David Chappell's

Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling History

May 1975

© David Chappell /  Mid-Atlantic Gateway


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May of 1975 saw the most significant title change of the year in Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling take place in mid month. After three and a half months of dominating the tag team division in the area as NWA World Tag Team Champions, Gene and Ole Anderson suffered a stunning defeat in the Greensboro Coliseum on May 15, 1975.

 

WAHOO McDANIEL & PAUL JONES vs. THE ANDERSON BROTHERS

The ultra popular duo of Paul Jones and Wahoo McDaniel became NWA World Tag Team Champions on the 15th, dethroning the seemingly invincible Anderson Brothers and making May a month to remember fondly by the fans of Jim Crockett Promotions.

At the 33 minute mark of the title bout, McDaniel caught Gene Anderson in a suplex and seconds later Paul Jones covered Gene for the three count, sending the Greensboro crowd into a frenzy, and the Anderson's into disbelief.

While Paul Jones and Wahoo were the Anderson's top challengers for the previous three months when Gene and Ole were World Tag Team Champions, interestingly the two teams did not wrestle each other at all in the month of May prior to the title change on May 15th. After Jones and Wahoo won the titles, they had two successful defenses against the Anderson's during the remainder of the month of May, in Ashville, NC on May 18th and in Norfolk, VA on May 29th.

 

JOHNNY VALENTINE

Mid-Atlantic Heavyweight Champion Johnny "The Champ" Valentine continued to travel some in the month of May, but to a lesser extent than he did in the month April. Valentine headed to St. Louis on May 2nd, and at the end of the month on May 31st headed to Houston. In between those two out of the area stints, Valentine got back to being his dominating best in the Mid-Atlantic area.

Valentine defended his Mid-Atlantic Title often in the month of May, with his most frequent challenger being Paul Jones. Chief Wahoo McDaniel also got a number of shots at Valentine's prestigious belt during the month. After Jones and McDaniel won the World Tag Team Titles, their focus shifted away from Valentine, though Jones nearly upended Valentine in a memorable title match in Charlotte's Memorial Stadium on May 16th, the night after Paul became one half of the World Tag Champs.

 

RIC FLAIR

May 3, 1975 was a date of some historical significance, as Ric Flair would defend a title against Wahoo McDaniel for the first time ever on that date. In Greenwood, SC, Flair defended his Mid-Atlantic Television Title against Wahoo, and Ric managed to barely emerge with his title still intact on May 3rd.

May was an unusually busy month for Flair defending his TV Title, as during the month the "Nature Boy" put the belt on the line a total of ten times, against Paul Jones, Ken Patera and Sonny King in addition to the title match against McDaniel in Greenwood.

 

MID-ATLANTIC TELEVISION

Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling had an outstanding month in May as far as its television shows were concerned. In particular, the shows taped on May 7th and May 14th were excellent.

The May 7, 1975 television show had a main event caliber match between the Super Destroyer and Sonny King. The promotion followed up the next week with one of the best editions of Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling TV ever.

After running down the May 14th television card, David Crockett said, "The whole place is going to rock." And how right he was. There were three main event caliber matches on the Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling show, and the Wide World Wrestling show played a film of a great Wahoo McDaniel against NWA Champion Jack Brisco match.

The Mid-Atlantic show on May 14th started with a promoted "grudge match" between California star Jose Lothario and the Super Destroyer. David Crockett told the TV audience that Lothario had come in from California to get revenge against the Destroyer, because the Destroyer had hurt Lothario out in California. This angle was never followed up on any further after the TV match.

Two terrific tag team bouts rounded out the TV show on May 14th. In the first, Ken Patera and Rufus R. Jones dominated Gene and Ole Anderson, but without garnering a clean victory. Patera's strength was highlighted in this match, with the Anderson's having all kinds of problems dealing with the strongman from Oregon.

The May 14th TV show ended with an amazing match between Ric Flair and Johnny Valentine against Paul Jones and Wahoo McDaniel. Amazing in that this caliber matchup was almost never shown on TV, and in that there was never a feud between these four that was set up on the heels of this TV match. Nevertheless, what a great match to end one of the best TV programs in the promotion's history!

 

SUPER DESTROYER VS. SONNY KING

Two notable feuds were ongoing during the month of May 1975, but both proved to be short-lived.

The first program involved the Super Destroyer against Sonny King. While these two had been wrestling sporadically against each other for the better part of a year, the promotion decided to start a pure program with these two in May.

To be sure, there was a history between the Destroyer and King. The Super D. had injured King's brother, Bearcat Wright, in mid 1974. But what got this program re-charged was a challenge by the Destroyer to King on Mid-Atlantic TV that aired on May 3, 1975, pitting their two finishing moves against each other-the claw versus the head-butt. On that same TV show, King had Ken Patera hit him over the head with a wooden chair to show the audience how hard his head was. The chair was shattered into a number of pieces.

On a subsequent TV show, the Super D. claimed he had outsmarted King, because the Destroyer could effectively put his claw on other parts of the body besides the head. To prove his point, the Super Destroyer beat preliminary wrester L.D. Lewis with a claw hold around Lewis' facial muscles rather than around his forehead. King responded that it didn't make any difference to him where the Destroyer applied the claw.

The Super Destroyer and King battled for several months around the circuit, in what would be the final program for each before both departed the Mid-Atlantic area in the summer of 1975.

 

BLACKJACK MULLIGAN VS. WAHOO MCDANIEL

The other major feud of May 1975 was a classic battle between Cowboy and Indian…Blackjack Mulligan versus Wahoo McDaniel. This program was far too short, and its life for the most part was confined to the month of May. The two never really feuded in an organized program after this, despite being major stars for JCP for many years after this time period.

During the month of May, these two progressed from straight singles matches, to bouts where Mulligan would be fined if he ran from the ring and finally moved to McDaniel's famed Indian Strap Matches.

McDaniel got the best of Mulligan throughout these contests, and effectively ran Mulligan out of the Mid-Atlantic area when he thrashed Blackjack in an Indian Strap Match in Richmond on May 30, 1975.

Mulligan immediately went to the WWWF where he quickly became one half of their World Tag Team Champs during the summer of 1975. However, Mulligan made several guest shot appearances back in the Mid-Atlantic area during the summer of 1975, challenging Wahoo to Texas Death Matches to try to avenge his defeats to McDaniel in the Indian Strap Matches during the spring. Included in those guest shots was a Texas Death Match in Richmond on July 18, 1975, where Wahoo again defeated Mulligan…this time at Blackjack's own specialty match.

Mulligan would not return to the Mid-Atlantic area in earnest until the autumn of 1975, when he would start his largely uninterrupted six year run for Jim Crockett Promotions that most fans remember him for.

May of 1975 had numerous big events as part of it, and would usher in June and the hot summer of 1975 with its own share of highlights. And at the very same time school was letting out in June, Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling would see the arrival of a "Professor," named Malenko.

WHO'S HOT

1. WAHOO MCDANIEL---During the month of May, Wahoo became one half of the NWA World Tag Team Champions, and also dispatched Blackjack Mulligan in a physical series of matches. The Chief was clearly on top of his game in May of 1975.
2. PAUL JONES---Jones also became one half of the NWA World Tag Team Champions in May, and in addition was the top challenger to both singles titles in the area. A terrific month for Mr. # 1.
3. JOHNNY VALENTINE---The "Champ" traveled less in the month of May, and had a number of memorable defenses of his Mid-Atlantic Heavyweight Title. With Paul Jones and Wahoo McDaniel becoming tag champions during the month, Valentine started seeing a singles challenge looming in the future from Olympic strongman Ken Patera.

WHO'S NOT

1. BLACKJACK MULLIGAN---The big Cowboy from Eagle Pass, Texas was thoroughly dominated in his feud during the month with Chief Wahoo McDaniel, to the point of his being run right out of the Mid-Atlantic area. However, as it turned out, fans would not have to wait long before seeing lots more of "Mully" in JCP.
2. GENE ANDERSON---Gene lost the fall that lost the World Tag Team belts to Jones and McDaniel in Greensboro. During bouts in May post May 15th, including some singles matches, Gene struggled as well.
3. OLE ANDERSON---Like his brother, Ole struggled to deal with the title loss on May 15th, and fought to get back on track in subsequent single and tag matches. However, June would be a much happier month for both Gene and Ole.



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