From Houston Wrestling via Mid Atlantic, this has Bob Caudle and David Crockett, as well as Mr. Boesch for the signing of the contract. Please comment if you like it & want to see more!
These straight men SOLD wrestling as REAL for decades until Vince McMahon RUINED it with his ridiculous characters and then just outright admitting it wasn’t real so he didn’t have to pay taxes in NJ. DIK.
id remember watching Andre the giant on Tv when id was a kid long time ago and Id was very surprised that God created a very unique man thAT was also a gentle giant who had a good heart :)
Saw him live here for the first time here in Houston, along with my classmates,he was all we talked about.Such an unbelievable sight,he truly was the 8th wonder of the world,like seeing a comic book character come to life.
The real rarity here is seeing and hearing Joe Murnick. What a special treat. Murnick was the local promoter for Jim Crockett based in Raleigh, NC, and he promoted the Raleigh area, as well as most of eastern North Carolina and eastern Virginia, including Richmond and Norfolk. Murnick was co-host of a Raleigh-only version of "Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling" in the 1960s and early 1970s, and when that Raleigh-only version was discontinued and all of the area's TV tapes were consolidated to WRAL in Raleigh, Murnick was still seen as the ring announcer on Crockett shows until his sons Elliot and Carl took over those duties toward the end of 1977 or early 1978. Joe Murnick had a deep, classically-southern voice that was just so perfect for the times and one of my favorite ring announcers ever.
@@johnhawk1969 Crockett Sr. died in 1973. There was a transition period of some months or a year before Jimmy took over, so the Murnicks were associated with both. Bob Caudle was the weatherman on the newscasts of WRAL, which was owned by Jesse Helms. After Helms was elected to the U.S. Senate, Caudle became director of his Raleigh field office. Sounds like he did that and the wrestling at the same time but exact information is sketchy.
So what was the point of having Joe Murnick as part of the contract signing? Crockett was the promoter, not Murnick. Guess nobody bothered to check the footage before it aired. Several have commented the yellow legal pad was BLANK. And what difference does it make which language Andre signs in? He signs his name - which certainly isn’t language-specific... The issues with this segment notwithstanding, still miss the old territory days...when wrestling was wrestling...
@@pls2028 The point would likely be that the segment was taped in Raleigh, the Murnicks were the promoters in Raleigh and the fans in the region all knew that. The Crocketts were in Charlotte, so they may not have been available to be physically present for the taping. The territorial system was largely based on certain local promoters who were central to the territory because they also operated booking offices, with separate local promoters in other communities who didn't book talent and instead relied on the booking office to fill their local cards. Boesch and Sam Muchnick were exceptions in that they managed to remain strictly local promoters, due to a large population base providing a sizable audience. The other exception was the McMahons, who by this point had managed to either sever ties with their local promoters or keep them on as employees of the company (e.g. Phil Zacko). The distinctions inherent in this system appear to be lost on 21st-century fans because the business hasn't worked that way in so very long.
@@Evilkingus Ya, it was stupid. But, because of the geographical area of Andre's place of birth, he would have had the opportunity to learn a few languages that were common to the locals. I had read that he knew how to speak some other languages.
Having Andre come to your town was just as big as having the NWA champion show up. The only thing that is comparable these days is wrestling the Undertaker at Wrestlemania.
In his early days, he could work well. It was when Vince McMahon Sr. took over his booking is when he really started to his repertoire in the ring (although when he worked Japan, he did some decent chain wrestling). Vince Jr. did the same thing with Hulk (limiting him to just a few moves), but when Hulk worked Japan, he would break out some nice moves and rarely use the legdrop finisher (preferring his classic Axe Bomber finish)
That's why they had Andre travel from territory to territory back in the day. Andre was so big and impressive, nobody would believe that he could lose if he won a championship. His championship bouts always ended in DQ's, countouts, or time expired. To my knowledge, he never won a championship even though he was undefeated pior to Hogan pinning him near the end of his career at Wrestlemania 3.
As of Jan. 2018 the Boesch family still owns the library while Billy Corgan via his purchase of the NWA owns the rights to licensing of the library. Meaning he can use the footage from the library whenever he chooses such as for the NWA youtube channel.
I believe this is the infamous match that Gary Hart talked about in his book. Paul, Gary and Bronco Lubich were trying to come up with a finish that Harley Race could win without making Andre look weak. Paul suggested Andre slip on a pencil outside the ring. Gary and Bronco looked at each other in disbelief. When Paul tried to present the finish to Andre, he said “Hey boss. I cant lose to a pencil”. On another note, Paul Boesch is a underrated commentator. He wasn’t the technical expert on moves like Gordon Solie or Joey Styles but he was great at getting the characters and personalities across and the motivations for why the performers were feuding.
Paul also liked to bring in the AWA and the WWF champions to Houston as well. That didn’t go well with the NWA. So they held back Harley from going to certain cards in Houston. Thus, Paul decided to quit the NWA Texas booking office in 1981, and went Joe Blanchard in San Antonio, Bill Watts in 1983, and Vince in 1987.
I really don't know about that. A hard slap from Andre's huge right hand would have incapacitated anyone, including Race. Many wrestlers who battled with Andre have confirmed that. Not to mention the fact that Andre stood at least a foot taller and weighed at least 200 lbs heavier than Harley Race.
If Andre had become champion it might have been a pay cut for him. And if they wanted him to wear a belt, then it would have had to been specially made for his girth.
andrea Santarelli I lost my beta copy in Hurricane Katrina, as I had most of 1979-80 mid south, but I've seen a tiny bit of the start of that angle on RU-vid.
I lost my beta copy in Hurricane Katrina, as I had most of 79-80 mid south, with local (New Orleans) promo's, but I've seen a tiny bit of the start of that angle on RU-vid.
This has nothing to do with nowadays wrestling anymore. Completely different world, completely different people. If you liked wrestling back then, you can easily hate it today
Brian Sheetz A title would have humanized him in a way, he just didn't need it to be special and a top attraction. Also back then the NWA champ had to defend his title every night in various territories, and André had too much going on with Japan and appearances and bookings to defend the title as much as the NWA would have asked him to.
Bob first worked in Georgia, and hosted a small wrestling show there in the late 50's. He then worked for Jim Crockett sr in Mid-Atlantic, in the early 70's. He wasn't a Houston wrestling employee per say, I think here he was simply brought by David Crockett to help with the presentation of the angle.
Yes as the other replier stated Andre traveled to all the territories, also Andre's main career was in Japan as were many of the top NWA and AWA stars. Andre's feud with Stan " The Lariat" Hansen in Japan is legendary. Andre was mostly a heel in Japan.
before there was Vince........it was Paul. I had the honor of seeing Andre win the 22 Man Royal Battle in the Sam Houston Colesium in Houston back in 1977 as a 10th bday present from my uncle. He took me. Of course Andre won.
Look how bad the NWA poster is on the wall! Umreal. These announcers are so stiff. Wrestling sucks now, but these guys were terrible. I miss the monday night wars.
