Turn out the lights the party’s over:RIP Johnny Weaver

From the ranks of professional wrestling Johnny Weaver has passed on. An all-time good guy/babyface, Weaver(John Meyers), was famous for his sleeper hold and the Weaver-lock. George Becker and Johnny Weaver were a pretty well known tag team back in the day of Mid-Atlantic NWA Wrestling on WGHP TV8 in High Point and WRAL TV5 out of Raleigh. Weaver was one of the most successful singles wrestlers of the modern era going against Black Jack Mulligan, Paul Jones, Wahoo McDaniel and many others. Art Nelson, Professor Boris Malenko, Aldo Bogni and Broncho Lubich, Johnny Valentine, Rip Hawk, Swede Hansen and all the others, Weaver took them all on and beat everyone of them on more than one occasion.

Weaver was the biggest fan-favorite to ever come through the Mid-Atlantic area. There was no other good-guy like him. When you turned on the TV to Saturday night wrestling back in the late 60’s, early 70’s and listened to Charlie Harville call the matches, Weaver was the man you pulled for becasue he was the Crockett company’s hero in the white hat even though he didn’t wear a hat.

After Weaver concluded his wrestling career he continued to work for Jim Crockett Promotions as the color commentator on the TV shows we watched on Saturday afternoons and Saturday evenings. Weaver worked with Bob Caudle and others on the TV broadcast team and I will never forget he always called Don Kernodle, Don Kernoodle and that helped Don get over with some fans as far as knowing he even exsisted at the start of his career. Kernodle was from Burlington and went to Eastern Alamance High School and Elon College.

In the later years after leaving JCP(Jim Crockett Promotions) Johnny Weaver worked for the Meklenburg County Sheriff’s Department in the Charlotte, N.C. area and he was married to women’s wrestler Penny Banner. Weaver would show up at many of the Wrestling reunions throughout the Southeast and would take part in the fanfests.

Bruce Mitchell put the word out about Johnny Weaver’s death at pwtorch.com. Here’s what Bruce is saying and I’m sure we will catch more from him later on.
Johnny Weaver, long-time top babyface, booker and color commentator in the old Mid Atlantic territory, died Friday at the age of 73 in his home in Charlotte.

“Around here, you’re a punk until Johnny Weaver says differently.”
– Ric Flair

“The strong take from the weak, but it’s the smart who take from the strong.”
– Johnny Weaver

“Turn out the lights, the party’s over, they say that all good things must end…”
-Willie Nelson