Brody with the Ten Pounds of Gold

You may be familiar with our "Great Pretender" photo series on this site, wrestlers with the domed-globe NWA World Heavyweight title belt who never actually held the title.

I recently saw this photo of Bruiser Brody float across Twitter and thought I'd include it here. It is the second photo of Brody with the belt, the first one is featured here.

I don't know the origin of the photo, although I'm guessing it was from a Japanese magazine, taken after one of Brody's classic battles with Ric Flair in St. Louis. But that's just a guess.

Here are links to our other pages:

Brody, Wrestling II, Wahoo McDaniel, Jerry Lawler, Buddy Landel

Jumbo Tsuruta  |  Magnum TA  |  Mil Mascaras  |  Dory Funk, Jr.* 

The Midnight Rider (Dusty Rhodes**)

* Dory Funk, Jr. could never be called a pretender to anything. He was NWA World champion for four years. But he held a different version of the belt, so I decided to include this photo in the series.

** Dusty of course held the domed-globe belt on a couple of occasions, and was a 3-time NWA champion. But he tried to steal it from Ric Flair under a mask as the Midnight Rider. Thank heavens the well known law-and-order NWA President (and special referee) Bob Geigel prevented such a travesty from taking place.

The Great Pretenders

...pretenders to the throne, that is.

Here are some interesting photographs of some great wrestlers who came close to getting the gold, but in the end fell short. These photos show, however, that they left the ring with the ten pounds of gold for at least a brief moment in time, and no doubt the fans in the building where this took place thought they had seen the title change hands.

Bruiser Brody

Bruiser Brody had fans in St. Louis thinking he had won the title from Ric Flair, and fans  in Japan likely thought so momentarily when they saw this magazine on their news stands.

Mr. Wrestling II

Mr. Wrestling II holds the NWA belt over his head in the crowd in Atlanta when it appeared he had defeated Harley Race for the championship. (Photo by Bill Christmas.)

Wahoo McDaniel

Wahoo McDaniel pinned Ric Flair in Charlotte and left the ring with the belt. The decision was later over turned.

Jerry "The King" Lawler

This is my favorite; Jerry Lawler not only left the ring at the Mid-South Coliseum in Memphis with the NWA belt after battling Terry Funk, he posed for a photo wearing it that appeared on the cover of "City of Memphis" magazine. The man is a genius. No wonder they call him The King. (Thanks to Dave Millican and Scott Bowden.)

UPDATE: 

After this article was originally posted, Scott Bowden sent along this photo of Buddy Landel with the NWA belt, which was also a part of an article he had written on his blog "Kentucky Fried Rasslin." 

"Nature Boy" Buddy Landel

Buddy Landel holds the Ten Pounds of Gold high over his head after pinning Ric Flair in Greensboro in July 1985.

* * * * *

See more posts with other photos featuring great pretenders to the NWA title:

• More Great Pretenders (featuring Jumbo Tsuruta)
• A Sure Bet to be Champion? (featuring Magnum T.A.) 
• Another Great Pretender (featuring Mil Mascaras)
• Dory Funk, Jr. and the Domed Globe (featuring Funk, Jr.)

* * * * *

I know there have to be more photos like this out there. If you have a photo similar to these of someone who came close to winning the NWA title (1973-1986) and want to forward it to us, please do so using the mail link on the Mid-Atlantic Gateway or send to us via Facebook.

Check out Ten Pounds of Gold, the book that takes a close look 

at the 1973-1986 NWA title belt:

www.TenPoundsOfGold.com