Ladd and Baker were no strangers to each other. They had wrestled against each other in several promotions such as the AWA/WWA, NWF, and had a major feud in the ASWA (the Georgia based Ann Gunkel promotion).

Ladd's Miami Beach debut on March 16, 1977 was nothing short of an overwhelming success. He defeated veteran wrestlers Angelo Poffo and Zeigfried Stanke in a handicap match, and then substituted for Dusty Rhodes and defeated "Superstar" Billy Graham in an Indian Strap Match in the evening's main event. Ladd teamed with Dusty Rhodes the next week in Miami Beach on March 23 and defeated the duo of Oscar "Crusher" Verdu and Ox Baker. On March 30, also in Miami Beach, Ladd again teamed with Dusty Rhodes to face Baker and "Superstar" Graham in a match that was declared a double disqualification. Ladd had formed a solid alliance with Florida's, and arguably the country's, most popular wrestler, Dusty Rhodes. Together, they were unstoppable, and Ladd would remain undefeated throughout the state.

Ladd continued to wrestle Baker, and in an interview, when asked if he'd settled up with Baker, Ladd retorted "The man is still walkin' on his own two feet, so I ain't done with him yet. There's no way I could call it square if I just beat him in the ring-Baker got some dues to pay, and they gotta be paid in full!" Ladd and Rhodes would defeat Baker and Superstar Graham by disqualification on April 6 in Miami Beach when Baker attacked special referee Haystacks Calhoun. On April 9, at St. Petersburg's Bayfront Arena, Ladd would cleanly pin Superstar Billy Graham in a huge victory. In just twenty-one days, on April 30 in Baltimore, Maryland, Graham would defeat Bruno Sammartino and capture the WWWF title.

"I wanna know how come all these guys that are supposed to be so tough are all afraid of me?" Screamed Ox Baker. "Ernie Ladd is telling everybody he came to Florida to get Ox Baker; well, he's been here since the last snowfall, and so far all he's got from Ox Baker is a fist right in his mouth!" Despite what Baker was saying, Ladd would continue his unbeaten streak by defeating Baker via disqualification on April 13 in Miami Beach, and then pinning Ox at the Miami Jai-Alai Fronton on April 27. Ladd teamed up with "Canadian Freighttrain" Jos LeDuc to beat Baker and Florida champ Buddy Wolff on May 4 at Miami Beach's Convention Center, and then would defeat Ivan Koloff by disqualification on May 11 in Miami Beach. Ladd was also chasing Buddy Wolff and the Florida Title, but it seemed like Rhodes was getting more opportunities at the belt. Ernie Ladd was feeling "pushed aside," and the first cracks in the team of Ladd-Rhodes were about to be revealed.

The signs of a heel turn by Ladd were increasingly evident. Rhodes would dominate their interview time on CWF, much to the frustration of "The Big Cat." Ladd would claim that Rhodes was more interested in pleasing the fans and signing autographs than taking care of business. Despite the growing disillusionment of Ladd, they were still the "super" team in the state and on May 18 in Miami Beach, Ladd and Rhodes defeated Ivan Koloff and Buddy Wolff. Three days later, in St. Petersburg on May 21, Ladd pinned Baker. But "The Big Cat" was growing more aggressive on TV, destroying wrestlers like Angelo Poffo and complaining that he wasn't getting the opportunities he rightly deserved. When Gordon Solie interviewed Ladd and Rhodes, Ladd acted disgusted and stormed off the set. To further complicate the issue, Rhodes defeated Buddy Wolff to capture the Florida Title, which only seemed to infuriate "The Big Cat" even more. Ladd was playing the role of a frustrated star who feels like he's being held back by his partner, and playing it very well.

Ladd was no stranger to the heel turn. He had turned heel previously on several former tag partners, such as Sailor Art Thomas in the WWA, and Cowboy Bob Ellis in the IWA. The team of Ladd and Rhodes was about to grind to a bloody halt in the main event at Miami Beach on June 8. Midway through the tag battle, Buddy Wolff drove an already dazed Rhodes into the ringpost. Rhodes lay bloody on the arena floor as Ladd made numerous attempts to tag his partner, but found nothing more than an empty ring apron. After several minutes, Rhodes climbed back to his corner, staggering to hold onto the ropes. Ladd, angered with Rhodes lack of participation in the match, tagged him so he could enter the ring. When Rhodes, who was semiconscious at this point, didn't enter the match, Ladd picked him up and bodyslammed him over the top rope. Wolff and Koloff destroyed Rhodes, who continually tried to tag his partner. Ladd instead argued with several of Miami Beach's ringside regulars and ignored every tag attempt. Koloff finally pinned a very bloody Rhodes after a kneedrop.

With the match over, Ladd picked up a piece of paper and made a writing gesture several times to referee Sonny Myers. Ladd confronted a battered Rhodes, who was on his knees, and made the writing gesture several more times asking him why he was signing autographs during the match. Rhodes shook his head, and mouthed the word "no," but Ladd nailed him with a couple of hard rights. Ladd continued to berate "The American Dream" as well as argue with a growing number of fans that had made their way to ringside. Within minutes, a hundred or so spectators had gathered near the ring to voice their displeasure at Ladd's cowardly turn on Rhodes, when cups and other objects started raining from the stands, with Ladd as their intended target. Members of Miami Beach's Finest immediately rushed to apprehend the perpetrators who would be subject to a fine and/or prosecution for throwing an object towards the ring. A small group of fans rushed at Ladd, who along with several more policeman, quickly fended off the would-be attackers. Ladd, who had successfully turned heel and nearly incited a riot, was rushed back to the dressing room and then escorted from the building under heavy security.

Ladd had quickly gone from Florida's second most popular wrestler, to the number one enemy of wrestling fans statewide. His version of what happened in Miami Beach that evening would conflict with the footage that had aired on CWF television. Ladd would claim on a TV interview with Gordon Solie that the film footage showing Rhodes being posted by Wolff had been doctored, as Rhodes was really signing autographs for the fans. "That was not in the match when the match took place, you could do anything to the film.. What are you trying to make this thing look like? A Watergate situation? The man was out signing autographs again. You saw before the match started, he was so worked up and geared over the fans. It's good to be concerned about the fans, I'm concerned about the fans, but I'm more concerned about getting in the ring and wrestling. This man was outside signing autographs and where this come from I do not know! A situation like this was not in the match in Miami Beach."

Ladd continued his explanation of the evening's events to the Florida wrestling program. "I've been invited for TV interviews and Rhodes always manages to be there at the same time. "I wouldn't mind, except that he always gets to running his big mouth and I can't get a word in edgewise. When I finally did get to say something, everybody looked at me like I was interrupting the President of the United States, or something! Rhodes gets all the big opportunities. He got one chance after another to wrestle for the Florida Heavyweight Championship until he finally won the belt. He gets picked for a shot at World Champion Harley Race, something any wrestler would give his eyeteeth for. Then, when he gets in a tight spot and needs a tag-team partner, it's up to the Big Cat to bail him out!"

Dusty Rhodes saw things a bit differently. "Ernie Ladd double-crossed me," declared Rhodes, cutting a promo as only "The American Dream" could do. "The coward that's hidin' inside that seven foot, three hundred pound frame got me in some bad trouble the other night because I trusted him. But I ain't gonna make that mistake again. Ernie Ladd, when you done what you done, you let down every little kid in America, and especially every little kid in Florida. Them kids looked up to you because you started out with nothin' and got to be a big star in professional sports. How you gonna face those people who bought those tickets so that they could come down and cheer for you? How you gonna look at them little kids, with tears runnin' down their faces 'cause you let 'em down? What you done to me was bad enough, Ernie Ladd, but what you done to my people-especially my babies-was a helluva lot worse."

With Ladd drawing "first blood," and Rhodes in hot pursuit, promoters realized they had a hot ticket and booked them in arenas all over the state. They wrestled to a no contest on June 15 in Miami Beach, and Ladd claimed a disqualification victory a week later on June 22. Ladd had also made enemies of Rhodes' allies, like Steve Keirn, whom Ladd would defeat on June 25 in St. Petersburg. Rhodes and Keirn would form a team to face Ladd and WWWF Champion Superstar Billy Graham on June 29 in Miami Beach, ending when Rhodes pinned Graham. Ladd would get two opportunities to defeat Rhodes for the Florida Title on July 6 and July 13, losing both matches. But, Ladd had an ace up his sleeve, and Rhodes was about to be dealt a devastating hand.

Ladd would receive yet another crack at Rhodes' Florida Title on July 15 at the Tallahassee Sports Stadium. Rhodes would dominate the match and appeared to be well on his way to retaining the championship until two masked men interfered and attacked him. Rhodes was no match for the onslaught, and Ladd quickly seized the moment and pinned Rhodes to become the new Florida Champion. Rhodes, however, would unmask one of the men, revealing Buddy Wolff, the man Rhodes originally defeated for the title. "Ernie Ladd done a lot of things," Rhodes would state, "and I ain't forgot any of 'em. I ain't forgot lookin' at the tears runnin' down the faces of them little black chillun' that night in Miami Beach when Ernie Ladd double-crossed the American Dream. And I ain't forgettin' that Ernie Ladd is walkin' around right now with what's mine. I am gonna get back the Florida Championship because it belongs to the people, not some 300 pound turkey who don't care nothin' but steppin' on people to make money. I will be your champion again, and that's a promise."

Ladd would quickly start making title defenses, and on July 19 in Tampa, Ladd defeated Steve Keirn. A controversy would soon begin swirling around Ladd as he flatly refused to give the former titleholder a rematch. "Dusty Rhodes, Dusty Rhodes, all I hear is Dusty Rhodes. Maybe nobody has noticed that it is Ernie Ladd who is now the Florida Heavyweight Champion. Do you think Rhodes would actually stand any chance of beating me, even if I did give him a rematch? As champion, I will decide who deserves a shot at my title. The Florida State Championship belongs to me, and I'll be the one who decides who gets a shot at it!"

While being interviewed by Gordon Solie on Championship Wrestling From Florida, Ladd would declare that since the Florida Champion was required to defend his belt once every thirty days, his title would be defended only when HE decided. Subsequently, Ladd would lose several matches, including a July 27 contest in Miami Beach to Rocky Johnson (who was tearing up the state at this point), as well as a "Winner Take All" bout to Johnson on August 10, also in Miami Beach. The N.W.A. had a differing agenda than Ladd, though. After carefully scrutinizing the film of the match where Rhodes lost the Florida Heavyweight Championship, the National Wrestling Alliance ruled that the belt should never have been awarded to Ernie Ladd in the first place, due to the interference of the two masked men. The belt was then returned back to Rhodes, and Ladd immediately exited the state. Just as quickly as he entered into CWF five months earlier, Ladd had packed his bags and headed for greener pastures.

Ladd, who turns 64 in November, lives in Franklin, Louisiana. A religious and spiritual man, Ladd works with disabled children and also travels with a ministry to various prisons. He's a member of the Louisiana Sports Hall Of fame, and was inducted into the WWF Hall Of fame in 1994 alongside the late Bobo Brazil.

NEXT MONTH: 

A look back at one of Florida's great wrestling cities, Orlando, and the man who promoted in the city for many years, Milo Steinborn.

All questions, queries, and comments are welcomed at Manof1000holds@aol.com.