The
winter of 1976 was an unusual one for Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling
fans in the Richmond, Virginia area. But maybe a brief look at the history
of Mid-Atlantic Wrestling in Richmond will help explain why that was the
case.
Richmond, Virginia was at the geographical northern extreme of the
Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling territorial boundaries. During the
Mid-Atlantic years, our night for wrestling was every Friday night. Friday
night was probably the best possible day of the week to have a card
regularly running in your city. Through early 1974, wrestling in Richmond
was at the State Fairgrounds at Strawberry Hill on Friday nights. Then, in
the spring of 1974, Mid-Atlantic Wrestling was put on regularly at Parker
Field (an outdoor baseball stadium that housed the Atlanta Braves’
Triple A farm team, the Richmond Braves), the Richmond Arena and the
Richmond Coliseum.
The Richmond Arena was a rundown city owned facility that was dark and
dingy. There were posts and beams everywhere, thus making it difficult to
get an unobstructed view of the ring at all times. And did it ever get HOT
in the summertime at the Arena! The Arena held approximately 4,500 people
for wrestling. Jim Crockett Promotions held cards at the Arena for about
three years, until the middle of 1977 (plus several cards in 1981 when the
Coliseum was undergoing renovations). The Arena typically had
"lesser" cards than the Coliseum, getting the Friday nights when
the Coliseum wasn’t booked, but World Champions came to the Arena and
titles occasionally changed hands there.
The Richmond Coliseum was Richmond’s largest venue, having a capacity
of nearly 11,000 during the Mid-Atlantic years. Many historical matches
and moments occurred at the Coliseum, and arguably this building was
second only to the Greensboro Coliseum in its housing of great
Mid-Atlantic cards. The Richmond Coliseum never held more than two cards
per month, making the events that did come that much more special.
Folks in the outlying areas around Richmond also got to see wrestling
on Friday nights when neither the Coliseum nor the Arena were booked.
Essentially, these cards were in smaller towns that the local affiliate
WTVR-TV Channel 6 could promote and reach with its signal. I’ll just
mention a few of these towns, as there were many. To the east of Richmond
were Tappahannock and Saluda. To the south of Richmond were Colonial
Heights and Petersburg. To the west of Richmond were Charlottesville and
Harrisonburg. To the north of Richmond were Fredericksburg and Stafford
(the latter two coming perilously close to the Washington, D.C.
metropolitan area and the WWWF).
What was strange about the first three months of 1976 was the lack of
live matches in the city of Richmond. There were two Fridays with no
wrestling in January, and in the months of February and March there was
only one card in the city each month. Luckily, things got back to normal
in April, and Friday nights were wrestling nights again!
Despite the lack of live action in Richmond during the first quarter of
1976, I still have a lot of lasting memories of that time frame. Ric Flair
making his in-ring return to Richmond on February 21 after the plane
crash. Ric looked as though he had lost so much weight, but seemed to move
better than ever. Angelo Mosca beating the great Chief Wahoo McDaniel on
January 23, with a little help from a friend (at that time a still
recuperating Ric Flair who was in Mosca’s corner for that match). Wahoo
coming back and winning the Cadillac Tournament at the Coliseum on March
19.
In a general sense, I remember thinking how imposing and frightening
the new team of the Mongols were. I know I was fully expecting them to
become tag team champions at some point, but of course that never
happened. I also think back as to how great Blackjack Mulligan was going
during this time frame. But I never really thought he had the
"stuff" to be United States Champion. Did he ever prove me
wrong! I think back to being shocked when Gene and Ole Anderson dropped
the World Tag Team Titles to Wahoo and Rufus R. Jones, but feeling that
order was restored when the Anderson’s reclaimed the belts two weeks
later. I recall how impressed I was with the new World’s Champion, Terry
Funk, when he actually wrestled on Mid-Atlantic television. And I was
perplexed at how main event wrestlers in December of 1975 were jobbing in
January of 1976. Such was the plight of Ken Patera, Steve Keirn and Steve
Strong.
While in the winter of 1976, Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling
brought some great action to Richmond, I think the spring of 1976 was even
better. There were certainly more live matches to attend on Friday nights!
Look forward to reminiscing about the spring of 1976 in Richmond with you
soon. Until then, so long from the capital city!