Ric Flair: "And Then It Was My Turn."

By Dick Bourne
Mid-Atlantic Gateway

On Monday night May 8, 2000, Ric Flair appeared on WCW Monday Nitro on TNT and brought with him the old NWA World Heavyweight championship belt that he wore beginning in 1981 when he defeated Dusty Rhodes until February of 1986 when the belt was replaced by the famous "Big Gold" version of the NWA title.

It was a big surprise and a very nostalgic moment for fans from the 1970s and 1980s who so connected with the "ten pounds of gold", which was the top title and top belt in all of professional wrestling during the territory years.

Nitro was in St. Louis, MO, that night, historically the most important city on the National Wrestling Alliance map. Flair spoke generally about how important it was to work there for Sam Muchnick if you wanted to become NWA champion one day. He also spoke eloquently about seeing that belt for the first time.

That had to be a very cool moment for old-school fans of St. Louis wrestling.

Here is a transcript of Flair's remarks as they pertained to the "ten pounds of gold."

"In the year nineteen hundred and seventy eight, Terry Funk told me if I wanted to be a star in this business I had to get to St. Louis on Friday night. You know what I'm talkin' about. I had to be at the Kiel or The Arena, I had to be live at the Chase, I had to be in St. Louis if I wanted to be a star.

And then I saw this for the first time. It was around the waist of the legendary Jack Brisco. And I said, "Jack, do you think I could ever be World champion?" He said, "Kid, keep workin'. Work at it every day and every night and maybe by the grace of God you might get it some day.

And then there was Terry Funk, and then it was Harley Race, and then it was Dusty Rhodes.

And then it was my turn.

And this is what we all desired to have and be, the World Heavyweight championship. We gave up everything. We gave up life, we gave up our families, we worked every day, we partied all night. We were the champions of the World. The best this sport had to offer."

 

That episode of WCW Monday Nitro is currently available on demand on the Peacock Network. The interview with Flair is at approximately 25:20 into the program.

A very bright moment during a really sad time in WCW.

This post was originally published on the "Domed Globe" website in May of 2019, and republished on the Mid-Atlantic Gateway in May of 2023.

A Close Encounter with the Ten Pounds of Gold

by Dick Bourne
Mid-Atlantic Gateway

I suddenly realized the referee in the ring was walking towards my position. I thought, well this is it, someone is finally going to ask me to leave. But as I looked up, he reached out with the NWA world title belt - - the beautiful "ten pounds of gold" - -

- - and waited for me to take it.

The year was 1982. I was 21 years old. I had just moved from Tennessee to begin work for Russell Corporation in Alexander City, Alabama. For the first time ever, I was isolated from Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling, unable to watch the weekly adventures of my favorite group of wrestlers in my favorite wrestling territory.

 

 

I had settled in to my shabby little apartment on Highway 280 and hooked up local cable. I could get "Georgia Championship Wrestling" on the Superstation out of Atlanta, and saw some of my guys there -  Roddy Piper, Ole Anderson, Ray Stevens, and Ric Flair. I was getting familiar with the NWA promotion based out of Pensacola, Florida that ran the panhandle of Florida and the lower two-thirds of the state of Alabama. This would be my new home territory. Their TV show aired twice every Saturday - once in the afternoon out of Montgomery, and again late Saturday night out of Birmingham. People in the business called this territory the Pensacola territory. But most fans called it the Southeastern territory, taken from the name of their television show for so many years, "Southeastern Championship Wrestling."

I liked their TV show well enough. Charlie Platt and Ric Stewart were excellent studio hosts. I was familiar with a lot of their wrestlers who used to be regulars in the Southeastern promotion based out of Knoxville, TN, in the 1970s - - guys like Ron and Robert Fuller, Bob Armstrong, and Jimmy Golden. But nothing was ever going to quite replace Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling and Jim Crockett Promotions for me. That was the wrestling I had grown up on. And I missed it terribly.

However, that fall, Southeastern Championship Wrestling was running a tour called "October Fest" and the NWA World champion Ric Flair was coming to the territory to put his title up against a different challenger in a different town in the territory each night of that week. Ric Flair was a "Mid-Atlantic guy," having cut his teeth in the Carolinas beginning in 1974 and eventually becoming the NWA World champion in 1981.  he was the first ever wrestler in the 46 year history of Jim Crockett Promotions to have ever developed through the territroy and been selected by the NWA to be their champion. As fans, we were proud of that! And even though he was now the world champion and just passing through to defend the title, having him come through my new home state of Alabama made me feel a little less homesick.

My first decision was where to go see him. The closest towns where Flair would be were Montgomery and Birmingham, AL. We received most of the TV stations on our local cable from both markets. Flair was scheduled to defend against "The Tennessee Stud" Ron Fuller on Monday 10/25 in Birmingham, and "the Universal Heart Throb" Austin Idol two nights later on Wednesday 10/27 in Montgomery.

Montgomery was a little bit closer, a little over an hour's drive away, and the Montgomery Civic Center was a little easier to get to than Boutwell Auditorium in Birmingham. So I chose to go to Montgomery for that stop on the "Southeastern Wrestling October Fest" tour.

The Montgomery Civic Center in Montgomery, AL. Circa 1960s. "Wrestling Tonite" on the marquee!

Another factor in that decision was the opponent for Ric Flair. I had always been a big Austin Idol fan, and had always wanted to see what would happen if these two guys ever met each other in the ring. It was a dream-match of sorts - - a battle of Austin Idol's "Las Vegas leglock" against Ric Flair's "figure-four."

I hadn't made any wrestling friends in my new hometown yet, so I decided to go to the matches alone. I got off work early that Wednesday and drove down to the Montgomery Civic Center box office as soon as it opened to get the best tickets possible. I was able to secure seats in the ringside area, although I was about four rows back. I took my camera and hoped to get a few good photos up near the ring.

There was surprisingly little security at this show. When Flair and Idol had entered the ring, I was able to sort of stoop low, scoot up and kneel down next to the ring with my camera. Surprisingly, no one said a word to me. I couldn't believe how lucky I was.

The ring announcer introduced Idol first and then introduced Flair. Ric opened his robe, took the NWA belt from around his waist and handed it to the referee. He then handed his big heavy robe over the top rope down to the ring attendant on the floor who was already holding Idol's full-length heavy robe in his arms as well. He left the ringside area to take the robes back to the dressing rooms. I watched all this and again, nobody said a word to me as I knelt at ringside.

I suddenly realized the referee in the ring was walking towards my position. I thought, well this is it, someone is finally going to ask me to leave. But as I looked up, he reached out with the NWA world title belt - - the beautiful "ten pounds of gold" - - and waited for me to take it.

I couldn't figure out what was happening. Like in a movie, everything sort of started to go in slow motion and I couldn't hear a thing.

I've always thought that the referee had turned to give the title belt to the ring attendant, but the ring attendant had failed to wait for the belt, having two large heavy robes to carry to the back. Looking back on it, I have no idea why he wouldn't have just handed the belt to the ring announcer who I think had already exited on the other side of the ring at this point after his introductions. But he didn't. Instead, incredibly - - perhaps thinking I must be at ringside for a reason - - he was trying to hand the belt to me.

So I took it.

And I want to tell you that for one brief moment - - one fleeting, crazy, impulsive, irresponsible, disrespectful, do-I-dare, moment - - I thought about walking right back down the aisle with that belt, right out the back door, never to be seen or heard from again!

I wouldn't really have done that. Even at age 21, I had so much respect for the belt, for the championship, for Ric Flair and all the others that had held it. But I'd be lying if I didn't admit I thought about it! For one brief second....

Ring attendant with the NWA title in Dothan, AL.
This wasn't me, this wasn't Montgomery, it just
reminds me of that moment in my life.

Instead, I just looked at it. I couldn't believe what I had in my hands. This was the famous domed-globe belt; the Lombardi trophy and the Stanley Cup and every championship trophy in every major sport all wrapped up into one. Ric Flair's world title. The same world title that had been held by Brisco, Funk, Race, and Rhodes. And now I was kneeling at ringside in Montgomery, Alabama with that belt in my hands.

If I had really wanted to run away with the belt (which I did not), my window of opportunity quickly closed as the ring attendant had returned and I suddenly realized he was right behind me. He snatched the belt from my hands.

"You need to get back to your seat, bud," he said with a cold stare. And so without a word, I complied.

Can you imagine how badly this might have ended otherwise? I'm guessing the boys in the back would have had a field day with the young punk who tried to steal the champ's belt. More likely, I would have been arrested and spent the night in the Montgomery county jail.

My pulse was still racing as I thought about what had just happened. It was my one brief moment to touch history, to touch this belt I would have never thought I would have a chance to get anywhere near.

Many years later, however , on October 28, 2008, Dave Millican and I had the opportunity to photograph this very same belt. These photographs would later wind up in our book "Ten Pounds of Gold."

I would have never dreamed I could have gotten that close to it again.

 

Edited from a story originally published in October of 2015 on the Mid-Atlantic Gateway.

Review: The Last Real World Champion: The Legacy of "Nature Boy" Ric Flair

One of the great frustrations for wrestling fans interested in wrestling history, especially fans a little older like me, is the lack of focus and context on the early aspects of Ric Flair's wrestling career, especially during the era when the territories were still going strong in the 1970s. 

A less familiar observer who spent time reading or watching popular culture presentations on the life and career of the "Nature Boy" might think things took off for him professionally about the time he defeated Harley Race for the NWA World Heavyweight Championship at the landmark Starrcade event in 1983.

Not so in "The Last Real World Champion" by respected wrestling historian and author Tim Hornbaker. He is nearly 130 pages into his biography before he ever gets to Starrcade.

Spanning over 400 pages, "The Last Real World Champion: The Legacy of Nature Boy Ric Flair" covers every aspect of Flair's remarkable in-ring career that spans nearly half a century. But in a pleasant development, to my experience, there has never been a more thorough review of the ten years before that famous win over Race in Greensboro. So much of Flair's career before his historic run as world champion often gets glossed over by others, hitting only a few high spots. Hornbaker goes deep into Flair's early career, especially concerning his development as a major star and box-office draw in the Mid-Atlantic Wrestling territory promoted by the Crockett family. He covers Flair's arrival in the Carolinas in great detail, his development under booker George Scott, life on the road, and his early tutoring by Johnny Valentine, Wahoo McDaniel, and others. Long-time Mid-Atlantic fans will revel in the details of the significant angles and achievements early on, while fans less familiar with that era will find lots to learn, love, and celebrate.

The rest of Flair's unique story is told throughout this amazing book, including the NWA title era, WCW and Nitro periods, and the latter years in WWE and Impact Wrestling. 

When it comes to the more challenging aspects of Flair's personal life and entanglements outside of wrestling, Hornbaker doesn't flinch there, either. But with regards to the personal drama, he reports on all of it succinctly and cleanly, unlike some other accounts, which look more like wide-eyed gawkers slowing up to pass an accident on the side of the highway. If you want that dirt, help yourself; it's been done to death in many documentaries and articles over the past years and even by Flair himself. Hornbaker doesn't gloss over any of it, to be sure, but he doesn't dwell on it either. There are no judgments here. The title, after all, purports to examine the legacy of the "last real world champion," and the more interesting aspects of the book focus on Flair's remarkable and unparalleled legacy in the ring, not out of it. 

"The Last Real World Champion" is the perfect title for the book. Not only does it call back to a fun moment in time when Flair took the Big Gold Belt to the WWF, but it is also factually accurate. Flair was the last in a long line of touring world champions before guys with belts were nothing more than company champions. It's also a positive reflection on Flair's in-ring career as a whole.

With great affection for the subject matter, Tim Hornbaker brings Flair's amazing career into focus unlike any other. It is a tour de force with respect to thorough research and is impeccably documented with nearly 55 pages of end notes. This type of exhausting research is a hallmark of Hornbaker's work generally. 

A walk along this rich historical journey is great fun. Available for pre-order now, it is highly recommended reading for fans of Ric Flair and of pro-wrestling history and sports entertainment in general.

- Dick Bourne, Mid-Atlantic Gateway

Available September 12, 2023

ISBN-13: 9781770416260
Publisher: ECW Press
Publication date: 09/12/2023
Pages: 420
Size: 6 x 9”

Back in the Saddle

 

Ric Flair stands proudly in the ring in Japan in May of 1984 after regaining the NWA World Heavyweight Championship from Kerry Von Erich.

They call Kerry Von Erich the 'Pride of Texas', huh? Well, I've never worn a pair of blue jeans, never wore a cowboy hat, never wore a pair of cowboy boots in my life. But there isn't a woman in the state of Texas that doesn't call Ric Flair 'the all around cowboy.'"     - Ric Flair

Flair and Race

pic.twitter.com/zdlNSv9Wpp

— ねひつじ (@nehitsuji) August 10, 2022

Flair vs. Martel, Title vs. Title, Japan 1985

 

Ric Flair: "And then it was my turn."

by Dick Bourne
Mid-Atlantic Gateway

On Monday night May 8, 2000, Ric Flair appeared on WCW Monday Nitro on TNT and brought with him the old NWA World Heavyweight championship belt that he wore beginning in 1981 when he defeated Dusty Rhodes until February of 1986 when the belt was replaced by the famous "Big Gold" version of the NWA title.

It was a big surprise and a very nostalgic moment for fans from the 1970s and 1980s who so connected with the "ten pounds of gold", which was the top title and top belt in all of professional wrestling during the territory years.

Nitro was in St. Louis, MO, that night, historically the most important city on the National Wrestling Alliance map. Flair spoke generally about how important it was to work there for Sam Muchnick if you wanted to become NWA champion one day. He also spoke eloquently about seeing that belt for the first time.

That had to be a very cool moment for old-school fans of St. Louis wrestling.

Here is a transcript of Flair's remarks as they pertained to the "ten pounds of gold."

"In the year nineteen hundred and seventy eight, Terry Funk told me if I wanted to be a star in this business I had to get to St. Louis on Friday night. You know what I'm talkin' about. I had to be at the Kiel or The Arena, I had to be live at the Chase, I had to be in St. Louis if I wanted to be a star.

And then I saw this for the first time. It was around the waist of the legendary Jack Brisco. And I said, "Jack, do you think I could ever be World champion?" He said, "Kid, keep workin'. Work at it every day and every night and maybe by the grace of God you might get it some day.

And then there was Terry Funk, and then it was Harley Race, and then it was Dusty Rhodes.

And then it was my turn.

And this is what we all desired to have and be, the World Heavyweight championship. We gave up everything. We gave up life, we gave up our families, we worked every day, we partied all night. We were the champions of the World. The best this sport had to offer."

That episode of WCW Monday Nitro is available on demand on the WWE Network. The interview with Flair is at approximately 25:20 into the program.

A very bright moment during a really sad time in WCW.

Ric Flair: "And then it was my turn."

On Monday night May 8, 2000, Ric Flair appeared on WCW Monday Nitro on TNT and brought with him the old NWA World Heavyweight championship belt that he wore beginning in 1981 when he defeated Dusty Rhodes until February of 1986 when the belt was replaced by the famous "Big Gold" version of the NWA title.

It was a big surprise and a very nostalgic moment for fans from the 1970s and 1980s who so connected with the "ten pounds of gold", which was the top title and top belt in all of professional wrestling during the territory years.

Nitro was in St. Louis, MO, that night, historically the most important city on the National Wrestling Alliance map. Flair spoke generally about how important it was to work there for Sam Muchnick if you wanted to become NWA champion one day. He also spoke eloquently about seeing that belt for the first time.

That had to be a very cool moment for old-school fans of St. Louis wrestling.

Here is a transcript of Flair's remarks as they pertained to the "ten pounds of gold."

"In the year nineteen hundred and seventy eight, Terry Funk told me if I wanted to be a star in this business I had to get to St. Louis on Friday night. You know what I'm talkin' about. I had to be at the Kiel or The Arena, I had to be live at the Chase, I had to be in St. Louis if I wanted to be a star.

And then I saw this for the first time. It was around the waist of the legendary Jack Brisco. And I said, "Jack, do you think I could ever be World champion?" He said, "Kid, keep workin'. Work at it every day and every night and maybe by the grace of God you might get it some day.

And then there was Terry Funk, and then it was Harley Race, and then it was Dusty Rhodes.

And then it was my turn.

And this is what we all desired to have and be, the World Heavyweight championship. We gave up everything. We gave up life, we gave up our families, we worked every day, we partied all night. We were the champions of the World. The best this sport had to offer."

That episode of WCW Monday Nitro is available on demand on the WWE Network. The interview with Flair is at approximately 25:20 into the program.

A very bright moment during a really sad time in WCW.

(Look for a story here soon regarding how this promo in St. Louis impacted a foreword for the original release of the book "Ten Pounds of Gold.") 

Battle of the Belts: Flair vs. Wahoo

Japanese NWA Wrestling Collage

The Japanese magazines still do an excellent job of remembering the old NWA champs. These are images from a special section of a recent magazine there that looked back at the history of the NWA World title and presented a special interview with Harley Race.

Para Ser el Hombre ...

Para ser el hombre, tienes que vencer al hombre! 

(To be the man, you have to beat the man!) 

No hablo español, but even I could figure this one out.

A great t-shirt featuring a classic early 1980s image of Ric Flair wearing the ten pounds of gold. (Thanks to Scott Bowden for sending us the pic.)

Ric Flair Wins #1

Ric Flair defeats Dusty Rhodes for the NWA world heavyweight championship in Kansas City, KS, September 17, 1981. The special referee is former 6-times NWA champion Lou Thesz.

NWA President Jim Crockett, Jr. shakes the hand of world champion Dusty Rhodes before the title match. Referee Lou Thesz looks on.

Lou Thesz holds up the "Ten Pounds of Gold" before the match in Kansas City's Memorial Hall.
From “Wrestling at the Chase” in St. Louis, hosted by Larry Matysik.

Champions Ric Flair and Jumbo Tsuruta

NWA champion Ric Flair and AWA champion Jumbo Tsuruta
(Verne Gagne is behind them left.)

Ric Flair and Jumbo Tsuruta's world title reigns overlapped in the spring of 1984. Tsuruta defeated Nick Bockwinkle for the AWA championship on 2/23/84 in Japan and lost the title three months later to Rick Martel on 5/13/84 in Minnesota.

Flair was NWA champion most of that time, losing the title briefly to Kerry Von Erich in Texas on 5/6/84 and regaining on 5/24/84 in Japan.

The photo above (from a Japanese magazine) was not taken in Japan, since Flair's only known appearance during that time (when he regained the the title from Von Erich) was roughly a week after Tsuruta lost the AWA title to Martel.

It was likely taken 3/10/84 in St. Louis, MO when Flair and Tsuruta were on the same card at the Kiel:

St. Louis, MO  3/10/84
NWA champion Ric Flair vs. King Kong Brody
Wahoo McDaniel vs. Harley Race (Indian Strap Match non-title)
Greg Gagne and Ted Oates vs. AWA champion Jumbo Tsuruta and Genichiro Tenyru
Blackjack Mulligan vs. Ox Baker
Kimala vs. Bulldog Bob Brown and Buck Zumhofe
Blackjack Lanza vs. Roger Kirby
Luke Graham vs. Jay Wolfe
Buzz Tyler and Ron Ritchie vs. The Grapplers

The two never had a NWA title vs. AWA title match. But it certainly was a busy few months for these two major championships in the spring of 1984.

The Domed Globe at Titan Towers

The Original 1973-1986 NWA World Championship Belt (Pinterest Photo)

This photo shows the original domed-globe NWA world title belt in a frame especially designed for the belt. The frame now hangs on the office wall of Paul Levesque (aka, Triple H) at Titan Towers, the corporate HQ for World Wrestling Entertainment in Stamford, CT.

The case was custom made for Ric Flair in the early 1990s by Linda Ostrow at her frame shop and art gallery in Charlotte, NC. Flair displayed the belt at various locations over the years he maintained possession of the belt, most notably at one of his "Ric Flair's World's Gym" locations in Charlotte. It also hung on the wall at his home for a period years in the 1990s.

The belt suddenly showed up in the case at a WWE fan event in the days leading up to Wrestlemania in 2012 in Miami, which fueled rumors that the belt was now in the possession of the WWE. That was confirmed in 2013 when Conrad Thompson and Dave Millican toured Titan Towers and spotted the famous belt still in the Ostrow custom-frame in the office of Paul Levesque.

The only change that had been made was the replacement of the engraved plate in the case. The original plate in the case (seen in the photo below) read "Ric Flair, National Wrestling Alliance Worlds Heavyweight Champion 1981-1991."

Photograph by Dick Bourne / Mid-Atlantic Gateway

The new plate in the case reads "The National Wrestling Alliance Champions, 1973-1986" and then lists each of the eight men who wore the Ten Pounds of Gold: Jack Brisco, Terry Funk, Harley Race, Giant Baba, Dusty Rhodes, Tommy Rich, Ric Flair, and Kerry Von Erich. But everything else about the case appears to be just as Linda Ostrow made it in the early 1990s.

Edit from Pinterest Photo

The WWE continues loose plans to eventually build a brick-and-mortar Hall of Fame facility and it is hoped that the Ten Pounds of Gold might eventually wind up on permanent display there. It deserves to be seen by wrestling fans so that fathers can tell their sons that this belt was the belt worn by true world champions of that era, champions that defended the championship for dozens of promoters, offices, and territories around the world.

(The photo of the belt in the case at the top of the page is from the Pinterest page of Al Kennon, although it is not known who actually took this photo or where it was taken. )

Check out Ten Pounds of Gold, the book that takes a close look at the 1973-1986 NWA title belt:

www.TenPoundsOfGold.com

TV Ad with Ric Flair and The Belt

A cool little TV ad from 1984 featuring Ric Flair and the Ten Pounds of Gold. (Clipping courtesy of Carroll Hall at "All Star Championship Wrestling" blog.)

Flair vs Steamboat in Japan 1982

One of the classic Flair/Steamboat matches was their battle in Japan on June 4, 1982. Flair was in the middle of his first reign as NWA world heavyweight champion.

I love the way the NWA belt was treated with such respect in Japan, and how "over" it was with the fans. In the video of this match the crowd has the wonderful reaction when Flair opens his robe and when the All Japan Wrestling official holds the belt up for display before the match. 

And the match was another masterpiece between the two, who had more classic matches over a 17 year period than you can count.

Edit: We originally linked to the video of this match on YouTube, but that video has subsequently been removed.

www.TenPoundsOfGold.com

Jack Brisco joins the NWA Champion Action Figures

Having too much fun with these things. Never liked the figures until I figured out I could put NWA belts on them!

Included here are likenesses of Jack Brisco, Harley Race, Ric Flair, Dusty Rhodes, and Kerry Von Erich.

Family on Night One

A nice look back to September 17, 1981.

Featured in this photo are Jim Crockett, Jr., Dr. Richard Fliehr (Ric's Dad), former NWA champion Pat O'Conner, brand new NWA champion Ric Flair, and Ric's mother Kay Fliehr.

The caption accompanying the photo was incorrect on the date and the location. People often get the state wrong though. The title change took place in Memorial Hall in Kansas City, Kansas, not Missouri. Memorial Hall was just west of the Missouri River which separates the two cities.

Japanese Magazine Posters

An assortment of fold out posters from various Japanese wrestling magazines featuring many of the NWA champions that held the Ten Pounds of Gold.

www.TenPoundsOfGold.com

Ten Pounds of Gold: The Action Figures

I would have become interested in wrestling action figures a long time ago if I had realized earlier I could do this.....

Yes, I turned 51 and finally started playing with dolls. But these are pretty cool! Shown here are Harley Race (love the 70s robe!), Ric Flair, Dusty Rhodes, and Kerry Von Erich. A little work to be done for Kerry, will be outfitting him for Texas Stadium, and will update with that photo later.

Four down, four to go. I still need Jack Brisco (rare and expensive), Giant Baba (rare, and Japan only I think), Terry Funk (no figure available that looks like he did back in the 1970s as champion), and Tommy Rich (no figure period, would have to have one custom made.)

Visit the official website for our book at

www.TenPoundsOfGold.com