There are two content errors that I have identified in the "Ten Pounds of Gold" book. One is a minor careless error that got past me in proofreading the book that is really of no consequence (more on that another time.) The second is a major error that I greatly regret.
The major error regards the date I have listed for the controversial title switch between Ric Flair and Harley Race in New Zealand in March of 1984. The worst part of this error is that I knew better!
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| The ad for the Wellington Match "WGTN TOWN HALL 8 PM Tues. 20th MARCH" |
Back in April of 2010, a little less than a year after the first edition of the "Ten Pounds of Gold" book had been published, I had a nice email exchange with wrestling historian Libnan Ayoub who provided me with more detailed information about the New Zealand/Singapore tour promoted by Steve Rickard in late February and early March of 1984. It was on this tour that Race, Flair, and promoter Rickard went into business for themselves and did a short term "title switch" to aid Rickard's promotional business there. Libnan sent me an image of the newspaper clipping from New Zealand that identified the correct date of the Wellington match where Race pinned Flair, and sent tour results that indicated the correct dates of the other matches between Flair and Race in Singapore.
The date of the Wellington change is listed in a chapter in the new expanded 2nd edition of the book called "Spanning the Globe", which includes a title history of all the domed-globe title changes. Most of that chapter was written at the time the rest of the book was first written in 2009, but was not included in the first edition of the book. When I decided to publish a more affordable 2nd edition of the book, I included this chapter but failed to go back and make the correction that Libnan sent me in 2010, and it just didn't dawn on me during the review phase of publishing the book.
The correct date for the match in Wellington, NZ, where Harley Race defeated Ric Flair is Tuesday, March 20, 1984 (incorrectly listed as Wednesday, March 21 in early printings of the book.)
As you will learn reading the "Spanning the Globe" chapter, there was much controversy about this switch from Flair to Race and back to Flair, and the details on how Flair got the title back are still surrounded in controversy to this day. On that, I'm not sure the record will ever be set completely straight, but I wanted to set the record straight on the correct date of the Wellington match, and thank Libnan Ayoub for his help in clarifying that date a couple years back. I also want to apologize to all of you who bought the book, and Lib in particular, for making this error. The date was wrong, but the substance of the story is correct. The date will be corrected in a future update to the content of the book.
Updated 8/21/12:
In addition to a failure to publish those correct dates, I also failed to acknowledge Libnan's contribution to the book in general. I recently posted this to the Mid-Atlantic Gateway and the Ten Pounds of Gold website:
In addition to a failure to publish those correct dates, I also failed to acknowledge Libnan's contribution to the book in general. I recently posted this to the Mid-Atlantic Gateway and the Ten Pounds of Gold website:
"In the second edition of the Ten Pounds of Gold book, I failed to acknowledge the contributions of Libnan Ayoub to the title history portion of the book, a careless and thoughtless act I deeply regret. Libnan, a respected wrestling historian in Australia, provided information to me via email regarding the controversial short-term title changes between Ric Flair and Harley Race in New Zealand and Singapore in 1984. I included some of this information in several paragraphs on pages 127-128 in the book. (The information relates to the dates and circumstances under which the title was returned to Ric Flair in Singapore.)
The failure to mention Libnan in my acknowledgements was mine alone and not the fault of any editor or other contributor to the book. I offer my apology to him and thank him here publicly for the information he provided. Future printings of the book will include a proper acknowledgement.
I generally go out of my way to credit those who contribute to these projects, be it here on the Mid-Atlantic Gateway or in published printed material. I regret not having done so in this case."
Questions or comments? I'd love to hear from you. Write us midatlanticgateway @ gmail dot com.