Where Wrestling's Regional History Lives!
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Where Wrestling's Regional History Lives! |
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- Larry Stoy The year was 1976. Many important events happened that year: the Bicentennial of the United States of America, pro football expanded to Seattle and Tampa Bay, “Rocky” premiered (the greatest underdog movie of my time), and I graduated from Sumter High School (yes, I am THAT old!). In the world of professional wrestling, several future stars made their debut during these twelve months: Satoru Sayama (Tiger Mask), Beautiful Bobby Eaton, Kevin Von Erich, and Paul Orndorff were some of the more notable names from this rookie class.
As
far as Mid Atlantic wrestling goes, the year 1976 would be a pivotal
one. Due to the tragedy
that occurred the previous October – the plane crash that claimed
the career of the legendary Johnny Valentine and injuring Ric Flair,
Bob Bruggers and David Crockett – the roster situation going into
1976 was somewhat tenuous, at best.
Valentine was one of the top singles competitors from 1974
until the accident in 1975. Losing
him was a big blow to the promotion, but the Crocketts had the
wherewithal to pick up the slack on their roster.
Flair was out until the end of January 1976, but his miraculous
recovery was a definite high point of the early part of the year.
As
expected, there wasn’t much going on in JCP during the first part of
the year, as everyone was still trying to recover from what happened
to Valentine, Bruggers, and the others.
Some notable appearances in the first few months included
former IWA Tag Team Champions The Mongols (billed as “International
Tag Team Champions”), future WWWF Champion “Superstar” Billy
Graham, and the reigning NWA World Heavyweight Champion Terry Funk.
Fans were certainly treated to some good matches during this
“transitional” period in the Mid Atlantic area.
Once the “Nature Boy” returned to the ring, the action
seemed to pick up considerably!
Flair’s
first course of action upon returning was to engage in a series of
matches with one Wahoo McDaniel.
Flair, who was the current Mid Atlantic Heavyweight Champion
(having won the belt from Wahoo in September 1975), put his title on
the line against his archrival on numerous occasions.
But, in true heel fashion, Flair always managed to retain his
crown, usually through questionable tactics.
Wahoo did manage to have two short stints as MA Champ in May
and September, but Ric held this coveted title for most of the year.
It wasn’t until December that Flair relinquished the title
for good, as he and Greg Valentine teamed to capture the World Tag
Team Championship by besting Gene and Ole Anderson.
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