This
Friday night spectacular
of Mid-Atlantic
Championship Wrestling in
the Richmond Coliseum was
truly one for the ages. A
NWA World’s Heavyweight
Title match between the
new Champion, Harley Race,
and top challenger Wahoo
McDaniel headlined the
eight-match card. The semi
final bout was a classic
match up between United
States Heavyweight Title
holder Blackjack Mulligan
and his archrival, Paul
Jones. The other two mid
card bouts along with the
four preliminary matches
were full of action and
excitement, putting this
lineup amongst the best
that the Richmond Coliseum
ever bore witness to.
MAIN EVENT—NWA
World’s Heavyweight
Champion Harley Race
defends against
Mid-Atlantic Heavyweight
Champion Wahoo McDaniel.
Harley Race was making
one of his first defenses
of his NWA World’s
Heavyweight Title this
night in Richmond, having
beaten Terry Funk for the
championship just twelve
days earlier. Race put the
title up against
"Chief" Wahoo
McDaniel, the Mid-Atlantic
Heavyweight Champion.
Wahoo was riding high at
this point in time as he
was enjoying a solid reign
as Mid-Atlantic Champion,
after having taken the
title from Ric Flair at
this same Richmond
Coliseum two months
earlier. While there was
no lengthy buildup to this
match (there were matches
at the Richmond Arena the
previous Friday night),
the match would showcase
two of the most renowned
grapplers in the National
Wrestling Alliance. And
these two men would not
disappoint!
This match started with
Wahoo on the offensive,
and Race laying back on
defense. McDaniel took the
match to the new Champion,
particularly in the first
fifteen minutes or so.
Wahoo was able to land
flurries of chops, sending
the Champion reeling on
many occasions early on.
Race was able to turn the
tide at about the
twenty-minute mark, and
had several two counts on
Wahoo during this time
frame. One of Wahoo’s
kick outs on the count of
two occurred after Race
executed what appeared to
be a match-ending suplex
on the great Indian Chief.
At that point, many of
Wahoo’s fans in
attendance thought that
perhaps he was going to
take the World’s belt.
The two rivals battled
evenly for most of the
rest of the almost 40
minute match, with Race
finally capturing the
pinfall on Wahoo by
rolling him up for a three
count and sending the vast
majority of everyone in
attendance home unhappy.
However, all in attendance
knew they had seen a
tremendous bout put on by
two of the legends of
professional wrestling.
This match also spoke
volumes of how a bout with
virtually no pre-match
hype, could still
captivate an audience and
have you leave the arena
knowing you had seen one
of the finest wrestling
matches ever held in the
Mid-Atlantic area.
SEMI-FINAL---Blackjack
Mulligan defends his
United States Title
against Paul Jones.
Special Referee is George
Scott.
This match was one of
the final bouts between
these two archrivals over
the United States
Heavyweight Title. The
feud over the U.S. belt
between Paul Jones and
Blackjack Mulligan
stretched all the way back
to 1975. As it turned out,
Jones would be leaving the
area shortly after this
match, and would never be
a major contender for the
United States Title again.
Many in attendance
thought that the Special
Referee assigned by the
NWA for this match, George
Scott, could make a
difference in a potential
Paul Jones upset. True
enough, Blackjack seemed
to pay more attention to
George Scott than Jones
through much of the match,
and this nearly cost him
the bout on several
occasions. As the match
wore on, Scott figured
less and less into the
equation and the two
combatants settled into an
outstanding contest.
It also appeared that
Jones knew that this might
be the final match of his
fifteen-month feud with
Mulligan, and Paul was
going to hold nothing
back. This contest was
fast paced from the
outset, with the only
lulls taking place when
Scott would interject
himself into the action.
At around the
thirty-minute mark, a
bloodied Jones was caught
coming off the ropes by an
exhausted Mulligan, with
Blackjack capturing a
quick fall to end an epic
struggle between these two
bitter rivals. Much like
the main event, this bout
did not have a tremendous
build up from a publicity
standpoint. But everyone
knew that a match between
Paul Jones and Blackjack
Mulligan would be an
entertaining slugfest. And
this one lived up to those
expectations and a whole
lot more. What we really
didn’t know at the time
was that this match
effectively brought to an
end one of the greatest
rivalry’s in the history
of Mid-Atlantic
Championship Wrestling—Paul
Jones against Blackjack
Mulligan for the United
States Title!
The Hollywood Blondes
(Mid-Atlantic Tag Team
Champions) vs. Dino Bravo
and Red Bastien—
This non-title bout saw
quite a battle between
these four combatants. The
"Blondes" were
an excellent new team to
the area, and almost
immediately upon entering
the area they won the
Mid-Atlantic Tag Team
Championship from Dino
Bravo and "Mr.
Wrestling" Tim Woods.
This team was comprised of
Jerry Brown and Buddy
Roberts, and they were on
quite a hot streak
entering this match.
Conversely, the team of
Red Bastien and Dino Bravo
was a makeshift duo, one
that did not appear to be
a legitimate threat to the
Hollywood Blondes in this
match. This was primarily
because Red Bastien,
despite a strong
reputation in other parts
of the country, was never
pushed by Jim Crockett
Promotions and languished
between mid-card and
opening match status during his
stint in the area.
This was a fast paced
encounter, with the
Blondes controlling the
early stages of the match
with a series of illegal
tactics that keep Bastien
in the ring and prevented
a tag to Bravo. Once Bravo
got into the match, the
bout turned around with
the Blondes staying on the
defensive for most of the
rest of the bout.
Bravo ultimately
captured the winning
pinfall on Jerry Brown,
surprising everyone in
attendance, and thus
ending an amazing win
streak of the Hollywood
Blondes that went back to
their entrance into the
area. The Blondes would
continue to hold onto the
Mid-Atlantic Tag Team
Titles for another two
months, before Dino Bravo
ended their reign with a
different partner, Tiger
Conway.
In a rather unusual
scenario, this match,
which was third from the
top of the card, would be
the last match of the
evening that the
"good guys"
would win!
Tiger Conway vs. Kim
Duk---
This was perhaps the
most entertaining match of
the night, and in addition
the ending had to be
classified as an upset.
Kim Duk at this time
was at the apex of his
Mid-Atlantic run. Duk was
wrestling in main event
matches, often teaming up
with the Masked Superstar
as part of Professor Boris
Malenko’s
"Family."
Additionally, Duk was in
an entertaining program
with Wahoo McDaniel,
battling over McDaniel’s
Mid-Atlantic Heavyweight
Title.
On the other hand,
Tiger Conway was a solid
mid-card performer at this
time, but didn’t figure
to be much of a match for
Kim Duk. Perhaps what made
this match so entertaining
was the complete contrast
of styles between these
two.
Duk controlled the
early portions of the
bout, devastating Conway
with a series of
tremendous chops. Conway
countered with a series of
highflying moves that
seemed to befuddle the
larger Duk. The
"Korean
Assassin" became more
and more frustrated as the
smaller Conway ran circles
around him. Exasperated,
Duk sent a karate chop to
Conway’s throat,
prompting a referee’s
disqualification.
Thus, Tiger Conway was
awarded a victory in a
match that no one thought
he could win. A major
upset at the time, and one
that would propel Conway
to his last title reign in
the area a few months
later.
Preliminary Matches---
Ron Starr took the
measure of rugged veteran
Bill White in a relatively
short, but entertaining
match. Starr looked
particularly sharp, and
kept the wily White at bay
for most of the bout.
Matches like this from
Starr always made me
wonder why Jim Crockett
Promotions never gave this
solid athlete some kind of
a push.
In somewhat of an
upset, "Big"
Bill Dromo upended Randy
Poffo. The future Randy
Savage was on the verge of
finishing his Mid-Atlantic
run while Dromo was just
starting his. This fact,
probably more than any
other factor, dictated the
result in this contest.
Poffo was clearly the
better wrestler.
An impressive newcomer,
Rick McGraw, disposed of
Joey Rossi in a rare
battle of the "good
guys." McGraw made a
strong showing, and
appeared at this time that
he could be a legitimate
star in the future. This
match was exclusively
scientific, as I don’t
even remember a closed
fist being used!
The
opener saw Johnny Eagle
dominate and defeat Tony
Russo. This was a rare
opener that did not end in
a 20-minute time limit
draw.
_____________________
Next
Up: Number 10 (April 30,
1983) |