wrestling / Video Reviews
Georgia Championship Wrestling (2.27.1982) Review
Image Credit: Georgia Championship Wrestling
Loading...-Originally aired February 27, 1982.
-Your hosts are Gordon Solie & Roddy Piper.
-Stan Hansen and Ole Anderson are here. Hansen reiterates that his life choices have nothing to do with family or with which wrestlers are his friends. It’s about who gets results and how he can make money. That’s why he and Ole are teaming up.
TOM PRICHARD vs. MIKE JACKSON
-Top wristlock duel goes to a takedown for Prichard while Piper addresses hate mail from viewers complaining he talks too fast. He’s so full of knowledge that it’s the only way for him to get all of the information out.
-Prichard armdrags Jackson and traps him in an armbar. Jackson gets to his feet and does a sweet counter, climbing over Prichard’s entire body while they’re both standing and slipping out of the hold that way. They trade assorted locks before Prichard catches Jackson in a hiptoss, and another armdrag takedown gives Prichard a total advantage as he goes back to the armbar.
-Jackson with a side headlock while Piper does a very condescending sloooooowwwww explanaaaaaattttiiiioooon of the move so WTBS viewers can finally understand him. Heel Piper commentary is a GEM and it makes me wish the WWF had turned him heel before they used him to replace Jesse Ventura.
-Prichard whips Jackson into the corner, but Jackson comes off the second rope with a bodypress for two. Jackson dodges a dropkick and drops a leg on Prichard for two. Finish gets super-weird as Prichard backslides Jackson but Jackson slips completely out by two, and I think THAT was supposed to be the finish. Prichard then rolls him for another pinning combo, and that gets three, but Jackson IMMEDIATELY puts a hold on Prichard, and the referee has to tell Jackson the match is over, at which point the audience boos Prichard for winning. Good match overall but the wheels fell off HARD in the last 30 seconds.
-Dusty Rhodes is here with a total stream of consciousness promo about the kendo stick match he has coming up. Dusty shows off his Black Sabbath t-shirt and says the lyrics on the back represent his beliefs. It’s the lyrics to “Heaven and Hell,” and Gordon Solie absolutely dead-serious says it appears to be part of The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam.
THE ANGEL vs. RON HORN
-Horn armdrags the Angel, but Angel rolls him for a sudden two-count. Angel backdrops Horn for a two-count, then goes to a chinlock. Horn gets free and cradles him for a one-count. Angel fights back and catches Horn in a shoulderbreaker for three.
-Bad, Bad Leroy Brown & Ron Fuller are here. Ron Fuller is now the GEORGIA Stud, not the Tennessee Stud. Game changer. Fuller shows off a mask that he stole from the Super Destroyer and says he’s ready to start an entire collection.
RON FULLER vs. BOBBY GARRETT
-Fuller gets a waistlock takedown on Garrett. He switches to legscissors and then a toehold. Fuller is just DISTRACTINGLY tall and it’s wild to see a guy that size just doing hold-based chain wrestling.
-Fuller leapfrogs Garrett and throws a dropkick. Suplex and a side headlock pinning combination gets three for Fuller.
-Ric Flair is defending his title against Harley Race tomorrow night in the Omni. Woooo!
-Gordon Solie welcomes Playboy Buddy Rose and Rick Oliver to Georgia. They’re the best that the Pacific coast has to offer, and they’re coming to Georgia to take the $25,000 prize in the Omni tomorrow night.
PLAYBOY BUDDY ROSE & RICK OLIVER vs. KEN TIMBS & TIM HORNER
-Horner slams Rose down, and Rose seems surprised that the lowly scrub is giving him trouble and tags out. Oliver tags in and gets caught in a wristlock. Jobbers actually manage to trap him in a corner and work him over. Rose tags back in and throws a forearm and an elbow to take over, and Piper coyly notes on commentary that “Nobody can beat Buddy Rose…aside from myself.” Backbreaker by Rose gets the three-count.
-Gordon welcomes Tommy Rich and asks him about the NWA World Title picture. He respects Harley Race for getting things done instead of doing a lot of talking and yelling, and Tommy seems to give Harley the edge in the NWA World Title match tomorrow night in the Omni.
-And Ric Flair is NOT happy to hear Tommy calling it for Race, and when he demands an apology, Tommy makes the simple point that to date, Flair doesn’t hold a single victory over Race, and Tommy even reveals that he placed a bet with a bookie for Race. And then he issues a challenge to the winner, whether it’s Race or Flair. Flair looks absolutely insulted by Rich, and while he’s at it, he rips Gordon a new one for making the allegation that the champion’s travel schedule is wearing him out.
-We go to Japan to see highlights of Giant Baba vs. King Curtis Iaukea, in preparation for Baba’s visit to the Omni tomorrow night. King Curtis chops and chokes away at Baba. Baba fights back with his own chops and an Irish whip, and King Curtis does an awesome over-the-top bump to the concrete floor. Back in, Baba backdrops Curtis, and a bodypress gets the win for the giant.
-We go to action from Florida with the Brisco Brothers battling Hiro Matsuda & Mr. Pogo. GREAT finish sees Oliver Humperdink run in, but Jack Brisco just puts him in a figure four, and when Hiro tries to break the hold, Brisco cradles him for a three-count while keeping the figure four locked on.
In a bit of weirdness from the early days of CNN, WTBS announces that we’re interrupting the feed to instead switch to the CNN feed, where we’re awaiting a verdict in the Wayne Williams trial, and it’s all very depressing and there’s a Wikipedia page if you want to read up on it, but we actually miss about ten minutes of the show as a result.
STAN HANSEN vs. RICK THOR
-Mildly interesting thing–they throw on a graphic saying they’re rejoining the show “already in progress,” but based on the running time of this video and based on the fact that we got the end of the previous segment and we’re rejoining show at the exact start of another segment, it looks like they seriously just paused the master tape for ten minutes and we’re rejoining the show exactly where we left off.
-Front facelock and a kneedrop by Hansen. Lariat gets an easy victory.
-Masked Superstar and Super D aren’t afraid of Fuller or Leroy Brown. Superstar particularly does a GREAT promo, blowing off all these regional teams because they have the national championship belts, not a regional championship.
-Steve O will be sitting in on commentary for the second hour. Doctors have suggested that he might not be able to get back into the ring, but Steve O says he wants to start a career as a commentator if he never gets medical clearance.
-Ric Flair is here. Six world championships mean nothing to him, and when Harley Race steps into the Omni, he’s going to have to prove that he’s the man all over again.
JIM GARVIN vs. BOBBY GARRETT
-Fullarmdragandtwist by Garvin, and he switches it into a hammerlock and then a wristlock. Garvin goes to a sleeper, but Buzz Sawyer comes off the top rope with an axehandle to break the hold, ending the match with a DQ.
BUZZ SAWYER vs. TIM HORNER
-Drop toehold takedown into a waistlock by Sawyer. Sawyer has regrown his beard and is drifting away from his weird “pretty boy” phase, but he’s still wearing the Bob Roop-style singlet that he had last week, and Solie is going into his amateur wrestling credentials, as the character now seems to be “Wrestling Machine Buzz Sawyer.”
-Horner fights back with forearms, but Sawyer counters with a forearm of his own, so hard that Horner falls out to the floor. Sawyer pulls the straps down(!) and applies a chinlock while the crowd chants “We want Jim!” Milestone moment, Jim Garvin finally has something to do in this promotion AND the fans are invested in it.
-Neckbreaker by Buzz Sawyer looks to finish, but Sawyer picks Horner up at two just to humiliate him. Suplex by Sawyer, and he does a strut to celebrate instead of going for the pin, and Jim Garvin finally answers the call and hits the ring to start a fight with Buzz. Locker room empties out to break it up.
-NWA World Jr. Heavyweight Champion Les Thornton is here to show Brad Armstrong what a competent professional is.
NON-TITLE: LES THORNTON (Jr. Heavyweight Champion) vs. BRAD ARMSTRONG
-Gordon emphasizes that Bob Armstrong isn’t anywhere near the building right now because he wants to make a point about allowing Brad to form his own career.
-They have a nice wrestling exhibition while Piper goes off on the fans for waving and mugging at the cameras and ignoring the match. Brad applies a hammerlock on Thornton and holds it for a bit. Thornton tries to break but Brad just turns it into an armbar. Brad keeps working the arm until Thornton finally decides he’s had enough of the scientific stuff and lights Brad up with forearms and a gutwrench for two.
-Brad manages to shake off the cobwebs and apply a hammerlock, but Thornton elbows him and follows with a backdrop. Dueling two-counts follow until the bell sounds for the ten-minute time limit. I wasn’t bored by this but there really wasn’t much to say about it.
-Dusty Rhodes is here to ask why Roddy Piper conveniently has something else to do every time he comes out for a promo.
-Willard Solie wishes a viewer in Georgia a happy 100th birthday before Gary Hart strolls in and warns Dusty that he’ll pay for past transgressions tomorrow night in the Omni.
RICK HARRIS vs. KEN TIMBS
-Timbs works Harris’ arm over. Harris bodyslams him but Timbs holds on and keeps working the arm. Timbs goes for a backdrop but gets kicked down. Gutwrench by Harris, and a big legdrop gives the win to Harris.
RON BASS & KEVIN SULLIVAN vs. KEN HORN & TIM HORNER
-Heels trap Horn in the corner and work him over. Press slam/stomachbreaker combo gets a quick and easy win.
BUDDY ROSE & RICK OLIVER vs. MIKE JACKSON & RICK THOR
-Dropkick by Jackson. He goes for a bulldog but Rose counters with a back suplex and tags in Rick Oliver. Oliver beats on Jackson, who escapes so Thor can take a beating. Jackson tags back in and avoids a corner charge from Oliver. Thor comes back in and gets his arm worked over, and a shoulderbreaker by Oliver gets the pin.
