The Final Show at WPCQ Studio in Charlotte (1983)

A series of posts about our favorite episodes available for streaming on the WWE Network
by Dick Bourne
Mid-Atlantic Gateway

Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling

WWE Network Data: First Airdate Saturday July 2, 1983
(Taped Wed. June 29, 1983) [WWE Network Link]

United States Heavyweight Champion Greg Valentine

FINAL SHOW AT WPCQ STUDIO
This show would be the very last taping at WPCQ studios in Charlotte, and the last time Mid-Atlantic and World Wide Wrestling would ever be taped in a studio setting. Jim Crockett Promotions had moved their TV production to these cramped quarters two years earlier, moving from WRAL in Raleigh when that station needed the studio every night for their locally produced insert-segments of the new show "PM Magazine."

WPCQ was a real step down in production quality for the programs with noticeable declines in the quality of video and audio during this time. Additionally, and most noticeably, the studio was too small, and the ring had to be turned catty-cornered in order to have room for Bob Caudle's set, as well as the cameras and production crew.

So the move of TV production out into the arenas was a welcome development, although I love the old studio settings by and large, and miss that era. But there wasn't a Saturday that at some point during a show from WPCQ that I didn't think to myself, boy, do I miss WRAL.

They certainly went out with a bang as this episode was a ton of fun, particularly due to the work of Jerry Brisco on the mic as one of the most annoyingly cocky heels ever. His performance, along with brother Jack, is just masterful.

The Briscos confront Ricky Steamboat

THE BRISCOS

This episode is a showcase for the Brisco brothers as heels.  Jerry calls it "The Brisco Brothers Hour." Jack and Jerry are basking in the glow of their victory over Ricky Steamboat and Jay Youngblood for the NWA World Tag Team titles, and are really rubbing it in. The Briscos are on my list of all-time favorite tag teams, largely due to their work in this area as heels in 1983.

During this episode they get in the face of Mike Rotundo at the opening of the show, and later provoke Ricky Steamboat to lose his temper, although Jerry came out on the wrong end of that as Steamboat knocks him out cold!

The Briscos wrestle Keith Larson (aka Wally "Rocky" Kernodle) and Rick McCord on this show in what can only be called a scientific wrestling clinic. As part of their heel personas, the Briscos were always out to prove they were superior technical wrestlers and they just have their way with Larson and McCord who, by the way, were two of the more talented undercard/mid-card wrestlers to ever work the territory.

Rufus R. Jones defends the honor of the winner of Paul Jones's picture.

PAUL JONES GIVES AWAY HIS PICTURE
For about six weeks leading up to this show, manager Paul Jones has been conducting a contest where the winner will receive a huge, oversized poster of Paul in a Tuxedo. The big poster has been on display for weeks and provided some hilarious moments over that time as Paul talked weekly with Bob Caudle about the contest. This week, he finally awards the photo to the contest winner at the end of the show. Paul is very rude to her and Rufus R. Jones comes out to defend the honor of the contest winner. Paul and the two wrestlers he manages, Dory Funk, Jr. and Jake "The Snake" Roberts, beat up Rufus in the ring as the credits roll at the end of the show.


DORY FUNK, JR.'s LOVE AFFAIR WITH MIKE ROTUNDO
One thing is clear re-watching these late 1982 and early-to-mid 1983 episodes: booker Dory Funk, Jr. was in love with Mike Rotundo. There can be no other way to describe it. No other wrestler during this time period got more exposure in the ring, on interviews, and doing color commentary on TV than the mid-card All-American from Syracuse.

This week, Rotundo is the color commentator with host Bob Caudle. As great a performer as Rotundo would prove to be in the ring, he was just as bad on the mic during this early part of his career. Rotundo definitely got his groove going and developed a personality in 1988 when he was a heel in the Varsity Club and was playing off goofy, lovable babyface Rick Steiner. But in 1983 he was as green, dry, and dull as you could possibly imagine. But Dory was intent on giving Rotundo ample opportunities to improve. And this was one of them, doing color commentary the entire program. I actually love Rotundo's work in the ring. But this was painful. Somehow, it did not detract from me enjoying this awesome episode, though, and I hope it won't for you, either.


THE LOCAL PROMO SPOTS
Most of these episodes on the WWE Netowrk do not include the local promotional spots that were some of the most entertaining parts of the programs back in the day. Those localized interviews were recorded during the day prior to the taping of the shows and then inserted into the tape that went out to the various market stations. Since these archived episodes don't have the local promos, they include a "live" studio interview taped right along as the main program was being taped. For much of late 1982 and 1983, these segments were largely aimed at the Florida territory. The Mid-Atlantic show was seen on a few select stations throughout Florida and so the guys being interviewed would aim many of their comments towards the wrestlers in Florida. Fans in the Mid-Atlantic area would not see these interviews; they were seeing their local promotional spots at that moment.

A good example of these is the interview Dick Slater does in the second promotional spot location. Slater directly addresses Dusty Rhodes (at that time a regular in Florida, and also the booker of the territory) and tells him he might be the American Dream and the Midnight Cowboy (a reference to Dusty working as the Midnight Rider) but he will never be the Errol Flynn of wrestling!


TIDBITS:

• Interesting to see a very young Joel Deaton on this show. Deaton would later wrestle under a mask as "Thunderfoot" managed by James J. Dillon in 1985. He would work several smaller southern territories in the late 1980s before making a name for himself in the 1990s in Japan. I always liked Deaton's work in the ring.
• Greg Valentine methodically works over John Bonello in an entertaining opening match.
• Roddy Piper mentions he has a new partner "Mr. T" - - and then pulls out a tire iron. I did do a double-take when he said that though, thinking about where Piper would be less than two years later with the real Mr. T at the first Wrestlemania.
• During Dick Slater's match, Bob Caudle mentions that the Assassins are coming into the area soon, and that one of them is reportedly the son of the Great Bolo. This would turn out to be the new Assassin #2, which later turned out to be Hercules Hernandez under the mask. They played up the Great Bolo son angle for several months. The Great Bolo was a huge star for Jim Crockett promotions in the late 1950s and early 1960s, and it's cool that they were calling back that far into their history.
  
• Harley Race makes it clear he doesn't want to wrestle Flair anymore, and claims Flair was a "fluke" champion since all he really did was slip past a "fat man" to win the title. This was a shot (a "rib on the square" as Steve Austin is famous for saying) at the wrestler Flair beat for the NWA title, Dusty Rhodes.
• Flair, Piper, and Race all appeared in pre-taped interviews from the brand new make-shift studio at the main office building of Jim Crockett Promotions on Briarbend Drive. The studio was established as the location for taping the local interviews that would be inserted to the syndicated programs. The interviews had previously been taped at the WPCQ studios prior to the taping of the shows. But with the move out to the arenas to begin next week, JCP needed a spot to record the shows, and so they set up a make-shift studio at the Briarbend offices.
• Wahoo McDaniel does his famous war dance and tomahawk chop (Bob Caudle affectionately called it the "tommy-hawk" chop over the years) before defeating the Magic Dragon. Considered by most to be politically incorrect today, that war dance and chop was one of the things that made Wahoo so exciting and so special to me when I first started watching wrestling.

CHAMPIONS ROLL CALL
NWA World Champion: Harley Race
NWA World Tag Champions: Jack & Jerry Brisco
United States Champion: Greg Valentine
Mid-Atlantic Champion: Dory Funk, Jr.
NWA TV Champion: The Great Kabuki

STUDIO MATCHES ON THIS PROGRAM
[1] Greg Valentine (US Champion) vs. John Bonello
[2] The Briscos (NWA Tag Champs) vs. Keith Larson / Rick McCord
[3] Jimmy Valiant & Bob Orton Jr. vs. Bill Howard & Joel Deaton
[4] Dick Slater vs. Vinnie Valentino
[5] Dory Funk Jr. (Mid-Atlantic Champ) & Jake Roberts vs. Bret Hart & Mike Davis


FILMED MATCHES FROM THE ARENA:
Wahoo McDaniel vs. The Magic Dragon (with Gary Hart)

INTERVIEWS
Jack and Jerry Brisco
Ric Flair and Roddy Piper (pre-taped at the Briarbend Drive studio)
Mike Rotundo
Ricky Steamboat & Jay Youngblood
Harley Race (pre-taped at the Briarbend Drive studio)
Dick Slater
Paul Jones (with Jake Roberts and Dory Funk, Jr.)

WWE NETWORK
FREE MONTH FOR NEW SUBSCRIBERS!
Check out all of the Mid-Atlantic episodes currently available!

MID-ATLANTIC CHAMPIONSHIP PODCAST

Don't miss this great podcast, hosted by Mike Sempervive and Roman Gomez, as they look back at classic early 80s episodes of Mid-Atlantic Wrestling as seen on the WWE Network.

 

MID-ATLANTIC TV REPORT AND SUMMARIES

David Taub reviews and summarizes all the episodes of Mid-Atlantic Wrestling airing on the WWE Netowrk. Visit our TV Report & Podcast page for links to all the shows.

Edited from a story originally posted January 30, 2018 on the Mid-Atlantic Gateway. 

Mid-Atlantic Hidden Gems from Charlotte in the WWE Network Vault

FLAIR, RACE, BRISCOS, YOUNGBOAT, PIPER, VALENTINE ALL FEATURED IN PREVIOUSLY UNSEEN RAW FOOTAGE
by Dick Bourne
Mid-Atlantic Gateway

If you are a WWE Network subscriber, you'd never know they've added a few new Hidden Gems from Mid-Atlantic Wrestling in 1983 unless you just swerved into them.

The WWE Network itself does a terrible job in making folks aware of what has been added to the Vault section of the site. A great resource, however, to keep up with new additions is the unaffiliated WWE Network News website. That's how we recently learned that the network had added two new raw footage Jim Crockett Promotions matches from the Charlotte Coliseum in the summer of 1983.

Back in May, they added a match from Charlotte on July 9, 1983 between then United States Champion Greg Valentine and arch-rival "Rowdy" Roddy Piper. (We mentioned it on our Facebook page.) The two new matches are from the same big Charlotte card, making three matches in all (the three main events) from that show.

Here is a list of the three matches and a direct link to them on the WWE Network.


NWA WORLD HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP
HARLEY RACE (Champion) vs. RIC FLAIR

WWE Network Link: http://network.wwe.com/video/v2519768083


NWA WORLD TAG TEAM CHAMPIONSHIP
JACK & JERRY BRISCO (Champions) vs. RICKY STEAMBOAT & JAY YOUNGBLOOD

WWE Network Link: http://network.wwe.com/video/v2519768183


NON TITLE MATCH
GREG VALENTINE (U.S. Champion) vs. RODDY PIPER

WWE Network Link: http://network.wwe.com/video/v2073979883

Interesting to note these three main events in Charlotte on 7/9/83 would be the three main events for Starrcade '83 four months later. Jim Crockett Promotions was getting ready to move TV production out of the studio and into arenas a month later, and theri new production truck was taping lots of material from shows in Charlotte during this time.

For additional context, Race had just regained the title for a record breaking seventh time less than one month earlier. Race was making his first tour as new champion in the Mid-Atlantic area, and was defending against now-former champion Flair across the territory beginning on July 2 in Greensboro, followed by Savannah, Greenville, Raleigh, Sumter, Norfolk, Richmond, and finally July 9 in Charlotte.

These matches are great to watch, especially if you attended matches live during this era. They bring back great memories.  Without commentary and featuring great ambient sound, you get a good feel for what it was like to attend shows then. I love that there was no entrance music, no pyro, no video screens. Just warriors making their way through the crowd and up into the ring.

If you have have never subscribed to the WWE Network, its easily worth the $10/month to get the old Mid-Atlantic shows they currently have up from 1981-1983, plus hidden gems like these. New subscribers can try the network free for one month.

Very cool to see these "Hidden Gems" and we are hopeful for more coming down the line.

Favorite Episodes: The Final Show at WPCQ (July 2, 1982)

A series of posts about our favorite episodes available for streaming on the WWE Network
by Dick Bourne
Mid-Atlantic Gateway

Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling

WWE Network Data: First Airdate Saturday July 2, 1983 (Taped Wed. June 29, 1983)

United States Heavyweight Champion Greg Valentine

FINAL SHOW AT WPCQ STUDIO
This show would be the very last taping at WPCQ studios in Charlotte, and the last time Mid-Atlantic and World Wide Wrestling would ever be taped in a studio setting. Jim Crockett Promotions had moved their TV production to these cramped quarters two years earlier, moving from WRAL in Raleigh when that station needed the studio every night for their locally produced insert-segments of the new show "PM Magazine." WPCQ was a real step down in production quality for the programs with noticeable declines in the quality of video and audio during this time. Additionally, and most noticeably, the studio was too small, and the ring had to be turned catty-cornered in order to have room for Bob Caudle's set, as well as the cameras and production crew.

So the move of TV production out into the arenas was a welcome development, although I love the old studio settings by and large, and miss that era. But there wasn't a Saturday that at some point during a show from WPCQ that I didn't think to myself, boy, do I miss WRAL.

They certainly went out with a bang as this episode was a ton of fun, particularly due to the work of Jerry Brisco on the mic as one of the most annoyingly cocky heels ever. His performance, along with brother Jack, is just masterful.

The Briscos confront Ricky Steamboat

THE BRISCOS

This episode is a showcase for the Brisco brothers as heels. Jack and Jerry are basking in the glow of their victory over Ricky Steamboat and Jay Youngblood for the NWA World Tag Team titles, and are really rubbing it in. The Briscos are in my top 5 of all-time favorite tag teams, all due to their work in this area as heels in 1983.


During this episode they get in the face of Mike Rotundo at the opening of the show, and later provoke Ricky Steamboat to lose his temper, although Jerry came out on the wrong end of that as Steamboat knocks him out cold!

The Briscos wrestle Keith Larson (aka Wally Kernodle) and Rick McCord on this show in what can only be called a wrestling clinic. As part of their heel personas, the Briscos were always out to prove they were superior technical wrestlers and they just have their way with Larson and McCord who, by the way, were two of the more talent undercard wrestlers to ever work the territory.

Rufus R. Jones defends the honor of the winner of Paul Jones's picture.

PAUL JONES GIVES AWAY HIS PICTURE
For about 6 weeks leading up to this show, manager Paul Jones has been conducting a contest where the winner will receive a huge, oversized poster of Paul in a Tuxedo. The big poster has been on display for weeks and provided some hilarious moments over that time as Paul talked weekly with Bob Caudle about the contest. This week, he finally awards the photo to the contest winner at the end of the show. Paul is very rude to her and Rufus R. Jones comes out to defend the honor of the contest winner. Paul and the two wrestlers he manages, Dory Funk, Jr. and Jake "The Snake" Roberts, beat up Rufus in the ring as the credits roll at the end of the show.



THE LOVE AFFAIR WITH MIKE ROTUNDO
One thing is clear rewatching these late 1982 and early-to-mid 1983 episodes: booker Dory Funk, Jr. was in love with Mike Rotundo. There can be no other way to describe it. No other wrestler during this time period got more exposure in the ring, on interviews, and doing color commentary than the mid-card All-American from Syracuse.

This week, Rotundo is the color commentator with host Bob Caudle. As great a performer as Rotundo would prove to be in the ring, he was just as bad on the mic during this early part of his career. Rotundo definitely got his groove going and developed a personality in 1988 when he was a heel in the Varsity Club and was playing off goofy, lovable babyface Rick Steiner, but in 1983 he was as green, dry, and dull as you could possibly imagine. But Dory was intent on giving Rotundo ample opportunities to improve. And this was one of them, doing color commentary the entire program. I actually love Rotundo's work in the ring. But this was painful. Somehow, it did not detract from me enjoying this awesome episode, though, and I hope it won't for you, either.



THE LOCAL PROMO SPOTS
Most of these episodes on the WWE Netowrk do not include the local promotional spots that were some of the most entertaining parts of the programs back in the day. Those localized interviews were recorded during the day prior to the taping of the shows and then inserted into the tape that went out to the various market stations. Since these archived episodes don't have the local promos, they include a "live" studio interview taped right along as the main program was being taped. For much of late 1982 and 1983, these segments were largely aimed at the Florida territory. The Mid-Atlantic show was seen on a few select stations throughout Florida and so the guys being interviewed would aim many of their comments towards the wrestlers in Florida. Fans in the Mid-Atlantic area would not see these interviews; they were seeing their local promotional spots at that moment.

A good example of these is the interview Dick Slater does in the second promotional spot location. Slater directly addresses Dusty Rhodes (at that time a regular in Florida, and also the booker of the territory) and tells him he might be the American Dream and the Midnight Cowboy (a reference to Dusty working as the Midnight Rider) but he will never be the Errol Flynn of wrestling!


TIDBITS:

• Interesting to see a very young Joel Deaton on this show. Deaton would later wrestle under a mask as "Thunderfoot" managed by James J. Dillon in 1985. He would work several smaller southern territories in the late 1980s before making a name for himself in the 1990s in Japan. I always liked Deaton's work in the ring.
• Greg Valentine methodically works over John Bonello in an entertaining opening match.
• Roddy Piper mentions he has a new partner "Mr. T" - - and then pulls out a tire iron. I did do a double-take when he said that though, thinking where Piper would be less than two years later with the real Mr. T at the first Wrestlemania.
• During Dick Slater's match, Bob Caudle mentions that the Assassins are coming into the area soon, and that one of them is reportedly the son of the Great Bolo. This would turn out to be the new Assassin #2, which later turned out to be Hercules Hernandez under the mask. They played up the Great Bolo son angle for several months.
• Harley Race makes it clear he doesn't want to wrestle Flair anymore, and claims Flair was a "fluke" champion since all he really did was slip past a "fat man" to win the title. This was a shot at the wrestler Ric beat for the NWA title, Dusty Rhodes.
• Flair, Piper, and Race all appeared in pre-taped interviews from the brand new make-shift studio at the main office building of Jim Crockett Promotions on Briarbend Drive. The studio was established as the location for taping the local interviews that would be inserted to the syndicated programs. The interviews had previously been taped at the WPCQ studios prior to the taping of the shows. But with the move out to the arenas to begin next week, JCP needed a spot to record the shows, and so they set up a make-shift studio at the Briarbend offices.
• Wahoo McDaniel does his famous war dance and tomahawk chop (Bob Caudle affectionately called it the "tommy-hawk" chop ovder the years) before defeating the Magic Dragon. Considered by many to be politically incorrect today, that war dance and chop was one of the things that made Wahoo so exciting and so special to me when I first started watching wrestling.

CHAMPIONS ROLL CALL
NWA World Champion: Harley Race
NWA World Tag Champions: Jack & Jerry Brisco
United States Champion: Greg Valentine
Mid-Atlantic Champion: Dory Funk, Jr.
NWA TV Champion: The Great Kabuki


STUDIO MATCHES ON THIS PROGRAM
[1] Greg Valentine (US Champion) vs. John Bonello
[2] The Briscos (NWA Tag Champs) vs. Keith Larson / Rick McCord
[3] Jimmy Valiant & Bob Orton Jr. vs. Bill Howard & Joel Deaton
[4] Dick Slater vs. Vinnie Valentino
[5] Dory Funk Jr. (Mid-Atlantic Champ) & Jake Roberts vs. Bret Hart & Mike Davis


FILMED MATCHES FROM THE ARENA:
Wahoo McDaniel vs. The Magic Dragon (with Gary Hart)

INTERVIEWS
Jack and Jerry Brisco
Ric Flair and Roddy Piper (pre-taped at the Briarbend Drive studio)
Mike Rotundo
Ricky Steamboat & Jay Youngblood
Harley Race (pre-taped at the Briarbend Drive studio)
Dick Slater
Paul Jones (with Jake Roberts and Dory Funk, Jr.)

WWE NETWORK
FREE MONTH FOR NEW SUBSCRIBERS!
Check out all of the Mid-Atlantic episodes currently available!

Republished on 01/14/2021 on the Mid-Atlantic Gateway.

Homecoming: Mid-Atlantic Wrestling October 3, 1981

A MISSING EPISODE 
featuring 30-seconds of highlights from 10/3/81
by Dick Bourne
Mid-Atlantic Gateway

As of January 2018, the WWE Network has uploaded nearly 100 episodes of Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling to its on-demand streaming service, a development we've long looked forward to here at the Gateway. The shows span the time frame of September 1981 through October of 1983.

However, some key episodes are missing, one of which perhaps for me is the one I wanted to see the most from this stretch of shows. It is an episode very sentimental to me, and a show that is historically significant as well. It is the show from Saturday, October 3, 1981.

I was in my junior year in college in October 1981 and unable to regularly watch wrestling for much of that time, not having a television of my own. But on the weekend of October 10, I went home for high school homecoming, to go to the football game, visit friends, and of course binge on wrestling, too.  Little did I know that I would be able to enjoy Jim Crockett Promotions and Mid-Atlantic Wrestling having a little homecoming of their own: the new NWA World Heavyweight Champion Ric Flair making his first appearance on Mid-Atlantic TV with the "ten pounds of gold." Just 13 days earlier, Ric had defeated "The American Dream" Dusty Rhodes to win the NWA title.

I was lucky to see this particular show at all. And it really hurt when I took a look at the listing of shows that were now on the WWE Network - - and the October 3 show was missing.

I lived in east Tennessee, outside of the main Mid-Atlantic territory, but our cable system also carried other TV stations from surrounding areas which included WFBC-TV channel 4 out of Greenville, SC and WLOS-TV channel 13 out of Asheville, NC. These stations were both in the Greenville/Spartanburg/Asheville market and these were the stations I grew up watching Mid-Atlantic and World Wide Wrestling on from 1974 until I left home for good in 1982.

WFBC was one week removed on JCP's syndicated "bicycle", meaning the show they aired each Saturday was one week removed from the original air dates in the larger markets. In this case, the Charlotte market bumped up next to the Greenville/Spartanburg/Asheville market, and WBTV-3 in Charlotte got the first run show, and the next week WFBC-4 in Greenville got that same show.

This was actually a good situation for folks who lived between the two as they could get both stations either over the air or on their cable system. They got to see a "replay" airing the following week, and it meant two different Mid-Atlantic shows airing on any given weekend.

So when I came home that weekend of October 10, the Mid-Atlantic show I got on WFBC out of Greenville was actually the show that aired in Charlotte, Richmond, Greensboro, and other major markets a week earlier on October 3rd. 

Wednesday nights were the regular night for Crockett TV tapings, taking place in those days in the cramped confines of WPCQ-36 studios in Charlotte. The October 3 show was taped three days earlier on Wednesday, September 30. Ric defeated Rhodes on Thursday, September 17 at Memorial Hall in Kansas City, MO.  But when the next Crockett TV taping took place on Wednesday, September 23, Flair wasn't able to be in Charlotte to celebrate his victory with his home-area fans. He was defending the title that night against a former champion in Columbus, GA - - Tommy "Wildfire" Rich.

David Crockett and Bob Caudle welcome new NWA
World Champion Ric Flair.

That homecoming celebration would have to wait one more week, and on Wednesday, September 30, Bob Caudle and David Crockett welcomed the new NWA World Champion back home.

"It's the greatest honor that I've ever achieved in any aspect of my life," Flair told them, cradling the NWA belt in his left arm. "This is the ultimate trophy, it is the most prestigious award in all of professional wrestling."

Flair took a moment to thank those who had supported him in his long journey for the title.

"On behalf of the people out there, on behalf of the people that stood behind me, Crockett Promotions, I will do my best to be a great world champion. I will do my best to show everyone out there that I deserve the recognition of being called the National Wrestling Alliance World heavyweight wrestling champion."

And with that, Ric thanked them again, and walked off the set to the cheers of the crowd in the television studio.

Although Ric was originally from Minnesota, he now made his home in Charlotte. He had arrived in early 1974. He had been hated and he had been adored during his time wroking for Jim Crockett Promotions, but for the last couple of years he had been like their favorite son. Mid-Atlantic fans had waited nearly ten years to see their hometown hero claim the ultimate prize in the sport. There had never been an NWA champion that had come from their territory before. Flair was the first.

The man Ric beat for the championship was also making a rare appearance on Mid-Atlantic television that same week. Dusty Rhodes came out for an interview carrying his Sony Walkman cassette player and wearing his headphones and apparently enjoying his music. "Let me put down my Victrola right here," he told Bob Caudle. And then the dream got down to business.

"Everybody be askin' me about Ric Flair, and that's great," Rhodes said. "I'm glad for Ric Flair, I'm glad for his family. But let me tell you something, somewhere down the line you gotta meet the Dream again, daddy."

I was fortunate to be able to see that show. Had we not received the show one week delayed on the syndication bicycle, I would have missed it. My high school homecoming allowed me to see a most special Mid-Atlantic Wrestling homecoming. Ric promised to do his best to live up to the expectations of the championship; I think we can look back and comfortably say he most certainly did.

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

For the record here are some other details about this show:

• Wahoo McDaniel and Jay Youngblood thoroughly thrashed young Jim Nelson and veteran Charlie Fulton. 
• The Grappler and the Super Destroyer defeated Frank Monte and Vinnie Valentino when Super D took Monte out with his devastating "superplex." The suplex from the second turnbuckle was cutting edge for its time.
• Dusty Rhodes defeated Rick Harris (the future Black Bart)
• Roddy Piper and Mid-Atlantic champion Ivan Koloff defeated Steve Muslin and Ron Ritchie. Afterwards they kept beating on Ritchie until Wahoo McDaniel hit the ring and cleaned house of Piper, Koloff, and even Ole Anderson who was trying to get involved. Ricky Steamboat came out to help Wahoo even the odds.

Interviews included Wahoo McDaniel, TV champ Ron Bass, Bad Bad Leroy Brown, Dusty Rhodes, Ricky Steamboat, and Jake "The Snake" Roberts. Local promos for Greenville and Spartanburg included Johnny Weaver, Ric Flair, Ricky Steamboat and Ivan Koloff.

Roddy Piper tormented Wahoo McDaniel through much of the show, using a plastic trashcan for war drums to open the show and later playing a funeral dirge on the bagpipes for him. Wahoo had finally had enough and charged the ring after Piper's tag match and gave Piper and partner Ivan Koloff a big beating.

Great show. I hope it shows up on the WWE Network before it's all over. It is a sentimental favorite of mine, and I'd love to see it all again.

Don't Let Perfect Be the Enemy of Good

by Dick Bourne
Mid-Atlantic Gateway

Borrowing from the French philosopher Voltaire, I offer some sage advice. And as I offer this advice to you now, I confess to have repeated this advice quietly to myself several times over the last few days; don't let perfect be the enemy of good.

Is this treasure trove of early 1980s Mid-Atlantic Wrestling programming on the WWE Network perfect? No. But is it good? You bet it is. It is very good.

I've been waiting for the WWE Network to add Mid-Atlantic Wrestling to their network for four years, since the day it first launched back in February of 2014. Yet I find myself fretting over the things I don't like, the things that are missing, the things they had to change. And it is here that I keep telling myself those same words:

Don't let perfect be the enemy of good.

Over the last few days I have found myself alternately excited and frustrated by this new material (and the lack thereof) now included on the WWE Network service. I'm not complaining about the period of time covered by the drop (September 1981 - October 1983). That period is just as relevant as any other period in Mid-Atlantic Wrestling history. We all enjoy certain time frames more than others, we all have our favorite periods, usually determined by when we first started watching wrestling. They'll get to the rest of what they have at some point, I feel confident.

No, what I keep reminding myself of is how blessed we are to have this material available at all.

Many people like to demonize Vince McMahon as the devil incarnate. Hogwash. Without Vince McMahon and the WWE owning those libraries of old tapes, none of this material would have likely ever seen the light of day in its current form. These are the folks investing millions of dollars in a digital delivery system (i.e.; "the network") to archive and make available these shows. And I, for one, am very grateful for that.

Some people respond that YouTube has a lot of old Mid-Atlantic Wrestling shows, so we don't need the network. To be sure, there are many random clips and complete episodes on YouTube, and I actually enjoy those very much. But nothing there matches the volume and the comprehensiveness of this material on the WWE Network (both what they have put up and what is still yet to come.)

Now, all that being said, I have been just as deeply disappointed in what has been omitted within this time frame as I have been excited about what is there. Friends of mine that are more familiar with how the network works have encouraged me with their experience of the network continuing to add material in subsequent weeks after a big drop, often filling in gaps and adding shows that are missing in the sequence. Glad to hear that.

Some of what's missing can't be blamed on WWE. The sad fact is a few of the shows are simply missing and no longer exist and those could never be added. But not all of what's missing falls in that category. In fact, likely not most of it.

My problems is, I'm just paranoid enough about this stuff to imagine they have selectively omitted things for reasons known only to them. (Not really, but I just told you I'm paranoid about it.)

Here are several examples:

• The October 3, 1981 show is missing, which includes Ric Flair's first appearance in his home area as NWA World Heavyweight Champion and a warm interview with host Bob Caudle. This is one of the most historically significant shows of that fall. It's missing.
• A full three weeks of shows (2/19, 2/26, and 3/5) are missing leading up to the huge and historic Greensboro cage match featuring Sgt. Slaughter and Don Kernodle vs. Ricky Steamboat and Jay Youngblood. This show is known generally as the "Final Conflict" and was the show that convinced Jim Crockett Promotions to try closed-circuit events, which led to the first Starrcade later that year.  
• One of the most shocking heel turns of the era was the Brisco Brothers turning heel. Three of the shows in a row (4/30, 5/7, and 5/14) that build up to that, including the show with actual turn itself, are missing. While clips are replayed on later shows, these shows kicked off the bitter feud that would eventually culminate at Starrcade '83 seven months later. And they are missing.
• In those same shows is the angle where Greg Valentine injures the ear of Roddy Piper, which set up the feud that would also lead all the way to Starrcade '83. Piper called it the "year of the ear." Most of that initial material is missing (although they show clips of it later.)

Bob Caudle and David Crockett congratulate Ric Flair on winning the NWA World Championship
on the 10/3/81 episode of "Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling." Sadly, the episode is not
currently included on the WWE Network.

These are just a few examples. It'd odd that it doesn't seem to be random shows missing, it seems to be key shows missing.

But given what I'm told the network did earlier with the drop of "World Class Wrestling" and "World Championship Wrestling (WTBS)" shows, I have hope that they fill in these gaps at a later date. But it begs the question - - what purpose is served by holding those back now? They are part of a story being told that is missing for no apparent reason and it greatly disrupts the flow of these things.

THE OPENING THEME MUSIC

One of things people have been unhappy about is the removal of the opening theme music. This really isn't the WWE's fault, and we knew it was probably going to happen. Because they don't own the rights to the music originally used and don't want to get into the additional cost of licensing the music in perpetuity, the network removes or drowns out all unlicensed music and uses canned music they own or license to replace it.

The original theme music during those years, with its familiar opening bass line, was taken from a 1978 minor disco hit titled "Got to Have Loving" written and performed by 1970s disco producer, arranger and performer Don Ray. Jim Crockett Promotions started using a custom edit of the song for its opening theme music sometime in 1979 and continued using it until the spring of 1986 when the name of the show was changed to "NWA Pro Wrestling" and a new musical theme was introduced.

I will admit is is jarring when that familiar opening sequence of the Mid-Atlantic logo begins and you hear something totally foreign. Your brain expects to hear those descending bass notes leading into the synth jungle-disco drum line to follow, and then the familiar sight and sound of Bob Caudle welcoming us to another hour of Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling. Now we hear a generic sounding theme that has sort of a funky-soul-disco feel to it, like it also came straight out of the late 1970s.

And it's not just the opening of the show. It is used to replace the original music when bumping out to commercials, or during slow-motion instant replays, and in place of the closing theme, too. At the end of the show, this new music completely removes the familiar, almost ritualistic, barter declaration:

"Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling has been furnished to this station for broadcast at this time by Jim Crockett Promotions in exchange for commercial consideration"  

And because they lay this new music over the original audio throughout the show to drown out the original music but still allow us to hear what Bob Caudle is saying (sort of), it is much louder than the normal audio level of the show itself, and it becomes a little annoying.

Actually, it's not that bad of a replacement tune if a replacement had to be made to begin with. I sure would prefer the original, but I like the funky horns in this replacement and if we had to lose the original, this suits me fine. But to be sure, it does take you out of the moment every time it plays.


THE LOCAL PROMOS

Also missing are most of the the custom local promotional spots for each market that were inserted into the original shows. That's also understandable, but that also eliminates the very familiar announcement that always announced those promos:

"Let's take time for this commercial message about the Mid-Atlantic Wrestling events coming up in your area."

A few of the local promo spots survived if they were on the original tape to begin with. (We're compiling a list to be posted here later.) In their place in many of the shows are interviews taped live in the studio that most people never saw because they were seeing their local interviews in that spot. For many months, the time was used to allow underneath (enhancement) talent the time to work on interviews, something they never had the opportunity to do in these shows otherwise. Some of these are painful to watch. In the shows from late 1982 and the spring of 1983 that I've watched so far, the promos feature the main event talent and seem to be aimed at the Florida market where Mid-Atlantic Wrestling was now apparently being seen. It's actually kind of fun hearing those as there is lots of discussion of the wrestlers working then for Championship Wrestling from Florida.

All of these shows are great to see again, but they aren't perfect. But here again, I keep reminding myself - - - - don't let perfect be the enemy of good.  And I'm having a really good time watching these shows again, most of which I haven't seen since they originally aired over 35 years ago. I'm not going to let the fact that they aren't perfect ruin an otherwise good time.

Besides, if you really are missing the original theme music and need your fix, here it is for you to enjoy (from the Mid-Atlantic Gateway Archives site):

MID-ATLANTIC WRESTLING THEME (1979-1986)


Now, go get the network, watch and enjoy these old shows. And let the WWE Network know on their Facebook and Twitter pages how glad you are they have added Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling.

30 Day Free Trial at http://www.wwe.com/wwenetwork 

Also see:
All related Gateway articles about Mid-Atlantic Wrestling on the WWE Network.

Mid-Atlantic Wrestling shows debut on WWE Network

The WWE Network has added approximately 100 episodes of Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling to the on-demand section of their website. The shows have their own category under the "Vault" section.

The shows begin with the 9/12/81 episode and conclude with the 10/22/83 episode just over two years later. Interesting that they pause right as the Starrcade '83 build begins with the huge press conference episode from Florida. Hopefully, more shows will be added in the weeks to come.

But what a treasure trove we have to begin with. From the first shows where Ric Flair as announced as new NWA World Heavyweight Champion, to the 1982 classics such as Brisco vs. Piper and Slaughter vs. Wahoo, to the big feuds between Ricky Steamboat and Jay Youngblood with the teams of Sgt. Slaughter and Don Kernodle and the Brisco Brothers.

WWE NETWORK

Inexplicably there are some missing shows, and some key ones at that. For example, the three episodes leading up to the huge Greensboro cage match between Steamboat/Youngblood vs. Slaughter/Kernodle in March of 1983 (known as "The Final Conflict.)

Another missing gem is the early October 1981 show where Ric Flair makes his first appearance back in his home area as NWA world champion. Former champ Dusty Rhodes also appears on that show. How they can leave that one out is beyond me.

But in general, most shows are included during the time span covered.

If you have never subscribed to the WWE Network before, now's the time! They have a free 30-day trial of the entire network and you can stream these shows to your smart TV or streaming device (such as AppleTV, Roku, etc.) or to your phone or tablet. or simply watch in your Internet browser on your computer. For more information, click here: wwe.com/wwenetwork.

Let the WWE know you want more Mid-Atlantic by simply viewing the shows they have on there now. They keep statistics on what we watch. Now is a good time to hit those shows hard.

The "WWE Network News" website has a comprehensive list of the shows that have been added so far:

UPDATED WWE NETWORK ADDS CLOSE TO 100 EPISODES OF MID ATLANTIC TV, LINKS INCLUDED
http://www.wwenetworknews.com/2018/01/08/wwe-network-adds-close-to-100-episodes-of-mid-atlantic-tv-links-included/

How Far Back Does WWE's Mid-Atlantic Libray Go?

by Dick Bourne
Mid-Atlantic Gateway

When the WWE bought WCW from Time Warner, it acquired with the deal the original video tape library of Jim Crockett Promotions. That library originally transferred to Turner Home Entertainment following the Turner's purchase of Jim Crockett Promotions in 1988. When WWE bought WCW, the JCP library came along with it.

Johnny Weaver and Rich Landrum with "Rowdy"
Roddy Piper on "World Wide Wrestling" April 1981
(WWE Network)

Soon, original episodes for Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling from that library be available on the WWE Network,  the WWE's OTT streaming service.

This begs the question just how far back does the WWE's JCP library go? Back in 2009, the WWE began adding Mid-Atlantic Wrestling episodes to their premium cable channel originally called "WWE 24/7 On Demand" (later re-branded "WWE Classics On Demand.") They began showing sequential episodes of Mid-Atlantic Wrestling that began in November of 1981. This led many to believe that is when the JCP library started. It had been known for years that Jim Crockett Promotions did not begin archiving all of their programs until sometime in 1981. (Prior to that time, they simply recorded over each episode each week on the broadcast tapes that went out to the stations.)

However, there was evidence that they had some material that went back further than November of 1981. On the debut episode of the round-table discussion show "Legends of Wrestling", there was a 55-second clip of an interview with Roddy Piper that took place on "World Wide Wrestling" recorded on Wednesday, April 15, 1981 that first aired the following Saturday. This indicates that perhaps they have shows going back at least that far.

When WWE announced a special collection of ten selected shows to be released in advance of the big drop of shows on their service, the earliest was dated 9/12/81, which is two months earlier than the first show seen on the defunct WWE Classics On Demand cable channel.

We are very hopeful that the library goes back beyond August of 1981 to some of the shows taped at WRAL-TV in Raleigh, the long-time venue for Mid-Atlantic television tapings going back to 1959.In August of 1981, Crockett moved its TV tapings from WRAL to WPCQ TV in Charlotte. The WPCQ studio was way too small, requiring the ring to be set at an angle so that the ring, studio bleachers, cameras and set could all fit in. Add to that the quality of the studio equipment at WPCQ was noticeably inferior to the state of the art equipment at WRAL, resulting a noticeable drop in audio and video quality of the broadcast.

More updates as they become available on all this. The" WWE Network News" website reported last weekend that the Mid-Atlantic Wrestling episodes would begin appearing on the service on Monday, January 8.

Details on first "Selected" episodes of Mid-Atlantic Wrestling on the WWE Network

The WWE Network recently announced it would be adding Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling content from the early 1980s in January of 2018. In advance of that, they apparently plan to include a selection of 10 episodes to be part of the "new content" collection in their "Collections" section of the on-demand site.

Here are the ten selected shows thought to be part of an early collection on the WWE Network in advance of the big drop of 100 shows in "The Vault." The information is taken from the WWE Network News website.

The dates listed are apparently first-run air dates, not the dates the shows were taped in studio. As was the case for decades in Jim Crockett Promotions, some markets received the tape on a "bicycle" distribution one or two weeks delayed from the original air-dates in the major markets. The dates provided are thought to be the "first-run" dates.

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

MID-ATLANTIC CHAMPIONSHIP WRESTLING

9/12/1981  (Special Gateway Look at this Episode)
MID-ATLANTIC TELEVISION CHAMPION RON BASS PARTNERS WITH JAY YOUNGBLOOD FOR A TAG TEAM MATCH MAIN EVENT. RODDY PIPER LEADS ABDULLAH THE BUTCHER INTO ACTION AGAINST RON RITCHIE. PLUS, SGT. SLAUGHTER, JAKE ROBERTS, AND MANY MORE IN ACTION.

12/12/1981
SGT. SLAUGHTER AND PVT. JIM NELSON TAKE TO THE RING TO BATTLE THE DUO OF TONY ANTHONY AND LARRY HAMILTON IN A TAG TEAM MATCH MAIN EVENT. PLUS, RICKY STEAMBOAT IN ACTION, IVAN KOLOFF DEFENDS THE MID-ATLANTIC TELEVISION CHAMPIONSHIP, AND MORE.

6/26/1982
CHAOS ERUPTS WHEN JAKE ROBERTS TAKES TO THE RING TO GO ONE-ON-ONE WITH RODDY PIPER. JACK BRISCO PARTNERS WITH RICKY STEAMBOAT TO BATTLE MATT BORNE AND STEVE SYBERT. PLUS, JIMMY VALIANT, WAHOO MCDANIEL, AND MANY MORE IN ACTION.

8/21/1982
NWA WORLD HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPION RIC FLAIR TAKES TO THE RING TO GO ONE-ON-ONE WITH JACK BRISCO IN SINGLES COMPETITION. PLUS, RODDY PIPER PARTNERS WITH JIMMY VALIANT FOR A TAG TEAM MATCH, GENE ANDERSON CALLS OUT WAHOO MCDANIEL, AND MORE.

11/27/1982
NWA WORLD HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPION RIC FLAIR LOOKS TO HUMILIATE RODDY PIPER BY CHALLENGING HIM TO A UNIQUE CONFRONTATION. PLUS, NWA UNITED STATES CHAMPION GREG VALENTINE IN ACTION, BOB ORTON JR. PARTNERS UP WITH JACK BRISCO, AND MUCH MORE.

3/12/1983
GREG VALENTINE PUTS THE COVETED NWA UNITED STATES CHAMPIONSHIP ON THE LINE AGAINST RODDY PIPER IN THE MAIN EVENT. PLUS, NWA WORLD HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPION RIC FLAIR COMPETES IN SINGLES ACTION, ONE MAN GANG PARTNERS WITH MID-ATLANTIC TELEVISION CHAMPION DICK SLATER, AND MUCH MORE.

4/30/1983
TENSIONS BETWEEN RICKY STEAMBOAT AND SGT. SLAUGHTER ERUPT. RODDY PIPER CONTINUES HIS REIGN AS THE NEWLY CROWNED NWA UNITED STATES CHAMPION BY TAKING TO THE RING TO COMPETE IN SINGLES ACTION. PLUS, JOS LEDUC, THE GREAT KABUKI, AND MANY MORE IN ACTION.

7/2/1983
PAUL JONES ANNOUNCES THE WINNER OF HIS ‘DREAM CONTEST’ AFTER LEADING JAKE ROBERTS AND DORY FUNK JR. TO THE RING FOR MAIN EVENT ACTION. PLUS, RICKY STEAMBOAT LOOKS TO SHUT JERRY BRISCO’S MOUTH, WAHOO MCDANIEL GOES ONE-ON-ONE WITH THE MAGIC DRAGON, AND MORE.

9/10/1983
THINGS TAKE A DANGEROUS TURN FOR RIC FLAIR WHEN “THE NATURE BOY” TAKES TO THE RING TO CHALLENGE HARLEY RACE FOR THE NWA WORLD HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP IN THE MAIN EVENT. PLUS, BOB ORTON JR., WAHOO MCDANIEL, AND MORE IN ACTION.

10/22/1983
REPRESENTATIVES OF THE NATIONAL WRESTLING ALLIANCE MEET TO ESTABLISH THE UPCOMING BATTLE FOR THE NWA WORLD HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP BETWEEN HARLEY RACE AND RIC FLAIR AT STARRCADE. PLUS, THE ASSASSINS, RICKY STEAMBOAT, DICK SLATER, AND MANY MORE TAKE TO THE RING FOR ACTION.

Descriptions from the WWE Network via the WWE Network news website.

We'll have further updates here as they are available.

Mid-Atlantic September 1981 TV Episode plows new ground for WWE

Earliest Mid-Atlantic show listed for WWE Network precedes previously aired shows on the defunct WWE Wrestling Classics 24/7 channel.

by Dick Bourne
Mid-Atlantic Gateway

The WWE Network recently announced they would begin carrying early 1980s episodes of Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling (expected to debut on 1/8/17 per the WWE Network News website) as part of their "Vault" section of their streaming service. They also indicated there would be 10 selected episodes that would be included in the "Collections" section of the service in advance of the major 100-episode drop.

The first of those selected episodes has an air date listed as 9/12/81 and the following description:

Mid-Atlantic Television Champion Ron Bass partners with Jay Youngblood for a tag team match main event. Roddy Piper leads Abdullah the Butcher into action against Ron Ritchie. Plus Sgt. Slaughter, Jake Roberts, and many more in action.

There are lots of things interesting to note about this episode as it related to the context of the times as well as a peek into what the WWE library of Jim Crockett tapes includes.


EARLIEST EPISODE KNOWN SO FAR IN WWE LIBRARY
First of all, this episode predates the episodes that previously aired on the defunct WWE Wrestling Classics 24/7 pay channel back in the 2000s. Their episodes began with the 11/18/81 (taping date at WPCQ studio) show. It's nice to see them include in this early show on their list: it predates the first show from the 24/7 network by over two-months.

I'm hoping since this is simply a "selected" episode, the library goes back a bit further. There is some indication that it might, as indicated by a brief clip of Rich Landrum and Johnny Weaver with Roddy Piper from a summer 1981 episode of "World Wide Wrestling" that aired as a clip on one of the WWE Wrestling Classics round-table shows. (That round table show is probably on the WWE Network now.)


THE RECENT MOVE FROM WRAL TO WPCQ STUDIO
In the summer of 1981, Jim Crockett Promotions moved the location of their TV studio wrestling tapings from the classic confines of WRAL studios in Raleigh, NC, to the cramped and awkward setting of WPCQ in Charlotte. The first taping took place on Wednesday night, August 5, with the original air-date of Saturday, August 8. So it's worth noting that this 9/12/81 episode in the WWE list is very early into JCP's tenure at WPCQ.  We're hoping that perhaps some of the final episodes from WRAL are part of the WWE's library, especially given that the aforementioned clip with Landrum, Weaver, and Piper exists from that studio.


DUSTY RHODES IS STILL NWA CHAMPION
Ric Flair first won the NWA World title on September 17, 1981, so there will be at least this one episode where Rhodes is till champion, and hopefully a few more. This also means we should see the episode in late September where Ric Flair is introduced as the new NWA World Champion.

The other champions as of this program:

• World Tag Champs: Gene and Ole Anderson
• United States Champion: [VACANT - Wahoo Stripped of Title]
• Mid-Atlantic Champion: Ivan Koloff
• Mid-Atlantic Tag Champs: The Russians (Volkoff and Markoff mgd. by Lord Al Hayes)
• Mid-Atlantic TV Champion: Ron Bass
• World Jr. Champion: Les Thornton

NOTES ON THIS 9/12/81 SHOW
From some notes we made back in 1981 while watching wrestling here is what it looks like will be on that 9/12/81 show.

• The tag team of Ricky Steamboat and Jake Roberts open the show.
• The team of the Super Destroyer (Scott Irwin) and The Grappler (Len Denton) face Scott McGhee and Don Kernodle in another tag team event.
• Ivan Koloff and the recently-arrived Sgt. Slaughter wrestle in singles action.
• Newly crowned TV champion Ron Bass and Jay Youngblood tag up to finish the show.
• The referee for the show is Stu Schwartz.
• Austin Idol appears on an interview segment. 
• This show may include a tape of the infamous match where Wahoo McDaniel was attacked by Abdullah the Butcher and the footage had to be video-distorted for blood. There is at least some footage of Abdullah in action, accompanied by Roddy Piper, as indicated in the WWE"s short description of the show (see above.)
• The Super Destroyer (Scott Irwin) wins for his team with a vertical suplex from the second turnbuckle, a move he called the "superplex." As hard as it is to fathom in this day and age, that was a revolutionary move for its time, and no one had really seen anything like that in our area up until then. We had seen flaying body-presses from the top rope (ala Ricky Steamboat) and flying body splashes from the top rope (ala Jimmy Snuka), but never a suplex delivered from the turnbuckles. This was considered cutting edge for its time. 

It will be great to see this show for the first time since it originally aired over 36 years ago.

Stay tuned for more on our WWE Network updates.

Mid-Atlantic Wrestling thought to debut on WWE Network January 8th

The WWE Network News website announced today that Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling may debut on the WWE Network's vault section on January 8, 2018. There is a possibility that a huge number of episodes will drop that day, according to the WWE Network News report.

There also is the possibility that the 10 selected episodes may pop up earlier in the "Collections" section of the streaming service.

Read their report here:

EXCLUSIVE: UPDATE ON MID-ATLANTIC CHAMPIONSHIP WRESTLING TO WWE NETWORK; WHEN CAN WE EXPECT IT?
http://www.wwenetworknews.com/2017/12/28/exclusive-update-on-mid-atlantic-championship-wrestling-to-wwe-network-when-can-we-expect-it/

Preview the earliest episode they have announced so far, September 12, 1981.

More information as we get it.

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

Also see our latest history update, the 4th and final installment in "Wahoo McDaniel: Missing in Action"

Mid-Atlantic Wrestling Coming to WWE Network in January

This announcement from the WWE Network was a nice early Christmas present for Mid-Atlantic Wrestling fans that have been wiaiting since the WWE Network launched in 2014 for them to add Mid-Atlantic television.

Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling makes its WWE Network debut with this month’s new on-demand offering. Featuring nearly 100 episodes and over 70 hours of throwback action, travel as far back as 1981 and see the very early careers of WWE Hall of Famers such as “Rowdy” Roddy Piper, Ricky “The Dragon” Steamboat, Jake “The Snake” Roberts, Sgt. Slaughter, Ric Flair, and more. Enjoy a small taste of the latest offering with this New Classic Content collection, featuring 10 memorable episodes from 1981-1983.


More information here:  WWE Network News

After Christmas, we will begin regular updates on the Gateway about episodes of Mid-Atlantic Wrestling being added to the WWE Network. 

Mid-Atlantic Footage in WWE Library from 1976

Bob Caudle with Gene and Ole Anderson on Mid-Atlantic Wrestling in 1976

Before seeing the image above on a WWE Roundtable show, we had believed that WWE's Crockett library only went back to fall of 1981. That's the time frame of the Mid-Atlantic Wrestling shows that the now-defunct WWE 24-7 Classics On Demand service began showing when the service launched over a decade ago.

I do not recall this exact show. It originally aired years ago. I believe it was one of the roundtable discussion shows on tag teams. But all of a sudden there was a brief (3-4 seconds) b-roll clip of Gene and Ole Anderson on the set of "Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling" with host Bob Caudle that was clearly pre-1981.

There were two or three small indicators of this but the main one was the cast on Ole Anderson's left arm. That cast was the result of the May 1976 stabbing of Ole Anderson by a fan in Greenville, SC. Even after Ole's wounds on his arm and hand had healed, he continued to wear a cast in matches on into the early fall of 1976 before leaving the territory for Georgia. The cast is the definitive tell that this was from 1976.

The other less obvious indicators that this was years earlier than 1981 were: (a) Bob Caudle not wearing glasses, (b) the Andersons with the world tag team title belts which they held here in 1975 and 1976, and (c) the backdrop for  the TV show, which was changed in 1978.

So how do they have this clip if the Crockett library only goes back to 1981? Well, there is always the chance that the library contained some material pre-1981 that the Crocketts didn't record over, such as year end highlight shows, etc. But another possibility, and one perhaps more likely, is that this clip is from another territory's show, perhaps Florida. The Andersons would occasionally defend the titles outside of the Mid-Atlantic area, and promo tapes would be made and sent to the territories where they would appear. Perhaps this is one of those promos sent to Florida, where the library exists going back into the late 1960s or early 1970s.

Regardless, we were delighted to come across it because it was a great video image, short though it was, and it is one of our favorite Mid-Atlantic Wrestling years of them all. And it makes us wonder what else might be tucked away.