Georgia Championship Wrestling (1.2.1982) Review

-Originally aired January 2, 1982.

-Your hosts are Gordon Solie & Roddy Piper.

-Gary Hart steps in right away and throws a tantrum about the fact that he is now barred from the Omni.

-On to happier business, Gordon Solie welcomes the Armstrongs and presents them with some shiny new Tag Team Title belts.

BAD BAD LEROY BROWN vs. MARVIN TURNER
-Marvin Turner’s claim to fame, of course is that he was the guy who called his Cousin Ike one night in 1955 and held up the phone so he could hear the song “Proud Mary.”

-Brown slams Turner. Right hand and a headbutt by Brown. Slam and a big splash get an easy victory for Brown.

BUZZ SAWYER vs. RICK THOR
-Sawyer beats on Thor as Ole Anderson strolls in to watch this match, taking more and more of an interest in Sawyer these days. Ole makes the announcement that his brother Gene is injured and is now serving as a manager/advisor, so Ole needs a new tag team partner and he thinks Buzz is the guy.

-Sawyer does some mat wrestling while Gordon breaks down “the five points of attack,” one of those great little Solie touches. Slam and an elbow by Sawyer finish things.

-After the match, Buzz goes to the interview table to make it official, and Ole & Buzz are now a tag team.

PAUL JONES vs. JIM VERTAROSO
-Another appearance by Baby Arn as a jobber, and Gordon explains his backstory as “a powerlifting champion from Rome, Georgia.” Jones wrings the arm and follows with a series of elbows to work it over. Arn/Jim gets some token offense but Jones takes back control quickly. Arn/Jim is still wearing the one boot that’s held together with tape, and it might have been a good idea to go ahead and tape up the other boot so it doesn’t look so blatantly obvious that he was wearing one good boot and one crappy boot.

-Jones tackles Jim and locks on an Indian deathlock for the submission.

-On January 17, Tommy Rich is facing Masked Superstar in the Omni in a steel cage! Man, this feud’s been going on for months. I hope Tommy Rich never has another feud that just goes on and on and on like this.

RON BASS vs. TONY VALENTINO
-Bass takes control with a top wristlock and stays with the arm from there. Bass rams Valentino into the turnbuckle, and Piper is calling for the match to be stopped until Valentino suddenly throws some rights. Bass shrugs them off, and a Texas Stampede finishes up.

-Roddy Piper has Gary Hart here. He thinks it’s insulting that Gary Hart is being barred from arenas, and it’s unfairly disadvantaging for his man Kabuki, who doesn’t speak English, to lose the one person he can communicate with when he’s wrestling. Roddy Piper suggests a business deal to get around the ban–Piper hasn’t been banned from arenas, so he’ll be Kabuki’s co-manager and he’ll accompany Kabuki whenever Hart is prohibited from doing so. Gary enthusiastically accepts the deal.

JIM GARVIN vs. ED TIMBS
-Garvin goes to the mat and works the arm. Irish whip and a running forearm knock Timbs silly and Garvin gets the three. The audience is reacting to Garvin, and they’re pushing him, but you can tell this company cannot figure out for the life of them what to do with him.

-Masked Superstar is excited about the cage match on the 17th because if everything is contained in a cage, that means Tommy Rich will be out of excuses, and they’ll finally be DONE with this issue.

MASKED SUPERSTAR & SUPER DESTROYER vs. MIKE JACKSON & JEFF STROUD
-Studio audience sings “Happy Birthday” to Superstar as he enters, and a quick check of Bill Eadie’s date of birth establishes that, yeah, somebody here had inside info. Gordon can’t hide his surprise at the song at all.

-Superstar starts with Stroud. Right hand doesn’t faze Stroud, so Superstar tries a waistlock and Stroud slips away from that. Superstar looks a little puzzled, so he tags Destroyer in and Destroyer fares considerably better. Superstar tags back in, now a little more confident, and holds his own against Stroud.

-Jackson tags in, a bit fired up. Series of dropkicks by Jackson, but Destroyer dodges one and stunguns Jackson. Clothesline by Superstar gets the win.

-Leroy Brown & Big Red are here to call out the masked men, anytime anyplace.

-Onto hour #2!

-Dick Slater and Jim Garvin are here. Slater gives Garvin a bit of a rub before the new kid tells us he’s ready for competition, anytime anyplace.

DICK SLATER vs. TONY VALENTINO
-Slater gets Valentino down on the mat and applies a hammerlock. Cagematch doesn’t have an entry for Valentino, and it suddenly crosses my mind that he looks like Crockett jobber Tony Zane. If it’s him, then it’s neat to see a rare early bruiseless appearance for him. Back suplex by Slater finishes.

BUZZ SAWYER vs. MIKE JACKSON
-Armdrags by Jackson. Ole Anderson sits in on commentary to root for his protege. Buzz knocks Jackson to the concrete. Back in, Sawyer clamps on a really snug chinlock, switching to a front facelock. Jackson punches free but gets slammed down. SWEET finish sees the two guys doing a criss-cross and Sawyer just reaching out and grabbing Jackson for a hard powerslam, and that knocks the wind out of him for the three-count.

-Leroy Brown & Big Red are gonna get it on in 1982! Kinda funny how they have nothing to say and Gordon just deadpans “Okay, back to the ring” when they’re done. Just total filler promo here.

STAN HANSEN vs. MARVIN TURNER
-Chinlock and a solid forearm blow by Hansen. Turner fights back but gets mowed down by an elbow to the jaw, and a lariat wipes him out for good.

-Tommy Rich and Stan Hansen call out all the heels they can think of.

FUNK BROTHERS vs. EL GRAN APOLLO & TOMMY ROGERS
-Terry gets the early edge over Tommy while Gordon Solie mentions that the Funks are good, close, personal friends of Sylvester Stallone. Dory tags in and Tommy tries something that Dory is having none of. Not even a blown spot, it’s just clearly Dory going “We’re not doing that” and not going along with him on the spot.

-Apollo tags in and throws dropkicks everywhere. Rogers tags in and promptly takes his beating again, and Terry gets him unclin’ with a spinning toehold.

RON BASS vs. JIM VERTAROSO
-Vertaroso takes down Bass with an armdrag, surprising the hell out of Gordon. Bass attempts a clothesline, but Vertaroso armdrags him again and drives knees into the arm. Bass sends him into the corner to daze him and doesn’t let up from there. Front facelock wears out Vertaroso.

BIG RED & BAD BAD LEROY BROWN vs. ED TIMBS & RICK HARRIS
-The big guys clear the ring right away. Brown chops Timbs and gives him a FULL bodyslam. All four men end up in the ring, . Harris gets knocked to the concrete while Red finishes off Timbs.

6.5

The final score: review Average

The 411

Some neat oddities here but nothing to go out of your way for.