If you were a professional wrestling fan during the 1960s and / or 1970s, and happened to reside in the JIM CROCKETT PROMOTIONS territory known as the MID-ATLANTIC WRESTLING area, you were one lucky person!
Wrestling was HUGE almost everywhere in the U.S., and JCP was no exception.
Sooner or later, nearly every giant in the business (and I don't necessarily mean Andre), worked for the CROCKETT family, and MID-ATLANTIC fans were the recipients
of this good fortune.
I used to journey to Charlotte's PARK CENTER on Monday nights as frequently as I could, shell out a mere $2.00-$2.50 for a ringside seat and watch top wrestlers in top matches. Even adjusting for inflation, the $50.00-$75.00 needed for a ticket for the current wrestling product could not produce as much entertainment as those earlier times. The wrestlers knew how to work (and I don't mean just a select few). If a man couldn't work a good match, he made a quick exit from JCP. The booking was better, the matches were hotter and in those days, most of the fans 'believed'.
Perhaps I am a bit nostalgic, but how I wish I could turn back the clock so I could re-attend many of the shows I saw and see some I missed.
But, alas, time stands still for no one. So memories, photographs and what video footage is available will have to suffice.
I want a time machine for Christmas...
RIC FLAIR versus WAHOO McDANIEL
Their feud put FLAIR on the wrestling radar. He later owned the radar.
Tag Team action with DANNY MILLER, ART NELSON, SWEDE HANSON and CHUCK O'CONNOR (later JOHN STUDD).
GEORGE BECKER applies the 'abdominal stretch' to THE MISSOURI MAULER (LARRY HAMILTON).Remember the days when the 'stretch' was a submission hold?
RIP HAWK versus ART NELSON
Boy, did these two have some brutal 'taped fist' matches.
In this photo, ART tries to rearrange RIP's 'profile'.
NELSON ROYAL sends SWEDE HANSON high in the sky with a backdrop.
These two men were two of the very best JCP fans ever saw.
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