The month of
June started off with an
event that made history on
the Mid-Atlantic
Championship Wrestling
television program! And as
things would end up, that
same TV program would
witness two Titles changing
hands!
The “double
title switch” occurred at
the WRAL TV studios in
Raleigh, North Carolina on
Wednesday night, June 7,
1978 and would be viewed
around the territory that
same Saturday. The wheels
were set in motion for this
monumental event the week
before, on the Mid-Atlantic
Championship Wrestling TV
show. NWA Television
Champion Baron von Raschke
had quite a “proposal” for
NWA Tag Team Champions Paul
Jones and Ricky Steamboat at
that time.
The Baron
called out Jones and
Steamboat, calling them
“gutless cowards.” As
expected, Jones and
Steamboat took exception,
and told the Baron in no
uncertain terms that he was
the one that wouldn’t defend
a major Title. The Baron
offered this solution:
either Jones or Steamboat
could wrestle him for his
NWA TV Title, but after that
happened, the Baron and a
partner of his choosing
would wrestle Jones and
Steamboat for their NWA
World Tag Team Titles! After
some consideration, Jones
and Steamboat accepted the
Baron’s offer! And as it
turned out, Jones and
Steamboat successfully their
World Titles for the last
time on June 6, 1978 at
Dorton Arena in Raleigh
against Ric Flair and Greg
Valentine. Jones and
Steamboat would continue to
hold the Mid-Atlantic Tag
Team Titles throughout the
month of June, but never
defended them during the
month.
The
atmosphere was electric in
the WRAL studios for these
two epic Title matches. Bob
Caudle told the viewing
audience that two back to
back Title matches had never
occurred on Mid-Atlantic
Championship Wrestling TV.
And to add to the aura of
the occasion, United States
Heavyweight Champion Ric
Flair subbed for David
Crockett as Caudle’s color
commentator for this
historic show. In fact, the
enormity of it all got to
ring announcer Joe Murnick.
With Raschke in the ring
ready to defend his NWA TV
Title, Murnick nearly
released the same of the
“mystery partner,” before
Raschke interrupted him,
telling him this first match
was for the TV Title, not
the World’s Tag Team Titles!
A coin flip
determined whether Jones or
Steamboat would face Raschke
for the NWA TV Title.
Steamboat called “heads,”
and the coin landed “tails,”
and Paul Jones immediately
became the Baron’s
challenger!
The Baron
dominated the majority of
the match, controlling the
action for key stretches of
time. Raschke disabled Jones
by ramming his back into the
ring post twice, and
appeared to have “Number
One” set up for an easy win.
However, about ten minutes
into the match, the Baron
gave Jones a backbreaker on
Paul’s already injured back.
When following up that
maneuver with an attempted
knee drop, Jones grabbed the
Baron unexpectedly and
rolled Raschke up for a
shocking victory! Jones,
flat out in the ring being
kicked and stomped by
Raschke, was the new NWA TV
Champion! But then the
question soon became, in
what shape would Jones be to
defend the World Tag Team
Titles later in the same
show?
For the
second Title match, the
first order of business was
for Raschke to reveal his
“mystery partner.” Before
announcing who it was, the
Baron called him “the best
kept secret in all the
world.” The Baron’s partner
was then revealed to be the
“Bionic Elbow,” Greg
Valentine!
Raschke and
Valentine proved to be a
formidable duo, capitalizing
on the injury to Paul Jones’
back. After some spirited
brawling from the Champions,
the injury to Jones’ back
was too much to overcome,
and the World Tag Team
Titles changed hands to a
team that had only been
formed minutes earlier!
Amazing! As the show ended,
a frenzied Baron told Bob
Caudle that Valentine had
already headed out to the
victory party! As the
program went off the air,
Raschke was screaming, “WE
ARE THE CHAMPIONS, THE WORLD
CHAMPIONS!!!”
Both new
Champions defended their new
belts during the month of
June. Jones started almost
immediately, with a
successful TV Title defense
against Cyclone Negro on
June 10, 1978 in
Spartanburg, South Carolina.
Jones successfully defended
his new Title against former
champion Raschke as well,
winning exciting bouts
against the Baron in
Columbia, South Carolina on
June 18th and in
Asheville, North Carolina on
June 25th.
The Baron and
Greg Valentine really hit
their stride as the new
World Tag Team Champions
quickly, particularly later
in the month of June. And
they proved their improbable
victory over Jones and
Steamboat on June 7th
was no fluke, successfully
defending their World Titles
against the former Title
holders on June 24th
in Roanoke, Virginia, June
26th in
Fayetteville, North
Carolina, June 27th
in Columbia, South Carolina
and on June 29th
at the Scope Coliseum in
Norfolk, Virginia.
NWA World
Heavyweight Champion Harley
Race made a rare appearance
on the Mid-Atlantic
Championship Wrestling TV
show that was taped on June
14, 1978, and aired around
the territory that weekend.
A couple of things about
this visit by the World
Champion made it unique.
One, Race actually wrestled
a match on this television
show, defeating “Young Lion”
Jerry Stubbs with a
pulverizing suplex. A tape
of this match was shown in
the area in the future when
Race would make passes
through the area.
Race also
told the Mid-Atlantic fans
that he was not fond of
coming to Jim Crockett
Promotions, and for this
stint, how he was lured into
the territory. Race claimed
that he entered the area
only to collect the $10,000
Bounty on Blackjack
Mulligan, and that it was
“deceit” and “false
pretenses” that made these
matches Bounty Matches AND
World Title Matches! Race
told Bob Caudle and David
Crockett that his World
Title was “worth fifty
times” the value of the
Bounty of Mulligan! Race
said to the Mid-Atlantic
fans, “There’s not a thing I
like about the Mid-Atlantic
area…not a thing.” Even
saying that, Race had two
separate runs in the
territory during the month
of June!
“Handsome”
Harley successfully his
World Title against
Blackjack Mulligan on June
13th in Dorton
Arena and on June 29th
at the Norfolk, Virginia
Scope Coliseum, both via
Double Disqualifications.
Both of these matches were
also “Bounty Matches,” with
Race being unable to collect
the money from Ric Flair.
During the
month of June, Race
successfully defended his
World belt against three
other worthy contenders. On
June 15th, Harley
defeated Tony Atlas in
Norfolk, on June 17th
Race and Ricky Steamboat
battled to a one hour draw
in Charlotte, and finally on
June 28th in
little Roxboro, North
Carolina, Race pinned Mr.
Wrestling.
Mid-Atlantic
Heavyweight Champion Ken
Patera had a relatively
light month as far as Title
defenses, putting his belt
up only five times, against
five different opponents. In
Spartanburg, South Carolina,
Patera scored his only two
clean wins in Title defenses
during the month, pinning
Wahoo McDaniel on June 10th,
and doing the same to Dick
Murdock on June 24th.
Patera also held onto his
Title against Mr. Wrestling
and Tony Atlas by getting
himself disqualified, and
got by Ricky Steamboat by
getting himself counted out.
United States
Heavyweight Champion Ric
Flair continued to seek the
demise of Blackjack Mulligan
by the use of surrogates and
the lure of the $10,000
Bounty. Ric did not have any
singles matches against
Mulligan in June, but did
participate in tag team
bouts where Mulligan was on
the other side. One of the
wildest brawls saw Ric team
with Greg Valentine to
battle Blackjack and
“Sensational” Dick Murdock
at the Scope Coliseum in
Norfolk on June 1st.
The M and M Boys went so
berserk, that they were
actually disqualified, and
Flair and Valentine escaped
with a questionable win. At
the very end of the month,
Ric teamed with the Masked
Superstar to battle Mulligan
and Murdock at the Coliseum
in Richmond, Virginia. In
this bout, the good guys
scored a clean win.
The Nature
Boy made eight successful
Title defenses during the
month of June. Half of those
were against Ricky
Steamboat, and those bouts
were among the best the
promotion had even produced.
The only clean victories Ric
had in his Title defenses
were against Wahoo,
defeating the Indian Chief
convincingly on June 13th in
Columbia, and again at the
Charlotte Coliseum on June
17th.
Speaking of
Wahoo, the Chief exited the
Mid-Atlantic area at the end
of the month of June, ending
a remarkable run of nearly
four years with Jim Crockett
Promotions. And in the
course of those four years,
Wahoo became one of the most
beloved figures in the
history of the Mid-Atlantic
area. Wahoo’s last
Mid-Atlantic match was on
June 22, 1978, in Sumter,
South Carolina, when he
teamed with former adversary
Blackjack Mulligan to battle
the Masked Superstar and Ken
Patera. McDaniel lost every
meaningful match he wrestled
in June of 1978, a far cry
from his win-loss ledger
when he entered the area in
the middle of 1974.
Tony Atlas
continued to recover from a
hand injury suffered at the
hands of Cyclone Negro, and
his manager the Missouri
Mauler. Tony wrestled with a
cast early in the month, but
that came off by the end of
the month. Atlas and Negro
were beginning a nasty feud
by month’s end. Negro was
billed by the Mauler as
being the U.S. Brass
Knuckles Champion, by that
Title was not defended in
the Mid-Atlantic area during
the month of June.
A summary of
the events of the month of
June would not be complete
without a recap of the
travails of Blackjack
Mulligan. In the first
episode of the Mid-Atlantic
Championship Wrestling TV
show that aired in June
around the area (Saturday,
June 3rd),
Mulligan wrestled Skandor
Akbar in a Bounty Match. As
the match went on, the
Masked Superstar came to
ringside and told Bob Caudle
that he paid his managerial
fee to be at ringside, and
that he was responsible for
bringing Akbar to the area
from Arabia. When things got
bad for Akbar, the Superstar
came in the ring, and the
two double-teamed Mulligan.
Repeated head butts and
clotheslines by the
Superstar disabled Mulligan,
and then the masked man
clearly attempted to
brutally break Mulligan’s
leg. Quickly, Paul Jones,
Ricky Steamboat and Dick
Murdock came into the ring
to stop the attack. Mulligan
survived, albeit barely, and
that was the story for the
rest of June. Despite the
best efforts of Superstar,
Greg Valentine, Baron von
Raschke, Ken Patera, Cyclone
Negro and even the World
Champion himself, Harley
Race, Blackjack Mulligan did
not fall prey to Ric Flair’s
$10,000 Bounty, and was
turning his sights on the
Nature Boy himself!
June of 1978
saw a historic double Title
switch in the beginning of
the month, and the departure
of the legendary Wahoo
McDaniel at the end of the
month. In between, there
were epic battles between
Ric Flair and Ricky
Steamboat over the U.S.
belt, and unbelievable
brawls between Blackjack
Mulligan and the slew of
Bounty Hunters that were
after him. The NWA World
Champion even spent extended
time in the territory during
the month of June! June 1978
was truly a month to
remember in the Mid-Atlantic
area!
WHO’S HOT
1. GREG VALENTINE---The
“Bionic Elbow” was Baron von
Raschke’s mystery partner in
the gigantic Title change on
June 7th. In addition to
defending the new Tag
Titles, Valentine was one of
Ric Flair’s top Bounty
pursuers.
2. TONY ATLAS---The Roanoke,
Virginia strongman continued
to impress, despite
wrestling with an injured
hand. Atlas was on the verge
on engaging in a major feud
with Cyclone Negro and the
Missouri Mauler as the month
ended.
3. RIC FLAIR---The “Nature
Boy” successfully defended
his U.S. Title during the
month, and his matches
against Ricky Steamboat were
classics.
And Flair was even
able to get a few licks into
Blackjack Mulligan during
some tag matches in June.
WHO’S NOT
1. WAHOO McDANIEL---The
great Indian Chief’s nearly
four year run in the
Mid-Atlantic area came to an
end in June. Wahoo’s last
major matches in the
territory were against old
rival Ric Flair, for Flair’s
U.S. Title. McDaniel came up
short in those final Title
chances.
2. BLACKJACK
MULLIGAN---Despite surviving
Ric Flair’s $10,000 Bounty
during June, Mulligan took a
heavy pounding from the many
Bounty Hunters Ric Flair
sent after him. With all of
the abuse Blackjack took,
it’s hard to consider June a
successful month for him.
3. RICKY STEAMBOAT---Ricky
lost his share of the
World’s Tag Team Titles
during June, and was
unsuccessful in securing any
of the singles Titles up for
grabs in the area, despite
having shots at Race, Flair
and Patera.
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©
2008 David Chappell
Mid-Atlantic Gateway
Published 07/17/08
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