Studio Wrestling Focus: WDBJ-7 Roanoke VA

Over at our sister website "Studio Wrestling" there are a number of posts revolving around the "Star City" of Roanoke, VA, and the "All Star Wrestling" show that once originated from there on WDBJ-7.

Here is a list of links from those recent posts:

• "Wrestling from Roanoke" at the County Fair
• Direct From the Studios of WDBJ-TV: Wrestling Ad in Roanoke
• The Roanoke Wrestling Graphic

For all of the posts dealing with studio wrestling at WDBJ-7 in Roanoke, VA, including promoter Pete Apostolou, announcer Hall Grant, and the Roanoke Sports Club CLICK HERE.

For the Mid-Atlantic Gateway's page on the history of Studio Wrestling visit this link: WDBJ-7 Roanoke VA

Lastly, for a look at all of the studio locations where wrestling was taped for Jim Crockett Promotions from 1956-1981, visit the "Guide to Studio Wrestling" page on the Mid-Atlantic Gateway (currently on the Gateway Archive site.)

Edited from a post originally published in November 2018 on the Mid-Atlantic Gateway

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

* * * * * * * *

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: Mulligan and Rhodes Headline Roanoke

by Jody Shifflett
Mid-Atlantic Gateway Contributor

This event took place back in February of 1977 at the Roanoke Civic Center and featured a very stacked card!

The main event and featured a great battle between two tough Texans, Blackjack Mulligan and Dusty Rhodes. The second main event was a battle between Wahoo McDaniel and The Masked Superstar. But I can’t help but believe it should have been Ric Flair vs Wahoo, but Flair was out with gallbladder surgery at this time. 

Another match featured fan favorite Mighty Igor against Kim Duc. 

The lineup was great this night and also a young Randy Savage was on the card. I would loved to have been there! Great coloring on t he poster, with a 7:30 start time.

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

by Brack Beasley
Mid-Atlantic Gateway Contributor 

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

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

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

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

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

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

Gateway notes: 

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

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

NO. 20 IN A SERIES

Poster: Andersons battle Keirn and Conway on Plane Crash Saturday

by Brack Beasley
Mid-Atlantic Gateway Contributor

October 4th, 1975 is an infamous date in Mid Atlantic Championship Wrestling history and for that matter, professional wrestling history as a whole. The participants on this card at the Starland Arena in Roanoke, VA  must have been grateful that they were not booked on that ill-fated chartered flight out of Charlotte to Wilmington which ended the careers of "The Champ" Johnny Valentine and Bob Bruggers, injured Tim Woods and David Crockett, and almost stopped Ric Flair's rise to the top of the wrestling world. The Wilmington plane crash this Saturday evening no doubt changed the landscape of wrestling. 

The Starland main event featured Tiger Conway Jr. and Steve Keirn continuing their quest for Gene and Ole Anderson's NWA World Tag Team belts with an undercard that included Ken Patera, Mike " The Judge" Dubois, Johnny Weaver, and Two Ton Harris.

This vertical poster, as most all Starland posters were, has a pretty basic layout with all black print on a bright yellow background and the western style "Wrestling" logo.

Imagine how different the wrestling world would have become if the Roanoke and Wilmington cards had been reversed.

NO. 12 IN A SERIES

Tully Blanchard: The Lights Go Out

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

by Dick Bourne

Mid-Atlantic Gateway

Photograph by Ginger Layman Lynch

 

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

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

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

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

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

 

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

Memories of a Lincoln Continental Tournament in Roanoke VA (1977)

by Dick Bourne
Mid-Atlantic Gateway

When working on formatting Brack Beasley's recent poster entry about the Lincoln Continental Tournament in Roanoke in 1977, I emailed Mid-Atlantic Gateway contributor Thom Brewer who grew up going to wrestling matches in Roanoke. Ric Flair defeated Wahoo McDaniel in the finals of that tournament to win the car. I wanted to know if Thom was at that show show and if he had any specific memories about the tournament and the match-ups. 

BRACK BEASLEY COLLECTION

Thom was indeed there that night. I received this email back with Thom's detailed memories.

If you missed it, check out Brack's post about that big tournament card in Roanoke and some of the context of the times. Then come back and read Thom's note below. 

* * * * * * * *

Email from Thom Brewer
Mid-Atlantic Gateway Contributor

I was actually there [in Roanoke] that night and the strap match two weeks later.  I didn't keep notes, but I remember a few things because it was a big night in my personal history.  

I had gotten a Kodak XL55 movie camera for Christmas.  I was 12 years old and it cost over $100, which is about $500 in today's money.  That was a LOT of money to us back then.  It was one of the best gifts I had ever gotten and it literally got my career as a photographer started.  I shot this tournament and a few other Mid-Atlantic Wrestling events.  And quite honestly the films were stunning. Unfortunately my parents moved a lot while I was in college and the films got lost.  

Anyway I remember some details very well.  I remember that car like it was yesterday. It was a bright, shiny maroon Lincoln Continental.  It was long and beautiful.  It was set up on one end of the floor near the ring and was roped off to protect it from the fans.  You could get close enough to get a good look, but not close enough to touch it.  It was IMPRESSIVE to a 12 year old.

I'm sketchy about the early matches featuring the enhancement guys.  I think Greg Valentine eliminated Johnny Weaver.  Wahoo eliminated Greg Valentine, I believe, to get to the finals with Flair.

Because I watched the movie a hundred times, I know for a fact that Ric Flair eliminated Dino Bravo, but it was pretty creative.  Bravo tossed Flair around for much of the match, which was okay with me because I wanted him to win the car. At one part of the match, the referee got thrown out of the ring.  I'm pretty sure it was Tommy Young.  While he is sitting on the floor, Flair is on the opposite side in the ring.  Bravo was not near him, but Flair runs across the ring, dives over the top rope, and lands right in front of the referee.  Tommy Young immediately disqualifies Bravo, thinking he threw Flair over the top rope.  The crowd was livid.  

That leaves Flair and Wahoo in the final match for the car.  I don't exactly remember how it ended.  I think Flair rolled Wahoo up and used the ropes for leverage for the pin.  I do remember that they chopped the heck out of each other.  The batteries in my camera were dying and because of it, it "undercranked" the film.  It made the action look twice as fast.  When I got my film back about a week later, those chops were coming hard and REALLY fast. It made Wahoo and Flair look like wrestling's version of the Keystone Kops.

Just about everyone in the pretty large crowd was mad that Flair had won the car.

Man, I would love to have those films today. I'd probably be an accountant or a short order cook without that camera. It set me on a path to being a journalist.

* * * * * * * *

Thom Brewer works for WDBJ-TV channel 7 in Roanoke VA, where local promoter  Pete Apostolou once staged live television wrestling matches from the channel-7 studios there. Thom provided some amazing photographs to us from his research about those studio TV tapings in the 1960s. They are featured in our page on WDBJ studio wrestling on the old Mid-Atlantic Gateway Archive site. 

Poster: Roanoke Tournament for a Lincoln Continental

by Brack Beasley
Mid-Atlantic Gateway Contributor

In the 1970s it was not uncommon for wrestling territories, especially in the South, to hold Cadillac tournaments with the winner's purse being a new Cadillac.

On Saturday night, March 26, 1977 the Roanoke Civic Center (presented erroneously as the Roanoke Coliseum on this poster) the promotion changed it up a bit and instead hosted an elimination tournament for a new 1977 Lincoln Continental Mark V.

The lineup of participants was impressive: Ric Flair, Greg Valentine, Brute Bernard, Jacques Goulet, Jerry Blackwell, Johnny Weaver, Wahoo McDaniel, Bill White, Ron Starr, Danny Miller, Dino Bravo, and Johnny Eagle. I would love to know what the pairings were for this tournament of twelve leading up to the final match in which Flair got the best of Wahoo to win the Lincoln.

Battle royal and tournament posters always had a different look to them and this one does as well with all the wrestler's names printed in the same sized font and apparently in no particular order. The all black print on this horizontal poster looks great over a bright pink background with three wrestler images down each side and the "wrestling" splash in the top left corner seems to have been seldomly used for Roanoke.

What an awesome night of Mid Atlantic Championship Wrestling it must have been for the fans fortunate enough to be in Roanoke, VA this Saturday in 1977, although most probably left disappointed seeing the Nature Boy win the Lincoln.

NO. 9 IN A SERIES.  NEWSPAPER CLIPPING COURTESY OF MARK EASTRIDGE.

* * * * * * * *

Gateway Notes
by Dick Bourne, Mid-Atlantic Gateway

Flair's tournament win for the Lincoln Continental in Roanoke provided the set-up for the next show for promoter Pete Apostolou in the Star City which would be held on April 9, 1977. Wahoo would attempt to get revenge for losing out on the Lincoln Continental, likely due to Flair's underhanded heel tactics, in an Indian Strap match with the Nature Boy at the Roanoke Civic Center.

Both Flair and McDaniel held championship gold at the time of this tournament. Wahoo was the reigning Mid-Atlantic champion. His feud with Flair stretched all the way back to the fall of 1975 when Flair defeated Wahoo for that same Mid-Atlantic title in Hampton, VA. The two had battled back and forth trading that title for most of the year of 1976. Now they were feuding over that Lincoln. 

Wahoo was a few weeks away from settling in for a new feud over his title, this time with Greg Valentine, which would eventually lead to Wahoo getting his leg broken in a TV match with "The Hammer" that same year.

Flair's gold belt was one half of the NWA World Tag Team titles that he and Valentine held, having defeated Flair's cousins the Anderson Brothers back in December of 1976. The Andersons had moved on to Georgia Championship Wrestling, but continued to return periodically to continue their feud with Ric and Greg in the Mid-Atlantic area over the tag titles throughout 1977 and into 1978, which also led to Ole Anderson teaming up with longtime foe Wahoo McDaniel late in 1977. It was a magical time in Mid-Atlantic Wrestling.

Poster: Flair Returns to Action and Steamboat Debuts in Roanoke (1977)

An email from Thom Brewer
Mid-Atlantic Gateway Contributor

I really got a kick from the article about people thinking Wahoo had killed Flair. (See: Please Note: Wahoo McDaniel did not kill Ric Flair!) It was funny while reading it to see that Flair's return to the ring was on 3/05/77 in Roanoke.  I looked about a foot to my left and there is the poster from that night.

 

I was there that night and none of us there knew about the rumors out of Lynchburg. 

I don't remember much about that main event that night, but there is one thing I will never forget. It was the first time I, or anyone else in Roanoke, saw Ricky Steamboat. Believe it or not, he was the first match of the night against Two Ton Harris.  We had never heard of Steamboat at this point as it was his first appearance in the Star City. He squashed Harris in just a couple minutes and beat him with a body press off the top rope.  We all knew he was destined for great things. 

Anyway, it was a real kick reading that article and remembering that night. 

- Thom

Poster: The Anderson Brothers battle the Mongols in Roanoke

by Brack Beasley
Mid-Atlantic Gateway Contributor

Here is a poster promoting a great card from the Roanoke, VA Civic Center on May 1, 1976. 

This was a unique double main event with a chain match followed by a cage match. Such a promotion usually meant there would be plenty of bloodshed and I'm confident that was the case this Saturday night in Roanoke.  

The Mongols and the Anderson Brothers continued their famous feud of 1976 locked in a steel cage. I wonder who the fans in Roanoke were pulling for? 

Wahoo McDaniel was known for his strap matches, but on this night he faced the Great Malenko in his specialty, the chain match. This was nothing new for Wahoo and Malenko as they competed in  both types of matches all over the state of Texas in 1970. 

Wahoo would regain the Mid Atlantic title from Ric Flair two nights later on May 3rd in Charlotte, NC. 

The layout on this poster is pretty basic with all black print on a light pink background and words at the top "Roanoke Sports Club Presents," found on Roanoke posters for many years.

NO. 4 IN A SERIES

* * * * * * * * *

Gateway Notes: 

Roanoke was final battle ground for these two teams that had been battling off and on for months by the time of this battle in May 1976. They would have one more battle many months later that also took place in Roanoke.

For more on the legendary matches between the Anderson Brothers and the Mongols (unbilled NWA vs. IWA World Tag Team battles!) check out these earlier posts on the Mid-Atlantic Gateway:

Worlds Collide: The Andersons Battle the Mongols in 1976
Roanoke: The Mongolian Waterloo

All the Andersons/Mongols details in the 1976 Yearbook

The Original Crockett Cup (1974)

The 1986-1988
Crockett Cup Trophy

by Dick Bourne
Mid-Atlantic Gateway

One of the more famous and still talked-about wrestling events ever is the Jim Crockett, Sr. Memorial Cup tag team tournament that took place for Jim Crockett Promotions from 1986-1988. The image of the large cup presented to the annual tournament winners is iconic, and still resonates with fans to this day. The modern-day National Wrestling Alliance even resurrected the tournament in 2019, and although the follow up event in 2020 was sidelined by the covid pandemic, they hopefully will continue that renewed tradition. 

What is less known is that the 1986 Crockett Cup wasn't actually the first trophy to carry that name. Hockey fans in particular will be interested to learn that in 1974 the Southern Hockey League (SHL) named their new championship trophy after the late Jim Crockett, Sr. It would be called the James Crockett Cup. Crockett was a big supporter of hockey in Charlotte, and the league generally. He had passed away one year earlier. The league would at various times have teams in many of the traditional Mid-Atlantic Wrestling cities, including Charlotte, Greensboro, Winston-Salem, Richmond, Roanoke, Hampton, and Norfolk. 

The Roanoke Rebels were the first
team to win the James Crockett Cup

The 1973-1974 season championship came down to the Charlotte Checkers and the Roanoke Rebels. Charlotte and Roanoke were linchpin cities for pro wrestling in the region, promoted by the Crockett family, and in the case of Roanoke, local promoter Pete Apostolou as well. Apostolou also had ties to hockey in Roanoke.

The first winners of the James Crockett Cup, for the 1973-1974 season, were the fighting Rebels from Roanoke. The Checkers from Charlotte won the next two seasons.

Ironically, much like the Jim Crockett, Sr. Memorial Cup in wrestling, the hockey championship trophy was only presented for three years, from 1974-1976. The SHL folded in the middle of the 1976-1977 season.  Jim Crockett Promotions was sold to Ted Turner in 1988, ending the three-year run of the Crockett Cup in wrestling. 

I've not come across a photo of the actual Crockett Cup trophy for the SHL, but we're always keeping an eye out. A nice little bit of Crockett family history.

Thanks to Mark Eastridge for his assistance with this article.

Pete Apostolou and Roanoke Wrestling

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

* * * * * * * 

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

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

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

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

Roanoke Times Article Features Roanoke Wrestling History

The following is an excerpt from a great article that appeared on the Roanoke Times website in March of 2018. The article gives a nice summary of Mid-Atlantic Wrestling history in Roanoke, focusing on promoter Pete Aposolou, TV announcer Hal Grant, the famous tag team of the Bolos, and WDBJ-TV channel 7 where a live wrestling program for Jim Crockett Promotions was once taped. (We're pleased that the Mid-Atlantic Gateway and contributor Mike Cline were mentioned in the article as well.)

The following is an excerpt. Read the entire article on the Roanoke Times website here:
WOYM: Who were those masked wrestlers of the early days of Roanoke television?
By Ray Cox | Special to The Roanoke Times Mar 11, 2018

It’s a troubled, perilous world we live in these days. Even here at the answer desk, occasionally attention turns to strange and frightening things. Today’s topic involves huge masked men, bright lights, rope, and what dystopian novelist Anthony Burgess once called “ultraviolence.”

Q: Growing up in Wytheville, one of our Saturday afternoon rituals was watching a local TV station airing live “Wrestling from Roanoke.” There was a tag team group promoted as “The Bolo Brothers.” These two men wore masks that their opponents were always trying to take off during the wrestling match. We never knew who these two masked men were. Could you find out who they were and if they were actually from the Roanoke area?
Becky Hudson

A: Before we get to the sinister and intimidating Bolos, some background is in order.

Professional wrestling has a rich history going back many decades from coast to coast, up into Canada and down into Mexico.

A fondly recalled footnote involved the many Star City bouts promoted by Pete Apostolou on behalf of Jim Crockett Promotions.

WDBJ-TV (Channel 7) carried live studio wrestling Saturday afternoons from 1957-67. Early years of the show were staged on the second floor of the offices that still serve The Roanoke Times. Before divesting its broadcasting arm, what was then known as the Times-World Corp. owned the television station.

Beloved WDBJ weatherman Hal Grant handled ringside blow-by-blow and post-match interviews. Apostolou was the color man.

The Bolo Brothers, infamous “heels” — as squared-ring villains were known — were Saturday afternoon regulars on the shows, which were usually preludes to live evening bouts at venues such as the old American Legion Auditorium.

More on the Bolos in a minute......

Read the rest of Ray Cox's piece on the Roanoke Times website.

Also, get all the details on wrestling taped at WDBJ in Roanoke in our Studio Wrestling Directory:
WDBJ-7 Roanoke [Studio Wrestling]

Post Highlights: Wrestling in Roanoke, VA

Over at our sister website "Studio Wrestling" we've had a streak of posts recently revolving around the "Star City" Roanoke, VA, and the wrestling show that once originated from there on WDBJ-7.

Here is a list of links from those recent posts:

• "Wrestling from Roanoke" at the County Fair
• Direct From the Studios of WDBJ-TV: Wrestling Ad in Roanoke
• The Roanoke Wrestling Graphic

For all of the posts dealing with studio wrestling at WDBJ-7 in Roanoke, VA, including promoter Pete Apostolou, announcer Hall Grant, and the Roanoke Sports Club CLICK HERE.

For the Mid-Atlantic Gateway's page on the history of Studio Wrestling visit this link: WDBJ-7 Roanoke VA

Lastly, for a look at all of the studio locations where wrestling was taped for Jim Crockett Promotions from 1956-1981, visit the "Guide to Studio Wrestling" page on the Mid-Atlantic Gateway (currently on the Gateway Archive site.)

Classic Poster Friday: Andersons vs. Wahoo and Paul

This was the feud that got me hooked as a wrestling fan as young teenager. The Anderson Brothers vs. Wahoo McDaniel and Paul Jones.

The Roanoke Sports Club presents Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling at the Roanoke Civic Center, Saturday August 2, 1975.

Roanoke ran the smaller Starland Arena before every other month or so running the larger Civic Center for a big match or larger card. This tag team feud was very hot at the time and was drawing well everywhere. It headlined for months in some areas, leading to 90-minute and even 2-hour time limit matches.

Second on the card was the up and coming Ric Flair who was one month away from defeating Wahoo McDaniel and winning the Mid-Atlantic title (and moving permanently to the main events), but only two months away from the plane crash that almost ended his career and could have taken his life. Flair faced Swede Hanson here, who was by this time working mid and lower card and no longer one of the top stars for Jim Crockett Promotions. Swede would have a few more good runs elsewhere, though, including challenging Bob Backlund for the WWWF Heavyweight title in the early 1980s.

In addition to Hanson, there were lots of veteran stars on the undercard that had headlined for Jim Crockett promotions in years past, such as Art Nelson, Missouri Mauler, Sandy Scott, and Reggie Parks who was wrestling here as the masked Avenger.

Notice Tony Atlas is billed as Tony Atlas White. During Tony's early days in wrestling, he was always billed with his real last name in Roanoke because of being from that area.
 

Classic Poster Friday: Woods vs. Mulligan at Starland Arena

by Dick Bourne
Mid-Atlantic Gateway

Brack Beasley Collection

Another classic poster this week, this one is the second of three similarly designed posters we'll be presenting from three different venues in Roanoke, VA.

Promoter Pete Apostolou (Jim Crockett's man on the ground in Roanoke and surrounding area) ran wrestling in three different buildings in the 1970s, usually on Saturday nights.

Big shows with multiple main events were staged at the Roanoke Civic Center, usually on a monthly or bi-monthly basis. 

In the summer, he would occasionally run at the mammoth Victory Stadium where he could draw big crowds and the rent was cheaper than the Civic Center. (We recently featured a card from there in our Classic Posters series.)

But his bread and butter venue that he ran weekly when not at the other places was the famous Starland Arena.


Apostolou owned the structure. I had always heard of Starland Arena growing up, hearing it mentioned in promos that ran on TV out of Bristol, VA. I imagined at is some fancy arena, glittering with lights, after all it had to be fitting of the name Starland.

Tim Woods tries to fight his way out of
Blackjack Mulligan's claw hold.
(Photo by Bill Janosik)

In actuality it was a very plain, ordinary looking rectangular metal building without any sort of fancy marquee to speak of. Apostolou owned the building and ran there for decades and many of the biggest names in the sport appeared there over the years. It was part of his promotional infrastructure in the Star City, along with an amusement and entertainment building downtown called The Sportsman.

This poster is from January 24, 1976 in the middle of the brutal wars between Blackjack Mulligan and Tim Woods.The photos on the poster include Woods upper left, Roberto Soto lower right, and oddly George "Two Ton" Harris from his 1960s managerial days in the main event section of the poster where it would seem a photo of Mulligan would be appropriate. That said, we never tire of seeing photos of "Two Ton" Harris!

I love this particular design of these classic posters the most: a vertical format with the main event in huge thick letters and the remaining matches all in a much smaller font. But it's that thick lettering for the main event that jumps out. The Flair vs. Wahoo main event poster from Victory Stadium was the exact same design, and we have one more like this to post in upcoming weeks.   

This was a pretty standard 5-match card that you would get at Starland. A hot main event to draw the crowd, and a solid supporting tag match as the semi-main event. Mulligan and Woods were embroiled in a bitter, bloody feud. Blackjack was a couple months away from winning his first U.S. title, and this feud with "Mr. Wrestling" Tim Woods was his first major program here.

The tag match featured one of my favorite tag teams ever from the mid-1970s in the mid-Atlantic area. The high flying team of Roberto Soto and El Rayo (Manuel Soto) wrestled a sort of modified lucha-style that you didn't see many others do during this time. They stood out for that. I remember as a young teenager being so sure they would win the Mid-Atlantic tag team titles. They came close to beating the Andersons for the NWA World Tag Team titles. (I once wrote about them being one of the great tag teams that didn't win a tag title here.)

These two top matches were preceded by a series of singles openers that featured some of the areas grizzled veterans (like Danny Miller, Klondike Bill, and George "Two Ton" Harris), veteran journeyman enhancement talent (such as Jack Evans and Joe Turner) and "young lions" (like Don Kernodle.)

The newspaper reported the next day:

"After nearly thirty minutes watching Blackjack Mulligan and Tim Woods batter each other out on the mats at Starland Arena Saturday night, the referee stopped the feature match short of a decision. With both Mulligan and Woods bloodied from the brutal match the official ended the bout with no official winner."

The poster reads "Roanoke Sports Club presents Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling." It didn't get any better than that on a Saturday night. Great memories of our favorite period in wrestling, the mid-1970s.

Classic Poster Friday: Flair vs. Wahoo in 1975

Brack Beasley Collection

 
by Dick Bourne
Mid-Atlantic Gateway

This beautifully designed classic poster is from 1975 and features one of the definitive main events of the era - - Wahoo McDaniel vs. Ric Flair for the Mid-Atlantic Heavyweight championship.

At first glance, you might think this was a poster form 1976 when the Flair/Wahoo feud was one of the main feuds of that year, and lasted nearly the entire year. But it is actually from the summer of 1975, less than three months before the Wilmington, NC, plane crash that threatened to prematurely end Flair's career.

Wahoo was the reigning Mid-Atlantic champion here, having defeated Johnny Valentine for the title three weeks earlier in Asheville, NC. With Valentine having subsequently defeated Harley Race for the U.S. title and no longer a threat to Wahoo, the Chief had moved on to the challenge presented by Valentine's protege, Ric Flair. The feud with Flair was in its very early stages, but it was already clear to anyone paying attention that this was a money program.

Flair would win the Mid-Atlantic championship from Wahoo in Hampton, VA, almost exactly two months after this Roanoke stadium show. Two weeks later, the private charter plane Flair was on went down short of the Wilmington runway and put Flair out of action for nearly four months. The 30-day rule was apparently waived through special dispensation and he was allowed to keep the Mid-Atlantic title until he returned to action in early 1976 and immediately began the long program with Wahoo. The two traded the Mid-Atlantic title back and forth for all of 1976, and they remained rivals for most of the rest of Wahoo's career, as Wahoo would become a top challenger for Flair's NWA world title at various times in the 1980s.


THINGS TO LOVE ABOUT THIS POSTER

• Roanoke posters always had the cool designation at the top: "Roanoke Sports Club Presents." The Roanoke Sports Club was the name of the promotional company run by local Roanoke promoter Pete Apostolou. 
• This is my favorite of all the typical designs for wrestling posters in that era: portrait (vertical) orientation with the main event in big block letters so that it jumps off the poster. Notice also in this case that Flair's name stacked on Wahoo's made the perfect pyramid. Just a great looking poster.
• Advance tickets for wrestling in Roanoke were always on sale at The Sportsman, a bowling and entertainment facility owned by Pete Apostolou in downtown Roanoke.
• Interesting to see Jerry Blackwell early in his career billed here as "Man Mountain Blackwell."
• Victory Stadium was one of three regular venues for wrestling in Roanoke, the other two being Starland Arena and the Roanoke Civic Center.

Originally published on the Gateway April 8, 2018.

Classic Poster: Wahoo McDaniel vs. Ric Flair in Roanoke

Mid-Atlantic Gateway Collection

by Dick Bourne
Mid-Atlantic Gateway

This beautifully designed classic poster is from 1975 and features one of the definitive main events of the era - - Wahoo McDaniel vs. Ric Flair for the Mid-Atlantic Heavyweight championship.

At first glance, you might think this was a poster form 1976 when the Flair/Wahoo feud was one of the main feuds of that year, and lasted nearly the entire year. But it is actually from the summer of 1975, less than three months before the Wilmington, NC, plane crash that threatened to prematurely end Flair's career.

Wahoo was the reigning Mid-Atlantic champion here, having defeated Johnny Valentine for the title three weeks earlier in Asheville, NC. With Valentine having subsequently defeated Harley Race for the U.S. title and no longer a threat to Wahoo, the Chief had moved on to the challenge presented by Valentine's protege, Ric Flair. The feud with Flair was in its very early stages, but it was already clear to anyone paying attention that this was a money program.

Flair would win the Mid-Atlantic championship from Wahoo in Hampton, VA, almost exactly two months after this Roanoke stadium show. Two weeks later, the private charter plane Flair was on went down short of the Wilmington runway and put Flair out of action for nearly four months. The 30-day rule was apparently waived through special dispensation and he was allowed to keep the Mid-Atlantic title until he returned to action in early 1976 and immediately began the long program with Wahoo. The two traded the Mid-Atlantic title back and forth for all of 1976, and they remained rivals for most of the rest of Wahoo's career, as Wahoo would become a top challenger for Flair's NWA world title at various times in the 1980s.


THINGS TO LOVE ABOUT THIS POSTER

• Roanoke posters always had the cool designation at the top: "Roanoke Sports Club Presents." The Roanoke Sports Club was the name of the promotional company run by local Roanoke promoter Pete Apostolou. 
• This is my favorite of all the typical designs for wrestling posters in that era: portrait (vertical) orientation with the main event in big block letters so that it jumps off the poster. Notice also in this case that Flair's name stacked on Wahoo's made the perfect pyramid. Just a great looking poster.
• Advance tickets for wrestling in Roanoke were always on sale at The Sportsman, a bowling and entertainment facility owned by Pete Apostolou in downtown Roanoke.
• Interesting to see Jerry Blackwell early in his career billed here as "Man Mountain Blackwell."
• Victory Stadium was one of three regular venues for wrestling in Roanoke, the other two being Starland Arena and the Roanoke Civic Center.

Roanoke: The Mongolian Waterloo

The Roanoke Civic Center proves to be the Mongols' Last Stand
by Dick Bourne
Mid-Atlantic Gateway

Back in the spring of 1976, the NWA Tag Team champions the Anderson Brothers and the International Tag Team champions The Mongols had several collisions in what fans perceived (but was never actually billed) as NWA vs. IWA tag team unification matches. (See Worlds Collide: The Andersons Battle the Mongols in 1976.)

Their battles ended in early April with the Andersons in possession of both sets of belts. However, there was one more battle yet to come.

Behind the scenes, Geeto Mongol (Newton Tattrie) was getting ready to leave the territory and head home while Bolo Mongol (Bill Eadie) was getting ready to make the amazing transition to the Masked Superstar. (See "The Death of Bolo Mongol and the Birth of a Superstar.") Booker George Scott set in motion a series of events to send the team of the Mongols out in style.

The final phase of that would be the loser -leaves-town matches between Wahoo McDaniel and Bolo Mongol in late September. But before that could happen, the Mongols had to be split up as a team. And the team to do it would be the NWA World Tag Team champions Gene and Ole Anderson.

From the collection of Brack Beasley

One final battle between the two teams was set up and local promoter Pete Apostolou's Roanoke Sports Club was able to secure the big match for the Roanoke Civic Center. There were two special stipulations. First, the match would be fought with "Texas tornado" rules - - all four men in the ring at the same time. But the most intriguing special stipulation was this: if the Mongols didn't win, they would never be allowed to wrestle as a tag team again.

Both the Andersons and the Mongols were hated teams by the fans, but as usual in these "battle of the bullies" matches, fans will coalesce behind one team or the other, and the fans in Roanoke were solidly behind the Minnesota Wrecking Crew. It was a wild affair with Gene and Ole matching every dirty tactic the Mongols threw at them, and in the end the Anderson came out on top. The Mongols had met theri Waterloo in Roanoke, the final battle between the two teams and the final time Bolo and Geeto Mongol ever wrestled as a team.

The newspaper report the day after the matches confirmed that the team of the Mongols was no more. Geeto left the territory, and a few weeks later, Bolo Mongol would be forced to leave as well at the hands of Wahoo McDaniel.

Ironically, after their big victory over the Mongols, the Andersons themselves would soon leave the territory. Ole Anderson lost a series of loser-leaves-town matches, the final one being to Wahoo McDaniel, forcing the Anderson team to pack their bags and leave for Georgia, taking their NWA World Tag Team title belts with them. (And that's a story for another day.)

* * * * * * * * * *
Special thanks to Brack Beasley and Mark Eastridge.

Greatest Mid-Atlantic Wrestling Tag Team Feud Ever

by Dick Bourne
Mid-Atlantic Gateway

Any "greatest ever" debate is always influenced by personal preferences of what kind of wrestling you like, where you grew up, when you grew up, what wrestling you first saw, etc. Everyone has their own opinion and can make an argument as to why they feel a certain feud (or match or wrestler) was "the greatest."

So if my opinion is just as valid as anyone else's, then I submit to you that the greatest tag team feud in Mid-Atlantic Wrestling history was Wahoo McDaniel and Paul Jones vs. the Anderson Brothers. The angle that ignited the feud is one of the most famous in Mid-Atlantic Wrestling history - - the "Supreme Sacrifice" - - where Ole Anderson sacrificed his brother in the match where they regained the World tag team titles on TV. I've written many times before that this was the angle that got me hooked on wrestling and I never missed a Mid-Atlantic or World Wide TV show if I could help it for over a decade afterwards.

NWA World Tag Team Champions Gene and Ole Anderson with host Bob Caudle

You might disagree that it was the greatest feud in Mid-Atlantic history. My good friend Carroll Hall would likely argue with me day and night that Johnny Weaver and George Becker vs. Rip Hawk and Swede Hanson should get that honor. I certainly can see how he would feel that way. That was the definitive tag feud of the 1960s. Others might argue for the Andersons vs. Flair and Valentine in the 1970s.

The early 1980s featured two amazing feuds between Steamboat and Youngblood vs. the teams of Slaughter and Kernodle as well as the Brisco Brothers. And a few years later the Rock and Roll Express vs. the Midnight Express defined tag team wrestling for a generation.

I love each and every one of those choices. But for me it just could not get any better than Wahoo and Paul vs. the Andersons. It may have not had the longevity of the Weaver/Becker feuds, and it was before the national TV and PPV exposure of the 1980's feuds. But no feud featured tougher, longer, more realistic matches that were any harder fought, or that focused on the who was the best and who would carry those tag team belts. It was personal. And I loved every bit of it.

But as the saying goes, that's just my two cents. Your mileage may vary.