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February of 1979 started off
with a bang right off the
bat, as on Saturday,
February 3rd the
fans that tuned into the
Mid-Atlantic Championship
Wrestling television show
that day around the area saw
two very noteworthy events
occur.
A major star entered the
Mid-Atlantic area for the
first time on that TV show,
and it was none other than
the “Big Cat,” Ernie Ladd.
Standing six feet nine
inches tall with a
professional football
background, Ladd was an
imposing figure as he
stepped into the ring for
his debut match against Herb
Gallant. But interestingly,
Ernie came into the ring
wearing his street clothes
and said he wasn’t going to
wrestle. When pressed, Ladd
said he would shake
Gallant’s hand and let him
have the match. But rather
than shaking Gallant’s hand,
Ladd attacked Gallant,
leaving him laying! Ernie
wouldn’t appear in the
area’s arenas until later in
the month, his first arena
bout being on February 26th
against Tony Atlas in the
Greenville Memorial
Auditorium, and he followed
that up with a victory over
Paul Orndorff in Raleigh’s
Dorton Arena the following
night.
The other interesting event
that occurred on the first
TV show that aired in
February saw “Part II” of
Ric Flair’s weightlifting
challenge that started the
previous week. Thoroughly
embarrassed by Ricky
Steamboat the prior week,
Flair promised to pay $1,000
to any “good guy” that could
bench press over 500 pounds.
Ric, of course, didn’t
believe any wrestler on the
fan favorite side could push
that much iron. Well,
perhaps Flair should have
considered Tony Atlas! The
muscleman from Roanoke,
Virginia was designated as
the lifter, and proceeded to
press 405, 455 and finally
505 pounds!! Flair had to
part with more money, and
listen to the derisive
laughing of Dino Bravo. This
led to yet another contest,
this time between Flair and
Bravo the following week!
The third installment of the
strength-type contests
occurred on the Mid-Atlantic
Championship Wrestling
television show that was
taped from the WRAL TV
studios on Wednesday,
February 7th.
This contest was supposed to
be between Ric Flair and
Dino Bravo and was called
“Ten and One” which was an
endurance exercise involving
deep knee bends and push
ups. Ric had said earlier
that he would pay Bravo
$1,000 and give him a match
on TV if Dino beat him in
this endurance contest.
However, Ric came out and
right before the contest was
to start, and said he was
too far above Bravo’s
stature to participate, but
that if Bravo could beat his
“number one protégé” Steve
Muslin, that was as good as
beating Flair. Bravo took
the measure of Muslin in the
“Ten and One,” but Ric
quickly left the studio,
apparently reneging on his
promise to give Bravo the
money and a match.
The February 7th
television taping was
significant for another
reason, as there was a
massive overhaul of the
television production! The
announcer’s position was
changed, new music was
debuted, along with a new
set that had additional
states on the map and a new
logo that read,
“Mid-Atlantic Championship
Sports.” Another significant
change in the TV show was
that there were no longer
introductions of the
wrestlers from the ring.
Instead, Bob Caudle did the
introductions from the
announcer’s area, and a
second screen showed the
wrestlers as they were being
introduced. Quite a change!
Baron von Raschke and his
feared claw hold returned to
the area in February. The
Baron finished serving his
suspension doled out by the
NWA, and hit the territory’s
rings with a vengeance.
However, the Baron’s first
match back was a loss, as he
dropped a spirited clash
with high-flying Jimmy Snuka
on February 13th
in Columbia, South Carolina.
The major Mid-Atlantic card
in Canada during the month
occurred at the Maple Leaf
Gardens in Toronto on
February 4th. The
featured match was a United
States Title Match between
Champion Ricky Steamboat and
challenger Greg Valentine.
After quite a bout,
Valentine was disqualified
by referee Wayne Cashman at
the 19:31 mark due to
outside interference by none
other than “Nature Boy” Ric
Flair, who rushed the ring
and attacked Steamboat.
Perhaps Flair was in a foul
mood, as earlier in the card
Ric was pinned in 19:35 by
Dino Bravo in a Canadian
Heavyweight Championship
bout! A second card in
Toronto during the month was
cancelled on February 18th,
when snow in the
Mid-Atlantic area prevented
wrestlers from getting to
Canada!
In addition to defeating
Greg Valentine in Canada,
Ricky Steamboat had a busy
month of February with
successful United States
Title defenses. At one end
of the month, Ricky took the
measure of John Studd on
February 1st in
Norfolk, Virginia and at the
other end, successfully
defended his Title on
February 23rd
against Baron von Raschke in
Charleston, South Carolina.
In between, Steamboat’s
primary challengers in
February were former U.S.
champs Ric Flair and Paul
Jones. And on February 11th,
Steamboat actually had to
defend his U.S. belt against
BOTH Ric Flair and Paul
Jones!
Steamboat first took on
Flair on the afternoon of
February 11th in
Charlotte, North Carolina
for his prized United States
Title. This match was a wild
two out of three falls
contest, where the first two
falls were split. In the
deciding third fall,
Steamboat was
uncharacteristically
disqualified, giving the
victory, though not the
Title, to Flair. Ricky then
had to travel up to
Greensboro, North Carolina,
to face Paul Jones for the
U.S. belt that same evening!
Ricky fared better in this
matchup, pinning Jones
cleanly to retain his
championship belt.
Steamboat and Jones had
intriguing battles in both
Columbia, South Carolina and
Richmond, Virginia during
February. In Columbia, the
two battled in a terrific
U.S. Title vs. TV Title bout
on February 6th
and came back the next week
with both titles again on
the line, with Ricky coming
out on top. In Richmond,
Steamboat and Jones also
squared off in two heated
bouts during February. In
the first match of February
9th, the action
got totally out of control
and both combatants were
counted out of the ring! The
two came back to Richmond on
February 18th in
a Lumberjack Match to try to
keep the action in the ring.
Both titles were on the line
in the rematch, and while
neither title changed hands,
the action was off the
charts!
Ricky’s title matches with
Ric Flair in February
certainly gave the young
star from Hawaii all he
could handle. Ric was now
calling himself the
“uncrowned World Champion”
and was telling the fans,
“to be the man, you have to
beat the man.” Flair, much
like he did four days
earlier in Charlotte,
defeated Steamboat in a two
out of three falls Title
match in Norfolk, Virginia
although Ricky retained his
coveted strap. Likewise, in
their matchup in
Fishersville, Virginia on
February 22nd,
Flair controlled much of the
action against his hated
rival.
NWA Television Champion Paul
Jones continued to show
unabated viciousness while
defending his prized belt
during February. While
Jones’ “United States Title
versus TV Title” bouts
against Ricky Steamboat were
classics, Paul also had his
hands full with Tony Atlas
during the month. Jones and
Atlas met for the TV Title
numerous times during
February, with one of the
best bouts between the two
being at the Scope Coliseum
in Norfolk, Virginia on
February 15th. In
this melee, Paul managed to
get himself disqualified to
save his belt.
Even more chaotic was the TV
Title Match between Jones
and Atlas at the Roanoke
Civic Center in Tony’s
hometown on February 4th. In
this match, BOTH Jones and
Atlas were disqualified!
These two were to come back
to Roanoke on February 18th
for a No Disqualification
Match, but the Roanoke card
was cancelled because of
snow. What a shame! During
February, Paul Jones also
had successful TV Title
defenses against Jay
Youngblood, Paul Orndorff
and Jimmy Snuka.
NWA World Tag Team Champions
Paul Orndorff and Jimmy
Snuka continued their
mastery over former champs
Ric Flair and Greg Valentine
during the early part of the
month. Orndorff and Snuka
effectively snuffed out the
challenge of Flair and
Valentine by beating the bad
guys cleanly in title
matches in Norfolk on
February 1st,
Raleigh’s Dorton Arena on
February 6th and
in the Spartanburg Memorial
Auditorium on February 10th.
The World Champions also
disposed of Mid-Atlantic Tag
Team Champions Ken Patera
and John Studd on February 4th
in Asheville, North
Carolina. A second bout
during the month featuring
World Champions Snuka and
Orndorff against the
Mid-Atlantic Tag champs
Studd and Patera was
scheduled in Roanoke on
February 18th.
However, as was mentioned
earlier, “Mother Nature” had
other ideas---that card was
cancelled due to heavy snow!
The Mid-Atlantic
Championship Wrestling
television show that was
taped on February 21st
featured a six man tag team
match that was definitely of
Main Event quality! The
“good guy” team of Tony
Atlas, Ricky Steamboat and
Dino Bravo battled the “bad
guy” trio of Ric Flair, Paul
Jones and Baron von Raschke.
After getting Atlas outside
the ring, the Baron waffled
Tony with two brutal chair
shots. Then meantime in the
ring, Jones put Steamboat in
the Indian Death Lock while
simultaneously Flair caught
Bravo in the Figure Four Leg
Lock, slapping Dino in the
face as he applied the
pressure. Eventually, Atlas
got a chair of his own and
cleared the ring. The bad
guys were disqualified for
using the chair first, but
clearly Atlas, Steamboat and
Bravo got the worst of it
despite their win by
disqualification.
Mid-Atlantic Heavyweight
Champion Ken Patera had a
number of Title defenses in
the month of February, and
in a large number of
championship bouts he
resorted to getting himself
purposely disqualified to
retain his belt. Dino Bravo
defeated Patera by
disqualification in two
rough and tumble contests,
one on February 9th
in Richmond and another in
Raleigh on February 13th,
but Patera still wore the
belt out. Jimmy Snuka also
saw Ken hold onto his belt
in similar fashion, when
Patera got himself
disqualified in Roanoke on
February 4th. The
popular Rufus R. Jones, who
just returned to the
territory, suffered a
similar fate in Hampton,
Virginia on February 17th,
earning a win over Ken but
only because Patera got
himself intentionally
disqualified. Patera’s only
outright win in a Title
match during the month was a
victory in Charlotte on
February 11th
against Tony Atlas in a
Lumberjack Match.
Ken Patera was also one half
of the Mid-Atlantic Tag Team
Champions, but he and
partner John Studd had
limited defenses during the
month of February. The duo
did have a spirited and
successful defense on
February 2nd
against the talented tandem
of Rufus R. Jones and Dino
Bravo. And in another
noteworthy Title defense,
Patera and Studd obliterated
the young team of Skip Young
and Jay Youngblood on
February 15th in
the Norfolk Scope Coliseum
The final Mid-Atlantic
Championship Wrestling
television show of the
month, taped on February 28th,
gave the fans some hope that
they would be seeing one of
their favorite wrestlers
again very soon. Blackjack
Mulligan was shown in a tape
from Texas, saying that he
was rested and refreshed and
was coming back to the
Mid-Atlantic area very soon!
Blackjack said his ribs had
healed from the injury that
John Studd had inflicted on
him. Mulligan singled out
Ric Flair and Studd as the
two people he was primarily
coming after---Flair being
the person that put the
Bounty out on him, and Studd
being the wrestler that
collected the Bounty.
The February 28th
TV show also saw Ricky
Steamboat with a beautiful
Hawaiian lei, presented to
him by two adoring female
fans. However, before the
lei could be taken to the
backstage area, Paul Jones
swiped it from the ring side
attendant and tore it up!
Ricky was justifiably
furious with his former tag
team partner. But on a more
pleasant note, this program
also gave fans a very early
preview of a tag team
combination that looked to
have lots of potential.
Ricky Steamboat and Jay
Youngblood teamed up, and
looked extremely impressive
as they dispatched the
roughhouse duo of Kim Duk
and Charlie Fulton.
WHO’S HOT
1. Ricky
Steamboat---Steamboat kept a
strong grip on the United
States Heavyweight
Championship during the
month, and was also a focal
point of the weightlifting
challenge series, managing
to humiliate Ric Flair in
the process!
2. Dino Bravo---The Canadian
Heavyweight Champion
continued to impress during
the month, and was after Ric
Flair for the most part.
Dino excelled in the “Ten
and One” endurance contest
on TV, whipping up on
Flair’s “number on protégé.”
3. Tony Atlas---The
strongman from Roanoke,
Virginia impressed the
area’s TV audience when he
bench pressed over 500
pounds in the second part of
the weightlifting challenge
series. Tony also had a
solid month on the wrestling
mat!
WHO’S NOT
1. Greg Valentine---The
“Hammer” had a rough go of
it in February. He had
difficulty in his singles
matches, and he and Ric
Flair could not seize the
World Tag Team belts,
despite numerous
opportunities. By the end of
the month, Valentine had
left the area.
2. Ric Flair---Ric had
numerous shots at the two
top belts in the area, the
U.S. Title and the World Tag
Team Titles, but came up
empty on both. And the
strength contests during
February that had Flair
front and center, were
unmitigated disasters for
the Nature Boy.
3. John Studd---While “Big
John” remained one half of
the Mid-Atlantic Tag Team
Champions, those belts were
beginning to lose their
luster and starting to
become irrelevant. Studd
seemed to lose his focus a
bit after collecting the
$10,000 Bounty on Blackjack
Mulligan, but there were
strong indications by the
end of the month that
Blackjack was on his way
back to confront Studd!
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© 2011 David Chappell
Mid-Atlantic Gateway
Published 3/3/10
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