Johnny Weaver and Bob Bruggers make an Impact on A Young Man at WGHP

FROM THE GATEWAY MAILBOX: A LETTER TO THE GATEWAY FOLLOWING THE POSTING OF OUR WGHP STUDIO TELEVISION FEATURE

I spent many days at the TV tapings at High Point, and I got to know a lot of the guys, at least as well as a little kid that was star struck could. Two of my earliest memories are from those tapings.

Charlie Harville and Johnny Weaver at Channel 8

I never had a dad around, and even as a very young man I was already showing signs of going down a bad road. I was fighting and telling lies. My mom saw where this kind of thing could lead. Well one day after we went to the tapings at WGHP, she went to Johnny and talked to him for a few minutes, then she called me over. I was in awe. The studio was empty other than us. Johnny was sitting on the ring near were the seats were and I was standing there next to him looking up at my hero. My mom had let him in on my acting up, and he asked me what was going on. I really don’t remember what I said, more than likely not a lot, people that have known me for a long time would be shocked that I was ever at a loss for words, but I was then. I do remember that he asked what I wanted to do with my life, and I said with out a moments thought that I wanted to be a wrestler. He smiled and said if I acted right at home and did not give my mom problems, and did good in school, that he would one day teach me how to wrestle.

Well I thought of that many times in my life after that. I ended up only being 5'8", so I never did call him on it! But I have no doubt that it changed my life. I did stop telling lies, and tried to be a good person, and I to this day try my best to live a life where I help people. In just a few minutes he became my role model, and I will never forget that.

Then one day when we went to the taping, there where no seats left. I remember being upset that we would not be able to see the show, but then the coolest thing that could have happened to a kid happened. We ended up sitting with the wrestlers. 

There was a small room that led into the studio. After the people were in there seats the guys would come in and sit there waiting for their matches. The guys were talking, and sitting around. I was looking at the monitor seeing the show, and then someone sat next to me. I looked over and it was Bob Bruggers. He said hello and talked to me for a bit. I asked him about himself, and then he told me that he had played football for the Dolphins. WOW! That just blew me away. 

Growing up in High Point we had no teams around, and the team that I loved was the Dolphins. This was near the end of the tapings there, around 1974 I think. After a few minutes he went out and did his match. I can not even tell you how cool it was to sit there and watch him walk away and then he was on the screen in front of me. I was yelling for him to do well. I remember the guys getting a laugh watching me get so into it. 

Well you know what happened in 1975 not long after that. When the plane crash happened, I was in shock. When I heard he was in that plane, I felt that my friend was gone. What a damn shame that was, but I will always remember him for the kindness he showed a little kid one day in High Point. 

I have so many good memories from that point in my life, going to the shows in Greensboro, and Winston Salem, and all over really. Thank you for starting this website. It is great to have these memories, and to know I am not the only one that really misses the days when the best show in the world was in my backyard.

- Michael Roach
February 2006

"The Best of NWA Wrestling" with Johnny Weaver (1978)

Lots of folks remember that Johhny was a popular co-host of wrestling programs in the Mid-Atlantic area, first with Rich Landrum on World Wide Wrestling in the late 1970s and early 1980s, and then with Bob Caudle on Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling and NWA Pro Wrestling throughout much of the the 1980s. Not many folks may remember that Weaver briefly hosted his own wrestling show in the fall of 1978 called "The Best of N.W.A. Wrestling".

Originating from the studios of WCCB-18 in Charlotte, NC, Weaver would review tapes from the other Mid-Atlantic TV shows as well as special arena film, and would have studio guests there to offer commentary as well.

The program only lasted 13 weeks, and aired only in a few markets.  David Crockett conducting some of the interviews. Weaver had a different co-host each week, and they would review tape and film of matches both from the arena and also from previous broadcasts of Mid-Atlantic and World Wide Wrestling. Occasionally, tapes would be shown of matches from other NWA territories, usually from Florida or Georgia.

The studio was very small, and there was no ring set up for wrestling. There was a desk-set with an NWA logo behind it, and a separate interview set as well.

As a matter of trivia, WCCB was the original choice location for the weekly TV tapings when Crockett moved them from WRAL in Raleigh to Charlotte in 1981. That deal fell through, and the decision was made to move to the tiny confines of WPCQ-36 in Charlotte.

WCCB was located right next door to the old Charlotte Coliseum (now the Independence Arena/Cricket Arena).

MORE PHOTOS:

For more information on this program, including several photographs of Johnny on the set of his show, check out the following link on the Mid-Atlantic Gateway:

Studio Wrestling: WCCB in Charlotte

Television Wrestling History: WRAL-5 Raleigh, NC

WRAL TV in Raleigh is the studio location most closely associated with Jim Crockett Promotions and Mid-Atlantic Wrestling. Studio A at WRAL was the site of weekly TV tapings for over three decades. By 1974, all of the remaining regional taping locations (WFBC, WGHP, WBTV) had ceased, and all Crockett TV taping was consolidated into this location.

At that point, two versions of Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling were taped, one hosted by long time Raleigh announcer Bob Caudle, the other hosted briefly by Sam Menacker and then regularly by Les Thatcher. The Thatcher-hosted "B" show replaced WGHP's Championship Wrestling in markets where it was also syndicated at the time. (Example: Asheville's WLOS-TV).  On October 8, 1975, a new program called Wide World Wrestling, hosted by long time Atlanta wrestling announcer Ed Capral, replaced the Thatcher version of Mid-Atlantic Wrestling. Thatcher would continue to do the local promo spots to be inserted in the local broadcast of each show. (Thatcher also produced and hosted the Southeastern Championship Wrestling program for Ron Fuller in Knoxville, TN. during this period.) Capral left the promotion in late 1977 and was replaced by Tom Miller and George Scott. On the weekend of October 7, 1978, Rich Landrum became the permanent host of the show, which was renamed World Wide Wrestling.

Bob Caudle's main co-host was David Crockett through the WRAL period. Tom Miller filled in during the summer of 1976 when David Crockett was tending to another family business with sister Frances Crockett, the Charlotte O's minor league baseball franchise. Big Bill Ward, who hosted Championship Wrestling for Crockett Promotions in Charlotte on WBTV from the late 1950s through early 1970s, briefly co-hosted with Bob Caudle on the 2nd Mid-Atlantic show after TV tapings had been consolidated to Raleigh. Lord Alfred Hayes had a brief stint as co-host in 1980.  Landrum's regular co-host on World Wide Wrestling would eventually be Johnny Weaver.

Prior to this consolidation, in the 1960s and early 1970s, WRAL was actually the site of one show only, a one-hour taping with simultaneous "dual" audio tracks being recorded. As they taped the matches, they had two broadcasters calling the action separately. Nick Pond, a WRAL sportscaster, hosted the show that would be seen in the Raleigh market (with co-host Joe Murnick much of that time, who was also the local Raleigh promoter), while at the same time one desk over, Bob Caudle called the action for a tape that was sent out to other markets in the Mid-Atlantic area that didn't have their own local TV tapings. Both Pond and Caudle also did sports and weather for WRAL television. Elliot Murnick replaced Pond on the Raleigh broadcast around 1972-1973. For most of this time, the Raleigh show was called Championship Wrestling and the syndicated show was called All-Star Wrestling. When all of the other studio locations ceased taping by 1974, Caudle became the sole host of what was now titled Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling which was now sent to all of Crockett's TV  markets including the home base of Raleigh.

Wrestling first debuted on WRAL on January 31, 1959 at 5:00 PM. The show at the time was titled Championship Wrestling. In the earliest days of wrestling on WRAL, the legendary broadcaster Ray Reeve called the wrestling action before turning over the duties to Pond, who was Reeve's assistant early in his career at WRAL. Reeve was the long time radio voice of the North Carolina State Wolfpack and was the first broadcaster inducted to the North Carolina Sports Hall of Fame. (On a side note, Charlie Harville, the long time host of wrestling taped at WGHP in High Point NC in the 60s and 70s, was the 2nd broadcaster inducted into NC Sports Hall of Fame.) 

But the voice most associated with WRAL wrestling will forever be the one and only Bob Caudle, a long time employee and on-air personality at WRAL, who continued to do TV for the Crocketts when they moved production to WPCQ in Charlotte and then took the production out to the arenas. Caudle is still loved by wrestling fans today, recently receiving a standing ovation at a wrestling legends show in Spartanburg SC. He was an inaugural inductee into the Mid-Atlantic Wrestling Hall of Heroes in August of 2007. Fans still call for his trademark show closer, "We'll see you next week fans, and until then, so long for now."

  - Dick Bourne

BASIC INFORMATION
Call Letters:	WRAL
Channel Number:	5
Network Affiliate:	ABC  (Originally NBC, now CBS)
Began Taping Wrestling:	Late 1950s Earliest known broadcast: January 31, 1959
Ceased Taping Wrestling:	July 29, 1981 (Final Taping)
Play-by-play Hosts:	MID-ATLANTIC WRESTLING: Raleigh telecast (1960s - approximately 1972): Ray Reeve, Nick Pond, Elliot Murnick Syndicated telecast: Bob Caudle, Les Thatcher, Sam Menacker (briefly) WIDE WORLD / WORLD WIDE WRESTLING: Ed Capral, Tom Miller, George Scott, Russ Debuq, Rich Landrum
Color Commentators:	MID-ATLANTIC WRESTLING: David Crockett, Tom Miller, Joe Murnick (Raleigh version only) Short term: Lord Alfred Hayes, Big Bill Ward. (There were brief runs by several others including Sandy Scott, Roddy Piper, and Sir Oliver Humperdink) WIDE WORLD / WORLD WIDE WRESTLING:: Johnny Weaver, George Scott, Tom Miller (There were brief appearances by several others.)
Ring Announcers:	Joe Murnick, Carl Murnick, Elliott Murnick, David Crockett, Jim Crockett
Local Promos:	Bob Caudle, David Crockett, Rich Landrum, Ed Capral, Les Thatcher, Bill Connell, a couple others yet identified. The famous commercial bump "Let's take time for this commercial message about the Mid-Atlantic Wrestling events coming up in your area..." was voiced by WRAL weatherman Bob Debardelaben.
Taping night:	Wednesday nights
Show titles:	Championship Wrestling, All Star Wrestling, Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling, Wide World Wrestling, World Wide Wrestling

Rich Landrum on World Wide Wrestling (1978)

Rich Landrum on the set of "World Wide Wrestling" at WRAL TV studios in Raleigh

This is one of the greatest photos of we have from inside WRAL-5 TV studios in Raleigh, the home of Jim Crockett Promotions television tapings from 1959-1981.

Rich Landrum, seen above opening another episode of World Wide Wrestling, graciously provided this photograph to the Mid-Atlantic Gateway when we did an interview with him several years ago.

The photo was taken not long after Rich began hosting the program in 1978. The show, which had also undergone a slight name change from Wide World Wrestling, began in 1975 and was originally hosted by legendary Atlanta wrestling announcer Ed Capral (who preceded Gordon Solie in Georgia.) Capral left in 1977 and was followed by Tom Miller until Rich was brought in from Richmond in the fall of 1978 to take over the show, which featured a revised name and brand new set, seen above. It was one of the sharpest, professional looking sets in all of televised wrestling at that time.

Johnny Weaver and Rich Landrum

Rich had a revolving door of co-hosts for months before settling in on legendary wrestler Johnny Weaver as his regular sidekick. Landrum dubbed Weaver "the Dean of Professional Wrestling" for the Mid-Atlantic area and the nickname stuck. Weaver was an instant hit as a color commentator with fans and was famous for singing "Turn Out the Lights, The Party's Over" after at least one match on almost every show during those years.

Landrum was the long time ring announcer in Richmond, VA at the Richmond Fairgrounds, Richmond Arena, and Richmond Coliseum. He lived in the Richmond area and continued in that role there while making the weekly Wednesday night trip to Raleigh to host World Wide Wrestling.

When the show moved to Charlotte in the summer of 1981, Landrum moved with it for about five months until parting ways with the company in early 1982. David Crockett replaced him as host, and was later followed by Tony Schiavone.

The new home of the wrestling tapings, WPCQ-36 in Charlotte, was a tiny little studio and the expansive set from WRAL would not completely fit, and so only sections of it were used in Charlotte.

Rich's photograph makes us really homesick for the friendly confines of WRAL, which I believe was the greatest studio environment for wrestling ever.

Audio Extra: Rich Landrum signs-off on "World Wide Wrestling"

Bob Caudle on WRAL's "Dateline News" (1971)

I came across this image of an ad from a 1971 TV Guide magazine advertising the six o'clock news hour on WRAL-5 in Raleigh. The block was called Dateline News and was anchored locally by Sam Beard, with Bob Caudle doing his "Atlantic Weather Show" during the broadcast at 6:15 PM.

The ABC Evening News with Harry Reasoner and Howard K. Smith began at 6:20 PM and Jessie Helms finished things off at 6:50 with his Viewpoint Editorial segment.

WRAL was an ABC affiliate at this time. They became a CBS affiliate in 1985.

What a great photo of Bob! One I had not seen before in my days of collecting memorabilia about him for the Mid-Atlantic Gateway and associated blogsites.

There are several similar ads for various WRAL news, sports, and weather broadcasts featuring Bob on this site. Another Dateline ad can be found here. To see all posts here related to Bob, simply click Bob's name in the "Crockett On-Air Talent" list on the right side of this page.

Regarding Jessie Helms and wrestling connections, he would be elected to his first U.S. Senate term the following year. Bob Caudle would later work for Sen. Helms in his constituency office in Raleigh. Johnny Weaver, one of the Mid-Atlantic area's most popular wrestlers ever, did a TV and radio spot in support of Helms' candidacy for re-election in 1978.