Wednesday, April 4, 2018

Russ Dubuc: The Lost Voice of Wide World Wrestling

by Dick Bourne
Mid-Atlantic Gateway

In the late fall of 1977, Jim Crockett Promotions replaced Ed Capral as the host of their syndicated program "Wide World Wrestling" with a fellow by the name of Russ Dubuc. I've long thought of Russ Dubuc as the "lost voice" of Wide World Wrestling. He only hosted for a few months and is largely forgotten in the annals of Crockett Promotions television history.

I recently came across an audio recording of an episode of Wide World Wrestling hosted by Dubuc from February 4, 1978. I thought I would document his contributions to studio wrestling here with a sample of his voice from that program.

In this clip, Dubuc is making viewers aware of how they can get their very own Wide World Wrestling bumper sticker. At the end of the clip you'll briefly hear the voice of Ricky Steamboat, his guest color-commentator for the week. The audio is pretty low fidelity, but you should be able to make it out.




Dubuc was replaced as host by booker George Scott and Tom Miller in the early spring of 1978. Miller was a popular regional radio personality and friend of the promotion. He had co-hosted "Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling" with Bob Caudle in the summer of 1976, and would later become the regular ring announcer at the Greensboro Coliseum.

No photos exist of Debuc on the job at the wrestling tapings at WRAL, but we were able to locate some video of Russ calling a water-skiing tournament for ESPN in the early 1980s, and captured this still image of him with ESPN personality Kevin Slaten.


Not much is known about Dubuc's background, but we're always on the hunt for more information. We hope to provide some further information soon.

Russ Dubuc may not be widely remembered by Mid-Atlantic area wrestling fans, but his contributions to Jim Crockett Promotions and studio wrestling at WRAL in Raleigh will be remembered forever here on the Studio Wrestling website and the Mid-Atlantic Gateway.

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Wide World Wrestling Theme Music 1975-1978
Check out this post on the Mid-Atlantic Gateway with streaming audio of the "Wide World Wrestling" theme music used during the time Russ Dubuc was host of the program.


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