NWA Mid Atlantic Championship Wrestling Early 1985

[agentofenton]

*** Due to my absence, I had to come up with a way to catch up to be on the same calendar with the rest of the territories. Here is a PWI magazine write-up covering the major matches and events leading into the very first NWA Clash of the Champions show on March 21, 1985. Hopefully this gives an idea of the stories and matches being built for the Clash of the Champions show. ***

The National Wrestling Alliance has been a major part of professional wrestling for decades. Coming into 1985, there is major competition coming about all over the wrestling world. The USWA has been growing and holding strong in the south. The World Wrestling Federation has re-emerged from NY and the Northeast, but looking to take on the whole country. The two leading companies pushing the NWA to the top of the business is Lutte Internationale, based out of Montreal, Quebec in Canada and Mid Atlantic Championship Wrestling, based out of Charlotte, North Carolina. With a strong showing coming from the Starrcade ‘84 show on Christmas night in Greensboro, they have continued to bring out some of the best wrestling in the world. In the coming paragraphs, we are going to take a look at the early part of 1985 and specifically the Mid Atlantic region.

Lutte and MACW has had a really fun, ongoing crossover with their talent. At the end of January, The Sheepherders made their violent trip through the Carolinas defeating a rookie team of The Young Stallions and the next night defeating veterans The Vachons. We also got to see Nick Bockwinkel make his way in and defeat wrestlers Thunderbolt Patterson & Johnny Weaver on television. Dino Bravo also traveled to Mid Atlantic and had a very successful run on TV as well, getting a win over Mr. Wrestling II on WTBS. Rick Martel brought his NWA International Heavyweight Championship and defended it on television against Ray Stevens and Mr. Wrestling II on back to back weeks on World Championship Wrestling. He also teamed with the NWA World Tag Team Champions, the Rougeau Brothers defeated The Moondogs & “Crazy” Luke Graham on World Wide Wrestling.

As much as Lutte has been sending top-tier talent Stateside, MACW has also sent their talent to Lutte for some international action. The Fantastics have spent many nights North of the border this year. Tully Blanchard spent a few days defending his NWA Television Championship. The Hart Brothers have been wrestling in various matches as well.

Throughout the month of February, the NWA World Champion has been working all over North America, defending the championship against such athletes as Dory Funk Jr., Nick Bockwinkel, Jack Brisco, Both members of the Fantastics and Pedro Morales. “Nature Boy” Ric Flair’s toughest challenge had to be a match in Norfolk on the 15th against the winner of WrestleBowl ‘85, One Man Gang. This was the only match that the champion lost, via a DQ when his 24-Karat partners interfered to save the championship. This match had the Gang coming in as a hated monster, but he left the ring as a fan favorite. As of this writing, the NWA says that he will get another shot against the champion at a show MACW is calling Clash of the Champions.

On the February 3rd (taped 2/1) edition of World Wide Wrestling, United States Champion Magnum TA, and US Tag Team Champions The Windhams went to a double DQ against 24 Karat. Terry Funk showed up after the match and attacked the US champion once again. The next week on World Championship Wrestling, Magnum got a measure of revenge, attacking Terry Funk after he defeated Rocky Johnson. The NWA Board of Directors has signed Magnum TA vs Terry Funk for the Clash of the Champions event that will be shown on WTBS on March 21.

Speaking of the US Tag Team Champions, they have accepted a challenge from Paul Jones to defend their titles at the Clash of the Champions show against a mystery team. The Grappler’s assumed it was them, and they were gloating about it, but when Jones said it wasn’t them, they fired him. Jones won’t give any hints to whom he has found to challenge the brothers, but they are fighting champions and are ready for the challenge. They offered up a title match with the Grappler’s on TV, but the match hasn’t happened as the champions have been in Japan for the majority of February. All of their TV appearances after the six-man tag at the beginning of the month were via satellite from Japan while they were competing in the NJPW Tag Festival.

Tully Blanchard has been defending the Television title on TV every week since winning that championship. He has been able to retain the title over some of the top talent in the world. It was announced recently that he will be defending the title against Mil Mascaras at the Clash of the Champions event in Raleigh, NC on March 21. JJ Dillon and Tully have been bragging on TV for weeks that Tully doesn’t have any real competition. The NWA brought in a Mexican legend to challenge that claim. Mil had sent in pre-tapes from Mexico talking about becoming the new NWA Television champion.

There is a bloody, family feud brewing in Mid-Atlantic with “Superstar” Billy Graham and “Crazy” Luke Graham. During a World Championship Wrestling episode, Billy Graham broke his silence on the situation and said he wanted to stay away from his delusional brother. He was in Mid Atlantic to win championships and awards. He doesn’t know what Luke’s issues are, but he didn’t want to be involved. At an event in Atlanta, at the Omni, during a Television title match, Luke attacked Billy with a steel chain and bloodied his brother badly. MACW officials have been able to keep the two men apart at television tapings, but they have been able to get at each other in various instances on non-televised events. MACW finally signed a match between the two in Charlotte on the 25th of February. But that match quickly went out of control, with both men getting disqualified. MACW has signed a few more matches between the two brothers, but the end of the line will be at Clash of the Champions. They will meet in a loser-leaves-town Chain Match.

Owen Hart is out on the disabled list after an attack by The Grappler’s and Mr. Wrestling II before their upcoming match on this Clash of the Champions card. He should be cleared by the doctors soon after the Clash show. NWA Board of Directors has ruled that since the Grappler’s and MW2 were responsible for the injury, on purpose, that the Hart Brothers can substitute for Owen during this title defense. They chose Rocky Johnson as their partner. He has been facing off with Mr. Wrestling II off and on since he came back to Mid Atlantic. Mr. Wrestling II has told Paul Jones to handle his new tag team and let him and handle winning the six-man tag team titles, as the Grappler’s recently fired Jones.

With the big WTBS special coming up, here is the official run down for that show.

NWA World Heavyweight Championship Match

Ric Flair © w/ JJ Dillon vs One Man Gang

NWA World Tag Team Championship Match

The Rougeau Brothers © vs Rock ‘n Roll Express

NWA United States Heavyweight Championship Match

Magnum TA © vs NWA International Heavyweight Champion, Terry Funk

NWA United States Tag Team Championship Match

Barry & Kendall Windham © vs Paul Jones’ Mystery Team (Approved by the NWA Board of Directors) w/ Paul Jones

NWA Television Championship Match

Tully Blanchard © w/ JJ Dillon vs Mil Mascaras

NWA World Six-Man Tag Team Championship Match

Bruce & Keith Hart © and Rocky Johnson (replacing Owen Hart) vs The Grappler’s & Mr. Wrestling II

Loser Leaves Mid Atlantic Championship Wrestling Chain Match

“Crazy” Luke Graham vs “Superstar” Billy Graham

Women’s Match

Luna Vachon vs Madusa

[SirEdger]

Great way to get caught up to date with everyone else. That Clash card is really good!

[gordi]

Yeah, that's a great card. Tully Blanchard vs Mil Mascaras looks to be the mid-card match that might just steal the show. TA vs Funk should be great. How will Flair counteract OMG's size? Are we gonna see the Road Warriors?

[GeneJackson95]

Great stuff, very cool/creative way to catch up. Great buildup for Magnum/Funk...can't wait to see it play out. Looking forward to Flair/OMG...Flair didn't really defend the title a lot against guys the size of OMG back in the day going to be fun to watch this match up. Tully is the man, who could possibly take the TV title from him?? Love it!