A Look Back at Big Swede Hanson's Defining Moment

Swede Hanson

by David Chappell
Mid-Atlantic Gateway

My earliest professional wrestling memories came about from watching All-Star Wrestling, the precursor to Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling, on television in the late 1960s. Two of the most noteworthy stars of that time were Rip Hawk and Swede Hanson, the dastardly duo that ran roughshod in Jim Crockett Promotions through the 60’s into the early 1970’s. These two villains were almost inseparable, with Rip being sly and sneaky with the gift of gab, while Swede was the silent partner, and a big brutish enforcer.

By late 1973, the winds of change were blowing in the Carolinas territory which was by then called Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling. Rip Hawk exited the area for about a three month period in December of 1973. While the “Ripper” was gone, Swede had his contract purchased by none other than the notorious Super Destroyer! The Super D. “managed” and had Swede in tow as his enforcer, and big Swede’s first major target was Johnny Weaver, as Hanson interfered in a huge match between Weaver and the Destroyer on December 28, 1973 at the Richmond Coliseum in Richmond, Virginia. Swede saved the Destroyer from losing his mask in that bout, with his antics giving Weaver an unsatisfying disqualification victory.

In January of 1974, Swede Hanson and the Super Destroyer formed an imposing tag team combination, dispatching such high-end “good guy” tag teams as Johnny Weaver and Art Nelson, and Nelson Royal and Sandy Scott during that month. In early February, Swede took to wearing a hood as “Mr. X” when teaming with the Destroyer. This chicanery came to an end after a couple of tag team bouts, when Mr. X was unceremoniously unmasked by Danny Miller and Johnny Weaver as being big Swede Hanson under the hood.

The unholy alliance between Swede Hanson and the Super Destroyer began showing cracks almost as quickly as it began. For the many years that Swede teamed up with Rip Hawk, the Ripper did not always treat Hanson with a boatload of respect. But Swede was the “good soldier,” never really challenging Rip even when Hawk was condescending to him. However, when the Super Destroyer started talking down to Swede and chastising him for supposed inadequacies in the ring, the big 300 pounder from Newark, New Jersey didn’t care for that treatment in the least. The slights mounted, and an inner rage started to build in the big Swede. A defining moment in the career of Swede Hanson was about to happen!

On February 13, 1974 at the television tapings for Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling, Swede Hanson reached his breaking point. During a televised bout the Destroyer not only berated the big Swede verbally, but had the audacity to SLAP him in front of the TV studio audience and all the thousands of fans watching at home! Swede Hanson finally had enough! After being content to stay in the background and take the snide insults for many years, Swede decided to control his own destiny. His defining moment in Jim Crockett Promotions had arrived!

Announcer Elliot Murnick said, “I’m up at the ring now and Swede Hanson is pacing around here.” Hanson interrupted, “Let me tell you something Murnick. You don’t pull something like that with me. I’m not a whipping dog for these people! If this guy thinks I’m a whipping dog for him he’s out of his mind! I don’t know what’s the matter with this character. He’s not gonna get away with it with me. I’ve had enough of this stuff. For years, I’ve had enough of garbage like him!”

Kiniski: A Chip Off the Old Block

 One of Gene Kiniski's trademark moments during ring introductions when he was NWA World Champion was to lift up his ring jacket to show off the NWA World title belt he wore underneath. He was known for it. So much so, a great color photo of him doing that exact thing with the NWA 1959-1973 "crown belt" graced the cover of his biography. 

Years later, when his son Kelly Kiniski worked in the Mid-Atlantic territory, he briefly teamed with One Man Gang (George Grey) and the two held the Mid-Atlantic Tag Team championships under the management of Sir Oliver Humperdink as part of Hump's stable, the House of Humperdink.

As a tribute to his father, Kelly would often do the same thing, holding up his ring jacket for photos and ring introductions, as seen in the photo above from 1983.

Incidentally, Kiniski and Gang were the last team to hold these particular belts, title straps that went all the way back to 1975 beginning with the Gene and Ole, the Anderson Brothers. 

I was happy to come across this photograph, as it's a nice call back from son to father, the latter being one of the great NWA World Champions.

Originally published October of 2020 on the Mid-Atlantic Gateway.

Photos: The Pride of West Texas

I've had Blackjack Mulligan on my mind today. No reason, just missing one of Mid-Atlantic Wrestling's greatest ever.

Lots of fun Mulligan stuff in Blackjack's Bar-B-Que. 

Big Dust, Big Gold

 

"If you've read "Big Gold" by Dick Bourne you know the nameplate for my Father was never on the actual Title after my Father defeated Ric at The GAB. It was rumored to not even exist, but it was ordered and it does exist. I found it in a cigar-box ... (and now) it officially goes on the original "Big Gold".

- Cody Rhodes, July 25, 2016, @CodyRhodes                   

Flair and Valentine at WRAL

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



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

Now we take a second look at the team of Johnny Valentine and Ric Flair in a great photograph in the moments after their victory over Kevin Sullivan and Bob Bruggers. (See more photos from that match here.)

At left, Sullivan kneels over his partner who had just taken a vicious suplex and elbow drop from "The Champ" Johnny Valentine.  Referee Johnny Heidmann checks up on the losing team as well.

Johnny Valentine had taken Flair under his wing somewhat during this time and the two teamed frequently on TV. Valentine was the reigning United States Heavyweight champion and Ric Flair held the Mid-Atlantic Television title.

In another great photo from the bleachers, Ric Cater grabbed a shot of the new United States Heavyweight title belt as it lay on the ring apron before the match, just moments before ring attendant scooped it up. You can see the ring attendant in the background, just placing Flair's TV belt over his left arm. This was the first time the new U.S. title belt, with its sparkling gold plated cast plates and shiny red crocodile leather, had been seen on T.V.

 

The story on every title change and every belt from the Crockett Promotions years.

As mentioned in our earlier post on this match, it was Johnny Valentine's first TV appearance as United States Heavyweight champion. He had just defeated Harley Race six days earlier for that title in Greensboro. During Valentine's TV match, Les Thatcher told fans that they would be reviewing tape of the title change from Greensboro on next week's show.

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

This show was taped Wednesday, 7/9/75 and aired on Saturday, 7/12/75. Other matches on this show included Chief Wahoo McDaniel vs. The Blue Scorpion, "No. 1" Paul Jones and Rufus R. "Freight Train" Jones vs. "Crusher" Jerry Blackwell and George "Two Ton" Harris, plus Ole Anderson vs. Bob Burns.

This is the fifth and final installment in our series of photos from WRAL studio in 1975. 

1975 Photo Feature Summary
1. Wahoo McDaniel vs. The Blue Scorpion (Part 1)
2. Wahoo McDaniel vs. The Blue Scorpion (Part 2) 
3. Johnny Valentine & Ric Flair vs. Sullivan & Bruggers (Part 1)
4. Paul Jones & Rufus R. Jones vs. Blackwell and Harris 
5. Johnny Valentine & Ric Flair vs. Sullivan & Bruggers (Part 2) (This post)

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

Vintage audio provided by Gary Wray.

Edited from an original post in August 2018.

Back to the Future: Crockett & Schiavone on the WTBS Set

David Crockett and Tony Schiavone

Starrcast promoter Conrad Thompson had a replica built of the World Championship Wrestling television production set, nearly identical to the one used in the Techwood Drive studios of WTBS in Atlanta during the Crockett TBS years of 1985-1988. 

The replica set was used for photo-ops involving Crockett, Schiavone, and the Four Horsemen, as well as the backdrop for Crockett and Schiavone to call the big PPV event "Ric Flair's Last Match."

Nobody adds the special nostalgic Mid-Atlantic/JCP touches to events quite like Conrad Thompson. I wonder if this would fit in my basement??

Jaws: The Mystery of Charlotte's Land-Shark

by Dick Bourne
Mid-Atlantic Gateway

JAWS
Photograph by Jackie Crockett
© Crockett Foundation.
Used with permission.

Back in January of 2017, we posted on the Gateway about an unusual wrestler in the Mid-Atlantic area in 1977 by the name of JAWS. He was (for a very short period of time) under the managerial direction of "Professor" Boris Malenko, who, as head of 'The Family', managed the Masked Superstar and the "Korean Assassin" Kim Duk.

In the spring of 1977 Malenko's "family" was in the middle of a big feud with the Mighty Igor, and Malenko brought in a paid assassin in an attempt to eliminate Igor from the wrestling scene. He was a masked wrestler named Jaws.

You can read all about Jaws in our original post, including info on the movie on which this whacky character was based. There are rare photographs of him in the Crockett Foundation's book "When Wrestling Was Wrestling."  

Recently, we even thought we had figured out who he was under that mask. But that mystery remains. 

A fellow on Facebook by the name of Barry Hatchet posted a photo of Jaws wrestling in Japan on our Facebook page and informed us it was the legendary Danny Miller under the hood. A quick text to Danny's daughter Corinna from mutual friend Peggy Lathan confirmed it was indeed Corinna's father in the photo from Japan.

Danny Miller as Jaws in Japan
(Photo courtesy of Corinna Miller)

"Yes," she replied to Peggy in a text message, "it was Dad. He was Jaws."

So we momentarily thought we had solved the mystery of who was under the mask in the photo taken by Jackie Crockett in Charlotte in 1977 (seen above.)

But Corinna poured cold water on us when she also told Peggy that the man in the photo from Charlotte wearing the Jaws mask was not her father. She and her mother Karin said the Charlotte Jaws had a different physique than Danny. "He always had his gear with him, though" she told Peggy, "and might have loaned that to someone else."

She forwarded on another photograph of her father (seen at right), a shot that she found in his personal scrapbook wearing the Jaws gear while in Japan.

Despite the fact that the identity of Jaws in the Charlotte photo remained a mystery, this was some exciting news for us. We never knew that Danny Miller wrestled in Japan as a land-shark!

Danny Miller

The legendary Danny Miller wrestled here in the 1960s and 1970s and was one of our childhood favorites. He held championships here, including the Eastern Heavyweight Championship that was the forerunner to the Mid-Atlantic Heavyweight title. He was a frequent tag partner of Les Thatcher and Jerry Brisco, and later worked for Jim Crockett Promotions as one if its local promoters on the ground in Greenville, SC.

Thanks to Barry for the tip and Corinna for the information regarding her Dad and his secret alter-ego in Japan. We will, however, continue to seek out the identity of the man who wrestled under that hood in Charlotte - - one of Mid-Atlantic Wrestling's most obscure and long forgotten characters - - JAWS!

Originally published in February 2017 on the Mid-Atlantic Gateway

Showdown at the Township: Valentine and Flair vs. Wahoo and Jones

The marquee at the Columbia Township Auditorium, January 24, 1978

NWA World Tag Team Champions
Ric Flair and Greg Valentine

A NWA World Tag Team Title match headlined a four-match card at the historic Township.

 

'Gregg' Valentine?
I guess someone at the newspaper said, 

"Why not? Let's throw another "G" on his name!

Originally published June of 2016 on the Mid-Atlantic Gateway.

Marquee photo from Japanese magazine sent to us by Greg Price. Newspaper clipping from the collection of Mark Eastridge.

Magazine Memories: Paul Jones vs. Terry Funk

by Dick Bourne
Mid-Atlantic Gateway

This was always one of my favorite photos in the old Weston magazines, it ran in many issues over the years in stories or mentions about Paul Jones and/or Terry Funk.

What I like is the way Funk is selling. It was a familiar look for him when selling during the 70s and early 80s.

Jones is working over Funk's leg, perhaps setting him up for his trademark Indian deathlock. Funk has his arms wrapped around his head - - his right over his eyes, his left over his ear. I used to joke this was the "see no evil" method of selling. If I can't see you and and I can't hear you, then you can't hurt me.

One of the best matches on tape to see Funk sell in this way is the famous Toronto match in 1977 where he loses the NWA title to Harley Race.

It's a small thing, really, but it always stood out to me, and it did in this great photo as well.

Originally published May 2018 on the Mid-Atlantic Gateway. Republished 5/30/2020, 4/14/2022.

Now That's a Dropkick! Hawk vs. Lex Luger

 

This is another in a series of great images by our friend, the late photographer Robert Riddick, Jr. 

Road Warrior Hawk connects with a wicked flying dropkick on the "Total Package" Lex Luger, circa 1987-1988. Guessing Lex felt that one. 

Great memories!

Click here for more classic Robert Riddick images on the mid-Atlantic Gateway.

Poster: Classic 1976 Feud for the U.S. Title: Mulligan vs. Jones

by Brack Beasley
Mid-Atlantic Gateway Contributor 

This poster promotes a card held on May 22nd, 1976 at the Starland Arena in Roanoke, VA and the U.S. Heavyweight Title was on the line in the main event.

Paul Jones was in the midst of valiantly trying to regain the U.S. belt that he had lost to Blackjack Mulligan back in March but unfortunately for Jones, this would not be the night. He would eventually manage to win the belt back from Mulligan much later in 1976, October 16th to be exact. 

The semi-main event was an excellent tag team match-up of Johnny Weaver and hometown hero Tony Atlas versus Geeto and Bolo Mongol. Preliminaries featured some interesting match-ups as well with Angelo Poffo versus Pete Sanchez, Bill Howard versus Dr. Fugiani, and Two Ton Harris versus Larry Zbyszko.

With a vertical layout, the poster has all black print on a two tone orange and yellow background along with images of Jones, Weaver, and Harris. 

The Sportsman in Roanoke would be the place to purchase advance tickets.

* * * * * * * * * * * *

Gateway notes: 

• It's hard for younger fans who might only know Paul Jones from his managerial days in the 1980s on WTBS to fully grasp how over Paul Jones was as both a U.S. Champion (the top territory title) and challenger for that title as well. Jones/Mulligan headlined many cards during the year 1976.
• Tony Atlas (also billed occasionally in Roanoke as Tony "Atlas" White) was indeed a legend in the local area, both as a high school athlete and weight lifter. He would be given a short Mid-Atlantic title run a year and half later by booker George Scott, both winning and losing the title in his hometown Roanoke. 
• Dr. Fujianai was the U.S. working name at the time of a young Tatsumi Fujinami, who would become a legendary wrestler in Japan for New Japan Pro Wrestling as IWGP champion and once defeated Ric Flair at the Tokyo Dome to win the NWA World Championship (although that win was later disputed.)
  
• Brack mentions The Sportsman as the place to buy advance tickets, which was usually noted on Roanoke posters and in local TV promos.  The Sportsman was another enterprise of local wrestling promoter Pete Apostolou, located in downtown Roanoke. According to a note I received from longtime area fan (and Mid-Atlantic Mafia member) Kyle Rosser, The Sportsman was a downtown Roanoke fixture for many years featuring a restaurant/lunch counter on the first floor, a pool hall on the second floor, and a bowling alley on the third floor. Sounds like a very cool place! - DB
  
  

The Sportsman, Roanoke VA
The Place to purchase advance tickets for Mid-Atlantic Wrestling.

NO. 20 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.

Tully Blanchard: The Lights Go Out

NWA TV Champion Tully Blanchard, victim of a Johnny Weaver sleeper.

by Dick Bourne

Mid-Atlantic Gateway

Photograph by Ginger Layman Lynch

 

Tully Blanchard sleeps peacefully on the mat, it seems, his NWA TV championship belt almost as a pillow. But moments earlier, it was actually wrestling legend Johnny Weaver who put the champ to sleep with his famous sleeper hold in a title match in Roanoke VA. The time limit expired before the referee declared Blanchard out, and Blanchard retained his title.

One of my favorite moments each week on "World Wide Wrestling" in the early 1980s was when Johnny Weaver would pick one match each week and sing "Turn Out the Lights (The Party's Over)" at the finish. It was an homage to "Dandy" Don Meredith who used to sing the same song at the end of games in the 1970s on ABC's "Monday Night Football."

On this night in Roanoke, although he didn't win the title, Johnny Weaver could have sung to Tully Blanchard.

This is one of my favorite photographs by Roanoke-area photographer Ginger Layman Lynch, who shot photos ringside in Roanoke and Rocky Mount VA in the early 1980s. She was kind enough to share some of her photographs with the Mid-Atlantic Gateway.

See more of Ginger's photography on the Mid-Atlantic Gateway Archive site HERE.

 

Photograph Copyright © Ginger Layman Lynch. Used by permission. Originally published December 2015 on the Mid-Atlantic Gateway.

Please Note: Wahoo McDaniel did not kill Ric Flair!

by Dick Bourne
Mid-Atlantic Gateway

Wrestling was different back in the day. Many fans believed. And that led to some wild rumors circulating through the territory.

Some of those rumors took root such that the local promoter had to go public and dispel them. 

Such was the case in early 1977 with a particularly nasty rumor following what must have been such a brutal match between Ric Flair and Wahoo McDaniel that it left fans thinking Wahoo had actually killed Flair! Pete Apostolou, Jim Crockett's promoter on the ground in Roanoke and Lynchburg and other towns in southwest Virginia, had to call in to the local Lynchburg newspaper and ask them to publish a short missive letting fans know that Ric Flair actually wasn't dead.

Despite dispelling the rumor that Flair had died after the match with Wahoo, Aposolou - ever the promoter - still let fans believe Wahoo had put Flair in the hospital. Something about that I really love in a twisted way.

The real story: Flair actually missed a little over a month of action due to abdominal surgery, reported as an emergency appendectomy or gallbladder surgery, depending on the source. Flair's first missed card was on 1/28/77 in Spartanburg, SC where he and tag team partner Greg Valentine were to defend their NWA tag team titles. During the month of February, Valentine teamed with various "mystery partners" filling in for Flair. 

Photograph by Bill Janosik

 
Flair was a part of a heavily hyped singles cage-match main event in Greensboro on 2/6/77 against "cousin" Ole Anderson, growing out of their feud over the NWA tag team titles. Jim Crockett brought in Superstar Billy Graham from the WWWF as his replacement for that one night, and was able to promote him in time for the big Greensboro Coliseum card.  Graham was a nice fill-in as he had become a big deal nationally in the wrestling magazines and was only a couple of months away from winning the WWWF Heavyweight Championship from Bruno Sammartino. 

Flair returned to action on 3/05/77 for promoter Apostolou in Roanoke VA, teaming with Valentine to defend the tag titles against the Jones boys - - No. 1 Paul Jones and the "Freight Train", Rufus R. Jones.

The little note in the Lynchburg paper, though, shows how real wrestling was to some fans back in those days. It's also a testament to the brutality that Wahoo McDaniel and Ric Flair showed in their matches that had fans feeling that way. Wrestling was better then.

Thanks to Mark Eastridge for the great clipping.

Book Shelf: The Big Gold Belt

Visit the Mid-Atlantic Gateway Bookstore at bookstore.midatlanticgateway.com

Super Power Summit

 

Another great photo by the late photographer Rob Riddick. The Super Powers (Nikita Koloff and Dusty Rhodes) with Paul Ellering and Steve "Dr. Death" Williams.  

For more on my friend Rob, whom I miss more with each passing year, please visit: http://midatlanticgateway.com/2015/06/robert-riddick.html

For all posts and photographs related to Rob on our website, visit this link.

Pete Apostolou and Roanoke Wrestling

Pete Apostolou promoted many wrestling matches in the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s, both on Saturday afternoon TV shows on WDBJ-TV (Channel 7) and in live evening venues such as the old American Legion Auditorium, Legion Stadium, and Starland Arena, seen here. (Roanoke Times Photo)

The following is an edited from a much larger article from the Roanoke Times by Ray Cox, originally published March 11, 2018. We extracted info about longtime Roanoke promoter Pete Apostolou for historical purposes, fleshing out some great detail about the old TV tapings that took place at WDBJ channel 7 in Roanoke.  Take time to read Cox's entire article on the Roanoke.com website here.
 

Professional wrestling has a rich history going back many decades from coast to coast, up into Canada and down into Mexico. A fondly recalled footnote involved the many Star City bouts promoted by Pete Apostolou on behalf of Jim Crockett Promotions.

WDBJ-TV (Channel 7) carried live studio wrestling Saturday afternoons from 1957-67. Early years of the show were staged on the second floor of the offices that still serve The Roanoke Times. Beloved WDBJ weatherman Hal Grant handled ringside blow-by-blow and post-match interviews. Apostolou was the color man. [The shows] were usually preludes to live evening bouts at venues such as the old American Legion Auditorium. More on the Bolos in a minute.

Eventually, in 1965 Apostolou bought an old bowling alley between Salem Turnpike and Shenandoah Avenue, dubbed it the Starland Arena, and continued Saturday night shows there. Apostolou thus had “the perfect set-up where the guys could come in and do the live ‘All Star Wrestling’ TV and the Starland Arena show all within hours of each other,” wrote Dick Bourne at Mid-Atlantic Gateway.

Another perfect setup for these weekend productions was that the touring grapplers would stay at the former Ponce De Leon Hotel on downtown Roanoke’s Campbell Avenue, right across 2nd Street from the Times-World building. Thus the beefy stars of the Saturday beating and banging matinees could wake up from their naps and walk to work.

Retired Roanoke newspaperman Bob Adams recalled the bad old days of Campbell Avenue head-busting. “The wrestlers would come up to the third floor rest room, which used to be right next to the sports department, to use as a dressing room,” Adams said. “On the second floor, they hated each other. They’d come up to the third floor, and be laughing and talking.”

Apostolou would take down the results of the bouts and bring them up to the sports desk, where editor Bill Brill, moonlighting as a publicist, would write up the press release, Adams said. At other times, one wrestling magazine or another would call into the sports department for results. Peeved copy editors, with regular newspaper deadlines looming, were as likely to make something up as give an accurate report, Adams remembered.

* * * * * * * 

Here is the link to the original story on the Roanoke.com website which includes greater detail, plus references to Jimmy "Boogie Man" Valiant and a deep dive into the Bolos via Gateway contributor Mike Cline. Great stuff from Ray Cox! (And thanks for mentioning the Mid-Atlantic Gateway.)

WOYM: Who were those masked wrestlers of the early days of Roanoke television?
By Ray Cox | Special to The Roanoke Times Mar 11, 2018 
https://www.roanoke.com/news/woym-who-were-those-masked-wrestlers-of-the-early-days/article_ae4cf29e-59f6-593b-bf1f-31051e4c65cc.html

Thanks to Kyle Rosser for making us aware of this particular column.

This Gateway article was originally published on the Studio Wrestling website, a part of the Mid-Atlantic Gateway family of websites. 

Arn Anderson and the Significance of the Anderson Boots

by Dick Bourne
Mid-Atlantic Gateway

"I was an Anderson before I was a Horseman."
- Arn Anderson

Anyone who has hung around this website for any length of time knows what a fan I am of the Anderson family in wrestling. It was Gene and Ole, the Anderson Brothers, who captured my fascination as a 13-year old fan in their epic feud with Paul Jones and Wahoo McDaniel back in 1975. And it was the match where Ole sacrificed his brother Gene to win the tag titles on television that hooked me as a fan for life.

One of the trademarks of the Anderson team was their unique maroon-and-gold striped boots they always wore in the ring. Gene and Lars Anderson (the third Anderson brother, before Ole came along) wore those boots back to the mid-1960s in Georgia. Once Ole became a member of the family in 1968, I don't think he ever wore any other style of boots in his entire career, a career that stretched across four decades.

When Ole made up-and-comer Marty Lunde an official member of the Anderson family in April of 1983 and gave him the name Arn Anderson, Lunde's career was seemingly made at that point, although I'm sure he had no idea then how significantly that name would impact his entire career, a career now entering its fifth decade.   

Arn Anderson understood the significance of the gift Ole had given him, having been a fan of the Anderson brothers himself as a teenager. When Ole took Arn as his partner in April of 1985, Arn ordered dered his own pair of "Anderson boots" and the transformation to a full blown member of the Minnesota Wrecking Crew was complete. 

Arn has talked about the boots before and their significance to him, and recently did so again on his Westwood One podcast ARN. Executive producer and co-host Conrad Thompson asked him about boots in general, and wondered if any particular color combination was a particular favorite to him.  

I love hearing Arn talk about the Anderson boots. Here is that one-minute audio clip, with a transcript below.

 

 

Transcript

CONRAD THOMPSON: Tell me about the boots. You had quite a few different color combinations - - the red and the black, black and silver, the white and the red. Is there a favorite pair or a favorite color combination, that you were really feelin' yourself, like aw sh*t, these are my best ones?

ARN ANDERSON: I felt like when the Horsemen were in their infancy . . . first of all, I have a pair of Anderson boots that will always be special, which means when Ole Anderson made me a member of his family, which made me a member of Gene's family, that's about as strong as it can get for a kid with my aspirations at that time. And the fact that I was allowed to copy his boots and for us to match was a big deal for me.

CONRAD: Yep.

ARN: And that's the boots that I hold nearest and dearest to my heart because that's when I was given my career. I was an Anderson before I was a Horseman. And for them to accept me as equals at the point of my career I was at, they'll always mean the most.

(from the episode Ask Arn Anything #29 of ARN podcast on Westwood One.)

Best of the Gateway: Andre the Giant's First Night in Charlotte (1974)

by Dick Bourne
Mid-Atlantic Gateway

Awhile back I posted a series on Andre the Giant's first tour of the Mid-Atlantic area in June of 1974. The story was inspired by a submission to the Mid-Atlantic Gateway by Les Thatcher of some photographs that he took and a wonderful story he had written then when he was tasked to take Andre on several promotional stops around the territory.

The can check that series out here:

Part 1: The Tour (includes a photo with Joe, Elliot, and Carl Murnick.)
Part 2: Les Thatcher's Opus: Les Thatcher's "lost story" about taking Andre on tour (including photos with Charlie Harville, Nick Pond, and Joe Murnick.)
Part 3: Context (Including additional photos with Scott Casey and Bill Ward, plus other Mid-Atlantic history that week.)

As I mentioned in the series, I was amazed out how much memorabilia seemed to exist from that one week in 1974. And now I've come across a bit more.

Scooter Lesley, who owns the vast photo archives of the late Gene Gordon, recently sent me a photo Gordon took of Andre in the locker room at the old Charlotte Coliseum (aka, Independence Arena, now Bojangles Coliseum.) I immediately thought of Les Thatcher's story and his photographs.

Nelson Royal, Swede Hanson, and Andre the Giant in Charlotte, June 10, 1974

The photograph, seen here, is of Nelson Royal and Swede Hansen looking up in awe at Andre. Although clearly staged, Nelson and Swede were no doubt legitimately in awe of the "Eight Wonder of the World" as they spent the week with him on his first tour of the area.

I knew the photo had to be from that week in June 1974, just based on some quick tell-tale signs. Nelson Royal still being in the area at the same time Swede Hansen was a babyface pegged it to those months in 1974, and this was likely Andre's only tour through that time. I knew that Nelson had teamed with Andre on Andre's first card in Charlotte. I looked up the newspaper clipping of that 6/10/74 Charlotte Coliseum show in Mark Eastridge's vast clipping archives, and confirmed that Swede Hanson was indeed on that same show, too.

That night in Charlotte, where Andre teamed with Royal to defeat Mr. Ota and Mr. Hiashi, was part of an 11-day tour that stretched from 6/3 to 6/13/74.

• Mon 6/3 - Greenwood SC - Andre beat Pedro Godoy and Mike Paidousis
• Tue 6/4 - Raleigh NC - Andre defeated Mike Paidousis and Bill White
• Wed 6/5 - Anderson SC -Andre & Sandy Scott def. Mr. Ota/Mr. Hiashi
• Thu 6/6 - Greensboro NC - Andre participated in a Battle Royal
• Fri 6/7 - Richmond VA - Andre participated in a Battle Royal
• Sat 6/8 - Roanoke VA - Andre def. Chuck O'Connor and Mike Paidousis
• Sun 6/9 - Rocky Mount NC - Andre def. O'Connor/"Two Ton" Harris
• Mon 6/10 - Charlotte NC - Andre & Nelson Royal def. Mr. Ota/Mr. Hiashi
• Tue 6/11 - Columbia SC - defeated Mike Paidousis and Bill White
• Wed 6/12 - Raleigh NC - Studio TV Appearance
• Thu 6/13 - Norfolk VA - Andre participated in a Battle Royal

Andre was also one of the "lumberjacks" in the main event that night, a Lumberjack Match between the Super Destroyer (Don Jardine) and Swede Hanson. That match ended in a "no decision" when at one point all of the lumberjacks found themselves in the ring in swinging away at each other until Andre cleared the ring of everybody!   

No doubt Andre made a big impression on wrestling fans as well as his peers that first week in the area. Gene Gordon's photograph, added to Les Thatcher's photos and "lost story" documented earlier, are a lasting record of that memorable period of time.

Originally published September 22, 2019 on the Mid-Atlantic Gateway.

Follow-up: Roddy Piper and the U.S. Championship in Oregon (1981)

by Dick Bourne
Mid-Atlantic Gateway

Earlier I published a story on Roddy Piper defending the United States Heavyweight championship in Salem, Oregon for promoter Don Owen in 1981. It was part of a week-long tour for Roddy of the Pacific Northwest territory (Portland.) Piper was the reigning U. S. champion for Jim Crockett Promotions, having defeated Ric Flair earlier that year.

Following that article's solicitation for more information from longtime Portland fans, I received an email from a nice fellow named Steven in Seattle who filled in some gaps for us on the previous story, as well as some terrific information on Roddy's appearance two nights earlier in Portland.

 

Classic Portland Wrestling (Instagram)

 

On Tuesday June 16, Piper also defended the U.S. title against arch-rival "Playboy" Buddy Rose, who was the top heel in the Portland territory. (The special referee was former NWA World Champion Lou Thesz.) In this amazing photo from the Classic Portland Wrestling page on Instagram, Rose is seen squatting down in front of a prone Piper, holding the United States championship belt. It isn't clear in this photo whether Rose is taunting Piper (likely) or in a show of respect handing him the belt (less likely) following a grueling match. I wish we knew more about that match and its outcome, but obviously Piper retained the title that night. He also defended the title against Rose the following night in Seattle, Washington. (See a great photo of Piper signing autographs on this same Pacific Northwest tour with the Crockett United States Championship belt on Classic Portland Wrestling.)

Piper's return to the Portland territory in 1981 was a really big deal, and he was received as the returning hero. Piper was one of the biggest stars ever there, and so his return really meant something to fans there. The promotion took advantage of Piper's status as United States champion, and even though the Crockett U.S. title was actually a territory title in and of itself (the top singles title in the Mid-Atlantic territory), it was occasionally seen on the nationally cablecast Superstation WTBS for Georgia Championship Wrestling, and was regularly featured in national newsstand wrestling magazines as one of the stepping stones to the NWA World Heavyweight championship. 

Months after Piper had left Portland for the Mid-Atlantic area, Steven told us about the cool moment on the KPTV channel-12 "Portland Wrestling" television broadcast when legendary Portland host Frank Bonnema announced that there was a new United States Heavyweight wrestling champion and his name was Roddy Piper. This surely got a nice reaction from the Portland faithful. Bonnema told the TV audience that they had received a telegram that Piper had won the title "back east in North Carolina." Piper indeed had defeated Ric Flair for the belt in Raleigh, NC, on 1/27/81.

As I reported in the preceding article about Piper's 1981 Pacific Northwest appearances, Piper's opponent  in Salem, OR on 6/18/81 was The Destroyer, but we had no idea who might have been working under the mask there as the Destroyer at that time. Steven let us know that it was David Patterson, who was better known in later years as Dave Sierra as well as the Cuban Assassin. Patterson is a Mid-Atlantic alumnus, who worked in lower card matches and as enhancement on TV matches for JCP in the early 80s, and always demonstrated the potential he had through his time here, but never got a break in the Mid-Atlantic area.  

If haven't seen the article on Piper returning to Oregon that preceded this one (including the 6/18/81 newspaper ad for Salem), check it out here:

Roddy Piper Defends the Crockett U.S. Title in Oregon (1981)
http://www.midatlanticgateway.com/2020/11/piper-us-title-oregon.html

Visit the excellent Classic Portland Wrestling Instagram page for more Portland wrestling memorabilia. (Direct link to the Buddy Rose/Roddy Piper photo above.) (Piper wearing the U.S. belt, back turned.)

(See a great photo of Piper signing autographs on this same Pacific Northwest tour with the Crockett United States Championship belt on Classic Portland Wrestling)

 

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