NWA Belt Art Revisited (David Williams)

The fourth and final version of the original 1973-1986 NWA World Championship belt, the "Ten Pounds of Gold."
The final version featured new leather with a slightly different cut around the center plate
and a fourth and final different flag configuration.

PART 5
by Dick Bourne, Mid-Atlantic Gateway
Art by David Williams

ORIGINAL ARTICLES FROM 2019
PART ONE : Introduction & History of the Project
PART TWO: The Red Velvet
PART THREE: Black Leather and Dented Globe
PART FOUR: New Globe, Refurbished Plates
PART FIVE: The Final Version of a Classic

We pick up where we left off in Part 4:

Not long after Harley Race defeated Terry Funk for the title in Toronto in February of 1977, the refurbished and repainted plates were attached to a brand new cut of leather. This new leather strap had a different style of lacing and was cut slightly different, the main change being that the cut of the leather did not follow the shape of the main plate as closely as the old leather did, which tightly hugged the upper edge of the main plate (as seen in the image at the top of Part 3.)

Pretty soon, however, the plates began to show the same wear and tear as the earlier version of the belt did. The globe was badly dented again, and paint began flaking off the plates in different areas. Most noticeably, some of the segments of ornamental "beads" around the edge of the main plate began to break off as well.

The look of the belt in its last years: dented globe (again), missing beads, missing paint, missing eyelets.

Let's face it, after several years of observation, it was clear that this type of construction for a ring used title belt just didn't make much sense. Those bead-sections were each attached individually with 4-6 beads to a section. And many of them were getting broken off the belt.

In addition, some of the faux eyelets and snaps broke away from the belt, too. By the time Jim Crockett had the new "Big Gold" belt made in 1986, the old Ten Pounds of Gold was in pretty rough shape.

An illustration of the shape the belt was in at the end, with the busted lacing and missing paint.

Artist David Williams has done an incredible job of recreating every version of the belt, with sub-versions illustrating the damage to the belt in later years.

The following chart shows the progression of the belt from its original configuration in 1973 to it's final look in 1986.

The final progression chart.

The book "Ten Pounds of Gold" that I authored with Dave Millican lays out in great detail all four versions of the NWA "domed-globe" belt. (There is a detailed flow chart summarizing those versions in pp. 70-71 of the book.)

My thanks to computer artist extraordinaire David Williams for the amazing work he did on all the different versions of the famous domed-globe belt.

PART ONE : Introduction & History of the Project
PART TWO: The Red Velvet
PART THREE: Black Leather and Dented Globe
PART FOUR: New Globe, Refurbished Plates
PART FIVE: The Final Version of a Classic
Final Progression Chart

 Originally series published on the Mid-Atlantic Gateway in July of 2019

WrestleArt: Wahoo McDaniel Joins the NY Jets (1964)

 

Wahoo McDaniel came to the N.Y. Jets in the old AFL in 1964. After he started playing as a linebacker for the Jets, McDaniel started wearing a custom jersey which had the name "WAHOO" sewn on the back above the numerals. Whenever he made a tackle as a Jet at a home game, the public address announcer would ask the crowd "Tackle by WHO?", and the crowd would shout, "WAHOO!"

Bill Gallo's art for the NY Post, part of his "Finders Keepers" series, illustrated that Jets fans were happy they had found Wahoo McDaniel and weren't about to let him go. 

Illustration submitted to the Mid-Atlantic Gateway by contributor Andy McDaniel. 

Wrestling Art: Greg Valentine and that Famous T-Shirt

Digital artist Robby Bannister is back with another great art-cover paying tribute to the old Mid-Atlantic Wrestling Magazines of the 1970s and 1980s.

This time, the cover features one of the most iconic moments in Mid-Atlantic Wrestling history - - Greg Valentine celebrating his 1977 Mid-Atlantic championship title win over Wahoo McDaniel, wearing the Mid-Atlantic title belt and his infamous "I Broke Wahoo's Leg" t-shirt. 

Art by Robby Bannister

Greg had an original cover of his own that year, one of our favorite covers of that era, featuring an artistic rendition of "the Hammer" standing alongside the mythical Valentine Trophy Case that sported the Mid-Atlantic title belt and other trophies. The only thing missing was the fish bowl filled with a thousand silver dollars. Or in the case of that famous match between Greg and Wahoo, TWO thousand silver dollars. The photo that inspired Robby's cover was in that very issue.

Robby's other couvertures d'hommage have featured Blackjack Mulligan, Arn Anderson, Jimmy Snuka and Paul Orndorf, and the idea that began the series Don Kernodle.

Wrestling Art: NWA Tag Champs Jimmy Snuka and Paul Orndorff

The next art from Robby Bannister's series of Mid-Atlantic Wrestling Magazine art covers features the NWA World Tag Team Champions from late 1978 and 1979 Paul Orndorff and Jimmy Snuka. The duo won the titles from Greg Valentine and Baron Von Raschke in December 1978.

Robby is creating a series of these faux magazine covers in homage to the original series of Mid-Atlantic Wrestling Magazine covers from the 1970s and 1980s. The magazines were sold as event programs at the local arenas and also could be purchased by mail directly from the Crockett offices in Charlotte. 

Robby's first cover in this series featured Blackjack Mulligan as United States champion from 1976 and his second cover featured "The Enforcer" Arn Anderson. His introductory cover was of Don Kernodle.

Here is more info on the championship tag team of Orndorff and Snuka from David Chappell's December 1978 entry in the Mid-Atlantic Wrestling Almanac:

NWA World Tag Team Champions Greg Valentine and Baron von Raschke had more than their hands full in the month of December with the challenge of Paul Orndorff and Jimmy Snuka. The athleticism of Orndorff and Snuka seemed to keep the Champions guessing and off balance. During the month, Valentine and Raschke were able to hold onto the Championship by the skin of their teeth, often purposely getting themselves disqualified to save their Titles. But on December 26, 1978 at the Richmond Coliseum, Orndorff and Snuka got the Title Match they wanted---one with No Disqualifications!

The Richmond match was a lengthy encounter, with both teams pulling out all the stops. The see-saw battle saw both teams have their opportunities to come out on top, but ultimately the challengers were able to capture a quick pinfall to the delight of the huge Coliseum crowd. The hated Champions had been dethroned by the upstart challengers! An enraged Baron von Raschke could not accept that he was no longer one half of the World Champions, and he proceeded to assault the referee, and then dropped him on his head with a piledriver! The NWA acted quickly on the Baron’s reprehensive conduct, suspending him almost immediately for his actions in Richmond. 

We're looking forward to more great art covers from Robby in the future!

* * * * * *

Check out more of Robby Bannister's art on his Facebook page featuring wrestlers from various territories over different eras. 

NO. 3 IN A SERIES

Wrestling Art: Arn Anderson on the cover of Mid-Atlantic Magazine

Art by Robby Bannister

Back on November 27, Robby Bannister presented his first throwback-style art cover to the Mid-Atlantic Gateway, a tribute to the old issues of Mid-Atlantic Wrestling Magazine sold at arenas back in the 1970s and 1980s. 

The first one featured Blackjack Mulligan as United States champion back in 1976, when Mulligan was the top heel in the Mid-Atlantic territory for Jim Crockett Promotions.

The second installment jumps ahead almost a full decade and features the wrestler who would become known as "the enforcer" Arn Anderson. 

A member of the legendary Anderson family in wrestling, Arn was a cousin of Gene, Lars, and Ole Anderson in Anderson mythology, although he was briefly recognized at times as a brother, and even initially a nephew when Ole Anderson first introduced him in Georgia Championship Wrestling in 1983. 

I like to think this could have been a cover in the spring of 1985 when Arn was relatively new in the territory. It wouldn't be long before Arn would have always had a title belt around his waist, whether it be the National Tag Team title, NWA World TV title, or NWA (or WCW) World Tag team title. 

Arn was a great singles competitor as TV champion, and was most famously a member of the legendary Four Horsemen. But he is best remembered for his tag team success, holding the Southeastern tag team titles with "Mr. Olympia" Jerry Stubbs, the National Tag titles with Ole Anderson, and the NWA/WCW World Tag team titles with Tully Blanchard, Bobby Eaton, Larry Zbyszko, and Paul Roma.

Arn sadly never had a cover of Mid-Atlantic magazine, but With Robby's artistic vision we can now imagine what such a cover would have looked like. 

* * * * * *

Check out more of Robby Bannister's art on his Facebook page featuring wrestlers from various territories over different eras. 

NO. 2 IN A SERIES

Wrestling Art: Blackjack Mulligan on the Cover of Mid-Atlantic Wrestling Magazine

Art by Robby Bannister

Last week, we told you about a forthcoming series of artistic faux magazine covers based on 1970s and 1980s designs of Mid-Atlantic Wrestling Magazine, published at the time by Jim Crockett Promotions and sold in arenas as the event program. The art is courtesy of Robby Bannister.

The first in that series celebrates one of the great U.S. Champions of that era, Blackjack Mulligan. It's based on one of the classic images of Mulligan wearing the famous Unites States Heavyweight championship belt that appeared in one of the 1976 magazines. The cover design, fonts, header, etc. are based on the original 1976 issue with Paul Jones on the cover (Vol. 2 No. 4.) 

Mulligan's only appearance on of the original art covers of that era was a 1978 issue where he shared the cover with Dick Murdoch. The two were the Texan tag team combination that called themselves the M&M Boys. I've always thought there should have been a cover with Mulligan as U.S. champ. He dominated the territory as the top heel in 1976 and 1977, feuding with Paul Jones, Dino Bravo, Bobo Brazil, and Ricky Steamboat over the title belt. 

With Robby's artistic vision, we can now imagine what such a cover would have looked like.

* * * * * *

Check out more of Robby Bannister's art on his Facebook page featuring wrestlers from various territories over different eras. 

NO. 1 IN A SERIES

Coming Soon: Mid-Atlantic Magazine Covers We Wish We'd Seen

by Dick Bourne
Mid-Atlantic Gateway

From 1974 through 1986, Jim Crockett Promotions published a program sold at the arenas they titled Mid-Atlantic Wrestling Magazine. From 1974-1977, these were written, edited, and produced by Les Thatcher, who worked in the office at that point for JCP. From 19u78 forward, the magazine was written and produced by photographer Woody Smith and Frances Crockett.

The magazine serving as program came out quarterly through 1981, sometimes relaced by a photo album rather than a magazine format. For unknown reasons, there were no official JCP publication from 1982  through late 1984 (except for the Starrcade 83 and 84 programs.)

The magazine resurrected in 1985 and there were several issues over the next few years until they started publishing magazines as programs under different titles. 

Art by Robby Bannister

The earliest issues used photographs on the cover, but starting with the final issue of 1975, art was featured on the cover of Mid-Atlantic Magazine for several years until early 1979. After that, photographs were consistently used on the covers.

We always loved those early art covers and wished there had been more of them. Longtime fan and digital artist Robby Bannister decided it would be fun to create some faux covers for different eras of JCP, some featuring wrestlers that never had a real cover of their own, but should have. He sent us a sample featuring Don Kernodle on a cover design similar to those published in the late 1970s and early 1980s. We loved the concept! We asked Robby to consider a series of faux covers that would be featured here, special to the Gateway. He happily agreed and we are looking forward to beginning that series over the long Thanksgiving holiday weekend. 

The format of Robby's covers will be similar in design to the various familiar designs featured on the actual covers over the years. We are suggesting the photos for the digital art to be based off of, and Robby will do the rest. There won't be any regular publishing schedule for the series, but we hope to feature a new one every few weeks or so, starting after Thanksgiving.

In the meantime check out some of Robby's art on his Facebook page featuring many different wrestlers from different promotions from the 1980s through today. 

Be looking for the first cover in the Gateway series featuring one of the greatest U.S. Champions of all time!

Wresrtle Art: The NWA World Title Recreated (Part 1)

The "Brisco Belt", the second version of the NWA World Title
"domed globe"  belt used in 1974-1976.
Graphic art created by David Williams © 2019

By Dick Bourne, Mid-Atlantic Gateway
Art by David Williams

Back in late February, a computer artist named David Williams contacted me wanting to source some photos for a graphic art project he was envisioning. "I’ve been obsessed for several years with the thought of accurately rendering the classic NWA belt," he wrote me. "The problem is I want to make it as perfect to original as possible, or not bother."

Given my love and appreciation for that old belt, this certainly seemed like a worthwhile endeavor and I wanted to enthusiastically support the project. The only thing David needed was some close-up hi-res photos of the belt, which I was happy to send him. Some of these photos I had taken myself, including the cover photo for the book "Ten Pounds of Gold" which showed close detail of the main plate, and others that showed the leather strap and details of the side plates.

With the help of some measurements Dave Millican made when he and I photographed the belt for the book back in 2008, Williams was able interpolate specific measurements for every element of the belt, all in perfect scale, in all of the title's iterations.

David Williams is a wrestling fan like the rest of us, growing up watching "Championship Wrestling from Florida," counting Jack Brisco and Buddy Colt among his favorites. Today he is a professional computer artist and career art director, as well as designer and publisher of the Ferrari Club of America’s Prancing Horse magazine. And let me tell you, this cat has mad skills.

Version 2A, end to end, every meticulous detail.
(David Williams)

After reviewing all the photos I sent him, he decided to attempt not only the original version, but a recreation of all four versions of the "domed globe" belt that were worn and defended by the great NWA champions of 1973-1986. The two images you see on this page are of the second version of the belt. It is always identifiable by several unique characteristics, primarily the white lettering on black background above the flags, the tight leather cut, and "NWA" letters that go straight across the globe (as opposed to the curved letters on later versions.)  You will also notice the "BRISCO" nameplate, which was on this version of the belt.

We collaborated on what should be included with regard to some of the details and in the end, David wound up with 10 different amazing images showing the progression of the belt from when it debuted in Houston, Texas on July 20, 1973 until it was retired in February of 1986. Each version features some change in the physical characteristics of the plates or the leather, even including the dents in the globes and the busted lacing around the edges of the leather strap.

In the coming weeks, I will present each of these 10 images, taking the opportunity to use David's amazing work to illustrate the evolution of the belt over the years, paired with information taken directly from the "Ten Pounds of Gold" book. You will see for yourself in some enlarged images the incredible detail of every single aspect of the belts, right down to the exact number of "beads" around the edge of the belt, the specific maps on the different globes, the lacing on the leather straps, the wrestlers on the plate, the fonts on the nameplates, and every other detail you can imagine. Just amazing work.

Coming up next in Part Two: Versions 1A and 1B of David Williams's amazing sequence of images, the belt as it first looked when it was presented to Harley Race before his match with Jack Brisco in Houston in July of 1973, the beautiful gold plates on the bright red velvet-wrapped leather strap.

***

PART ONE : Introduction & History of the Project
PART TWO: The Red Velvet
PART THREE: Black Leather and Dented Globe
PART FOUR: New Globe, Refurbished Plates
PART FIVE: The Final Version of a Classic

Also check out our new book on the history of the Mid-Atlantic Championship.

Wrestle Art: Nashville (1978)

  curated by Dick Bourne, Mid-Atlantic Gateway

I've always enjoyed the many different renditions of wrestler-artwork that appeared in various ads for wrestling around the country. I've decided to display some examples of those from time to time here on the Gateway.

No. 3: Nashville, TN - July 1978

This is actually from the line-up sheet handed out at the matches in Nashville or perhaps included in the wrestling program sold at the matches, promoted by Nick Gulas. The same graphic was also used occasionally in their newspaper ads as well.

This one will be of special interest to Mid-Atlantic fans that watched "Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling" on WFBC-4 out of Greenville, SC in the 1970s and early 1980s. A slightly different version of the wrestler art seen above was used for years during the special additional 1-minute promos that Billy Powell would narrate that were inserted twice into the Greenville wrestling shows.

The art appears to depict a rear hammerlock scene during a heated match. Because of seeing this every Saturday for over 10 years watching wrestling from Greenville, SC, this image connects with me as much as any other from that time period. I was surprised (and delighted) when I came across it in the Nashville bill.

To see other examples of "Wrestle Art" we've posted on the Gateway, click here.

Wrestle Art: Greensboro (1978)

 

  curated by Dick Bourne, Mid-Atlantic Gateway

I've always enjoyed the various wrestler artwork that appeared in various ads for wrestling around the country. I've decided to display some examples of those from time to time here on the Gateway.

No. 2: Greensboro, North Carolina - September 1978

The art will be familiar to Greensboro area fans from the late 1970s when this art appeared at the top of almost every Greensboro newspaper wrestling ad for many years.

The art features one wrestler single leg-diving another. 

Special thanks to Mark Eastridge for access to his unmatched collection of wrestling clippings from all over the country going back decades. I look forward to sharing more Wrestle Art in future posts.

See also: Wrestle Art for Orlando (1970)

Wrestle Art: Orlando (1970)

 

  curated by Dick Bourne, Mid-Atlantic Gateway

I've always enjoyed the various wrestler artwork that appeared in various ads for wrestling around the country. I've decided to display some examples of those from time to time here on the Gateway.

Here is one of my favorites. The Orlando, Florida ads in the 1970s featured this unique, eye-cathcing design at the top of a vertical newspaper ad. It features one wrestler applying a top wrist lock to another.

Here also, I've kept the main event, the definitive feud of the 1970s - - Dory Funk, Jr. vs. Jack Brisco. In this case, its August 10, 1970 and Funk is defending the NWA title.

Special thanks to Mark Eastridge for access to his unmatched collection of wrestling clippings from all over the country going back decades. I look forward to sharing more Wrestle Art in future posts.