April of 1974 was
highlighted by new
Mid-Atlantic Tag Team
Champions being crowned, the
return of two major stars to
Jim Crockett Promotions and
the departure of two others.
In addition, two heated
feuds continued to stay red
hot during the month of
April.
Mid-Atlantic Heavyweight
Champion Johnny Valentine
had limited Title defenses
during the month of April,
as he had his hands more
than full dealing with the
sensational Bearcat Wright.
Valentine and Wright battled
all over the Mid-Atlantic
area during April, with
their bouts being as rough
and wild as one could
imagine. The two wrestled
against each other in
several towns more than once
during the month of April.
In Charlotte, North
Carolina, Bearcat and
Valentine actually wrestled
THREE times in April! On
April 1st, the two got so
out of control that both
combatants were
disqualified…and the fans at
the Park Center were nearly
as out of control as the
wrestlers! The next Monday
night, Wright and Valentine
came back to the Park Center
for a “Return Match.” In the
return bout, Valentine was
able to keep his emotions in
check far better than
Bearcat, and emerged with a
victory via disqualification
after a mere 13 minutes of
non-stop action.
The final of the three
non-title bout series at
Charlotte’s Park Center
between Wright and Valentine
was held on April 29th. And
to try and keep order, the
mammoth Haystacks Calhoun
was brought in as a Special
Referee! Calhoun was able to
keep order better in the
April 29th match, but the
action between these two
bitter rivals was still off
the charts!
The Township Auditorium in
Columbia, South Carolina was
also fortunate to play host
to multiple bouts between
Johnny Valentine and Bearcat
Wright during April of 1974.
The first match was a
Championship Match held on
April 16th, before a
capacity crowd. This bout
got so out of control that
it took six wrestlers to
finally break up the mayhem!
The return bout on April
23rd was not much tamer. As
Bearcat and Johnny were
battling outside the squared
circle, Valentine was barely
able to beat Wright back
into the ring just before
the 10 count to capture a
highly controversial
victory.
Two major stars made their
return to Mid-Atlantic
Championship Wrestling
during the month of April.
Rip “The Profile” Hawk
returned to the territory
for the first time in 1974.
His first match was on April
8th in Charlotte, where he
teamed with Ivan Koloff in a
disqualification loss to
Nelson Royal and Sandy
Scott. Hawk remained active
during the month, both in
singles and tag team
competition. Hawk and Koloff
certainly emerged as a
fearsome team during the
month.
Another BIG addition to the
roster, literally, in April
was the massive 601 pound
Haystacks Calhoun!
Haystacks’ return to Jim
Crockett Promotions made his
multitude of fans joyous,
but did not make his
opponents happy at all.
Calhoun’s first match back
in the area was a thorough
thrashing of “Bruiser” Bill
White at the Lynchburg City
Armory in Lynchburg,
Virginia on April 5th.
Haystacks did a little bit
of everything during the
month, including being a
Special Referee as was
mentioned earlier. Calhoun
was a coveted tag partner,
and some of the most
exciting bouts of the month
of April saw Haystacks
participating in wild six
man tag team bouts. One of
the most entertaining
occurred in Norfolk,
Virginia at the Scope
Exhibition Hall on April 18,
1974. In that contest,
Calhoun teamed with Danny
Miller and Nelson Royal to
upend the villainous trio of
Rip Hawk, Ivan Koloff and
Chuck O’Connor.
NWA World Heavyweight
Champion Jack Brisco made an
extended pass through the
area during the month of
April. Brisco took on all
the top contenders in the
territory, putting his
prestigious Title on the
line, against good guys and
bad guys alike. Jack
defeated Johnny Weaver in
Championship Matches on two
occasions, at the Cumberland
County Memorial Arena in
Fayetteville, North Carolina
on April 1st and in the
Richmond Arena in Richmond,
Virginia on April 5th.
Brisco also took the measure
of Paul Jones in a very
competitive Championship
Match in Columbia, South
Carolina on April 2nd. While
this bout in Columbia stayed
scientific for the most
part, there were occasions
where both Brisco and Jones
resorted to slightly
questionable tactics.
One of the most riveting
matches of the month
occurred when Jack Brisco
put his NWA World
Heavyweight Title up against
the mask of the Destroyer.
Actually, it would be more
accurate to say that Brisco
defended against the SUPER
Destroyer, as the masked man
started going by that
moniker in April of 1974.
This epic bout took place on
April 4th at the Greensboro
Coliseum in Greensboro,
North Carolina.
Many in attendance thought
that surely there would be a
Title change, or in the
alternative, that the Super
Destroyer would lose his
hood. While neither of those
scenarios occurred, the bout
nevertheless lived up to its
billing. After tremendous
ebbs and flows, and one
sequence where it appeared
the Super Destroyer’s claw
was going to carry him to
victory, Brisco slowly
seized command. At the 28
minute mark, Jack chased the
masked man out of the ring
and the Super Destroyer
chose not to return! A
bizarre ending to a
tremendous match!
The Super Destroyer
continued to have his hands
full in the month of April
with big Swede Hanson. The
two battled in a wide
variety of specialty matches
during the month, with
Hanson coming out on top
more often than not. One of
the most brutal series of
matches during the month
were Chain Matches between
these two heated
adversaries. The Super
Destroyer and Swede Hanson
battled in Chain Matches in
Richmond, Virginia on April
5th, Charleston, South
Carolina on April 12th and
Greenville, South Carolina
on April 29th. The Big Swede
came out on top in all three
Chain Matches, but lost
copious amounts of blood in
these vicious encounters.
Swede and the Super D. also
locked up in two Lumberjack
Matches during April. Hanson
took the measure of the
masked man on April 1st in
Greenville, and repeated the
feat in Roanoke, Virginia on
April 13th. Both these bouts
saw the Lumberjacks become
highly involved! These two
even wrestled in two very
physical Strap Matches
during the month! Talk about
rough! The Super Destroyer
was victorious in a bloody
Strap Match held in
Raleigh’s Dorton Arena on
April 23rd. Swede got his
revenge a few days later,
besting the Destroyer in
Greenville, South Carolina
on April 29th.
The Mid-Atlantic Tag Team
Titles changed hands during
the month of April, in what
would have to be classified
as a major upset. On April
8th in the Cumberland County
Memorial Arena in
Fayetteville, North
Carolina, the team of Paul
Jones and Bob Bruggers
unseated Gene and Ole
Anderson in a No
Disqualification Match.
After this defeat, the
Anderson’s did not stay in
the territory much longer.
The Minnesota Wrecking
Crew’s last match in the
Mid-Atlantic area during
1974 was a defeat at the
hands of Bob Bruggers and
Johnny Weaver on April 20th
in the Spartanburg Memorial
Auditorium.
Jones and Bruggers only had
one rematch with the
Andersons after defeating
them for the Mid-Atlantic
Tag Team Titles. That bout
occurred at the Richmond
Arena on April 12th, with
Jones and Bruggers
prevailing. The new
Champions also wrestled
twice in Raleigh, North
Carolina after their Title
win, defeating Rip Hawk and
Ivan Koloff by
disqualification on April
16th, and were victorious
over Gene Anderson and Chuck
O’Connor on April 23rd.
Mid-Atlantic Television
Champion Danny Miller was
more active during the month
in tag team competition, but
he did manage some singles
matches in April. The most
noteworthy was a violent
confrontation with Gene
Anderson in Charleston,
South Carolina on April 5th.
Gene seemed to go out of his
way to injure Danny during
this match, but Miller was
able to eventually turn the
tables and subdue Gene with
his famous “chicken-wing”
hold!
The month of April 1974 saw
a significant shift in the
roster of Jim Crockett
Promotions on the main event
side of the talent ledger.
And the changes weren’t
done! May loomed on the
horizon, with the biggest
name in the history of
Mid-Atlantic Championship
Wrestling set to enter the
territory for the first
time!
WHO’S HOT
1. Haystacks Calhoun---The
HUGE man from Arkansas came
back to the Mid-Atlantic
area, and was just as big
and popular as ever!
Haystacks was particularly
dominating when he got
involved in tag team and six
man tag team matches.
2. Paul Jones---Mr. Number
One had a big month in
singles completion,
including a classic bout for
the NWA World Heavyweight
Championship against Jack
Brisco. Jones also became
one-half of the Mid-Atlantic
Tag Team Champions during
April.
3. Swede Hanson---The Big
Swede had a mostly
successful series of bouts
with the Super Destroyer
during the month of April.
In this long running feud,
Swede seemed to gain the
upper hand during April.
WHO’S NOT
1. Ole Anderson---After
dropping the Mid-Atlantic
Tag Team Titles early during
the month, Ole struggled in
both tag team and single
bouts. By the end of April,
Ole was no where to be seen,
and would not be seen in Jim
Crockett Promotions again
until 1975.
2. Gene Anderson---During
the month of April 1974,
Gene suffered a similar fate
as brother Ole.
3. Super Destroyer---While
the Destroyer was starting
to be called the “Super
Destroyer” during the month
of April, he didn’t have one
of his stronger months. Big
Swede Hanson was becoming a
huge thorn in the side of
the Super D.
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© 2009 David Chappell
Mid-Atlantic Gateway
Published 8/15/09
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