NWA WORLD
TAG TEAM
•
Greg
Valentine and Baron von
Raschke
• Paul Orndorff and
Jimmy Snuka (December
26, 1978 at the Richmond
Coliseum in Richmond,
Virginia)
UNITED
STATES HEAVYWEIGHT
•Ric
Flair
• Ricky Steamboat
(December 30, 1978 at
the Greensboro Coliseum
in Greensboro, North
Carolina)
MID-
ATLANTIC HEAVYWEIGHT
• Ken Patera
NWA
TELEVISION
• Paul
Jones
MID-ATLANTIC TAG TEAM
• Paul Jones and Ricky
Steamboat
• Ken Patera and John
Studd (Patera and Studd
are announced as the new
Champions on the
Mid-Atlantic
Championship Wrestling
television program that
was taped at the WRAL TV
studios in Raleigh,
North Carolina on
December 6, 1978 without
further explanation)
The month of December 1978
brought about one of the
most baffling
transformations of a
wrestler in the history of
Jim Crockett Promotions. And
it did not take long in the
month for this change to
occur. December 3, 1978 was
the day, and it will forever
live in infamy to
Mid-Atlantic Championship
Wrestling fans.
On December 3rd, the
Charlotte Coliseum was host
to a unique “Two Ring—24 Man
Elimination” Match. Nearly
the entire roster in the
Mid-Atlantic area
participated in this unique
match. When there were only
two men left that hadn’t
been eliminated, those two
wrestlers wrestled each
other in a standard
wrestling match, with the
winner of that match
pocketing a $10,000 purse!
What a great concept!
The “Two Ring Battle Royal”
was packed full of
excitement, as could have
been expected with that much
talent piled into one ring!
But something that wasn’t
expected was the identity of
the two finalists…they were
none other than the holders
of the Mid-Atlantic Tag Team
Titles, Paul Jones and Ricky
Steamboat! These two best
friends were thrust into the
position of wrestling each
other; winner takes all, for
the $10,000 grand prize!
The match between Jones and
Steamboat started out as a
strictly scientific affair,
with each wrestler
exchanging a number of fluid
moves and holds. Then, out
of nowhere, Jones caught
Steamboat flush in the face
with a closed right hand
fist. Being caught
completely off guard,
Steamboat never really
recovered from the sucker
punch. Jones showed a streak
of aggressiveness that had
never been seen, putting
Steamboat in the piledriver,
pinning him, and then
kicking Ricky while he was
down.
On the December 6, 1978
taping of Mid-Atlantic
Championship Wrestling at
the WRAL TV studios in
Raleigh, North Carolina,
announcer Bob Caudle told
the viewing audience that,
“It’s like a bombshell has
fallen, with some news
that’s simply astounding!”
Color commentator David
Crockett told the fans that
Ken Patera and John Studd
were the new Mid-Atlantic
Tag Team Champions, not
specifying how the Titles
were garnered by Studd and
Patera. The newly named
Champions did not defend
their tag titles during the
month of December.
Ricky Steamboat then came
out and told the fans that
Paul Jones had turned on
him, and that the fans would
see the film of the match
next week. Needless to say,
there were a lot of
perplexed fans dying to see
the film of what Paul Jones
did to Ricky Steamboat!
When the December 13, 1978
taping of the Mid-Atlantic
Championship Wrestling TV
show rolled around, a
stunned audience saw the
film of Paul Jones violently
attacking his former
partner, and pocketing the
$10,000 prize. Steamboat
said he noticed a little
something funny about Paul
over the previous couple of
weeks, but had no idea that
the animosity had reached
that level. Ricky said he
wanted the winner of their
match to be based on the
moves and holds, and was
caught off guard when Jones
sucker punched him.
Later in the show, Caudle
talked with Paul Jones to
get his side of what
happened. A hyper Jones told
Caudle that he didn’t want
the promotion to show the
film of the match, as what
happened was between he and
Steamboat. Jones said that
he had a point to prove…that
he was Number One and not
Steamboat. Paul said that
over the previous few weeks
a lot of people had been
calling Steamboat “Number
One,” and that it had been
getting under his skin for
that long. Caudle told Jones
that surely $10,000 was not
worth losing their
friendship over. Jones
responded that he didn’t
know anybody he could
respect more than $10,000!
Part 1
Part 2
The feud that nobody thought
would ever happen, began in
earnest on Christmas evening
when Paul Jones met Ricky
Steamboat in a scheduled
match at the Charlotte
Coliseum in Charlotte, North
Carolina. A sellout crowd of
11,303 witnessed the
heretofore unthinkable
matchup. Jones’ NWA
Television Title was at
stake for the first 15
minutes of the bout. During
the three week buildup for
the match, fans had
difficulty fathoming the
“new” Paul Jones, who was
talking about not only
beating his former partner,
but sending him to the
hospital! During the bout in
Charlotte, the victorious
Jones used brutal tactics
that nobody had ever seen
from him, repeatedly
striking Steamboat in the
throat with karate blows
from his taped fingers!
Jones also pinned Steamboat
in Richmond, Virginia at the
Richmond Coliseum the next
night, and repeated the feat
again the following night in
Raleigh, North Carolina at
the Dorton Arena. Promoters
claimed that the sellout
crowd of 5,500 was the
biggest wrestling crowd ever
at Dorton Arena. These three
wins at the end of the month
at three of the area’s most
significant venues, gave
Jones the early edge in his
crusade to prove he was
“Number One” and not
Steamboat.
Blackjack Mulligan also
learned the hard way that
Paul Jones’ shocking turn to
rulebreaking was for real.
On December 10th at the
Roanoke Civic Center in
Roanoke, Virginia, Mulligan
teamed with Jones in a Title
Match against World Tag Team
Champions Greg Valentine and
Baron von Raschke. During
the match when Blackjack ran
into trouble, Paul refused
to reach out his hand and
tag Mulligan! Soon
thereafter Jones physically
attacked Mulligan, and
eventually all three
wrestlers attacked
Blackjack. Jones was
disqualified, but he
undoubtedly made a lasting
impression on Mulligan that
he had truly gone over to
the dark side.
Ric Flair dominated the
United States Heavyweight
Championship for ALMOST the
entirety of the month of
December. However, on
December 30th in the
Greensboro Coliseum, Ricky
Steamboat upended the
“Nature Boy” and captured
the U.S. Title in a wild
Hair vs. Title bout!
Prior to his setback against
Steamboat, Flair had
successful U.S. Title
defenses during the month
against Blackjack Mulligan,
Jimmy Snuka, Tony Atlas, as
well as Steamboat. Flair’s
Title matches with Mulligan
were particularly violent.
During December, Flair
defended against Mulligan in
Fence Matches in Charleston,
South Carolina on December
1st, Richmond, Virginia on
December 8th, Charlotte,
North Carolina on December
25th and Raleigh, North
Carolina on December 27th.
Ric defeated Blackjack in
all of these Cage Matches,
and with those defeats the
curtain was drawn on
Mulligan’s almost year-long
pursuit of the United States
Title.
The battles between Ric
Flair and Ricky Steamboat
during the month were
stupendous! Ric won a clean
pinfall decision over Ricky
in the Norfolk Scope on
December 7th, but things
started to deteriorate for
the Nature Boy soon
thereafter. On December 10th
in the Greensboro Coliseum,
Steamboat carried the fight
to Flair to the point that
it appeared certain that
Ricky would wrest the Title
from Flair. Only some very
quick thinking and a
resulting deliberate
disqualification from Flair
kept him in possession of
the U.S. Title. The Nature
Boy would not be so
fortunate in the Greensboro
rematch on December 30th.
A boisterous crowd of 10,327
fans witnessed the return
Title match between Flair
and Steamboat. There were
stipulations galore. The
bout was held inside a cage,
with Steamboat being
obligated to shave his head
if he didn’t capture the
Title. During the pre-bout
interviews, Ric showed a
large photo of Steamboat
with his hair blotted out,
making Ricky’s head look
bald. A crazed Flair
promised that before the end
of that fateful night,
Steamboat would be bald! The
match itself was full of
near falls, with Flair
dominating most of the
contest. Then out of
nowhere, Ricky rolled up
Flair for the three count,
and the huge crowd went
wild. All a dejected Flair
could do was watch the post
match celebration in stunned
disbelief.
NWA World Tag Team Champions
Greg Valentine and Baron von
Raschke had more than their
hands full in the month of
December with the challenge
of Paul Orndorff and Jimmy
Snuka. The athleticism of
Orndorff and Snuka seemed to
keep the Champions guessing
and off balance. During the
month, Valentine and Raschke
were able to hold onto the
Championship by the skin of
their teeth, often purposely
getting themselves
disqualified to save their
Titles. But on December 26,
1978 at the Richmond
Coliseum, Orndorff and Snuka
got the Title Match they
wanted---one with No
Disqualifications!
The Richmond match was a
lengthy encounter, with both
teams pulling out all the
stops. The see-saw battle
saw both teams have their
opportunities to come out on
top, but ultimately the
challengers were able to
capture a quick pinfall to
the delight of the huge
Coliseum crowd. The hated
Champions had been dethroned
by the upstart challengers!
An enraged Baron von Raschke
could not accept that he was
no longer one half of the
World Champions, and he
proceeded to assault the
referee, and then dropped
him on his head with a
piledriver! The NWA acted
quickly on the Baron’s
reprehensive conduct,
suspending him almost
immediately for his actions
in Richmond.
Prior to their defeat on
December 26th, Valentine and
Raschke had a number of
successful defenses of the
World Tag Team Titles. One
of the most interesting
occurred against the team of
Paul Jones and Ricky
Steamboat on December 2nd in
Winston-Salem, North
Carolina. This was the last
time that Jones and
Steamboat tagged up before
the big split at the
Two-Ring Battle Royal in
Charlotte. Also there were
two odd stipulations in the
Winston-Salem match---it was
a best two out of three
falls, and additionally the
Titles could change hands on
a disqualification.
Mid-Atlantic Heavyweight
Champion Ken Patera was
active in defending his
prestigious Title during the
month of December. During
the course of the month, Ken
successfully kept his Title
from the likes of Tony
Atlas, Ricky Steamboat,
Jimmy Snuka and Paul
Orndorff. A surprising
challenger emerged against
Patera later in the month,
in the person of the veteran
Johnny Weaver. On the big
Christmas show in Charlotte,
Weaver scored an upset
victory over Patera. The two
also had competitive Title
matches in Lynchburg,
Virginia on December 15th,
and a brutal return match in
Lynchburg on December 29th.
While Patera handled Tony
Atlas in their Title
encounters during the month,
Ken did not fare nearly so
well in a number of “10
Round Fights” the two
squared off in during the
month of December. During
the month, Tony defeated Ken
in “10 Round Fights” in
Spartanburg, South Carolina,
Roanoke, Virginia and
Raleigh, North Carolina. In
the December 12th Boxing
Match at the Dorton Arena in
Raleigh, Tony put on a
dominating performance,
stopping Patera in the 7th
round with a series of
thunderous right hands.
Despite turning into a
rulebreaker during the
course of the month, NWA
Television Champion Paul
Jones maintained his grip on
the Title the whole month of
December. Interestingly
enough, Jones fared much
better later in the month
when his switch to
rulebreaking was complete.
Towards the end of the
month, Jones completely
dominated Ricky Steamboat as
was mentioned earlier. Paul
also scored clean TV Title
victories later in December
over Paul Orndorff and Jay
Youngblood. The win over
Youngblood occurred on
December 16th in
Spartanburg, and was likely
Youngblood’s first Title
opportunity in a singles
match in the Mid-Atlantic
area.
Billed as the “Battle of the
Giants,” Blackjack Mulligan
and Big John Studd continued
their series of bruising
battles during December of
1978. The matches were
heated, and the results were
all over the map. For
instance, in Norfolk on
December 7th, Studd scored a
clean victory, while in
Columbia on December 16th
Mulligan exacted revenge in
a Texas Death Match. Then on
December 30th in Greensboro,
a double disqualification
was the end result. Whatever
the result, these matches
were so physical that it
seemed that it was only a
matter of time before one or
both of the men would suffer
serious injuries!
December of 1978 will always
be remembered as the month
where Paul Jones turned on
his partner Ricky
Steamboat…and his legion of
fans around the Mid-Atlantic
area. This event tended to
overshadow everything else
that happed during the
month…even a Title change
involving the NWA World Tag
Team belts!
WHO’S HOT
1. Paul Jones---Turning on
his partner Ricky Steamboat
in early December seemed to
energize “Mr. Number One.”
By the end of the month, the
Number One rulebreaker
seemed close to unbeatable
in his TV Title defenses.
2. Jimmy Snuka---In addition
to capturing one half of the
NWA World’s Tag Team Titles
during the month, Snuka also
looked very impressive in
his singles bouts during
December.
3. John Studd---Studd
continued to create havoc
during the month, and his
battles with Blackjack
Mulligan were extremely
violent. Studd also became
one half of the Mid-Atlantic
Tag Team Champions during
December.
WHO’S NOT
1. Baron von Raschke---The
Baron not only lost one half
of the NWA World’s Tag Team
Titles during the month, but
he was suspended after the
match and would have to
spend the early days of 1979
on the Mid-Atlantic
sidelines.
2. Blackjack
Mulligan---Mulligan failed
in his final chances to take
the U.S. Title away from Ric
Flair. And when not battling
Flair, the big Texan had
more than his hands full
with John Studd.
3. Ricky Steamboat---Despite
winning the U.S. Title on
December 30th, “Steamer” had
a tough month. He lost his
best friend and tag team
partner Paul Jones early in
the month, and Jones got the
better of him every time the
former friends faced off
later in the month.
