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The month of October 1978
ushered in some major
changes in the Mid-Atlantic
area. What was most
significant were big names
that left the area during
the month, and equally big
names that entered the
territory during the same
month. In addition to the
changeover in personnel,
there were also two titles
that changed hands during
October and an unforgettable
television angle.
Some of the significant
events that happened in
October were foreshadowed by
activities that took place
on the Mid-Atlantic
Championship Wrestling
television show that aired
in most markets on Saturday,
September 30th.
On that September 30th show,
Ric Flair came out and told
the viewing audience that he
was bringing a newcomer into
the area for the purpose of
collecting the $10,000
bounty on Blackjack
Mulligan. Flair said he
discovered this wrestler,
“in Hawaii, tanning this
fantastic body.” The Nature
Boy said this newcomer was
named “John Studd,” and that
he was six feet eight inches
tall, weighed 330 pounds,
and that he would appear in
the Mid-Atlantic area in the
next thirty days!
Sure enough, on the
Mid-Atlantic Championship
Wrestling program that aired
around the area on October
14, 1978, Big John Studd
debuted, and was extremely
impressive while destroying
Ed Fury. One look at Studd,
and there was no doubt that
he was going to be a force
to be reckoned with.
Another incident on the
September 30th Mid-Atlantic
Championship Wrestling TV
show, made it clear that
October would feature some
heated bouts between Baron
von Raschke and Blackjack
Mulligan. On that show, Ric
Flair and Ken Patera
presented Baron von Raschke
with a “Sportsmanship”
trophy from “a select group
of fans.” Flair had
announcer Bob Caudle read
the engraving on the trophy,
which Bob reluctantly did,
and it said “Baron von
Raschke---Master of the
Claw---Sportsman of the Year
1977-1978.” Blackjack
Mulligan was none too happy
with this, remembering that
Raschke had knocked him over
the head with a similar
trophy that had been
presented to him. Mulligan
said the Baron had presented
this “Sportsmanship” trophy
to himself, and that he was
going to pay for making the
fans of the Mid-Atlantic
area look bad!
And, indeed, Blackjack did
make the Baron pay! The two
battled in Claw vs. Claw
singles matches seven times
during the month of October,
with Mulligan having the
upper hand in all of them.
There were some major name
departures from the
territory during the month
of October. One of the big
name stars that departed the
area in October of 1978 was
“Sensational” Dick Murdock.
Murdock’s last match in the
Mid-Atlantic area was in
Richmond, Virginia at the
Richmond Coliseum on October
27, 1978, when the “M and M
Boys,” Murdock and Blackjack
Mulligan teamed up against
NWA World Tag Team Champions
Greg Valentine and Baron von
Raschke in a Title
encounter. Murdock and
Mulligan won the Richmond
match on a disqualification,
in what would be Murdock’s
final Mid-Atlantic match.
Murdock was scheduled to
team with Mulligan again in
Roanoke, Virginia for a
Title match against
Valentine and Raschke on
October 29th, but Murdock
had left the territory by
then. Johnny Weaver
substituted as Blackjack’s
partner, and that hastily
put together duo dropped the
bout to the champs.
During his final weeks in
the Mid-Atlantic territory,
the big Texan from
Waxahachie had numerous
title opportunities. Murdock
dropped a United States
Heavyweight Championship
match to Ric Flair on
October 9th in Fayetteville,
North Carolina. Then, on
October 12th in the Norfolk
Scope in Norfolk, Virginia,
Murdock got a very rare shot
at Cyclone Negro’s Brass
Knucks Title. Murdock beat
Negro by disqualification,
thus winning the match, but
not the Title.
In addition to his final
match in Richmond, Murdock
got two other World Tag Team
shots during the month of
October. On October 22nd at
the Charlotte Coliseum in
Charlotte, North Carolina,
Murdock and partner Paul
Jones dropped a hotly
contested decision to
Valentine and Raschke. And
on October 24th at the
Township Auditorium in
Columbia, South Carolina,
the M and M Boys lost a wild
brawl to Valentine where all
four participants lost
copious amounts of blood.
While only in the
Mid-Atlantic area for about
eight months, Dick Murdock
made an enduring impact with
the fans. His down home ways
endeared him with the vast
majority of the masses that
followed Mid-Atlantic
Championship Wrestling.
Competing for a World Title
in his last bout in the
territory, made Murdock’s
abrupt departure from the
territory that much more
puzzling.
Another major name that left
the area in October was Mr.
Wrestling. The masked man’s
last match in the
Mid-Atlantic area was on
October 19th in Anderson,
South Carolina, where he was
defeated cleanly by the wily
veteran Gene Anderson.
During the course of the
month of October, Mr.
Wrestling wrestled only mid
card matches, teaming with
Johnny Weaver to defeat
Cyclone Negro and Swede
Hanson on October 7th in
Charlotte, and the next day
in Savannah, Georgia, Mr.
Wrestling battled against
the crafty Mr. X #1.
Unlike Murdock, Mr.
Wrestling had been slowly
slipping down the cards
after losing the United
States Title to Ric Flair in
April of 1978. So his
departure from the
Mid-Atlantic area in October
was not really a big
surprise. And again unlike
Dick Murdock, Mr. Wrestling
would make one more run in
the Mid-Atlantic territory,
starting about one year
hence in 1979.
Cyclone Negro also exited
the Mid-Atlantic area during
the month of October. As was
mentioned earlier, in one of
the few bouts of Negro’s
that was billed as being for
his “Brass Knucks Title,”
Negro was disqualified,
giving a hard-earned victory
to Dick Murdock in the
Norfolk Scope Coliseum. Just
a scant three days later on
October 15th, in the Roanoke
Civic Center, Cyclone
wrestled his last match in
the Mid-Atlantic area.
Perhaps fittingly, Negro was
knocked out by Dick Murdock
in one of Negro’s specialty
matches---a Taped Fist
Match!
In addition to their battles
against Blackjack Mulligan
and Dick Murdock, NWA World
Tag Team Champions Greg
Valentine and Baron von
Raschke continued to have
their hands full against
former champs Paul Jones and
Ricky Steamboat. The champs
and the former champs
battled four times during
the month of October. The
matches occurred on October
1st in Wilmington, North
Carolina; on October 3rd in
Raleigh, North Carolina; on
October 14th in Spartanburg,
South Carolina; and on
October 28th in
Winston-Salem, North
Carolina. The Title bout in
Raleigh was particularly
brutal, with Valentine and
Raschke scoring a rare
pinfall victory over their
top adversaries.
NWA World Heavyweight
Champion Harley Race was
quite active in the area
during October. On the
October 7th Mid-Atlantic
Championship Wrestling TV
show, a tape was shown of
Harley defeating young Terry
Gibbs. Then two weeks later,
Race personally appeared in
the WRAL studios, and told
Bob Caudle and David
Crockett that he was not
happy about wrestling in the
Mid-Atlantic area, because
he felt he was specifically
brought into the Carolinas
to be embarrassed. And the
World Champion had some very
pointed comments that he
directed at Paul Jones!
Race successfully defended
his prized belt against Tony
Atlas in Columbia, South
Carolina on October 17th
with a pinfall victory. On
October 21st in Greensboro,
Race was awarded a victory
against Ricky Steamboat when
Ricky had to withdraw
because of an eye injury,
that many fans saw earlier
that Saturday on TV at the
hands of Ric Flair. And the
following night in
Charlotte, Race made his
final defense in October,
defeating Blackjack
Mulligan, when Mulligan was
disqualified for throwing
Race over the top rope. This
Greensboro World Title
defense, was also
interestingly billed as a
$10,000 Bounty Match.
United States Heavyweight
Champion Ric Flair had an
active month in October,
defending his coveted belt
thirteen times, against the
stern challenges of Dick
Murdock, Ricky Steamboat and
Blackjack Mulligan. The
Nature Boy defeated Murdock
cleanly in Charlotte on
October 7th, and returned
the favor to the
“Sensational” one in
Fayetteville, North Carolina
on October 9th.
The Nature Boy and Ricky
Steamboat had some of their
best matches against each
other during the month of
October 1978. One of the
most fiercely contested
battles between these two
took place in the Roanoke
Civic Center on October
15th. In that bout, the two
arch-rival battled to a 60
minute draw, where both
wrestlers had numerous
chances to catch the winning
pinfall, but could just not
pull it off.
The battles between Flair
and Blackjack Mulligan
during October were off the
charts on the intensity
scale. Most of the bouts
between these two featured
special stipulations, such
as “Lights Out” and “Texas
Death” matches. However, the
most frequent stipulation
between these two in October
were “Lumberjack” matches.
Two of the most violent
Lumberjack matches had
different outcomes. In Rocky
Mount, North Carolina on
October 4th, Blackjack
prevailed by
disqualification. In an even
rougher Lumberjack match,
Flair and some of his
sympathetic Lumberjacks
pulled out a victory over
the big Texan on October
13th in Richmond, Virginia.
As that match was billed as
a “People’s Match,” most of
the people attending at the
Richmond Coliseum left the
arena quite disappointed in
the outcome.
The Mid-Atlantic Heavyweight
Championship was contested
almost exclusively between
bitter rivals Tony Atlas and
Ken Patera during the month
of October. And the month
was cut exactly in half,
with Atlas defending the
Mid-Atlantic Championship
for the first half of the
month, and Patera defending
the Title during the second
half of the month.
The Title changed on October
15, 1978 in the Roanoke
Civic Center, when Patera
used sneaky tactics to take
the belt away from Roanoke’s
favorite son, Tony Atlas.
Tony won the Title exactly
four weeks before, in the
same Roanoke Civic Center. A
gloating Patera would
mention on Mid-Atlantic
Championship Wrestling TV
more than once that Atlas
“was the shortest lived
Mid-Atlantic Heavyweight
Champion in history!”
Prior to losing the
Mid-Atlantic Title, Atlas
successfully defended his
belt against Patera in
October five times,
including a particularly
dominating performance at
the Township Auditorium in
Columbia, South Carolina on
October 10th. Patera
returned the favor,
successfully defending his
Title five times against
Atlas after winning the
Title back. The most heated
of Patera’s defenses was a
rematch against Atlas in
Roanoke on October 29th. In
that wild bout, a berserk
Atlas actually got
disqualified, giving Patera
a hard-fought win.
NWA Television Champion Paul
Jones had a busy month of
Title defenses in October.
Of course, whenever Jones
wrestled in a singles match,
his TV Title was at stake
for the first 15 minutes of
the bout. Jones’ busy month
in October actually started
on September 30th, when he
wrestled his good friend
Johnny Weaver for the NWA TV
Title on the Mid-Atlantic
Championship Wrestling
television show that aired
around the area on that
date. After a rare display
of purely scientific
wrestling by both men, Jones
rolled up Weaver for the
pin, after Johnny appeared
to have done the same thing
to Paul just seconds
earlier.
Jones had another TV Title
defense against a big-name
star on the following week’s
Mid-Atlantic Championship
Wrestling program, that
aired around the area on
October 7, 1978. Greg
Valentine challenged “Number
One” for his TV Title, and
the match between those two
was particularly ferocious.
After a number of minutes of
brawling inside the ring,
the action spilled outside
the ring. Unable to gain
control of the fracas,
referee Stu Schwartz had no
choice but to disqualify
both wrestlers in this wild
melee!
The end of October 1978 was
marked by three very
memorable events. The first,
and perhaps most memorable,
occurred on the Mid-Atlantic
Championship Wrestling
television program that
aired around the area on
Saturday, October 21st. Ric
Flair came out at the
beginning of the broadcast,
and told the viewing
audience that he was tired
of people saying that Ricky
Steamboat was greater than
the “Great One.” Flair
invited Steamboat into the
ring, saying he was putting
the U.S. Title on the line.
An incredulous Steamboat
took the bait, and was
attacked by the Nature Boy
as Ricky was climbing
through the ropes. Flair
proceeded to rub Steamboat’s
face and eyes raw on the
mat, and then outside on the
concrete floor! A berserk
Flair even rubbed
Steamboat’s face across the
surface of the U.S.
Championship belt!
Steamboat came back out
later in the show, his face
sporting a terrible mat
burn, saying his eye was
injured to the point that he
needed to go to the
hospital. This injury to
Steamboat would soon
re-energize the rivalry
between Steamboat and Flair
to new levels. However, it
had an immediate impact on a
major event that was
scheduled to occur on the
October 21st TV show. On
that show, Steamboat and
Paul Jones were supposed to
wrestle Valentine and
Raschke for the World’s Tag
Team Title. Because of
Steamboat’s injury, the
match was changed to a
non-title bout, with the
champs allowed to pick
Steamboat’s replacement
between Tony Atlas, Johnny
Weaver or Jay Youngblood!
Valentine and Raschke picked
Johnny Weaver, so Paul Jones
had a partner that he
wrestled against just three
weeks earlier on television
for his NWA TV Title! The
match between Valentine and
Raschke and Jones and Weaver
was about as wild and crazy
as they come! As the show
went off the air, the four
were still battling fast and
furious!
The second memorable event
at the end of October saw
two major newcomers arrive
in the Mid-Atlantic area.
Jimmy “Superfly” Snuka
debuted in the territory on
October 29th in the Roanoke
Civic Center scoring an
impressive victory against
the veteran Sgt. Jacques
Goulet. The native of the
Fiji Islands was dazzling
with his high-flying
acrobatic maneuvers. And on
the Mid-Atlantic
Championship Wrestling
television shows that aired
on October 28th, Paul
Orndorff was announced in
local promos as appearing in
early November. While
Orndorff did not actually
wrestle in the area during
the month of October, he
would debut in the first
days of November, and would
be a dynamic performer.
The final late month
development occurred on
October 30th, when the team
of Ric Flair and John Studd
wrestled the Mid-Atlantic
Tag Team Titles away from
Paul Jones and Ricky
Steamboat. The Title change
occurred in Greenville,
South Carolina, after the
two duos had squared off two
times the week before. On
October 24th in Raleigh and
on October 26th in Norfolk,
Flair and Studd had won the
Title bouts by
disqualification, which
allowed Jones and Steamboat
to hold onto their Titles.
Paul and Ricky were not so
fortunate in Greenville.
October of 1978 was a hugely
significant month in the
history of Mid-Atlantic
Championship Wrestling.
Memorable angles,
significant newcomers,
big-name departures and
multiple Title changes
defined a month that was
about as active in the
territory as one could
imagine!
WHO’S HOT
1. Ken Patera---The big
muscleman from Portland,
Oregon upended Tony Atlas,
and regained his
Mid-Atlantic Heavyweight
Championship during the
month of October. And after
winning back the belt, Ken
had a number of successful
Title defenses.
2. Ric Flair---In addition
to a large number of
successful defenses of his
prized U.S. Title, Ric also
collaborated with Big John
Studd to win the
Mid-Atlantic Tag Team
Championship at the very end
of the month.
3. John Studd---The
massive newcomer was taking
no prisoners during his
first month in the
Mid-Atlantic area. In
addition to winning one-half
of the Mid-Atlantic Tag Team
Titles, Studd instituted his
“Studd List,” naming Paul
Jones as being on the top of
that infamous list!
WHO’S NOT
1. Mr. Wrestling---The
white masked man from
Michigan exited the
territory in October,
finishing up wrestling
primarily mid-card matches.
2. Cyclone Negro---After a
strong stint in the area,
main eventing or wresting
high on the mid-cards, Negro
left the area in October
after dropping a taped fist
match to Dick Murdock.
3. Dick Murdock---And
speaking of Murdock, he also
left the Mid-Atlantic area
in October. Prior to
departing the territory,
rather abruptly, Murdock was
dropping more bouts than he
was winning.
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©
2008 David Chappell
Mid-Atlantic Gateway
Published 11/21/08
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