BECKER / WEAVER CONFRONT DEMONS

                                                                       June 18, 1966

LEXINGTON, NORTH CAROLINA

60 Years Ago

They wrestled apart here last Saturday, but the fans' favorite duo, GEORGE BECKER and JOHNNY WEAVER, are back together as a unit tonight at the LEXINGTON YMCA in pro wrestling action.

Bell time is 8:15 p.m.

And it looks as if they will have their hands full when they enter the ring to meet a newer team to this wrestling area, THE MASKED RED DEMONS.

Just as their name implies, this tag team hides their identities under red masks and are very rough in the ring.

BECKER and WEAVER issued the following statement concerning their main event match for tonight, "We don't know who these men are or where they come from, but since coming to the area, they've beaten some good teams. And just like HAWK and HANSON and BOGNI and LUBICH, they win any way they can, with no regard for the rule book. So we'll have our hands full. But we're going to try to put a stop to them before they can get a foothold here."

THE MASKED RED DEMONS had no comment.

Another tag team loved by the fans, TEX McKENZIE and NELSON ROYAL, will be on tonight's card and will face the rugged veteran duo of IKE EAKINS and EL GAUCHO.

Both tag team matches will go the best two-out-of-three falls.

GEORGE "CATALINA" DRAKE will return here after an absence to face LUTHER LINDSAY, North Carolina's own top Negro star. These two have teamed together in the past, so the match should prove interesting.

In tonight's opening match, up-and-coming star, young PAUL DEMARCO squares off against veteran JOHN GUDISKI.

BAD BOYS! BAD BOYS!

                                                                       July 28, 1969

CHARLOTTE, NORTH CAROLINA

PARK CENTER is a great venue for professional wrestling as proven over the years, but the building may not be able to handle the action tonight when two of the very roughest and brutal tag teams (and constant rule breakers) in the business collide head-on in the evening's headline attraction.

In what has to be billed as a BATTLE OF THE BULLIES, the skin headed duo of BRUTE BERNARD and SKULL MURPHY clash with wrestling's 'BLONDE BOMBERS' RIP HAWK and SWEDE HANSON. Sympathies to whichever referee is assigned the job of officiating this two-out-of-three falls contest. One may describe the match as two locomotives colliding at breakneck speed.

BRUTE BERNARD and SKULL MURPHY

RIP HAWK and SWEDE HANSON

EL LOBO

ABE JACOBS

JOHNNY HEIDEMAN

ROCK HUNTER

LES WOLFE

More tag team action is in store for fans attending tonight when the popular duo of New Zealander ABE JACOBS and his youthful partner LES WOLFE face the rugged ROCK HUNTER and his masked partner EL LOBO. No one seems to know the identity of EL LOBO, and if HUNTER actually does, he isn't talking. This is also a best-of-three falls match.

Two singles matches will open the 8:15 card when JESSE JAMES takes on TOM BRADLEY and the youngster MATTI SUZUKI faces veteran tough guy JOHNNY HEIDEMAN.

HIRO MATSUDA - GREAT JCP HEEL

 

MAKE WAY FOR THE SUPER DESTROYER

 

One of the epic battles between the masked villain and Swede Hanson

Swede not faring too well at this point.

Super D clamps 'the claw' on Swede's noggin'.

Sonny King feels the wrath of the Super Destroyer

The year was 1973. JIM CROCKETT PROMOTIONS brought back one of their most popular wrestlers, GEORGE SCOTT, not as a ring competitor, but rather as head booker. One of Scott's priorities was to shift emphasis from tag team competition to singles matches.

To accomplish this, Scott brought in a couple of top heels he felt could achieve the transition. One was Johnny Valentine. The other, a rugged, vicious man in a mask, known in many territories as THE SPOILER.

However, in MID-ATLANTIC CHAMPIONSHIP WRESTLING rings, he would be known as THE SUPER DESTROYER.

Regardless of his in-ring monocle, the man who wore the mask and pulverized his opponents was the 6' 4", 270 pound Canadian named DON JARDINE (1940-2006). Already in the pro wrestling business for nearly twenty years, Jardine was known as an incredibly agile worker for such a big man, known for 'walking the ropes' before lowering the boom on his competition. His ring style was rough and tough and, being the consummate 'heel', rule breaking was a big part of his m.o.

THE SUPER DESTROYER rose to main event level in JCP almost immediately, going against such greats as Johnny Weaver, Bearcat Wright, Wahoo McDaniel, Paul Jones, Rufus R. Jones and Sonny King.

A major program involving THE SUPER DESTROYER would be with a hooded 'babyface' who called himself THE AVENGER. The battle between these two escalated to a MASK VERSUS MASK battle in which the loser would reveal his identity. I witnessed the Greensboro, N.C. encounter between these two (seems like it was on Thanksgiving night) in which THE AVENGER was eventually pinned and revealed to be none other than Reggie Parks. This same type match was probably held in other cities as well.

However, the program with THE SUPER DESTROYER I enjoyed the most was his incredible matches with SWEDE HANSON. The long-time JCP heel, big SWEDE was now a single, as partner RIP HAWK had bolted to the newly-formed IWA. Swede joined forces with SUPER D as a new tag team, but things went sideways between the two, with the masked man humiliating Hanson after a defeat. From this point on, Swede turned 'babyface' and went after his ex-partner.

The two went from town-to-town in the MID-ATLANTIC territory fighting each other in mostly bloody battles. It would be Swede's swan song as a JCP main eventer. After this program, Hanson would finish his career as a mid-card wrestler, splitting his time between JCP and the then-WWF.

THE SUPER DESTROYER would continue on in JCP for a while, later leaving abruptly over 'corporate issues', with JCP announcing on its weekly wrestling programs he had been unmasked and showing Jardine's photograph without the mask.

Some thought this was not the most professional way to end things between the company and the employee, but we see things like this in the corporate world everyday, don't we?

THE MIDNIGHT EXPRESS (STAN LANE, BOBBY EATON, JIM CORNETTE)

 

A HOT SUMMER LEXINGTON NIGHT

                                                                     July 24, 1965

LEXINGTON, NORTH CAROLINA

GEORGE 'CATALINA' DRAKE

RON REED

(later wrestled as BUDDY COLT)

GEORGE BECKER

MIKE GALLAGHER

TONI ROSE

TINKER TODD

JOHN and CHRIS TOLOS

GEORGE 'TWO TON' HARRIS

A best two-out-of-three falls rematch between the stellar wrestling teams of GEORGE 'CATALINA' DRAKE and RON REED and brothers JOHN and CHRIS TOLOS, known as THE MICHIGAN WRECKING CREW, headlines a four match card tonight at the LEXINGTON YMCA.

Last Saturday, these two teams battled in an exciting and bloody match that ended in a NO CONTEST ruling by the official. The referee was forced to throw the match out for repeated disregard of the rules by both teams.

GEORGE BECKER will be on tonight's card in singles action against a long-time rival, rough and tough MIKE GALLAGHER, in the evening's semi-final contest. The match is also a best-of-three falls match.

In a special one fall event, girl wrestlers TONI ROSE and PEGGY ALLAN will have at it.

TINKER TODD faces GEORGE 'TWO TON' HARRIS, victorious last week, in the first match.

Bell time is 8:15 p.m.

THE MISSOURI MAULER - LARRY HAMILTON

 

RASSLIN' RESULTS

 

RALEIGH, N.C. - 1968

LARS, GENE and OLE ANDERSON defeated RIP HAWK, SWEDE HANSON and NELSON ROYAL.

GEORGE and SANDY SCOTT topped ALEX MEDINA and JESSE JAMES.

ABE JACOBS won from FRANK HICKEY.

THE AMAZING ZUMA bested 'BULLDOG' LEE HENNING.

CHARLESTON, S.C. - 1969

RIP HAWK and SWEDE HANSON lost to NELSON ROYAL and PAUL JONES.

JESSE JAMES and RANDY CURTIS beat PEDRO and PANCHO VALDEZ.

MATTI SUZUKI topped SONNY FARGO.

EL LOBO pinned RON CHARLES.

CHARLESTON, W.V. - 1969

SAILOR ART THOMAS, NELSON ROYAL and PAUL JONES bested ALDO BOGNI, BRONCHO LUBICH and GEORGE 'TWO TON' HARRIS in six man action.

BOBBY RED CLOUD toppled BOB GRIFFIN.

PANCHO VALDEZ and GREG PETERSON wrestled to a draw.

RALEIGH, N.C. - 1969

NELSON ROYAL, PAUL JONES and SANDY SCOTT topped LARS, GENE and OLE ANDERSON in six man action.

BOB GRIFFIN won from BOBBY PAUL.

GEORGE SCOTT bested PEDRO VALDEZ.

KOA TIKI pinned EL GAUCHO.

HARLEY RACE

 

SCOTTS FACE DEMONS

                                                                      June 25, 1966

LEXINGTON, NORTH CAROLINA

60 Years Ago

A big tag team battle, matching two swift-moving teams against one another, headlines tonight's four bout card at the LEXINGTON YMCA starting at 8:15.

The FLYING SCOTTS, GEORGE and SANDY, will take a crack at the hooded terror duo of THE MASKED RED DEMONS.

The SCOTT brothers are known for their fantastic aerial maneuvers, while the DEMONS are gaining a local reputation for having no regard for law and order. They conceal their identities behind crimson masks and have been racking up a huge win streak since arriving in this wrestling area. GEORGE and SANDY will try to derail this runaway freight train in the best two-out-of-three fall contest. They have a one hour time limit to do it.

JAN MADRID, a strutting bully, returns after a long absence to run head-on into the able ABE JACOBS in tonight's semi-final match.

GEORGE 'CATALINA' DRAKE meets ALEX MEDINA in a one-fall encounter.

KEN HOLLIS battles TONY NERO in the evening's first match.