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A
rare
Saturday
night
card
in
the
fall
of
1980
assured
Richmond
fans
of
witnessing
the
crowning
of
a
new
champion,
as
the
vacated
NWA
Television
Title
was
up
for
grabs
in
a
one
night
tournament.
As
it
turned
out,
the
capacity
crowd
in
the
Richmond
Coliseum
would
also
see
a
second
new
champion
crowned,
as
Ricky
Steamboat
won
his
first
Mid-Atlantic
Heavyweight
Championship
at
the
expense
of
the
hated
Iron
Sheik.
Sixteen
of
the
top
grapplers
in
the
wrestling
game
comprised
this
Tournament,
which
was
necessitated
by
the
Masked
Superstar
vacating
the
Title
in
September
of
1980.
The
Superstar
became
embroiled
in
a
feud
with
Gene
Anderson
and
his
“Army”
after
being
repeatedly
interrupted
on
television
interviews
by
Anderson,
Jimmy
Snuka
and
Ray
Stevens.
Superstar’s
issues
with
Anderson
prompted
him
to
turn
into
a
“good
guy,”
where
he
gave
up
his
NWA
TV
Title
to
go
after
Snuka
and
Stevens,
and
their
NWA
World
Tag
Team
Championship
belts.
Against
this
backdrop,
Richmond
was
selected
as
the
place
to
fill
Superstar’s
vacated
NWA
Television
Title!
In
the
weeks
leading
up
to
the
Tournament,
the
television
promos
for
the
big
card
gave
fans
some
idea
as
to
who
the
promotion
was
touting
as
the
favorites
to
walk
away
with
the
big
prize.
On
the
“bad
guy”
side,
both
Mid-Atlantic
newcomer
“Rowdy”
Roddy
Piper
and
“Bad
Boy”
Bobby
Duncum
did
several
joint
interviews
talking
about
the
Tournament
in
Richmond.
Predictably,
both
of
these
villains
predicted
victory!
Roddy
Piper
at
this
time
had
only
been
in
the
area
for
about
a
month,
but
already
was
starting
to
make
his
presence
felt
with
an
ultra
aggressive
ring
style,
sharp
one-liners
and
playing
the
Scottish
bagpipes
more
than
most
could
stand!
Duncum
was
also
riding
high
at
the
time,
even
bringing
the
Texas
Brass
Knucks
Title
into
the
area
for
a
short
time.
On
the
“good
guy”
side
of
the
ledger,
the
television
promos
done
by
Paul
Jones,
Blackjack
Mulligan
and
Sweet
Ebony
Diamond
were
a
bit
less
boisterous.
Each
of
the
good
guys
emphasized
that
talk
was
cheap,
and
that
they
were
going
in
with
positive
attitudes
and
would
do
their
best.
Certainly
conditioning
would
be
a
major
factor
in
determining
the
winner
of
the
Tournament,
as
the
ultimate
victor
would
have
to
wrestle
and
win
four
matches…all
in
one
night.
No
small
feat!
For
the
fans
in
attendance,
the
best
part
of
the
Tournament
may
have
been
the
renewing
of
hot
rivalries
during
the
course
of
the
evening.
The
former
Mid-Atlantic
Tag
Team
Champions
Matt
Bourne
and
Buzz
Sawyer
crossed
paths
with
their
chief
tormenters
of
the
time,
and
then
the
current
Champs,
the
Sheepherders---Butch
Miller
and
Luke
Williams.
While
this
was
really
a
mid-card
feud,
it
was
heated,
and
fans
got
to
see
a
lot
of
the
animosity
between
these
four
flare
up
during
the
Tournament!
Another
feud
that
was
heating
up,
and
that
got
a
boost
during
the
Tournament,
was
the
program
between
the
returning
(after
a
five
year
absence
from
the
area)
“Russian
Bear”
Ivan
Koloff
and
Sweet
Ebony
Diamond.
Koloff
was
out
for
revenge
against
Diamond
for
breaking
the
rules
in
a
Loser
Leave
Town
match
on
the
west
coast,
and
forcing
Ivan
to
depart
that
territory.
Ivan
was
carrying
a
shovel
to
the
ring,
notching
it
after
each
victory.
Unfortunately
for
Diamond,
he
would
also
smack
the
shovel
into
Diamond’s
ribs
every
chance
he
got!
These
two
crossing
paths
in
the
Tournament
ensured
that
their
feud
would
stay
hot,
and
that
neither
would
win
the
NWA
TV
Title
this
night!
Similarly,
the
participants
in
one
of
1980’s
biggest
programs
also
knocked
each
other
out
of
the
Tournament.
Blackjack
Mulligan
and
Bobby
Duncum
had
been
going
at
it
tooth
and
nail
for
several
months
in
a
battle
for
Texas
supremacy
prior
to
the
Tournament,
and
all
the
bad
blood
spilled
over
during
this
Saturday
night
at
the
Coliseum!
These
two
obviously
enjoyed
beating
each
other
up,
more
than
winning
the
NWA
Television
Title!
When
most
of
the
smoke
describe
above
had
cleared,
there
were
two
wrestlers
left---Roddy
Piper
and
“Number
One”
Paul
Jones.
In
what
had
to
be
categorized
as
a
major
upset,
the
brash
Piper
upended
the
veteran
Jones
in
the
final
match,
and
became
the
new
NWA
Television
Champion---to
the
shock
of
most
in
attendance.
Being
the
fourth
match
of
the
night
for
each
man,
the
final
bout
was
relatively
short.
However,
Piper
had
spurts
of
energy
that
seemed
to
catch
Jones
completely
by
surprise!
Piper
also
showed
fans
his
grit
and
toughness
as
well,
enduring
a
long
spell
in
Jones’
Indian
Death
Lock,
but
never
submitting.
While
Piper
caught
Jones
for
the
pin
using
some
of
his
infamous
illegal
tactics,
it
was
nevertheless
the
first
of
many
title
victories
by
Piper
in
the
Mid-Atlantic
area.
Piper
would
hold
onto
the
NWA
Television
Title
into
early
1981,
when
he
captured
the
United
States
Heavyweight
Championship
from
Ric
Flair.
In
a
memorable
episode
of
Mid-Atlantic
Championship
Wrestling
from
January
of
1981,
Piper
offered
to
“give”
the
TV
Title
to
Ric
Flair
as
a
consolation
prize
of
sorts
after
defeating
Flair
for
the
U.S.
belt.
In
an
interesting
twist,
while
failing
to
win
the
TV
Title
that
the
Superstar
had
vacated,
Paul
Jones
would
soon
team
with
Superstar
later
in
November
of
1980,
and
that
unlikely
combination
became
the
new
NWA
World
Tag
Team
Champions.
In
the
Mid-Atlantic
Heavyweight
Title
match
that
concluded
this
night
of
wrestling
action
in
Richmond,
the
reigning
title-holder
the
Iron
Sheik
and
Ricky
Steamboat
were
set
to
battle
in
what
would
be
the
culmination
of
a
brief,
but
bitter
program.
The
match
was
full
of
special
stipulations,
two
of
which
were
highly
unusual.
In
addition
to
No
Disqualification,
No
Count
Out
stipulations,
there
was
also
a
provision
that
falls
would
count
anywhere
in
the
Richmond
Coliseum!
While
this
stipulation
became
almost
commonplace
some
years
later,
in
1980
it
was
exceedingly
rare!
And
the
two
combatants
in
fact
spent
a
great
deal
of
the
match
trying
to
capture
falls
on
each
other
outside
of
the
ring!
An
unusual
stipulation
that
the
challenger
Steamboat
made
during
the
promos
leading
up
to
the
title
match,
was
that
he
would
throw
out
1000
one
dollar
bills
to
the
fans
if
he
didn’t
win
the
Title
from
the
Sheik!
Despite
that
pledge,
there
didn’t
appear
to
be
anybody
in
the
Coliseum
rooting
for
the
Sheik
to
win---even
though
that
would
have
meant
that
money
would
have
been
thrown
out
to
the
fans!
There
certainly
was
no
more
hated
wrestler
in
the
Mid-Atlantic
area
at
this
time,
than
Hussein
the
Arab,
the
Iron
Sheik.
With
the
Iranian
hostage
crisis
still
ongoing,
the
last
thing
Mid-Atlantic
fans
wanted
to
see
and
hear
was
a
boasting
Iranian.
In
pre-match
promos,
Steamboat
encouraged
all
the
Richmond
faithful
to
bring
American
flags
to
the
Coliseum
and
wave
them
on
this
Saturday
night.
And
did
they
ever,
along
with
unending
chants
of
“U-S-A”!!
The
match
started
out
deliberately,
with
the
Sheik
refusing
to
stay
in
the
ring
for
long
stretches.
Steamboat
would
relentlessly
chase
after
the
Iranian,
leading
to
long
stretches
of
the
bout
taking
place
outside
the
confines
of
the
ring.
With
the
deafening
chants
of
“U-S-A,”
the
Sheik
seemed
to
be
distracted
to
no
end!
Both
combatants
secured
numerous
two-counts
on
the
floor,
but
neither
could
gain
a
clear
advantage
on
the
outside
of
the
ring.
Only
when
Steamboat
caught
the
Sheik
with
a
flying
press
from
the
top
turnbuckle
nearly
20
minutes
from
the
start
of
the
match,
did
the
heartthrob
from
Hawaii
seize
control
of
the
bout.
When
the
three
count
against
the
Sheik
was
finally
registered,
the
crowd
exploded,
and
once
again
the
chants
of
U-S-A
started
in
earnest.
A
smiling
Steamboat
was
beaming
from
ear
to
ear
as
he
soaked
in
all
those
cheers!
For
at
least
a
few
minutes,
all
the
anger
and
frustrations
of
the
Iranian
hostage
crisis
seemed
a
distant
memory
to
everyone
in
attendance!
Ricky
Steamboat
would
go
on
to
hold
the
Mid-Atlantic
Heavyweight
Title
into
the
year
of
1981,
for
about
six
months.
The
Sheik
would
never
regain
the
Title,
after
also
holding
it
for
around
six
months
after
beating
“Jumping”
Jim
Brunzell
for
the
belt.
Two
new
holders
of
major
Jim
Crockett
Promotions
titles
walked
out
of
the
Richmond
Coliseum
on
this
night.
That,
standing
alone,
would
have
likely
ranked
this
card
toward
the
top
of
Richmond’s
all-time
list.
But
the
electric
atmosphere
in
the
Coliseum
that
night
made
this
card
stand
out…one
which
has
to
rank
in
the
Top
5
of
Richmond’s
greatest
wrestling
nights!
Truly,
a
Saturday
evening
to
remember!
|
Listen
to
the
Audio
Promos
for
this
card:
Bobby Duncum / Roddy Piper / Iron Shiek
Blackjack Mulligan / Sweet Ebony Diamond / Paul Jones / Ricky Steamboat
Rare Radio Spot!
with Rich Landrum & Ricky Steamboat
(MP3 FILES)
|
