MID-ATLANTIC WRESTLING WARS

 

TERRY KAY feels the wrath of KURT VON STEIGER.

LES THATCHER applies a headlock on RIP HAWK. That's referee ANGELO MARTINELLI, with THATCHER's partner JOHNNY RINGO in the background.

Referee TOMMY YOUNG looks as PAUL JONES applies a hammerlock on RIC FLAIR at CHARLOTTE's PARK CENTER.

A rare sight---referee SAM 'LUCKY' ROBERTS raises the hands of EL GAUCHO and TINKER TODD in victory.

P.Y. CHUNG has GEORGE BECKER at his mercy.

INFERNOS manager J.C. DYKES asks a poor fellow to check his shoe size.

JOHNNY WEAVER and DORY FUNK JR. battle for the NWA WORLD title.

JOHNNY WEAVER

 

SUPER CARD IN LEXINGTON, NC

                                                                       May 24, 1969

LEXINGTON, NORTH CAROLINA

56 Years Ago

Power-packed action is offered wrestling fans in an all-star card at the LEXINGTON YMCA tonight, kicking off at 8:15.

The first of two big tag team matches will send the "BLONDE BOMBERS" RIP HAWK and SWEDE HANSON against the popular Texas twosome of NELSON ROYAL and PAUL JONES. The Texans are fast and high-flying, the "BOMBERS" mean and rugged, so the clash of styles could make for just a plain old battle.

Co-featuring the agenda will be a tag battle between the popular duo of Hawaiian SAM STEAMBOAT and partner MR. WRESTLING when they face the highly dangerous combo of THE INFERNOS. Interesting that STEAMBOAT is the only participant who doesn't hide his true identity behind a mask. Both teams have been on a winning streak lately, so something's gotta give in this one. Add in THE INFERNOS' crafty manager, J.C. DYKES, and anything might happen.

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

Rough PANCHO VALDEZ meets young RANDY CURTIS and fan favorite GREG PETERSON will contest BOBBY PAUL in the evening's first match.

THE MASKED SUPERSTAR (BILL EADIE)

 

STATESVILLE, NC WRESTLING

 Statesville, North Carolina wrestling fans (and I was one) were treated to THREE nights of JIM CROCKETT PROMOTIONS wrestling shows during the summer of 1966.

A perfect location for wrestling during the summer months...the wooden grandstand ball park similar to that in the movie BULL DURHAM. Sponsored by the COMMUNITY BASEBALL CLUB, who also gave us DOUBLE A BASEBALL at the same site. The ring was set up at home plate, surrounded by metal ringside seat chairs all around. The grandstand served as the General Admission area. The wrestlers entered the ring from the two dugouts.

No rainouts during the summer of 1966. THREE shows in TWO months.

As a fifteen-year old 'rasslin' fan, I found myself at all three shows parked in my $2.00 ringside seat.

This was the first card of the 1966 summer...

The match results are shown above.

For whatever reasons (maybe analysis would reveal why), two memories come back to me about this night.

(1) My cousin, who attended with me, spilled a cup of Coca-Cola on himself during the matches.

(2) One of The Masked Red Demons (either Billy or Jimmy Hines) came out of the dugout for the main event smoking a cigarette (through the mask), discarding it as he approached the ring. I thought to myself - "Athletes aren't supposed to smoke." Give me a break, I was a naive fifteen year-old who was reading FAMOUS MONSTERS and wrestling magazines, instead of PLAYBOY, at the time. (Don't worry, the PLAYBOYs came later.)

Regardless of my mental stability, I remember the evening fondly.

TULLY BLANCHARD, ARN ANDERSON, JAMES J. DILLON

 

BASHIN IN 1987 - - THE END WAS APPROACHING

 

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.

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.

ARGENTINA APOLLO

 

THE SUPER DESTROYER INVADES JCP

 

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 ROAD WARRIORS (HAWK AND ANIMAL)