BASHIN' IN 1987 - Getting close to the end of JCP

FLAIR and RHODES go at it again...

BIG BUBBA ROGERS throws BARRY WINDHAM for a loss.

DR. DEATH STEVE WILLIAMS lands one upside DICK MURDOCH.

RICK STEINER and STING, former partners, now feuding.

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JIM CROCKETT PROMOTIONS, into its sixth decade of operation, would soon be no more. The sale to TURNER ENTERTAINMENT was on the horizon.

In one of its final big programs, THE GREAT AMERICAN BASH was a month-long event, starting JULY 1 in Lakeland, Florida and ending July 31 at the ORANGE BOWL in Miami. But in-between these two Sunshine State shows, THE BASH journeyed as far west as Los Angeles and San Francisco, and north as Landover, Maryland. Cross-country shows were held in Chicago, Atlanta, Richmond, Cincinnati, Pittsburgh, Oklahoma City, Baltimore, Charlotte, Greensboro, Norfolk, Richmond, Dallas, Houston, Philadelphia and Cleveland, among others.

THE MAN FROM EAGLE PASS...

BJ has the upper hand over Wahoo in an Indian Strap match as referee Sonny Fargo looks on.

Look out Thunderbolt Patterson...Mulligan is coming in for a landing...

Former World Heavyweight Champion TERRY FUNK gets an idea of what size boots BJ wears...

The American Dream feels like anything but in this battle with BJ...

T-Bolt is about to become another BJ 'claw' victim...

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Wherever he wrestled, as a heel or babyface, he was 'over' big-time.

BLACKJACK MULLIGAN drew fans to the TV screen or the arenas like a flame attracts a moth.

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His MID-ATLANTIC feuds with Paul Jones, Wahoo McDaniel, John Studd, Bobby Duncam, Ric Flair and The Masked Superstar sold as many tickets as JIM CROCKETT PROMOTIONS could print.

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His interviews are as legendary as Paul Bunyan and Johnny Appleseed. Who will ever forget the stories of Odessa, Sweetwater, 'Spider Grip' and 'Reba Joe'?

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There has been a large number of 'cowboy' wrestlers throughout the years, but none were ever as colorful and entertaining as BLACKJACK MULLIGAN (Bob Windham).

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A TRUE HALL OF FAMER.

THEY WERE ONE "HOT" TAG TEAM...

-THE INFERNOS with Manager J.C. DYKES

JIM CROCKETT PROMOTIONS, throughout the 1960s, was known in the professional wrestling world as the top territory for tag team wrestling. Probably more than ninety percent of the time, a JCP card was topped off with a tag match.

The list of main event teams who worked the MID-ATLANTIC area is a 'Who's Who' of the greatest combos ever in the business.

Other than THE BOLOS, the best masked team to ever hit the Carolinas and Virginia was a couple of guys who went by the ring name of THE INFERNOS. Along side them was a red-headed manager J.C. (Jimmy) DYKES.

There were, through the years, several incarnations of the INFERNO team (and countless impersonators), but the original two 'blue tigers' (as Dykes often called them) were FRANKIE CAIN and ROCKY SMITH. Neither men were big in stature by wrestling standards, but could they ever work!

In interviews, DYKES claimed the duo was European and spoke little English. He was the only person who could really communicate with them well, and did much of it by the use of blowing a whistle during their matches to give them strategic commands.

The wrestling fans, to create problems for the evil trio, soon began bringing their own whistles to the matches. The areas would become deafening with several hundred whistles being blown at the same time. A great way for the fans to be involved in the match.

DYKES also carried a metal canteen to the ring, giving his men a needed refreshment between falls of their matches. Naturally, the metal canteen often found its mark on the noggins of many a 'babyface' opponent.

And it was not beneath the dignity of J.C. to throw an occasional fireball at their adversaries. I recall George Becker and Les Thatcher at the receiving end on two different occasions.

But the 'gimmick' of THE INFERNOS that got the most heat (and this team's heat was as hot as the sun) was the loaded boot.

For great insight into the loaded boot, go to Carroll Hall's submission on WRESTLING MEMORIES here: http://www.wrestlingmemories.com/specialfeatures.html

THE INFERNOS and DYKES drew big money in every territory they appeared, be it the Carolinas and Virginia, Florida, Texas, etc. They headlined countless wrestling cards facing each area's top teams (including other 'heel' teams).

J.C. DYKES died in 1993. ROCKY SMITH has also passed away. FRANKIE CAIN was the first to leave the team when he became pro wrestling's THE GREAT MEPHISTO.

RIC and RICK...Nobody Did It Better

RICK STEAMBOAT

RIC FLAIR

Referee TOMMY YOUNG insists the combatants follow the rules...

YOUNG looks on as FLAIR refuses his 'official' request...

Whether they were opponents or partners, the matches of Ric and Ricky lit up the JCP territory as much as anything during the 1970s and 1980s.

Steamboat has the upper hand (arm actually).

Flair returns the favor.

HARD TO FORGET THE GREAT BOLO

I specifically remember THE GREAT BOLO and BOLO wearing this garb when they returned to the Charlotte Coliseum in the late 1960s to face JACK BRISCO and TIM (MR. WRESTLING) WOODS.

THE GREAT BOLO and BOLO work over one of THE KENTUCKIANS in one of the biggest money-making feuds in pro wrestling history.

THE GREAT BOLO (Renesto) reaches for his 'foreign object' while working on BIG BOY BROWN of THE KENTUCKIANS. (Note the tape under the mask to cover Renesto's mustache.)

Big TEX McKENZIE works over the masked man.

Even bigger HAYSTACK CALHOUN tries to physically rip THE GREAT BOLO's hood off, along with the head the mask covers.

A 1961 posed photo of BOLO and THE GREAT BOLO when the two were working for JIM CROCKETT PROMOTIONS.

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From the time I first started pro wrestling on TV, I was fascinated by a mysterious man who wore a mask and went by the name THE GREAT BOLO. This rulebreaker was the top heel in JIM CROCKETT PRMOTIONS and drew money like nobody's business.

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Every week, all across the Carolinas and Virginia, droves of people tuned in and turned out to see the likes of GEORGE BECKER, 'Irish' MIKE CLANCY, CHIEF BIG HEART and GEORGE and SANDY SCOTT rip off the hood of this hoodlum so we could all find out who he was (not taking into account that just because we might see his face, we would automatically know his name), but that was a mute point.

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The mask of THE GREAT BOLO was his championship belt. To lose the mask was to destroy his wrestling career. Many years after the fact, we now know that THE GREAT BOLO was a superb grappler named TOM RENESTO. But according to an interview the late Mr. Renesto gave a few years before his passing, at the time, the other wrestlers did not actually know who was under the mask of THE GREAT BOLO. Promoter Jim Crockett demanded that Renesto travel alone and don the hood before entering the wrestling venue.

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Very similar scenario as the old-time movie serials in which the villains were named The Scorpion, The Wrecker, The Crimson Ghost , The Lightning, etc. Only in the last chapter would the identitly of the bad doer be exposed to the audience.

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But, ironically, the identity of THE GREAT BOLO would be revealed by only one person in the wrestling business. That person was...THE GREAT BOLO.

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A number of years after leaving JIM CROCKETT PROMOTIONS, THE GREAT BOLO (Renesto) and his partner BOLO (more on him later) were wrestling in Georgia as THE ASSASSINS when Renesto decided it was time to leave the business as an in-ring combatant.

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He removed his own mask, and THE GREAT BOLO was no more.

THE RIP HAWK and SWEDE HANSON FAN CLUB

The tag team combination of RIP HAWK and SWEDE HANSON was a duo wrestling fans loved to hate. And then again, many fans just loved them.

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I was one of those fans. Another was a young man named ROCK RIDDLE. ROCK was much more ambitious than I. He started a HAWK / HANSON fan club and actually had a convention for his 'BLONDE BOMBER' heroes (maybe more than one), and 'The Profile' attended.

Here's RIP and ROCK at the convention.

The meeting shall come to order (ROCK is at bottom left).

RIP and SWEDE taking care of business.

The 'BLONDE BOMBERS' actually being besieged by autograph seekers. (HAWK and HANSON were getting ready to wrestle THE MISSOURI MAULER and HIRO MATSUDA, so maybe that's why.)
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Young ROCK RIDDLE grew up and became a professional wrestler. He has a great website, and you can find it here:
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http://www.hollywoodsuccess.com/september_14,_2006.htm

TOP TAG TEAMS OF THE 1960s

A salute to five of the top tag teams who filled arenas all across the JIM CROCKETT PROMOTIONS territory during the 1960s...

Without question, THE tag team for nearly the entire decade...

GEORGE BECKER and JOHNNY WEAVER

PAUL JONES and NELSON ROYAL

KARL and KURT VON STEIGER

THE KENTUCKIANS
TINY ANDERSON and BIG BOY BROWN

THE MICHIGAN WRECKING CREW
JOHN and CHRIS TOLOS

THE ONE AND ONLY BRUTE

Dressed to the 'nines'...

Doing his thing...

THE MAN

On November 3, 2007, in Rocky Mount, Virginia, a tribute was held to celebrate the wrestling career of the man who, more than ANYONE else, was synonymous with the terms MID-ATLANTIC CHAMPIONSHIP WRESTLING and JIM CROCKETT PROMOTIONS...

JOHNNY WEAVER

Johnny getting the better of a long-time ring nemesis...George 'Two Ton' Harris.

Weaver in ring action.

Johnny's pin of Gene Anderson thwarted by 'brother' Lars Anderson.

Johnny shows Ole Anderson the quickest way to the mat.

THE MAN and me

JOHNNY WEAVER...the wrestling world will never have another like him.

GEORGE BECKER AFTER CROCKETT PROMOTIONS - Part 1

Today's entry is a bit of a stretch, considering this blog is a tribute to JIM CROCKETT PROMOTIONS. However, the center of the story is GEORGE BECKER, the wrestler who was one of the top performers in JCP for twenty years, so I hope you will indulge my expanding the limits.
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Popular GEORGE BECKER left CROCKETT PROMOTIONS in 1971, but as it turned out, he did not leave the business entirely.

"For many years, GEORGE BECKER has been one of professional wrestling's biggest stars. This fact is attested to by thousands of the sport's fans who have sent in votes for BECKER since his retirement a few months ago requesting GEORGE be inducted into the Wrestling Hall of Fame.
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BECKER, though retired from the mat, has not quit the wrestling business. He has become a promoter. He and MIKE GALLAGHER, another retired grappler, recently began their own wrestling company through an association with the SHAKEY'S PIZZA chain. Their small independent shows started up a few weeks ago (in and around Charlotte, North Carolina), and whether the two will be successful or not, is not yet known."

from an article by GENE GORDON in the July, 1972 issue of WRESTLING REVUE

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Even though the promotion did not last very long, I thought you might enjoy these rare glimpses of the BECKER / GALLAGHER promotion and some of the wrestlers on their roster.

Referee BUDDY WAYNE, wrestlers BILLY BLUE CLOUD and CHARLIE COOK.
COOK was a former Pittsburgh Steeler who previously had a successful run in Florida, often teaming with Jack and Jerry Brisco.

Action featuring BILLY BLUE CLOUD and THE BLACK MEDIC.

OX THE RIPPER choking CHARLIE COOK.
This match occurred in Kings Mountain, North Carolina.

THE VALENTINE BROTHERS

JERRY and JIMMY