Championship Wrestling on Friday Night

During most of the 1967-68 tv season, Championship Wrestling aired at 6 p.m. Friday nights on WGHP 8 in High Point, NC. This show was taped Tuesday night Nov. 21, 1967. It aired Nov. 24, 1967.

Championship Wrestling in Charlotte,NC on November 18, 1967

This show was taped on Wednesday night November 15, 1967 in the WBTV channel 3 studio. As the show opened each week, the host Big Bill Ward would tell the viewers at home about the matches they were about to see. As the wrestlers were announced a camera would zoom in on photos such as you see here. Many of those photos were shot by the late Gene Gordon.

February 25, 1967 on WBTV 3 Charlotte, NC

This show was taped in the WBTV channel 3 studio in Charlotte, NC on Wednesday night February 22, 1967. Big Bill Ward was the host and George Harben was the ring announcer. Amazing Zuma wrestled the Mummy in a match not listed in this newspaper ad.

WCSC 5 in Charleston, SC 1967

All Star Wrestling with Bob Caudle aired in South Carolina, Virginia and West Virginia during the 1960's and early 1970's. Brute Bernard and Skull Murphy are the wrestlers in the ad.

Jim Crockett's top "Villain" teams in 1967

       1967 was a banner year for Jim Crockett Promotions. The Infernos and their manager, J. C. Dykes, arrived on the scene during February. Gene and Lars Anderson returned to the territory in the spring after a successful tour of the state of Georgia. The Oriental duo of  P.Y. Chung and Haru Sasaki came in with their dreaded "stomach claw". The team of Rip Hawk and Swede Hanson along  with Bronko Lubich and Aldo Bogni with their manager Homer O'Dell continued to wreak havoc for the fourth year in a row. 1967 would be the last year that Mr. O'Dell would manage Lubich and Bogni.

       The biggest surprise of the year for me was the team of the Missouri Mauler and Pampero Firpo. They were brutal and tough as nails.

July 1, 1967 "The Loaded Boot"

 
"The Loaded Boot"

 July 1, 1967 in Winston-Salem, NC

  My two brothers and I were really wanting to go to the wrestling matches on that Saturday
night in Winston-Salem. It didn't look too promising early in the week leading up to the
card because Dad wouldn't be getting off work until 10:00 p.m. that night and I was not
quite old enough to drive yet.

  By mid week we got lucky and worked out a deal with Jimmy, a close friend of the family.
My brothers and I would help Jimmy chop the weeds out of his tobacco field in exchange
for him driving us down to the Coliseum. He loved wrestling too.

  My mom had never learned to drive at this point but she had made up her mind to do so.
She had just bought a 1957 Dodge with the big fins on the back for $200. She let Jimmy
drive that old Dodge to wrestling because the only thing that would run on his farm that
day was his tractor. Well, Jimmy must never have driven anything so powerful as that old
Dodge. He flew past every vehicle we came upon that night between Mt. Airy and
Winston-Salem. Just imagine if you will three kids and one nut(just kidding Jimmy) flying
down U.S. 52 in a "Batmobile" going to wrestling!

  The old Coliseum was hot that night as it was nearly a full house and I don't believe that
grand old building ever had air conditioning.

  George Becker had made a promise on "Championship Wrestling" the previous week that he and Johnny Weaver had a big surprise for the Infernos and J.C. Dykes. The Infernos managed by J.C. Dykes had been wreaking havoc all over Virginia and the Carolina's during the Spring of 1967 with the Loaded Boot. Mr. Dykes explained in T.V. interviews that one of his Infernos was born with one leg shorter than the other.That was the reason he had to wear a built up boot. They won match after match when that Inferno would tap the toe of his boot to load it and kick his opponent in the stomach, then tap the heel to unload it.

   In this match with Becker and Weaver the Infernos won the first fall with the loaded boot
over Johnny Weaver. In the second fall Johnny Weaver used his rollup on Inferno1 and
Inferno 2 came in and started tapping the toe of his boot to the mat. Of course the referee
had his back turned while pushing George Becker back to his corner. Just as Inferno 2
went to kick Johnny, Weaver caught his foot and took him down. Becker then knocked the
referee down so he could join Johnny.

     George and Johnny got disqualified which resulted in them losing two
straight falls to the Infernos. No matter, they were going to remove that loaded boot at all
costs. After they got the boot off, Johnny loaded it and started swinging it, clearing the ring
of J.C. Dykes and the Infernos. Johnny then sat down in the middle of the ring and
removed his own boot so he could try the loaded boot on. It would not fit Johnny , so in
future matches with the Infernos, George Becker wore the boot. George would later loan
the boot to the Scott Brothers(Sandy wore the boot) and Tex McKenzie and Nelson
Royal(Nelson wore the boot). Rip Hawk and Swede Hanson got disqualified in the
semi-main event against the Kentuckians.

Was chopping weeds all day worth getting to see all this? You bet!
                                                                                                                        Carroll Hall
   

                                                                                                                   

November 2, 1967 in Christiansburg, VA

Haystacks Calhoun and the Amazing Zuma vs. The Infernos with manager J.C. Dykes

Winston-Salem,NC - May 4,1967

Championship Wrestling - Nov.24,1967

During the 1967-68 tv season,Championship Wrestling with host Charlie Harville,aired on Friday nights on WGHP 8 in High Point ,NC.This show was taped on Tuesday November 21,1967 and aired on Friday November 24,1967.

Championship Wrestling - March 4,1967

Comments & Answers

These comments,questions and answers appeared in the Greensboro newspaper.

Greensboro,NC - Nov.23,1967