Non-Participant:
Bob Caudle
Bob Caudle was born in Charlotte, North Carolina and his television broadcasting career began in Wilmington, North Carolina. From there, Bob moved to another broadcasting position in Savannah, GA.
While in Savannah in the late 1950s, Caudle hosted a televised studio wrestling show. Caudle then worked as a weatherman and an anchorman for the late news for Raleigh, North Carolina's WRAL-TV (Channel 5). Jim Crockett Promotions held weekly tapings for their televised wrestling shows at the WRAL studios. Jim Crockett Promotions tapped Caudle to be their play-by-play announcer.
Caudle worked for WRAL until 1981 when Jim Crockett Promotions moved the television tapings to Charlotte, North Carolina at WPCQ. Caudle commuted weekly from Raleigh to Charlotte to continue his role as lead announcer. In 1983, Jim Crockett Promotions began utilizing mobile production and started taping matches at different arenas, typically in Shelby, NC, Raleigh, North Carolina, Greensboro, NC, Greenville, SC and Spartanburg, SC.
In the late 1980s the promotion began taping at arenas outside of the Carolinas. Caudle hosted the syndicated All-Star Wrestling, Wide World Wrestling, Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling, and World Wide Wrestling for Jim Crockett Promotions and WCW World Wide Wrestling after Jim Crockett Promotions was purchased by Ted Turner. Caudle was also the lead announcer for the closed circuit events known as Starrcade in the 1980s. Caudle was also an announcer for most of the early NWA/WCW pay per views and Clash of the Champions shows.
After leaving WCW, Caudle went to work for Jim Cornette's Smoky Mountain Wrestling in Morristown, TN, acting as that promotion's lead announcer.
Bob Caudle was a traditional wrestling announcer. He did not advocate for faces or heels. However, he often showed his disgust for cheating. Caudle was not a personality in and of himself because he let the wrestlers be the stars of the show. As such, he wasn't involved in angles where he would be attacked, etc. . Over the years Caudle was teamed with Bill Ward, David Crockett, Johnny Weaver, Gordon Solie, Les Thatcher, Tony Schiavone, Dutch Mantel and Jim Ross among others.
To this day many fans remember Bob's classic opening and closing lines each week:
"‘Hi wrestling fans, welcome to another action packed
hour of Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling. We’ve got action for
you tonight. I’m Bob Caudle and here’s David Crockett."
"That’s it for this week. Until next week fans, so long for
now."
