Georgia Championship Wrestling (12.12.1981) Review

-Originally aired December 12, 1981.

-Your hosts are Gordon Solie & Roddy Piper, and Piper is wearing a jacket that appears to be borrowed and doesn’t fit. Piper gloats that WTBS got lots of letters asking where he was last week, so they HAD to bring him back for commentary.

-Gary Hart welcomes Piper back to the show.

JIM GARVIN vs. MARVIN TURNER
-Atomic drop by Garvin, who’s interesting to look at in 1981 because he has a great distinctive look and he’s in the best shape of his life, but–even if this is being said with the benefit of hindsight–you get the sense that something is missing with him, and they’re all trying to figure out what he needs to get to that next level.

-Garvin continues the beating and finishes Turner with a suplay.

-Gary Hart is here to show a Kabuki highlight reel, and Piper oddly asks Gordon to step aside and let him host this segment alone. Gordon smiles and graciously agrees, and again, this small detail happening at the end of 1981 sticks out so strongly to me–Piper is a dastardly heel, but he and Gordon clearly like each other.

-We watch a handicap match from WCCW, with Kabuki battling two men, and Bronco Lubich calling it down the middle, as long as he doesn’t have to phsyically go down. Next, we get a clip of Kabuki battling Bruiser Brody and….GETTING A THREE-COUNT ON HIM?! Wow.

VINNIE VALENTINO vs. RICK HARRIS
-Harris is the young up-and-coming Black Bart. He works the arm of Valentino. Harris rams Valentino from corner to corner. Chinlock by Harris, and a gutwrench gets three. Strong showing for Harris.

-Austin Idol objects to Gordon Solie talking about “the one and only Michael Hayes” when you can buy a Michael Hayes from any drug store shelf in the country for just a dime.

-We get pre-taped words from Dusty Rhodes, who definitely saw Apocalypse Now on HBO the previous week and decided “I gonna do THAT, Daddy.” So we get an eerily-lit promo of Dusty, covered in camouflage face paint, giving us his thoughts on war and promising the end of Kabuki and Gary Hart.

GREAT KABUKI (with Gary Hart) vs. BUBBA CARR
-The Kabukithon continues with chops and kicks. Chop from the second rope puts Carr away.

-Roddy Piper interviews the Armstrongs again. Brad treated himself to a Corvette with his windfall from the Thanksgiving tournament, and Piper wonders if he’ll blow his entire fortune like boxers do because the people around them don’t teach them to manage their money. Bob knows what Piper is getting at and says Brad’s an adult and he can make choices like an adult. Bob also wants to emphasize that he’s not afraid of martial ats or face paint. He knows a LITTLE about martial arts from some training he did in the Marine Corps and he’s down for a martial arts battle if Kabuki wants a contract. “He can use karate, kung fu, or boogaloo for all I care.”

KEVIN SULLIVAN & WAYNE FERRIS vs. KEITH LARSEN & TOM ROGERS
-This still feels like a way-weird pairing to me.

-Rogers locks on a hammerlock and armdrags Ferris. Sullivan tags in and throws chops to take over. He works the arm on Rogers. Double-atomic drop by the heels finishes Rogers off, and they did it behind the referee’s back, so they’re protecting Rogers at this point.

TOMMY RICH vs. TONY RUSSO
-Gordon tells us that Rich is signing matches against opponents who have more varied wrestling styles lately, because he wants to make a point about how he’s ready to face a wide variety of opponents IF he happens to win the NWA Title tomorrow night. Rich takes down Russo and applies headscissors. Russo throws punches, but Rich punches right back and heaves Russo across the ring, and a Thesz press by Rich gets the win.

-Ric Flair strolls in and pledges that Rich just ain’t gonna get the job done tomorrow night at the Omni.

MASKED SUPERSTAR & SUPER DESTROYER vs. RICK THOR & PETE MARTIN
-Destroyer works the arm on Thor, who has absolutely the wrong physique for somebody going by that name. Martin tags in and gets pounded down. Superstar tags in with the kinds of shots to the back that he mastered when he became Ax. Destroyer tags in and keeps beating on Martin, and a splash from the second rope finishes Martin for good.

-Big Red and Bad Bad Leroy Brown stroll out and formally declare themselves a tag team.

-We kick off the second hour, and Piper has a new better-fitting jacket at the start of hour #2. I think they actually sent a P.A. over to Sears during the taping to take care of it.

BOB & BRAD ARMSTRONG (National Tag Team Champions) vs. TONY RUSSO & ED TIMBS
-Brad armdrags Russo. Bob adds a hiptoss for a one-count. Timbs tags in and the Armstrongs work his arm over. Heels manage to trap Brad in the corner and work him over to take over. Knee by Russo, who is about 5’6″ and his body is 90% torso; he’s seriously just…like…a barrel with appendages. Hot tag Bob, who connects with a hard forearm and gets a three-count with it.

-Gordon is here with Ron Bass, and the gist of his promo seems to be that he was a babyface the last time he was in this territory, but now the fans can go screw.

RON BASS vs. RICK BENFIELD
-Bass works the arm, then stomps the requisite mudhole into Benfield. Powerslam gets the win.

-Bob & Brad Armstrong are ready for action from all comers. Bob promises that tonight in Chattanooga, he’ll beat Kabuki so badly that he’ll be easy pickings for Dusty Rhodes in their match tomorrow at the Omni, and the Armstrongs dare their opponents, Kevin Sullivan & Wayne Ferris, to take the titles if they’re bad enough.

AUSTIN IDOL vs. VINNIE VALENTINO
-Idol concentrates on the leg, then just gives Valentino a shot square in the jaw. Idol then switches to the back with a series of shots and an atomic drop. Backbreaker gets two. Valentino gets a miracle backslide for two out of nowhere, shocking Idol and Roddy Piper on commentary. Valentino gets a flurry of offense and looks like he’s getting the upset of the year, but he comes off the second rope and Idol’s ready for it, and then the Las Vegas leglock (figure four) gets the submission.

-Post-match, Idol reapplies the hold just to be a dick, and Michael Hayes storms into the ring to make the save. That brings out Terry Gordy, and THAT brings out Bob Armstrong, and when the heels realize they’re outnumbered, they take off.

-Ric Flair is here. Everybody wants to be him, but there’s only man man in Georgia right now wearing a thousand-dollar suit and holding a $17,000 gold belt. Flair suddenly notices that Roddy Piper isn’t around, so he DEMANDS that Piper come out. Piper walks out calmly and quietly and giving an evil eye to Flair, and Flair is polite on the surface but condescending AF to Piper. “Austin Idol is no Roddy Piper,” but Flair points out that neither one of them is the World Champion.

BUZZ SAWYER vs. KEITH LARSON
-Sawyer actually has something resembling a full head of hair at this point, indicating that it hasn’t yet been burned off by whatever he was using to fry his brain.

-Larson dropkicks Sawyer through the ropes and onto the concrete, and Sawyer is furious at being shown up by a rookie while the audience gives him hell. Sawyer is so mad that he chokes the life out of Larson and gnaws on his face. Backbreaker, and then a camel clutch…well, really a rear chinlock gets the submission.

-Leroy Brown & Big Red are ready for them masked fellas.

EL GRAN APOLLO vs. KEN TIMBS
-Hammerlock into a takedown by Apollo…Little thing that bothers me about this guy. He has a cool name that translates to The Great Son of Zeus, and he’s just a guy in a set of tights and boots. If you’re going to go by a name like that, it sort of demands a dazzling cape and some kind of design on the gear. Nothing against him as a person, but he’s basically Cuban Sam Houston and he has this great main event name.

-Timbs gets some offense going, giving Apollo a neckbreaker for a two-count. Apollo whips Timbs back and forth repeatedly. Dropkick by Apollo, and a bodypress off the second rope gets the win.

-Big Red and Leroy Brown have one of those giant cookies you get at the mall, with a design in icing showing the masks of Super Destroyer and Masked Superstar. And they eat the cookie.

-The masked guys come out and warn “the high-calorie garbage eaters” that they’re tougher competition than a giant cookie.

MASKED SUPERSTAR & SUPER DESTROYER vs. TOM ROGERS & BRUCE GALLAGHER
-Rogers bodypresses Superstar right away for a one-count, as the commentators put him over as a star of tomorrow. Masked men trap Tommy in the corner and beat on him, and then Superstar demands once more that the cookie-eating guys get out here and do something.

-Gallagher tags in and gets double-teamed, and a neckbreaker by Superstar gets three.

7.4

The final score: review Good

The 411

A lot of fun stuff on this one!