Ric Flair on Ole Anderson

I Am Forever Thankful To Ole And Gene For Bringing Me In To Crockett Promotions As A Cousin. It Launched My Career. I Will Be Grateful Forever For You Giving Me The Opportunity To Become Who I Am Today. We Didn’t Always Agree With Each Other, But The Honest To God Truth Is You &… pic.twitter.com/bYinfeWhKp

— Ric Flair® (@RicFlairNatrBoy) February 26, 2024

Translation: I am forever thankful to Ole and Gene for bringing me in to Crockett Promotions as a cousin. It launched my career. I will be grateful forever for you giving me the opportunity to become who I am today. We didn’t always agree with each other, but the honest to God truth is you & Gene started me. Rest in Peace my friend!

Review: The Last Real World Champion: The Legacy of "Nature Boy" Ric Flair

One of the great frustrations for wrestling fans interested in wrestling history, especially fans a little older like me, is the lack of focus and context on the early aspects of Ric Flair's wrestling career, especially during the era when the territories were still going strong in the 1970s. 

A less familiar observer who spent time reading or watching popular culture presentations on the life and career of the "Nature Boy" might think things took off for him professionally about the time he defeated Harley Race for the NWA World Heavyweight Championship at the landmark Starrcade event in 1983.

Not so in "The Last Real World Champion" by respected wrestling historian and author Tim Hornbaker. He is nearly 130 pages into his biography before he ever gets to Starrcade.

Spanning over 400 pages, "The Last Real World Champion: The Legacy of Nature Boy Ric Flair" covers every aspect of Flair's remarkable in-ring career that spans nearly half a century. But in a pleasant development, to my experience, there has never been a more thorough review of the ten years before that famous win over Race in Greensboro. So much of Flair's career before his historic run as world champion often gets glossed over by others, hitting only a few high spots. Hornbaker goes deep into Flair's early career, especially concerning his development as a major star and box-office draw in the Mid-Atlantic Wrestling territory promoted by the Crockett family. He covers Flair's arrival in the Carolinas in great detail, his development under booker George Scott, life on the road, and his early tutoring by Johnny Valentine, Wahoo McDaniel, and others. Long-time Mid-Atlantic fans will revel in the details of the significant angles and achievements early on, while fans less familiar with that era will find lots to learn, love, and celebrate.

The rest of Flair's unique story is told throughout this amazing book, including the NWA title era, WCW and Nitro periods, and the latter years in WWE and Impact Wrestling. 

When it comes to the more challenging aspects of Flair's personal life and entanglements outside of wrestling, Hornbaker doesn't flinch there, either. But with regards to the personal drama, he reports on all of it succinctly and cleanly, unlike some other accounts, which look more like wide-eyed gawkers slowing up to pass an accident on the side of the highway. If you want that dirt, help yourself; it's been done to death in many documentaries and articles over the past years and even by Flair himself. Hornbaker doesn't gloss over any of it, to be sure, but he doesn't dwell on it either. There are no judgments here. The title, after all, purports to examine the legacy of the "last real world champion," and the more interesting aspects of the book focus on Flair's remarkable and unparalleled legacy in the ring, not out of it. 

"The Last Real World Champion" is the perfect title for the book. Not only does it call back to a fun moment in time when Flair took the Big Gold Belt to the WWF, but it is also factually accurate. Flair was the last in a long line of touring world champions before guys with belts were nothing more than company champions. It's also a positive reflection on Flair's in-ring career as a whole.

With great affection for the subject matter, Tim Hornbaker brings Flair's amazing career into focus unlike any other. It is a tour de force with respect to thorough research and is impeccably documented with nearly 55 pages of end notes. This type of exhausting research is a hallmark of Hornbaker's work generally. 

A walk along this rich historical journey is great fun. Available for pre-order now, it is highly recommended reading for fans of Ric Flair and of pro-wrestling history and sports entertainment in general. 

- Dick Bourne, Mid-Atlantic Gateway    

 

Available September 12, 2023

ISBN-13:                9781770416260
Publisher:               ECW Press
Publication date:    09/12/2023
Pages:                    420
Size:                       6 x 9”

Prom Night with Mid-Atlantic Wrestling

By David Chappell
from the Mid-Atlantic Gateway Archives

I remember the day well, April 30, 1976, the night of my High School Prom. At that time I was a junior at Patrick Henry High School, about ready to finish up the 11th grade. Back in those days, the Prom was held on campus at our gymnasium. I remember helping with the decorations and the preparations for the gala event. Yep, I was VERY excited about that Friday night spectacular! However, a funny thing happened to me on the way to the Prom, and it was called Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling!

Jim Crockett Promotions obviously did not know that my Prom was on April 30, 1976 as Mid-Atlantic Wrestling visited the Richmond Coliseum on that same Friday night. What was a young guy to do? Then I heard Les Thatcher announce the main event for that Richmond card would be Rufus R. Jones, Wahoo McDaniel and "The Eighth Wonder Of The World" Andre The Giant against Ric Flair, and his cousin’s Gene and Ole Anderson. With that announcement, my decision was made—I was going to the Coliseum!

You see, that six man tag team match had one of the greatest buildups in Mid-Atlantic history. Throughout the month of April in 1976, a feud was built between Rufus R. Jones and Ric Flair and the Andersons. I will never forget the sight of Rufus having a chauffeur’s cap put on him by Flair and then Ric and the Andersons slapping Rufus while they pushed him down on his knees.

The two weeks leading up to that Coliseum match had some of the best promos that Jim Crockett Promotions ever put out. Rufus was swearing out revenge for what was done to him, and he went out and got Wahoo and Andre as his partners. Andre did not appear in the area often, and it was a real event when he came to your town. The Andre the Giant of April 1976 was Andre in his physical prime. Andre was huge of course, but he also had amazing agility and dexterity for a man his size.

Ric Flair and the Andersons did a great job of hyping this six man tag as well. Ole in particular did some of his best interviews ever. Listening to Ric and Ole, you almost wanted to believe they had a chance against Andre’s team. But despite the best efforts of the "bad guys," I believe the huge crowd that showed up at the Coliseum that night was there for one reason and one reason only. To see Andre The Giant destroy the team from Minnesota!

I remember talking to some other Coliseum regulars that night that the undercard looked kind of weak. There were only five matches, and usually Coliseum cards had seven matches. Sure enough, the first two matches were below average. The third match saw the first Richmond appearance of Italian star, Dino Bravo. Bravo beat one of my favorite all-time underneath guys, Bill White. Dino was impressive, but of course it was difficult to gauge just how good he was against an opponent like White. Watching that match, I was thinking that it ought to have been a TV match rather than one I paid to see. Sure enough, when I turned on Channel 6 the next afternoon, one of the TV matches was……..Dino Bravo versus Bill White!

The semi-final event was a tag team match between The Mongols and Roberto and Manuel Soto. The Mongols had Professor Boris Malenko in their corner. Interestingly enough, this same match was also on Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling TV the next day! The Coliseum match was a solid one between these two mid card tag teams. The Soto’s got the victory when Malenko interfered on behalf of his Mongols.

The Main Event more than made up for an average undercard! I still remember how huge Andre looked when he entered the ring, and how he dwarfed the other five wrestlers. This was not your classic back and forth match. Flair and the Andersons had virtually no offense the entire match. It was clear early on that this was going to be a major butt-kicking by Rufus, Wahoo and Andre. And after all, that was what everybody came to see!

The crowd was one of the loudest I ever experienced at the Coliseum, a building with a reputation of being wild. The loudest single pop I have ever heard at a wrestling match was during this match, when Rufus, Wahoo and Andre put a chauffeur’s cap on Ric Flair and slapped him upside the face! I thought for sure the roof was coming off the building! Needless to say, the "good guys" emerged victorious, and I remember leaving the Coliseum that night feeling justice had been done.

I’ll always remember heading back to school the Monday morning after the Prom of 1976. There was no conversation about the Prom. Rather, all the questions were directed to me about the matches at the Coliseum! What did Andre look like, did Rufus get his revenge, etc., etc. Boy, did I ever have some stories to tell. Somehow, I’ve never regretted missing my Junior Prom. But to this day, I know a bunch of people who regretted not going to the Richmond Coliseum on April 30, 1976!

Originally published in 2001 on the original Mid-Atlantic Gateway website. Republished in April of 2015 and now again in 2023 as part of the "Best of the Gateway" series.
 

 

Ric Flair: "And then it was my turn."

By Dick Bourne
Mid-Atlantic Gateway

On Monday night May 8, 2000, Ric Flair appeared on WCW Monday Nitro on TNT and brought with him the old NWA World Heavyweight championship belt that he wore beginning in 1981 when he defeated Dusty Rhodes until February of 1986 when the belt was replaced by the famous "Big Gold" version of the NWA title.

It was a big surprise and a very nostalgic moment for fans from the 1970s and 1980s who so connected with the "ten pounds of gold", which was the top title and top belt in all of professional wrestling during the territory years.

Nitro was in St. Louis, MO, that night, historically the most important city on the National Wrestling Alliance map. Flair spoke generally about how important it was to work there for Sam Muchnick if you wanted to become NWA champion one day. He also spoke eloquently about seeing that belt for the first time.

That had to be a very cool moment for old-school fans of St. Louis wrestling.

Here is a transcript of Flair's remarks as they pertained to the "ten pounds of gold."

"In the year nineteen hundred and seventy eight, Terry Funk told me if I wanted to be a star in this business I had to get to St. Louis on Friday night. You know what I'm talkin' about. I had to be at the Kiel or The Arena, I had to be live at the Chase, I had to be in St. Louis if I wanted to be a star.

And then I saw this for the first time. It was around the waist of the legendary Jack Brisco. And I said, "Jack, do you think I could ever be World champion?" He said, "Kid, keep workin'. Work at it every day and every night and maybe by the grace of God you might get it some day.

And then there was Terry Funk, and then it was Harley Race, and then it was Dusty Rhodes.

And then it was my turn.

And this is what we all desired to have and be, the World Heavyweight championship. We gave up everything. We gave up life, we gave up our families, we worked every day, we partied all night. We were the champions of the World. The best this sport had to offer."

That episode of WCW Monday Nitro is available on demand on the WWE Network. The interview with Flair is at approximately 25:20 into the program.

A very bright moment during a really sad time in WCW.

This post was originally published on our "Domed Globe" website in May of 2019.

Ric Flair and Conrad Thompson Talk Wahoo McDaniel

by Dick Bourne
Mid-Atlantic Gateway

While doing research for my book on the history of the Mid-Atlantic Heavyweight Championship, I came across an edited audio clip we presented earlier on our site from the old Ric Flair Show podcast produced and hosted by Conrad Thompson for the MLW Radio Network. The topic for "This Week in History" on that episode was the night Ric beat Wahoo McDaniel for the Mid-Atlantic title for the first time in September of 1975.

Ric and Conrad talk about the match with Wahoo, the plane crash that almost ended Ric's career just two weeks later, and some other great stories about Wahoo and what he meant to Ric personally and to his career.

The vintage audio clip during the segment is from "Wide World Wrestling"  in 1975 hosted by Ed Capral, who reviews film of the Hampton match with Ric alongside for commentary. The clip is part of a huge library of vintage audio from David Chappell.

So enjoy this classic audio trip back in time, not only to the glory days of Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling in the mid-1970s, but also to 2016 during the great run of The Ric Flair Show.

No doubt 1975 was the breakout year for Ric Flair who would go on to become one of the greatest wrestlers in the history of the sport, and certainly its greatest champion.

Relive all the events of the landmark year of 1975 in the Mid-Atlantic Wrestling 1975 Yearbook.

The book includes reproductions of all four issues of "Mid-Atlantic Wrestling Magazine" that was sold as the arena program that year.

Plus a huge collection of newspaper clippings, posters, and complete results for the entire year. Plus our signature "Almanac" material featuring a complete roster of wrestlers for the year, and summaries of all major feuds and matches for the year.

This post was edited from an original post on the Mid-Atlantic Gateway from March of 2019.

Ric Flair was the original Big Boss Man

Original Title: Mid-Atlantic Wrestling's own Big Boss Man
by David Chappell
Mid-Atlantic Gateway

When word came out recently about the Big Boss Man, the infamous prison guard from Cobb County, Georgia being selected for inclusion in the WWE Hall of Fame, it got me to thinking about another Big Boss Man in professional wrestling. While Ray Traylor’s Big Boss Man character was the most famous under that moniker, it’s probably been forgotten or is a well kept secret, that Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling had a “Big Boss Man” of their own in the late summer of 1974. And the man using that name to describe himself was none other than a young Ric Flair!
Yes, before he was the “Nature Boy,” Ric Flair was the self-proclaimed “Big Boss Man!” Flair only referred to himself as the Big Boss Man for around a month or so, but Ric was at his obnoxious best while he was doing it. Flair wasn’t posing as a renegade prison guard; it was just Ric being loud-mouthed Ric!

In the summer of 1974 Ric Flair teamed up with the legendary Carolina’s veteran Rip “The Profile” Hawk, and they soon became the Mid-Atlantic Tag Team Champions. On the Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling television program that was taped on August 14, 1974, Flair and Hawk were interviewed by announcer Bob Caudle. The rambunctious Flair told Caudle, “Let me tell you something daddy…I’ve got a new name for myself! Everywhere I go the people are shouting, WOOOOO, there goes the Big Boss Man!! You know why? Because every BOY like Conway and like King, they gotta have a boss! And when they see me they say, ‘WOOOOO, what’s happening Big Boss Man,’ that’s what they say to me! When they get in the ring with me they say, ‘WOOOO, what’s happening Big Boss Man?’ They say, ‘Please Big Boss Man don’t hurt me; please don’t hit me too hard.’ Ain’t that right, Mr. Hawk?” Naturally, Rip agreed!

Of course, back in 1974 professional wrestling and society in general was much different than it is today. The “Conway” and “King” Ric referred to were two beloved African American wrestlers, Tiger Conway, Jr. and Sonny King. Both Conway and King had arrived in the Mid-Atlantic territory in the early summer of 1974. Conway came in as an athletic high flying newcomer, while King came in to challenge the “bad guys” that injured his brother, Bearcat Wright. Both of these great black stars, particularly Conway, were pitted frequently against Flair, who at the time was also a relative newcomer to Jim Crockett Promotions.

The racially tinged “Big Boss Man” comments in 1974 certainly did not then, and do not now, reflect the feelings of the man Ric Flair. However, the professional wrestling character Ric Flair at that time was able to generate lots of “heat” with black and white fans alike, by going down what would be called today a politically incorrect road. Racial stereotypes were utilized, insinuated and implied regularly in professional wrestling in 1974, and Ric Flair playing the role as the “Big Boss Man” had its existence within the culture of that day in time. No matter what we may think of the propriety of Ric Flair anointing himself as the Big Boss Man, one thing is for sure, it gave the Mid-Atlantic fans in 1974 yet another reason to hate this young “bad guy” star on the rise!

The shelf life of Ric Flair, the Big Boss Man, as mentioned above was actually quite short. Within a month or so, Ric gradually stopped referring to himself by that name in the fall of 1974. Interestingly, Flair didn’t “boss” around Tiger Conway, Jr. or Sonny King much in the ring! Conway’s first run in the territory lasted until February of 1975, and Tiger fought Ric on pretty much even terms. Ditto for the in-ring results between Flair and King, with Sonny leaving the area in July of 1975.

Ric Flair as the Big Boss Man is certainly well housed in the moth balls of Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling history. I’m glad the contemporary Big Boss Man, Ray Traylor, was brought back to the forefront recently. It jogged my memory to go back in time and reflect on Mid-Atlantic Wrestling’s Big Boss Man, and a vastly different era in professional wrestling.

Previously published in March 2016 on the Mid-Atlantic Gateway

LINK VERIFIED

Poster: Wahoo chases Flair in Winston-Salem (1976)

By Brack Beasley
Mid-Atlantic Gateway Contributor

This poster promotes a fantastic card of Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling that took place at the old Winston-Salem Memorial Coliseum on Friday, April 23rd, 1976

 

There was a big double main event. Wahoo McDaniel continued his quest for Ric Flair's Mid-Atlantic Heavyweight belt and this match had a special stipulation of two referees (one of which would be NWA official George Scott) in an attempt to keep things in order. Wahoo would emerge victorious on this night but by disqualification, allowing Flair to escape with his title. 

The semi featured big, bad Angelo Mosca attempting to collect the $5,000 bounty placed upon Tim Woods by Blackjack Mulligan. Woods would come out the winner of this contest and Mosca left without a victory or the bounty money. 

In exciting tag team action Geeto and Bolo Mongol topped Ron Garvin and Tony Atlas, while the undercard included Doug Gilbert, Great Malenko, Big Bill Dromo, and Klondike Bill. 

The poster has a beautiful horizontal layout with six wrestler images on the sides, black print (except the main event participants in high impact red) on a bright blue background, and the familiar "Wrestling" oval in the upper left corner.

NO. 44 IN THE BEASLEY POSTER SERIES

Flair and Race: Two of the Greatest Ever

Former NWA world champions Ric Flair and Harley Race

 

What a great shot of two of the greatest champions to ever lace up the boots: Ric Flair and Harley Race.

The photo was taken Saturday 8/29/15 in advance of World League Wrestling's "Night of Champions" event in Troy, MO.

That's Harley's Reggie Parks replica of the domed-globe version of the NWA world title belt, better known as the "Ten Pounds of Gold."

Edited from a post originally published August of 2015 on the Mid-Atlantic Gateway.

Flair & Steamboat: A Look Back When Hell Frooze Over. Again.

MAIN EVENT MEMORIES 
The Anderson Brothers vs. Ric Flair and Ricky Steamboat 
August 11, 1981 - Raleigh, NC
by Dick Bourne
Mid-Atlantic Gateway

"The Hawaiian Punch" Ricky Steamboat and
"Nature Boy" Ric Flair

It's hard to imagine now, with 35 years having passed by and so much water under the bridge, that two superstar wrestlers teaming up would be such a big deal. But in 1981, when Ric Flair and Ricky Steamboat joined forces to challenge Ric's cousins Gene and Ole Anderson for their NWA world tag team championship, it was a very big deal.

Not as big, perhaps, as in 1979 when Flair had just turned babyface and fans and good-guy wrestlers alike weren't sure if they could trust the Nature Boy. Back then, when Flair asked Ricky Steamboat to be his partner and challenge Paul Jones and Baron Von Raschke for the NWA world tag titles that summer, it did indeed seem like hell had frozen over. The blood feud between Flair and Steamboat that had been going on for two straight years was unlike any other ever seen in the territory.

That was big, but now this seemed just as big to me for different reasons. This story had multiple layers to it now, calling back to family feuds and broken relationships going back some five long years.

Ric Flair's on-again, off-again relationship with his cousins Gene and Ole Anderson had been one of the greatest on-going stories in Mid-Atlantic Wrestling lore:

• 1976: The big break-up as Flair took Greg Valentine as his partner and wrestled the titles from the Andersons in a scenario so unlikely that it actually made the fans cheer for the hated Anderson brothers. The two teams traded the titles back and forth over the next two years.
• 1978: Ric's reunion with the family in 1978 when blood proved thicker than water and special referee Gene Anderson, thought to be impartial in the war between Flair and Steamboat, helped Ric retain the U.S title in the match where fans felt sure Steamboat would regain it. 
• 1979: The family was at odds again when Flair turned good-guy and cousin Gene became the manager of Jimmy "Superfly" Snuka who proceeded to take Ric's U.S. title, and his favorite robe to boot.

Now in 1981, with Gene back in action after his managerial stint was over, the Anderson brothers reunited and regained the world titles. Not being able to leave well enough alone, Ole saw to it that the family feud erupted again when he and Gene joined Ivan Koloff in ganging up 3-on-1 on Flair inside a steel cage.

While Flair's current feud with Koloff had seemed more professional (albeit very violent), the family feud with the Andersons was very personal. With the cousins again waging war, Flair made the decision to once again attempt to do what he hadn't been able to do since his days in 1976-1978 with partner Greg Valentine - - take the NWA world tag team championships from the Andersons.

Flair took several different partners early on to tackle the Minnesota Wrecking Crew - - Blackjack Mulligan, Jay Youngblood, Wahoo McDaniel - - but in the end, there was only one man Flair could turn to that had a chance of making that magic happen again. It was his career long rival and now one of his best friends and allies - - the "Hawaiian Punch" Ricky Steamboat.

Like an onion with seemingly endless layers to peel away, this match-up had all of this tangled up history behind it. Flair was once again living out this family feud that had been going on for five years. Steamboat must have remembered back to the bloody wars with Flair in 1977, how Gene Anderson had helped Ric keep the U.S. title in that major battle of 1978. But the two were able to once again put that history behind them and join forces, just as they had shocked the world in doing two years earlier.

I'm convinced that they would have eventually been successful in taking the world tag team titles from the Andersons had it not been for something else happening in the meantime that changed the face of wrestling history: Ric Flair defeated Dusty Rhodes in Kansas City, KS to win the NWA World Heavyweight title. The Anderson's tag titles were safe once again as Ric Flair turned his attention to touring the world in defense of the "ten pounds of gold."

With the world title in the picture, Flair and Steamboat would renew their rivalry several more times over the next 13 years, but for a brief few weeks in the summer of 1981, there was magic in the air again as hell froze over for a second time and Ric Flair and Ricky Steamboat formed one of wrestling's most powerful and exciting combinations.

Originally posted October 27, 2016 on the Mid-Atlantic Gateway.

Check out other MAIN EVENT MEMORIES on the Mid-Atlantic Gateway:

1. The Anderson Family (1976) The Andersons and their cousin Ric Flair
2. Dusty's Big Championship Weekend (1976) with Flair, Mulligan, and the Andersons
3. Mulligan vs. Flair on a Hot July Night (1978) Worlds Collide!
4. The Origins of Wahoo vs. Flair (1975) with Wahoo McDaniel and Ric Flair
5. Blackjack Mulligan vs. Rufus R. Jones (1976) "Have mercy, Mama!"
6. The Briscos Challenge Flair & Valentine (1978) Jim Crockett makes the match.
7. A Local Boy Gets His Shot (1981) Don Kernodle teams with Ric Flair in his hometown.
8. Bullrope Match: Ole vs. Flair (1981) Dusty prepares Ric for a big match in Charlotte.
9. Ric Flair Wins His First Mid-Atlantic Championship (1975) Hair vs. Title in Hampton!
10. Blackjack Mulligan Regains the U.S. Title (1978) New Year's Night in Richmond
11. The Gathering on Tour (1986) Post Starrcade event in Columbia SC
12. Township Tangle (1978) Flair & Valentine vs. Wahoo & Jones
13. Flair Wins the NWA Title (1981) Historic Win over Dusty Rhodes in Kansas City
14. Brisco, Valentine Defend Titles in Richmond (1974) Huge main events in Richmond

Poster: Flair-Jones, Rashke-Weaver Battle in Farmville

By Jody Shifflett
Mid-Atlantic Gateway Contributor

Ric Flair takes over Farmville, VA, in 1978. This is another of my favorites. It boasts great colors and what I really like is that it says "Nature Boy". I have never seen another that has Nature Boy printed on it.

Flair and Paul Jones had many great battles and I’m sure this was another. Undercard featured a great rivalry between the Baron Von Raschke and Johnny Weaver, and with Weaver you were always going to be entertained with his wrestling style. 

There was a newcomer on this card named Jan Nelson. Other great stars including Jerry "Crusher" Blackwell, Don Kernodle. Plus, the classic 8:15 Bell Time!

NO. 11 IN THE SHIFFLETT POSTER SERIES

Tag Team Warfare: A Changing of the Guard (1977)

By David Chappell
Mid-Atlantic Gateway

The year of 1977 saw the fabulous young team of Ric Flair and Greg Valentine strip away the aura of invincibility from the veteran duo of the Minnesota Wrecking Crew, Gene and Ole Anderson. Flair and Valentine took the coveted NWA World Tag Team Titles away from Gene and Ole in Greensboro, North Carolina on December 26, 1976. 

NWA World Tag Team Champions
Ric Flair and Greg Valentine

In 1977, Ric and Greg slowly turned the tide of this bitter feud against the Anderson’s in their favor, but it wasn’t done without many classic battles. Flair and Valentine held onto the World Tag Team Titles through the Spring of 1977, but were dethroned by Gene and Ole in May in a match that Wahoo McDaniel served as a special referee. After that bout, the Andersons primarily had their base of operations in Georgia, but again dropped their Titles back to Ric and Greg in late October in a brutal encounter where they injured Gene Anderson.

In the 1977 Year-In-Review Wide World Wrestling television program that aired in most Mid-Atlantic markets on December 24, 1977, Flair and Valentine gave a rather biased review on the tag team battles between these four combatants in 1977. Announcer Sandy Scott led off by saying, “In ’77 and the tag team warfare, the World Tag Team Championship changed hands and we have two of the champions right here now. We’ve got Greg Valentine and Ric Flair.” 

Greg Valentine responded, “Well, you know, since you’ve spent about 35 minutes talking to all the losers it’s about time you brought a couple of winners on. Because that’s exactly what you’re looking at. The World’s Champions! You know, you’re talking about us being the World’s Champions, we had to chase the Andersons down for eight or nine months. The reason why we lost the belts in the first place was because of a certain individual by the name of Wahoo McDaniel being a referee in the match.”

Valentine continued, “[Wahoo] should have never had the license to be a referee, but we finally tracked him down, we nailed them right on television and made them sign a contract. And then just like we told all the people, we met ‘em in the Greensboro Coliseum and we beat ‘em fair and square, one, two, three right in the middle of the ring and now we’re the new World Champions. And Gene Anderson is suffering a very severe shoulder injury because of this, but you know that’s tough. That’s the breaks of the game.”

The Nature Boy then chimed in, “Sandy, what can I say? I’ve told you; I’ve told the people out here thousands of times. They gotta be sick of hearing me saying it! But they also have to know that it’s true. We are the greatest team of all time! Everything we do, everything we say is first class. Look at us! Tailor made clothes, big cars, pretty ladies, and the gold belts that symbolize the World’s Tag Team Championship. The gold belts that symbolize number one in the world today.”

Flair concluded, “And all you people out there that just can’t quite get it through your heads that we are the best. But you better open your eyes because ‘78 is gonna even be a bigger year. Bigger money, bigger cars, prettier ladies, finer clothes is all gonna happen to the World Champions in ’78! WOOOO!!” 

Flair and Valentine retained their World Tag Team belts into the Spring of 1978, when the NWA stripped them of the Titles alleging that Ric and Greg did not show up for matches and on occasion left the ring before verdicts were reached. Despite that inauspicious ending of their Title reign in 1978, this young and talented team of Ric Flair and Greg Valentine took the wrestling world by storm during 1977. Truly, a changing of the guard.

Flair and the Andersons: Blood is Thicker Than Water

by Dick Bourne
Mid-Atlantic Gateway

It is one of the great chapters in Anderson family history and a high point in the up-and-down relationship between Ric Flair and his cousins the Anderson Brothers.

July 16, 1978. Ric Flair defends the United States Heavyweight championship against Ricky Steamboat. The special referee appointed by the NWA is Gene Anderson. 

It was on this night that Gene Anderson reunited the family after an 18-month bloody war with cousin Ric Flair and Flair's partner Greg Valentine over the NWA World Tag Team titles.

The family split up in late 1976 when Flair fell out with Gene and Ole over wanting a shot at the Anderson's NWA World Tag Team titles. The Andersons had taken the titles to Georgia in the fall of 1976 and Flair and Valentine intended on bringing them back to the Mid-Atlantic area. Add to add to that, Ric Flair badly wanted to step out of the shadow of his cousins. Over the next year and a half, they traded the titles back and forth. Both Andersons wound up in the hospital at various points in the feud, resulting in major bad blood between the two teams. With Gene out of action in late 1977, Ole Anderson even enlisted the aid of rival Wahoo McDaniel to battle Flair and Valentine in the late months of 1977.

In 1978 things began to cool down with Gene out of action and Ole focusing on the Georgia tag team titles with the other Anderson brother, Lars Anderson. When Gene finally returned to action in the Mid-Atlantic in the April of 1978, he worked a restricted schedule, teaming with Sgt. Jacques Goulet.

Meanwhile, Ric Flair was fending off the challenge of Ricky Steamboat in the middle of a white-hot feud over the United States championship. NWA referees Tommy Young, Sonny Fargo, and Stu Schwartz were unable to control the action in the ring between the two as most of their matches were ending in double disqualifications. Flair was champion, so he continued to maintain the title as the championship couldn't change hands on a DQ. The NWA needed a special referee who could physically handle the two in the ring, and give Steamboat a fair shot at the title. But they also needed someone who would remain impartial. They chose Gene Anderson.

On the surface, Gene Anderson seemed like the perfect choice. Currently working out of the "bad guy" locker room, he had no love for Ricky Steamboat, and given the bloody history with his cousin Ric Flair, he would welcome the opportunity to keep Flair in line in his title defense against Steamboat.

The match was set for the Greensboro Coliseum on July 16, 1978. Believing Gene Anderson's antipathy towards his young cousin was stronger than that for Steamboat, many fans were hopeful to see the U.S. title change hands that night.

But as the old proverb goes, blood proved thicker than water, and in the closing moments of the match, Gene Anderson interfered to aid Flair in retaining the title. The shocking turn of events went down like this:

The battle had been back and forth and Anderson had basically called the match right down the middle. On several occasions Flair tried to physically intimidate Anderson to no avail. Had it been one of the regular referees, another disqualification might have occurred. But as the match approached the twenty minute mark, it appeared that the NWA had made an excellent choice in their special referee.

But as the match wore on, there were subtle signs that Gene Anderson had his own designs on a final outcome. Flair now found himself in trouble, as Steamboat gained momentum. Steamboat had Flair pinned on several occasions, but Anderson's count seemed slow. With Flair reeling from a flurry of offense from Steamboat, the "Hawaiian Punch"climbed to the top of the turnbuckle and prepared to deliver his familiar flying body press which would likely give him the championship.

Special referee Gene Anderson shoves Ric Flair out of the way as
Ricky Steamboat dives from the top rope.

But just as Steamboat leapt from the ropes, Gene Anderson shoved Flair out of the way and Steamboat came crashing to the mat. Flair quickly covered him and Gene Anderson made a very fast three count.

Flair rose to his feet, momentarily trying to process what had just happened. He looked incredulously at his cousin who stood expressionless facing him. As Anderson raised Flair's hand it suddenly became clear to Flair what had just happened.

He leapt into Gene's arms and the two embraced in a long hug as the furious Greensboro crowd began to riot. Angry fans were swarming at ringside, pressing against the ring and the ropes. Flair kicked at the ropes to try to get fans to back off, which only seemed to exacerbate the situation. Soft drink cups and popcorn boxes began flying into the ring. Anderson handed Flair the U.S. title and Flair defiantly raised it high above his head as things continued to deteriorate at ringside. Timekeeper Wally Dusek was nearly knocked over by the mob as police moved in to try and calm things down, mostly to no avail.

U.S. Champion Ric Flair and cousin Gene Anderson embrace after Anderson aided
Flair in retaining the title as a special referee in the title match.

Flair and Anderson soon made their way down the ring steps and began walking the aisle toward the dressing rooms.  This was back in the day before there were barriers of any kind separating the crowd from the wrestlers going to and from the ring. Angry fans began taking swings at the two and Flair and Anderson had to literally fight their way to the back. 

For the last year and a half, fans had seen the feud between Flair and the Andersons become so heated and so bloody, that I don't think it ever crossed their minds that the two could reconcile on this night. Gene Anderson's actions certainly seemed to surprise Flair, and it appeared that this was not a conspiracy between the two. For Gene Anderson, it was a matter of family, and family trumped on this night. Ric Flair was firmly back in the Anderson fold. 

Things remained tight in the family for the next year or so as all three were going their separate ways. Ole was working full time in Georgia, Flair had turned "good guy" in the late spring of 1979, and Gene Anderson transitioned into his managerial career, buying the contracts of wrestlers under the guidance of Buddy Rogers, one of which was U.S. Champion Jimmy Snuka, who, as fate would have it, was in the middle of a feud with Ric Flair. Anderson's management of Snuka resulted in another split within "the family." The situation worsened when Ole returned to the area in 1981, and the bloody family feud escalated to new heights of violence. The family wouldn't fully reunite again until the formation of the Four Horsemen some four years later.


THE REST OF THE CARD

• Blackjack Mulligan was also chasing Ric Flair's United States championship during this time, although with Blackjack it wasn't so much about the belt as it was a personal thing because of the way Flair had turned on him months earlier in what has become known as the famous "Hat and Robe" angle. Flair didn't want any part of Mulligan and placed a $10,000 bounty on his head, and on this night in Greensboro, the Masked Superstar was trying to collect that bounty in a match fought in Texas Death Match rules. Mulligan survived, but the beatings he was taking in these bounty matches were taking their toll.
• Paul Jones battled Ken Patera in a match where both men's single titles were on the line (the NWA TV title and the Mid-Atlantic title respectively.) Both retained as the match ended in a double count out.
• Fans loved the pairing of popular stars Johnny Weaver and Mr. Wrestling (Tim Woods) as they defeated the tough veteran tandem of Cyclone Negro and Sgt. Jacques Goulet.
• A young Jerry Stubbs was on this card. He would later become the masked Mr. Olympia and headline in the Mid-South and Southeastern areas. Another "young lion" named Richard Blood (which oddly was the real name of Ricky Steamboat) worked early in this card, too. He would later become Tito Santana in the WWF.  

But this card will always be remembered for one defining moment in the long story of the Andersons and Ric Flair: Gene Anderson's shove that kept the United States title in "the family."

Originally published in August of 2018 on the Mid-Atlantic Gateway

Battle of the Dream Teams: Flair and Steamboat vs. Piper and Valentine

by Jody Shifflett, Mid-Atlantic Gateway Contributor

This poster is from 1981 at the historic Greensboro Coliseum. Four of the best ever in professional wrestling squared off against each other. 

The dynamic duo of Ric Flair and Ricky Steamboat against the dirty tough duo of Roddy Piper and Greg Valentine. I could not find the results of this match but with George Scott as special guest referee I’m sure steamboat and Flair took the win. 

A great undercard featuring two rough tough Texans, Blackjack Mulligan against Bobby Duncan in a Texas Street Fight. Matches between big guys like this usually did not go a great distance time-wise, but they were brutal and usually bloody. 

Another great match featured Ivan Koloff against the Iron Sheik. This match had to of been exciting with two of the best bad guys in the business back in the day. 

The poster has a great layout being in light blue and bold red lettering for all of the main eventers. And as always an 8:15 start time!

NO. 10 IN THE SHIFFLETT POSTER SERIES

Dream Team: Flair and Steamboat Go For the Gold

July 21, 1979,Charlotte Coliseum

Charlotte, North Carolina

Mid-Atlantic Wrestling's dream team of Ric Flair and Ricky Steamboat battled reigning NWA world tag team champs Paul Jones and Baron Von Raschke in a Lumberjack match at the Coliseum in Charlotte, NC.

Flair had just tuned "good guy" for the first time ever a few months earlier and was mounting a full court press to defeat Paul Jones (his current arch enemy) and the Baron for the world tag team belts. He enlisted the aid of both Ricky Steamboat and Blackjack Mulligan in that quest.

An interesting tag team combination was featured in the semi-main. The legendary "Nature Boy" Buddy Rogers took one half of the Minnesota Wrecking Crew Gene Anderson as his partner to battle the team of Jim Brunzell and Rufus R. "Freight Train" Jones. Rogers would become the manager of both Jimmy "Superfly" Snuka and John Studd, and following an injury to his ear in late 1979, sold the contracts of his charges to Gene Anderson who became the manager of Snuka and several others to form "Anderson's Army."

 

Originally published July 2015 on the Mid-Atlantic Gateway.

Poster: Flair and Valentine Battle the Andersons in Greensboro

by Brack Beasley
Mid-Atlantic Gateway Contributor

This poster promotes another fantastic night of professional wrestling at the historic Greensboro Coliseum on Sunday, October 30th, 1977 with a loaded card top to bottom. 

 
The main event was a "Hair vs. Belts" match as Ric Flair and Greg Valentine put up their long blond manes against Gene and Ole Anderson's NWA World Tag Team belts. Fortunately for Flair and Valentine they left Greensboro with both the belts and their hair to begin their second and last reign as world tag champs. They would hold onto the belts until being stripped by Jim Crockett Jr. and the NWA in April of 1978. 

In the semi, Paul Jones was seeking revenge against the Masked Superstar  who had knocked him silly and cut his hair only three weeks earlier in Greensboro. On this night Jones would leave the ring victorious via disqualification. 

To the fans' delight, the popular duo of Mr. Wrestling Tim Woods and Ricky Steamboat topped Blackjack Mulligan and Baron Von Raschke in the upper mid card tag match, while three more exciting matches got the crowd warmed up. 

Six great wrestler images on the sides, the familiar "Wrestling" splash in the upper left corner, and black and red print over a two tone yellow and pink background make for a very eye- catching poster. I seem to recall Flair putting his hair on the line in several important matches throughout his career and I can assume it's safe to say he never lost one, at least not in that era.

NO 42 IN THE BEASLEY POSTER SERIES

Poster: Flair Defends U.S. Title Against Snuka in Roanoke

by Brack Beasley
Mid-Atlantic Gateway Contributor

This poster promotes a card held at the Roanoke Civic Center on Sunday, May 4th, 1980. With a vertical layout, it has all black print over a beautiful rainbow colored background. 

In the main event Ric Flair defended his United States title against Jimmy Snuka (managed by Gene Anderson)while Jim Brunzell put his Mid-Atlantic championship belt on the line in the semi against The Iron Sheik. 

The undercard included names like Rufus R. Jones, Swede Hanson, Don Kernodle, S.D. Jones, Tony Garea, and a young Buzz Sawyer which made for quite an exciting night of professional wrestling in Roanoke.

NO. 41 IN THE BEASLEY POSTER SERIES

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Mid-Atlantic Gateway Notes

by Dick Bourne

Ric Flair had regained the United States title from Jimmy Snuka only a few weeks earlier in Greensboro, following a bitter feud with Jimmy Snuka that stretched back to the early fall of 1979. He would continue to defend against Snuka in the summer of 1980 while also forming a tag team with Blackjack Mulligan to chase (and eventually win) the NWA World Tag Team titles. Flair lost the U.S. title to Greg valentine in late July that summer.

The Iron Sheik came up short against Brunzell this night in Roanoke, but was able to capture the Mid-Atlantic title one week later in Charlotte.   

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! 

Figures Friday: The Starrcade '83 Main Event!

A Close Encounter with the Ten Pounds of Gold

by Dick Bourne
Mid-Atlantic Gateway

I suddenly realized the referee in the ring was walking towards my position. I thought, well this is it, someone is finally going to ask me to leave. But as I looked up, he reached out with the NWA world title belt - - the beautiful "ten pounds of gold" 

- - and waited for me to take it.

The year was 1982. I was 21 years old. I had just moved from Tennessee to begin work for Russell Corporation in Alexander City, Alabama. For the first time ever, I was isolated from Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling, unable to watch the weekly adventures of my favorite group of wrestlers in my favorite wrestling territory.

I had settled in to my shabby little apartment on Highway 280 and hooked up local cable. I could get "Georgia Championship Wrestling" on the Superstation out of Atlanta, and saw some of my guys there -  Roddy Piper, Ole Anderson, Ray Stevens, and Ric Flair. I was getting familiar with the NWA promotion based out of Pensacola, Florida that ran the panhandle of Florida and the lower two-thirds of the state of Alabama. This would be my new home territory. Their TV show aired twice every Saturday - once in the afternoon out of Montgomery, and again late Saturday night out of Birmingham. People in the business called this territory the Pensacola territory. But most fans called it the Southeastern territory, taken from the name of their television show for so many years, "Southeastern Championship Wrestling."

I liked their TV show well enough. Charlie Platt and Ric Stewart were excellent studio hosts. I was familiar with a lot of their wrestlers who used to be regulars in the Southeastern promotion based out of Knoxville, TN, in the 1970s - - guys like Ron and Robert Fuller, Bob Armstrong, and Jimmy Golden. But nothing was ever going to quite replace Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling and Jim Crockett Promotions for me. That was the wrestling I had grown up on. And I missed it terribly.

However, that fall, Southeastern Championship Wrestling was running a tour called "October Fest" and the NWA World champion Ric Flair was coming to the territory to put his title up against a different challenger in a different town in the territory each night of that week. Ric Flair was a "Mid-Atlantic guy," having cut his teeth in the Carolinas beginning in 1974 and eventually becoming the NWA World champion in 1981.  he was the first ever wrestler in the 46 year history of Jim Crockett Promotions to have ever developed through the territroy and been selected by the NWA to be their champion. As fans, we were proud of that! And even though he was now the world champion and just passing through to defend the title, having him come through my new home state of Alabama made me feel a little less homesick.

My first decision was where to go see him. The closest towns where Flair would be were Montgomery and Birmingham, AL. We received most of the TV stations on our local cable from both markets. Flair was scheduled to defend against "The Tennessee Stud" Ron Fuller on Monday 10/25 in Birmingham, and "the Universal Heart Throb" Austin Idol two nights later on Wednesday 10/27 in Montgomery.

Montgomery was a little bit closer, a little over an hour's drive away, and the Montgomery Civic Center was a little easier to get to than Boutwell Auditorium in Birmingham. So I chose to go to Montgomery for that stop on the "Southeastern Wrestling October Fest" tour.

The Montgomery Civic Center in Montgomery, AL. Circa 1960s. "Wrestling Tonite" on the marquee!

Another factor in that decision was the opponent for Ric Flair. I had always been a big Austin Idol fan, and had always wanted to see what would happen if these two guys ever met each other in the ring. It was a dream-match of sorts - - a battle of Austin Idol's "Las Vegas leglock" against Ric Flair's "figure-four."

I hadn't made any wrestling friends in my new hometown yet, so I decided to go to the matches alone. I got off work early that Wednesday and drove down to the Montgomery Civic Center box office as soon as it opened to get the best tickets possible. I was able to secure seats in the ringside area, although I was about four rows back. I took my camera and hoped to get a few good photos up near the ring.

There was surprisingly little security at this show. When Flair and Idol had entered the ring, I was able to sort of stoop low, scoot up and kneel down next to the ring with my camera. Surprisingly, no one said a word to me. I couldn't believe how lucky I was.

The ring announcer introduced Idol first and then introduced Flair. Ric opened his robe, took the NWA belt from around his waist and handed it to the referee. He then handed his big heavy robe over the top rope down to the ring attendant on the floor who was already holding Idol's full-length heavy robe in his arms as well. He left the ringside area to take the robes back to the dressing rooms. I watched all this and again, nobody said a word to me as I knelt at ringside.

I suddenly realized the referee in the ring was walking towards my position. I thought, well this is it, someone is finally going to ask me to leave. But as I looked up, he reached out with the NWA world title belt - - the beautiful "ten pounds of gold" - - and waited for me to take it.

I couldn't figure out what was happening. Like in a movie, everything sort of started to go in slow motion and I couldn't hear a thing.

I've always thought that the referee had turned to give the title belt to the ring attendant, but the ring attendant had failed to wait for the belt, having two large heavy robes to carry to the back. Looking back on it, I have no idea why he wouldn't have just handed the belt to the ring announcer who I think had already exited on the other side of the ring at this point after his introductions. But he didn't. Instead, incredibly - - perhaps thinking I must be at ringside for a reason - - he was trying to hand the belt to me.

So I took it.

And I want to tell you that for one brief moment - - one fleeting, crazy, impulsive, irresponsible, disrespectful, do-I-dare, moment - - I thought about walking right back down the aisle with that belt, right out the back door, never to be seen or heard from again!

I wouldn't really have done that. Even at age 21, I had so much respect for the belt, for the championship, for Ric Flair and all the others that had held it. But I'd be lying if I didn't admit I thought about it! For one brief second....

Ring attendant with the NWA title in Dothan, AL.
This wasn't me, this wasn't Montgomery, it just
reminds me of that moment in my life.

Instead, I just looked at it. I couldn't believe what I had in my hands. This was the famous domed-globe belt; the Lombardi trophy and the Stanley Cup and every championship trophy in every major sport all wrapped up into one. Ric Flair's world title. The same world title that had been held by Brisco, Funk, Race, and Rhodes. And now I was kneeling at ringside in Montgomery, Alabama with that belt in my hands.

If I had really wanted to run away with the belt (which I did not), my window of opportunity quickly closed as the ring attendant had returned and I suddenly realized he was right behind me. He snatched the belt from my hands.

"You need to get back to your seat, bud," he said with a cold stare. And so without a word, I complied.

Can you imagine how badly this might have ended otherwise? I'm guessing the boys in the back would have had a field day with the young punk who tried to steal the champ's belt. More likely, I would have been arrested and spent the night in the Montgomery county jail.

My pulse was still racing as I thought about what had just happened. It was my one brief moment to touch history, to touch this belt I would have never thought I would have a chance to get anywhere near.

Many years later, however , on October 28, 2008, Dave Millican and I had the opportunity to photograph this very same belt. These photographs would later wind up in our book "Ten Pounds of Gold."

I would have never dreamed I could have gotten that close to it again.

 

Edited from a story originally published in October of 2015 on the Mid-Atlantic Gateway.

Poster: Flair & Superstar battle Bobo and Igor in in Winston-Salem

by Brack Beasley
Mid-Atlantic Gateway Contributor

Promoting a card held at the Winston-Salem, NC Memorial Coliseum on Saturday June 25th, 1977, this poster features two very interesting tag team matchups.

In the main event, fan favorites Bobo Brazil and the Mighty Igor faced off with Ric Flair and the Masked Superstar while in the semi, Johnny Weaver and Ricky Steamboat took on Kim Duk and Great Malenko. With familiar names on the undercard such as Danny Miller, Big Bill Dromo, Two Ton Harris, and Klondike Bill, it made for quite an exciting night of Mid Atlantic Championship Wrestling.

The poster has a horizontal layout with both black and high impact red print over a light pink background and five nice wrestler images.

No. 40 in the Beasley Poster Collection Series

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Mid-Atlantic Gateway Note
Interesting to see Malenko on this poster billed as 'Great Melanko.' He was known that way in most southern territories during this era, but in our territory, he was almost always known as Professor Boris Malenko.