Caudle, Schiavone, and Ross Together in Charlotte

 Check out the article on the Mid-Atlantic Gateway about three top wrestling broadcasters from the 1970s-1990s all at the Mid-Atlantic Wrestling Fanfest together in Charlotte in early August.

Mid-Atlantic Gateway:
Caudle, Schiavone, and Ross a Highlight of Fanfest
http://www.midatlanticgateway.com/2016/06/caudle-schiavone-ross.html

TV Title Tournament Advertised for WRAL-5

Mark Eastridge Collection

This newspaper ad appeared in the Wilson NC newspaper on February 9, 1974. It was ent to us by Mark Eastridge.  It promotes a "Sports Special!" on Mid-Atlantic Wrestling, which aired on WRAL-5 TV out of Raleigh, NC.

The "sports special" mentioned is a "Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling tournament featuring America's outstanding mat men."

The show was seen in the Wilson, NC area on WRAL-5 TV at 11:30 Saturday night.

The tournament mentioned was a historic one, the prize being the first ever Mid-Atlantic Television Championship.

A month later, on the Raleigh show that was taped on 2/27/74 and aired on 3/2/74, Danny Miller defeated Ole Anderson in the finals of the tournament to become the inaugural Mid-Atlantic TV champion.

Carroll Hall of the All-Star Championship Wrestling website pointed out to us that the photo used in the ad is from 1964. "The tall guy that Sandy Scott is facing is Mike Valentino who became Baron Michel Scicluna in the WWWF," Carroll reported.

We always love coming across these old ads for TV studio wrestling!

Mike Duncan (Nick Gulas Promotion)

Robert M. “Mike” Duncan, a well-known wrestling announcer in the 1970’s, passed away in Nashville, Tennessee on June 23, 2011 at the age of 64.

Mike was known as a colorful character, and fitted well into the vibrant mid-south ring scene of the time. A cousin of Jerry Jarrett, he capably commentated the TV matches in Birmingham and Nashville during Nick Gulas’s promotional reign. He later handled ring announcing duties in Louisville when his aunt, Christine Jarrett, promoted the city. Mike’s voice was also familiar on voiceovers for arena footage taped on the circuit around Memphis and used on the city’s TV wrestling shows.

If you ever wondered where Jim Cornette got his early fashion sense, here’s the answer: Mike Duncan also worked in a men’s wear store in Nashville, and cleverly put together the very first “mama’s boy suit” for the budding ring manager who would shortly become so notorious.

Mike is survived by his wife Julie, three daughters, and four grandchildren.

Photo and information from the Cauliflower Wrestling Club, "Finishes," 2013
http://www.caulifloweralleyclub.org/2013-finishes-rip/2011finishes/
(Website may no longer be available.)

Georgia Championship Wrestling

Gordon Solie interviews Tommy Rich and Mr. Wrestling II

The WTBS-17 studios in Atlanta were home to "Georgia Championship Wrestling" going back to the early 1970s and was later home to "World Championship Wrestling" for Jim Crockett Promotions in the mid-to-late 1980s.

An upcoming documentary called "6:05 on the SuperStation" will take a look back at the studio, station, wrestlers, and announcers who helped make wrestling on WTBS an institution on Saturday evenings. 

Jim Ross has joined up with the producers of "Mid-Atlantic Memories" documentary, and together  hope to present a similar feel-good film about a 20-year period in time when folks down south were glued to their TV sets at 6:05 p.m. on Saturdays and Sundays.

"6:05 On The SuperStation!" will be the first film produced by Ross, who said on his "Ross Report" podcast "We're gonna make a hell of a movie!"

The film will be fan-funded. More details can be found on the NWALegends.com website. The film also has a Twitter page where you can keep up with how things are progressing on the film.

(See also: Jim Ross Reveals First Film Project "6:05 on the SuperStation" )

During the Break at WRAL

Co-host David Crockett and Ric Flair wait during a commercial break of a taping of Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling at WRAL TV studio in Raleigh, NC in 1981.

Houston Wrestling

Continuing with our recent peeks at the old territory TV shows, here is a nice shot from Paul Boesch's "Houston Wrestling" TV show. I love the studio look with the curtains in the background with a modified NWA logo hanging in front of the curtains. This was a standard look for lots of wrestling TV shows in the 1970s.

Promoter and TV host/commentator Paul Boesch interviews Chief Wahoo McDaniel before showing footage of a match where Wahoo challenged Ric Flair for the NWA world championship at the Sam Houston Coliseum in 1985. Wahoo was reigning United States champion in the Mid-Atlantic area and wore the title belt in the ring in Houston before the match with Flair.

Footage of this interview and the Flair/Wahoo title match can be seen on the NWA Classics 24/7 video on-demand service, which contains the entire Paul Boesch Houston video library. Check them out. Full details at NWACLassics.com.

David Crockett at WRAL (1981)

Promoter and broadcaster David Crockett in the studios of WRAL
television in the summer of 1981.

Saturday Wrestling (December 1973)

Back in the territory days, before national cable networks existed, Saturday was the primary day for the 1-hour wrestling shows syndicated to local TV markets.

By December of 1973, Jim Crockett Promotions had discontinued the local studio tapings in Charlotte and High Point and consolidated everything to Raeligh's WRAL-5 studio. Also around this time, the simultanious local TV taping for the Raleigh market (which had it's own soundtrack hosted by Elliot Murnick) ended. The promotion taped two seperate hours of television each Wednesday night in Raleigh, both titled "Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling." One was hosted by Bob Caulde, the other by Les Thatcher. The Caudle broadcast went to all of Crockett's TV markets. The "B" show hosted by Thatcher went to a 2nd station in a market where the "A" show was already on. (In 1975, the "B" show was repackaged as "Wide World Wrestling.")

Here is a sampling of stations and times where wrestling aired in North and South Carolina in the Mid-Atlantic territory for December 15, 1973. Notice that both the Florida and Georgia TV shows had select clearances in the territory, and occasionally a few of their top guys (particularly Dusty Rhodes) would be booked on Crockett's shows in Greensboro and less occasionally Charlotte.


TV Listings for December 15, 1973


CHARLOTTE
WBTV Ch. 3 Charlotte NC (CBS)
4:00 PM Mid-Atlantic Wrestling (time approximate after NFL football)

WRET (WCNC) Ch. 36 Charlotte NC (Ind.)
6:00 PM Championship Wrestling From Florida
7:30 PM Georgia Championship Wrestling


RALEIGH/DURHAM
WRAL Ch. 5 Raleigh NC (ABC)
11:30 PM Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling

WRDU (WRDC) Ch. 28 Durham NC (NBC)
3:00 PM Championship Wrestling from Florida


GREENSBORO/WINSTON-SALEM/HIGH POINT
WGHP Ch. 8 High Point/Greensboro/Winston-Salem NC (ABC)
11:30 Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling


NEW BERN
WCTI Ch. 12 New Bern NC (ABC)
11:30 PM Championship Wrestling from Wrestling


GREENVILLE/SPARTANBURG/ASHEVILLE
WFBC Ch. 4 Greenville SC  (NBC)
1:00 PM Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling

WLOS Ch. 13 Asheville NC (ABC)
11:30 PM Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling (B-show)


FLORENCE SC
WBTW Ch. 13 Florence, SC (ABC/CBS)
4:00 PM Mid-Atlantic Wrestling (time approximate after NFL football)


"Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling" also aired on these other stations in the Mid-Atlantic area during this time in 1973:

WTVR-6 Richmond VA
WSLS-10 Roanoke VA
WAVY-10 Norfolk VA
WNOK-19 Columbia SC
WCSC-5 Charleston SC


The TV listings were partially drawn from a post on the Radio Discussions forum.