wrestling / Video Reviews
Georgia Championship Wrestling (9.5.1981)
Image Credit: Georgia Championship Wrestling
Loading...-Originally aired September 5, 1981.
-Your host is Gordon Solie, who wants us to remember that the show now starts at 6:05 pm, not 5:35 pm. Those of you who turned on the TV 30 minutes ago and only just now saw the opening titles may have figured that out.
STEVE O & BRUNO SAMMARTINO JR. vs. DAVID SIERRA & RON HAVEN
-Sierra starts with a side headlock takedown but Bruno breaks it with headscissors. Sierra tries his own headscissors, but Bruno kicks out and hammerlocks him. Drop toehold by Bruno, who’s looking GREAT this week, doing successions and chains of moves and looking incredibly fluid when he does so. He doesn’t look like he’s cosplaying as his dad all of a sudden, and he looks fine in there.
-Everybody tags and Steve O takes down Haven and works the arm. Bruno tags back in and drops the leg, and then it’s back to the arm, and he drops the leg again. Did hypnosis wear off?
-Steve O clamps on a full nelson, but Haven backs him into the heel corner and the jobbers manage to work over Steve O for just a bit, but Steve O fights back and the fans in the studio love him for it.
-Sammartino tags in and drops the leg for a third time, and Gordon doesn’t even call the move, like he knows that’s just going to be calling attention to it. Haven tries for a fist fight and Bruno is up for that. Bruno drops the leg (Four!) and backdrops Haven. Steve O comes off the top with a double chop to the head, and that finishes Haven off.
-Gordon Solie welcomes the NEWWWWWWWWWWWWWW NWA World Heavyweight Champion, Dusty Rhodes, and Gordon holds onto the belt for him while he cuts his promo. Hidden highlight: He hands Gordon the belt upside down, and when Gordon realizes it’s upside-down, he very clearly decides to wait until the camera is off him before he’ll flip it right-side-up…and then the camera STAYS on him, and you can feel how antsy Gordon is for the camera to get off him, and it just doesn’t. Dusty pledges to defend the title in Atlanta and eat lots of cornbread with Gordon while he’s in town, and if Harley Race wants a rematch, he’ll only get one in Atlanta, baby!
-Jimmy Snuka & Terry Gordy are here, and they’ll take on all challengers. On Saturday, September 12, they have signed a title match in the Omni against Kevin Von Erich & Michael Hayes. The Freebirds and the Von Erichs get along fabulously, so I like their chances.
TERRY GORDY & SUPERFLY JIMMY SNUKA (Tag Team Champions) vs. ABE JACOBS & KEN HALL
-Jacobs comes from that stock of jobbers who look like they were 45 years old when they were born, and Ken Hall looks like he’s just wrapping up puberty. They’re quite a pair to see side by side in a wrestling match.
-Jacobs works Gordy’s arm. Hall tags in and manages to do that too. Jacobs tags in and now everybody switches and it’s Jacobs getting his arm worked over. Hall tags back in and gets Samoan dropped immediately, and the Superfly splash finishes to a big pop for the heels.
RAY STEVENS vs. RICK HUNTER
-We head over to the AWA for this match, with Georgia removing the commentary track by dubbing in baseball stadium noise even though it’s a TV studio match.
-Hunter applies a hammerlock but Stevens turns it into a fireman’s carry takedown. Hunter tries a standing side headlock but Stevens fights out with forearms. Hunter tries a corner charge, but misses and crashes, and Stevens rolls him up for three. That was actually not a stellar showing for Ray Stevens.
-Aha, but it’s a 2 out of 3 fall match, it turns out, so we stick around for fall 2. Stevens throws Hunter to the floor, but that just pisses him off and Hunter charges in there and throws Stevens to the floor, and the crowd gives him a standing ovation for that.
-Stevens comes back in and drives elbows into Hunter. Hammerlock is applied, and Stevens whips him shoulder-first into the turnbuckles. Back to the hammerlock, but Hunter is still in it, giving Stevens a shot to the face and applying his own hammerlock. Backdrop by Stevens only gets two. Piledriver is finally enough to put Hunter away, but he looked GREAT here.
DUSTY RHODES (NWA World Champion) vs. BOBBY GARRETT
-Dusty works the arm. Garrett, who looks like Ron Bass’ “After” picture in a Slim-Fast ad, backs him into the ropes and rams him. Dusty takes him down and clamps on a legscissors. Big elbow gets the big three-count for Dusty.
-Masked Superstar once again denies the claims that he’s a ducking champion. Gordon announces that Superstar is defending the National Title against Tommy Rich next Saturday night, and Superstar implies that it wasn’t his idea to sign this match. But he promises he’s going to leave with his belt AND Tommy’s.
MR. WRESTLING II & KEVIN VON ERICH vs. TONY RUSSO & PROFESSOR SONODA
-Kevin and Sonoda start off. Kevin wrings the arm and brings in II. Gordon politely mentions that II is a former North American Champion, so Georgia and Mid-South are getting along this week for anyone who’s using a leaf calendar to keep track of that relationship.
-Kevin tags back in and dropkicks Sonoda. II tags in and gives Sonoda a FULL bodyslam, instead of those weird ones where the guy hovers in mid-air because you only kind of slammed him, I guess.
Elbow by Kevin gets two. Russo tags in and they finish with a nice combo. Kevin monkey flips Russo, Russo very naturally bounces upright after the impact, and II connects with a kneelift for three. Gold star to Russo because that was exactly the right amount of agility to make that look good.
-Michael Hayes struts in because Gordon Solie wants to ask about what happened at the Omni when Hayes & Andre the Giant battled Terry Gordy & Jimmy Snuka.
-With that, we go to footage of that match, with a FANTASTIC finish….Snuka and Hayes are in the ring, and Andre is standing on the floor. Snuka starts to get the upper hand and throws Hayes over the top rope, but when he does that, Andre just reaches up and swats Hayes like a bug, and Hayes’ body recoils onto Snuka for the pin.
-Post-match brawl breaks out. Andre gets blinded with powder, and with Andre incapacitated, the champs gang up on Hayes until Kevin Von Erich comes in to make the save.
GEORGE WELLS & STEVE O vs. RICK FERRERA & TOMMY HAWK THOMPSON
-These two should have stayed a tag team after Wells became Master G so they could be billed as Team GO. And then they could have signed Barry O and formed a faction called GOO.
-Ferrera gets O in a headscissors. Thompson tags in and O evades him a bit before cradling him. Chop to Tommy Hawk Thompson, who is surprisingly white for a guy who opted to go with a tomahawk pun for his name.
-Wells tags in and throws rapid-fire punches, and a vertical splash gets two. Dropkick by Wells. Steve O tags back in, airplane spin and a sleeper give the win to the O.G.’s.
-Gordon Solie is here once again with Dusty Rhodes. Dusty has demanded NO time off from the NWA and he wants every city in America to see Dusty Rhodes as NWA Champion. Better hope your jet is fast, then. He promises Harley Race that he’s game for a rematch if Harley wants to get him some.
-Gordon is here with Mr. Wrestling II, Steve O, and George Wells. II expresses his surprise that the voting is as even as it is for the Most Popular Wrestler trophy…but he’s counting on his fans to do the right thing and he’s looking forward to having the trophy on his mantle, and Gordon’s reaction is pretty plainly “Yep, turnin’ heel.”
-Steve O offers some polite, respectful words to II but says he’s grateful that the fans are voting for him, too.
KEVIN VON ERICH vs. SUPERFLY JIMMY SNUKA (with Terry Gordy)
-Gordy joins Gordon for commentary, and he’s not BAD in that spot, but he definitely went further as a Freebird than he would have gone solo.
-Kevin armdrags Snuka and takes him down for an armbar. Snuka can’t get out of the armbar and Gordy seems to get a bit frustrated and leaves the table to get a little closer to the action.
-Snuka finally throws a chop to the throat to take control. The chops work so Snuka sticks with them. Snuka applies a front facelock and suddenly Gordy is feeling confident again and strolls over to the commentary table to declare that Snuka will win the match with a front facelock. Gorilla Monsoon would have slapped the shit out of him for that prediction.
-And indeed, Kevin fights back but misses a corner charge. Snuka suplexes him into place and heads to the top rope, and the Superfly splash gets a miraculous two-count. Snuka looks agog and tries a claw, but Kevin rejects that claw and substitutes one of his own, clamping it on Snuka tight until Gordy strolls in for the finish you knew was coming and the aftermath that you also knew was coming, Hayes heads in and we have a pier sixer.
-Kevin Von Erich lays out an EPIC warning to Gordy and Snuka afterward, warning the champs that he’s so mad, “I’ve got my bowling shirt on now!”
MASKED SUPERSTAR (National Champion) vs. DON GILBERT
-Superstar takes Gilbert down in a front facelock, then clotheslines Gilbert repeatedly, but refuses to allow a three-count each time. Cobra hold finally finishes things.
-Tommy Rich warns Superstar that he’s coming for that mask at the Omni.
BRIAN ST. JOHN & IRON MIKE SHARPE vs. KEN TIMBS & JERRY MAHONEY
-Sharpe is growling, so he’s a heel this week. St. John and Mahoney are…not communicating well, and going for the kill quickly is probably a good call, as St. John hits a belly-to-belly after some extra effort and gets the win.
TOMMY RICH (Georgia Champion) vs. NICK RIVERS
-Rich works the arm in a top wristlock while Gordon Solie tells us about a conversation he had with Tommy before the match, in which Rich observed that over the summer, he got accustomed to driving fast through school zones because nobody was there, but now that schools are back in session, a near-miss can be a terrifying thing, and he thought Gordon should mention that on commentary. So Gordon says we should be more like Tommy Rich and make sure to drive slowly through school zones. I hope Tommy shows up next week with a new ring jacket that has “THE MORE YOU KNOW” in sequins across the back.
-Fist drop by Rich gets an easy three-count.
