Harley Race vs. Paul Jones: Reflections on the Norfolk Scope

by David Chappell
Mid-Atlantic Gateway

The Scope arena in Norfolk, Virginia got its distinctive moniker shortened from the word “kaleidoscope,” because the builders saw so many varied usages for the edifice that was constructed from 1968 to its opening in 1971. And to be sure, I have seen quite a number of different events at the Scope over the years. But none held a candle to the Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling events that graced its presence.

Attending a recent WWE Monday Night RAW show at the fabled Norfolk Scope, as usual, brought back to me floods of memories of Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling. Getting a souvenir cup at that RAW show that commemorated the 50th anniversary of the Scope, replete with 70’s looking photos on it, just intensified those fond recollections.

Thursday night events at the Norfolk Scope housed a multitude of noteworthy battles in the grand history of Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling. When I am at current shows at the now 51-year-old Scope, I often find myself looking up at the rafters and the uniquely designed roof of that historic arena, and then with a rich imagination try to beam two Mid-Atlantic legends down to the Scope’s squared circle for them to repeat their magic of yesteryear one more time.

During the most recent RAW show I attended in Norfolk, I had a flashback to a Norfolk Scope card on November 2, 1978, featuring an NWA World Title bout between Champion Harley Race and top challenger Paul Jones. 

Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling announcer Rich Landrum did a special interview with Race that aired on WAVY TV Channel 10 in Norfolk to promote the bout. Landrum led off, “Norfolk Scope Coliseum, a World’s Heavyweight Championship match with the challenger Paul Jones [going] up against this man, the World’s Heavyweight Champion Harley Race.”

Race began, “Let me say this Jones, you’ve done a lot of campaigning; you must have done it quite well to come up with a Title shot at the Scope. Well let me tell you something Jones, when you come for this [belt], you come for all the marbles, you come for everything in wrestling.”

Harley continued, “You got [Ric] Flair out here bragging and going on about what he owns and controls, but this is the honcho in wrestling. And you are coming for the absolute honcho in wrestling, Harley Race. I am the cock of the walk; I am the man of the hour. I’m the man that’s got a quarter of a million-dollar bounty on him. You come for me Jones, and you come to take one awful beating and a beating is exactly what I’m going to give you son.”

The World Title match between Race and Jones was a classic one hour draw in one of Paul’s last splendid babyface efforts before he would turn into a “bad guy” in about a month when he attacked Ricky Steamboat as part of a two-ring battle royal in Charlotte, North Carolina. 

The bout at the Scope on November 2, 1978, saw Paul Jones at the zenith of his prowess as a “battle to the end babyface,” much like he was two years earlier in his classic program with the ruthless Blackjack Mulligan. The Scope saw many of those titanic struggles as well. In fact, it saw titanic struggles every Thursday night during the Mid-Atlantic years. 

The Scope. What a building. When I peer into that kaleidoscope, to this day, no matter what event I may go there to see, I still see Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling memories burning brighter than ever.

Poster: Night of Champions in Norfolk

by Jody Shifflett
Mid-Atlantic Gateway Contributor

This poster is from 1984 and showcases the best matchup that professional wrestling has or ever will see with Ric Flair versus Ricky Steamboat. It is also the largest Mid-Atlantic wrestling poster that I know to exist being 42 x 29 inches. 

This match ended in a draw and I’m assuming it had a 60-minute time limit. It featured a great undercard with the Road Warriors, Freebirds,  Wahoo McDaniel, etc. The other famous Night of Champions event was at the Meadowlands Arena in New Jersey a couple of weeks earlier and this was shortly after Steamboat came out of his brief retirement. 

Places like Norfolk, Hampton, Richmond, Roanoke, Charlottesville and Lynchburg were truly a hotbed for Mid-Atlantic wrestling back in the day. Virginia was historic for Mid-Atlantic wrestling back in the day just as much as the other states in the territory. 

It’s not a flashy poster at all but boasts the famous 8:15 start time!

NO. 8 IN THE SHIFFLET POSTER SERIES

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MID-ATLANTIC GATEWAY NOTES
by Dick Bourne, Mid-Atlantic Gateway

What a unique line-up for this Night of Champions show in Norfolk, VA. As Jody mentioned above, this followed the historic Night of Champions card at the Meadowlands Arena in New Jersey, smack dab in the middle of WWF territory, and was JCP's first major response to the WWF's encroachment on their territory as McMahon began to expand nationally. 

In addition to Norfolk, JCP promoted a string of Night of Champions events in the weeks that followed including in Richmond VA and Raleigh NC (featuring Flair vs. Harley Race) and Greenville, SC (featuring Flair vs. future Horsemen partner Tully Blanchard). 

But none of those other cards featured a line-up quite as diverse as this one in Norfolk.  Early June saw JCP book several stars in from other territories such as King Kong Bundy, the Fabulous Freebirds, the Road Warriors, Stan Hansen, Kamala, Junkyard Dog, Harley Race, Dusty Rhodes, and others. Several of these would jump quickly to the WWF soon after, appearing for only a week or two on Mid-Atlantic TV. Race would give up in Kansas City and St. Louis a year or so later and also go north. Rhodes would soon come to JCP as booker and pop the territory in a big way. The Road Warriors opted to stay with JCP and were top stars for them throughout the last four years of the company. Stan Hansen would continue to work regularly in Japan, with a short run as AWA World champion to boot.

Other historical context: This was during the time when, behind the scenes, the WWF was close to taking control of Georgia Championship Wrestling - -Black Saturday was just 5 weeks away. 

Also, as Jody mentioned, Ricky Steamboat was just out of his "retirement" at this point (having gotten his gym business up and going in there meantime), and Ric Flair had just won the NWA World Heavyweight title back weeks earlier in Japan, regaining it from Kerry Von Erich.

June was a wild and unusual month in Jim Crockett Promotions! 

Poster: Greensboro Just One Part of Big Night in the Territory

by Brack Beasley
Mid-Atlantic Gateway Contributor

February 20th, 1975 was a special night in Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling history for a number of reasons. Not only did the Crocketts run this loaded card at the War Memorial Coliseum in Greensboro, they also ran a card in Charlotte in order to go head to head with the IWA. Many of the stars wrestled on both shows the same night. 

In Greensboro, Jack Brisco successfully defended his NWA World Heavyweight Championship against Wahoo McDaniel in a no disqualification match. The NWA World Tag Team champs Gene and Ole Anderson collided with Mid-Atlantic Tag Team champs Paul Jones and Tiger Conway Jr. in a title vs. title match. The Andersons beat Jones and Conway and as a result, the Mid-Atlantic Tag Team titles were retired and not to be seen until they were brought back well over a year later. 

If I'm not mistaken, I believe this is the first ever match between Dusty Rhodes and Ric Flair. It ended up with a double count-out and would be the first of many bouts between Rhodes and Flair in Greensboro as well as other venues. 

The rest of the card included Jerry Brisco, Ken Patera, Art Nelson, Sandy Scott, and Kevin Sullivan. The poster itself has a horizontal layout with black print (other than the high impact red "Wrestling" oval, city, and main event names) over a two tone yellow and pink background and great images of Wahoo, Brisco, Jones, and Conway Jr. The Wahoo autograph adds a nice touch as well. 

I'm just trying to figure out how all those main eventers (Andersons, Wahoo, Jones, and Dusty) managed the amazing feat of making both shots on the same night.

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Mid-Atlantic Gateway Notes
by Dick Bourne, Mid-Atlantic Gateway

As Brack points out, Jim Crockett Promotions ran two big cards in North Carolina that night, one in Greensboro and one in Charlotte in opposition to the insurgent IWA. Even more remarkable, they also ran their other normal Thursday night town, Norfolk, VA, 

The Charlotte Card included:

• The Anderson Brothers defending their new NWA World Tag Team titles against the team that would give them fits for most of 1975, Wahoo McDaniel and Paul Jones. All four men also appeared on the Greensboro show that same night, indicating that they appeared very early in the card on one of the two shows. 
• Former NWA World Champion Harley Race made a rare appearance in the area against the special-attraction Haystacks Calhoun.
• Dusty Rhodes, also on that Greensboro card against Ric Flair, met El Gaucho. It's interesting that Ric Flair only wrestled in Greensboro and not in Charlotte since his Greensboro opponent (Rhodes) made both shows. Flair may have been involved in the Greensboro card later in some sort of outside interference role.

The Norfolk Card included:

• Johnny Valentine and the Super Destroyer vs. Bearcat Wright and Sonny King
• The Avenger and recently-turned babyface Swede Hanson vs. Mr. Fuji and Brute Bernard
• Others, including Klondike Bill, Blue Scorpion, Abe Jacobs, Two Ton Harris, Charlie Cook and more. 
  

NO. 34 IN THE BEASLEY POSTER SERIES

Poster: Rip Hawk and Swede Hanson Battle Each Other in Norfolk

by Brack Beasley
Mid-Atlantic Gateway Contributor

This poster promotes a card held at the Norfolk Arena in Norfolk, VA on Thursday, November 7th, 1974.

The main event, promising to be a violent affair, was a Fence Match between former allies Rip Hawk and Swede Hanson with a special stipulation making the pile driver legal. At the time, the pile driver was an illegal maneuver in the National Wrestling Alliance.

The semi main event featured promising newcomers Tiger Conway Jr. and Chuck O'Connor (who later would become Big John Studd). 

While this poster gives few details on the other bouts on this card, we know from the newspaper ad for this show that Klondike Bill teamed with Tio Tio vs. Two Ton Harris and Frank Morrell, Danny Miller took on rookie Ric Flair, and Billy Ash met Ken Dillinger in the opener. 

The poster is the smaller variety measuring only 14 by 22 inches and has a vertical layout with all black print over the two tone pink and yellow background. I would assume this card took place at the old arena built during World War II as opposed to the larger Scope Exhibition Hall which opened in 1971 but I could be mistaken. Nevertheless, Crockett held cards at the Scope starting in 1972 and for many years forward.

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Mid-Atlantic Gateway Notes
by Dick Bourne

• Promotional posters from Richmond, Hampton, and Norfolk are hard to come across. Nice to see this one from Brack's amazing collection, especially from the less familiar venue of the Norfolk Arena.
• For fans from that era, seeing long-time tag team partners Rip Hawk and Swede Hanson fighting each other had to be surreal. Swede had turned "good guy" following a split between himself and then-partner the Super Destroyer (aka The Spoiler, Don Jardine) in February of 1974. When Rip Hawk returned to the Mid-Atlantic area in the spring of 1974 from his NWA suspension for using the piledriver (actually had been away working in Florida), he would occasionally cross paths with Swede in tag matches, but the singles feud between the two former partners broke wide open in August and continued throughout the fall of 1974.
• Rookie Ric Flair defeated veteran and longtime area star Danny Miller on this card, an indication that Flair's star was continuing to rise as a singles competitor within Crockett Promotions. Flair and Rip Hawk were the reigning Mid-Atlantic Tag Team champions at the time of this card in Norfolk.
  

 NO. 26 IN A SERIES

Jack Brisco vs. Ric Flair (1982)

PHOTOGRAPH BY GEORGE PANTAS

A great photograph sent to us and taken by George Pantas. It's a November 1982 battle in the Norfolk Scope in Norfolk, VA, featuring Jack Brisco vs. Ric Flair for the NWA World Heavyweight Championship. 

Brisco has sent Flair flipping into the turnbuckle and now pounds away as referee Tommy Young warns Brisco to break the corner before the count of five.

The former champion Brisco was chasing the title again, which had been held by Flair since September of 1981.

Ricky Steamboat Returns to Norfolk (2015)

Ricky Steamboat made a return to Norfolk, VA recently in an appearance for Big Time Wrestling at the Norfolk Scope.

Prior to the event Eric Stace and Eddie Cheslock met Ricky in front of the famous Scope Coliseum, site of so many great Mid-Atlantic Wrestling events over the years, including yearly cards on Thanksgiving night in the 1960s, 1970s, and early 1980s. They took some photographs of the former NWA world champion with a replica of the belt he wore in 1989.

Thanks to those guys for allowing us to post this great photograph here on the Gateway. Thanks also to promoter Tony Hunter who helped make all that possible.

Ricky Steamboat with the book
"United States Championship"

George Pantas interviewed Ricky Steamboat for the Norfolk Navy Flagship in advance of his appearance in Norfolk. You can find links to that interview (which contains lots of Mid-Atlantic discussion) here.

Also, our buddy George South had a chance to spend some time with Ricky before the Norfolk event and show him our new book on the United States Championship. He posted some comments about that on his website. George reports that Ricky loved the book and asked for a copy, which you just better believe is on the way soon. (You kidding me?)

George wrote:

We spent 30 minutes talking about the U.S. belt! He remembered that "heavyweight" was misspelled on the belt and loved seeing all those photos of it again. He marked out a little remembering working with Buddy Rogers in one of the U.S. tournaments. And got mad that Slaughter put new leather on the black belt! haha

Steamboat held the U.S. championship on several occasions in the 1970s and 1980s, trading the title with the likes of Ric Flair, Blackjack Mulligan, Wahoo McDaniel, and Dick Slater.

For more information on the book about Jim Crockett's United States Championship and the five belts that represented it, click here.

Originally published  in November 2015 on the Mid-Atlantic Gateway.

The Anderson Family Battles Wahoo, Rufus, and Bravo

by Dick Bourne
Mid-Atlantic Gateway
From the "Main Event Memories" Series

Tonight's "Main Event Memory" on the Mid-Atlantic Gateway is from the early fall of 1976 and reflects back on a trio of individuals running roughshod through the Mid-Atlantic area that entire year - The Anderson Brothers and their young cousin Ric Flair.

The Anderson family prepared to battle Wahoo McDaniel, Dino Bravo, and Rufus R. "Freight Train" Jones. The big six-man battle was the main event on a card at the Scope Coliseum in Norfolk, VA, and would be fought under "Lights Out" rules: the match was not sanctioned by the National Wrestling Alliance -- anything goes!

One side of this main event was carrying all the championship gold:

• "The Minnesota Wrecking Crew" Gene and Ole Anderson were the reigning NWA World Tag Team champions. 
• The Nature Boy" Ric Flair was in the middle of his year long feud with Chief Wahoo McDaniel over the Mid-Atlantic Heavyweight championship. He had regained the title from Wahoo after hitting him in the head with the broken table-leg in the infamous match in Charlotte that resulted in Wahoo going to the hospital legit and getting 53 stitches over his eye. 

The Andersons and Flair had issues with Wahoo, Rufus, and Bravo individually and were hoping to settle all of the issues in this one night where there were no rules. Lights out!

As Ole says, how can these three hope to compete with the "Anderson family" under those circumstances?

Listen as Les Thatcher interviews the Andersons and Ric Flair about their big upcoming bout on September 9, 1976!

* * * * *

Originally published June 28, 2015 and republished October 20, 2018

Escape from the Norfolk Scope

George Pantas Remembers
his Night with the Road Warriors

Lamenting the sad and untimely death of Joe Laurinaitis, better known to all of us as Road Warriror Animal, our friend George Pantas recently relayed a fond memory he had with Joe back in the 1980s.

"My first interaction with Joe was actually because David Crockett had asked me at the Norfolk Scope one time if I wouldn’t mind taking Joe, Hawk and Paul Ellering to their hotel in Virginia Beach that night. Of course I said yes!"

THE LEGION OF DOOM
Hawk and Animal of the Road Warriors

 

But there was a flip side that came along with taking care of the Road Warrriors; they were "bad guys" at the time and the situation outside the Scope could get a little hairy when fans spotted bad guys leaving the building.

"I remember being worried that my car would get messed up because they were heels at the time and the fans saw them getting into my car. For some reason Animal carried all their bags and he was blown up by the time he carried them from under the Scope to across the street where I had parked. The fans saw them getting into my car.  I kept telling Joe hurry up, hurry up move fast, move faster. The fans got around the car, but when I started it, they made an opening and I was able to drive away as the fans had their fists in the air. Nothing else happened thank God."

Once in George's car on this hot summer night, though, something funny happened.

"I had a Chevette at the time, a very small car, but I squeezed them in there. It was summertime, I’m thinking July, the humidity was just horrible that night. Joe’s in the front, Paul and Hawk in the back. I have the air conditioner blasting and Paul says to Joe up front, 'Hey Joe, close the window, George has the air-conditioning on.'  

Joe says, 'I can’t close it.'

"I’m thinking, what’s his problem?  All he had to do is just turn the handle."

"Well it turns out, his arms were so big, his chest was so big, sitting in my little car, that something that you and I do for granted, tuck our arms in and turn the handle on the window to close it, he could not do. I still smile about that to this day."

Thanks to George Pantas for his story. Our condolences continue to be extended to Joe Laurinaitis' family and friends. 

Edited by Dick Bourne at the Mid-Atlantic Gateway 

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The late Rob Riddick, a great friend and wonderful photographer, took several special photos of the Road Warriors over the years. Here are links to a few articles with more:

Brothers in Paint
Road Warrior Face-Off
Heaven Needed Six Man Champions

Photographer Robert Riddick
Rob Riddick's Photo Pages on the Mid-Atlantic Gateway Archive

Thanksgiving Memories: Greensboro & Norfolk 1975

For decades, wrestling on Thanksgiving night was a cherished tradition in the Mid-Atlantic area, particularly in the cities of Greensboro, NC and Norfolk, VA.

The line-up of talent on the two Jim Crockett promotions cards in 1975 was simply amazing. And this was without their two top heels following the plane crash seven weeks earlier. Johnny Valentine's career was ended and Ric Flair would not return from his broken back until late January of 1976. 

Brisco, Wahoo, Funk, Jones, Andre, Graham, the Andersons, Mulligan, Woods, Weaver, Miller, Patera, Mosca and so many more. Just an incredible line-up of great talent.

Today we look back at the 44th anniversary of a big night of wrestling in these two big Crockett towns. The actual date was Thanksgiving night 11/27/75.

Happy Thanksgiving!!

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 27, 1975

GREENSBORO, NC

Greensboro Coliseum

Greensboro Event Poster

Greensboro Newspaper Ad

Newspaper Result

A Page from Booker George Scott's Day Planner

NORFOLK, VA

Scope Coliseum

Norfolk Newspaper Ad

Norfolk Newspaper Result

Superstar Billy Graham and Andre the Giant at the Scope, Thanksgiving 1975
Photograph by Bill Janosik

International Wrestling Association (IWA)

WINSTON-SALEM, NC

Winston-Salem Coliseum

The rival IWA also ran a big Thanksgiving show in the Mid-Atlantic area
on Thanksgiving night of 1975.

Originally published November 25, 2015 on the Mid-Atlantic Gateway

 

The Anderson Family Unites to Battle Wahoo, Rufus, and Bravo

by Dick Bourne
Mid-Atlantic Gateway
From the "Main Event Memories" Series

Tonight's "Main Event Memory" on the Mid-Atlantic Gateway is from the early fall of 1976 and reflects back on a trio of individuals running roughshod through the Mid-Atlantic area that entire year - The Anderson Brothers and their young cousin Ric Flair.

The Anderson family prepared to battle Wahoo McDaniel, Dino Bravo, and Rufus R. "Freight Train" Jones. The big six-man battle was the main event on a card at the Scope Coliseum in Norfolk, VA, and would be fought under "Lights Out" rules: the match was not sanctioned by the National Wrestling Alliance -- anything goes!

One side of this main event was carrying all the championship gold:

• "The Minnesota Wrecking Crew" Gene and Ole Anderson were the reigning NWA World Tag Team champions. 
• The Nature Boy" Ric Flair was in the middle of his year long feud with Chief Wahoo McDaniel over the Mid-Atlantic Heavyweight championship. He had regained the title from Wahoo after hitting him in the head with the broken table-leg in the infamous match in Charlotte that resulted in Wahoo going to the hospital legit and getting 53 stitches over his eye. 

The Andersons and Flair had issues with Wahoo, Rufus, and Bravo individually and were hoping to settle all of the issues in this one night where there were no rules. Lights out!

As Ole says, how can these three hope to compete with the "Anderson family" under those circumstances?

Listen as Les Thatcher interviews the Andersons and Ric Flair about their big upcoming bout on September 9, 1976!

* * * * *

Originally published June 28, 2015.

Becker and Weaver vs. The Andersons (Norfolk 1967)

Here is some rare vintage audio: a 45 sec. clip from Norfolk, VA, promoting an upcoming card on October 26, 1967 at the Norfolk City Arena (as seen in the newspaper ad above.).

The promo aired during "All Star Wrestling" on WAVY-TV channel 10 in Norfolk. We don't know who the narrator is, perhaps an employee of the station. He's likely local, though, as he clearly has that eastern Virginia accent...."Nawfolk." Love it.

What a great looking newspaper ad, too, we love this design. Take a look at those 1967 ringside prices.

George Becker and Johnny Weaver vs. Lars and Gene Anderson in a two-of-three falls main event. The dynamic team of Les Thatcher and Rudy Kay in support. Didn't get much better than that in 1967.

From the Archives: A Blooper Classic

The following is a re-post of one of our favorite newspaper ad bloopers, the very first one we posted back in 2015 in this series.

Over the years, the newspaper ads for local wrestling events would frequently have mistakes or errors related to the names of the wrestlers. Sometimes these were simple "typos", other times there is simply no explanation for them! Some are mildly humorous. Some are downright hilarious. This was especially true in the 1970s and early 1980s before the promotion became a bit more professional in how they put their ads together.

The newspaper ads are a big part of history features on the Gateway, but we are going to occasionally post some of the ads with the crazy mistakes in them in a semi-regular feature we are calling

We kick things off with one of the funniest bloopers we've ever come across.

Wahoo McDaniel and Paul Jones fought Gene and Ole Anderson in one of the fiercest and most memorable rivalries in Mid-Atlantic Wrestling history. In late May 1975, the two teams prepared to battle at the Scope Exhibition Hall in Norfolk, VA. So imagine opening your newspaper and seeing and ad for a world's tag team title bout where the team of Wahoo McDaniel and Paul Jones were fighting Gene and OLD Anderson!

We've laughed at this one over the years. We're guessing a simple typo; the "D" key on the typewriter keyboard is right below the "E" key. However, many of these ads were pasted up at the time, not typed, which would mean someone had to intentionally put the D in line with the other text when pasting up the ad.

Add to that the transposing of the "A" and the "N" (McDNAIEL) typo in Wahoo's last name, and it's a "twofer!"

But the real gem here is OLD Anderson. It is one of the great wrestling newspaper bloopers ever, and a great rib to this day on the Minnesota Wrecking Crew.

Our friend Peggy Lathan, a mutual friend of Ole's, will make sure "the Rock" sees this!

More Bloopers to come.

8/17/15 Edit: Peggy Lathan sent us this photo taken by David Cooper, who wrote:

"I took this picture a few weeks ago because I thought Ole might get a kick out of it. Also, when I took it, I had no idea that there was an old wrestling poster shown on the Mid-Atlantic Gateway website last month that listed Ole as Old Anderson!"

Photo by David Cooper

Thanks, as always, to Mark Eastridge for sharing his amazing collection of newspaper ads with the Mid-Atlantic Gateway.

Check out all the bloopers here.

Thanksgiving Night Meant Great Wrestling for Jim Crockett Promotions

Norfolk TV Station catches the Tidewater area up on Tony Schiavone

Norfolk, VA television station WAVY-10 recently did a feature on Tony Schiavone, the voice of the Gwinnett Braves (Atlanta Braves affiliate) radio broadcasts, who is originally from the Richmond area.

It is an EXCELLENT feature on Tony, covering his entire wrestling broadcasting career with Mid-Atlantic Wrestling/Jim Crockett Promotions and WCW, as well as his current work with the Braves. (On a side note, WAVY was once a Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling affiliate on the old 1970s-1980s Crockett Promotions network.)

We are looking forward to seeing Tony in Charlotte this August, as he makes his first appearance at the annual Mid-Atlantic Wrestling Legends Fanfest (Aug. 4-7) at the University Place Hilton. Details online at www.nwalegends.com or on their Facebook page or Twitter feed.

Thanksgiving Retro: Greensboro & Norfolk 1975

For decades, wrestling on Thanksgiving night was a cherished tradition in the Mid-Atlantic area, particularly in the cities of Greensboro, NC and Norfolk, VA.

The line-up of talent on the two Jim Crockett promotions cards was simply amazing. And this was without their two top heels following the plane crash 7 weeks earlier. Johnny Valentine's career was ended and Ric Flair would not return from his broken back until late January of 1976. 

Brisco, Wahoo, Funk, Jones, Andre, Graham, the Andersons, Mulligan, Woods, Weaver, Miller, Patera, Mosca and so many more. Just an incredible line-up of great talent.

Today we look back at the 40th anniversary of a big night of wrestling in these two big Crockett towns. The actual date was Thanksgiving night 11/27/75, but we take a look back a few days early. 

Happy Thanksgiving!!

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 27, 1975

GREENSBORO, NC

Greensboro Coliseum

Greensboro Event Poster

Greensboro Newspaper Ad

Newspaper Result

A Page from Booker George Scott's Day Planner

NORFOLK, VA

Scope Coliseum

Norfolk Newspaper Ad

Norfolk Newspaper Result

Superstar Billy Graham and Andre the Giant at the Scope, Thanksgiving 1975
Photograph by Bill Janosik

International Wrestling Association (IWA)

WINSTON-SALEM, NC

Winston-Salem Coliseum

The rival IWA also ran a big Thanksgiving show in the Mid-Atlantic area
on Thanksgiving night of 1975.