“Hi wrestling fans! Welcome to NWA! Television's most exciting hour!”
With that opening, Bob Caudle -- who also served as weatherman at WRAL-TV -- greeted pro wrestling fans for decades.
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Caudle was the consummate television broadcast personality.
He died Nov. 16. He was 95 years old.
“Bob was the one constant you count on. Bob Caudle was always there,” said Dick Bourne, operator of Mid-Atlantic Gateway, an online resource for all things pro wrestling.
Bourne was among the speakers at Caudle's memorial service, held in Raleigh Nov. 25, 2025.
Caudle’s broadcasting career began in Wilmington in the 1950s.
By the time he got to WRAL in the 1960s, he was pulling double duty: Forecasting the weather and calling the matches in the same studio.
Caudle called them all: From Mid-Atlantic championship wrestling to WCW to Smoky Mountain wrestling and even Ric Flair’s last match in 2022 at the age of 92.
Caudle’s presence was welcomed by wrestling fans.
“Bob was always there ... for our Saturday afternoons," Dr. Daivd J. Hailey, told gathered mourners at Hayes Barton Baptist Church.
Caudle’s wife Jackie was there by his side for 76 years until she died in April 2025. Caudle passed just a few months later, the final sign-off of a 95-year journey.