We've been enjoying the articles and features on the Crockett Foundation website, including one on the philanthropic history of Jim Crockett Promotions. We learned about an annual BBQ that took place at Crockett Park where fans could enjoy BBQ and a cold beverage with the Crockett family and many of the wrestlers of the era.
It's a fascinating look at a simpler time and a fun event that raised money for a great cause.
Featuring references to George Harbin, Johnny Weaver, George Becker and Ole Anderson.
A HISTORY OF PHILANTHROPY
by Matthew Worseman, Crockett Foundation
Jim Crockett and Jim Crockett Promotions have a long history of philanthropy over the years. Whether the Crocketts were donating the entire gate from a wrestling match or holding the annual BBQ at Jim Crockett Memorial Ballpark, the need to give back is deeply rooted in the Crockett DNA. While Jim was working his way up the wrestling ladder, this humble man always knew that he would have to find a way to pay it forward....
The Crockett Foundation focuses its efforts on helping veterans and veteran’s organizations that are trying to make veterans lives more livable while he or she is suffering from mental illness brought on by their service to our country.
Find out more information on how you can contribute to the Crockett Foundation. Visit them on Facebook and help spread the word.
We continue our countdown of the 5 teams that competed in the Mid-Atlantic Wrestling area that never held the Mid-Atlantic tag team championships - - but should have.
Before we announce our choice for the #1 tag team that never held the Mid-Atlantic tag team titles - - but should have -- we look at a few other great teams that didn't make the top five cut but would have also made great tag champs. They are our "honorable mentions."
HONERABLE MENTIONS
Masked Superstar and Kim Duk
managed by Prof. Boris Malenko
Masked Superstar and Kim Duk (managed by "Professor" Boris Malenko)
DB: You could easily argue that this colorful team should have made our top-5 list. This team wasn't together very long, but they were a memorable combination under the able tutelage of Professor Boris Malenko, who would manage the Masked Superstar's singles career for several years here. They had a great look and worked well as a team, and with both guys working at or near the top of many of the cards at that time, they seemed destined for a tag title run. But it never happened.
DC: An outstanding team during the first half of 1977. But the promotion wanted these two in singles programs: Duk against Wahoo McDaniel and Superstar against the Mighty Igor.
The Mongols
The Mongols (managed by "Professor" Boris Malenko)
DC: Coming into the area as the "International Tag Team Champions" in early 1976, their push was to be the World Tag Team Champions. Bolo and Geeto had a short program with the Anderson's for the World Tag Team belts, but came up short. The Mongols didn't seem as suited for a "secondary" tag title as some of the other contenders.
Sgt. Jacques Goulet and Gene Anderson
DB: This team was a regular combination for well over a year in 1978-1979 and had great credibility because each had been a partner in another established tag team - - Goulet with Mike "The Judge" Dubois, and of course Gene with Ole as the Minnesota Wrecking Crew, the Anderson Brothers. Goulet and Anderson were always in the tag match just before the main events and would have been a perfect combination to hold the tag belts in those years when not much was being done with them anyway.
DC: A veteran duo that could hold their own with anybody. During portions of 1978 and 1979, this team was a tough out for any Mid-Atlantic opponent.
Bob Caudle with Boris Malenko and Missouri Mauler
Mr. X #1 and #2
DC: If you want a masked team that could have been Mid-Atlantic Tag Team champs, look no further than this team. During portions of 1977 and 1978, these two masked marvels befuddled many a team with their unorthodox style.
Boris Malenko and the Missouri Mauler
DB: Another tough combination that flirted with main events but never quite got there. They would have been perfect for the Mid-Atlantic tag team titles.
What a very cool, very clever design for the latest t-shirt available from the Crockett Foundation at their online store. A "blending" of the classic 1987 Four Horsemen logo with the Crockett Foundation logo. Awesome looking shirt.
We are happy to announce our new full-color book on the history of the United States Heavyweight Championship which will be available in early November. The book is a complete history of the U.S. championship during the Crockett years as well as a detailed look at the five championship belts that represented it over those years.
U.S. customers can pre-order the book right now and receive free shipping when it begins shipping in November. Click here for all the details.
The book includes over 100 photographs of the champions with belts, most in full color and some never published before. It also includes photos of the belts themselves, both original and replica. See a preview here.
Michael Elliot of Highspots.com with Blackjack Mulligan this morning. Michael is working on several new documentary projects. He reports he had a great morning with the big man from Eagle Pass, Texas!
Paul Jones was a Mid-Atlantic Wrestling mainstay thought most of the decade of the 1970s, but spent time in Florida and Georgia, too, including several months in the Peach State in the spring and early summer of 1977.
As we continue our look at the talent exchange between the Mid-Atlantic and Georgia territories that year (first described here), we see that Jones was a big part on both ends of the deal. He first visited Georgia while a regular in the Mid-Atlantic, but also briefly came home to Charlottewhile a regular in Georgia.
Jones was first a visitor to Augusta, Georgia (ground zero in Georgia of these exchanges) on 2/14/77 when he came in to face Gene Anderson on a card that also featured the Mid-Atlantic tag champs Jerry Brown and Buddy Roberts (the Hollywood Blondes) in to face Georgia champs Mr. Wrestling I & II. He subsequently moved to the Georgia territory full time until returning later that summer.
While Jones was away in Georgia, the feud between the Anderson Brothers and the championship team of Ric Flair and Greg Valentine reached yet another boiling point where the two teams met in a cage match for the NWA world tag team championships on 5/8 with Wahoo McDaniel assigned as the special referee. The match took place at the Charlotte Coliseum. The Andersons regained the titles that night, but Flair and Valentine injured Ole Anderson afterward and were in the process of doing the same to Wahoo. Out of nowhere, Paul Jones appeared at ringside and entered the cage to a big surprise pop, cleaning house of Flair and Valentine. The resulting scene of Paul with his old partner Wahoo McDaniel standing side by side with the Anderson Brothers was a surreal scene for most Mid-Atlantic fans. The two teams had some of the most memorable matches ever over the tag titles during the years 1975 and 1976.
Paul's appearance was a great surprise to the fans live in Charlotte. He hadn't been in the Mid-Atlantic area for months and was not booked on that 5/8 Charlotte card, so fans had no idea he was even in the building.
We've included video from YouTube below of Paul making the save. The audio on this is somewhat muted, although I think you'll get the idea of how excited the crowd was to see Paul make that save. He had been a huge fan favorite in the area for years. My favorite part of this was the reaction of one fan seated near the 16mm camera filming this action. If you listen carefully, you can hear his excitement rise as Paul begins to clean house. "Oh my goodness! Oh my goodness!!" he says over and over. There was nothing quite like a surprise appearance by a big name back in the day when you weren't expecting it. Still isn't today.
Paul Jones followed up his surprise appearance on 5/8 in Charlotte with a scheduled match there the following Monday night 5/16 at the Park Center where he challenged Ric Flair for the Mid-Atlantic TV title. Paul defeated Flair, but only after the 15 minute time limit had expired where the TV title was on the line.
These were the only two known appearances in the Mid-Atlantic area by Jones during this time period, and the second one on 5/16 was his only announced appearance.
On a side note, this was the show the night before the mixed card in Augusta on Monday 5/9 that we reviewed last time (in Part Four of this series) where the local Sunday morning newspaper in Augusta gave away the result of Sunday night's title change in Charlotte before it had actually happened.
Enjoy this 16mm film footage of Paul Jones making the save in the cage in Charlotte.
Paul enters the cage at the 3:36 mark.
Texas wrestling legend Kevin Von Erich is Ric's guest this week on the 24th episode of WOOOO! Nation! (Happy birthday, Kyra Quinn!)
From the WOOOO! Nation website:
Another great guest on Wooooo Nation! Ric catches up with Texas Wrestling legend, Kevin Von Erich! Hear amazing stoires about the Von Erich family, World Class Championship Wrestling and Ric's experiences in Texas and with the Von Erich family.
Add a little Flair to your life by joining the Nature Boy every week as he talks pro wrestling, sports, tells stories like only he can, and interviews his celebrity friends. No topic is off limits for Flair during his weekly CBS podcast. Come join WOOOOO! Nation!
Ric Flair and Conrad Thompson are on "WOOOOO! Nation" right now! Check it out via iTunes or directly download from the WOOOOO! Nation page at the PLAY.IT website.
"Every conversation [with Ole] was a duel to the death. Nothing went unnoticed and something was always going to be said."
We've linked below to a nice little story about Ole Anderson written by John Ringley's daughter Debbie Mrozinski on the Crockett Foundation website. Debbie is the daughter of Frances Crockett and the oldest granddaughter of Jim Crockett, Sr.
The Crockett Foundation focuses its efforts on helping veterans and veteran’s organizations that are trying to make veterans lives more livable while he or she is suffering from mental illness brought on by their service to our country.
Growing up as a Crockett meant you were surrounded by professional athletes and that they shaped you in many ways and as I sit here now writing this, I honestly can’t think of one negative way it affected me, my brothers and sisters or my cousins. The athletes, whether wrestlers, baseball players, or hockey players, were a shining examples of hard work, discipline and what it takes to achieve your dream.
Every once in a while an athlete would come along and would teach you something that would serve you equally as well in life and that was how to be quick. My shining example of that is Ole Anderson. Let me explain what I mean by quick....
by Dick Bourne and David Chappell Mid-Atlantic Gateway
We continue our countdown of the 5 teams that competed in the Mid-Atlantic Wrestling area that never held the Mid-Atlantic tag team championships - - but should have. For our explanation of the process and our thinking behind this countdown, visit the original page here.
COUNTDOWN
We've selected five teams that we felt fit that mold and should have been recognized or rewarded by the booker or the promotion with the Mid-Atlantic tag team championships, but for whatever reason were never given that shot.
We are going to spotlight those five teams over the next few weeks, counting down to the number one team we thought should have been given that championship - - but wasn't.
The past three weeks, we selected teams for #5, #4, and #3 in the countdown that were brother combinations. This week we break from that streak - -
NUMBER THREE: Steve Keirn and Tiger Conway, Jr. (1975)
DC: Booker George Scott had a tough call to make in August of 1975; who was going to replace the fabulous babyface team of Paul Jones and Wahoo McDaniel as the top challengers to World Tag Team Champions Gene and Ole Anderson? He appeared to have struck gold initially with the unlikely pairing of Tiger Conway and Steve Keirn. On September 20, 1975, Keirn and Conway upset the Anderson's in a non-title bout on the Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling TV show in one of the most exciting matches ever from the WRAL TV studios. However, in their subsequent two month program chasing the Anderson's, the momentum of Tiger and Steve fizzled and many of their matches with Gene and Ole were considered disappointing. But, really, what team could have followed the greatness that was the team of Paul Jones and Wahoo McDaniel? A run as Mid-Atlantic Tag Team Champions would have allowed Tiger and Steve's youth and athletic style to shine, and pitted them against other opponents where the shadow cast by Paul and Wahoo would have come into play far less.
DB: This team came close to winning the NWA world tag team titles from the Anderson Brothers in 1975, and actually held a non-title victory over them on TV. As a young fan, I was convinced they would get those belts, but in hindsight they may were just a transitional challenger for the Andersons who shut down Keirn and Conway pretty quickly as we moved into 1976. A tremendous babyface combination, youthful with lots of fire and charisma. They would have made excellent Mid-Atlantic tag team champions had the titles been active at the time. This team may be the best reason those titles should not have been temporarily discontinued.
Next time: Before revealing our #1, we'll take a look at several "honorable mentions" that didn't quite make our Top 5 list.
From the Ace O' Clubs Juke Box:
"The Jack Mulligan Fan Club"
Former United States champion Blackjack Mulligan returned to the Mid-Atlantic area in October 1977 after a lengthy tour of Japan and wanted his U.S. belt back. The only problem was his friend Ric Flair now had the title. But Mulligan asked for the match anyway and Jim Crockett was more than happy to oblige. The match was set for Richmond, VA on Friday 10/28/77. Fans couldn't believe that Mulligan and Flair were going to actually face each other. This was well before Blackjack's famous "babyface" turn in 1978 with the Hat and the Robe.
Take a listen to this sound clip of a classic promo from Blackjack, one of our favorites ever, as he addressed the situation in Richmond where fans were choosing up sides. The voice introducing Blackjack in the clip is "Wide World Wrestling" host Ed Capral.
"I want to make one statement here now- - the Jack Mulligan Fan Club will be leaving on chartered buses from the Holiday Inn. Don't go to the Howard Johnson's because Flair's bunch is over there! Now everybody in town is choosing sides, don't get on the wrong bus and be a loser. Go to the Holiday Inn and get on the Mulligan bandwagon!"
- Blackjack Mulligan
October 22, 1977
Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling
LOCAL WRESTLING LANDMARKS
When Blackjack mentioned Richmond’s Holiday Inn and Howard Johnson’s in this local promo in October of 1977 promoting a dream match (that never actually occurred at that time!) against Ric Flair, he brought up two landmarks that standout in Richmond’s Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling lore. Let’s take a quick tour of these places and the surrounding landscape.
The Howard Johnson’s was for the most part the hotel where the wrestlers stayed when they were in Richmond. The hotel was located right off Interstate 95 on the Boulevard in Richmond, and is currently still operating as a Clarion Hotel. Richmond’s finest were very familiar with many of the characters that comprised the roster of Jim Crockett Promotions back in 1977, as numerous calls for service to the Howard Johnson’s will attest! Assault and battery, disorderly conduct, destruction of property and drunk in public were just a few of the allegations! I’m sure everything was merely playful…guys just want to have fun, right?
