1979 Rax Roast Beef Wrestling Mystery Solved....

[Bored5000]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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.

[Dpeck100]

When the loose cards sold recently I tweeted Jim pics of the Midnight Express and he was blown away. He had never seen them.


I made a trade yesterday with Mark of high resolution scans front and back for the book. His idea but sounded good to me. He had never seen the cards either.

[Exhibitman]

I also don't partake but I love breaking down obscure issues in my boxing research so I 1000% get this thread. If you do well with PSA let us know because I have a ton of boxing issues I would love to submit.

[D. Bergin]

Don't know why you can't call them "Rax Roast Beef" Cards.

It's plastered all over the cards, and is further supported as a place to redeem for food according to the header card, which is a step further then the Pabst Blue Ribbon sponsorship.

I just hope I haven't fallen for a cool fantasy set story like our friend Mr. Mouschi likes to provide from time to time.

[Dpeck100]

Originally Posted by D. Bergin

Don't know why you can't call them "Rax Roast Beef" Cards.

It's plastered all over the cards, and is further supported as a place to redeem for food according to the header card, which is a step further then the Pabst Blue Ribbon sponsorship.

I just hope I haven't fallen for a cool fantasy set story like our friend Mr. Mouschi likes to provide from time to time.

Haha

I am working with PSA's research department currently and generally they like to see a published checklist. The one I posted above has them as 1979 - Gulas N.W.A. Mid America Championship Wrestling. Personally it seems more fitting to me as you can see on the back scan that name, but if they would slab them as Rax Roast Beef that would be fine too.

I just want to see them in red flips.

On the CU board someone said they should grade them and then label them The Dpeck Find. I wasn't sure if they were being serious or joking but rest assured this isn't a fantasy set story like Mr. Moushci spends a great amount of time crafting.