ROYAL KANGAROOS - NORMAN FREDERICK CHARLES III & LORD JONATHAN BOYD

 

"KING KONG" ANGELO MOSCA

 

TEXAS ROYAL IN STATESVILLE TOWN

                                                                       May 20 1965

STATESVILLE, NORTH CAROLINA

59 Years Ago...

and I was there

MID-ATLANTIC TAG TEAM CHAMPIONS RIC FLAIR AND RIP HAWK

 

THIS TIME - - NO DQ

                                                                    January 27, 1968

LEXINGTON, NORTH CAROLINA

56 Years Ago

A potentially wild rematch, with a NO DISQUALIFICATION stipulation attached, headlines professional wrestling tonight at the LEXINGTON YMCA.

Indian favorites BOBBY RED CLOUD and CHIEF LITTLE EAGLE, winners in a disputed match last Saturday, will again square off against the tough Minnesota duo of LARS and GENE ANDERSON. The ANDERSON brothers are very angry over being disqualified last week, and with the NO DQ rule in effect, won't have to worry about that this time.

"We'll beat those redskins to pieces this time and send them back to their squaws on the reservation," a confident LARS ANDERSON stated. GENE nodded in agreement.

New faces in LEXINGTON will be seen tonight in other contests.

Another brother combo, this one Canadian, in the likes of TERRY and RONNIE GARVIN debuts tonight and will be matched against the very popular team of LES THATCHER and RUDY KAYE.

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

HIRO MATSUDA, a tough Jap, makes his initial appearance here when he faces BOB NANDOR, a winner last week.

CHIN LEE, a judo expert from China, debuts against big JIM GRABMIRE.

TANK MORGAN returns after a long absence to meet veteran ANGELO MARTINELLI in the 8:15 opening match.

TIM WOODS

 

RIP "THE PROFILE" HAWK

 

THE ASSASSIN (JODY HAMILTON)

 

MR. WRESTLING / TIM WOODS

 

AROUND CROCKETTLAND

 

RONNIE GARVIN takes time out to sign an autograph for a fan.

THE ROYAL KANGAROOS (LORD JONATHAN BOYD and NORMAN FREDERICK CHARLES III) rarely came out on the short end of a battle. Exception: A 'brass knuckles' war with JOHNNY WEAVER and ART NELSON.

'OUTLAW' RON BASS and JIM (J.J.) DILLON prepare to do battle.

Where's the referee?

MATTI SUZUKI is trying to choke the life out of SANDY SCOTT.

RICKY STEAMBOAT and RIC FLAIR join forces as a tag team.

FLAIR seems to like the idea.

Then fan favorite SWEDE HANSON 'helps' his arch enemy THE SUPER DESTROYER (DON JARDINE) back into the ring.

JOHNNY WEAVER

 

RICKY STEAMBOAT

 

SKULL MURPHY and BRUTE BERNARD

 

AND THAT IS ALL THE PEOPLE NEED TO KNOW

 

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.

THE DEAN OF WRESTLING

 

NELSON ROYAL

 

GEORGE BECKER versus JIM CROCKETT

 

Popular GEORGE BECKER left CROCKETT PROMOTIONS in 1971, but as it turned out, he did not leave the wrestling business.

"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.

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



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

MIKE GALLAGHER during his in-ring career.

MIKE and brother DOC formed a potent heel team in JCP during the late 1950s and early 1960s and often feuded with BECKER at the time.

Throughout his wrestling career, GEORGE appreciated his fans and was always accessible to them.

BECKER / GALLAGHER PROMOTIONS six man team of DIZZY McSHANE, ROCK RIDDLE and THE CONVICT.

DALE STARR works on the leg of DIZZY McSHANE in a match held in Gastonia, North Carolina.

McSHANE, RIDDLE and THE CONVICT do battle with DALE STARR and the VALENTINE BROTHERS, JIMMY and JERRY.

Going up against JIM CROCKETT PROMOTIONS in their hometown of Charlotte was a mountain too high to climb.

BLACKJACK MULLIGAN

 

DOUBLE MAIN EVENTS IN LEXINGTON

                                                                   November 4, 1967

LEXINGTON, NORTH CAROLINA

Top quality matches should pull in another large crowd for tonight's professional wrestling card at the LEXINGTON YMCA.

The current SOUTHERN TAG TEAM CHAMPIONS, GEORGE BECKER and JOHNNY WEAVER, will clash with the rugged duo PAMPERO FIRPO and THE MISSOURI MAULER in a best-of-three falls explosion, set for a one-hour time limit.

Neither the team title nor WEAVER's recently-acquired SOUTHERN HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP (which he took from the MAULER) is at stake, but exciting action is expected, and a FIRPO / MAULER win would guarantee them a championship match in the near future. Neither team has any positive feelings for one another, so anything could happen.

Another top tag battle with spectator appeal matches the prize Indian combo of BOBBY RED CLOUD and CHIEF LITTLE EAGLE against super bullies BRONCHO LUBICH and ALDO BOGNI. The Indians are on a current win streak in Lexington, one their opponents would like to stop dead in its tracks. This is two-of-three falls with a forty-five minute time limit.

Two singles matches are also set for tonight.

George 'TWO TON' HARRIS hopes to splash young, good-looking ALEX MEDINA and JERRY LONDON challenges the crafty veteran 'BULLDOG' LEE HENNING in the 8:15 p.m. opener.