April of 1979 got off to a
rousing start, as on the
very first day of the month
a new United States
Heavyweight Champion was
crowned. Inside of a steel
cage in the Greensboro
Coliseum in Greensboro,
North Carolina on April 1st,
the “Nature Boy” Ric Flair
took the measure of Ricky
Steamboat in a grueling 37
minute encounter to become
the new U.S. Champion.
Despite leaving the ring in
Greensboro bloody and
battered from the cage, Ric
carried out the “gold” that
he desired so much.
On the April 4th taping of
the Mid-Atlantic
Championship Wrestling
television show, Ric and a
bevy of beautiful ladies
announced to the fans Ric’s
U.S. Title conquest. Later
in the same broadcast, Ricky
Steamboat narrated over film
clips from the championship
match. Steamboat was in
Flair’s figure four leg-lock
for a very long time, but
finally escaped. Steamboat
was beaten when he and Flair
had a major collision
mid-ring, and Flair
recovered slightly faster
and got a three court on
Ricky just an instant before
“Steamer” kicked out.
After capturing the U.S.
belt, the Nature Boy was
quite active defending it in
April. Ric had several
notable rematches against
Steamboat. One of the
toughest was actually
Flair’s first title defense,
on April 7th in Savannah,
Georgia, where he battled a
very aggressive former
champion Ricky Steamboat.
After a rough and tumble 35
minutes of action, Ric threw
Steamboat over the top rope
resulting in a
disqualification, but
ensuring that the Nature Boy
would retain his newly won
United States Championship
in his first defense.
But as the month went on, it
was becoming apparent that
the Canadian Heavyweight
Champion, Dino Bravo, was
becoming Ric Flair’s most
dangerous challenger for the
U.S. belt. The Dorton Arena
in Raleigh, North Carolina
saw two blockbuster title
matches between Flair and
Bravo on successive Tuesday
nights. On April 10th, Dino
got his first championship
bout against Flair, and
almost had the belt won but
the Nature Boy was able to
sneak something by the
referee. That result led to
a rematch in Raleigh on
April 17th where the NWA
decreed that there would be
2 referees! Despite the
second set of eyes, Flair
managed to prevail over Dino
via pinflall.
Towards the end of April,
the U.S. Title bouts between
Bravo and Flair were
becoming more and more out
of control. On April 24th in
Columbia, South Carolina and
then again on April 30th in
Greenville, South Carolina,
both Flair and Bravo became
so belligerent that both
were disqualified before a
decision could be reached in
the ring. These two were
definitely developing a keen
dislike for each other!
Adding fuel to the fire of
the developing feud between
Ric Flair and Dino Bravo was
a film clip that Dino
commented over on the April
11th TV taping of the
Mid-Atlantic Championship
Wrestling television show.
In the match, which occurred
before Flair had regained
the U.S. Title from Ricky
Steamboat, Bravo defeated
Flair but after the bout Ric
attacked Dino from behind,
ran Bravo’s head into a ring
post and caused Dino 25
stitches to close the wound
to his head. Bravo was
clearly using this incident
as motivation to try and
take the U.S. Title away
from Flair!
In addition to emerging as
the top contender to Ric
Flair’s United States
Heavyweight Championship,
Dino Bravo also got the most
title opportunities for Ken
Patera’s Mid-Atlantic
Heavyweight Championship
during the month of April.
Dino controlled most of his
championship matches with
Patera, only to have Ken
pull some underhanded
tactics in the end to retain
his belt. One of the wildest
bouts of the month between
these two occurred in
Fayetteville, North Carolina
where both Patera and Bravo
were disqualified in a wild
melee. Patera also saved the
Mid-Atlantic Title by
purposely getting himself
disqualified against Dino in
Norfolk, Virginia on April
12th and then again at the
Richmond Coliseum in
Richmond, Virginia on April
27th.
During April, Patera
continued with his money
challenge to anyone who
could beat him on TV in 10
minutes. On the April 4th TV
taping from the WRAL
studios, Ken faced perhaps
his toughest test in
“Superfly” Jimmy Snuka, with
the money amount up to $700.
With John Studd providing
guest color commentary,
Patera threw Snuka over the
top rope when things were
getting tough, thus
preserving Ken’s loot of the
700 silver dollars in the
fish bowl at ringside.
The “Superfly” Jimmy Snuka
also provided Mid-Atlantic
Champion Ken Patera some
stiff competition over Ken’s
belt during the month of
April. Patera salvaged his
belt against Snuka by
getting disqualified several
times during April, and Ken
also finagled his way into
keeping his belt by running
out of the ring when things
were getting rough for him.
On April 17th in Columbia,
South Carolina, Snuka was
dominating his Mid-Atlantic
Title match with Patera,
until Ken decided to take a
powder a stay outside of the
ring, thus getting himself
counted out. A similar
scenario happened three
nights later at the Hampton
Coliseum in Hampton,
Virginia where Snuka had
full control of the match
only to see Ken run out of
the ring, get counted out
and save his title by a
whisker.
The stars of Mid-Atlantic
Championship Wrestling had
an eventful trip to the
Maple Leaf Gardens in
Toronto, Canada on April
8th. In the battle of the
strongmen, Ken Patera scored
an odd victory over
arch-rival Tony Atlas. As
the two battled outside the
ring and both were close to
being counted out, Atlas
gave Ken a vicious head-butt
that actually propelled
Patera back into the ring,
allowing Ken to beat the
count. Atlas was still
outside the ring and was
counted out, giving the bout
to Patera in 22:15.
Two big championship tilts
highlighted the card in
Toronto. In an upset, the
“Hammer” Greg Valentine
captured the Canadian
Heavyweight Championship
from Dino Bravo in a shocker
at the 21:13 mark! And in a
NWA World’s Heavyweight
Title match, Harley Race
retained his prestigious
Title by going to a time
limit draw with challenger
Ricky Steamboat. The bout
had to be stopped at 26:35
because of curfew.
In addition to Harley Race
defending his World Title in
Toronto during April, there
were also a number of
notable wrestlers doing
“guest shots” around the
territory during April.
Early in the month, the
“Eighth Wonder of the World”
Andre the Giant made a short
pass through the area, and
greeted the Mid-Atlantic
fans with a short interview
on the Mid-Atlantic
Championship Wrestling TV
show that was taped on April
4th. The Giant was at his
dominating best when in the
ring, taking care of the
“Big Cat” Ernie Ladd at
Township Auditorium in
Columbia on April 3rd and at
the Spartanburg Memorial
Auditorium in Spartanburg,
South Carolina on April 7th.
Sandwiched in between, Andre
thrashed Big John Studd at
County Hall in Charleston,
South Carolina on April 6th.
The big man from Eagle Pass,
Texas, Blackjack Mulligan,
also visited the
Mid-Atlantic area at the
beginning of the month.
Blackjack participated in a
double-shot on April 8th,
being one of 14 entrants in
a Battle Royal in Asheville,
North Carolina in the
afternoon and then venturing
to Roanoke, Virginia later
that day to drop a close
contest to Ernie Ladd.
Mulligan battled Ladd the
next two days as well, first
at the Greenville Memorial
Auditorium and then at
Raleigh’s Dorton Arena.
Mully lost both bouts, but
the later match in Raleigh
was a disqualification loss,
as Blackjack completely lost
his cool!
As the month of April wore
on, more “guests” toured the
territory, including TWO
World Heavyweight Champions!
AWA World Heavyweight
Champion Nick Bockwinkle
appeared in the area via a
video tape in a match versus
Chief Frankie Hill on the
April 4th taping of the
Mid-Atlantic Championship
Wrestling television
program. Nick then wrestled
on the Mid-Atlantic
Championship Wrestling
television program that was
taped at WRAL TV in Raleigh
on April 18th, defeating
Herb Gallant. Bockwinkle
even defended his AWA Title
during the month, including
defeating Paul Orndorff in
the Greensboro Coliseum on
April 22nd and barely
escaping with his belt on
April 24th in Raleigh’s
Dorton Arena, when Ricky
Steamboat won a hotly
contested Title match by
disqualification.
NWA World Heavyweight
Champion Harley Race toured
the Mid-Atlantic area during
late April, and had a very
successful run. In addition
to retaining his Title
against the challenge of
Ricky Steamboat in Asheville
on April 22nd and at the
Norfolk Scope Coliseum on
April 26th, Harley also
notched clean pinfall wins
in Title defenses against
Dino Bravo in Greensboro on
April 22nd and against Tony
Atlas in Columbia’s Township
Auditorium on April 24th.
NWA Television Champion Paul
Jones had an extraordinarily
busy month defending his TV
Title, where his
championship was at stake
for the first fifteen
minutes of every singles
match. “Mr. Number One”
began the month and ended
the month in the Cumberland
County Memorial Arena in
Fayetteville, North
Carolina. On April 2nd, Paul
survived the challenge of
Dino Bravo in Fayetteville,
and closed out the month on
April 30th losing to Ricky
Steamboat, but keeping his
belt because the loss
occurred after the 15
minutes had expired.
That was certainly a trend
for Jones throughout April,
purposely stalling at the
beginning of his matches to
try to insure that he was
not beaten before the all
important fifteen minute
mark. Steamboat was Jones’
most frequent opponent
during the month, but Paul
also battled Jimmy Snuka,
Paul Orndorff along with
Dino Bravo in April for the
NWA TV Title. And on the
April 11th taping of the
Mid-Atlantic Championship
Wrestling show, Jones had
quite a battle over the NWA
Television Championship
against the young Indian
star, Jay Youngblood.
County Hall in Charleston
saw THREE battles on
successive Friday nights
where Paul escaped with his
TV Title intact. On April
6th, Jones and Steamboat
were having quite a match,
but “Steamer” got sick and
tired of Jones’ stalling and
decided to chase him all
over County Hall! This led
to a rematch in Charleston
on April 13th under “Death
Match---Falls Count
Anywhere” rules! This bout
was unruly to the hilt as
these two battled all over
County Hall! Jones came back
the next week to Charleston,
but he had a different
opponent though someone very
dangerous---Paul Orndorff.
Jones through big doses of
trickery, as he used
throughout the month of
April, again emerged with
his TV Title intact over
Orndorff.
But Paul Jones wasn’t just
busy during April defending
his NWA Television Title. At
the end of the month, Jones
and his new partner Baron
von Raschke upset the duo of
Paul Orndorff and Jimmy
Snuka to ace the NWA World
Tag Team Title belts! On
April 25th at the TV tapings
at the WRAL studios in
Raleigh, shown around the
area on Saturday April 28th,
by sacrificing one for the
other, Jones and Raschke
prevailed to take the Titles
away from Orndorff and
Snuka. The Baron’s family
later had a bravery medal
presented to Paul for Jones’
actions in that title
changing bout!
These two teams had some
titanic struggles at the end
of the month. On April 23rd
at the Greenville Memorial
Auditorium the four wrestled
to a back and forth 60
minute draw. The two teams
went at it again, this time
on April 26th at the Norfolk
Scope Coliseum. This was
another see-saw affair that
saw Snuka and Orndorff
ultimately emerge with a
triumph by disqualification.
Jones and Raschke closed out
the month of April with a
successful defense over
Snuka and Orndorff in
Wilmington, North Carolina.
April of 1979 was action
packed, and in the midst of
all that action, it saw the
Mid-Atlantic area’s top two
Titles change hands. And the
two new title-holders, Ric
Flair and the team of Paul
Jones and Baron von Raschke,
certainly had the look of
Champions that could hold
onto their new belts for
quite some time.
WHO’S HOT
1. Ric Flair---The
Nature Boy captured the
United States Heavyweight
Title from Ricky Steamboat
on the first day of the
month, and had a full month
of impressive title defenses
during April.
2. Paul Jones and Baron
Von Raschke---“Number One”
and the Baron were certainly
an unlikely combination, but
these two gelled quickly in
the ring and had the look of
long term champions.
3. Ernie Ladd---The “Big
Cat” and “Number 99”
continued to impress, using
his massive size to dominate
his opponents. The Cat even
defeated Blackjack Mulligan
on three successive days in
early April…no small feat!
WHO’S NOT
1. Ricky
Steamboat---Ricky not only
lost the United States Title
on April 1st and was unable
to regain it, but was also
unable to capture the TV
Title from Paul Jones
despite numerous
opportunities.
2. Paul Orndorff and
Jimmy Snuka---Orndorff and
Snuka dropped the NWA World
Tag Team Titles to an
unlikely combination of Paul
Jones and Baron von Raschke,
and seemed at a loss as to
how to deal with this novel
new team.
3. Blackjack
Mulligan---While only a
“guest” in the area during
the month of April,
Blackjack dropped bouts to
Ernie Ladd on three
successive dates early in
the month. Definitely not
the Blackjack Mulligan that
Mid-Atlantic fans were used
to seeing!
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Mid-Atlantic Gateway
Posted 10/02/11 |