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RETURN TO THE
MID-ATLANTIC GATEWAY
Photos from the Night
of Legends 2 by Dick Bourne
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Photos courtesy of Peggy Lathan
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Photos courtesy of Blake Arledge
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Photos courtesy of Wayne Castevens
Blackjack Mulligan's letter to Spartanburg (on
Blackjack's BBQ)

2004 Event

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Greg "The Hammer" Valentine
Spartanburg, SC Feb. 19, 2005
Greg Valentine is wearing a replica of the
Mid-Atlantic Heavyweight Championship belt
that he originally wore in 1977-1978 (as seen in
the inset photo.) The replica belt was crafted by Dave Millican and is owned by Dick Bourne. It is part of the
Mid-Atlantic Gateway Collection.
Special thanks to Blake Arledge for this
photograph.

Report on the 2/19/05 Spartanburg Legends
Show
Originally posted by Dick Bourne on the Mid-Atlantic Legends discussion
board.
What a wonderful, memory filled night of wrestling at the Spartanburg
Memorial Auditorium.
Bob Caudle was introduced first by ring announcer
Ralph Harkey, and got
one of the biggest pops of the night. Very cool, the Mid-Atlantic
Wrestling theme music blasting as he came down the aisle. What was neat is
that Bob didn’t really want to it, he is such a humble guy, he told booker
George South that he feared no one would really remember him since he
hadn’t been on TV in over 12 years. George said “You wait and see.” And
the reaction was tremendous. Those of you that remember the reaction he
and David Crockett got at the first Fanfest in Charlotte will have a
good idea about what this was like. But bigger here, because of the
Mid-Atlantic music and lights. People just love
Bob.
Next, Ralph read a message
from Blackjack Mulligan (a feature on this letter can be found on
Blackjack's website) wishing the fans and his
fellow wrestlers well, and telling everyone he appreciated being invited
and was sorry he could not attend. This was actually pretty emotional and
was well received by the fans, the mention of Blackjack's name getting a
big pop from the crowd.
Brad Anderson (Gene
Anderson’s son) had an excellent opening match with Jason Jones. Brad
brought Gene’s old wrestling boots out with him, and hung them on the
corner post. That may have been lost on most people there but it gave me
cold chills. I got a photo of this that will be on the Gateway when I have
a chance to update it tomorrow. Anyone that loved the Andersons and
remember those boots they always wore will enjoy this photo.
Superstar and Barbarian
had a fun match, crowd was into it. Barbarian was in an almost jovial
mood, and Eadie really fed off an enthusiastic crowd and was doing all the
old Superstar moves, including finally the cobra hold on Barbarian’s
manager Michael Wallstreet Lee (Mike Lee, who did a tremendous job as a
manager) which got a big pop.
Bambi and Peggy Lee
(wrestling in her Spider Woman gimmick) had a super stiff match. None of
the guys had anything on these two as far as working tight that night.
Crowd got into that, too.
Brad Armstrong came out
and was interviewed and talked about his recent matches with George South
and was tired of George running down the Armstrong family name, so this
got George out there with him. George said that since they were in WCW
territory, he brought his own WCW referee Jamie Tucker (who did indeed ref
for WCW in the final year or so before the WWE buyout) and people booed
the whole WCW thing. Brad grabbed the mic and said, while he had worked
for WCW and had respect for WCW, this was Mid-Atlantic Wrestling territory
(which got a big pop) and Mid-Atlantic Wrestling was run back-in-the-day
by the NWA. He then said he was going to bring out the NWA’s greatest
referee, and the Starrcade music blasted and out came Tommy Young, to a
pop second only to Bob Caudle’s earlier ovation. (Brad Armstrong later
told George “You know it’s going to be easy when the referee is that
over!”) Tommy and George argued and then Brad and Tommy left the ring as
George pitched a fit in the ring. Time for intermission.
Lex Luger and Tracy
Smothers were next. I’m not getting into the whole Lex thing because it
aggravates me that this was such a special and fun show, fans really
seemed to enjoy it, and all the internet chatter will be about how out of
it Lex was. Well, he was. Tracy Smothers deserves some sort of special
award for making the thing somewhat entertaining, although that adjective
doesn’t fit this match. Lex could hardly even hit the ropes, had trouble
even keeping his balance. He got one of the loudest pops coming to the
ring of the night, but it fell flat when people seemed horrified at the
shape he was in. Again, Tracy Smothers pulled a rabbit out of the hat to
pull that off at all. I’ll say no more about that; these shows should be
about the positive things and the good memories. Seeing Lex like that
broke my heart for the guy.
Greg Valentine then
wrestled local legend Chief Jay Eagle in a strap match. Jay had built this
thing up well at his local show, playing off the old angle where Greg
Valentine broke Wahoo McDaniel’s leg. When Greg came to the ring, he was
wearing a black t-shirt with white letters (just like in the famous 1977 photo) that read “I Broke Wahoo’s Leg” and he was also wearing a
replica of the Mid-Atlantic Heavyweight championship belt. (My proudest
moment! It was my replica belt he was wearing, the one seen on the Gateway
site, crafted by Dave Millican.) Eagle won the strap match, but afterward,
Valentine nailed him from behind, and put on the figure-four leg lock (to
a HUGE pop) and left Jay Eagle laying, then put on a t-shirt that said “I
Broke Eagle’s Leg”. Very cool angle, and only the first of two
insider-type tributes to Wahoo that night.
Next came George South
vs. Brad Armstrong for George’s EWA title belt. This was another George
South 1970s time warp classic, just like the CCW show in Lenoir. George
did Brute Bernard, Dick Murdoch, Wahoo’s Indian war dance, Blackjack
Mulligan’s claw, Paul Jones’ airplane spin, plus they also had one of
those classic WRESTLING matches, transition wrestling with all the deep
arm drags, Brad’s amazing drop kick (especially for a guy who has had
major knee re-construction). Brad Armstrong is a wrestling machine, I put
him in a class on a technical level with only a few others. He is so
smooth. Huge pop for Brad’s win, and he put over the belt in a cool way. This
was the best wrestling match on the show. (CCW promoter Tony Hunter was
attending the show with Magnum TA, and said Magnum got a huge kick out of
George and Brad doing all the old 70s signature moves of the legends.)
Ricky Morton beat Terry
Taylor in the final match. Terry had Jason King out with him as his
manager (Terry announced that he was his protégé). Another cool
Mid-Atlantic moment, Ricky Morton got the mic and said he had a career of
managers causing trouble at ringside, and he was about to even that odds,
and “Boy from New York City” started playing and
Jimmy Valiant came out to a great pop, doing all the Boogie
man stuff with the fans, planting a huge kiss on referee Jamie Tucker, all
the old Valiant stuff. Was over big like always. He managed Morton. After
Morton won,
George South hit the ring and he and Terry Taylor were putting the boots
to Morton when all of a sudden the
Midnight Express music started playing, and
Bobby Eaton came full
speed down the aisle to a big surprise pop (they had kept him hidden and
95% of the fans didn’t even know he was there) and cleared the ring of
Taylor and South. He then took the house mic and told Morton that it
wasn’t over between the two of them and he would see him 3/12 in Lenoir,
and walked out.
They then brought out
all of the wrestlers back to the ring (with a few exceptions) for a group
photo op, and everyone gave them a big hand, and that wrapped up the show.
Other legends attending that did not
participate in the wrestling event but were part of the fan festivities
that night were Paul Jones, Penny Banner, Magnum TA, Jimmy Garvin and
Precious. Also visiting with fans were Bill White, Randy Mulkey, Sonny
Landel, JYD Jr., and others.
The ovation for
Bob Caudle and his address to the fans, Blackjack’s letter, Gene
Anderson’s boots, Wahoo’s war dance, Blackjack’s claw, Tommy Young back in
the ring as a referee, Brad Armstrong and George’s old-school match, the
Superstar's cobra hold, Greg Valentine wearing the Mid-Atlantic belt, the
Spartanburg Memorial Auditorium…..it was a truly fun and memorable night
for all the old Mid-Atlantic fans. Great job by the Miss South Carolina
organization for giving it that “big show” feel, and kudos to my buddy
George for booking one heck of a great show.
- Dick Bourne
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