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The early days of March 1979
likely had fans across the
Mid-Atlantic area excited
about the reemergence of two
of their favorite wrestlers
appearing back in the
territory. The towering
Texan from Eagle Pass,
Blackjack Mulligan, and the
great Indian Chief, Wahoo
McDaniel, both were back
wrestling in the area during
the first week of the month.
However, this excitement
proved to be short-lived, as
neither Blackjack nor Wahoo
would end up returning as
regulars back in the
territory for quite a while.
While announcing at the end
of February that he was
heading back to Mid-Atlantic
Championship Wrestling from
Texas, Blackjack Mulligan
only wrestled in the
Mid-Atlantic area two days
during the month of March.
On March 3rd in Spartanburg,
South Carolina, Mulligan
teamed with strongman Tony
Atlas in a Mid-Atlantic Tag
Team Title match against
champions Ken Patera and
John Studd, in a bout won by
the champs. The next day
Blackjack did a double-shot,
battling his arch-rival
Studd in single bouts in
both Asheville, North
Carolina and Greensboro,
North Carolina. Mulligan was
impressive in both matches,
but particularly so in the
Greensboro bout, where he
dominated Studd throughout
in route to a clean pinfall
victory.
“Number 99” Ernie Ladd even
made reference to
Blackjack’s very brief foray
back into the territory. On
the March 7th taping of the
Mid-Atlantic Championship
Wrestling program from the
WRAL studios, Ladd tweaked
Mulligan saying that
Blackjack had high tailed it
back across the Red River
because things were too
tough for him in the
Carolinas. And throughout
March, the “Big Cat”
continually taunted
Mulligan, saying Blackjack
was scared to come back to
the Mid-Atlantic area now
that Ernie Ladd was a
regular in the territory.
More of a surprise was the
brief return of Wahoo
McDaniel during the month of
March, as the Chief’s return
was not announced at all on
the Mid-Atlantic
Championship Wrestling
television programs.
Interestingly, Wahoo did the
same double-shot on March
4th as Blackjack did---what
a treat for those fans in
Asheville and Greensboro!
Wahoo faced reigning
Mid-Atlantic Heavyweight
Champion Ken Patera in both
towns in Title bouts. While
McDaniel did not walk away
from either town with Ken’s
belt, he did get the best of
Patera in both matches. In
Greensboro, the 7,129 fans
in attendance witnessed
Wahoo dominate the Champion,
although in the end, both
combatants were counted out
of the ring.
Wahoo popped back in the
area on March 25th for
another double-shot. On this
date, the Chief had two very
noteworthy matches! First,
in Asheville, Wahoo faced
off against his former
partner, Paul Jones, for
Paul’s Mid-Atlantic
Television Title! Wahoo no
doubt had a hard time
grasping Paul’s change of
attitude since he’d seen him
last, and Jones’ chicanery
allowed him to hold onto his
belt against Wahoo. Later in
the day in the Civic Center
in Roanoke, Virginia, Wahoo
and Ernie Ladd battled in a
match between former
professional football
players. Ladd took the
measure of McDaniel in a
hard fought contest, to the
great disappointment of the
3,800 fans in attendance.
United States Heavyweight
Champion Ricky Steamboat had
an active month in March
defending his prestigious
Title. Ricky’s defenses were
almost equally split between
bouts with former partner
Paul Jones, and with the
“Nature Boy” Ric Flair.
In Steamboat’s title bouts
with Flair during March,
several had the feel of
potential Title changes. In
Charlotte, North Carolina on
March 3rd and again in
Norfolk, Virginia on March
8th, Steamboat defended
against Flair in No
Disqualification, No Time
Limit and there Must Be A
Winner bouts. In both of
these see-saw encounters,
Ric appeared to be on the
verge of victory only to be
denied by Steamboat at the
very end. During the month,
Steamboat and Flair also had
two titanic battles in
successive weeks in Raleigh,
North Carolina. On March
13th, the two had an epic
struggle in Raleigh with
much of the action spilling
outside of the ring. The two
came back to Raleigh a week
later on March 20th, this
time in a raucous Lumberjack
Match. With the action
staying within the confines
of the squared circle for
the most part in this one,
Steamboat prevailed but not
without many tense moments!
March of 1979 also saw a
continuation of the series
of battles that occurred
between Steamboat and Paul
Jones, where Jones’
Mid-Atlantic Television
Title was at stake for the
first fifteen minutes of the
match, while Ricky’s U.S
belt was at stake for sixty
minutes. These matches were
ultra competitive, with
tremendous bad blood between
the two, but neither Jones
nor Steamboat could garner a
large enough edge to take
the other’s belt away. In
March, these two went at it
in Title matches in
Richmond, Virginia on March
4th, Columbia, South
Carolina on March 6th,
Savannah, Georgia on March
10th, Winston-Salem, North
Carolina on March 17th,
Fayetteville, North Carolina
on March 19th and
Greenville, South Carolina
on March 26th.
But perhaps the most
interesting Title bout
between Steamboat and Jones
occurred on the World Wide
Wrestling television program
that was taped from the WRAL
TV studios on March 7th.
Part of the ongoing “Dream
Match” series saw Jones
challenge Steamboat for his
United States Title! Jones’
TV Title was also at stake.
In a very rare U.S. Title
defense on television, it
appeared Jones had rolled up
Ricky for a pinfall win and
had won the United States
belt. However, guest
commentator Johnny Weaver
saw Jones
 pulling
Steamboat’s trunks during
the pin, and alerted referee
Stu Schwartz to that fact.
Instant replay slow motion
confirmed it, and Schwartz
then ruled that Steamboat
had retained his Title. But
Jones refused to return the
belt to Steamboat, prompting
a rare television appearance
by Jim Crockett, Jr.
demanding that Paul give the
belt back to Steamboat.
Jones reluctantly returned
the belt, but as he was
passing the belt back to
Steamboat, he hit Ricky with
a thrust to the throat that
temporarily disabled
Steamboat. What a wild
scene!
While Paul Jones had the
majority of his NWA
Television Title defenses in
the Title versus Title
confrontations with Ricky
Steamboat in March, Paul
also faced stiff challenges
from Dino Bravo, Tony Atlas
and Jimmy Snuka during the
month. Jones’ closest calls
during the month were Title
battles with Tony Atlas on
successive cards in Roanoke,
Virginia, Tony’s hometown.
On March 11th in the Roanoke
Civic Center, Jones and
Atlas participated in a wild
melee, which ended with both
combatants being counted out
of the ring. The two came
back to Roanoke two weeks
later in a Fence Match,
where neither wrestler would
be able to escape the
squared circle! With his
hometown crowd cheering him
on, Atlas captured a clean
win over Jones, but as the
victory occurred after the
fifteen minute mark, Jones
retained his belt despite
the loss.
A number of top Mid-Atlantic
stars went to Toronto twice
during the month of March,
and gave the Canadian fans
some fantastic action on
both occasions. On March
4th, the top of the Maple
Leaf Gardens card saw Ricky
Steamboat and Dino Bravo
defeat Ric Flair and Greg
Valentine when Flair threw
Bravo over the top rope
leading to a
disqualification at the
30:17 mark. While Valentine
was at this time wrestling
for the WWWF, this bout
would have been a
Mid-Atlantic grudge bout
just a month earlier! In
another bout on this star
studded card involving
Mid-Atlantic regulars, AWA
World Tag Team Champions Ray
Stevens and Pat Patterson
defeated Johnny Weaver and
Tony Atlas in a non-title
contest.
Toronto also saw a number of
big Mid-Atlantic stars at
the top of the Maple Leaf
Gardens card on March 25th.
Ricky Steamboat successfully
defended his U.S. Title with
a hard fought victory over
Ric Flair at the 18:06 mark
of an exciting match. Dino
Bravo defended his Canadian
Heavyweight Championship
when he was disqualified for
throwing challenger Greg
Valentine over the top rope
after 14:18 of furious
action. And finally, in a
bout pitting two sets of Jim
Crockett Promotions tag team
champions against each
other, NWA World Tag Team
Champions Paul Orndorff and
Jimmy Snuka bested
Mid-Atlantic Tag Team
Champions Ken Patera and
John Studd in 20:04.
Another Mid-Atlantic star
from the recent past, who
had been out of the
territory for quite a while,
returned to the area during
March of 1979. But much like
the “returns” of mid 1970s
stars Blackjack Mulligan and
Wahoo McDaniel, Ole
Anderson’s return was also
somewhat of a cameo
appearance. Ole and Gene
Anderson wrestled together
on the Mid-Atlantic
Championship Wrestling
television program that was
taped on March 14th. The
Minnesota Wrecking Crew
looked quite impressive in
that bout, easily disposing
of the young duo of Herb
Gallant and Gary Young with
their usual roughhouse
tactics.
While in the arenas Ole beat
Ric Flair in two brutal
Fence Matches, one in
Columbia, South Carolina on
March 27th and the other in
Richmond on March 30th, his
stated purpose for returning
to the Mid-Atlantic area was
for he and brother Gene to
go after the NWA World Tag
Team Championship, held by
Jimmy Snuka and Paul
Orndorff. The only Title
shot Gene and Ole got during
the month was on March 31st
in Charlotte, where the
young Champions took the
measure of their more
experienced opponents in an
impressive victory to retain
their belts.
While fending off Gene and
Ole Anderson at the tail end
of March, NWA World Tag Team
Champions Jimmy Snuka and
Paul Orndorff also had to
fight off spirited
challenges for their belts
earlier in the month. One of
the most interesting was a
Title defense the Champions
had with the diabolical duo
of Paul Jones and Baron von
Raschke in Fayetteville,
North Carolina on March 5th.
Snuka and Orndorff seemed
caught off guard by the
viciousness that Jones and
the Baron exhibited, but
were able to right
themselves before it was too
late and retain their prized
belts.
Another team that emerged as
threats to Snuka’s and
Orndorff’s Titles in March
was the gigantic duo of
Ernie Ladd and big John
Studd. What a physically
imposing duo! The Champs
battled this mammoth team in
Lynchburg, Virginia on March
9th and then again on March
27th in Raleigh. While Snuka
and Orndorff walked out with
their belts on each
occasion, the sheer size and
power of Ladd and Studd gave
them fits.
Mid-Atlantic Heavyweight
Champion Ken Patera started
a competition on
Mid-Atlantic Championship
Wrestling television on the
March 7th TV tapings where
he put $500 in a fish bowl
and would give the money to
any competitor who could
defeat him in ten minutes.
Ken also promised to up the
amount $50 each week for
future challengers. On the
Mid-Atlantic Championship
Wrestling television show
that was taped at the WRAL
TV studios on March 14th,
Patera put up $550 against
the noteworthy challenge of
the athletic Skip Young.
Patera prevailed in this
matchup in a very
competitive bout. An even
better match in this series
occurred on the Mid-Atlantic
Championship Wrestling
television show that was
taped on March 28th. At this
point, $650 was at stake
when Patera wrestled the
always dangerous Don
Kernodle. Patera managed to
hold onto his money on this
occasion, but Kernodle gave
him quite a run for his
money!
Patera also put his
Mid-Atlantic Heavyweight
Title belt on the line a
number of times during the
month of March. Starting off
the month with the two
defenses against Wahoo
McDaniel, Ken finished the
month with a clean pinfall
victory in a defense against
Johnny Weaver at the
Richmond Coliseum on March
30th. In between, Patera
retained his championship
over top contenders Dino
Bravo, Tony Atlas and Jay
Youngblood. County Hall in
Charleston, South Carolina
was the site of Patera
defenses in back to back
weeks during the month of
March. On March 9th in
Charleston, Dino Bravo took
Patera to the limit, but in
the end Ken’s tricky tactics
allowed him to emerge with
his belt intact. Things
weren’t any easier for
Patera on March 16th when he
battled Tony Atlas in a
contest that pitted strength
against strength. Despite
the urgings of the many fans
in County Hall, Patera again
managed to pull through and
retain his Mid-Atlantic
Title.
Throughout the month, Patera
also continued to hold onto
his other belt, that being
one half of the Mid-Atlantic
Tag Team Championship with
John Studd. But other than
their Title defense victory
over Blackjack Mulligan and
Tony Atlas early in the
month, the Mid-Atlantic Tag
Team Titles were not
defended in March. With the
NWA World Tag Team Titles
continuing to gain in
prestige, it was beginning
to seem as though the
Mid-Atlantic Tag Team Titles
were an afterthought.
WHO’S HOT
1. Paul Orndorff and Jimmy
Snuka---The NWA World Tag
Team Champions held onto
their belts, and were
impressive against a wide
array of opponents,
including Paul Jones and
Baron von Raschke, Ernie
Ladd and John Studd and even
the returning Minnesota
Wrecking Crew, Gene and Ole
Anderson.
2. Ernie Ladd---“The Cat”
certainly made his giant
presence felt during the
month of March, dominating
the vast majority of single
matches he participated in.
And even in tag team
competition, Ernie had
strong outings with John
Studd and Ernie Ladd as his
partners.
3. Baron von Raschke---The
Baron was quite impressive
in his first full month back
from his suspension levied
by the NWA at the end of
1978. In March, the Baron
was moving steadily up the
singles ranks, and had
success on the tag team side
pairing with Paul Jones and
Ernie Ladd.
WHO’S NOT
1. Paul Jones---“Mr. # 1”
maintained hold of his NWA
Television Title during the
month, but he dropped a
number of his bouts, but was
fortunate that his losses
occurred after the 15 minute
time limit where the Title
was no longer at stake.
Additionally, despite
numerous opportunities, Paul
was unable to win Ricky
Steamboat’s United States
Title.
2. Blackjack
Mulligan---After a promising
buildup that Mully was
crossing the Red River and
coming back to the
Mid-Atlantic area in March,
Blackjack only wrestled a
few matches in the territory
during the early days of
March. Blackjack’s fans
would have to wait a number
of more months to see their
hero back in the area as a
regular.
3. Ken Patera and John Studd---The
Mid-Atlantic Tag Team
Champions only had a single
defense of their belts
during the month of March.
While these two formed an
impressive team, it was
disappointing that they
chose not to defend their
belts with any type of
regularity.
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Copyright © 2011 David Chappell •
Mid-Atlantic Gateway
Posted 6/29/11 |
