The month of May 1979
started with NWA World Tag
Team Champions Paul Jones
and Baron Von Raschke
defending their newly won
belts against former champs
Jimmy Snuka and Paul
Orndorff on May 1st in
Raleigh, North Carolina at
the Dorton Arena. Jones and
Raschke retained their belts
on May 1st, and these two
teams battled against each
other all the way to the
last day on the month, when
the champs again walked out
with their Titles in Winston
Salem, North Carolina on May
31st in a unique combination
Texas Tornado/Fence Match.
The ferocity of the bouts
between Jones and Raschke
and Snuka and Orndorff in
many ways defined the month
of May 1979 in the
Mid-Atlantic Championship
Wrestling area. The crafty
Champions slowly but
tenaciously gained control
over the talented, but
increasingly desperate,
challengers as the month
wore on. To determine who
the best team was, the
promotion had these four
battle against each other in
some interesting specialty
matches. Two 90 Minute Time
Limit Matches during the
month pushed all four
combatants to the limits of
their conditioning. The two
teams battled, once again,
in Raleigh on May 8th and
then again in Greenville,
South Carolina on May 14th
in exhausting 90 Minute Time
Limit bouts, with Jones and
the Baron emerging with
their Titles.
Columbia, South Carolina saw
two of the rowdiest Title
bouts between Paul Jones and
the Baron and Snuka and
Orndorff. On May 22nd, the
four were matched up in a
Texas Tornado championship
bout, and with all four in
the ring at the same time
and things couldn’t have
been crazier! Promoter Henry
Marcus brought the two teams
back together in Columbia
the next week, on May 29th,
and this time they were
matched up in a Fence Match.
Despite a number of near
falls against them, Jones
and Raschke scored an
impressive win that went a
long ways towards snuffing
out for good the Title
challenges of Snuka and
Orndorff.
While Paul Jones was active
in the World Tag Team Title
battles detailed above, he
also maintained a hold on
the NWA Television Title
during the month of May.
Jones’ TV Title was a stake
in any singles bout during
the first 15 minutes, but
two matches that were billed
specifically for Jones’ TV
Title during May deserve
special mention. On May 6th,
Jones battled former partner
Ricky Steamboat in
Asheville, North Carolina
for Jones’ NWA Television
Title in a particularly
rugged encounter. Then in
Savannah, Georgia on May
19th, Paul put up his TV
belt against none other than
Rufus R. “Freight Train”
Jones! Paul was able to
stall out the 15 minutes,
before Rufus head-butted
Paul for the victory.
Despite having plenty to
keep himself busy with in
May, defending two belts,
Paul Jones nevertheless
couldn’t let go of a match
that had occurred back in
April, specifically a match
on April 22nd in Greensboro,
North Carolina between Jones
and Ricky Steamboat.
According to Ric Flair,
Jones asked him to come down
to the ring with him and
“hold his hand” in that
bout. Flair said he sat down
in a chair at ringside, and
proceeded to watch Steamboat
pummel Jones all over the
Coliseum. Out of a sense of
obligation to Jones, Ric
went to Jones’ aid and
attempted to hit Steamboat
with a chair but Ricky
ducked, and Flair instead
nailed Jones with the chair,
according to Flair,
“strictly by accident.”
As one could well imagine,
Paul Jones had a different
take on the above events.
Paul said he asked Flair to
come to the ring in
Greensboro to take his ring
jacket back to the dressing
room, and then that’s when
Flair was a “turncoat” and
“double-crossed” him by
hitting him with a steel
chair. Later in the evening,
when Flair was wrestling
Jimmy Snuka, Jones got his
revenge by interjecting
himself in that match and
hitting Flair with a chair,
costing Ric the match!
These two episodes with
steel chairs created some
extremely bad blood between
Jones and Flair, which
managed to stay under wraps
for several weeks. But
rather than this episode
fading into the background,
it actually escalated as the
month of May wore on. The
“Nature Boy” called Jones a
“little punk,” and Jones
countered that Flair
couldn’t accept the fact
that Paul Jones was Number
One. And by the end of the
month of May, Paul Jones and
Ric Flair were actually
wrestling against each
other!
The first bout in May where
Jones and Flair wrestled
against each other was on
May 20th in the Greensboro
Coliseum, when Jones and
Raschke defended their World
Tag Team Titles against
Flair and big John Studd in
a tag team “Battle of the
Bullies” contest that was as
nasty as it could be, with
the champs coming out
victorious. Then later in
the month, Jones and Flair
squared off twice for
Flair’s United States Title,
where Jones’ NWA TV Title
was also at stake for the
first fifteen minutes. Both
matches were mass-mayhem,
which ended predictably in
Double Count Out finishes.
The first occurred in
Charlotte, North Carolina on
May 26th and more of the
same bitterness between
Jones and Flair took place
in the Roanoke Civic Center
on May 27th.
Prior to the U.S. Title
bouts against Paul Jones at
the end of the month, Ric
Flair had a steady stream of
successful United States
Title defenses against the
area’s top good guys. Ric
and Ricky Steamboat had
several classic U.S. Title
bouts in May, with perhaps
the best being a grueling 60
minute draw in Columbia,
South Carolina on May 8th.
The strongman Tony Atlas
also gave Flair all he could
handle in May. In Norfolk,
Virginia on May 10th, the
“Nature Boy” pulled out a
hard-fought victory over
Atlas, but Tony turned the
tables two weeks later in
Norfolk, on May 24th, when
he beat Ric by
disqualification in a match
where none other than Rufus
R. Jones served as the
special referee!
Speaking of Rufus, the
“Freight Train” had several
exciting United States
Championship matches against
Ric Flair during the month
of May. Two in particular
were extremely rugged
contests. In Spartanburg,
South Carolina on May 12th
and then at the Richmond
Coliseum on May 18th, Rufus
dominated the bouts against
Ric with his head-butts,
only to have the Nature Boy
purposely get himself
disqualified at the end to
be able to walk out with his
Title belt intact on both
occasions.
The big card in Canada
during the month of May
featuring the stars of
Mid-Atlantic Championship
Wrestling occurred on May
13th at the Maple Leaf
Gardens in Toronto. The
highlight of that card saw
Ric Flair successfully
defend his United States
Heavyweight Championship
against the challenge of
Ricky Steamboat by pulling
Steamboat’s trucks at the
20:17 mark of an action
filled bout. Dino Bravo was
also on this super
spectacular card in Toronto,
defeating Greg Valentine in
14:08 but was unable to lift
Valentine’s Canadian
Heavyweight Championship
belt. Valentine was not
active in the traditional
Mid-Atlantic area during the
month, making only an
appearance on the taping of
the Mid-Atlantic
Championship Wrestling
television show on May 23rd
defeating Gary Young.
Rounding out the
Mid-Atlantic matches on this
Toronto card, Johnny Weaver
and Jay Youngblood took the
measure of Len Denton and
Sgt. Jacques Goulet in the
time of 6:35 in one of the
preliminary bouts.
An exciting newcomer came on
the Mid-Atlantic
Championship Wrestling scene
during the month of May.
“Jumping” Jim Brunzell from
White Bear Lake, Minnesota
came flying out of the
gates, defeating Sergeant
Jacques Goulet in his first
match in the territory on
May 14th in Greenville,
South Carolina. Coming from
the AWA where he was
primarily a tag team
specialist, Brunzell told
the Mid-Atlantic fans that
he had come to the
Mid-Atlantic area to see if
he could “cut the mustard”
as a singles wrestler.
Brunzell was definitely a
“high flyer,” who had an
exceptional standing drop
kick and a lethal spinning
toe hold. Jim had all the
tools, and had the look of a
major player as a
fan-favorite in Jim Crockett
Promotions by the end of the
month.
One of the championships
that Jim Brunzell would cast
his eyes upon shortly was
the Mid-Atlantic Heavyweight
Championship belt of Ken
Patera. However, during the
month of May, Ken would have
his hands full with top
challengers like Tony Atlas,
Rufus R. Jones and Ricky
Steamboat. But the wrestler
who gave Patera the most
trouble in May was the
strongman from Naples,
Italy, the Italian Stallion,
Dino Bravo.
On the Mid-Atlantic
Championship Wrestling TV
show that was taped on May
23rd, Patera and Bravo
squared off over Patera’s
“money challenge,” which at
this point in time was up to
$800. The rules were that if
Dino defeated Ken by pinfall
or submission within 10
minutes, Dino would get the
money and a Mid-Atlantic
Heavyweight Title Match.
However, before the match
even officially started,
Patera attacked Bravo and
clamped the swinging full
nelson hold on him. Somehow
Dino managed to escape that
deadly hold, and by the end
of the 10 minutes had Patera
trapped in the abdominal
stretch. Patera was able to
hold on until the 10 minutes
elapsed, and the bout ended
in an unsatisfying draw.
The result on the May 23rd
TV show led to a new
challenge the next week on
TV involving Dino Bravo. The
TV challenge for the
Mid-Atlantic Championship
Wrestling show that was
taped on May 30th had Bravo
matched against Patera’s
good friend, John Studd. If
Dino defeated Studd, he
would win $850 and receive a
Mid-Atlantic Title Match
against Ken. Unfortunately,
the Bravo-Studd challenge
match didn’t happen on May
30th. Patera came out and
told the viewing audience
that Studd missed his flight
in San Francisco because the
DC-10 airplanes had been
grounded across the nation.
Bravo didn’t buy the excuse,
and the new challenge for
the next week on
Mid-Atlantic Championship
Wrestling was for Studd to
wrestle Bravo, and if Dino
won by pinfall or
submission, or if Studd
didn’t show up again, Dino
would be $900 richer and get
a Mid-Atlantic Title match!
Also during the month of
May, Patera and Bravo had
two particularly bitter
Mid-Atlantic Title bouts in
successive weeks in the port
city of Charleston, South
Carolina. On May 11th,
things got completely out of
control to the point that
promoter Henry Marcus felt
compelled to bring Patera
and Bravo back to Charleston
on May 18th, this time in a
Title match where there
would be two referees! The
return bout was every bit as
crazy as the first, where
even TWO referees couldn’t
control the action! But
because Bravo couldn’t
secure a clean pinfall in
either match, Patera
continued to hold on
precariously to his
Mid-Atlantic Heavyweight
Title belt.
In addition to being the
Mid-Atlantic Heavyweight
Champion, Ken Patera also
technically held one-half of
the Mid-Atlantic Tag Team
Titles with partner and good
buddy John Studd. However,
the Mid-Atlantic Tag Titles
were not defended in the
month of May, and appeared
to be vanishing from the
scene. A very disappointing
turn of events for many
Mid-Atlantic fans, who
remembered the rich heritage
that the Mid-Atlantic Tag
Team Titles had over the
years.
WHO’S HOT
1. Paul Jones---Jones was
one-half of the World Tag
Team champions, with a
number of successful title
defenses over Paul Orndorff
and Jimmy Snuka, during the
month of May. Jones also
held the NWA TV Title during
the month. And Jones was
even feisty enough to mess
with Ric Flair during the
month!
2. Jim Brunzell---The
high-flyer Jumpin’ Jim
Brunzell was quite
impressive in his first
several weeks in the
territory. While slight of
stature, Jim’s quickness,
his standing drop kick and
well executed spinning toe
hold were strengths shaping
up to be problems for a lot
of the area’s “bad guys.”
3. Ric Flair---The “Nature
Boy” kept an iron grip on
the prestigious United
States Heavyweight
Championship during the
month of May. And if that
wasn’t enough, he started
mixing it up with fellow
rule breaker Paul Jones!
WHO’S NOT
1. Paul Orndorff---Perhaps
frustrated with his
inability to recapture the
World Tag Team Titles with
partner Jimmy Snuka,
Orndorff’s performance was
slipping in his singles
matches as well. It wouldn’t
be long before Orndorff was
out of the Mid-Atlantic area
all together.
2. Jimmy Snuka---The
“Superfly” also had a very
frustrating month, seemingly
in a position on multiple
occasions to reclaim the NWA
World Tag Team Titles, but
coming up agonizingly just
short on each occasion.
3. Dino Bravo---Frustration
also characterized Dino
Bravo’s month of May. After
multiple shots at Ric
Flair’s U.S. belt in April,
Dino also couldn’t snare Ken
Patera’s challenge money, or
more importantly, Ken’s
Mid-Atlantic Heavyweight
Championship in May.
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