Argentino Apollo Arrives in JCP (1970)

THE AUDIO TAPE LIBRARY: AN OLDIE BUT GOODIE
By David Chappell
Mid-Atlantic Gateway

Argentina Apollo

While November 14, 1970 predates the time period that encompassed Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling (by name), that date nevertheless carries some significance for me. It is the Saturday afternoon program of “Championship Wrestling” taped at the Channel 5 studios in Raleigh, North Carolina that represents the oldest program in my Jim Crockett Promotions audio collection. This program is also important to me as it introduced a newcomer to the Carolinas that I have many fond memories of.

In what was the second bout of that show, TV ring announcer Joe Murnick told the studio audience, “Now ladies and gentlemen, the second bout is also one fall and a 15-minute time limit, for the first time for our viewers, at 222 pounds from the Argentine, Buenos Aires, here is the sensational jumping jack of the ring, Argentina Apollo…Apollo!

Apollo, quick as greased lightning and wrestling barefooted, made quick work of the journeyman Joe Soto in the show’s second match with a rapid-fire backbreaker, and he received a strong and favorable reception from the studio audience in attendance. Soon after the bout concluded Apollo came out to the interview area and chatted with play-by-play announcer Nick Pond.

Pond began, “At ringside once again, it’s our distinct pleasure to have with us our winner of this afternoon’s second bout here on Championship Wrestling, a newcomer to our show, Argentina Apollo. You’re like a jumping jack Apollo!” The muscular newcomer responded, “Well, it’s like everything, you’re supposed to be in good shape to do things in the ring.” Pond interjected, “Tell us about that hold that you finished off Joe Soto with, it looked like a backbreaker of some kind.” Apollo explained, “Yeah, I call it Argentina backbreaker. It’s my hold. It’s not too easy to do, you need to be in very good shape to do a hold like that.”

The announcer continued and marveled at the acrobatic abilities of the area’s newest grappler. Nick gushed, “You did some moves up there we hadn’t seen, in fact we’d never seen before! You jump around a lot, and it looked like you kind of befuddle and mix up your opponent some.” Apollo agreed and noted, “Well, that’s why I say to be a wrestler you need to train very, very hard like I do. I get up early every morning and I train very, very much. I eat well; but I try to stay in good shape.”

Apollo then chuckled, “I’m in the best country in the world, and eat good, and try to keep in better shape even when I eat good! Of course, it’s very important for everybody, mostly the young generation, to train like I do and be in better shape than I do.”

Pond then segued to Apollo’s first arena bout in the territory saying, “Alright Argentina, you’re going to go against a tag team Tuesday night here in Raleigh, you’re going to be teamed with a great wrestler, the U.S. Negro Heavyweight Champion Luther Lindsey and you’re going to meet Chris Markoff and Bronco Lubich, two tough guys from Yugoslavia.” Apollo answered, “Well, it will be my first time over here in Raleigh, and I’m very proud and happy to be over here and I have in mind to be here a long, long time. As I told you these two men are very tough men Chris Markov and the other man, I’ll do my best to beat these men.”

Argentina Apollo's debut in Raleigh for Jim Crockett Promotions

 Apollo concluded, “I want to tell all of you people over here in the South, I’m very proud to be over here. I have never seen so many friendly people like I see over here in the few days I’ve been over here. I say ‘Thanks’ very much and I will repay you people the best I can and do everything I can to beat these men.” 

The November 17, 1970, card at the Dorton Arena in Raleigh saw Apollo’s career in the area’s arenas get off to a flying start as he and Luther Lindsey polished off Markoff and Chris Tolos, who was subbing for Bronco Lubich. Despite the constant interference by the bad guys’ manager Mr. George “Two Ton” Harris, Apollo and Lindsey got the dukes when Lubich and Tolos were disqualified in the third and decisive fall. 

The high-flying Argentina Apollo was off to the races and would have a strong year and a half run in Jim Crockett Promotions after these initial days in Raleigh that are memorialized on my oldest “oldie but goodie” wrestling tape!

A Brief History of Wrestling in the Mid-Atlantic Area

A Look Back at the Promoters and Television History of Jim Crockett Promotions
by Dick Bourne
Mid-Atlantic Gateway

Professional wrestling has been one of the most popular live events in the Carolinas and Virginia since the early/mid-1900s. Several key players were responsible for making pro wrestling an institution here, some familiar to fans, others perhaps not so familiar.

The company known for promoting wrestling across Virginia and the Carolinas for decades was Jim Crockett Promotions. Jim Crockett, Sr. started promoting wrestling in our area when he bought an old warehouse in Greensboro, NC, in December of 1933, named it the “Sportrena”, and held his first matches there. With that first card, the company that later grew to be known as Jim Crockett Promotions was born.

Crockett established his base of operations in Charlotte a year later in 1934, moving in on a chaotic promotional scene at that time. In 1939 he and successful Richmond promoter Bill Lewis bought out the interests of promoter Pete Moore who had been in partnership with Crockett for nearly 10 years going back to their days headquartered out of Bristol, VA. Moore’s promotional interests spanned the width and breadth of the area that we think of now as the Mid-Atlantic territory.  After buying Moore out, Lewis based his operations out of Richmond, and Crockett based his out of Charlotte. Together they brought top pro-wrestlers from around the country to the halls, armories, and small arenas throughout the Carolinas and Virginia.

As the companies evolved, Crockett had become the main promoter, with Lerwis booking all of his talent through the Crockett's Charlotte office. Lewis died in 1961, and Crockett sent Joe Murnick, his top lieutenant in Charlotte, to replace him. Murnick would headquarter out of Raleigh, but assumed all of Lewis's territoy to the east, including Fayetteville, Richmond, Hampton, and Norfolk and all points in between.

Over the years, Crockett had many local promoters like Murnick working for him within the various regions of the main territory including such men as Henry Marcus (central and lower South Carolina), Paul Winkhaus (Western North Carolina and Upstate South Carolina) and Pete Apostolou (Central and Southwest Virginia.). These promoters coordinated the local promotion of Crockett’s wrestling events. However, it was Murnick who became Crockett’s largest and most trusted partner.

In April of 1973, Jim Crockett, Sr. passed away and his son in law, John Ringley, took over the operations of the company. He was soon followed by Crockett's oldest son, Jim Crockett, Jr., who during his tenure expanded the reach of the company outside of the traditional territorial boundaries that had existed for years within the pro wrestling industry, and wound up being one of the two top players nationally. 

Crockett Jr.'s lieutenants included Joe Murnick and his sons Elliot and Carl, along with longtime wrestlers Sandy Scott, Johnny Weaver, and Gene Anderson, who transitioned to regional promoters at the ground level, working with and later slowly replacing those listed earlier.

The territory was always known within the business as the “Charlotte territory” because that is where the Crocketts were based. Until the mid-1970s, fans simply knew it as “All-Star Wrestling” or “Championship Wrestling.” Around the time of Jim Sr.’s passing, the promotion began to brand its wrestling business as “Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling”, which also became the name of their television program. Prior to this time, television wrestling had been taped out of multiple locations each week including Charlotte, High Point, Roanoke, and Raleigh. In 1974, the company consolidated its weekly television production to one location - - the studios of WRAL in Raleigh, NC. There had been many hosts of the local programs over the years including Nick Pond, Charlie Harville, Hal Grant, Bill Ward, and Bob Caudle. After the 1974 consolidation, Caudle became the main voice of the company, and would serve in that capacity until the company was sold to Ted Turner in 1988.

But it was from the WRAL studio that the magic we saw unfold each week on our TV screens originally took place. In 1975, Crockett Promotions added a second studio program eventually known as “World Wide Wrestling” which was hosted at different times by Ed Capral, Rich Landrum, David Crockett, and Tony Schiavone.

Eventually finding itself on the losing side of a wrestling war in the late-1980s, the 53-year old family business was sold to Ted Turner in late 1988. Turner had been a partner in Crockett's national expansion, enthusiastically providing four hours of weekly television on his nationally cable-cast Superstation WTBS out of Atlanta. This eventually included quarterly prime-time TV specials as well.

The syndicated "Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling" (later renamed "NWA Pro Wrestling") and "World Wide Wrestling", along with the national WTBS "World Championship Wrestling" battleship, drove hundreds of thousands of fans to the arenas each month. For a short time anyway, the once small Mid-Atlantic territory one of the largest and most successful wrestling promotions in the country.

This article was based on a shorter limited piece originally posted June 28, 2017 on the Mid-Atlantic Gateway.

Studio Wrestling: 1976 Weather Promo has Five Wrestling Connections

 
by Dick Bourne
Mid-Atlantic Gateway
Originally Published on the Studio Wrestling site

WRAL produced a series of satirical promotional spots in early 1976 to announce Bob DeBardelaben as the primary weather host on WRAL newscasts, replacing Bob Caudle who was moving into other responsibilities at WRAL working for Jesse Helms (and continuing his hosting duties of Mid-Atlantic Wrestling, of course.)

Brian Rogers recently discovered a compilation of those promotional clips on You Tube. I pulled them off YouTube and edited them down to one single storyline clip and re-posted them.

The immediate interest was of course that Bob Caudle was featured, and there was also a cameo by Blackjack Mulligan in the wrestling ring at WRAL. It was cool that the video featured these two direct wrestling connections, and also a third, since it was the voice of Bob Debardelaben you heard at each of the two breaks for the local wrestling promotional spots during "Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling" and "Wide World Wrestling":

"Let's take time for this commercial message about the Mid-Atlantic Wrestling events coming up in your area."

A day or so after posting the video clip, Carroll Hall (who publishes the excellent "All Star Championship Wrestling" blog) pointed out to me that there was a fourth wrestling connection in the video I had failed to notice: sportscaster Nick Pond. Pond was host of the Raleigh-only wrestling broadcast "Championship Wrestling" on WRAL throughout the 1960s and early 1970s. 

After writing up that information and watching the video yet again, I suddenly noticed what I thought was the familiar face of Raleigh area promoter Joe Murnick in one short scene where the president of the station is seen at his desk. Mr. Murnick is seen sitting on the couch behind him. I asked Elliot Murnick and he confirmed it was indeed his father. (Elliot also confirmed that the "president" in the video is indeed longtime President and CEO of Capitol broadcasting Jim Goodmon.)

That makes a total of five people in this short video that had direct connections to Mid-Atlantic Wrestling at WRAL-TV:

Bob Caudle

Bob hosted the syndicated "All Star Wrestling" in the 1960s that later became "Mid-Atlantic Wrestling" in the 1970s and 1980s. He did weather, sports, and news at various times throughout his WRAL career, and worked for Jesse Helms as well. He is seen here receiving the keys to the "executive washroom" after being promoted at WRAL.

Bob DeBardelaben
"The Biggest Name in Weather", DeBardelaben succeeded Bob Caudle as the primary weather host (known then as 'weathermen') in 1976. The promotional spots featured here served to announce and promote that. DeBardelaben is the main star of the vignettes. It was "DeBardelaben's voice that introduced the local promo segments each week on the wrestling shows taped at WRAL. ("Let's take time for this commercial message about the Mid-Atlantic Wrestling events coming up in your area.")

Nick Pond
Nick Pond hosted the Raleigh-only broadcast of "Championship Wrestling" (taped simultaneously alongside Caudle's "All Star Wrestling") throughout the 1960s and early 1970s. He was the main sports anchor for WRAL at the time of these promotional spots, and is seen in the video joining others in welcoming DeBardelaben to the team.

Joe Murnick
Murnick was the local promoter for Jim Crockett Promotions in Raleigh (as well as other towns in eastern NC and Virginia.) He ran his own events promotion company as well, staging concerts and other events in addition to wrestling almost every Tuesday night at the Dorton Arena or the Raleigh Civic Center. He is seen here in one scene (at the :59 second mark) sitting on a couch behind the president of the station, Jim Goodmon. His son Elliot Murnick confirmed for us that was indeed his dad!

Blackjack Mulligan
One of the main event wrestlers for Jim Crockett and Raleigh promoter Joe Murnick during this time period, Mulligan was chasing the United States wrestling championship held by Paul Jones at that time. (He would win the title for the first time on March 13 in Greensboro.) He has a cameo role here answering the question "Will Bob (DeBardelaben) quit?" Mully leans through the ropes of the wrestling ring in the TV studio and says "He better not!"

Learn more about Studio Wrestling at WRAL-5 in Raleigh on the Mid-Atlantic Gateway.
Visit the Studio Wrestling website, one of the sister sites to the Mid-Atlantic Gateway.

Thanks to Brian Rogers, Carroll Hall, and Elliot Murnick.

Link to original unedited WRAL promos: WRAL-TV: "As The Weather Turns" Promos (1976)

Link to original article on the Studio Wrestling Website

Bob Caudle and Nick Pond in WRAL News Team Ad from 1975

by Dick Bourne
Mid-Atlantic Gateway

This is a very cool ad from an October 1975 issue of TV Guide magazine featuring the "TV5 Action News Team" from WRAL-5 television in Raleigh, NC.

The TV5 news team at that time consisted of Bob Caudle, Jon Mangum, Charlie Gaddy, and Nick Pond. 

"The TV5 Action News Team: 

Depend on it Morning, Noon, and Night."

It's a nice to see both Caudle and Pond, longtime wrestling hosts, in the same photo.  Both Caudle and Pond were wrestling announcers for wrestling tapings held at the WRAL studios. Pond was the Raleigh-area host of "Championship Wrestling" from approximately 1962-1972. Caudle hosted the syndicated show "All Star Wrestling" during most of that same time, and then transitioned to the host of "Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling" which was seen in Raleigh on WRAL and syndicated to TV stations throughout the Carolinas and Virginia well into the 1980s

Tapings for Jim Crockett Promotions wrestling began at WRAL in 1959. In 1981, they moved to a studio in Charlotte. NC. Caudle continued to host the show there, and then later out in the arenas for both Jim Crockett Promotions and Turner Broadcasting until the early 1990s.

Thanks to Carroll Hall at the All Star Championship Wrestling website for providing us this great piece of memorabilia.

Originally published on our sister website, Studio Wrestling, on 8/5/18.  

Don't miss the next installment of "WRAL Wednesdays" which will spotlight the team of Johnny "The Champ" Valentine and "Nature Boy" Ric Flair.