Wrestling From Roanoke

[mofat152]

Thanks for jogging the old memory. It was Pancho I was thinking of. What a great worker. Sometimes I'd go just to see him do his thing. Anyone remember Mike "The Judge" Dubois and Freddie Sweetan? I saw them in a great wire cage match against The Royal Kangaroos once. It ended with Dubois and Sweetan Ramming Norman Fredrick Charles III's head through a glass popcorn machine while Lord Jonathan Boyd was tied in the ropes. I never ate the popcorn again!

[cwh47]

I remember Freddie Sweetan and Mike "the Judge"
Dubois.I would have loved to see them take on the
Royal Kangaroos.In the Winston-Salem/Greensboro
area,the Kangaroos main evented against Johnny
Weaver and Art Nelson,Sandy Scott and Nelson Royal
and I saw Lord Jonathon Boyd go against Thunderbolt
Patterson in a singles match.

Sweetan and Dubois wrestled Bobby and Terry Kay
and Les Thatcher and Jim Dillon on some of these
cards.

I really like hearing about matchups I never got to
see from other parts of the territory.

[mofat152]

It just takes a bit to jog the old memory. I was just thinking how great it is to share memories with another old timer who remembers the good old days. While talking to a friend the other day I commented that the first time I recalled seeing blood on T.V. wrestling was on a Saturday show from Roanoke, I can't remember the year, and I believe it centered around an altercation between Art Nelson and Rip Hawk, Swede Hansen and Playboy Gary Hart. It ended with Nelson a bloody mess and they even followed him to the dressing room showing his bloody head. That was quite something for the day. Any memories of this event? Also jog my memory on another subject. On another Saturday show from Roanoke, Matti Suzuki turned on Johnny Weaver and threw salt into Weaver's eyes. Suzuki won the match. Suzuki tuned heel at this point and had a pretty good run in tag team competition. Do you remember who he primarily teamed with? I also happened to see Suzuki in a Judo Belt match with Nelson Royal at the old Starland. I think Royal won that one but my memory is hazy.

[cwh47]

Matti Suzuki teamed up with Rock Hunter after
he turned heel.They had quite a successful run
as a tag team.Rock Hunter had been the partner
of Rip Hawk in the early sixties before Rip and Swede
teamed up in the spring of 1963.

I believe the other event you are speaking of
happened in Nov.1971 when Gene Anderson
and Art Nelson went up against Rip Hawk and
Swede Hanson managed by Gary Hart.It was
very rare that two heel teams wrestled each other
on tv.This was part of an angle that played out
over several months which led to Art Nelson teaming
up with Johnny Weaver. George Becker had wrestled
his last match for Jim Crockett on Oct.15,1971 in
Charleston, SC. The promotion took their time on
this one and it paid off when Johnny and Art finally
did team together.

All Star Wrestling with Bob Caudle aired at 12:30 p.m.
each Sat. afternoon in the late 60's and early 70's on
WSLS channel 10 from Roanoke.I rarely missed an
episode.

I am really glad that you joined this board.You are
one of a very few I have talked too who remembers
seeing the live show with Hal Grant on WDBJ 7.I
remember two occasions when one of the wooden
ring posts broke on that show but the show had to
keep going because it was live.Do you recall seeing
that happen?I would say both instances happened
between 1964-65.

[RowdyRoddy]

Heck, I moved to the New River Valley (right south of Roanoke) 5 1/2 years ago, but had no idea of the pro wrestling history in Roanoke in the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s.

[mofat152]

Thanks for the kind words and rest assured, I'm happy to participate. I do seem to remember one of those incidents with the ringpost or at least I heard about it from my grandfather or next door neighbor, the 2 of whom watched wrestling together every Saturday night and also on Saturday afternoons once it moved to that time slot. I seem to recall that Swede Hansen was involved but can't recall if he was on the giving or receiving end. You mentioned the Kay Brothers earlier, did you happen to see the spot on T.V. when one of them ( I can't remember which) was singing and playing guitar in the ring and there was a run in from another wrestler who I can't remember. The other wrestler smashed the guitar over the Kay Brothers head. I just wish that I could remember more specifics on some of the great matches I saw. I do however remember the first live match I attended. It was a Friday night match at the Lynchburg Armory and the main event featured Mr. Wrestling and Sam Steamboat vs. Skull Murphy and Brute Bernard. I think it was around 1964 or 1965. Steamboat and Woods won by DQ when Murphy repeatedly bashed Mr.Wrestling with a microphone bloodying him in the process.

[cwh47]

I am pretty sure it was Terry Kay who played the
guitar and sung the song while Joe Murnick held the
microphone for him.I do remember the song for sure.
It was Charley Pride's "All I have to offer you is me".

Swede Hanson was involved in one of the ringpost
incidents on WDBJ.Johnny Weaver whipped him into
the corner and the post broke and leaned inward
with the ropes sagging.The show went on.

The other time Johnny Weaver shot Brute Bernard into
the corner.The post cracked where the center
turnbuckle threads went through the post.The ring
crew came out and removed the center rope.This was
during the main event.Johnny and Brute finished the
show with only the top and bottom ropes.

[RowdyRoddy]

Does anyone live near Roanoke who has Mid-Atlantic house show or TV taping footage from the 1960s or 1970s aside from the 1978 Year in Review? Please let me know. Thanks!

[kyle]

If you find any of that footage let me know also. All I have is some shows taped on WSLS-10 from 1985.

[RowdyRoddy]

What footage do you have from WSLS from 1985? Is it on VHS or DVD?

[thegreatbolo]

Couple things...

Matti Suzuki often teamed with Haru Sasaki in the JCP territory.

The program with the Kay brothers and the guitar was apparently used thoughout the territory. They did it in Charlotte on WBTV. One of the Kays sang and played for two or three weeks with Big Bill Ward holding the microphone. Claimed the guitar had been passed down to him from his late grandfather (Grandpa must have had several guitars.)

Finally, one week, Ole Anderson came out and smashed the guitar across the ringpost, splintering it. The Kays wept.

I believe this was attempt to main event the Kays against Gene and Ole in a program.

I don't believe it was very successful, as the Kays remained mostly mid-carders.

[mofat152]

Just a thought for an imput question. Who do you think did the best interviews on either Wrestling from Roanoke or Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling? I think I'd have to vote for either Art Nelson, Masked Superstar or Ole Anderson. Those three were all very literate and well spoken. I always hated the stuttering,stammering country boys who bored you to death.

[kyle]

I've got about 6 Mid-Atlantic shows from 1985 on VHS, not sure what is on them or where they are at right now.