Bob Caudle (born August 2, 1930) is an American

professional wrestling Professional wrestling is a form of theater that revolves around staged wrestling matches. The mock combat is performed in a ring similar to the kind used in boxing, and the dramatic aspects of pro wrestling may be performed both in the ring or ...

announcer An announcer is a voice artist who relays information to the audience of a broadcast media programme or live event. Television and other media Some announcers work in television production, radio or filmmaking, usually providing narration ...

most notable for his time with the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA). He started working with

Jim Crockett Promotions Jim Crockett Promotions Inc. is a family-owned professional wrestling promotion headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina, United States, restarted by Jim Crockett's son and Jim Crockett Jr's brother, David Crockett. Founded in 1931, the promot ...

in the late 1950s for promoter

Jim Crockett, Sr Jim or JIM may refer to: * Jim (given name), a given name * Jim, a diminutive form of the given name James * Jim, a short form of the given name Jimmy * OPCW-UN Joint Investigative Mechanism * ''Jim'' (comics), a series by Jim Woodring * ''Jim' ...

. Throughout the 1970s and 1980s, Caudle was the official voice of ''

Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling Jim Crockett Promotions Inc. is a family-owned professional wrestling promotion headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina, United States, restarted by Jim Crockett's son and Jim Crockett Jr's brother, David Crockett. Founded in 1931, the promoti ...

'' and is known for his trademark greeting, "Hello wrestling fans...", and his trademark sign-off line, "That'll do it for this week. We'll see you next week, and until then, so long for now." He is known for constantly addressing the viewers as "fans" many times on each episode.

Broadcast career

NWA Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling

His television broadcasting career began in

Wilmington, North Carolina Wilmington is a port city in and the county seat of New Hanover County in coastal southeastern North Carolina, United States. With a population of 115,451 at the 2020 census, it is the eighth most populous city in the state. Wilmington is t ...

. He then moved to another broadcasting position in

Savannah, Georgia Savannah ( ) is the oldest city in the U.S. state of Georgia and is the county seat of Chatham County. Established in 1733 on the Savannah River, the city of Savannah became the British colonial capital of the Province of Georgia and later t ...

. While in Savannah in the late 1950s, Caudle hosted a televised studio wrestling show. Caudle was the weatherman at

WRAL-TV WRAL-TV (channel 5) is a television station licensed to Raleigh, North Carolina, United States, serving as the NBC affiliate for the Research Triangle area. It is the flagship station of the locally based Capitol Broadcasting Company, which h ...

Raleigh, North Carolina Raleigh (; ) is the capital city of the state of North Carolina and the seat of Wake County in the United States. It is the second-most populous city in North Carolina, after Charlotte. Raleigh is the tenth-most populous city in the Southe ...

, where ''NWA Atlantic Coast Wrestling'' was taped every week. Caudle continued as both the weatherman for WRAL and the voice of ''NWA Atlantic Coast Wrestling'' for many years. Caudle continued to host the flagship program which was renamed ''NWA Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling'' in 1973 (after the death of Jim Crockett, Sr.). Caudle had many "sidekicks" over the years including

David Crockett David Crockett (August 17, 1786 – March 6, 1836) was an American folk hero, frontiersman, soldier, and politician. He is often referred to in popular culture as the "King of the Wild Frontier". He represented Tennessee in the U.S. House of ...

and

Johnny Weaver Kenneth Eugene Weaver (November 17, 1935 – February 15, 2008) was an American professional wrestler and wrestling commentator in the National Wrestling Alliance, better known by his ring name, Johnny Weaver. Career 1960s Weaver's career spa ...

. In 1986, his show changed its name to ''NWA Pro Wrestling''. In 1988, Jim Ross joined the show. Caudle hosted the syndicated ''All-Star Wrestling'', ''Wide World Wrestling'', ''Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling'', and ''World Wide Wrestling'' for

(JCP) and ''WCW World Wide Wrestling'' after JCP was purchased by

Ted Turner Robert Edward "Ted" Turner III (born November 19, 1938) is an American entrepreneur, television producer, media proprietor, and philanthropist. He founded the Cable News Network (CNN), the first 24-hour cable news channel. In addition, he fo ...

in late 1988. Caudle was also the lead announcer for the closed circuit events known as

Starrcade Starrcade was a recurring professional wrestling event, originally broadcast via closed-circuit television and eventually broadcast via pay-per-view. It was originally held from 1983 to 2000, first by the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) from 1 ...

in the 1980s and most of the early

NWA NWA or Nwa most commonly refers to: * N.W.A ("Niggaz Wit Attitudes"), a hip hop group from Compton, California, US * National Wrestling Alliance, a professional wrestling organization NWA or Nwa may refer to: Music * New Weird America, a subgenr ...

/WCW pay per views. He worked several live ''

Clash of the Champions ''Clash of the Champions'' is an American series of professional wrestling television specials that were produced by World Championship Wrestling (WCW) and Jim Crockett Promotions (JCP) in conjunction with the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA). T ...

'' telecasts, as well. Slowly, the promotion grew away from the NWA and became

World Championship Wrestling World Championship Wrestling, Inc. (WCW) was an American professional wrestling promotion founded by Ted Turner in 1988, after Turner Broadcasting System, through a subsidiary named Universal Wrestling Corporation, purchased the assets of Nati ...

(WCW).

Smoky Mountain Wrestling

By late 1991, Caudle left WCW and joined

South Atlantic Pro Wrestling South Atlantic Pro Wrestling (SAPW, formerly known as the North American Wrestling Association) was a professional wrestling promotion founded by George Scott, John Ringley and Mike Lamberth in Charlotte, North Carolina in 1990, and later taken o ...

(SAPW) as lead announcer. Within a few months, the promotion closed and Caudle went to work for

Jim Cornette James Mark "Jim" Cornette (born September 17, 1961) is an American author and podcaster who has previously worked in the professional wrestling industry as an agent, booker, color commentator, manager, promoter, trainer, and occasional prof ...

Smoky Mountain Wrestling Smoky Mountain Wrestling was a professional wrestling promotion that held events in the Appalachian area of the United States from October 1991 to December 1995, when it was run by Jim Cornette. The promotion was based in Knoxville, Tennessee, w ...

(SMW). Caudle remained with SMW for all of its run. At one point, Jim Ross left the

World Wrestling Federation World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc., d/b/a as WWE, is an American professional wrestling promotion. A global integrated media and entertainment company, WWE has also branched out into other fields, including film, American football, and var ...

(WWF) briefly and joined Caudle on the SMW telecasts. In late 1995, the promotion was shut down by Cornette.

NWA reunion shows

Caudle continued to make personal appearances at NWA indy events and reunion shows. He suffered two heart attacks on June 14, 2007 but completely recovered and returned to appearing regularly at NWA/Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling reunions and other NWA Wrestling events. He introduced Ric Flair at the annual NWA Fanfest in 2009 in Charlotte, North Carolina.

Ric Flair's Last Match

For

Ric Flair's Last Match Ric Flair's Last Match was a professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event and supershow. It took place on July 31, 2022, at the Nashville Municipal Auditorium in Nashville, Tennessee and aired on FITE and In Demand. The event was produced an ...

, a 2022 show run by a revived JCP that featured what was billed as Flair's last-ever match, Caudle opened the pay-per-view portion of the show and ended the show with his catchphrase "So long for now!", both pre-recorded.

Style

Caudle was a traditional type of wrestling announcer, meaning that he did not advocate for

faces The face is the front of an animal's head that features the eyes, nose and mouth, and through which animals express many of their emotions. The face is crucial for human identity, and damage such as scarring or developmental deformities may affe ...

heels The heel is the prominence at the posterior end of the foot. It is based on the projection of one bone, the calcaneus or heel bone, behind the articulation of the bones of the lower leg. Structure To distribute the compressive forces exert ...

(although he often showed his disgust for cheating). Caudle was not a personality in and of himself, but he let the wrestlers be the stars of the show. As such, he was not involved in angles where heels would attack him. Over the years Caudle was teamed with Bill Ward,

Gordon Solie Gordon Solie (born Francis Jonard Labiak, later Jonard Pierre Sjoblom, January 26, 1929July 27, 2000), was an American Florida-based professional wrestling play-by-play announcer working for Georgia Championship Wrestling, Championship Wrestlin ...

Les Thatcher Leslie Malady (born October 28, 1940), better known by the name Les Thatcher, is an American former professional wrestler. He helps run Elite Pro Wrestling Training, a professional wrestling school in his hometown of Cincinnati, Ohio, with Ricky ...

Tony Schiavone Noah Anthony Schiavone (, ; born November 7, 1957) is an American sports announcer, professional wrestling commentator and podcaster currently signed with All Elite Wrestling (AEW) as a play-by-play commentator and senior producer. He has pr ...

Dutch Mantel Wayne Maurice Keown (born November 29, 1949) is an American professional wrestling manager, booker and retired professional wrestler, better known by the ring name Dutch Mantel (also spelled Dutch Mantell). Keown debuted in 1972, as Wayne Cow ...

, and Jim Ross among others.

Personal life

Caudle was born in

Charlotte, North Carolina Charlotte ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of North Carolina. Located in the Piedmont region, it is the county seat of Mecklenburg County. The population was 874,579 at the 2020 census, making Charlotte the 16th-most populo ...

. Caudle, an avowed

Republican Republican can refer to: Political ideology * An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law. ** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...

, contributed to the campaigns of Senator Jesse Helms. He became a legislative assistant for Senator Jesse Helms after he left WRAL in 1980, working in Helms's office in Raleigh. He remained in that position until 1996. Caudle and Helms worked together at WRAL before Helms ran for the

United States Senate The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States. The composition and pow ...

in 1972. He and his wife Jackie have been married for over 60 years, have 3 children and 7 grandchildren.

References

External links

Bob Caudle updates
{{DEFAULTSORT:Caudle, Bob American color commentators Living people People from Charlotte, North Carolina Professional wrestling announcers 1930 births