1979 Rax Roast Beef Wrestling Mystery Solved....

Dpeck100 · #1 07-19-2016, 06:46 AM

This is the poster for the show. In further research I have found that Graham didn't end up working the date. I plan to look for further information on the reported attendance that night. The promotion shut down a little over a year later so it makes me think attendance was starting to dwindle. No telling how many survived.

In a conversation with Bob from NY last night he said Shultz put out want adds for the cards in Tenn. with no luck in the past year. I am excited to learn that he did win the Shultz card that was auctioned off as he too desperately wanted one.

Dpeck100 · #2 07-19-2016, 06:48 AM

http://x-titles.com/wc/years/1970-1979/index.html

1979 - Gulas N.W.A. Mid America Championship Wrestling - Cover card (Coupon for free fries)
1979 - Gulas N.W.A. Mid America Championship Wrestling - * Nick Gulas (promoter)
1979 - Gulas N.W.A. Mid America Championship Wrestling - Dennis Condry
1979 - Gulas N.W.A. Mid America Championship Wrestling - * Mike St. John
1979 - Gulas N.W.A. Mid America Championship Wrestling - * Tommy Sloan (referree)
1979 - Gulas N.W.A. Mid America Championship Wrestling - George Gulas
1979 - Gulas N.W.A. Mid America Championship Wrestling - * Len Rossi
1979 - Gulas N.W.A. Mid America Championship Wrestling - Hans Shroeder
1979 - Gulas N.W.A. Mid America Championship Wrestling - Robert Gibson
1979 - Gulas N.W.A. Mid America Championship Wrestling - * Donna Bower
1979 - Gulas N.W.A. Mid America Championship Wrestling - Tojo Yamamoto
1979 - Gulas N.W.A. Mid America Championship Wrestling - Pat Smith
1979 - Gulas N.W.A. Mid America Championship Wrestling - Bobby Eaton
1979 - Gulas N.W.A. Mid America Championship Wrestling - * Tommy Kerkeles
1979 - Gulas N.W.A. Mid America Championship Wrestling - The Red Terror
1979 - Gulas N.W.A. Mid America Championship Wrestling - Tommy Resesto, Jr.
1979 - Gulas N.W.A. Mid America Championship Wrestling - Cheif Thundercloud
1979 - Gulas N.W.A. Mid America Championship Wrestling - Ken Lucas
1979 - Gulas N.W.A. Mid America Championship Wrestling - * Tommy Resesto, Sr.
1979 - Gulas N.W.A. Mid America Championship Wrestling - David Shultz
1979 - Gulas N.W.A. Mid America Championship Wrestling - Ricky Gibson
1979 - Gulas N.W.A. Mid America Championship Wrestling - Jerry Barber
1979 - Gulas N.W.A. Mid America Championship Wrestling - Prince Tonga
Note: Sealed sets were distributed to the first 1200 attendees at the Sport Arena at the Tenness State Fairgrounds on November 21, 1979.
Note: Non-wrestlers designated above with "*"
Note: Cards are unnumbered.
Note: Cards were sponsored by Rax Roast Beef Restuarants and Pabst Blue Ribbon
Note: Order the cards above shown in order from an opened sealed pack.

Dpeck100 · #3 07-19-2016, 07:06 AM

Here is the famous clip of Dr. David Shultz slapping John Stossel. I had to have his best card!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zrX9Ca7LSyQ

aaroncc · #4 07-19-2016, 08:32 AM

"Open hand slap"

Bored5000 · #5 07-19-2016, 07:49 PM

Thanks for the information and scans, Mr. Peck. Congratulations on the pickup. What a great thread.

I was not at all familiar with this set until opening this thread. On one of the wrestling boards I read, a couple posters from the Memphis territory have a cult following of George Gulas because of how bad he was. I never would have guessed that George Gulas actually has a card.

As a kid, I remember seeing the Dr. D slap of John Stossel when it aired on 20/20 and thinking it was just about the coolest thing ever. LOL

Dpeck100 · #6 07-19-2016, 07:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bored5000

Thanks for the information and scans, Mr. Peck. What a great thread.

I was not at all familiar with this set until opening this thread. On one of the wrestling boards I read, a couple posters from the Memphis territory have a cult following of George Gulas because of how bad he was. I never would have guessed that George Gulas actually has a card.

As a kid, I remember seeing the Dr. D slap of John Stossel when it aired on 20/20 and thinking it was just about the coolest thing ever. LOL

Thanks for this comment. From what I have read it turns out that many blame the downfall of the territory on the fact that Nick wanted to push George so hard.

In a discussion last night with Bob from NY I mentioned this to him and he said this is what Dr. D says. Nick wanted him to do a job for George and he said hell no I am not letting that kid pin me.

I am getting this book 1977 The War For Memphis and hopefully they make some reference to this.

http://www.memphiswrestlinghistory.com/mwh1977.html

Dpeck100 · #7 07-19-2016, 08:10 PM

I have been giving this some thought. I really think the title of the set should probably be how you have it Steve. Although most including myself always attributed the name Rax Roast Beef to the cards, there are two sponsors and they were given out at an event.

Since they weren't the lone sponsor and weren't given out at the restaurants it just wouldn't make since to call them this.

The only reason to use the name Rax Roast Beef in the title would be because the header card says it and one would have associated the set with that name.

I haven't spoken to PSA's research department yet but this could be a stumbling block.

What do you call them?

I would love to hear others thoughts. Personally I would rather the name Rax be associated with them as I have been dying to own the Rax cards but the purest in me thinks this is wrong.

Please share some thoughts fellow collectors.

Edit: Post from another board. Title would be 1979 - Gulas N.W.A. Mid America Championship Wrestling

Bored5000 · #8 07-19-2016, 08:19 PM

I was familiar with that Mark James book on Memphis.

It has received great reviews on Amazon and from fans of the Memphis territory that post on a couple of the boards I read. Even though I faithfully read the "Apter mags" as a kid, I never really knew much about Memphis (other than Jerry Lawler winning and losing the title a million times) until I got the Internet in the late 1990s.

I have about a dozen books sitting on my nightstand that I still have not gotten into yet. I have still not read Bob Backlund's book, which is supposed to be fabulous as well.

Unless opening this thread, I didn't even realize that there were obscure, hard to find 1970s sets like the Rax Roast Beef cards other than some of the stuff from Japan

DaClyde · #9 07-20-2016, 07:25 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dpeck100

I am getting this book 1977 The War For Memphis and hopefully they make some reference to this.

http://www.memphiswrestlinghistory.com/mwh1977.html

The book is great. A friend of mine bought the books for 1977, 78 and 1982 and let me read them. 1977 was when Gulas lost Memphis to Jerry Jarrett. It is a sadly common story about old school promoter vs. new school promoter. Bill Watts' and Gary Hart's books tell similar tales. Across all of them, though, the common theme is that the old school promoters did everything they could to sabotage their own territories (whether intentionally or obliviously), which basically made McMahon's conquest of the business a foregone conclusion, rather than some kind of nefarious scheme.

Given what Mark James writes about Gulas in the 1977-78 books, I would be shocked that the 1979 show in Nashville drew anywhere near 1000 fans. In the newspaper clippings for show results, they had a tendency not to report attendance numbers below 1000. For what it's worth, the same building at the Fairgrounds is where NWA TNA started out. And, yes, it is a dump. TNA could only draw 1000+ by giving out 900+ free passes.

Awesome find in the set. I wonder if someone like Jim Cornette would have a set.

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