Fans in the Mid-Atlantic
area saw July of 1978 start
off with a real bang! On
Saturday, July 1st, the
viewing audience around the
territory saw Blackjack
Mulligan come out on the set
of the Mid-Atlantic
Championship Wrestling
television program, and tell
announcers Bob Caudle and
David Crockett that he was
cleaning out an expensive
van that he and Ric Flair
had purchased together some
time back.
Mulligan told the fans that
the van belonged to him now,
and that he had been
cleaning out Flair’s
contents in the van. As
Flair was in the ring
getting ready to be
introduced for the show’s
first match, he became livid
as Mulligan began pulling
out embarrassing items of
Ric’s that came from his
closet in the van.
Among the items belonging to
Flair that Mulligan showed
the TV audience was a blond
wig, a picture of the Nature
Boy that was autographed to
himself, and what really set
Ric off…a pair of pantyhose!
Flair went ballistic,
telling Mulligan that he
crossed the line, that his
private life was his own,
and that he would finally
give Mulligan a match, and
Blackjack would be a dead
man!
This started the first of
the individual matches
between Flair and Mulligan,
and there were no more hotly
contested matches in the
history of the Mid-Atlantic
area. The first singles
match between the two former
friends was at the
Greensboro Coliseum on July
2nd….sort of. Before the two
combatants even got into the
ring, the Masked Superstar
interfered on Flair’s
behalf, getting the Nature
Boy disqualified before the
match really began. So, the
first “real” match between
Flair and Mulligan had the
two rivals squaring off at
the Dorton Arena in Raleigh,
North Carolina on July 11,
1978 before a raucous crowd.
Soon thereafter, Ric and
Blackjack battled at the
Richmond, Virginia Coliseum
on July 14th. In both of
these bouts, Mulligan got
the better of the action,
but Flair was disqualified,
and thus retained his title.
This would be a common theme
between these two over the
next several months.
NWA World Heavyweight
Champion Harley Race made a
quick tour through the area
during the early part of the
month of July, defending his
highly prized belt three
times in the process. On
July 1st in the Charlotte
Coliseum, “Handsome” Harley
defeated Ricky Steamboat
after 43 minutes of a 90
minute time limit, No
Disqualification match. Race
followed that with two
successful title defenses
against “Sensational” Dick
Murdock, besting Murdock in
the Greensboro Coliseum on
July 2nd, and pinning
Murdock in Columbia, South
Carolina as part of a
spectacular July 4th holiday
card.
Also making a quick tour
through the area early in
the month of July was the
ever-popular Andre the
Giant. Andre defeated Ken
Patera by Disqualification
in Savannah on July 2nd and
in Raleigh as part of a big
holiday card on July 4th. A
huge crowd in excess of
3.200 fans packed the little
Rocky Mount, North Carolina
Ballpark on July 5, 1978, to
see the Giant defeat the
Masked Superstar by
Disqualification. The only
clean pin Andre secured
during this swing through
the Mid-Atlantic territory,
was teaming with Tony Atlas
in a handicap match to beat
Ken Patera, Cyclone Negro
and the Missouri Mauler at
the Lynchburg Armory on July
7th.
United States Heavyweight
Champion Ric Flair
successfully defended his
Title early in the month
against Mr. Wrestling,
pinning the masked man on
July 1st in Charlotte. Ric
also held onto his U.S. belt
after Title matches against
Ricky Steamboat on July 6th
in Norfolk, Virginia, and on
July 9th in Wilmington,
North Carolina. Later in the
month, Ric continued his
bloody series of U.S. Title
matches against Blackjack
Mulligan, keeping his Title
by the skin of his teeth
after battles in Roanoke,
Virginia, Columbia, Norfolk
and Charlotte.
An intriguing feud between
two of the strongest
wrestlers in the world took
hold in July of 1978. On the
Mid-Atlantic Championship
Wrestling television show
that aired around the area
on July 8th, Mid-Atlantic
Heavyweight Champion Ken
Patera came out to show the
area’s viewing audience his
prowess with feats of
strength. In front of the
muscleman from Roanoke, Tony
Atlas, Patera drove a spike
through a solid walnut board
with his bare hand! Then,
Ken blew up and burst a
nylon-threaded hot water
bottle, to the amazement of
everybody…particularly of
announcer Bob Caudle, Bob
saying he couldn’t even blow
up a balloon!
Tony Atlas wasn’t as
impressed, saying that
Patera blowing up and
bursting the hot water
bottle proved that Patera
was “full of nothing but hot
air!” That comment got
Patera to commit to
defending his Mid-Atlantic
belt against Atlas, and most
of those matches began
occurring later in the
month. A classic battle
between Atlas and Patera
occurred at the Charlotte
Coliseum on July 30th, where
after a spirited contest,
Patera threw Atlas over the
top rope in order to get
himself disqualified, thus
keeping his Mid-Atlantic
Title. Unfortunately, many
of the Patera versus Atlas
Mid-Atlantic Title matches
in July had the same
ending---Atlas winning the
bout by DQ, but Patera still
retaining the Championship.
In addition to the eight
Title defenses against Atlas
during the month of July,
Patera also successfully
defended his belt against
Paul Jones and Blackjack
Mulligan during the month.
On the following edition of
the Mid-Atlantic
Championship Wrestling TV
show, Atlas continued to get
under the skin of “The
World’s Strongest Wrestler.”
On this show, Atlas was able
to match all of the feats of
strength Patera had done,
consisting of bending a
steel bar, bending a steel
bolt, and the two feats
Patera had done on the
earlier show, driving the
nail through the solid
walnut board with his hand,
and blowing up a hot water
bottle until it burst.
Patera was so enraged that
Atlas had successfully done
all the feats of strength he
had, that he and Atlas
traded punches on the WRAL
studio floor, with Atlas
getting the best of it.
Patera vowed revenge from
that embarrassment on TV.
NWA World Tag Team Champions
Greg Valentine and Baron von
Raschke had a successful and
busy month, defending their
Titles nine times during
July in the Mid-Atlantic
area, and emerging from the
month with their
Championship intact.
Valentine and Raschke’s
primary opponents were Paul
Jones and Ricky Steamboat,
who they wrestled six times
during the month. Tony Atlas
and Dick Murdock were
unsuccessful in wrestling
the Titles from the Baron
and the “Bionic Elbow” on
July 10th in Fayetteville,
North Carolina and on July
16th in Savannah. Paul Jones
and Mr. Wrestling also took
their shot at the Champs on
July 29th in Spartanburg,
South Carolina, and also
came up empty.
One of the toughest
wrestlers to ever appear in
the Mid-Atlantic area shot
back into the forefront of
the promotion at the end of
the month of July. On the
Mid-Atlantic Championship
Wrestling TV show that aired
on July 29th, a tape was
shown to the viewing
audience where Gene Anderson
was refereeing a U.S. Title
match between Ric Flair and
Ricky Steamboat. Throughout
the match, Gene’s counts
were very slow when Flair
was on the verge of getting
pinned. When a dazed and
bloody Flair was out on his
feet, and Steamboat went to
the top rope and dove off to
finish Flair off, Gene
pushed Flair out of the way!
Then Gene did a fast count
on the stunned Steamboat,
costing Ricky the United
States Heavyweight Title.
David Crockett told the fans
that Gene Anderson’s
referee’s license was lifted
because of his actions.
Speaking to the TV audience
around the area, Steamboat
said he would go after Gene
Anderson for what he did.
And it happened immediately,
as later that night on the
29th in the Greensboro
Coliseum, Steamboat and
Anderson had their first
match of a series that went
well into the month of
August.
NWA Television Champion Paul
Jones was active, and
successful, in defending his
Title in the month of July.
The majority of Jones’
defenses were against the
former champion Baron von
Raschke, but Paul also
defended against the Masked
Superstar, Cyclone Negro and
Greg Valentine during the
course of the month. An
interesting match involving
Jones occurred in
Fayetteville, North Carolina
on July 24th. In that match,
Jones wrestled Ken Patera in
a Title versus Title match.
In that wild bout, Patera
pinned Jones, but it was
after the 15 minute mark, so
neither Title changed hands.
For the first time in many
weeks, the Mid-Atlantic Tag
Team Titles were defended in
July. In the only such bout
during the month, Champions
Paul Jones and Ricky
Steamboat turned back the
challenge of Gene Anderson
and Sgt. Jacques Goulet on
July 23rd at the Roanoke
Civic Center.
At the end of the month, a
match was featured that
would carry over into a
red-hot feud through August
and September. Blackjack
Mulligan’s main focus in
July, besides a few
scattered Bounty Matches,
was battling Nature Boy Ric
Flair. But on July 28th,
Blackjacked faced off in a
bloody Texas Death Match
against the Masked Superstar
in The Richmond Coliseum.
Mulligan won this battle by
Count Out, but the brutal
matches between Mulligan and
the Masked Superstar were
just beginning!
July saw the long awaited
singles matches between Ric
Flair and Blackjack
Mulligan, and those wild and
crazy bouts did not
disappoint. Many of theses
matches were promoted as
being “The Match the Fans
Have Asked to See!” But by
the end of July, another
sizzling hot series of
matches were just getting
going…big time Grudge
Matches between Blackjack
and his arch-nemesis, the
Masked Superstar, which
would define the
Mid-Atlantic landscape
during the month of August!
WHO’S HOT
1. Ric Flair---The Nature
Boy survived the ferocious
U.S. Title challenge of
Blackjack Mulligan during
the month of July, and that
in itself made this month a
big one for Ric. Flair also
successfully turned back
challenges from Ricky
Steamboat and Mr. Wrestling
during the month.
2. Ken Patera---The
Portland, Oregon muscleman
was very busy defending his
Mid-Atlantic Heavyweight
Title during July. And while
most of his Title defenses
were tainted, Patera
nevertheless maintained his
championship belt for the
entirety of the month. And
those feats of strength were
something else!
3. Dick Murdock---While not
spectacular, Murdock
continued his steady rise
through the Mid-Atlantic
ratings. He had an excellent
won-loss record in his
singles matches, and Dick
formed a fine team with Tony
Atlas, and that twosome had
two World Title shots
against Valentine and
Raschke during the month of
July.
WHO’S NOT
1. Gene Anderson---It was
probably not the wisest
thing for Gene to do…jumping
on Ricky Steamboat at the
end of the month. Gene would
not realize the full error
of his ways until August,
when Steamboat would exact
revenge on many a night
around the area.
2. Mr. Wrestling---The
masked man slipped from any
real title contention during
the month of July, and his
won-loss ledger was not up
to his usual standards.
Nevertheless, Tim Woods
remained a tough foe for any
bad guy.
3. Masked Superstar---The
other masked man in the
area, the Superstar, also
had a bit of a sub par month
by his standards. Superstar
mainly ran interference for
Ric Flair during the month
of July. But by the end of
the month, Superstar was
embarking on a monumental
feud with Blackjack
Mulligan…a feud that would
soon cost him his mask.
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2008 David Chappell
Mid-Atlantic Gateway
Published 08/23/08
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