How does the Von Erich kid get a title shot and I don't? I've been wrestling longer than he's been alive and you've never given me one!"
With those words, a heel turn that caught just about every Mid-Atlantic fan off-guard began. I'd rank it second only to Hogan's heel turn to form the N.W.O. in its level of effect and response. It was just so damn believable that it not only sold, it sold hard, fast and cold!
After Paul Jones had done a couple of heel/face turns, then finished up as a heel manager in the Mid-Atlantic, Wahoo McDaniel was left as the last of the veteran dominate faces in the territory. Ric Flair had become NWA World Heavyweight Champion and had recently lost the NWA title to Kerry Von Erich at the famous Texas Stadium David Von Erich Memorial Card, then regained it in Japan shortly thereafter. While Flair was a heel in the areas that he defended the title outside of MACW, he was a face in MACW. Flair had few heels that could match up with him in MACW at that time, until Tully Blanchard moved into the area. Blanchard quickly became the NWA (Mid-Atlantic) TV Champion and his style naturally drew heat in the region.
Blanchard and McDaniel were familiar with each other, both being "Texas Boys" but nobody, especially me, was expecting what happened.
During an interview with Flair and McDaniel on Ric's return from Japan with the belt, Wahoo began talking about a title shot. While Ric and Wahoo were starting to face off, Blanchard blindsided Flair and began to stomp him. McDaniel, instead of jumping into the fray as everyone expected, stood back and watched. The expression on his face was priceless as it showed a man torn between helping a friend and getting an edge on a title shot. Flair got up and ran Blanchard off and then proceeded to scream at McDaniel. Wahoo told him that it "wasn't his business" and Flair should be able to take care of himself. The old feud between McDaniel and Flair was re-kindled with Flair telling him, "You want a title shot? YOU GOT IT!"
Meanwhile, Blanchard had started a series of matches with Ricky Steamboat, the U.S. champ. McDaniel ended up in a title match with Steamboat that had both men wrestling hard, but still as faces. At the end of the match, with the ref down (probably Tommy Young), Blanchard ran in and appeared to take a chair shot at Wahoo. Wahoo ducked and Steamboat caught the chair. Blanchard then hauled butt to the back.
Of course, the Chief would never take such a tainted win over his friend Steamboat like that!
Wrong!
McDaniel made the cover, the three count, and took the U.S. title while debris started flying to the ring. Chief Wahoo McDaniel had officially made a heel turn and subsequently began tagging with Blanchard in a series of matches against Steamboat and Flair. McDaniel continued as a heel against a face Manny Fernandez in a bloody feud over the U.S. title before losing the strap and leaving the Mid-Atlantic for awhile. He wrestled a lot in Florida and returned for a PPV match with his U.S. (Florida version) Tag Team Title partner Billy Jack Haynes against the National Tag Team Champs Ole and Arn Anderson in a title vs. title match. When he returned, it seemed all was forgiven by the fans and McDaniel never missed a beat returning to a face role.
For some excellent photos of McDaniel during his career in the Mid-Atlantic, I highly recommend the Mid-Atlantic Tribute site at www.Mid-Atlanticwrestling.net. They have some fantastic stills of The Chief from the beginning of his career there to the end.
Courtesy of Gary Will and Royal Duncan's
, the following are the titles that I have located for Wahoo during his career. I'm sure there are more because I've seen photos of him with various belts that I can't identify. There may be some overseas titles not included in this list, but it gives a very good indication of how popular McDaniel was in the Southeast, Texas and Japan
NWA World Tag Team champion (Crockett promotion version, 1x w/ Rufus R. Jones, 2x w/ Mark Youngblood)
NWA World Tag Team champion (Florida version, 2x w/ Jose Lothario)
Mid-Atlantic Heavyweight champion (4x)
NWA U.S. Heavyweight champion (Crockett promotion version) (5x)
US Tag Team champion (Florida version w/ Billy Jack Haynes)
Florida Television champion
Georgia Heavyweight champion (2x)
Georgia Tag Team champion (w/ Tommy Rich)
NWA National Heavyweight champion
NWA American Heavyweight champion (2x)
NWA American Tag Team champion (2x w/ Thunderbolt Patterson, 2 w/ Johnny Valentine)
Texas Heavyweight champion (Southwest Sports/World Class version, 2x)
Texas Tag Team champion (w/ Tony Parisi)
IWA World Heavyweight champion (Japanese based promotion closely related to the AWA)
Southwest championship Wrestling World Tag Team Champion (w/ Ivan Putski)
SCW Southwest Heavyweight champion (2x)
SCW Southwest Tag Team champion (w/ Terry Funk)
One question that I've often been asked in discussing McDaniel's career was about his time in the American Wrestling Association. McDaniel wrestled frequently in the AWA and it was there that he met a young man named Richard Fliehr, who traveled with him to Charlotte and fame as Ric Flair. Yet despite his teaming with Crusher against teams like Billy Graham and Ivan Koloff, McDaniel was never a champ in the AWA, although he did hold the very closely related IWA title in Japan. He did have several runs as a contender for the title there while Bockwinkle was champ, but Gagne never saw fit to put a title on him. I've never really understood why, considering McDaniel's popularity in other areas of the country. He never seemed as over in the Midwest as in the Southeast and Southwest.
I'll never forget the first time I ever got to meet and speak to Wahoo. I was at a match run by former Charlotte promoter Greg Price. McDaniel was facing Greg Valentine in a match that made me feel as if I were a kid again, sitting in the stands in Raleigh's Dorton Arena watching those two men battle over the Mid-Atlantic title. They worked as hard as a young man that was also on the card that night against Bobby Fulton, a newcomer called Rob Van Dam. When the match was over, McDaniel walked past me to the "face" dressing room, patted me on the shoulder, grinned and said, "I'm getting too old for this!" I laughed and said, "No way, Chief!"
McDaniel began developing some health problems not long after and he wrestled his "farewell" match here in the Carolinas. It was fitting for a man whose name became synonymous with professional wrestling in this area and became the hero of a little farm boy from Vance County.
