After joining my first wrestling message board 3 years ago,I told the story of
Ernie Ladd doing an interview via telephone with IWA host Glenn Scott in 1977
about winning the IWA International Heavyweight Championship from Mil
Mascaras. The match probably never really happened but both Ernie Ladd and
Johnny Powers said it did on that tv episode.
After Ernie Ladd passed away,Greg Price asked me about this.I had not been
back to the Winston-Salem library to get the confirmation on this.Last week,
during a conversation with our good friend clipcorner,I asked Mark
if he had anything on this. Sure enough he did. As you can see,Ernie Ladd
was still scheduled to defend the title according to the small preview article
that appeared in the paper the day of the show.Even if Ernie Ladd did not
defend the title,he was at the very least, briefly recognized as the IWA
International Heavyweight Champion. This show was on April 23,1977.
Magnificent Zulu subbed for Ernie Ladd against Bulldog Brower.
Clippings courtesy of the Mark Eastridge collection.