Longtime fans of Jim Crockett Promotions television will remember the popular syndicated program Wide World Wrestling (later known as World Wide Wrestling). The major hosts of that program over the years were Ed Capral, Rich Landrum, David Crockett, and Tony Schiavone. But even the most hardcore JCP fans may have forgotten a fellow who hosted that show in the late 1970s due to his relatively short tenure - - Russ Dubuc.
In the late fall of 1977, Jim Crockett Promotions parted company with host Ed Capral, the longtime Atlanta TV wrestling host who came to JCP after being pushed out of Georgia politically on the wrong side of the NWA/Gunkel wrestling wars of the mid-1970s. He became the inaugural host of Wide World Wrestling when JCP launched the new show in 1975. JCP replaced Capral with a local Charlotte radio and TV personality by the name of Russ Dubuc.
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I've long thought of Russ Dubuc as the "lost voice" of Wide World Wrestling. He was only on the job with JCP for about five months. Since none of those episodes exist anymore, and it only aired in about 60% of the Crockett TV markets at that time, Dubuc is largely forgotten in the annals of Crockett Promotions television history. And it was, after all, over 46 years ago.
Dubuc had been both a radio and TV presence in the Charlotte area for roughly a decade, most notably as an AMS-certified meteorologist for WSOC channel 9 television, where he appeared on both the 6 PM and 11 PM newscasts. At that time he was the only AMS certified meteorologist in the Charlotte demographic market.
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| 1970 ad for WSOC's Eyewitness News featuring Russ Dubuc |
Russ remembers it was Jim Crockett, Jr. who called him and offered him the job. Crockett was familiar with Dubuc's work at channel 9.
In a telephone interview, Russ told me about some of his memories of his short time in the wrestling business. On Wednesday afternoons, the day of the week wrestling was taped at WRAL television studios in Raleigh, he would meet with others at a parking lot on highway 150 in Concord and carpool up to Raleigh for the day. He would typically travel with someone from the office, and that also occasionally included wrestlers.
The wrestlers he remembered working with the most on TV included Ric Flair, Wahoo McDaniel, Blackjack Mulligan, Ricky Steamboat, and a few others. He loved the work, and had been a huge fan of wrestling himself before getting the gig, but did express frustration over how he was thrown right into the fire hosting the show without much preparation. He wasn't "smartened up" at all, and was told to simply call it as he saw it. He felt that limited his performance for them somewhat.
But his most vivid memory of his time in wrestling wasn't in the television studio behind the mic. It had to do with traveling back and forth to Raleigh. His exact words: "Wahoo McDaniel was a maniac!" He laughed as he told about how Wahoo drove like a wildman and would often blow past the car Russ was traveling in at very high rates of speed.
AUDIO RECORDING
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 the early spring of 1978, Dubuc was replaced as host of Wide World Wrestling by Tom Miller. Booker George Scott, Crockett's booker at the time, co-hosted the program. Russ thought they probably weren't happy with him. But the only explanation he was given at the time was that he was taller than most of the wrestlers and that wasn't a good look on TV. Oddly, "Truckin'" Tom Miller was nearly as tall.
No photos seem to exist of Dubuc 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.
Russ worked in many fields over the years. In addition to his work as a weathercaster for WSOC in Charlotte and his short stint as host of Wide World Wrestling, he also ran a water-skiing school in Davidson, NC and was a snow skiing instructor and worked ski patrol in Brekenridge and Vail, Colorado. He was the lead actor in a 1977 film shot in Charlotte called "Another Son of Sam." He was a top sales person for BG Distributors in Raleigh, NC, and later owner of the BG distributorship in Wichita, Kansas. He now owns and operates his own travel business, RD Travel Limited, Inc., a Kansas City travel agency.
Teacher, trainer, broadcaster, actor, salesman, business owner, travel advisor - - - add to that waiting tables, dirt track racing announcer, radio DJ, and wrestling announcer, and you have a very well-traveled and well-rounded individual. A very nice fellow, too. I enjoyed our telephone conversation. As fans, we are proud to call him a Jim Crockett Promotions alumnus.
- Dick Bourne
Mid-Atlantic Gateway
Thanks also to Carroll Hall
Updated April 2024
from an original post in April 2018
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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