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.
 

 

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!”

July 4th Flashback: Andre and the Andersons Headline Richmond (1975)

A GIANT 4th of July Card in Richmond

The Andersons Battle Wahoo McDaniel and Paul Jones in Richmond

by David Chappell

Mid-Atlantic Gateway

Like most cities, Richmond, Virginia back in 1975 had its share of spectacular fireworks displays to commemorate the Independence Day holiday. But none of those displays held a candle to the “fireworks” that were unleashed on fans inside the Richmond Coliseum, watching a super spectacular card of Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling on the evening of July 4, 1975!

To those that have followed the Mid-Atlantic Gateway, you may recall that this card ranked #21 on my listing of Richmond’s greatest Mid-Atlantic cards. The most intriguing match to me going in was a rare Richmond appearance of Andre the Giant, going against the seemingly indestructible Super Destroyer, who was saying at the time that he had held onto his mask for thirteen years. But the match that really stole the show was a NWA World Tag Team Title bout between champions Gene and Ole Anderson against Paul Jones and Wahoo McDaniel.

About three weeks prior to this Richmond show, the Anderson Brothers had regained the World Tag Team Title belts on television in the dramatic “Supreme Sacrifice” match, where Ole ran Wahoo’s head into Gene’s head, knocking Gene out in the process. This return bout in Richmond had the big match feel of a title change, and the apparent sellout crown at the Coliseum was at a fever pitch anticipating a win for the challengers. But…it wasn’t meant to be on this night. An even bout turned the challengers way towards the end, but it was too little too late. The Andersons stalled out the final minutes, and escaped with a 60 minute draw. This match set up four return bouts between these four during the summer and fall of 1975, with the challengers coming tantalizingly close to winning back the belts.

In the semi-final, many in attendance thought Andre the Giant would finally be the man to unmask the Super Destroyer. After all, if a GIANT couldn’t do the deed nobody else had in 13 years, who possibly could? Andre physically manhandled the masked man to a degree that nobody could believe, but that didn’t stop the Destroyer’s active mind from escaping one precarious predicament after another. A disqualification win for Andre got the Giant’s hand raised and validated a dominating performance, but at the same time frustrated many fans who were expecting a hood to come off. However, the Super Destroyer haters were about to get the last laugh. As fate would have it, the masked man would wrestle only one more time in Richmond and within a month or so was out of the area under a cloud, never to return, with his unmasked face plastered all over the Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling television shows.

The supporting card, honestly, was not as strong as many Richmond saw, but it did have its moments. The “best of the rest” was a unique pairing of the Mid-Atlantic TV Champion Ric Flair and the underrated Doug Gilbert, against the “good guy” duo of big Swede Hanson and Sonny King. Flair was rising fast at this juncture, so I expected the “bad guys” would take this one. The big Swede was dropping down the cards, and Sonny King was being de-emphasized and would be leaving the area in about two weeks as time would tell. However, Flair and Gilbert couldn’t control their anger issues, giving Hanson and King a disqualification victory to the delight of the Richmond fans.

The other tag team match of the night saw Bob Bruggers and Sandy Scott dispatch the team of Charlie Fulton and the Blue Scorpion. The Bruggers/Scott combination was a smooth one, and they ran circles around their confounded opponents this night. Unfortunately for his many fans, Sandy Scott wrestled very little after this Richmond match, though he did continue to stay active with the promotion, primarily behind the scenes. And after a promising start as a main event performer a year and a half before, Bruggers continued to drop down the cards until the airplane crash in Wilmington, North Carolina in early October of 1975 brought his wrestling career to an end.

Three single matches rounded out this holiday spectacular, and the curtain raiser was by far the best of the bunch! The good guys notched a couple of wins as Greg Peterson outlasted Larry Sharpe, and the highly popular Klondike Bill took the measure of Joe Soto. But the first bout of the night stood out, and was really outstanding. 1974 NWA rookie of the year Steve Keirn and veteran Art Nelson wrestled to a 20 minute draw, which was a battle of contrasting styles and youth versus experience. Nelson, the aging veteran, was still in exceptional condition, but had trouble dealing the speed of Keirn. Conversely, the strength of Nelson gave the youngster Keirn fits. Each man had their chances at victory, but ultimately had to settle for a draw. As clearly Keirn was going up the “Mid-Atlantic ladder” as Nelson was going down that same ladder, it was befitting that they would meet in the middle of that proverbial ladder in this early July 1975 confrontation. But to show how this trend continued over the next few months for both, by October of 1975 Keirn was in a main event program with Tiger Conway, while Nelson was set to depart the Mid-Atlantic area, and would never return.

Originally published July 4, 2015, and republished in July of 2018, and 2021
on the Mid-Atlantic Gateway

Remembering Dusty Rhodes

My First Impression Was the Most Lasting
by David Chappell
Mid-Atlantic Gateway
Originally published June 2015

Like most Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling fans, I felt tremendous sadness when I learned that the “American Dream” Dusty Rhodes passed away. While I never considered Dusty a true “Mid-Atlantic” guy, he nevertheless cast a large shadow over the latter years of Jim Crockett Promotions and the professional wrestling world in general.

Everybody that ever saw Dusty over the course of his career likely has a lasting memory of him…one match, card or interview that really stands out. I’m no different, though mine might be a bit obscure to some. It occurred on September 4, 1976, which was Dusty’s first appearance in my wrestling hometown of Richmond, Virginia.

Two weeks before that big event, it was clear that something unusual was up. TV promo announcer Les Thatcher told the Richmond viewing audience to be sure to tune in next week “for a special announcement of interest to all Richmond area wrestling fans.” During the Mid-Atlantic years, I never remembered a “tease” like that during a Richmond promo for our upcoming Friday night matches. Sure enough, when the next week rolled around, Les Thatcher announced that the American Dream Dusty Rhodes would be challenging “Nature Boy” Ric Flair for Flair’s Mid-Atlantic Heavyweight Championship on a special Saturday night card at the Richmond Coliseum!

The promos leading up to the match were exceptional. Ric said “the confrontation between the two biggest egos in wrestling” had to eventually come about, and that he was sorry that he had “to ruin the grand occasion when the Dream was finally coming to Richmond.” But Ric hastened to add that he would in fact ruin Dusty’s first Richmond appearance, noting that “if there was anybody that could do it, anybody that is that much higher than the Dream, it’s the Nature Boy.”

Rhodes sent in a promo from Florida for the Richmond match, and it may have been the best promo I ever heard Dusty cut...and that covers a lot of territory. Dusty, saying he was “the greatest sports attraction in the world” and “287 pounds of sweet soul,” told the Richmond audience that he was coming to the Mid-Atlantic area, and was looking to capture all the territory’s Titles, in route to the World’s Heavyweight Championship. The “Dream” referred to his Richmond opponent, Ric Flair, as “talkin’ trash, and spendin’ cash.” Dusty told Flair and the fans in Richmond in no uncertain terms that “it’s all about the Mid-Atlantic Title around my waist! I’m gonna bring all the power, pandemonium and excitement and lay it right in your lap….Jack!"

A massive Coliseum crowd welcomed Dusty to Richmond, and those fans appeared to have propelled the American Dream to the Mid-Atlantic Heavyweight Championship. Rhodes exuded the charisma he was famous for, and also showed off amazing athleticism for a man his size. In a chaotic ending where Flair’s major Mid-Atlantic protagonist Wahoo McDaniel interjected himself in the action, Dusty pinned Flair and carried the Mid-Atlantic Title belt with him back to the dressing room! A Title change…or so the Richmond fans thought.

On the Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling television show that aired the following Saturday, Richmond fans were looking forward to Dusty Rhodes being introduced as the new Mid-Atlantic Heavyweight Champion in the opening segment. But in the show opening there wasn’t a word about the Title change…and Dusty Rhodes wasn’t even mentioned. Then the bombshell was dropped.

In an interview just for the Richmond fans, Les Thatcher introduced Ric Flair as “a man who is surrounded with a lot of controversy.” Ric went on to address the match he had with Dusty in Richmond, saying that the Mid-Atlantic belt would be a part of his body until he decided to put it down and walk away from it. While talking about the match, Flair angrily said, “McDaniel had to interfere. My foot was on the rope…Wahoo didn’t beat me, Dusty didn’t beat me, the people didn’t beat me. As much as it hurt them inside, the NWA had to give me back this ten pounds of silver, brother.”

So, Dusty didn’t win the Mid-Atlantic belt after all. A “Dusty finish” before that term became part of the wrestling lexicon. To make matters worse, Rhodes didn’t become a Mid-Atlantic regular like his promo intimated he would. In fact, I don’t remember the American Dream wrestling again in Richmond until 1981 when he was the NWA World Champion, then Dusty wrestled several isolated bouts in Richmond in 1982 and finally in the middle of 1984 he did in fact come into Jim Crockett Promotions as a regular.

Watching Dusty over the years, I always come back to his first Richmond appearance way back on September 4, 1976. In many ways, I see his career encapsulated in that initial Richmond appearance and its aftermath. Tremendous promos, charisma off the charts, solid work in the ring on the plus side, but “Dusty finishes” and Dusty overshadowing everybody and everything not Dusty on the not so positive side.

Regardless of how you view the career of the American Dream in its totality, I doubt if any wrestling fan would argue against the statement that Dusty Rhodes was one of the biggest stars in the history of professional wrestling. And I’m very glad the “Dream” made that first Richmond appearance in early September of 1976. It always gave me a point of reference as I followed his career in later years, and Dusty stayed true to that form for the most part over the years. Truly, my first impression of Dusty Rhodes turned out to be my most lasting and enduring one.

Newspaper Clippings from the Mark Eastridge Collection

 

Originally published in June 2015 on the Mid-Atlantic Gateway

4th of July Flashback: The Andersons Battle Wahoo McDaniel and Paul Jones in Richmond

A GIANT 4th of July Card in Richmond

by David Chappell

Mid-Atlantic Gateway

Like most cities, Richmond, Virginia back in 1975 had its share of spectacular fireworks displays to commemorate the Independence Day holiday. But none of those displays held a candle to the “fireworks” that were unleashed on fans inside the Richmond Coliseum, watching a super spectacular card of Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling on the evening of July 4, 1975!

To those that have followed the Mid-Atlantic Gateway, you may recall that this card ranked #21 on my listing of Richmond’s greatest Mid-Atlantic cards. The most intriguing match to me going in was a rare Richmond appearance of Andre the Giant, going against the seemingly indestructible Super Destroyer, who was saying at the time that he had held onto his mask for thirteen years. But the match that really stole the show was a NWA World Tag Team Title bout between champions Gene and Ole Anderson against Paul Jones and Wahoo McDaniel.

About three weeks prior to this Richmond show, the Anderson Brothers had regained the World Tag Team Title belts on television in the dramatic “Supreme Sacrifice” match, where Ole ran Wahoo’s head into Gene’s head, knocking Gene out in the process. This return bout in Richmond had the big match feel of a title change, and the apparent sellout crown at the Coliseum was at a fever pitch anticipating a win for the challengers. But…it wasn’t meant to be on this night. An even bout turned the challengers way towards the end, but it was too little too late. The Andersons stalled out the final minutes, and escaped with a 60 minute draw. This match set up four return bouts between these four during the summer and fall of 1975, with the challengers coming tantalizingly close to winning back the belts.

In the semi-final, many in attendance thought Andre the Giant would finally be the man to unmask the Super Destroyer. After all, if a GIANT couldn’t do the deed nobody else had in 13 years, who possibly could? Andre physically manhandled the masked man to a degree that nobody could believe, but that didn’t stop the Destroyer’s active mind from escaping one precarious predicament after another. A disqualification win for Andre got the Giant’s hand raised and validated a dominating performance, but at the same time frustrated many fans who were expecting a hood to come off. However, the Super Destroyer haters were about to get the last laugh. As fate would have it, the masked man would wrestle only one more time in Richmond and within a month or so was out of the area under a cloud, never to return, with his unmasked face plastered all over the Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling television shows.

The supporting card, honestly, was not as strong as many Richmond saw, but it did have its moments. The “best of the rest” was a unique pairing of the Mid-Atlantic TV Champion Ric Flair and the underrated Doug Gilbert, against the “good guy” duo of big Swede Hanson and Sonny King. Flair was rising fast at this juncture, so I expected the “bad guys” would take this one. The big Swede was dropping down the cards, and Sonny King was being de-emphasized and would be leaving the area in about two weeks as time would tell. However, Flair and Gilbert couldn’t control their anger issues, giving Hanson and King a disqualification victory to the delight of the Richmond fans.

The other tag team match of the night saw Bob Bruggers and Sandy Scott dispatch the team of Charlie Fulton and the Blue Scorpion. The Bruggers/Scott combination was a smooth one, and they ran circles around their confounded opponents this night. Unfortunately for his many fans, Sandy Scott wrestled very little after this Richmond match, though he did continue to stay active with the promotion, primarily behind the scenes. And after a promising start as a main event performer a year and a half before, Bruggers continued to drop down the cards until the airplane crash in Wilmington, North Carolina in early October of 1975 brought his wrestling career to an end.

Three single matches rounded out this holiday spectacular, and the curtain raiser was by far the best of the bunch! The good guys notched a couple of wins as Greg Peterson outlasted Larry Sharpe, and the highly popular Klondike Bill took the measure of Joe Soto. But the first bout of the night stood out, and was really outstanding. 1974 NWA rookie of the year Steve Keirn and veteran Art Nelson wrestled to a 20 minute draw, which was a battle of contrasting styles and youth versus experience. Nelson, the aging veteran, was still in exceptional condition, but had trouble dealing the speed of Keirn. Conversely, the strength of Nelson gave the youngster Keirn fits. Each man had their chances at victory, but ultimately had to settle for a draw. As clearly Keirn was going up the “Mid-Atlantic ladder” as Nelson was going down that same ladder, it was befitting that they would meet in the middle of that proverbial ladder in this early July 1975 confrontation. But to show how this trend continued over the next few months for both, by October of 1975 Keirn was in a main event program with Tiger Conway, while Nelson was set to depart the Mid-Atlantic area, and would never return.

As everyone celebrates July 4, 2015, I hope there are Independence Day Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling memories that will find their way into those festivities. For me, a GIANT Richmond Coliseum card 40 years ago will always without question be part of my 4th of July remembrances!
 

Originally published July 4, 2015, and republished July 4, 2018
on the Mid-Atlantic Gateway

Ric Flair: The "Drug Store Wrestler"

by David Chappell
Mid-Atlantic Gateway

“In your area” promos that Paul Jones and Ric Flair cut for a match at the Richmond Arena in Richmond, Virginia in the spring of 1975 would bring about two new monikers for Flair that I had never heard Ric called before. One name would become synonymous with Flair to this day, while the other was probably never heard again after this Richmond match.

The promos were done on April 23, 1975 promoting a championship bout in Richmond for the Mid-Atlantic Television Title between the champion Flair, and his bitter rival and former TV champion, Paul Jones. The TV announcer for these Richmond promos was the legendary Bob Caudle.

May 2, 1975   Richmond VA

Paul began his promo, “You know Bob, you’ve heard of drug store cowboys…dressed up like a cowboy sitting on a bar stool at a drug store? Well, Flair, I wanna know one thing. Are you a drug store wrestler, or are you a wrestler that has the ability to be a champion? Well, you gotta do one thing; you gotta prove it to me! Where’d you get that big belly at, from eating banana splits? Where’d you get those 22 inch arms, from drinking cherry cokes? I think you are a drug store cowboy; I mean a drug store wrestler!”

A fired up Jones continued, “But you gotta prove it to me that you aren’t, Flair. And let me tell you something else, I guarantee you I’m goin’ to be in Richmond early. And I guarantee you that I’m gonna walk around town, and if I’m gonna check every drug store and if I see you on that bar stool I’m gonna knock you right off that bar stool right there. And then that night, I’m gonna get you in the ring where I can win the belt in front of everybody.”

Paul finished up his promo by saying to Flair, “You’ve embarrassed me, you’ve harassed me…you’ve caused me to lose sleep at night! Just because you STOLE that belt from me! The people don’t wanna see you wear that belt; the people wanna see Paul Jones, Number One, wear that belt. And after Friday night in Richmond, you’re gonna see right wear the belt belongs…right around ‘Number One’s’ waist. So let me tell you something you drug store, soda jerk…you better be ready!"

A very angry Ric Flair a little later in the show responded back to Paul saying with lots of venom, “I want to answer Jones; I was sittin’ in the back and heard Jones shooting off his mouth. Well let me tell you something Jones, if you call having blonde hair that Elke Sommer likes running her fingers through; a body that looks like it was carved out of granite by Michelangelo, and a body that Raquel Welch would give her right arm to rub suntan oil on every day…YES, I am a drug store wrestler! That’s my answer to you!”

Ric wasn’t through, as he then told Jones, “Let me tell you something else Paul Jones. Along with this belt…the day I won this belt I went out and bought a Cadillac. I went out and bought a house. I bought a whole new wardrobe, and I bought a couple of my girlfriends a whole new wardrobe. And you know why? Because this belt right here is 100,000 big ones a year; that’s just sittin’ home, that’s not goin’ out the front door. Just owning this belt makes me a very wealthy young man. It brings my life style way up here, high in the sky, just the way I like it! I like pretty ladies coming by early in the morning, pretty ladies coming by in the afternoon, pretty ladies coming by at night.”

Flair concluded his promo by having Bob Caudle hold his TV belt exclaiming, “Jones, I like everything I got right now because I’m wearing that belt and because I’m the champion. And if you think for one minute that you’re gonna get in that ring with me Friday night and do me damage, pound knots on my head, mess with my body, mess with my mind, mess with anything about me you’re wrong! Jones, I’m gonna take you like any bare wild animal would, and I’m gonna break one of your arms and then maybe you’ll be walking around drug stores looking for somebody else to beat up on, because it won’t be the Nature Boy! WOOOOO!"

In the last sentence of his promo, Ric referred to himself as the “Nature Boy” for the first time that I had ever heard. That name, of course, has stuck with Flair though the next 41 years. The “drug store wrestler” nickname bestowed on Ric by Paul Jones, luckily didn’t stick!

The May 2, 1975 TV Title bout between Ric Flair and Paul Jones was a hot battle that saw Flair leave Richmond with his belt still intact, but it was tough for any match to live up to those two incredible promos preceding it. The promos that I will always associate with the “Nature Boy” reference that I heard for the first time of thousands upon thousands more times to come, and the “drug store wrestler” reference that I never heard again!

 

Originally posted April 25, 2016 on the Mid-Atlantic Gateway

Hot August Night in Richmond (Revisited)

by David Chappell, Mid-Atlantic Gateway
from the Mid-Atlantic Gateway Archives 2001


INCLUDES RARE VINTAGE AUDIO CLIPS BELOW

August 1, 1980 was a scorching summer’s day in the Richmond area. On that Friday, the temperature soared, and then soared some more. It felt like about a 120 degrees, though the official high was "only" 99 degrees in Richmond and 104 degrees in nearby Norfolk.

Being a Friday, of course, Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling was in town that evening. Typically, Jim Crockett Promotions would bring in a sizzling card of wrestling action to match the hot weather outside. Such was the case on this night, though in a somewhat different fashion. This card at the Richmond Coliseum, while in no measure one of Jim Crockett’s best, gave me two of my most lasting memories of Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling.

The semi-final bout of the evening saw Blackjack Mulligan square off with Enforcer Luciano in a Texas Street Fight. While Blackjack was a familiar face to Mid-Atlantic fans, the Enforcer was a strange character who was only in the area for about three months. As the story goes, the Enforcer came into the area from Detroit with a "contract " out on Mulligan. In actuality, Mulligan had dispatched the challenge of Superstar # 2 (John Studd) in the late spring of 1980, and Mulligan’s next significant program would not occur until mid-August 1980 with newcomer "Bad Boy" Bobby Duncum. Hence, the Enforcer was only a brief transition figure, but a pretty entertaining one. Many may best remember Luciano for breaking cement blocks with his bare fist and chewing up a light bulb on the Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling television program!

The Texas Street Fight was Mulligan’s specialty match, and involved the participants dressing however they wanted and bringing whatever they wanted into the ring. It amazed me how many "foreign objects" that Luciano could cram into his clothing. He had nearly everything on him but the kitchen sink. Despite chains, brass knuckles, powder, etc. Luciano never got on track against Mulligan. It became clear after a couple of minutes, that this would be a slaughter and Luciano’s swan song in the Mid-Atlantic area. After wearing the Enforcer down, Mulligan took one of his cowboy boots off, flung Luciano into the ropes and smashed him in the head with the hard boot. The Enforcer was counted out, and Luciano proceeded to lay flat on his back with his arms and legs spread out wide for a good five minutes. The image of Luciano laying in the middle of the ring for so long has always stayed with me. To this day, when I see anyone in any sport get a real butt-kicking, I remember the Enforcer on this night and think to myself that they didn’t get laid out nearly as badly as Luciano did! Needless to say, Enforcer Luciano was never heard from again after this Texas Street Fight!

The Richmond Coliseum

The main event on this hot August night also provided me with a lasting remembrance of Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling. The match was a NWA World Tag Team Title match with Jimmy "Superfly" Snuka and Ray Stevens defending against Ricky Steamboat and Jay Youngblood in a fence match. It was always an adventure when there was a fence match in Richmond. There would be a number of men that would come out before the match with the four sections of the fence and "attach" the fence sections to the four ring posts. It never made for a sturdy looking structure, and apparently it wasn’t as at least four men stayed during the match itself acting as a "human brace" with their hands holding onto the fence. You always wondered if the fence would collapse, particularly when a wrestler was thrown headfirst into the fence, which happened often. On this night, the high flying Jimmy Snuka would give the fence its ultimate test.

Hear match promos from Ray Stevens and manager Gene Anderson:

[ More audio clips at the bottom of this post, including Steamboat, Youngblood, Mulligan, and Luciano. ]

Snuka’s usual finishing move was a dive off the top rope with his opponent lying nearly on the other side of the ring. It was a breathtaking maneuver, particularly during this time period, as wrestling did not showcase many aerial moves in this era. During this match, Ray Stevens had weakened Jay Youngblood considerably and tagged in Snuka. The "Superfly" mounted the ropes, with Youngblood a good three-quarters of the way across the ring from him. Snuka perched himself on the top rope, crouched, and we in attendance all thought the great dive would begin. But then Snuka inexplicably paused, turned, and looked toward the top of the rickety fence. We were all thinking, NO, he couldn’t be considering going to the top of the fence!! But that’s exactly what he was doing….everyone in attendance held their collective breaths as Snuka attempted to navigate from the top rope to the top of the 10 foot fence as the flimsy fence was swaying. He eventually made it and was somehow standing on top of the fence, with the men below holding on to their respective parts of the fence with all their might. When the "Superfly" raised his arms above his head in preparation for his jump, he appeared to lose his tenuous balance and everyone in the Coliseum had their hearts in their throats. I know I was positive that he was going to fall backwards off of the fence. Somehow, miraculously, Snuka kept from falling off the fence and righted himself and actually jumped upward but still flew through the air far enough to reach a prone Jay Youngblood. Jay moved out of the way a split second before Snuka arrived, and Snuka plowed face-first into the mat. The other three wrestlers backed off momentarily, obviously waiting to see if Jimmy was all right. Snuka was down for about thirty seconds and then was able to make a tag to Stevens, while Youngblood was in turn making his tag to Steamboat. The match continued in anti-climactic fashion, with Stevens and Snuka ultimately capturing the win and keeping their titles.

Anyone who saw Snuka scale and jump off that fence will never forget that magical moment. I sweated during the early part of that Friday because of the searing heat, but never more so than later that night inside the Coliseum when Jimmy Snuka was teetering on top of that fence. This was undoubtedly a hot August night in Richmond that I’ll always remember!


Postscript: The Madison Square Garden Connection

It is interesting to note that Jimmy Snuka later received national acclaim after moving to the WWF for doing a similar dive off the top of a cage in Madison Square Garden in New York City during a title match against Bob Backlund. You heard about that match, and the well publicized story about Mick Foley seeing Snuka dive off the cage in MSG and emulating Snuka by jumping off his own house onto a mattress which literally sprung Foley into a great career in professional wrestling. What you never heard, though, was that Snuka first performed the death defying maneuver in the Mid-Atlantic area under much more dangerous circumstances, and emerged intact to be able to do it later for a bigger audience in the "Big Apple."

Originally published  in 2001 on the Mid-Atlantic Gateway

then republished June 15, 2015.

MORE AUDIO! Additional  promos have been added to this post for this big August 1980 card in Richmond. Great memories - - Enjoy! 

Ricky Steamboat & Jay Youngblood Promo


Blackjack Mulligan


Enforcer Luciano

Blackjack Mulligan Faces The Indian Strap (Part 2)

by David Chappell
Mid-Atlantic Gateway

Before reading this, catch up on PART ONE which includes rare audio of Blackjack's interview before his strap match with Wahoo McDaniel.)

* * * * * * *

After his stinging “Indian Strap Match” defeat at the hands of “Chief” Wahoo McDaniel on May 30, 1975 in the Richmond Arena, Blackjack Mulligan departed the Mid-Atlantic area and headed back north to the ring wars in the WWWF. Only Blackjack and Mid-Atlantic fans in Charlotte, North Carolina and Richmond, Virginia knew how devastating the Indian Strap Match defeat was to the big man from Eagle Pass, Texas.

Mulligan was so infuriated by the Strap Match loss in the Richmond Arena and a prior one in Charlotte two weeks earlier, that he stewed over it while he was in the WWWF and couldn’t, and wouldn’t, let it go. Blackjack was able to secure a bout back in the Mid-Atlantic area, a seemingly one-shot deal with the promoters in both federations, to attempt to exact revenge against Wahoo in a specialty bout that he was more comfortable with…a Texas Death Match. A brutal bout where falls don’t count, and the winner is only declared when the vanquished opponent couldn’t answer the bell after a ten count.

On June 30, 1975 Blackjack appeared back in the Mid-Atlantic area exactly a month after the infamous Indian Strap beating he absorbed in Richmond, facing Wahoo at Memorial Stadium in Charlotte in a Texas Death Match. Blackjack had also been dominated by Wahoo in an Indian Strap contest in the Queen City back on May 17, 1975. While this style of match was far more to Mulligan’s liking, and his thirst for revenge against the great Indian was unquenchable, Blackjack still came up short in this bitter battle.

Rather than taking his lumps in Charlotte and retreating back to the WWWF for good, Mully was preparing to saddle up for one last stand in the Mid-Atlantic area. And it seemed only fitting that his last opportunity for revenge against Wahoo McDaniel would be back at the scene of the final Indian Strap bout indignity…Richmond, Virginia!

The date was July 18, 1975 and the venue was the Richmond Coliseum. The fans in Richmond hadn’t seen hide nor hair of Blackjack Mulligan since the Indian Strap debacle on May 30th. But it was etched in stone in Blackjack’s mind as he replayed the beating McDaniel gave him over and over and over again.

Mulligan became even more enraged as he thought back and fumed over Wahoo’s words leading up to the Indian Strap Match back in May. In that pre-match Richmond promo Wahoo told legendary announcer Les Thatcher, “I’m not gonna stand up in front of the people here and say I don’t have the advantage, because I do. But the reason I wanted this match was to keep the man in the ring. Because I believe the people in Richmond, myself, deserve to see who the toughest man is.”

Wahoo continued, “This is the biggest man I’ve ever wrestled in an Indian Strap Match. But I can tell you one thing, this strap is gonna work in my favor…it can cut an ear off, it can knock an eye out, and when it gets wet it’s like a razor. I can say one thing Mr. Mulligan, you’d better buckle it on and be ready when you get there because I’m comin’ with this strap and I’m gonna be ready!”

Blackjack angrily recalled Wahoo’s parting shot to Thatcher and the Richmond fans, “You can’t tell me the man that’s six foot seven and 309 pounds hasn’t got some guts. I know his record and he’s beaten a lot of top guys. But Mulligan, you’re gonna be eight feet away and that’s a far as you’re gonna be from me all night and that’s gonna be the shortest distance you’ve ever been, and I’m gonna take that strap and I’m gonna drag you around that ring and you’re gonna say, ‘Please Mr. Indian let me go!’”

When Richmond’s wrestling faithful tuned into their beloved Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling program on Saturday afternoon July 12, 1975, imagine the shock when announcer David Crockett appeared mid-program in a special inserted segment just for Richmond. Crockett solemnly uttered, “With me is Blackjack Mulligan, he has asked for this time because he has some grievances to air.”

When Mulligan slid into camera range, the Richmond fans heard from Blackjack for the first time since he had been demolished by Wahoo in the Indian Strap bout. His words were blood curdling and oozing with a hunger for revenge…chilling even today almost 45 years later!


TO BE CONTINUED IN PART 3!

Blackjack Mulligan lays out his case for revenge in the upcoming Richmond Texas Death Match, with responses from Wahoo McDaniel ... and Ric Flair!

Blackjack Mulligan Faces The Indian Strap

by David Chappell
Mid-Atlantic Gateway

When thinking of the great Blackjack Mulligan and his illustrious career in the Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling area, many believe his earliest days in the Crockett territory occurred right after the October 1975 Wilmington, North Carolina plane crash when the big man from Eagle Pass, Texas was brought into the Mid-Atlantic states as a “replacement” for the badly injured Johnny Valentine. But actually, the big Texan’s initial foray into Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling was a short three month stint in the spring of 1975, from March through May, where Blackjack tasted success, but it ended when Mully got a taste of Wahoo McDaniel’s infamous “Indian Strap” on May 30, 1975 in the Richmond Arena.

In the lead-up to this intriguing “Cowboy versus Indian” match, Wahoo had left his eight-foot leather strap with announcer Les Thatcher for Blackjack to comment on during his pre-match promo. The mere visual of the dreaded strap unnerved Mulligan to no end. As Mulligan leered at the strap, he exclaimed to the fans:

“I’m not a coward! I’ll fight! And believe me I’m gonna fight with everything I’ve got! I’m going into the ring with the worst possible conditions…I don’t know anything about a strap. The man’s a savage, it’s been proved he’s crazy, something’s snapped in his mind! He’s goin’ downtown wrecking cars, slapping old ladies…there’s something wrong with that Indian!”

“Now somebody’s gonna get hurt, and somebody’s gonna get hurt very bad! I have no idea, all I know is that eight feet away from me, strapped to me, is gonna be a half crazed Indian! You know something, you put a coyote in a corner and he’s gonna fight…he’s gonna fight like a wild dog, like a wild maniac! That’s what I’m gonna do! I’ve got guts McDaniel, don’t make the mistake…do not underestimate me.”

Mulligan’s rage at Wahoo continued as he grabbed the unforgiving eight foot piece of leather, telling McDaniel in no uncertain terms:

“You better fight with everything you got! I don’t know how to use this thing. I’ve seen some public whippings…nobody likes to be humiliated in front of thousands of people, and I have no intentions of being humiliated! You better worry about rather than pulling me around the ring, you better worry about knocking me off my feet…that’s the first thing you better worry about. The second thing you better worry about is you getting out of that ring alive!”

After that scary statement, Mully gave the fans some insight as to the lengths he was willing to go to in order to come out victorious versus Wahoo and his fearsome Indian strap. Blackjack bellowed:

 “I may have a hog leg in my boots, you don’t know what I’m gonna have in my trunks, because I know nothing about a strap match! But I can tell you one thing, I’m gonna be fightin’ for my ever lovin’ life, I’m gonna come out fightin’! Somebody’s gonna be hurt very bad, and it’s not gonna be me!” 

Then Mulligan totally lost control as he was fumbling with the strap he was gripping and yelled to Thatcher:

“GET THIS THING OFF OF ME, WILL YA?!?”

Blackjack Mulligan battles Wahoo McDaniel in
in an Indian Strap Match in Richmond
(Photo by Bill Janosik)

Blackjack was defeated in the Richmond Arena, as Wahoo managed to drag the massive Texan two times around the ring by his Indian strap, giving Wahoo the win under the Indian Strap match rules. Mulligan, after being soundly beaten in Richmond, headed north to the WWWF, and out of the Mid-Atlantic area. But the terrible taste of the strap would not leave Blackjack’s mouth, to the point that Mulligan made a special trip back to Richmond in July of 1975 to avenge that dreadful whipping. And Blackjack’s words leading up to that match for revenge are still chilling…45 years later!

CONTINUED in PART TWO
Mulligan returns to Richmond from the WWWF for a one shot appearance and challenges Wahoo to a Texas Death Match on July 18, 1975!

GATEWAY EXCLUSIVE! 
Listen to the entire promo that is transcribed above. Audio fidelity is sketchy, but we hope you will still enjoy!

Bloopermania! Black Belt Jones invades the Richmond Arena (1976)

We've presented some classic newspaper bloopers here in the past. For some of them there just seems to be no explanation. But this one may take the cake.

This will probbaly go down as the most botched results article for a wrestling show ever.

THE RICHMOND ARENA
RICHMOND, VIRGINIA
MAY 21, 1976

Where to begin?

Well for starters, they listed the results in reverse order, making the opening match of El Gaucho vs. Greg Peterson the "feature event" of the Richmond card.

They did OK with the remaining two openers. You have to forgive them for Larry "Zibisco." Nearly everyone spells Larry Zbyszko wrong. (I may have just done it right there.)

Then there is Jacques "Gullet." You get Jacques right, but can't get any closer than that on Goulet?

But the real winners are in the two main events:

Black Belt Jones defeated Paul Jones. Black Belt Jones appears here instead of Black Jack Mulligan. My first thought was to ask how on earth is that possible. Where could that copy writer come up with Black Belt Jones? Then I decided to Google it. Wikipedia describes "Black Belt Jones" as a "1974 American blaxploitation martial arts film." I guess the copy-writer at the Richmond Times-Dispatch was a fan.

Two bloopers appear in the main event result as Dino Bravo and Kim Wood defeated Jim and Ole Anderson.

Hey! Jim Anderson! Another Anderson brother!

This Richmond newspaper report was so outrageous, promoter Joe Murnick must have insisted on a correction, because one did appear the next day in the Times-Dispatch. (They still spelled Zbyszko wrong.)

So if this kind of thing amuses you (as it obviously does us), visit our Bloopers Page for lots more.

Thanks as always to Mark Eastridge for his research and for sending us these clippings. 

Flashback: Ric Flair becomes the "Nature Boy" (and maybe not exactly when you thought.)

by Dick Bourne
Mid-Atlantic Gateway

INCLUDES CLASSIC VINTAGE AUDIO

"Nature Boy" Ric Flair
Mid-Atlantic TV Champion (1975)

One of the big misconceptions out there is that Ric Flair first took on the "Nature Boy" moniker when he returned to action in early 1976 after the October 1975 plane crash in Wilmington, NC.

Not true.

You'd have to forgive anyone for thinking that. It's been written that way for awhile. Until years ago, I thought that as well and even Ric himself has said so on occasion.

The commonly held misconception is that during his four month lay-off in late 1975 and early 1976 recuperating from injuries suffered in the plane crash, George Scott came up with the idea of giving Ric the "Nature Boy" gimmick, an homage to "Nature Boy" Buddy Rogers, the famous NWA and WWF World Champion in the 1960s.

However, it's been verified that Ric Flair had been calling himself the "Nature Boy" for nearly a year earlier.

By all accounts, it was indeed booker George Scott who came up with the idea, that part is apparently true. But Ric was referring to himself as the Nature Boy in local promos and on TV interviews as early as April of 1975 (perhaps even earlier), a full six months before the infamous plane crash.

May 2, 1975    Richmond, Virginia

That time frame was confirmed when David Chappell came across an audio recording (embedded below) of a local promo Ric did for a May 1975 match in Richmond, VA. Ric actually did the promo in late April for a match to take place on May 2. He was defending his Mid-Atlantic TV title in the Richmond Arena against the man he beat for that belt, "Number One" Paul Jones.

After Jones had called Flair a "drugstore wrestler" (an offhanded reference to an earlier promo where Flair had called Jones a "drugstore cowboy"), Ric responded in a promo of his own, referring to himself as the "Nature Boy" right at the end of his promo:

"Jones, I'm gonna take you like any wild animal would. I'm gonna break one of your arms and then maybe you'll be walkin' around the drugstore looking for someone else to beat up on, because it won't be the Nature Boy. Wooo!"    - Ric Flair, April 1975

All of the signature elements of the "Nature Boy" persona were taking shape before the plane crash. His trademark "Wooo!" was more of a quick high-pitched shout at that point. And his cocky strut was more subdued and less pronounced than in later years. (I actually liked the 70s and early 80s Flair strut much better than the exaggerated Fargoesque style of strut that he later morphed into.) He had a robe or two, but nothing like the number  of extravagantly styled robes he would acquire beginning in 1976. Within a year or so Flair had nearly a dozen of the Olivia Walker creations.

This is the earliest reference we've found. We'll keep digging to see how far back things go. Our main goal was to document that Flair's "Nature Boy" persona existed well before the plane crash and his subsequent recovery and return to the sport. The audio recording from April 1975 should put that to rest.

And now you know -- as the great Paul Harvey was famous for saying - - the rest of the story.

Originally Published on the Mid-Atlantic Gateway May 16, 2018. 

 

Best of: Friday Night Wrestling in Richmond - A Lasting Legacy

Friday Night Wrestling in Richmond - A Lasting Legacy

by David Chappell
Mid-Atlantic Gateway 

(Originally written for the program for the Richmond Wrestle Expo event which was cancelled and never took place.) 

It is fitting that the inaugural Mid-Atlantic Wrestle Expo 2017 begins on a Friday evening, as Friday nights defined professional wrestling in Virginia’s capital city for several generations of grappling fans. It is impossible to quantify the level of excitement that the stars of Jim Crockett Promotions provided to wrestling fans in Richmond and vicinity over nearly a half century.

In the early days Bill Lewis and later Jim Crockett, Sr. promoted wrestling cards that ran at the Virginia State Fairgrounds at Strawberry Hill, which in its earliest years was called the Atlantic Rural Exposition Grounds. From the infancy of the television age until March of 1974, the Fairgrounds served as the principal host for wrestling in Richmond.

Richmond Arena

In the spring of 1974, the aging Richmond Arena and the brand spanking new Richmond Coliseum took over the hosting roles for professional wrestling in Richmond. By the spring of 1977, the dimly lit Arena with its 5,000 seat capacity ceased being used regularly and the cavernous Coliseum, with more than double the Arena’s seating capacity, would then almost exclusively host Richmond’s cards every other week for the rest of the Crockett era.

The Richmond Fairgrounds venue was a venerable “smoke filled room,” often stretched to the seams to house all the spectators that wanted to see the stars of All-Star Wrestling that they watched week-to-week on the South’s first television station, WTVR TV Channel 6.

For many of its early years, the Crockett territory featured some of the greatest tag team wrestling seen anywhere in the world and the Richmond Fairgrounds was a showcase for it. In the early 1950s George and Bobby Becker topped the cards, giving way later in the ‘50s to the “Flying Scotts,” George and Sandy Scott. But it was the 1960s into the early 1970s that saw the heyday for Crockett tag teams, where Fridays at the Fairgrounds featured such legendary performers as George Becker and Johnny Weaver, Paul Jones and Nelson Royal, Rip Hawk and Swede Hanson and Brute Bernard and Skull Murphy battling each other in two-out-of-three-falls bouts that whipped the crowds into a frenzy.

Those frenzied Friday night crowds regrettably gave the Richmond Fairgrounds a place in wrestling history that it would probably rather not claim. On Friday night February 11, 1966, Boris “The Great” Malenko and Bob Orton, Sr. were seriously injured after a riot broke out after the conclusion of a heated match against the beloved team of George and Sandy Scott. As bad as the incident was, it showed just how incredibly powerful the wrestlers played their respective good versus evil roles to engender such raw emotions in the spectators.

Richmond Coliseum
(Photo by Dick Bourne)

In the early 1970s, All-Star Wrestling became known as Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling, and Jim Crockett, Jr. headed up operations of the family owned company. By this time, Joe Murnick along with his sons Carl and Elliot were the primary local promoters for Richmond and vicinity. During this same time frame, Richmond’s own Rich Landrum was doing the ring announcing at the Richmond venues, and would soon parlay that role into a position as lead announcer on Crockett’s popular Worldwide Wrestling television show during the late 1970s and early 1980s.

Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling caught fire in the mid 1970s, and was arguably the top territory in professional wrestling over the next ten years until Jim Crockett Promotions gradually ceased operating as the Mid-Atlantic territory as it attempted to become more national in scope. During this period, the Richmond Coliseum ran mega cards with huge crowds and featured many historically significant matches.

During that red-hot time frame, the Richmond Coliseum was home to multiple switches of the Mid-Atlantic territory’s most important championship titles. Particularly noteworthy was Ric Flair dropping the Mid-Atlantic Heavyweight Title to Wahoo McDaniel on December 27, 1976, effectively ending arguably the greatest feud in the history of the Mid-Atlantic area.

Fast forward ahead to July 29, 1977 in the Coliseum, where Flair aced his first United States Heavyweight Title, defeating the legendary Bobo Brazil in what was perhaps Richmond’s most historically significant match. And moving into the decade of the 1980s the Coliseum saw the triumphant return to the area of the “Minnesota Wrecking Crew,” Gene and Ole Anderson, as they defeated Paul Jones and the Masked Superstar for the NWA World Tag Team Titles, the same belts the Anderson Brothers had vigorously controlled several years earlier.

While Richmond, Virginia has continued to host professional wrestling events up to the present day, there was never a time where wrestling captured and held the public’s fascination like Friday nights during the Jim Crockett Promotions and Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling era. It was truly a golden age of wrestling that has now passed, but one that will never ever be forgotten in Richmond.

* * * * *

See also: A Brief History of Wrestling in the Mid-Atlantic Area

Originally published June 30, 2017 on the Mid-Atlantic Gateway

Mr. Wrestling Tim Woods' Last Stand (Part Eleven)

by David Chappell
Mid-Atlantic Gateway


Catch up on this entire story in:
PART ONE  |  PART TWO  |  PART THREE  |  PART FOUR
PART FIVE  |  PART SIX  |  PART SEVEN  |  PART EIGHT
PART NINE  |  PART TEN
* * * * *

PART ELEVEN
Just as Tim Woods was beginning to exact his revenge on Buddy Rogers and Jimmy Snuka in November of 1979, the last Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling program of that month would shockingly alter this bitter rivalry forever. Sandwiched between the initial singles bout between Woods and Snuka in Greensboro, North Carolina on November 22nd that ended in a wild double count-out affair, Raleigh, North Carolina at the Dorton Arena saw Woods get his first individual shots at Buddy Rogers, where on November 20th Rogers eked out a count-out victory, only to lose the return bout a week later when Woods got his hand raised in a match that had two referees.  But the very next night in the WRAL TV studios in Raleigh, everything would change in the "hate triangle" between Woods, Snuka and Rogers.

On the November 28, 1979 Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling television show, Ric Flair attacked Buddy Rogers in an impromptu melee between the two Nature Boys. Ric got the upper hand quickly, and unmercifully drove his fists into the right ear of Rogers, an ear that had previously given Rogers fits. Buddy was escorted from the studio by Jimmy Snuka clutching his ear and in obvious pain. When the program went off the air, there was no update on Rogers' condition. However, the mystery on Buddy's status would be solved the following week on TV.

Announcer David Crockett appeared on the December 5, 1979 Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling television taping and read a letter from Buddy Rogers, the contents of which conveyed to the fans that it would be very unlikely Buddy would return as Snuka's manager due to the injuries that Ric Flair had inflicted on his ear. In the letter, Rogers said he was actively pursuing a prospective buyer of his managerial contract with Jimmy Snuka. This signaled the end of Rogers' role in Tim Woods' "last stand." At the same time Rogers departed the scene, Woods left for a two week tour of Japan and U.S. Title bouts between he and Snuka would be set to begin upon his return.

While Tim was in Japan, Gene Anderson was shockingly announced as Jimmy Snuka's new manager. Anderson went from being a veteran wrestler who very rarely ever uttered a word on camera, to being the mouthpiece for Snuka and John Studd. Gene accompanied Snuka to the ring, and figured in both of the initial Snuka/Woods United States Title matches, at the Dorton Arena in Raleigh on December 26th and at the Richmond Coliseum in Richmond, Virginia on December 30th.



The U.S. Title match between Woods and Snuka at Dorton Arena on December 26th was part of a rare "on location" television taping of Mid-Atlantic and World Wide Wrestling, with some of the bigger matches that evening being reserved for the live crowd and not taped for TV. This TV taping was also the television return of Tim Woods after his being absent on TV for several weeks, and Tim talked at length to announcer Rich Landrum on the World Wide Wrestling show. Landrum opened with, "Mr. Wrestling, Tim Woods, and you're still after Jimmy Snuka for that U.S. Title and whatever else you want to get even for."

Woods then summed up nicely his issues with Snuka saying in response, "Well, what I really want to get even for is the man that put me out of wrestling for seven weeks as a matter of fact, and I haven't forgotten it. And I know that 1980 is going to be a lot better year than 1979 for me...because I said to everybody and I'll say it to you again once more Snuka. I'm out to getcha, I'm gonna settle the score just as soon as I can get you in that ring."

Tim continued, "And it won't be long because I've been pushing for it. In fact, I just came back from a two week tour of Japan; I talked to NWA officials over there and I told everybody about it and I mean to get Jimmy Snuka one way or another." Woods got his first dose of manager Gene Anderson in Snuka's corner in the Dorton Arena U.S. Title match that Jimmy prevailed in, setting up the long awaited Richmond U.S Championship bout that had been promoted locally for the whole month of December.

In the final week of the lead up to the Richmond bout on December 30th, the rhetoric got quite heated on TV. Anderson told the Virginia fans, "Tim Woods, you used to be a good amateur wrestler but this is professional wrestling ...this is wrestling where you can get hurt. And to beat a good amateur wrestler, all you do is take him off his feet. And Tim Woods, Jimmy Snuka is gonna take you off your feet and maybe break one of your legs."

Woods answered Gene for the Richmond fans just as forcefully explaining, "Gene Anderson thinks he's going to get the job done where nobody else could. I tell you something Gene Anderson, you get your man Jimmy Snuka in the best shape possible, you train him any way you want. You know, I remember a match with you Gene Anderson when I beat you for the World's Tag Team Championship. That's all in the past...now Snuka I want you [and] I've got you in Richmond. I want your body, I wanna hurt you, I wanna beat you for your belt."

With the assistance of Gene Anderson, Snuka prevailed over Woods in the Richmond main event of an afternoon card there, but Tim got a measure of revenge later that same day when he beat Gene in a singles match that evening in the Greensboro Coliseum. The Greensboro bout would be Woods' last of the year and the decade of the 1970s, leading up to the month of January 1980 where Tim Woods and Jimmy Snuka would play out the final chapter of their month's-long feud and decide who would carry the prestigious United States Heavyweight Championship into the decade of the 1980s.

Tim Woods and Jimmy Snuka conclude their battles over the United States Heavyweight Championship in January of 1980...to be continued in the finale to our series, Part 12!