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 therefore largely forgotten in the annals of Crockett Promotions television history, especially compared to longer tenured hosts like Capral, Rich Landrum, David Crockett.
I recently came across an audio recording of an episode of Wide World Wrestling hosted by Dubuc from February 4, 1978. I was delighted to have the opportunity to document his contributions to Jim Crockett Promotions 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 was recorded on a handheld cassette recorder and is pretty low fidelity, especially given the condition of the cassette when it was unearthed. But you should be able to make it out.
In the early spring of 1978, Dubuc was replaced as host by George Scott, Crockett's booker at that time, with Tom Miller on color. 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 seem to exist of Debuc on the job at the wrestling tapings at WRAL, but we were able to locate some video of him calling a water-skiing tournament for ESPN in the early 1980s, and captured this still image of him alongside ESPN personality Kevin Slaten.
Not much has been learned about Dubuc's background, but we're always on the hunt for more information. We hope to provide some further information soon.
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.
