FORE-SHADOW:

IT HAD ALMOST HAPPENED A YEAR EARLIER

The split between Mulligan and Flair was foreshadowed almost a year earlier. In October 1977, Mulligan returned to the area following a brief absence, and was signed to match with his good friend and then US Champion Ric Flair.

The following is from the Mid-Atlantic Wrestling Almanac for the 4th Quarter of 1977 on the Mid-Atlantic Gateway.

Blackjack Mulligan returned to the area in October after about a two-month stay in Japan, getting his head together after dropping the U.S. Title to Bobo Brazil. When Mulligan resurfaced on the October 22, 1977 edition of the Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling TV show, the big Texan said he had changed his style of wrestling and that he was going back after the U.S. Title now held by best friend Ric Flair! NO ONE could believe that Flair and Mulligan were actually going to wrestle each other for the U.S. belt!! But title matches between the two friends were set in many of the bigger arenas around the area. The interviews promoting these matches were amazing, with Mulligan doing his interviews with the "good guys."

However, the matches between Flair and Mulligan that everyone was talking about, never came off. The very next week on Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling TV, Ricky Steamboat was announced as the new United States Heavyweight Champion and Steamboat had subbed for Flair in the Flair-Mulligan matches set during the previous week. At the end of the show, Flair and Mulligan were interviewed together by Bob Caudle, with both saying that they were together again and that Ricky Steamboat was going to have to deal with their combined wrath.

Richmond, Virginia, was to be one of the select spots to see this huge match-up. The building sold out in anticipation of the match. The TV interviews leading up to the card were priceless.

© Mid-Atlantic Gateway | David Chappell & Dick Bourne

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