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June of 1974 got off to a
BIG start in the
Mid-Atlantic area, with
Andre The Giant making a
weeklong swing through the
territory during the early
stages of the month. Andre
participated in conventional
tag team matches, handicap
matches and his signature
matches, Battle Royals.
Andre’s handler Frank Valois
accompanied him to the
arenas, and Frank wrestled
preliminary matches on the
cards where Andre appeared.
 Surprisingly, Andre did not
win the two Battle Royals
that he participated in
during June. However, the
seven foot four Giant was
the star attraction in both
Battle Royals, and had to
deal with a large number of
wrestlers joining forces for
the sole purposes of
eliminating Andre! That
tactic was effective, as in
Greensboro, North Carolina
on June 6th Bob Bruggers was
the last man standing, and
the next night at the
Richmond Coliseum in
Richmond, Virginia, Tiger
Conway, Jr. came away with
the victory in that hotly
contested Battle Royal.
The “Eighth Wonder Of The
World” also wrestled in
several Handicap Matches
during the month, and the
Giant certainly faced off
with some interesting teams
that were created for that
purpose. On June 4th at the
Dorton Arena in Raleigh,
North Carolina, Andre
disposed of the crafty team
of Mike Paidousis and
“Bruiser” Bill White. In
June, Andre also wrestled
Handicap Matches against
Chuck O’Connor and Mike
Paidousis in Roanoke,
Virginia on June 8th, and
then the next night the
Giant battled the
interesting duo of Chuck
O’Connor and George “Two
Ton” Harris in Rocky Mount,
North Carolina.
The Japanese tandem of Mr.
Hayashi and Mr. Ota were the
unfortunate souls who had to
wrestle Andre in
conventional tag team
matches. In Anderson, South
Carolina on June 5th, the
Japanese duo was demolished
by Andre and partner Sandy
Scott. Hayashi and Ota did
not fare any better when
they faced the Giant and
Nelson Royal on June 10th in
Charlotte, North Carolina.
Also during the early days
of the month of June, Indian
Chief Wahoo McDaniel made
his initial appearance on
Mid-Atlantic Championship
Wrestling television. A
particularly impressive
performance over the always
tough Gene Lewis had
Mid-Atlantic fans hungering
to see more of Wahoo.
McDaniel looked like one of
the toughest “good guys” Jim
Crockett Promotions had seen
in a long time!
Mid-Atlantic Television
Champion Ivan Koloff managed
to maintain a hold on his
Title during the month, but
he was repeatedly pushed to
the limit by Paul Jones.
These two had an amazing run
of FOUR matches against each
other during the month of
June in Roanoke, Virginia!
Koloff and Jones faced off
at the Starland Arena in
Roanoke on June 1st, and the
wild melee ended up in a
Disqualification result.
Because of that decision,
the two came back to Roanoke
on June 8th, this time for
an outdoor show at Victory
Stadium, in a No
Disqualification Match. This
bout was ruled a No Contest,
as it appeared that Koloff
hit Jones with some kind of
foreign object. Because of
Koloff’s antics, the Return
Match on June 15th had quite
an unusual stipulation!
Koloff and Jones came back
to Victory Stadium in
Roanoke on June 15th, with
Nelson Royal and Sandy Scott
charged with the obligation
of searching both men before
their bout! Of course, this
stipulation was aimed at
Koloff, who had been
suspected of bringing
foreign objects into the
ring in their recent Roanoke
bouts. Koloff gave both
Royal and Scott all kinds of
problems when they tried to
search him prior to the June
15th bout, and that back and
forth was nearly as
entertaining as the actual
bout.
The final bout between
Koloff and Jones in Roanoke
during June was also held at
Victory Stadium, and was
Ivan’s specialty match, the
Russian Chain Match. This
June 29th bout was
exceptionally brutal, with
both men losing huge amounts
of blood. This match
typified the vicious nature
of the matches between
Koloff and Jones during June
of 1974.
Mid-Atlantic Heavyweight
Champion Johnny Valentine
wrestled in more tag team
bouts than normal during the
month of June, and the month
saw his major singles
challenge come from the
sensational newcomer from
Houston, Texas, Sonny King.
Sonny had a lot of incentive
against Valentine, as Johnny
was the wrestler that paid
the bounty that crippled
King’s brother, Bearcat
Wright.
King started off the month
in fine fashion, defeating
Johnny “The Champ” cleanly
in the middle of the ring on
June 7th at County Hall in
Charleston, South Carolina.
The two went at it again in
South Carolina on June 17th,
when the Greenville Memorial
Auditorium hosted an
exciting bout between the
two. In this encounter, King
became so enraged with
Valentine that Johnny won a
controversial victory by
disqualification.
As June drew towards its
end, King and Valentine took
their grudge battles up into
Virginia. The two had a
bitter battle at the Hampton
Coliseum on June 22nd, with
King’s speed giving
Valentine all sorts of
problems. And then on June
28th under the lights at
Parker Field in Richmond,
King gave the fans on this
superb summer evening a real
treat as he pinned Valentine
for the elusive three count!
Unfortunately, the bout was
not a Title Match for
Valentine’s coveted
Mid-Atlantic Heavyweight
Title.
Mid-Atlantic Tag Team
Champions Paul Jones and Bob
Bruggers did not have an
active month of Title
defenses during June. A
large reason for this was
all the time and energy that
Paul Jones was expending in
his program with Ivan
Koloff. However, Jones and
Bruggers did have a couple
of noteworthy defenses
during the month. On June
13th in Winston-Salem, North
Carolina, the Champions
defeated the devious duo of
Rip Hawk and Johnny
Valentine. Jones and
Bruggers posted this victory
in front of 3,100
enthusiastic fans in 23
minutes, via
disqualification. In
Raleigh, on June 25th, Jones
and Bruggers also retained
their belts against the
fearsome combination of Ivan
Koloff and the Super
Destroyer.
Speaking of the Destroyer,
the mega feud between the
Super D. and Swede Hanson
finally slowed down
significantly in June. In
fact, the two behemoths only
wrestled a handful of times
in singles matches during
the month. The only
Mid-Atlantic town that saw
multiple bouts between the
two in June was Charlotte,
North Carolina. On June 3rd,
the two arch enemies battled
in a spirited Strap Match,
which led to the Super D.
and Big Swede coming back to
Charlotte on June 10th in a
Lumberjack Match. This bout
was one of the wildest of
the year, with all 10
Lumberjacks going haywire
and the match ended up being
declared a No Contest!
The wrestler who wrestled
the Super Destroyer the most
in June in singles
competition was Tiger
Conway, Jr. A wild bout
between the Super D. and
Conway occurred on June 29th
in Spartanburg, South
Carolina. This was a
Lumberjack Match, and the
lumberjacks were nearly as
out of control as the
wrestlers! Tiger was awarded
the victory on a reversed
decision, much to the
delight of his thousands of
fans in attendance.
Tiger Conway also set a
significant mark several
days prior to his victory
over the Super Destroyer in
Spartanburg. On June 25th in
Columbia, South Carolina,
Tiger beat the tough veteran
Bill White in a lightening
fast 17 seconds, a Township
Auditorium record! Conway
truly became a major force
in Mid-Atlantic Championship
Wrestling during June of
1974.
A team that was also
becoming a major force in
the territory in June was
the tag team of Rip Hawk and
Ric Flair. As the month wore
on, Flair and Hawk seemed
more comfortable as a team,
and the results showed that.
Roanoke, Virginia saw the
Flair/Hawk team in three
consecutive weeks, and each
week this duo looked
stronger and stronger. On
June 15th in Roanoke, Ric
and Rip defeated the popular
duo of Nelson Royal and
Sandy Scott via
disqualification. The two
teams had a rematch on June
22nd, and the “bad guys”
controlled the action even
more thoroughly. Finally,
Roanoke saw the Flair/Hawk
combination dominate the
tandem of Bob Bruggers and
Danny Miller on June 29th.
Ric Flair and Rip Hawk were
heading straight to the top
it appeared.
Action was hot and heavy in
the Mid-Atlantic area during
the month of June.
Particularly, the feud
between Ivan Koloff and Paul
Jones was becoming nearly as
torrid as the program with
the Super Destroyer and
Swede Hanson was at its
apex. And with new stars
Tiger Conway, Jr. and Ric
Flair feeling their oats,
July looked to be every bit
as exciting as June was!
WHO’S HOT
1. Sonny King---The younger
brother of Bearcat Wright
was red hot during the month
of June, giving Mid-Atlantic
Heavyweight Champion Johnny
Valentine all he could
handle. King had a lot of
incentive, as Valentine had
put the bounty out on his
brother, Bearcat Wright.
2. Tiger Conway, Jr.---Tiger
put together an impressive
series of victories in June,
concentrating primarily on
singles matches. The young
Texan was rising rapidly
through the ranks as the
month progressed.
3. Ric Flair---Ric also had
an extremely impressive
month during June. His tag
team with Rip Hawk really
took off in June, and this
duo looked to be the real
deal!
WHO’S NOT
1. Danny Miller---The first
Mid-Atlantic Television
Champion fell out of main
event matches for the most
part during the month. Danny
still functioned well as a
tag team wrestler, forming
solid teams with Nelson
Royal and Sandy Scott on
occasion.
2. Chuck O’Connor---The
mammoth O’Connor appeared to
be less and less imposing as
the month of June wore on.
While his sheer size allowed
Chuck to dominate at times,
the wrestlers in the
territory appeared to be
figuring out other aspects
of his game.
3. Swede Hanson---Make no
mistake, the Big Swede was
still a handful for anybody,
but the brutal feud with the
Super Destroyer seemed to
have taken a lot out of the
big man from Newark, New
Jersey. Time would tell if
the Swede could rebound.
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© 2009 David Chappell
Mid-Atlantic Gateway
Published 10/21/09
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