A fond look back at the great days of JIM CROCKETT PROMOTIONS professional wrestling.
Saturday, December 30, 2023
Friday, December 29, 2023
AROUND THE CROCKETT TERRITORY
Traveling the MID-ATLANTIC CHAMPIONSHIP WRESTLING territory from Norfolk to Columbia...
COLUMBIA, S.C. - 1966
JOHN and CHRIS TOLOS topped GEORGE and SANDY SCOTT.
ANGELO MARTINELLI beat RAY DURAN.
'ROWDY' RED ROBERTS lost to GORY GUERRERO.
JOHN and CHRIS TOLOS topped GEORGE and SANDY SCOTT.
ANGELO MARTINELLI beat RAY DURAN.
'ROWDY' RED ROBERTS lost to GORY GUERRERO.
LEXINGTON, N.C. - 1967
GEORGE BECKER and JOHNNY WEAVER won over KURT and HENRY VON STROHEIM.
THE MISSOURI MAULER defeated TEX McKENZIE.
NELSON ROYAL pinned EL GAUCHO.
PAUL DEMARCO lost to BULL RAMOS.
GEORGE BECKER and JOHNNY WEAVER won over KURT and HENRY VON STROHEIM.
THE MISSOURI MAULER defeated TEX McKENZIE.
NELSON ROYAL pinned EL GAUCHO.
PAUL DEMARCO lost to BULL RAMOS.
LEXINGTON, N.C. - 1968
RIP HAWK and SWEDE HANSON beat TEX McKENZIE and NELSON ROYAL.
TINY MILLS and STEVE STANLEE won from RICK HUNTER and JERRY LONDON.
P.Y. CHUNG pinned BOB NANDOR.
LUTHER LINDSAY topple JIM GRABMIRE.
RIP HAWK and SWEDE HANSON beat TEX McKENZIE and NELSON ROYAL.
TINY MILLS and STEVE STANLEE won from RICK HUNTER and JERRY LONDON.
P.Y. CHUNG pinned BOB NANDOR.
LUTHER LINDSAY topple JIM GRABMIRE.
CHARLESTON, S.C. - 1966
GEORGE and SANDY SCOTT bested THE GREAT MALENKO and 'BIG' BOB ORTON.
ALDO BOGNI and BRONCHO LUBICH with HOMER O'DELL wrestled BILLY TWO RIVERS and SUNI WAR CLOUD to a draw.
STEVE BOLUS whipped IKE EAKINS.
CORSICA JEAN won over KEN YATES.
ABE JACOBS topped TONY NERO.
GEORGE and SANDY SCOTT bested THE GREAT MALENKO and 'BIG' BOB ORTON.
ALDO BOGNI and BRONCHO LUBICH with HOMER O'DELL wrestled BILLY TWO RIVERS and SUNI WAR CLOUD to a draw.
STEVE BOLUS whipped IKE EAKINS.
CORSICA JEAN won over KEN YATES.
ABE JACOBS topped TONY NERO.
NORFOLK, VA. - 1966
RIP HAWK and SWEDE HANSON lost to BRONCHO LUBICH and ALDO BOGNI with HOMER O'DELL.
KARL GOTCH and ALEX MEDINA topped HANS SCHMIDT and IKE EAKINS.
GORY GUERRERO wrestled ROGER KIRBY to a draw.
LUTHER LINDSAY downed JACK DANIELS.
RIP HAWK and SWEDE HANSON lost to BRONCHO LUBICH and ALDO BOGNI with HOMER O'DELL.
KARL GOTCH and ALEX MEDINA topped HANS SCHMIDT and IKE EAKINS.
GORY GUERRERO wrestled ROGER KIRBY to a draw.
LUTHER LINDSAY downed JACK DANIELS.
Thursday, December 28, 2023
Monday, December 25, 2023
A CROCKETT CHRISTMAS CARD
December 25, 1969
CHARLOTTE, NORTH CAROLINA
54 Years Ago
Promoter JIM CROCKETT has slated another CHRISTMAS DAY spectacular for the CHARLOTTE COLISEUM, starting at 8:15 p.m.
It is a charity card with a FENCE MATCH set as the headliner.
This type of match takes place inside a seven-foot high steel barrier, which eliminates any escape routes by the combatants.
The two teams confined will be fan favorites GEORGE BECKER and JOHNNY WEAVER and the angry twosome of SKULL MURPHY and BRUTE BERNARD.
In their last meeting, MURPHY enlisted the aid of a steel chair, smashing WEAVER's head into a bloody mess, then bolting to the dressing room. The fence will prevent MURPHY (or anyone else) from doing it this time.
This main event is set for two-out-of-three falls, within a one-hour time limit.
"Two other tag team matches are booked on tonight's card," said CROCKETT.
ABE JACOBS and LES WOLFE will face KURT VON STROHEIM and ART NELSON in one of them.
In the other, SAILOR ART THOMAS and LUTHER LINDSAY will collide with GENE and OLE ANDERSON, the MINNESOTA WRECKING CREW.
"It's a wrestling card with something for everybody," said CROCKETT, pointing to the Christmas spirit of the event. "We'll also have midgets and girls as well."
Sunday, December 24, 2023
Saturday, December 23, 2023
CHARLOTTE CHRISTMAS WRESTLING - 1968
December 25, 1968
CHARLOTTE, NORTH CAROLINA
A total of eighteen professional wrestlers will participate in a charity program at the CHARLOTTE COLISEUM tonight, presented by JIM CROCKETT PROMOTIONS.
A FENCE MATCH is the top attraction this Christmas. SAILOR ART THOMAS, GEORGE BECKER and JOHNNY WEAVER face THE MISSOURI MAULER, HIRO MATSUDA and HOMER O'DELL in this specialty. A seven-foot chain link steel fence is to be rigged around the squared circle. Contestants will do-or-die to the finish in this match, as neither team will be able to escape before the match is over.
The MINNESOTA WRECKING CREW, GENE and OLE ANDERSON, will tangle with JIMMY and BILLY HINES in the semi-final best-of-three falls match. Fans may recall that the HINES brothers wrestled a few years back as THE MASKED RED DEMONS.
There will be a special ladies wrestling contest.
Midgets are also on this holiday variety card. LORD LITTLEBROOK will defend his mighty honor against THE MIGHTY ATOM.
"BULLDOG" LEE HENNING will be out to take down NELSON ROYAL in a one-fall contest.
The opener sends TINKER TODD against PAUL JONES.
Tickets are available at the NATIONAL HAT SHOP and the COLISEUM box office. Doors open at 7:00 and the matches begin at 8:15.
Friday, December 22, 2023
Wednesday, December 20, 2023
Monday, December 18, 2023
Friday, December 15, 2023
NOT REALLY BROTHERS versus NOT REALLY BROTHERS
January 25, 1969
LEXINGTON, NORTH CAROLINA
54 Years Ago
A rematch between the wrestling teams of GEORGE and SANDY SCOTT and THE MISSOURI MAULER and HIRO MATSUDA headlines tonight's wrestling at the LEXINGTON YMCA.
The popular FLYING SCOTTS lost to the villainous MAULER and MATSUDA last week when they were disqualified. This week it's NO DQ, so anything goes.
HOMER O'DELL will also be on hand managing his bullies. Last week, O'DELL was ordered away from the ring area by the referee before the match began. He plans to be around more tonight.
A super BATTLE OF THE BULLY BROTHERS is also set when two rule-breaking sibbling teams collide. It will be TERRY and RONNIE GARVIN meeting GENE and OLE ANDERSON.
Both tag team matches will be fought under the best two-out-of-three falls rules.
Popular STEVE BOLUS returns after a long absence to face tough TONY NERO.
The card opens at 8:15 with newcomer BOBBY PAUL squaring off against the rough veteran "BULLDOG" LEE HENNING.
Wednesday, December 13, 2023
JARDINE INVADES JCP AS 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?
Tuesday, December 12, 2023
Friday, December 8, 2023
Thursday, December 7, 2023
THE ANDERSONS WANT MORE
May 25, 1968
LEXINGTON, NORTH CAROLINA
---
Action should reach an exciting peak tonight at the LEXINGTON YMCA when the popular Texas duo of NELSON ROYAL and PAUL JONES and Minnesota brothers LARS and GENE ANDERSON clash in the wrestling main event.
It will be a best-of-three falls rematch of a thriller won in disputed fashion by the Texans last Saturday night. The ANDERSON brothers demanded another match.
War-dancing Indians CHIEF LITTLE EAGLE and BOBBY RED CLOUD meet another set of villains in 'BULLDOG' LEE HENNING and big JIM GRABMIRE in another team affair.
A scientific match is offered between BOB NANDOR and ABE JACOBS.
The card is completed with a contest between LUTHER LINDSAY and FRANK HICKEY.
Action gets underway at 8:15.
Wednesday, December 6, 2023
Monday, December 4, 2023
Saturday, December 2, 2023
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