1977 started off with a bang as the feud between Flair and Valentine vs. The Anderson’s was really taking the territory by storm. Part of this was because a heel vs. heel feud was very rare back then, but also because the Wahoo began teaming with Ole after Gene became injured. Wahoo and Ole’s union for a common cause made for a lot of drama for the matches and once Gene recovered, Wahoo called on some old partners (Rufus R. Jones and Paul Jones) to challenge Flair and Valentine for the belts in a series of matches. Also during this time Wahoo started having singles matches with Greg Valentine that were resembling the great matches that Wahoo had in the past with Greg’s father Johnny Valentine. Wahoo was also getting NWA title shots against then champ Harley Race as well. Dusty Rhodes made some appearances in the area at the time and teamed with Wahoo to take on the team of Blackjack Mulligan and the Masked Superstar in a series of matches as well. Around this time, Boris Malenko returned to manage The Superstar and Kim Duk who Wahoo would feud with during mid 1977. Then, Baron Von Raschke made his way into the area in late 77 and quickly started up a feud with Wahoo, but the feud with Von Raschke halted when, Wahoo suffered a broken ankle on TV courtesy of a stepover grapevine from Greg Valentine. When Valentine did not release the hold on Wahoo immediately, Wahoo began screaming as the hold was put on. Wahoo was out for 8 weeks and was shown on TV many times "recuperating". Valentine then started wearing the infamous "I Broke Wahoo’s Leg" t-shirts on TV to end 1977.

Wahoo came back in January 1978 for some revenge and he got it a month later when he defeated Valentine for the Mid-Atlantic title. Wahoo would only hold the belt for 2 months before Ken Patera defeated him for the belt. Through 1978 and 1979, Wahoo didn’t have a major feud with anyone in particular. He wrestled guys like The Super Destroyer (Don Jardine), The Superstar, Bobby Duncum, Iron Sheik, Sgt. Jacques Goulet, John Studd, Crusher Blackwell, Cyclone Negro, Dick Slater, and when they came in the area, NWA champ Harley Race and AWA champ Nick Bockwinkel. In 1980, Wahoo ventured out of the Mid-Atlantic area and didn’t come back until May 1981. Wahoo immediately got involved in a feud with Roddy Piper over the U.S. title and on August 8, 1981 in Greensboro, North Carolina, Wahoo won the belt from Piper. Roddy became incensed and hired Abdullah The Butcher to take out Wahoo, which he did on TV in a brutal fashion. Wahoo had to vacate the U.S. title and work the injury angle until he returned in November to resume his feud with Piper, this time over the Mid-Atlantic title. Wahoo and Piper had some great matches for the belt, but Piper managed to retain his title in every match. Then in February 1982, U.S. champ Sgt. Slaughter decided to wrestle Wahoo McDaniel on TV in a non-title match. The match went 30 minutes and was a great match in which Wahoo picked up the big win. They feuded for the belt for the next 3 months until Wahoo finally won the title on May 21, 1982 in Richmond, Virginia. A month later, former tag team partner Don Muraco who had turned on Wahoo in the finals of the NWA World Tag Team title tournament in February, injured Wahoo and Slaughter was awarded the belt back. Then on August 22, 1982 in Charlotte, North Carolina, Wahoo defeated Slaughter again for the title and held it for over 2 months until an old enemy rode back into town.

Greg Valentine returned to Mid-Atlantic in September 1982 and immediately restarted his feud with Wahoo for the U.S. title. Valentine won the title on November 4, 1982 in Norfolk, Virginia and after a few weeks, Wahoo left JCP again, but returned in August 1983 to help out former enemy Roddy Piper in his feud with Dick Slater and Greg Valentine. Wahoo then started teaming with Mark Youngblood to go against Dick Slater and Bob Orton Jr. and those two teams wrestled each other at the first Starrcade on Thanksgiving Night 1983.

1984 started off with Wahoo teaming with Jay and Mark Youngblood in their feuds with the Brisco’s and Don Kernodle and Bob Orton Jr, but Wahoo was having good singles success as well. On March 4, 1984, Wahoo and Mark Youngblood defeated Kernodle and Orton for the NWA World Tag titles in Charlotte, North Carolina, but they held the belts for just a month before getting defeated for the belts by the Brisco’s. Wahoo and Mark regained the belts 23 days later, but lost them again to Ivan Koloff and Don Kernodle, then Wahoo started hinting at a heel turn. It all went down one day on TV when Wahoo demanded a NWA title shot against his good friend Ric Flair, but before Flair could answer, Tully Blanchard came out and started a brawl with Flair while Wahoo just stood and watched. Flair soon got up and asked Wahoo what the deal was and Wahoo simply told him that he was going to look out for himself for now on. Then, on June 24, 1984 in Greensboro, North Carolina, Wahoo wrestled Ricky Steamboat for the U.S. title and during the match, Tully ran to the ring with a chair. He intended to hit Wahoo, but nailed Steamboat, and Wahoo capitalized on Blanchard’s mistake and covered Steamboat for the pin and won the title, but the title was vacated in July 1984 due to Blanchard’s interference. Wahoo stated in interviews that he wasn’t getting shots at Flair and Steamboat, so he decided to get them the hard way. Wahoo soon started teaming with Tully to fight against Flair and Steamboat to go along with singles matches between the 2 and also Ric Flair brought in his old friend Blackjack Mulligan to fight Wahoo, but Wahoo injured Mulligan and sent him out of the area. Then on October 7, 1984, there was a tournament held for the vacant U.S. title, in which the finalists were Wahoo and Manny Fernandez and Wahoo picked up the win and the title. Wahoo then resumed his feud with Flair and Steamboat, and also Barry Windham who had come in the area to get revenge for his father’s injury. At Starrcade 84, Wahoo defeated Superstar Graham in a U.S. title match, and started 1985 feuding with guys like Dick Slater, Buzz Tyler, Manny Fernandez, Steamboat, and Dusty Rhodes, but in January 1985 a new face would come in the Carolinas who would end the run of Wahoo. Magnum T.A. made a huge impact when he came in the territory beating his opponents in less than a minute and then he earned a U.S. title shot against Wahoo. So on March 23, 1985, Wahoo fought Magnum T.A. in a steel cage match in Charlotte, North Carolina and was shown on TV. Magnum won the grueling match and soon after Wahoo headed down to Florida. Wahoo came back later in the year, but could never get the success like he had earlier and in late 1986, Wahoo left JCP for the last time.

NEXT MONTH:

We will look at the greatest moments to ever occur in the city of Greensboro, North Carolina.