Houston Wrestling

Continuing with our recent peeks at the old territory TV shows, here is a nice shot from Paul Boesch's "Houston Wrestling" TV show. I love the studio look with the curtains in the background with a modified NWA logo hanging in front of the curtains. This was a standard look for lots of wrestling TV shows in the 1970s.

Promoter and TV host/commentator Paul Boesch interviews Chief Wahoo McDaniel before showing footage of a match where Wahoo challenged Ric Flair for the NWA world championship at the Sam Houston Coliseum in 1985. Wahoo was reigning United States champion in the Mid-Atlantic area and wore the title belt in the ring in Houston before the match with Flair.

Footage of this interview and the Flair/Wahoo title match can be seen on the NWA Classics 24/7 video on-demand service, which contains the entire Paul Boesch Houston video library. Check them out. Full details at NWACLassics.com.

David Crockett at WRAL (1981)

Promoter and broadcaster David Crockett in the studios of WRAL
television in the summer of 1981.

Saturday Wrestling (December 1973)

Back in the territory days, before national cable networks existed, Saturday was the primary day for the 1-hour wrestling shows syndicated to local TV markets.

By December of 1973, Jim Crockett Promotions had discontinued the local studio tapings in Charlotte and High Point and consolidated everything to Raeligh's WRAL-5 studio. Also around this time, the simultanious local TV taping for the Raleigh market (which had it's own soundtrack hosted by Elliot Murnick) ended. The promotion taped two seperate hours of television each Wednesday night in Raleigh, both titled "Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling." One was hosted by Bob Caulde, the other by Les Thatcher. The Caudle broadcast went to all of Crockett's TV markets. The "B" show hosted by Thatcher went to a 2nd station in a market where the "A" show was already on. (In 1975, the "B" show was repackaged as "Wide World Wrestling.")

Here is a sampling of stations and times where wrestling aired in North and South Carolina in the Mid-Atlantic territory for December 15, 1973. Notice that both the Florida and Georgia TV shows had select clearances in the territory, and occasionally a few of their top guys (particularly Dusty Rhodes) would be booked on Crockett's shows in Greensboro and less occasionally Charlotte.


TV Listings for December 15, 1973


CHARLOTTE
WBTV Ch. 3 Charlotte NC (CBS)
4:00 PM Mid-Atlantic Wrestling (time approximate after NFL football)

WRET (WCNC) Ch. 36 Charlotte NC (Ind.)
6:00 PM Championship Wrestling From Florida
7:30 PM Georgia Championship Wrestling


RALEIGH/DURHAM
WRAL Ch. 5 Raleigh NC (ABC)
11:30 PM Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling

WRDU (WRDC) Ch. 28 Durham NC (NBC)
3:00 PM Championship Wrestling from Florida


GREENSBORO/WINSTON-SALEM/HIGH POINT
WGHP Ch. 8 High Point/Greensboro/Winston-Salem NC (ABC)
11:30 Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling


NEW BERN
WCTI Ch. 12 New Bern NC (ABC)
11:30 PM Championship Wrestling from Wrestling


GREENVILLE/SPARTANBURG/ASHEVILLE
WFBC Ch. 4 Greenville SC  (NBC)
1:00 PM Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling

WLOS Ch. 13 Asheville NC (ABC)
11:30 PM Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling (B-show)


FLORENCE SC
WBTW Ch. 13 Florence, SC (ABC/CBS)
4:00 PM Mid-Atlantic Wrestling (time approximate after NFL football)


"Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling" also aired on these other stations in the Mid-Atlantic area during this time in 1973:

WTVR-6 Richmond VA
WSLS-10 Roanoke VA
WAVY-10 Norfolk VA
WNOK-19 Columbia SC
WCSC-5 Charleston SC


The TV listings were partially drawn from a post on the Radio Discussions forum.

All-Star Wrestling with Ric Stewart (Kansas City)

Although technically not a "studio" shot, I love the old-school TV backdrops for the territory TV shows back in the 1970s and early 1980s. This backdrop was set up in Memorial Hall in Kansas City, KS for a TV taping of "All Star Wrestling" in the Central States area in the mid-1980s. The backdrop features an artist's rendition of a wrestling ring and the classic NWA logo with the title of the show "All Star Wrestling" across the top.

Seen here are former NWA champion Harley Race with Bruiser Brody and "All-Star Wrestling" co-host Ric Stewart. Brody fought NWA world champion Ric Flair on this particular show, and Race had gotten involved. (In fact, you will see some photos of the aftermath where Race handed Brody the NWA title belt in our ongoing "Great Pretenders" feature on the Ten Pounds of Gold website.)

Ric Stewart hosted "All Star Wrestling" in the Central States area with Kevin Wall, and they were one of the top broadcast teams of that era. Stewart later briefly worked for Jim Crockett Promotions after they acquired the Central States and St. Louis booking offices, and even appeared as a commentator for Starrcade '86.