|
 November
of 1974 began pretty much as
October of 1974 ended, with
“The Eighth Wonder of the
World,” Andre the Giant,
flexing his muscles around
the Mid-Atlantic area! On
November 1st at the Richmond
Arena in Richmond, Virginia,
Andre teamed with the highly
popular Sonny King to
throttle the duo of Ric
Flair and Johnny “The Champ”
Valentine. The next night in
Spartanburg, South Carolina
Andre teamed up with “young
lion” Tiger Conway, Jr. to
devastate the Mid-Atlantic
Tag Team Champions Rip Hawk
and Ric Flair. In both
November cards involving
Andre, the buildings were
packed to the rafters.
Mid-Atlantic Heavyweight
Champion Johnny Valentine
had an active month during
November. “The Champ” had to
face challenges for his
Title during the month from
top contenders, Sonny King
and Paul Jones. Valentine
had bruising battles against
King in Roanoke, Virginia on
November 2nd, and in
Charlotte, North Carolina on
November 4th. On November
18th in Greenville, South
Carolina, Valentine and King
were both disqualified in a
wild melee. These two closed
the month out with a classic
60 minute draw at the Scope
Exhibition Hall in Norfolk,
Virginia.
Towards the end of the
month, a new challenger
emerged to go after
Valentine’s prestigious
Mid-Atlantic Championship
belt in the person of
“Number One” Paul Jones.
These two titans battled
over the Mid-Atlantic Title
on successive Tuesday nights
in Columbia, South Carolina.
On November 19th, Valentine
and Jones fought to a
violent double
disqualification in a bloody
confrontation that really
didn’t settle anything. When
the two came back to
Columbia for the return
match on November 26th, the
contest between Valentine
and Jones was again
ferocious, but the two
managed to keep from being
disqualified for 60 minutes,
and the bout ended up as a
draw.
And speaking of one hour
draws, the day before the
Columbia rematch on November
26th, Valentine and Jack
Brisco battled to an
exciting one hour draw in
Charlotte’s
 Park
Center. The November 25th
match in Charlotte was for
Brisco’s coveted NWA World
Heavyweight Championship.
While Brisco retained his
belt, Valentine had the
World Championship within
his grasp several times
during the bout.
Johnny “The Champ” was also
active during the month of
November defending his 2000
silver dollars. Valentine
defeated the likes of Mr.
Ota, Tommy Seigler and Bob
Bruggers in television bouts
for the 2000 silver dollars
during the month. However,
Valentine’s stiffest
challenge for his 2000
silver dollars during
November came in a televised
match against the dynamic
Sonny King. Valentine and
King were both out of
control during the match,
prompting referee Walter
Buckner to eventually
disqualify both
participants. Valentine hit
King over the head with a
steel chair, while King
repeatedly head butted the
“Champ.” Buckner finally had
enough when both combatants
were battling outside the
ring, and wouldn’t return to
the squared circle!
Johnny Valentine also had to
pay a substantial fine in
November, which was levied
by the NWA for Johnny’s
breaking Tim Woods’ leg in a
televised match on October
2, 1974. Valentine said that
he didn’t mean to break
Woods’ leg, but that Woods
had hit him in the ear
during the match, and that
he couldn’t hear Woods
screaming that he gave up
while in Johnny’s figure
four leg lock. This
“explanation” was completely
contrary to Valentine’s
actions on October 2nd, but
Johnny had his story and he
was sticking to it!
Mid-Atlantic Tag Team
Champions Rip Hawk and Ric
Flair maintained a hold on
their belts during the month
of November. The team that
Hawk and Flair had the most
trouble with during November
was the dynamic team of
Swede Hanson and Tiger
Conway, Jr. Particularly at
the end of the month, Rip
and Ric had huge problems
with the “Big Swede” and
Tiger.
 On
November 23rd in Roanoke,
Swede and Tiger dominated
the Champs in a non-title
bout. Two days later in
Charlotte, Hawk and Flair
were beaten decisively by
the Hanson/Conway duo in a
rugged bout. Skip ahead to
November 30th in the
Spartanburg Memorial
Auditorium, and the Champs
still had their hands full
with Hanson and Conway. In
this Title match, the Champs
had to get themselves
purposely disqualified to
maintain their belts into
the month of December.
Hawk and Flair also had a
memorable defeat on
Mid-Atlantic Championship
Wrestling television during
the month of November. The
dynamic duo of Wahoo
McDaniel and Tiger Conway,
Jr. faced the “blond
bombers” in a non-title TV
bout. Just as it seemed Hawk
was going to secure a
victory for his team, Wahoo
turned the tables in an
instant. Hawk had Tiger up
in his controversial
piledriver, but just as Rip
was going to drop Tiger on
his head, Wahoo dropkicked
Rip, and Tiger fell on Hawk
for the pin! The studio
audience went wild, and Hawk
and Flair were completely
dumbfounded!
An interesting intersection
of old versus new came about
during the month of
November. Johnny Weaver, a
long-time mainstay on the
“good guy” side of Jim
Crockett Promotion’s talent
ledger met the upcoming and
rising star, the villainous
Ric Flair. These were
intriguing matchups, seeing
the aging star Weaver take
on the ultra talented, but
inexperienced, Flair. Youth
was served in these
matchups, as Flair pinned
Weaver in the Richmond Arena
on November 15th and again
at Raleigh’s Dorton Arena on
November 19th. Weaver put up
vigorous fights in both
bouts, but could not stop
the relentless Flair!
November was an outstanding
month for the viewers of
Mid-Atlantic Championship
Wrestling television. In
addition to the captivating
television battles over
Johnny Valentine’s 2000
silver dollars, and the
Hawk/Flair against
Wahoo/Conway bout mentioned
earlier, several other TV
matches during the month
stand out. The top rated tag
teams of the Super
Destroyer/Ivan Koloff and
Paul Jones/Wahoo McDaniel
had a knock down drag out
battle on TV in November.
After a period of non-stop
action, the Super Destroyer
saved his partner twice,
leading to an automatic
disqualification of the “bad
guys.” Another memorable
television bout pitted young
Tiger Conway, Jr. against
the wily veteran, Rip Hawk.
Not surprisingly, Hawk’s
partner Ric Flair interfered
in the match right before
Tiger was about to capture
the pinfall. Hawk claimed
Conway “fouled” him with a
low blow, and Ric maintained
he only got involved to keep
law and order. But to
everyone else, it appeared
Tiger had the “Ripper”
beaten fair and square!
A truly unique event on
television that culminated
in November was “The
Mid-Atlantic Television Arm
Wrestling Tournament.” After
several week of arm
wrestling, the final three
contestants were The
Avenger, Paul Jones and the
Super Destroyer. The
President of Mid-Atlantic
Championship Wrestling, Jim
Crockett, Jr., was the play
by play in-ring announcer
for the finals. Paul Jones,
sporting an injured
shoulder, and the Super
Destroyer were paired
initially. Jones’ shoulder
gave way on him, and the
Super D. took the contest
with relative ease.
Immediately thereafter, the
Avenger and the Super
Destroyer arm wrestled for
the Championship. A back and
forth battle ensued, with
the Avenger ultimately
prevailing! A massive trophy
was then presented to the
winner of the hard fought
tournament, the masked
Avenger.
Mid-Atlantic Television
Champion Ivan Koloff was
busy in November fending off
the challenges from former
TV Champion Paul Jones. In
fact, from November 18th
until the end of the month,
Koloff battled Paul five
times with the Championship
on the line. Roanoke saw two
bloody battles between these
two in successive weeks,
with the Title on the line.
On November 23rd the
Starland Arena saw a real
donnybrook between the
archrivals, with the match
officially being called a No
Contest. While the November
30th match had No
Disqualification
stipulations, the action was
no less fierce. The only
thing that was really
established was that these
two really hated each other!
As an aside, in between the
bitter battles in Roanoke
between Jones and Koloff,
Paul wrestled NWA World
Champion Jack Brisco to a
riveting 60 minute draw in
the Richmond Arena on
November 29th.
The career of the wildman
Brute Bernard appeared to
get a real shot in the arm
during November, when the
“King of Wrestling,” the
Super Destroyer confirmed
rumors that he had in fact
bought the Brute’s contract,
and would become his
“manager.” The early reviews
were mixed, however, as to
whether this infusion of
“brainpower” to the Brute
was going to work. A case in
point occurred during a
television match during the
month. In this bout, the
Super Destroyer was
wrestling young Tommy
Seigler. The Brute
interfered, for no good
reason, costing the
Destroyer the match. To make
matters worse, Bernard’s
meddling drew the Avenger
and Wahoo McDaniel into the
fray, and the “bad guys” got
the worst end of that
fracas!
The tradition of Jim
Crockett Promotions having a
super spectacular card in
Greensboro on Thanksgiving
Day certainly continued in
November of 1974. 11,268
boisterous fans on November
28, 1974 saw NWA World
Champion Jack Brisco save
his Title by throwing
challenger Wahoo McDaniel
over the top rope when
things got heated. On that
same card, Swede Hanson
bested arch enemy Rip Hawk
in a Fence Match, with
former boxing champion Joe
Louis as the referee. And if
that wasn’t enough, the
battle of the masked men saw
the Avenger top the Super
Destroyer by
disqualification! What a
card to top off Thanksgiving
Day!
In addition to their Fence
Match in Greensboro, Rip
Hawk and Swede Hanson had a
series of Fence Matches
during the month of
November. Swede demolished
Rip in Fence Matches on
November 4th in Greenville,
on November 7th at the
Norfolk Arena and on
November 15th at County Hall
in Charleston, South
Carolina. And in addition to
their battle of the masked
men in Greensboro on
Thanksgiving night, the
Avenger and the Super
Destroyer met again on
November 30th, this time at
the Hampton Roads Coliseum
in Hampton, Virginia. The
Avenger pulled out a win via
disqualification in Hampton,
and the feud between these
two was really ready to take
off!
The month ended with Jim
Crockett Promotions
encouraging fans to send in
their votes for the
“Wrestler of the
Year---1974.” This contest
would run through December,
and it didn’t take long for
wrestlers to start lobbying
for the fans’ votes. The
first “lobbyist,” not
surprisingly, was the
flamboyant Ric Flair! Ric
told the Mid-Atlantic
Championship Wrestling
television audience soon
after the contest was
announced, specifically the
“pretty ladies,” to vote for
him! The upcoming month of
December would yield answers
to that plea, and to many
other hot topics involving
Mid-Atlantic Championship
Wrestling.
WHO’S HOT
1. Johnny Valentine---“The
Champ” was on quite a roll
during November,
successfully defending his
Mid-Atlantic Heavyweight
Championship and his prized
2000 silver dollars with
equal vigor. And Johnny even
had time to go after Jack
Brisco’s NWA World’s
Heavyweight Title during the
month!
2. Avenger---The muscular
masked man from parts
unknown snared the
Mid-Atlantic Television Arm
Wrestling Championship
trophy in November. But even
more significantly, the
Avenger stood toe-to-toe
with the Super Destroyer,
and took two DQ wins from
the Destroyer later in the
month. This feud between the
Avenger and the Destroyer
looked to have all the
makings of a classic
showdown!
3. Paul Jones---Mr. “Number
One” was putting on quite
the push at the end of the
month to recapture the
Mid-Atlantic Television
Title from Ivan Koloff. And
Paul gave Jack Brisco all he
could handle in a World
Title Match at month’s end.
Jones and partner Wahoo
McDaniel also had a great
month on the tag team side
of the ledger.
WHO’S NOT
1. Rip Hawk---“The Ripper”
continued to have all kinds
of problems with his former
partner, big Swede Hanson.
Rip dropped numerous Fence
Matches to Swede during the
month, and was beginning to
drop singles matches to
different opponents more
frequently. Even maintaining
a share of the Mid-Atlantic
Tag Team Titles was becoming
a real chore for Hawk.
2. Johnny Weaver---Johnny
came up short in several
bouts with the loud-mouthed
Ric Flair during November,
much to the chagrin of his
legions of fans. Rather than
a springboard to another
main event run, the losses
to Flair seemed to solidify
Weaver’s status as a
mid-card performer.
3. Chuck O’Connor---The
giant from California
continued to slip in
November from the months
earlier in the year when he
was a borderline main
eventer. With his sheer size
alone, it was baffling that
O’Connor wasn’t more of a
major player in Jim Crockett
Promotions.
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© 2010 David Chappell
Mid-Atlantic Gateway
Published 5/07/09
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