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The
Mid-Atlantic
Gateway
presents
The
Top
15
Cards
Ever
in
Richmond
by
David
Chappell
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15
Index
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Number
4
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FRIDAY,
JUNE
6,
1979 |
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In Richmond’s top 15 Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling cards, there was only one card where the event achieved its lofty ranking due to one match, and only one match. This was the case for the card on Friday night, July 6, 1979. In fact, it could be said that the July 6, 1979 card achieved its status due to only one facet of one match---the unthinkable teaming up of former arch-rivals Ric Flair and Ricky Steamboat!
The main event of that hot July night in the Richmond Coliseum was Paul Jones and Baron Von Raschke defending their NWA World Tag Team Titles against the unlikely combination of Ric Flair and Ricky Steamboat. The pairing of former long-time enemies Ric Flair and Ricky Steamboat brought fans out of the woodwork, and sold out the Richmond Coliseum. The crowd was announced at 12,000, in a building that was supposed to hold no more than 11,000 people. The fire marshals apparently had the night off, as the raucous crowd was packed in like sardines, with many standing in the aisles. There were also hundreds and hundreds turned away at the door, as the lines to get into the Coliseum snaked around the building in a surreal sight never seen before or after at a Richmond professional wrestling event.
Ric Flair had been a Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling villain that the Richmond fans had loved to hate since his entrance into Jim Crockett Promotions in May of 1974. One of Ric’s bitterest rivals was Ricky Steamboat, who arrived on the scene in early 1977. The two fought over the Mid-Atlantic Television Title and the United States Heavyweight Title, and had some of the hardest fought matches that anyone could imagine. Overall, the Nature Boy had terrorized his “good guy” opponents for five years in the Mid-Atlantic area, and there appeared no end in sight to Ric’s wicked ways. |
Click Here For Larger Image
Listen
to
the Audio
Promos
for
this
card:
 Ric Flair, Ricky Steamboat and Rufus R. Jones
Paul Jones and Baron Von Raschke
(MP3 FILES)
|
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However,
in
April
of
1979,
some
unusual
things
began
to
happen
with
the
Nature
Boy.
In
the
Greensboro
Coliseum
on
April
22,
1979,
the
United
States
Champion
Ric
Flair
accompanied
Paul
Jones
to
the
ring
as
part
of
a
match
between
Jones
and
Ricky
Steamboat.
During
that
match,
as
Jones
and
Steamboat
battled
outside
the
ring,
Flair
attempted
to
help
Jones
by
swinging
a
chair
at
Steamboat.
Instead
of
hitting
Steamboat,
Ric
missed,
and
hit
Jones
with
the
chair!
While
Ric
called
the
chair
incident
an
“accident,”
Jones
called
the
situation
a
“double-cross.”
During
that
same
April
22,
1979
card
in
Greensboro,
Jones
got
a
measure
of
revenge
against
Flair.
While
Ric
was
wrestling
Jimmy
Snuka
later
in
the
evening,
Jones
came
out
of
the
audience
and
knocked
Flair
out
with
a
chair,
costing
Ric
the
match.
After
that
incident,
Flair
and
Jones
wrestled
each
other
during
the
months
of
May
and
June,
often
times
for
Ric’s
United
States
Title.
While
the
fan
reactions
were
mixed,
Flair
received
the
majority
of
the
fan’s
cheers
in
these
matches.
As
the
weeks
wore
on,
Ric
also
began
wrestling
Jones’
tag
team
partner,
Baron
Von
Raschke.
Since
Jones
and
Raschke
were
the
NWA
Tag
Team
Champions,
it
made
sense
for
Flair
to
consider
going
after
the
duo
as
a
tag
team.
However,
at
the
time,
Ric
was
the
U.S.
Champion
and
had
his
hands
full
in
singles
competition.
And
the
bigger
question
was,
who
could
possibly
be
Flair’s
partner
in
such
a
match?
The
Nature
Boy
had
made
enemies
of
Jones
and
Raschke,
and
others
on
the
“bad
guy”
side
of
the
ledger,
such
as
Ernie
Ladd,
were
questioning
the
way
Ric
was
acting.
And
at
the
same
time
while
wrestling
Jones
and
Raschke,
Ric
was
continuing
to
wrestle
“good
guys”
such
as
Steamboat,
Tony
Atlas
and
Dino
Bravo.
As
the
month
of
June
1979
was
coming
to
an
end,
it
became
pretty
clear
that
Ric
Flair
really
had
no
friends!
As
Flair
was
straddling
the
fence
between
being
a
good
guy
or
a
bad
guy,
a
memorable
event
occurred
on
Jim
Crockett
Promotions’
World
Wide
Wrestling
television
program,
that
out
of
the
blue
catapulted
Ric
into
the
fans’
open
arms.
On
the
taping
of
the
World
Wide
Wrestling
show
from
the
WRAL
studios
on
June
27,
1979,
Buddy
Rogers
attacked
Ric
as
Flair
was
demonstrating
the
figure
four
leg
lock
on
Len
Denton
on
the
studio
floor.
Discussing
a
match
that
had
occurred
in
Greensboro
on
June
17,
1979,
where
Rogers
was
a
referee
in
a
U.S.
Title
match
between
Ric
and
Dusty
Rhodes,
Ric
had
entered
that
TV
segment
as
the
bad
guy
and
Rogers
as
the
good
guy.
In
a
matter
of
a
couple
of
minutes,
the
roles
had
been
completely
reversed!
Even
with
the
slow
Flair
“good
guy”
turn,
the
actual
announcement
of
the
Richmond
match
pairing
Flair
and
Steamboat
as
a
team
still
left
the
fans
in
disbelief!
Seemingly
in
an
effort
to
convince
the
fans
that
Ric
Flair
and
Ricky
Steamboat
could
ACTUALLY
be
viable
tag
team
partners,
Flair
came
out
and
gave
Steamboat
$10,000,
telling
Ricky
that
was
his
pledge
to
him
that
he
wouldn’t
turn
against
Ricky
during
the
match
against
Jones
and
Raschke.
Steamboat
reluctantly
accepted
the
money,
and
the
unthinkable
was
apparently
going
to
happen…Ric
Flair
and
Ricky
Steamboat
were
going
to
be
tag
team
partners!
If
there
was
ever
a
“Super
Bowl”
feel
to
a
Mid-Atlantic
Championship
Wrestling
card
at
the
Richmond
Coliseum,
July
6,
1979
was
it!
And
it
was
all
because
of
the
unthinkable
pairing
of
a
true
“dream
team,”
Ric
Flair
and
Ricky
Steamboat!
Prior
to
the
match,
the
fans
appeared
equally
split
in
three
ways.
About
one-third
thought
that
the
match
just
wasn’t
going
to
happen…that
the
promotion
would
announce
that
something
had
happened
where
Flair
and/or
Steamboat
wouldn’t
appear.
Another
one-third
was
convinced
that
Flair
would
turn
on
Steamboat,
and
join
with
Jones
and
Raschke
to
beat
Steamboat
senseless.
The
final
one-third
thought
Flair
and
Steamboat
would
not
only
function
together
in
the
ring,
but
would
emerge
as
the
new
NWA
World
Tag
Team
Champions!
As
is
turned
out,
none
of
the
pre-match
speculation
would
come
to
pass.
When
Ric
Flair
and
Ricky
Steamboat
came
out
together
for
the
match,
there
may
never
have
been
a
more
deafening
roar
in
the
annals
of
the
Richmond
Coliseum!
The
“dream
team”
controlled
the
match
for
the
early
minutes,
coming
very
close
to
capturing
several
pinfalls.
The
most
anxious
moments
came
when
Jones
and
Raschke
got
Steamboat
in
severe
trouble
during
the
middle
of
the
match.
Would
Flair
actually
tag
Steamboat
and
come
in
and
save
Ricky
from
a
beating?
When
Ric
tagged
Steamboat
and
cleaned
house
on
Jones
and
Raschke,
that
might
have
been
the
second
most
deafening
roar
in
the
annals
of
the
Richmond
Coliseum!
After
that
moment,
the
fans
felt
confident
there
wouldn’t
be
a
double-cross
on
Flair’s
part,
and
settled
into
cheering
for
Flair
and
Steamboat
to
win
the
World
Tag
Team
Titles!
The
remainder
of
the
match
was
a
classic
back
and
forth
between
four
tremendous
competitors,
with
Jones
and
Raschke
having
their
moments,
but
the
action
generally
being
controlled
by
Flair
and
Steamboat.
While
Flair
was
soaking
in
the
cheers
of
the
fans,
he
hadn’t
changed
his
rulebreaking
style
to
any
great
degree,
but
those
in
attendance
didn’t
seem
to
care
one
bit.
The
match
ended
up
in
a
disqualification
win
for
Flair
and
Steamboat,
when
Jones
and
Raschke
made
a
second
save
which
dictated
an
automatic
DQ
under
NWA
rules
in
place
at
the
time.
But
for
that
second
illegal
save,
Flair
and
Steamboat
would
without
a
doubt
have
won
the
World
Tag
Team
Championship.
While
there
was
some
level
of
disappointment
in
the
outcome,
with
Jones
and
Raschke
retaining
the
World
Tag
Team
Championship,
the
fans
nevertheless
left
the
Coliseum
that
night
knowing
that
they
had
witnessed
something
very
special.
To
bolster
that
feeling,
and
something
unheard
of
at
that
time,
local
Richmond
television
stations
reported
on
the
happenings
at
the
Coliseum
as
part
of
their
late
newscasts!
Yes,
it
truly
was
a
happening!
The
other
matches
on
the
card
were
almost
an
afterthought,
though
all
of
the
wrestlers
on
this
card
knew
it
was
a
special
night,
and
performed
at
an
exceedingly
high
level.
In
the
semi-final
bout,
Rufus
R.
Jones
defeated
Gene
Anderson
with
a
“freight
train”
rush
and
vicious
head-butt.
In
1975
or
1976,
this
match
would
have
been
on
the
top
of
the
card.
However,
in
1979,
Gene
Anderson
was
wrestling
primarily
as
a
mid-card
singles
performer.
Rufus
had
recently
returned
to
the
area
before
this
bout,
and
while
still
a
main
event
performer,
was
not
at
the
level
he
was
several
years
earlier.
Nevertheless,
these
old
rivals
put
on
a
spirited
performance
in
a
bout
that
had
little
pre-match
buildup.
Former
NWA
Tag
Team
Champions
Jimmy
Snuka
and
Paul
Orndorff
defeated
the
rugged
duo
of
Kim
Duk
and
Sgt.
Jacques
Goulet.
This
was
the
best
match
of
the
night,
outside
of
the
main
event.
What
none
of
the
fans
knew
at
the
time
was
that
this
was
Snuka
and
Orndorff’s
last
match
as
a
team
in
Richmond.
Orndorff
was
about
to
leave
the
Mid-Atlantic
area,
never
to
return,
and
even
more
shockingly,
Snuka
was
about
ready
to
turn
into
a
hated
bad
guy,
managed
by
Buddy
Rogers!
In
a
bout
that
had
to
be
considered
as
an
upset,
young
Len
Denton
upended
former
WWWF
Champion
Pedro
Morales.
Denton
physically
overpowered
Morales
from
the
get-go,
to
post
an
impressive
win.
The
veteran
Morales
posted
virtually
no
offense.
In
the
first
tag
team
event
of
the
evening,
the
tandem
of
Gary
Young
and
Nick
DeCarlo
took
the
measure
of
Frank
Monte
and
Tony
Russo.
Young
was
the
star
of
this
contest,
effectively
and
consistently
out-maneuvering
his
slower
foes.
In
the
curtain
raiser
of
this
memorable
Richmond
Coliseum
spectacular,
Coco
Samoa
won
one
for
the
good
guys
with
a
victory
over
the
veteran
grappler
Rudy
Kay.
©
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