Legendary Joe McHugh introduces "Nature Boy" Buddy Rogers
I have a fondness for many of the old-school ring announcers. They all had a a certain flair for the dramatic, and made the introduction of any match seem special. The art of classic ring announcing went the way of the old smoke filled rooms that were the classic old venues in pro-wrestling.
One of my favorites might surprise you; the great Joe McHugh of the old W.W.W.F.
McHugh was a wrestling and boxing announcer going back to the 1950s, most famously with wrestling fans at the W.W.W.F. television tapings at Allentown, Pennsylvania's Agricultural Hall. When I first saw WWF "Championship Wrestling" on WOR-9 out of Secaucus, NJ in around 1981, I thought to myself, "Now THAT is a ring announcer."
This is an audio clip of McHugh introducing "Nature Boy" Buddy Rogers at
the Philadelphia Spectrum in the mid-1980s. I loved the way McHugh included the
historical mention of Rogers being the only man (at that time) to have
held both the NWA and WWF world titles. Those details mattered, and
meant something to fans in that era.
The audio of that introduction is included here:
I always thought Joe McHugh and Raleigh's Joe Murnick (my favorite ring announcer of them all) were kindred spirits, at least in their ring announcing style, and both with accents of speech that clearly demonstrated from where in the country they hailed. They are both at the very top of my list.
(Edited from a post originally published January 2018 on the Mid-Atlantic Gateway.)
In the late 1970s, Roanoke promoter Pete Apostolou tagged a little promotional audio segment onto the end of the Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling program that aired on WSLS-10 in the greater Roanoke market. Apostolou was the local promoter for Jim Crockett Promotions. His own promotional company was called The Roanoke Sports Club.
After Bob Caudle would preview the matches for next week's show, you would hear the following:
"Mid-Atlantic Wrestling has been a presentation of WSLS TV-10 in association with the Roanoke Sports Club. Join us next Saturday afternoon for Mid-Atlantic Wrestling!
For complete information about sponsorship of wrestling matches in your area, contact the Roanoke Sports Club, Post Office Box 1855, Roanoke, Virginia, 24008."
This of course was only heard on the Roanoke version of Mid-Atlantic Wrestling, but was indicative of Apotolou's additional efforts to promote his towns in the Roanoke area, that included Lynchburg and other spot show towns.
Apostolou's headquarters for the Roanoke Sports Club was the Sportsman in downtown Roanoke, where advance tickets were always available for Aposolou's JCP wrestling programs at both the Civic Center and the famous Starland Arena.
INCLUDES RARE VINTAGE AUDIO Legendary wrestling announcer Ed Capral hosted Wide World Wrestling, a brand new program for Jim Crockett Promotions, from 1975-1978.
Capral was the longtime host for pro wrestling in Atlanta on channel 11 until the Atlanta wrestling wars of the mid-1970s, when he jumped ship to the upstart All South Wrestling promotion run by Ann Gunkle, the widow of the late Ray Gunkle, an amateur and pro wrestler who was a major star in the southeast. All South lost the war to the stalwart NWA wrestling promotion and Capral found himself without an announcing job.
Jim Crockett hired him to host their brand new program, and Capral brought his classic old-school announcing style to TV stations across Mid-Atlantic area.
Ed Capral with NWA World Champion Harley Race on the set of Wide World Wrestling.
We present here a vintage audio clip from of Ed signing off an episode of Wide World Wrestling in 1977 and previewing the matches that would be seen on the show the following week. That line-up, by the way, was loaded with talent including a young Tully Blanchard going up against NWA World Champion Harley Race.
For the record, here is match list Capral announced:
Harley Race vs. Tully Blanchard
Ric Flair & Greg Valentine vs. Roberto Soto & Jimmy Garvin
Dick Murdoch vs. Danny Miller
Ricky Steamboat & Paul Jones vs. Scott Irwin & Ricky Ferrara
Wahoo McDaniel vs. Charlie Fulton
And of course the familiar barter announcement and the classic Wide World Wrestling theme music plays along, one of my favorite TV wrestling themes of all time. (More on that music here.)
SALUTE TO THE ANNOUNCER Jim Carlisle, WRBL-TV, Columbus GA
Wrestling Revue Magazine, August 1972 (Includes rare audio clip below.)
Born, June 19, 1939, announcer Jim Carlisle of WRBL-TV, Channel 3, Columbus, Georgia, graduated from Jordan Vocational High School in Columbus in 1957. He's married to the former Miss Betty Ann Stokes of Columbus. They have one son — Derek Scott — born December 28, 1968.
Jim has been in the radio and television industry since December 2, 1955, having started while still in high school. He has worked at stations in Chattanooga, Tenn., Montgomery, Ala., Mobile, Ala., LaGrange, Georgia, and, of course, Columbus. Has now been with WRBL-TV, Channel 3, since September of 1965. Jim is very versatile on TV, having done just about every type of program that there is.
Jim Carlisle interviews Dick Steinborn
During the late 1960's, he did a very popular show for the younger set, called "Blast-Off with V-Man," a space-man type show. After V-Man appeared in a downtown Christmas parade one year, the Columbus newspapers came out with an article saying that V-Man drew more applause from the children, and seemed to be more popular with the children, than even Santa Claus himself.
Jim calls the action on TV Wrestling every Saturday afternoon at 4:00 on WRBL-TV.
He is also the ring announcer at the wrestling matches at the Columbus Auditorium every Wednesday night.
He also writes a column, "At Ringside With Jim Carlisle," for the official wrestling program which is sold every Wednesday night at the auditorium. He gives background information on the various wrestlers who see action in the Columbus ring.
All his wrestling activities are in association with promoter Fred Ward of Columbus.
Jim Carlisle in the ring
at the Columbus Municipal Auditorium
Jim's favorite past time and hobby is fishing. He goes just about every chance he gets. A member of the Loyal Order of Moose, Jim is a Past Governor of the Columbus, Georgia, Moose Lodge No. 1166. He is also a member of the Legion of the Moose.
Jim says that he enjoys his association with wrestling, and is glad the opportunity came his way a couple of years ago. His Saturday afternoon wrestling telecasts have proven to be extremely popular with the area fans.
Several of the wrestlers have told Jim that he is one of the best that they had ever heard at calling the action on TV. And, considering the fact that they had heard wrestling announcers all across the country, Jim considers this to be a great compliment.
Thanks to Carroll Hall for forwarding this article to us at the Mid-Atlantic Gateway.
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Editors's note: Jim Carlisle was also the host of "Macon Championship Wrestling" that aired on channel 9 in Macon, GA in the 1970s.
Here is an audio clip of a promo for a card in Macon in 1977 featuring the voice of Jim Carlisle.
The music bed underneath is the opening live instrumental fanfare on Neil Diamond's iconic live LP "Hot August Night."
Joe Murnick was the local promoter for Jim Crockett in Raleigh NC, Norfolk VA, and other towns in the 1960s and 1970s. But he was probably more famous during that time as the ring announcer for Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling.
Joe's voice and vocal style were unique and reminiscent of the classic old-school ring announcers going back decades. His ring introductions were one of my favorite parts of Mid-Atlantic Wrestling each week.
From time to time we'll post some of Joe's ring introductions as we come across them on audio tape archives. We hope they bring back good memories to those of you old enough to remember Mr. Murnick's smooth delivery. And for those of you too young to remember him, we are happy to expose you to one of the classic television voices in the history of Jim Crockett Promotions.
JOE'S CALL - July 20, 1974
Johnny Valentine vs. Bob Bruggers for 1000 Silver Dollars
Joe Murnick
This audio is part of a feature on the Mid-Atlantic Gateway looking back at how Johnny Valentine's infamous 1000 Silver Dollars became 2000 Silver Dollars in 1974.
Back in the mid-1970s, the television hosts for Jim Crockett Promotions would always run down the list of current champions that week. Bob Caudle, Les Thatcher, Ed Capral, Rich Landrum - - they would announce that the show was sanctioned by the National Wrestling Alliance and then list all of the champions, starting with the NWA world heavyweight champion.
In this example, Les Thatcher announces the NWA sanctioning and runs down the champions of the NWA in July of 1975.
From the 2nd hour of Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling taped 7/23/75 at WRAL in Raleigh:
Les Thatcher
Quite a distinguished list of champions!
NWA World Heavyweight Champion: Jack Brisco
NWA World Jr. Heavyweight Champion: Hiro Matsuda
NWA World Tag Team Champions: Gene and Ole Anderson
United States Heavyweight Champion: Johnny Valentine
Mid-Atlantic Heavyweight Champion: Wahoo McDaniel
Mid-Atlantic Television Champion: Ric Flair
Joe Murnick was the local promoter for Jim Crockett in Raleigh NC, Norfolk VA, and other towns in the 1960s and 1970s. But he was probably more famous during that time as the ring announcer for Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling.
Joe's voice and vocal style were unique and reminiscent of the classic old-school ring announcers going back decades.
From time to time we'll post some of Joe's ring introductions as we come across them on audio tape archives. We hope they bring back good memories to those of you old enough to remember Mr. Murnick's smooth delivery. And for those of you too young to remember him, we are happy to expose you to one of the classic television voices in the history of Jim Crockett Promotions.
JOE'S CALL - April 1976 - Wahoo McDaniel vs. Jim Lancaster
(This post mirrors a post on the Mid-Atlantic Gateway.)
During the years that wrestling was taped at WRAL channel 5 in Raleigh (1959-1981), admission was free for the 300 or so folks that could be seated on the bleachers in studio A, but you had to write in for tickets.
Each week Bob Caudle would tell viewers the address in which to send request for tickets:
That was in the mid-1970s. It was so simple then, you didn't even need a PO Box number or a zip code. Just Tickets, WRAL TV, Raleigh, North Carolina. Later, they would add the PO Box 12000.
Over the years, the tickets changed in appearance. By the end of the run at WRAL, they were actually sending you a letter instead of tickets.
I'm not sure which I format I liked better! The tickets are very cool, but the letter I received in April of 1981 to attend my one and only taping at WRAL was very special for different reasons. It was on Jim Crockett Promotions letterhead and had the Mid-Atlantic and Wide World Wrestling logos at the bottom, as well as the logo for the other family business, the Charlotte O's baseball team.
All of the logos were in color, and I've always regretted not making a color copy of the letter. But color copiers were very rare in 1981, and even if you found one, the copy was very expensive to make.
I am fortunate to have been able to attend a taping at WRAL. Four months after my visit, in August of 1981, Jim Crockett Promotions moved the taping of the show to WPCQ-36 studio in Charlotte.
