In 1978 at the on-set of the affiliation with Mid Atlantic we were treated to some stacked cards featuring not only the M-A stars but also the stars of the AWA & WWWF.

On this night Dino Bravo would team with popular WWWF champ Bob Backlund to take on the AWA Tag champs Pat Patterson & Ray Stevens. in a classic match-up. Both had come off big wins on the previous card (Bravo over Patera, and Backlund over Koloff) and Bravo was headed for a run with the newly revived Canadian Title winning the belt on the very next card.

Patterson & Stevens had earned the fans wrath in a pair of bouts vs Gagne & Brunzell just prior to the first M-A card.

Bravo & Backlund would come close to beating the champs but the match would end in disqualification giving the popular team the win but not the belts. They would team again in July 1979 in Oshawa when Bravo was Cdn champ, to defeat the team of Patera & Greg Valentine.

Ric Flair & Ricky Steamboat would take over the main event on this night in a continuation of their 30+ minute match on the previous card. This feud would help to revitalize Toronto to a level not seen for several years. The hated Flair was earning the respect of the knowledgeable MLG regulars and he had found the perfect nemesis in the classic fan favorite that was Steamboat.

Flair would pin Steamboat and retain his U.S. Title but Steamboat would come back on the next card to defeat Flair in front of a very appreciative crowd. Steamboat would also find time to team with Bravo for bouts in the area and both he and Flair would remain central ingredients to the success of wrestling in Toronto for the rest of the NWA yrs.

In other bouts Tony Atlas defeated Ken Patera, Jay Youngblood pinned Geoff Portz, Johnny Weaver put Steve Muslin (Travis) to sleep, Steve Bolus pinned Joe Marcus, and Dewey Robertson beat Kim Chang. The pics -all taken on this night- courtesy of the Griff Henderson coll.

Thanks to Wes Maidment for the clip

Back to Sunday Night