Happy Birthday to those who have passed on and to those great wrestlers still with us:
In Memoriam:
Gaius Young 1904
Jimmy Brawner\Kurt Von Brauner 1925
Al Greene 1928
Pat Patterson 1944
Buck Robley 1945
Peggy Lee Leather 1954
Happy Birthday:
Ron Killings\R-Truth (54)
Tyler Breeze (38)
Michael Austin Wardlow (38)
RIP Memorial: We stop & remember those who have passed on this day and gave themselves to the business for us, the fans. We salute you and thank you.
Chuck Malone 1-19-1999 at the age of 73
(Photo not available)
Scott “Bam Bam” Bigelow 1-19-2007 at the age of 45
Ida Mae Martinez 1-19-2010 at the age of 78
50 Year Flashback
1-19-1976: Jerry Lawler defeated Ricky Gibson (ch) to win the NWA Southern Heavyweight Title at the Mid-South Coliseum in Memphis, Tennessee
The NWA Southern Heavyweight Championship, defended primarily in the Tennessee-Alabama-Mississippi area, was a prestigious regional belt that dated back to the 1940s and had been worn by legends like Sputnik Monroe and Rocky Johnson and by 1976, it symbolized the heart of southern wrestling, where matches were as much about personal issues as they were about championships.
Pictured: Ricky Gibson, NWA Southern Heavyweight Champion
Earlier in the month, Lawler and Gibson clashed in a match that ended in a disputed finish, leading to the title being held up by the promotion’s officials. This vacancy created a buzz in Memphis, where wrestling was more than entertainment—it was a weekly ritual for thousands of blue-collar fans who packed the Coliseum. The rematch was billed as a decisive showdown to settle the score, with Lawler defending his “King of Wrestling” crown against Gibson’s cunning tactics. Promotional hype, including fiery interviews on local TV shows like Championship Wrestling, amplified the tension. Lawler, ever the crowd-pleaser, vowed to reclaim the belt for the people of Memphis, while Gibson taunted him as an overrated local boy.
The match itself was a classic display of 1970s territorial style: chain wrestling mixed with brawling, crowd interaction, and dramatic near-falls. Lawler, drawing energy from the partisan audience, overwhelmed Gibson with a series of punches, suplexes, and his patented strap-lowering taunt that signaled an impending comeback. Gibson, true to form, relied on underhanded maneuvers like eye rakes and rope-assisted chokes to gain the upper hand temporarily. The turning point came when Lawler reversed a Gibson hold into his signature piledriver, securing the pinfall and the championship. The exact duration and blow-by-blow details have faded into wrestling lore, but the outcome was clear: Lawler emerged victorious, reclaiming the held-up title in a rematch that solidified his status as the undisputed king of Memphis.
Lawler’s sixth reign lasted only about a month before he lost the belt to Rocky Johnson in February, but it marked the beginning of a prolific year for him. For Gibson, the loss was a stepping stone in his career, leading to successful tag team runs with his brother, Robert as The Gibson Brothers. This match exemplified the territorial system’s appeal: local heroes battling for regional supremacy in front of passionate fans, long before the national consolidation of wrestling under WWE. In Memphis, where wrestling blended athleticism with southern storytelling, in which booker Jerry Jarrett, now in his sixth year as booker for the territory was becoming a master.
50 Year Flashback
A Time Capsule Review of the Pro Wrestling Cards In the North American Wrestling Territories On This Day In Pro Wrestling History
As a regular Monday feature of The Pro Wrestling Time Tunnel’s Daily Chronicle, we crack open the Wrestling Time Capsule to do a survey of the cards, matches and performers of the decades of territory pro wrestling. This week we flashback to this Day in Pro Wrestling History, Wednesday, January 19th, 1976.
Championship Wrestling From Florida Office in Tampa, Florida
Sports Stadium in Orlando, Florida
George McCreary vs Ron Starr
The Assassin vs Bill Dromo
Ciclon & Omar Negro vs Mike York & The Missouri Mauler
Bob Orton, Jr vs Rocky Johnson
Bob Roop vs Jerry Brisco in a Special Challenge Match
Billy Robinson (ch) vs Karl Von Steiger for the NWA Southern Heavyweight Championship
Frank Goodish (ch) vs Thunderbolt Patterson for the NWA Florida Heavyweight Championship
The Auditorium in Melbourne, Florida
Ervin Smith vs John Smith
Abe Hacobs vs Beautiful Bruce
Rip Hawk & Roger Kirby vs Roosevelt Jones & Tom Jones
Dino Bravo vs Killer Kowalski
Big Bad John vs King Curtis Iaukea
Georgia Championship Wrestling Office in Atlanta, Georgia
Bell Auditorium in Augusta, Georgia
Skip Young beat Mr. Hayashi
Luke Graham defeated Tony Garea
Bob Armstrong defeated Mitsuo Hata
Mr. Wrestling II defeated Skandor Akbar
Abdullah The Butcher & The Spoiler defeated Dick Slater & Dusty Rhodes
Gulf Coast Championship Wrestling Office in Mobile, Alabama
National Guard Armory in Gulfport, Mississippi
Gene Lewis vs Terry Lathan ended as a time limit draw
Bob Sweetan & Gene Lewis beat Rip Tyler & Terry Lathan
Duke Miller vs Johnny Fields ended as a no contest at 1 fall each
Jim Crockett Promotions Office in Charlotte, North Carolina
Park Center in Charlotte, North Carolina
Larry Sharpe vs Tio Tio ended as a time limit draw
Swede Hanson defeated Bill Howard
Professor Boris Malenko & Steve Strong defeated Danny Miller & Tony Atlas
Johnny Weaver defeated Spoiler #2
Angelo Mosca vs Wahoo McDaniel ended in a DDQ in a No DQ, No CO Match
Memorial Auditorium in Greenville, South Carolina
Greg Peterson defeated El Gaucho
Jack Evans defeated Don Kernodle
Ken Patera defeated Doug Somers
Ronnie Garvin & Tiger Conway, Jr defeated Michael DuBois & Bill White
Blackjack Mulligan defeated Mr. Wrestling by DQ
Cumberland County Memorial Auditorium in Fayetteville, North Carolina
Don Serrano vs Joe Turner ended as a time limit draw
Larry Zbyszko defeated Joe Soto
Klondike Bill defeated Charlie Fulton
Roberto Soto & El Rayo defeated George Harris & Spoiler I
Gene & Ole Anderson defeated Paul Jones & Rufus R. Jones
Gulas-Welch Wrestling Company Office in Nashville, Tennessee
Mid-South Coliseum in Memphis, Tennessee
Bill Costello defeated Randy Fargo
The Masked Interns defeated Tommy Rich & Wayne Petty
Bearcat Brown & Tommy Gilbert (ch) defeated Al & Don Greene
Bill Dundee & Tojo Yamamoto beat Professor Toru Tanaka & David Schultz
Jerry Lawler defeated Ricky Gibson (ch) to win the NWA Southern Heavyweight Championship
Municipal Auditorium in Birmingham, Alabama
The Assassin vs Pez Whatley ended in a 15 min time limit draw
The Islanders (Afa & Sika) defeated Bill Bowman & Joey Rossi
Jackie Fargo defeated Dennis Condrey by DQ
The Bounty Hunters vs Luke Fields & Don Anderson ended as a no contest at 1 fall each
Phil Hickerson defeated Jackie Fargo
Big Time Wrestling Office in Dallas, Texas
North Side Coliseum in Fort Worth, Texas
Al Madril defeated Joe Blanchard
Red Bastien defeated Jerry Stubbs
The Mongolian Stomper beat Nick Kozak
Peter Maivia defeated Don Wade
Fritz Von Erich & Rick Harris vs Terry Funk & Stan Hansen ended as a DDQ
Western States Office in Amarillo, Texas
The County Coliseum in El Paso, Texas
Larry Lane vs Silver Streak ended as a 10 min time limit draw
Reggie Parks defeated Paul Perschmann
Scott Casey beat Randy Tyler
Leo Burke & The Beast vs Lord Alfred Hayes & Ricky Romero ended as a DDQ
Dory Funk, Jr defeated The Super Destroyer
All Star Wrestling Office in Vancouver, British Columbia
PNE Gardens in Vancouver, British Columbia
The Haiti Kid defeated Sonny Boy Hayes
Hiroshi Yagi & Bobo Johnson defeated Randy Morse & Dan Morgan
Dennis Stamp defeated Yasu Fuji
Dean Higuchi & George Wells defeated Gene Kiniski & Igor Volkoff
Don Leo Jonathan defeated Siegfried Stanke by DQ
World Wide Wrestling Federation Office in New York City, New York
Capital Centre in Landover, Maryland
Pete Sanchez defeated Mark Tendler
Davey O’Hannon defeated Pinky Larson
Bruno Sammartino (ch) defeated Ernie Ladd by CO for the WWWF Heavyweight Championship
Jerry Blackwell defeated Francisco Flores
Spiros Arion defeated Ernie Lassiter
Superstar Billy Graham defeated Dominic DeNucci
Baron Mikel Scicluna & Bugsy McGraw vs Louis Cerdan & Tony Parisi (ch) ended as a time limit draw for the WWWF World Tag Team Titles
Lincoln Park Ballroom in Dartmouth, Massachusetts
Pat Barrett defeated Frank Morris
Kevin Sullivan defeated Tony Altimore
Mike Padousis vs Sylvano Sousa ended without a winner
Bobo Johnson & Little Louie defeated Billy The Kid & Little John
Ivan Koloff vs Ivan Putski ended as a DDQ
IWE Office in Tokyo, Japan
IWE New Year Pioneer Series, Day 10: Minasaka, Okayama
Tadaharu Tanaka defeated Hideyuki Nagasawa
Katsuzo Oiyama defeated Tsutomu Yonemura
Animal Hamaguchi & Snake Anami defeated Goro Tsurumi & Mr. Yoto
Great Kuatsu defeated Crazy White
Isamu Teranishi defeated Winter Hawk
Mighty Inoue & Rusher Kimura defeated El Cyclone & Len Shelley
New Japan Pro Wrestling Office in Tokyo, Japan
New Year Golden Series Day 13: Shizuoka, Shizuoka
Shoji Kai defeated Daigoro Oshiro
Ivan Gomez defeated Makoto Arakawa
Seiei Kimura defeated Masashi Ozawa
Haruka Eigen beat Yoshiaki Fujiwara
The Maked Infernos defeated Kantaro Hoshino & Katsuhisa Shibata
Seiji Sakaguchi defeated Bullfrog Otto
Tiger Jeet Singh defeated Strong Kobayashi
Antonio Inoki & Kotetsu Yamamoto defeated Brutus Malumba & Steve Wright
The “On This Date” (OTD) Cards Analysis Feature is a way for our readers to look back through the Pro Wrestling Time Tunnel to see the way cards were constructed, the finishes, the amount of cards that were presented and some idea of how many wrestlers were working in the various territories North America during the time period. Next Monday we will examine the cards and territories on this date in 1986.
Thank You for Reading
I’m Tony Richards, Pro Wrestling Historian, Author and Storyteller. I share pro wrestling historical items in each issue of the Time Tunnel Pro Wrestling History Newsletter. Thanks for reading! If you enjoy my information on select events, matches and insights, please share it with folks you think might like to be a subscriber!
Remember, premium investors get access to exclusive and special content such as some special issues including a multi-part deep dives on wrestling territories, wrestler bios and championship title histories, special audio and video interviews on territory pro wrestling and more available in the Pro Wrestling Time Tunnel for Premium Investors.
