly one week later, on 12/21/77 at the Miami Beach Convention Hall.

Steamboat was the reigning U.S. champion at this time, having defeated Flair for the prestigious belt  in Greensboro, NC in October. He defended the title that night in Miami against another Mid-Atlantic regular Bill White. It was an interesting match-up and was likely White's only shot ever at the U.S. championship. Steamboat was successful in that title defense.

Flair wrestled Rocky Johnson in the semi-main event of this card, which was headlined by a WWWF title match between reigning champion "Superstar" Billy Graham and "The American Dream" Dusty Rhodes.

Also on the big card were Jack and Jerry Brisco, Bob Roop, Bob Orton, Jr., Buddy Roberts, Dutch Mantell and many others.

U.S. Champion Ricky Steamboat
in Miami Beach before his U.S. title defense
(plmathfoto@hotmail.com)

It was a homecoming of sorts for Steamboat. When he arrived in Florida in the spring of 1976 with only a few months experience under his belt, promoter Eddie Graham thought Richard Blood (his real name) looked so much like perennial Florida favorite Sam Steamboat, he gave him the name Ricky Steamboat. And the rest, as they say, is history.

Before returning to Miami as United States Champion, Steamboat's last match there had been a win over Jim Lancaster in the preliminaries on a card in July of 1976. 

With Superstar Graham on the card in Miami to defend the WWWF title against Rhodes, and two of Mid-Atlantic Wrestling's top stars supporting that card, it was one of the more unique cards to take place in Florida in those years.

Photographer and photo-collector Pete Lederberg owns the rights to photographs taken this very night in Miami Beach.  The photos were originally shot by area photographer Brian Berkowitz. The title defense and those photographs are a cool little bit of history for Jim Crockett Promotions' U.S. championship.

Berkowitz's photo above of Steamboat with the U.S. title belt was featured full page in color in the book "Jim Crockett Promotions' United States Championship", along with a few other photos licensed from Lederberg. See many other photos from this night (including match photos of Steamboat vs. White and Flair vs. Johnson) in Pete Lederberg's Facebook photo album: Miami 12/21/77.

Thanks to Mark Eastridge, Pete Lederberg, Carroll Hall, and Barry Rose for their contributions to this article.

Originally published September 26, 2016

Visit to the Wrestling Hall of Fame in Waterloo

by Andy McDaniel
Mid-Atlantic Gateway Contributor

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.

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Andy McDaniel is the author of Reunion at County Hall: The Night the Legends Returned to Charleston, available on Amazon.com.