Happy Birthday to those who have passed on and to those great wrestlers still with us:
In Memoriam:
Billy Romonoff 1891
Rudy Dusek 1901
Jack Witzig 1927
Matti Suzuki 1938
Jay Briscoe 1984
Happy Birthday:
Wayne Ferris]Honky Tonk Man (73)
Rod Price (64)
Stephanie Bellrs\Gorgeous George (50)
Michelle McCool (46)
Stu GRayson (37)
Danielle Paultre\Willow Nightengale (32)
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.
Jumpin Joe Savoli 1-25-1974 at the age of 65
Georgiann Makropoulos 1-25-2010 at the age of 67
50 Year Flashback: Territory Review
The Month of January 1976 for the Jim Crockett Promotions Territory
1976 was a transitional year for all the territories affiliated withe the National Wrestling Alliance. They had a new world heavyweight champion in Terry Funk, which would create an opportunity for a whole new bag of stories to utilize in the local promotions., The Mid-Atlantic territory was well positioned to take advantage of this change as they had put Funk over in the United States title tournament in November of 1975, then having him drop it to Paul Jones, one of the territories biggest babyfaces, enhancing Jones’ role and positioning him for title matches when Funk returned.
Even further, many of the main event programs of 1975 were phased our, some by necessity, such as Johnny Valentine, the territory’s biggest heel not being able to return to action due to the October plane crash and the second slotted heel, Ric Flair still recovering from the accident as well. Some of the hot young stars that had been pushed to the top, Steve Keira, for one, was being dropped back into mid-card status and would be on his way out soon. Ken Patera, who had been headlining towns as a babyface was also being slotted down in January, so much so, that by the end of March would be in opening matches with Klondike Bill.
Booker George Scott had put a new masked team into action in 1975, the masked Spoilers. Masked Spoiler #2 had been involved with Jones over the US Title, but Jones beat him around the horn at the first part of January, essentially ending that program. Steve Strong and Superstar Billy Graham had been brought in due to the plane crash and had both been pushed to a certain degree, but Graham was starting to get involved with Bruno in New York and Strong was also pout into mid-card position.
The Mongols, who had been working for the outlaw IWA promotion in the area, were hired and Professor Boris Malenk was added to the package as a manager for them. They were billed as the “International Tag Team Champions.” They would have a dominant run, but not be any more significant than the #2 heel team, as Ole and Gene Anderson were the NWA World Tag Champs and the lead heel tag team firmly at Number 1. The Andersons had challenges in the first month of 1976 from the high-flying (for the time) team of El Rayo and Roberto Soto. Rayo and Soto were given some non-title wins over the Andersons to help get them over even more.
Pictured: Ole and Gene Anderson, NWA World Tag Team Champions
In late January, as George Scott would often do, he booked the Andersons to lose the World Tag Team Titles to the team of Wahoo MacDaniel and Rufus R Jones. There was no buildup to the title change. In fact, McDaniel had been in a singles program against Angelo “King Kong” Moscxa as well as teaming with Mr. Wrestling (Tim Woods) and Tiger Conway, Jr. The title change took place on January 27th, 1976 at the Township Auditorium in Columbia, South Carolina in a best 2 out of 3 falls match. Columbia and Raleigh, North Carolina were the regular Tuesday night towns and perhaps Columbia needed something special, such as a surprise title change to juice it up a bit, as the title reign for McDaniel and Jones only lasted until the first week of February. The reason I think it might be a little enhancement for the crowds is because The Anderson wons the titles back in Raleigh the next week, the other regular Tuesday night show for Crockett. All the nights of the week we’re important because most of the territories of this time period had regular towns booked every night of the week except Sunday. Crockett did not generate revenue from Wednesday nights because that was the weekly TV taping and unless it was a fund-raising spot show, Wednesday nights did not have a regular house show as the tapings were in Raleigh where there had been a show the night before.
The Andersons then had a short program with The Mongols and other makeshift tag teams throughout the first three months of 1976. As for the United States Champion, Paul Jones worked mainly with Blackjack Mulligan in January of 1976. He also had some title defenses against Mosca and a special championship match on January 27th at Dorton Arena in Raleigh against former US Champ, Harley Race.
Pictured: Paul Jones, NWA United States Heavyweight Champion
Funk came to the territory in February and Scott was able to take advantage of the story which had begun back in November of 1975 with Jones as the top regional titleholder got the shot against Funk for the World Title. Terry was in the early months of the world champions’ killer schedule and he made two passes through Mid-Atalanta’s in February of 1976. In the February 3rd match against Jones, they went broadway to a sixty minute time limit draw, leaving both champion and challenger strong. In his first pass through, Funk wrestled Wahoo McDaniel on Monday night in Greenville, South Carolina in a sixty minutes draw, then Jones that Tuesday in Raleigh, on February 5th, Funk carried Rufus R. Jones to a 60-minute draw, imagine the work that had to be done there on the part of the champion. At the end of February, Funk came back to defend the title at the big monthly show in Greensboro on the leap year day of the 29th, this time defeating Jones in the match. Funk also did something that his predecessor Jack Brisco had done in the Mid-Atlantic territory. He wrestled on the Mid-Atlantic TV show in February against the US Champion, Jones. It had always been rare to see the NWA World Champion on local television in this era.
One of the survivors of the terrible plane crash in October of 1975 who actually returned to action right away was Tim Woods aka Mr. Wrestling. After the crash, Blackjack Mulligan was summoned back to Crockett Promotions with a phone call from Jim Crockett Jr to Vince McMahon, Sr. to help fill the heel void left by Valentine and Flair, essentially making The Bolackjacks’ WWF Tag Title reign a short one. To illustrate the level of cooperation of Promoters in 1975 vs 1985, just ten short years later, can you imagine Jim Crockett, Jr. getting on the phone with Vince McMahon, Jr. and requesting one of the WWF’s top babyfaces to replace Magnum T.A after his accident? It would never have happened. After Mulligan’s arrival, he was booked with Woods. Upon his return, Mulligan attacked Woods on television. Woods retaliated in November, costing Mulligan his match in the US Title Tournament in Greensboro. Mulligan then put a $5,000 bounty on Woods and a number of Bounty Matches took place but by the time February of 1976 came around, Mulligan and Woods were wrestling each other. Woods was being called by his “Mr. Wrestling” moniker, but was not using the trademark white mask. As the Woods feud was climaxing, Mulligan was being transitioned to Jones and the US Title.
In March, a new tag team was formed between Sgt. Jacques Goulet and MIke “The Judge” DuBois, they had some really good matches but turned out to be the mid-card tag team when all was said and done, Mulligan and Jones intensified their program over the US Title. Jones played the under-sized fighting babyface champion and Mulligan, of course, the over-sized monster heel.
Pictured: Angelo Mosca., NWA Mid-Atlantic Television Champion
The Mid-Atlantic TV Title, which was the third singles title in importance in the house show loop, but it was significant in the television-based stories with the old school territory stipulation of the title only being on the line for a specific amount of time when being defended. Booker George Scott set up a television title tournament on the TV shows in February and March. Paul Jones had vacated the title when he won the US Titlte tournament in November of 1975. By the end of March, the tournament was down to the “final four”, which was a story component which was culturally relevant in sports with the “final four” in college basketball happening at the same time. Johnny Weaver, Tiger Conway, Angelo Mosca and Tim Woods were the final four. Mosca won the in the finals over Woods, putting their program in motion for most of the year of 1976. Mosca was super hot as a heel in this time frame. His matches coming into the territory in late 1975 as part of the roster repair from the plane crash had been a great launching pad for him. Mosca and Wahoo were booked in “Battle of the Football Stars” had gotten Mosca over huge in the territory and had set him up for a great 1976 in the Carolinas as the second heel under Mulligan.
One Thing I Learned About Rudy Dusek
In 1946, he was harshly criticized by sports writer Marty Berg for allegedly violating New York State laws by simultaneously acting as a wrestler, promoter, matchmaker, and manager across multiple venues—roles that were legally prohibited from overlapping. Berg described him as a “first class violator of the rules” who “should be behind bars” and called on Governor Thomas E. Dewey to launch an investigation.
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!
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