wrestling / Video Reviews
Georgia Championship Wrestling (9.12.1981) Review
Image Credit: Georgia Championship Wrestling
Loading...-Originally aired September 12, 1981.
-Your host is Gordon Solie.
-And NWA World Champion Dusty Rhodes is right here at the start of the program. He’s issued an open challenge to Ernie Ladd, Ric Flair, Kerry Von Erich, Masked Superstar AND Harley Race any time they want a piece of him, and he’ll be glad to take the wad of snuff out of his mouth and get in the ring.
-Update on the contest that never ends: This is the FINAL WEEK to cast your votes by postcard for the Most Popular Wrestler, and the winner will be announced next week.
STEVE O & GEORGE WELLS vs. DAVE FORRESTER & IZZY SLAPAWITZ
-Slapawitz, “from Israel,” is so committed to the gimmick that he has sidelocks in his hair, and I feel like every week that I don’t hear him cut a promo will be just fine. On the other side of the ring, we had a missed opportunity a few years later in Mid-South for these guys to team up and bill themselves as “The OGs.” Or maybe the GO-Bots.
-Faces take turns working over Izzy. Forrester tags in and gets his arm worked over with the full armdrag and twist. Bodypress by Wells gets two. Steve O tags in and the jobbers get some token offense. Wells tags in and clamps on a side headlock, but Forrester goes to the eyes to break. They trade punches. Wells tags in and does…a thing. Gordon pretty wisely opts not to call it. And Steve O comes off the top rope with a double chop for the three-count to end it.
-Gordon Solie is with The Great Mephisto, a wrestling great who has turned to managing and has brought his new charge into the Georgia area. And with that, Gordon introduces us to Tara Kamata. And then Great Mephisto corrects him and introduces us to Tor Kamata. Kamata is a former Buddhist monk who has mastered all forms of the martial arts and has committed himself to ridding wrestling of men that he deems to be “evil spirits.” Gordon wraps up the segment and says he’s impressed by Toru Kamata.
-Kevin Von Erich comes in and recaps his singles title history, and feels that he’s earned a shot at “The Big Dusty Rhodes Belt,” which could be any belt. Michael P.S. Hayes strolls in waving a box of Pampers. Tonight, Hayes and Von Erich are challenging for the Tag Team Titles against Jimmy Snuka and Terry Gordy, and Hayes pledges that he’s going to put a diaper on Gordy.
TOR KAMATA (with The Great Mephisto) vs. DEKE RIVERS
-Kamata attacks before the bell and chops away at Rivers with martial arts. Kamata is so violent and uncontrollable that Mephisto has to get on the apron and slap him to get him to follow orders.
-Kamata chokes Rivers and throws a big dropkick. Splash gets the three-count. We’re a few years away from the end of Kamata’s career, but he fits the Hulk Hogan heel-of-the-month mold so well that I’m amazed that he didn’t pop up in the WWF for one last payday on his way out.
HARLEY RACE vs. RIC THOR
-Harley is challenging for the NWA World Title tonight in the Omni, so Dusty Rhodes is out here to do some scouting on his challenger.
-Headlocks are exchanged. Race counters Thor with a back suplex while Gordon Solie tries to pass off the idea that Harley is 34 years old. And I’m all set to make a snide comment until I Google and discover that Harley is ***38*** here. God, we joke about Arn Anderson looking old from birth. Harley is 38 and pretty much has “Get off my lawn” tattooed on his arm at this point.
-Kneelift sends Thor out to the concrete, and back in, the high vertical su-play gives Race the win.
-National Heavyweight Champion Masked Superstar is here. He guarantees that tonight in the Omni, he’ll lose his cool, he’ll lose control, but he won’t lose his belt, and he won’t lose his mask. He’s taking Tommy Rich’s Georgia Championship tonight in the title-for-title match.
MASKED SUPERSTAR vs. CURTIS AUSTIN
-Snapmare by the Superstar, and an aggressive headlock. Austin elbows out. Superstar responds with axehandles and chops. Superstar with a “full bodyslam,” which again makes me ask “As opposed to WHAT?!” Cobra hold gets the win.
-Tommy Rich strolls in for promo time, and Superstar has an amazing line, pointing to the jobber and saying “I hope this guy was your friend!” Shoves are exchanged and Gordon gets the hell off the set, but it doesn’t go any further than a shove.
ERNIE LADD & IRON MIKE SHARPE vs. RON HAVEN & JERRY GRAY
-Ladd throws Haven all over the ring. Iron Mike hammers Haven until he finally tags out. Iron Mike is not wearing a forearm brace, so this is a rare chance to see him before he was hampered by the world’s slowest-healing injury.
-Ladd tags in and Moe-pokes Gray before ramming him into the corner. Iron Mike puts the boots to Gray, and Ladd finishes with, of all combos, the big boot and legdrop.
BRIAN BLAIR vs. JOSE MEDINA
-Fireman’s carry takedown by Blair, who has a B.S. degree in Political Science and is about 6 feet even. Front facelock by Blair as he keeps this nice and scientific. Airplane spin into a Samoan drop gives Blair the three-count.
-We kick off hour #2 with Goron holding the trophy for the Most Popular Wrestler contest. Tommy Rich is here and Gordon Solie notes that Rich has taken a slight lead in the votes tabulated to this point.
SUPERFLY JIMMY SNUKA & TERRY GORDY (Tag Team Champions) vs. BOBBY GARRETT & BOB RUSSELL
-Gordy locks up with Russell and hammers him down. Corner charge misses and Bobby Garrett tags in with a Wattskick. Now Garrett misses the corner charge, reinjuring his bad knee (this is apparently a recurring hazard for Garrett, according to Gordon).
-Champs gang up on Garrett and knock him to the concrete with their ne’er-do-welling. Garrett makes it back in and Snuka bars the leg. Gordy tries to follow suit, but Garrett manages to kick him away with the good leg and tag Russell. Gordy hits kind-of-a-spinebuster to put Russell into position for the Superfly splash. The end.
-Hayes & Von Erich strut out here with the diapers to taunt the champs. Champs dare them to come into the ring, so Hayes & Von Erich oblige and kick the champs’ asses, and thoroughly.
RIC FLAIR vs. MARK WATSON
-Gordon notes that Flair was “literally born with a silver spoon in his mouth,” which probably made the birth a little tricky for Mom. Gordon mentions Flair being born in Memphis, and I knew that but I don’t think I’ve ever heard that brought up on an actual show anywhere, ever.
-Watson applies a side headlock, but Flair rolls backwards and gets a two-count out of it, then rolls again to make it a hammerlock. Flair keeps working the arm until Watson fights back with a knee and a series of rights. Flair chops him down. Back su-play gets a two-count. Flair throws Watson to the concrete and brings him back in for the high vertical su-play. Figure four finishes after a full match of working the arm.
-Harley Race says the last time he faced Dusty Rhodes in the Omni, he pledged to shake Dusty Rhodes; hand if Dusty took the NWA Title from him, and for the record, he kept his word that night. And tonight, he’s back in the Omni, challenging Rhodes for the title, and he’s again a man of his word: He will win the title back.
TOR KAMATA (with The Great Mephisto) vs. BRUCE GALLAGHER
-A succession of headbutts by Kamata as Mephisto comes over and pledges that Kamata will be the second foreigner to come to the United States and win the NWA World Title, after Jim Londos. And then he walks away and Gordon Solie casually mentions “Well, he forgot Pat O’Connor was from New Zealand.” Glasses. Pushed. Up.
-Chop to the heart, and Gallagher has a ridiculous-looking “seizure.” Kamata gives him another chop to the heart and pins him.
-Dusty Rhodes declares himself the king of rock & roll and we get a rough draft of a more famous promo, as Rhodes complains that Harley Race doesn’t know what a struggle is. There are people in wheelchairs, and that’s a struggle. And there are people who are homeless, and that’s a struggle, daddy. This is a little like listening to that original version of the Cheers theme that they recorded before they settled on the lyrics that everybody knows.
MR. WRESTLING II vs. RICK BENEFIELD
-II outwrestles Benefield for a bit, but accidentally distracts himself arguing with Baby Nick Patrick. Benefield takes advantage with an attack from behind. II fights back with the Million Dollar Kneelift, and Gordon goes ahead and calls that the finish out of habit, and he’s taken by surprise when II suddenly applies a Japanese armbar to get the submission. Solie suspects that that was II getting back at Benefield for the sneak attack, but still, Gordon is definitely surprised that II took it any further than the kneelift because he really didn’t need to. Hmmmmmmmm….
-Ric Flair gets a little mic time and demands a shot at the World Title. He’s gotten everything he ever wanted: a car, an airplane, and beautiful women.
TOMMY RICH, MICHAEL P.S. HAYES, & KEVIN VON ERICH vs. TONY RUSSO, SNAKE BROWN, & ALEX REINHOFF
-But unfortunately whoever recorded this show lost interest after ten seconds. Oh well.
