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.)
Greenville News (Greenville SC) May 14, 1978 Article by Deb Richardson Clippings from the collection of Mark Eastridge
"The Wrestling Show" aired on WESC FM in Greenville, SC at midnight on Monday nights after the weekly matches in the Greenville Memorial Auditorium. This was in the mid to late 70's. WESC midnight-to-6:00 am DJ Fred Nabors was the host.
Fred Neighbors (center) with Ric Flair and Greg Valentine
Sandy Scott, Crockett's local promoter at the time, was in studio also. They would have the results from the night's event, play taped interviews from earlier the same night that Fred Nabors would conduct before the matches and tape them for play on the show. Usually, they would get some of the guys to stay in town and go live on the air during the show.
Ric Flair, Greg Valentine, Sandy Scott
A fellow named Jim McNerney lived in Greenville and was trying to break into writing for the wrestling magazines. He persuaded Fred Nabors to let him come in the studios that night and take these pictures.
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.
When I first got "hooked" on Mid-Atlantic Wrestling, one of the things (other than the great wrestling) that I liked most about both Crockett shows was the great theme music.
I'm not talking about wrestler's theme music. This was in 1975 and almost a decade before every wrestler had their own theme music.
I'm talking about the opening theme music that started off each show. It was a signature element of each of the two programs that Jim Crockett Promotion produced, and is today as much of the sentimental or nostalgic aspect of those shows. That's something long ago lost as it regards pro-wrestling on TV today.
Ed Capral with NWA champion Harley Race on the set of "Wide World Wrestling" in 1977
Over the many years, I've enjoyed collecting theme music from the various wrestling shows I watched in the 1970s and 1980s. Some used edited versions of popular commercial music, some used "production" music written especially for that use.
My favorite wrestling TV-show theme of them all was the music for "Wide World Wrestling" in 1975-1978. "Wide World Wrestling" was Jim Crockett's "B" show. If a TV market only featured one of Crockett's TV shows, it would always be the "Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling" show, which was the "A" show. If a traditional Crockett TV market featured both Crockett shows, then "Wide World" would be added as the second show in that market, or the "B" show.
The show began in October of 1975 and was hosted by longtime Atlanta wrestling broadcaster Ed Capral. When Capral left in 1977, he was succeeded by hosts Russ Dubuc and then the duo of booker George Scott and Tom Miller. In 1978, Crockett changed the name of the program to "World Wide Wrestling" as host Rich Landrum took over the show, and by the early 1980s, this was the show that started going into Crockett's expansion markets, as well as remaining the "B" show in Crockett's home markets.
"Truckin'" Tom Miller, host of "Wide World Wrestling" for roughly 6 months in 1978
The opening theme music for this show was awesome! The opening video package that ran under the music was a quick montage of various wrestlers doing various wrestling maneuvers that flew by at quick pace that matched the upbeat tempo of the music. The music and video open had sort of a "Wide World of Sports" feel to it. ABC's "Wide World of Sports" was one of the most popular sports programs of the era and as much a part of Saturday afternoons as wrestling was in that era.
Recently our friend Craig at Wrestling Media (wrestlingmedia.ws) was kind enough to send us the original recording of the music used for "Wide World Wrestling." I got his very nice email on Thanksgiving Day - - what a wonderful gift on Thanksgiving! I was thankful indeed for his generosity and for remembering at all that this was something I had been looking for for years. He was able to identify it solely by the low-resolution recording I had of it on the Mid-Atlantic Gateway Archive site.
The music, titled "Diamond Head" was written and recorded by Walter Murphy, who had a #1 pop hit back in 1976 called "A Fifth of Beethoven." Murphy has an extensive resume of production music and there are several vinyl recordings of his still floating around. The album that has "Diamond Head" was titled "Major Production Music", Vinyl 6088 on Major Records (now known as Valentino.) It is track 3 on side B of the record and was recorded and released in 1975 (the same year "Wide World Wrestling" debuted.
The "Wide World Wrestling" theme was created by taking various segments of the original 1:30 recording and piecing them together to make the final 25 sec. version you heard each week to open the show. The tempo of the wrestling version was also a little faster than the original, although at the same pitch.
I took Murphy's original recording and edited a version together that is nearly identical (in arrangement and speed) to the classic 1975 wrestling theme, and happily present it here.
There are no known video recordings of the 1975-1978 "Wide World Wrestling" show, which is a very sad thing. The theme hasn't been heard in this arrangement since 1978, so only fans who are roughly in their mid-40s or later would even remember it. But for those that watched "Wide World Wrestling" every single weekend without fail as I did each week, this will be a wonderful trip down memory lane and a nostalgic reminder of a great era in Mid-Atlantic Wrestling. And for those hearing it for the first time, this is what a real wrestling theme sounds like.
Thanks to Craig at Wrestling Media (wrestlingmedia.ws) for his forwarding this information and for providing me the original track that resulted in my favorite wrestling theme music of them all.
Originally published December 2016 on the Mid-Atlantic Gateway.
There was history in the making in this January 1958 Charlotte News article. Promoter Jim Crockett had finally arranged for televised wrestling in his home base of Charlotte, NC on the heels of successful national wrestling programs during the decade of the 1950s in such places as Chicago, Los Angeles, and in Texas.
The program would air live from the studios of WBTV channel 3 on Saturday afternoons and would be hosted by the station's sportscaster Bill Ward. The announcement was made by WBTV production manager Bob Rierson.
Crockett's first foray into televised wrestling was actually nineteen months earlier, on WFBC channel 4 in Greenville, SC, but for only about three short months. Perhaps this was a pilot program. Once wrestling made it's debut in Charlotte in January of 1958, it wasn't long before several other TV stations in Crockett's territory also began airing wrestling in partnership with the Charlotte promoter, including WRAL-5 in Raleigh, NC, a return to WFBC in Greenville and the debut on WDBJ-7 in Roanoke, VA, both in 1960, and WGHP-8 in High Point (Greensboro market) in 1964.
Crockett's wrestling debut on channel 3 was not without its challenges, however, having nothing to do with wrestling, but rather with ACC basketball. The results gave WBTV producer Gene Burke fits that January Saturday afternoon. We'll review that neat bit of history as well in a future post.
Republished in October 2022 on the Mid-Atlantic Gateway.
"Nature Boy" Ric Flair puts the badmouth on U.S. Champion Jimmy Snuka (just out of frame) before Flair's challenge to regain the title at the Greenville Memorial Auditorium in Greenville, SC, October 29, 1979.
Standing to Flair's right is the legendary voice of Greenville wrestling Billy Powell, who was the ring announcer in Greenville for decades. He was the voice of the special one-minute localized promos that aired twice during the hour-long Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling program that aired at 1 PM every Saturday afternoon on WFBC channel 4 (later WYFF). His voice played over the graohic you see at left. Powell was also well known on the radio for various commercials and promotions in the Greenville/Spartanburg market on WFBC radio.
Jimmy Snuka was managed at thetime by the legendary Buddy Rogers, who donned the trunks and wrestled earlier that night with partner Big John Studd.
:format(jpeg):mode_rgb():quality(40)/discogs-images/R-3544026-1335781394.jpeg.jpg)
