|
There may never have been
more of an eventful month in
the annals of the history of
Mid-Atlantic Championship
Wrestling than April of
1978. From major title
changes to major angles to
impressive newcomers, the
month of April had
everything that a wrestling
fan could possibly dream of!
It did not take long for the
month of April to start
making news. NWA World
Heavyweight Champion Harley
Race made a pass through the
area during the first week
of April, defending his
prized belt successfully
against Ricky Steamboat and
Wahoo McDaniel. Race also
appeared on the Mid-Atlantic
Championship Wrestling
television program that was
taped in the WRAL studios on
April 5, 1978.
It also only took two days
into the month of April to
produce a major title
change. In the Greensboro
Coliseum on April 2, 1978,
Chief Wahoo McDaniel finally
took the measure of Greg
Valentine to again capture
the Mid-Atlantic Heavyweight
Championship. After many
months of battling
Valentine, Wahoo was unable
to savor his title victory
very long. After only a
week, Wahoo was defeated by
his former friend, Ken
Patera. On April 9, 1978,
Patera subdued McDaniel in
the Charlotte Coliseum to
win his first title belt
while in Jim Crockett
Promotions.
During the remainder of the
month of April, Patera had
several successful
Mid-Atlantic Title defenses
against Wahoo and Paul
Jones. At the end of the
month, Patera squared off
against the “Eighth Wonder
of The World” Andre the
Giant, in a battle of two of
the strongest men in
wrestling. On that April 30,
1978 card at the Charlotte
Coliseum, Patera was
disqualified for throwing
Andre over the top rope…a
feat in and of itself!
In another title change
early in the month, Baron
Von Raschke regained his NWA
Television Title from his
nemesis, Johnny Weaver. On
April 3, 1978 in the
Greenville Memorial
Auditorium in Greenville,
South Carolina, Raschke
prevailed after hitting
Weaver with a chair, and
afterwards finished off
Johnny by applying his
famous claw hold. The match
in Greenville was billed as
a No Disqualification, sixty
minute title match where
Weaver could only win with
his sleeper hold, and the
Baron could only win via his
claw hold. The Baron would
successfully defend his NWA
TV Title a number of times
during the month of April,
most frequently against
Weaver.
On the same blockbuster
April 9, 1978 Charlotte card
where Ken Patera ended Wahoo
McDaniel’s short
Mid-Atlantic Heavyweight
Title reign, the biggest
title change of 1978 to date
also occurred. Mr. Wrestling
risked his United States
Heavyweight Championship
against the hair of “Nature
Boy” Ric Flair. After a
thrilling encounter, Ric
pinned Mr. Wrestling to
capture the U.S. Tile, and
almost as importantly to
him, preserved his full head
of blond hair! After
defeating Mr. Wrestling,
Flair had several rugged
battles with “Sensational”
Dick Murdock in Raleigh,
North Carolina on April 11,
1978 and Charlottesville,
Virginia on April 15, 1978.
While Ric Flair gained a new
title belt on April 9th, he
lost another one a few days
earlier, and in a very
unusual fashion. On the
April 5, 1978 Mid-Atlantic
Championship Wrestling
television program taped at
the WRAL studios, the
President of Jim Crockett
Promotions, Jim Crockett,
Jr., made a rare on air
appearance. Crockett told
the Mid-Atlantic fans that
he had just come from a
meeting with the NWA Board
of Directors, and that NWA
World Tag Team Champions Ric
Flair and Greg Valentine
were stripped of their
titles because of not
appearing for title defenses
and in others leaving the
ring before a decision was
reached. Crockett told a
stunned announcer Bob Caudle
that a tournament would be
set up shortly to crown new
NWA World Tag Team
Champions. Ric Flair and
Greg Valentine’s final World
Tag Team Title defense was
on April 4, 1978 in
Columbia, South Carolina,
where Flair and Valentine
prevailed in a ninety minute
time limit match over
challengers Paul Jones and
Ricky Steamboat.
The next Mid-Atlantic
Championship Wrestling
television show, that was
taped on April 12, 1978, may
be the most eventful TV show
in the history of Jim
Crockett Promotions. The
show began with Ric Flair
being announced as the new
United States Heavyweight
Champion. When Blackjack
Mulligan came out to
congratulate Ric, the Nature
Boy belittled Mulligan,
saying Blackjack was not man
enough to hold the Title
that he now possessed. After
taking all the verbal abuse
he could stand, Mulligan
shocked the viewing audience
by slugging Ric, something
nobody ever expected! But
there was much more to come!
During the same Mid-Atlantic
Wrestling TV show, Blackjack
was wrestling Tony Russo
when an enraged Flair came
back on the set…wearing
Mulligan’s cowboy hat! It
was explained that this hat
was a special gift to
Mulligan from his friends
Waylon Jennings and Willie
Nelson. To the amazement of
everyone watching, Flair
proceeded to tear up
Blackjack’s prized hat! When
Mulligan realized what
happened, he promptly
disposed of Russo with a
vicious piledriver, and came
to the announcer’s table to
pick up the pieces of his
hat. Blackjack told the fans
what that hat meant to him,
and that he vowed to make
Flair pay for what he just
did. It did not take
Mulligan long to make good
on his promise of revenge.
Later in the same show, Ric
Flair was wrestling Ted
Oates, when the camera
panned to one of the most
enduring images in the
history of Mid-Atlantic
Championship Wrestling!
Coming from the dressing
room area, Blackjack
Mulligan walked to the
announcer’s table, wearing
Ric Flair’s favorite
peacock-feathered robe! As
the crowd yelled at the top
of their lungs, Blackjack
tore Ric’s priceless robe to
shreds! Every time Flair
would try to get out of the
ring to get to Mulligan,
Oates expertly kept him
inside the ring. By the time
Ric finally got to the
announcer’s area, his robe
was ripped apart and ruined.
A distraught Flair screamed
at the departed Mulligan
that Blackjack would be a
dead man. Seeing the insane
look in Fair’s eyes as he
uttered those words, the
Mid-Atlantic fans had to
have real concern for
Mulligan’s future well
being.
That concern for Blackjack
proved to be well founded,
as on the next Mid-Atlantic
Championship Wrestling TV
show, taped on April 19,
1978, Ric Flair in Georgia
told announcer Freddy Miller
in a taped interview that he
was putting a $10,000 bounty
on the head of Mulligan, to
any wrestler who could
injure Blackjack Mulligan
and eliminate him from
professional wrestling.
(Related article on
Blackjack's BBQ:
Perfect Storm: The Legend of
the Hat and the Robe)
A number of “bad guys” lined
up to try and collect the
$10,000 bounty on Mulligan’s
head. Bounty Matches started
during the month of April,
and continued on for the
remainder of the year of
1978. Baron Von Raschke was
one of the first to go after
the now “fan favorite,”
Blackjack Mulligan. But
Mulligan’s most fearsome
opponent in Bounty Matches,
both in the month of April
1978 and afterward, was the
returning Masked Superstar.
The Superstar returned from
a tour of the Orient in
April, and immediately went
after his former friend upon
his return. Blackjack and
the Superstar tangled in a
memorable early Bounty Match
on April 18, 1978 in
Columbia, South Carolina,
with both combatants being
disqualified for excessive
brawling.
The middle of the month of
April saw two newcomers come
on the scene on the “good
guy” side of the promotion’s
ledger. Tony Atlas returned
to the Mid-Atlantic area,
and appeared to be better
than ever. The strongman
from Roanoke, Virginia
immediately received a main
event match against Baron
Von Raschke on April 20,
1978 at the Norfolk,
Virginia Scope, and Atlas
began a top flight program
against Cyclone Negro and
his manager, the Missouri
Mauler. Another newcomer to
the area in the month of
April, was the Indian Jay
Youngblood. Youngblood had
his first Mid-Atlantic test
on April 15, 1978 in
Charlottesville, Virginia, ,
teaming with the veteran
Bobo Brazil against the
steady team of Mr. X # 1 and
Mr. X # 2. While Youngblood
needed some experience and
seasoning in these early
days, Jay would eventually
become a fixture in
Mid-Atlantic main events.
Long time Mid-Atlantic
veteran Gene Anderson
returned to the area on a
full time basis during the
month of April, but for the
first time in a long while
without his brother Ole.
Gene wrestled mainly in
mid-card matches, and
interestingly enough,
wrestled as both a good guy
and as a bad guy in the
month of April.
The end of the month of
April 1978 was dominated by
a one night tournament
before 9,732 enthusiastic
fans in the Greensboro
Coliseum for the vacant NWA
World Tag Team Titles. On
April 23, 1978, ten top
teams were assembled for
this one night spectacular.
The teams competing in
Greensboro were Jack and
Jerry Brisco, Gene and Ole
Anderson, Blackjack Mulligan
and Stan Hansen, Wahoo
McDaniel and Andre The
Giant, Paul Jones and Ricky
Steamboat, Ken Patera and
The Superstar, Tony Atlas
and Bobo Brazil, Cyclone
Negro and Baron Von Raschke,
Mr. Wrestling and Johnny
Weaver, and Ric Flair and
Greg Valentine.
When the eliminations got
down to two teams, it was
the
Superstar and Ken Patera
against
Mid-Atlantic Tag Team
Champions Paul Jones and
Ricky Steamboat. In that final match,
Jones and Steamboat defeated
Superstar and Patera in
18:20 to become the new NWA
World Tag Team Champions.
Paul and Ricky did not
relinquish their
Mid-Atlantic Tag Team belts,
so they held all of the
territory’s tag team title
belts after that memorable
night in Greensboro, North
Carolina.
(Revised 2/7/07)
See this
special feature on the NWA
World Tag Team tournament,
including results and
brackets, held in
Greensboro.(Updated 2/7/07)
There were many months in
the history of Mid-Atlantic
Championship Wrestling, both
before and after the month
of April 1978, but it is
hard to imagine any month
being more eventful or
historic in Jim Crockett
Promotions than that of the
month of April in the year
of 1978. It truly had to be
seen to be believed!
WHO’S HOT
1. Ric Flair---The Nature
Boy defeated Mr. Wrestling,
getting back the prestigious
United States Heavyweight
Title that had eluded him
for a number of months.
However, tearing up
Blackjack Mulligan’s hat may
not have been the brightest
action Ric ever took.
Flair’s $10,000 bounty on
Blackjack would keep the
direct heat off of Ric for
at least a little while.
2. Ken Patera---The
strongman from Oregon won
the Mid-Atlantic Heavyweight
Title during the month of
April, and looked dominating
in the process. Patera
seemed to be settling in
quite nicely into his new
“bad guy” persona.
3. Baron Von
Raschke---Raschke reclaimed
his NWA Television Title
from Johnny Weaver, and
successfully defended it
throughout the remainder of
the month of April. The
Baron was also one of the
first competitors to go
after Ric Flair’s $10,000
bounty.
WHO’S NOT
1. Mr. Wrestling---The
masked man dropped the U.S.
Title to Ric Flair early in
the month, and really never
got untracked after that. An
uneventful month of April
for Mr. Wrestling, after
finally breaking through to
capture the big belt during
the month of March.
2. Wahoo McDaniel---Despite
finally winning back the
Mid-Atlantic Heavyweight
Title from Greg Valentine at
the beginning of the month,
Wahoo lost it to Ken Patera
after a title reign of a
scant week. Much like Mr.
Wrestling, Wahoo had a
rather uneventful month
after his quick title loss.
3. Bobo Brazil---The veteran
wrestled his last meaningful
match for Jim Crockett
Promotions during the month
of April 1978, winding down
a solid year in the
Mid-Atlantic area.
Note: Thanks to Mark Isley
for his assistance with this
feature.
RETURN
TO TOP OF PAGE |
ALMANAC INDEX |
GATEWAY HOME PAGE
Posted 01/25/07
©
2007 David Chappell /
Mid-Atlantic Gateway
|
