Georgia Championship Wrestling (7.3.1982) Review

-Originally aired July 3, 1982.

-Your host is Gordon Solie, who touts that Bob Backlund will be on the show this week, and Gordon hasn’t gotten the memo because he still calls it the World Wide Wrestling Federation.

-Dusty Rhodes is out here to say that he’s hired a new trainer and a new nutritionist, Kevin Sullivan, who has pledged to get him down to 245 and help him win the NWA Title back! Dusty takes his jacket off to reveal that he actual has dropped some weight, and promises to knock down every opponent who tries to get in his way, including Gordon Solie!

WILD SAMOANS (with Sonny King) vs. MIKE JACKSON & RANDY BARBER
-Dropkicks are no-sold by Afa, who headbutts and kicks Jackson. King patrols ringside sucking on a lollipop while Jackson gets choked out. Barber tags in and gets chopped to and fro. Samoan drop finishes things.

-Gordon Solie talks to Mr. Wrestling II and Tommy Rich about their matches at the Omni tomorrow night. This is actually a damn good card…

Ric Flair vs. Bob Backlund
Ole Anderson & Stan Hansen vs. Tommy Rich & Ivan Putski
Paul Orndorff vs. Jimmy Snuka
Masked Superstar vs. Mr. Wrestling II
Don Muraco vs. Dusty Rhodes
Samoans vs. Freebirds
Big John Studd vs. Leroy Brown in a Texas Death Match
Mr. Saito vs. Kevin Sullivan
Super Destroyer vs. Tom Prichard

-Freebirds are here. Gordy gets most of the interview time, and when they get the cue to wrap Michael Hayes just dives in and yells “THE OMNI!”

“Mr. Wonderful” PAUL ORNDORFF (National Champion) vs. CARL STILES
-Orndorff takes Styles to the mat as Buzz Sawyer comes to the ring to scout Orndorff. Orndorff applies a chinlock, then sends Stiles into the ropes for a dropkick and a slam and Orndorff is a strong dude because Stiles sandbagged him. And Gordon even kind of calls him out on that on commentary! Suplex by Orndorff finishes.

-Ric Flair and Bob Backlund are here for a face-to-face interview, and if you know Bob Backlund at all, you can close your eyes and picture the suit he’s wearing. And by the way, putting Ric Flair and Bob Backlund out there together for a promo is the most one-sided fight I’ve ever seen in my life and the studio audience is pretty unmistakably siding with Flair by the time it’s over.

-The World Tag Team Champs, Stan Hansen & Ole Anderson are here. They aren’t worried about the arrival of Ivan Putski in Georgia. Don Muraco interrupts the promo with a snootful of the good cocaine, and the champs look sincerely irritated that he cut off their promo like that.

DON MURACO vs. DALE “CARL” VEASEY
-Again, I’m wondering what kind of notes anybody gave Gordon before these tapings. So often he doesn’t know the jobber’s name at all and here he has the wrong first name.

-Muraco hangs Veasey upside down and then goes to the floor and just circles the ring like he’s looking for something. Elbows to the jaw by Muraco, and the tombstone finishes things.

TOMMY RICH vs. HIS MAN
-And speak of the devil, we have ANOTHER match where Gordon doesn’t know one guy’s name! Give Gordon some notes, dammit! Why does he not have this info?

-Armdrag takedown by Rich on his man. Right hands and elbows as somebody finally spells out “Martin” in semaphore just off camera so Gordon can finally call the match correctly. Rich applies a chinlock, then heads to the second rope for a double axehandle.

-Martin comes to life with knees, but Rich gets fired up, connecting with his own knee, and the Thesz press finishes things. Stan Hansen and Ole Anderson are here to make trouble after the bell, but Ivan Putski strolls in, looking like such a fish out of water in this territory.

-Gordon Solie chats with Ivan, Tommy, and Dusty, and it’s nowhere near the trainwreck you would hope for.

OLE ANDERSON & STAN HANSEN (World Tag Team Champions) vs. TOM PRICHARD & JOE POWELL
-Prichard, a tough and fiery youngster, comes out fighting, but Anderson and Hansen take control by wrecking his arm. Powell tags in and gets pounded. Hot tag Prichard and Prichard cleans house with dropkicks. Classic rookie mistake of tagging in the less established jobber, though, and Powell falls victim to the lariat to finish this.

MR. WRESTLING II vs. CHIC DONOVAN
-Front facelock by II. Donovan uses the ropes as his ally and goes to the floor to regroup. Donovan tries choking but II gives him a shot to the gut and applies the wristlock to take back control. Donovan gets aggressive, and it’s nice as it ties into something Gordon said right at the start of the match about how Donovan is USUALLY scientific but aggression tends to come out when the walls are starting to close in for him.

-Don Muraco kicks off hour #2 with a crazed promo about loading his spear gun for Dusty Rhodes tomorrow night in the Omni, because the $5000 fine for it doesn’t mean anything for him.

FABULOUS FREEBIRDS (National Tag Team Champions) vs. DALE VEASEY & PETE MARTIN
-Gordy applies the front facelock on Martin, and the side headlock pretty much becomes the official Move of the Week as it’s just the Freebirds taking turns applying it and the job guys take turns taking it.

-Martin suddenly gets a headful of steam and starts lighting into Hayes with rights. The jobbers manage to trap Hayes in their corner and work him over. Hayes fires Veasey into Gordy’s knee to turn the tide. Gordy tags in and throws Veasey out to the concrete. Backdrop/piledriver combo by the Freebirds wraps this up. That actually turned into a fun match after a few minutes.

-Sonny King strolls out to offer the Freebirds a spot in his organization. Freebirds are more interested in a match with the Samoans than joining up with Sonny and tells the manager to get his Samoans AND get his mama while he’s at it.

WILD SAMOANS (with Sonny King) vs. MIKE THOR & TONY GINNACCARO
-Samoans clear the ring at the bell as Sonny King fumes and warns the Freebirds to be careful what they wish for.

-Samoans chop away at Thor. Hot tag, I guess, to Tony, who gets headbutted and rammed into the turnbuckle. Diving headbutt by Afa finishes.

-Don Muraco promises to poke the shark tomorrow night at the Omni. Is that better or worse than jumping it?

-Dusty Rhodes comes in and Hogan-shreds his polo shirt to prove that he’s in shape now and he’s got the eye of the tiger, daddeh.

MAGNIFICENT MURACO vs. RANDY BARBER
-Muraco stops at the commentary table and makes a snide remark about Roddy Piper not being here this week. Foreshadowing? I know he doesn’t turn face until after the promotion changes names.

-Kneelift and a neckbreaker by Muraco. Muraco just toys with him for a spell before finishing up with a tombstone.

-Paul Orndorff cuts another modest promo, and “soft-spoken polite babyface” is such an odd role for him.

BRAD ARMSTRONG vs. CHIC DONOVAN
-Feeling-out process leads to a drop toehold by Armstrong. Donovan takes a shot but falls victim to a bodypress. Side headlock by Armstrong while Gordon is already teasing that this is going to go the time limit.

-Rear chinlock by Donovan. He sends Armstrong into the ropes for a kneelift and drops the leg for two. Donovan goes for a backdrop, but Armstrong counters with a sunset flip for an abrupt three. Armstrong gets what looks like a total fluke victory over Donovan.

-Bob Armstrong comes out to join his son at the commentary table. Gordon Solie welcomes Bill Apter on becoming PWI Rookie of the Year, making Bob and Brad the first father/son Rookie of the Year winners. I did a double-take at this and it turns out it’s a fib because the honor didn’t exist until 1972, four years after Bob “won” it. I know, wrestling lied to us. I’m glad most of you are sitting.

-Ric Flair and Bob Backlund once again join Gordon at the commentary table to discuss their champ vs. champ match at the Omni tomorrow night. To give the fans a feel for each men’s skills, we watch an old Ric Flair squash match, followed by Backlund winning the WWWF Title five years ago. So…okay, Bob hasn’t had a match worth airing highlights of in the past five years? Also, Backlund takes a, uh, shot at Ric Flair by noting Flair has never even wrestled at title match at MSG. YEAH, RIC!

TOM PRICHARD vs. MIKE JACKSON
-Here comes the science!

-Jackson applies a side headlock and takes down Prichard. Jackson tries a series of quick pinning combinations. Prichard bungles a second-turnbuckle sunset flip that just soars WAY over Jackson, and the audience lets out this really conspicuous “Awwwwwwwwww” when it happens. We get the countdown clock, but the VHS tape runs out before the show runs out, so the winner of this match is…oh, let’s just say, Moe.

7.2

The final score: review Good

The 411

This was interesting for reasons definitely not intended at the time. This episode is so loaded with "WWF guys" that it's interesting to watch just to see the difference in presentation.