Riding the coattails of a successful 1976, Mid Atlantic Championship Wrestling started 1977 as most people do…with fireworks!  On the very first day of the New Year, JCP wasted little time in bringing some great action to the fans.

On its initial television broadcast, two debuts were made.  First, the Mighty Igor arrived in innovative fashion…by using entrance music on his way to the ring!  This concept, although not entirely original here, was a rare event in itself.  Igor, acting like a Pied Piper of wrestling, would lead fans of all ages in ringside antics and soon became one of the most popular grapplers in the area.

The other newcomer to the region was not so popular.  In fact, he was as disliked by the fans as much as Igor was adored.  His name was Kim Duk.  Given his nickname of the “Korean Assassin”, one can immediately see why he never really garnered a lot of fan support during his stay in MACW.  The man who brought Duk into the region was Professor Boris Malenko.  If you remember, he had a running feud with one of the most popular wrestlers in the area, Chief Wahoo McDaniel.  Wahoo had run off another one of Malenko’s henchmen (Bolo Mongol—who returned just one week later as the Masked Superstar) during the latter part of 1976 and Boris wasted little time in sending Kim Duk after the current Mid Atlantic Heavyweight Champion.  These two engaged in an all out war against one another.  The brutality seen in these matches was comparable to that when Wahoo and the legendary Johnny Valentine had hooked up just a few years earlier.

Other new faces that eventually showed up in early 1977 were the tag team of the Hollywood Blonds (Jerry Brown & Buddy Roberts).  They quickly became a force to be reckoned with by taking the Mid Atlantic Tag Team Championship from Dino Bravo & Tim “Mr. Wrestling” Woods.  The held the titles until mid April when Bravo recruited the services of Tiger Conway to win the belts.

However, not everything was a bed of roses for JCP during the initial months of 1977.  One of the fastest rising stars, Ric Flair, was out of action for a couple of months due to shoulder surgery.  Flair and his partner Greg Valentine were the reigning World Tag Team Champions at this time, but the governing body of JCP decided not to strip them of the titles.  Flair returned in full force around March, and jumped right back into the thick of things as he and Valentine renewed their battles with former champs Gene and Ole Anderson.

On February 6^th, 1977 in Toronto, the NWA World Heavyweight Championship changed hands as former champ Harley Race upended Terry Funk for the belt.  Race came through the Mid Atlantic region later that month to defend the gold.  A classic match up with Wahoo McDaniel was held in Richmond on February 18^th.  Race, as is seemed most of the heel champions do, managed to barely escape with his title.

One of the most controversial angles of 1977 was between Might Igor and the deadly combination of the Masked Superstar & Boris Malenko.  During a house show between the two wrestlers, Malenko “accidentally” stuck his cigar into the eye of Igor!  The two villains later claimed on television that the incident was not intentional, but George Scott (acting as an NWA liaison in JCP) ruled otherwise and suspended Superstar.  Both Malenko and Superstar protested, but until Superstar was forced to sign a contract on TV to wrestle Igor, he would remain on the shelf.  More...