A LOT OF BEEF

April 21, 1962

LEXINGTON, NORTH CAROLINA

55 Years Ago

Fan favorite GEORGE BECKER will be back at the LEXINGTON YMCA tonight in wrestling action.

The popular BECKER will meet the rough and tough PANCHO VILLA, the Mexican with an impressive winning record in the business, in the evening's headliner. Bad blood already exists between these two, and the two-out-of-three falls battle is expected to be a wild one.

HAYSTACK CALHOUN, the world's largest professional wrestler, returns to town and will meet the rugged SWEDE HANSON in the semi-final best-of-three falls contest.

Negro girl wrestlers, SWEET GEORGIA BROWN and DIANA BEAMON, meet in a special event.

The 8:15 opening match sends REGGIE PARKS against "JUDO" JACK TERRY.

ROGERS DEFENDS TITLE AGAINST STEINBORN

September 15, 1956

LEXINGTON, NORTH CAROLINA

61 Years Ago

Wrestling attendance may have been lagging a bit at the LEXINGTON YMCA in recent weeks, but it gets a major shot in the arm tonight with a double main event attraction that would grab notice in any arena in the nation.

Local sponsors of the grappling business are making plans to pull a big attendance for tonight's slate that includes tag team and singles action.

One of ringdom's most colorful individuals, "NATURE BOY" BUDDY ROGERS, a great (but disliked) WORLD HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPION from the Northeast, makes his local debut for the main event. The strutting blonde-headed genius will have his hands full because he'll be opposing one of the fastest-rising young stars in the business, DICK STEINBORN.

This is a match that STEINBORN has been requesting since hearing the Champ was headed this way.

ROGERS' championship could seriously be challenged in this two-out-of-three falls title match.

Tonight's tag team match could well be one of the best-ever presented in the 4500 seat YMCA arena.

It's one the fans demanded themselves.

It sends the glamour gentlemen of the sport, GEORGE BECKER and JACK WITZIG against those roughest of mean men, KARL VON HESS and SKULL MURPHY. Fans have wanted to see BECKER and WITZIG get a chance to lamblast these villains, and tonight, it comes to fruition. They'll battle for the best-of-three falls.

The opener tonight should also be a corker, because it matches the explosive young LEN ROSSI against the stubborn Texan roughie, "LARRUPIN" LOU PLUMMER.

BOGNI AND LUBICH DEBUT IN LEXINGTON

March 9, 1963

LEXINGTON, NORTH CAROLINA

ALDO BOGNI

FRANK VALOIS

JOHNNY RUBBERMAN WALKER
(later MR. WRESTLING 2)

HOMER O'DELL and BRONCHO LUBICH

LEXINGTON YMCA

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Professional wrestling returns tonight to the LEXINGTON YMCA following a two week layoff due to basketball tournaments.

JOHNNY 'RUBBERMAN' WALKER will face TONY 'CRUSHER' ANGELO in the main event.

Popular young LARRY HULIN (from nearby Asheboro) will pair up with LOUIS BONE to face the duo of FRANK VALOIS and ALDO BOGNI. BOGNI, a rugged competitor from Argentina, is making his local debut tonight.

Another newcomer to the area, BRONCHO LUBICH, who is accompanied by his manager, HOMER O'DELL, takes on fan favorite EDUARDO CASTILLIO in one of the pre-lims, while Negro stars JIMMY BALLARD and PAUL HARRISON square off in the 8:15 opener.

COLOR PHOTOS - A RARE COMMODITY

All of the wrestling magazines of the past, going back as far as sixty years, were great. I guess we all had our favorites (I always liked WRESTLING REVUE). But one thing missing (I suppose for cost purposes) were photos of our favorite grapplin' stars in full color. And I mean true color. Not the 'air-brushed' photos in which the artists who colored them must have been on some strange chemicals when they worked.

How in the world did THE INFERNOS end up on a magazine cover, and their outfits were orange?

I actually have such a magazine.

So, on the rare occassion, when a reader ran across a nice full-color picture of his favorite wrestler, it was special.

Here are a few that caught my eye...

CHIEF WAHOO McDANIEL

HARLEY RACE and NELSON ROYAL

I particularly like this photo because of the grouping of then NWA WORLD HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPION RACE, who for the most part was working 'heel' at the time, and NELSON ROYAL, a big-time 'babyface'.

RIC FLAIR, J.J. DILLON, TULLY BLANCHARD and an obvious young FOUR HORSEMAN fan

JOHNNY WEAVER

NWA WORLD CHAMP JACK BRISCO

Another WORLD CHAMPION - DORY FUNK JR.

and finally, MRS. BUTCHER's favorite son, ABDULAH

ANDRE THE GIANT versus ABDULLAH THE BUTCHER

THE SPOILER / THE SUPER DESTROYER

(DON JARDINE)

JOHNNY WEAVER versus J.J. DILLON

KILLER KARL KOX

MR. X 1 & 2

(GORDON NELSON & GEOFF PORTZ)

RIC FLAIR versus ANDRE THE GIANT

INTERESTING PHOTOS OF CROCKETT STARS

In doing research for future blogging topics, I have come across some photographs of a number of wrestling stars who, during their careers, entertained MID-ATLANTIC CHAMPIONSHIP WRESTLING fans throughout the many years.

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For a variety of reasons, these pictures jumped out at me as being "out of the norm", so I thought I would share them with you all...

DICK MURDOCH

Here is DICK with a farm animal.

Fill in your own caption on this one.

FRENCHIE LAMONT versus LORD LITTLEBROOK

No, this photo isn't printed wrong side up. It was taken this way, proving how acrobatic the 'midget' wrestlers could be.

I about freaked when I saw this one.

It's JIM 'BRUTE' BERNARD with a full head of hair.

A great backstage shot of three wrestling greats...

LITTLE BEAVER, BIG BOY BROWN (of THE KENTUCKIANS) and TIM (MR. WRESTLING) WOODS.

BARON VON RASCHKE

There have been many German-character wrestlers, and generally, they wrestled as 'heels' in the U.S., continuing the political turmoil between the two countries during two World Wars.

It was generally assumed that the German guys would wear the 'German Cross' as their symbol to the homeland, NOT Nazi emblems (for obvious political reasons).

So this really knocked me for a loop when I saw this photo of our beloved BARON VON RASCHKE breaking the wrestling tradition and utilizing the Nazi insignia in his character.

The BARON never used this in JCP. It was at a point in his career before he worked in the MID-ATLANTIC territory.

Here is MR. WRESTLING (TIM WOODS) at a wrestling show with MRS. WRESTLING (TIM's wife).

WALLY DUSEK

Many remember WALLY as the WGHP-TV wrestling show and GREENSBORO COLISEUM announcer. Here's a photo of when WALLY wrestled as one of the infamous DUSEK brothers.

THE PROFILE AND THE MEDICS

December 18, 1961

CHARLOTTE, NORTH CAROLINA

56 Years Ago

There's an old adage that "nice guys finish last," and that's the promise of the mystery team of THE MASKED MEDICS and RIP "The Profile" HAWK, joining forces to take on three "nice guys" at tonight's PARK CENTER wrestling card.

Opposing "The Profile" and THE MEDICS will be ABE JACOBS, LENNY MONTANA and DON McCLARITY, three tough cookies who prefer to wrestle cleanly. Just whether each trio will stick to its tested methods, and what the opposition will do if this is the case, will make for an interesting two-out-of-three falls main event.

The semi-final will send Indian CHIEF BIG HEART against rugged GYPSY JOE, and the main prelim squares off BILL PARKS against tough LAVERNE BAXTER.

The 8:15 opener bills HENRY PHILLIPS against "Roughhouse" SONNY FARGO for a one fall, twenty minute match.

FIFTY - TWO YEARS AGO

March 6, 1965

LEXINGTON, NORTH CAROLINA

THE BEAST

PEPPY GOMEZ

MIKE GALLAGHER

'IRISH' MIKE CLANCY

SANDY and GEORGE SCOTT


NICK KOZAK

'BULLDOG' LEE HENNING

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Professional wrestling returns to the LEXINGTON YMCA tonight following a two week layoff because of basketball tournaments, and two big tag team matches top the big card which begins at 8:15 p.m.

Crowd favorites THE FLYING SCOTT BROTHERS - - GEORGE and SANDY - - will face a new combo to the area in the form of THE ALASKAN and THE BEAST. This team is strong and rugged and totally unpredictable.

The second tag contest will pit the duo of dastardly MIKE GALLAGHER and 'BULLDOG' LEE HENNING facing the popular twosome of 'IRISH' MIKE CLANCY and NICK KOZAK.

Both tag matches are set for the best two-out-of-three falls.

Singles action finds TONY NERO meeting EDUARDO CASTILLIO, and PEPPY GOMEZ against 'TIGER' JACK VANSKY in the opener.

WHO WAS THAT MASKED MAN?

THE SUPER DESTROYER

(DON JARDINE)

Shown here with another JCP veteran 'Lord' ALFRED HAYES, JARDINE wrestled as THE SPOILER in other territories.

THE MASKED SUPERSTAR

(BILL EADIE)

Successful in every territory he worked, primarily a 'heel', but did a 'babyface' turn in JCP against the ANDERSON ARMY. A nicer human being you'll never meet.

THE MASKED RED DEMONS

(JIMMY and BILLY HINES--this is JIMMY).

They terrorized the MID-ATLANTIC territory during the mid 1960s and were managed by GEORGE 'Two Ton' HARRIS.

MR. WRESTLING

(TIM WOODS)

The first masked 'good guy' I ever saw.

THE GRAPPLER

(LEN DENTON)

Having a previous run in the MID-ATLANTIC territory without the hood and using his real name, he became a main eventer in other territories, usually teaming with TONY ANTHONY as THE GRAPPLERS. He did return to JCP without ANTHONY for a short run as THE GRAPPLER (I wish it had been longer.)

BULLDOG HENNING GETS WORLD TITLE SHOT

February 17, 1969

CHARLOTTE, NORTH CAROLINA

48 Years Ago

Two men who have experienced the thrill of being a world champion are part of tonight's big wrestling card at the CHARLOTTE COLISEUM. Belltime is 8:15 p.m.

One is JOE LOUIS, known world-wide as the "BROWN BOMBER" and great champion of the boxing world. He held the heavyweight title for twelve years. LOUIS will confront wrestlers tonight in the capacity of special referee.

Also on the card is DORY FUNK JR., the newly-crowned WORLD HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPION of the wrestling universe. The Texan dethroned the long-time champ GENE KINISKI just last week. FUNK will make a title defense against the unpredictable and rugged "BULLDOG" LEE HENNING. The belt is on the line in a two-out-of falls match with a one-hour time limit.

Champ JOE LOUIS has been chosen by the NWA to police the SIX MAN TAG TEAM co-main event.

The battle finds GEORGE BECKER, JOHNNY WEAVER and SAILOR ART THOMAS going against THE MISSOURI MAULER, HIRO MATSUDA and their manager HOMER O'DELL (who will be in ring attire, not his usual tuxedo). This encounter will be of the NO DISQUALIFICATION venue, and the losing team will leave with empty pockets. Promoter JIM CROCKETT says the winning team gets both purses. It's also best-of-three falls. And with NO DQ and JOE LOUIS, anything is likely to happen.

Another tag team battle on tap will send the popular duo of ABE JACOBS and STEVE BOLUS against the rough and tough combo of RIP HAWK and SWEDE HANSON.

The ladies will shine tonight in the ring when PENNY BANNER takes on JEAN DORSEY.

Polynesian favorite KOA TIKI will face the Cuban native PANCHO VALDEZ in the one-fall opener.

An autograph session for the fans to meet their favorite wrestlers will take place before the matches begin.

An observation - - - "BULLDOG" LEE HENNING in a World title match?

By this time in his career, he was already "jobbing". Makes one wonder who else would be contenders for FUNK's belt - - - JESSE JAMES, BILLY SPEARS?

I was eighteen at the time. Maybe I should have had a shot at the championship.

A HOMETOWN WRESTLING SHOW

June 20, 1968

STATESVILLE, NORTH CAROLINA

49 Years Ago

And I was there...in my $2.00 ringside seat.

The main event ended in the third and deciding fall. MR. WRESTLING and THE AMAZING ZUMA won the match via disqualification when manager GEORGE "TWO TON" HARRIS illegally entered the ring and gave THE AMAZING ZUMA a "big splash."

The crowd went home happy.

A HOT AUGUST NIGHT

August 5, 1967

LEXINGTON, NORTH CAROLINA

50 years ago

THE SCOTT BROTHERS

RIP HAWK and SWEDE HANSON

HARU SASAKI

P.Y. CHUNG

NELSON ROYAL

THE AMAZING ZUMA

PEDRO GODOY

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Wrestling's 'BLONDE BOMBERS' RIP HAWK and SWEDE HANSON will be out to see if they can halt the winning streak of THE FLYING SCOTT BROTHERS, GEORGE and SANDY, in tonight's two-out-of-three falls main event at the LEXINGTON YMCA.

The SCOTTS, former WORLD TAG TEAM CHAMPIONS, have a victory string going, including a recent disputed win over HAWK and HANSON. RIP and SWEDE want another shot at GEORGE and SANDY and have predicted a win tonight.

The sizzling duo of NELSON ROYAL and THE AMAZING ZUMA face a tough test tonight when they face the crafty (some say sneaky) Oriental combo of HARU SASAKI and P.Y. CHUNG in the other best-of-three falls tag encounter.

In singles action, GENE DUNDEE will square off against JERRY LONDON, and in the 8:15 opener, two toughies, 'APACHE' BULL RAMOS and PEDRO GODOY will meet.