The SmarK Rant for Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling – 12.26.81
Taped from Charlotte, NC
Your hosts are Bob Caudle & David Crockett
It’s the day after Christmas, and the only present I need is Sgt. Slaughter under my tree. I was actually at a flea market checking out a table of overpriced wrestling figures, and I was strongly debating buying the fancy Legends series of Slaughter, but it was like $140 and I’ve got limits. I believe it was this one here, in fact: https://www.amazon.ca/Wrestling-Classic-Superstars-Slaughter-Pacific/dp/B00U1ZVB6G/ref=sr_1_8?ie=UTF8&qid=1519267048&sr=8-8&keywords=wwe+action+figure+sgt.+slaughter
Sgt. Slaughter joins us to start, and he could tell us how great he is, but we’d be here for the entire hour. So the $1000 is still up for grabs, but Sandy Scott comes out and accuses him of DUCKING the challenge. So he’s going to have a drawing later and find a challenger. Sarge is greatly offended, because guys like Tony Russo, Charlie Fulton, and Keith Larson have been looking for a shot for a while now, but Sandy wants names like Blackjack Mulligan Jr and Ricky Steamboat in the mix. Slaughter’s freakout reaction to this is awesome, as is everything he does. But once again, it’s a private challenge for Slaughter’s own money…maybe Sandy Scott should MIND HIS OWN GODDAMN BUSINESS. 1 for 1.
Mike Miller & Charlie Fulton v. Jake Roberts & Blackjack Mulligan Jr.
Jake quickly goes after Miller with a backdrop and a hiptoss, and skinny young Blackjack comes in with a kneedrop for two. Back to Jake for more work on the arm, but he gets caught in the jobber corner and Fulton beats him down and slugs away. I really do think that with a better physique and some personality, Fulton might have been pushed as something, but if wishes were horses and all that. Blackjack Jr. gets the hot tag and hits Fulton with a flying forearm, and Jake seemingly deadlifts Miller into a backbreaker for two, then finishes him with a kneelift at 6:00. Not sure why Miller was kicking and screaming for that backbreaker. Energetic enough for a point, I’d say. 2 for 2.
Billy Robinson v. Tony Anthony
Billy works a headlock to start and gets a neckbreaker for two, then powers him over with a butterfly suplex for two. Anthony takes him down with an armbar, but Robinson calmly reverses him into a chickenwing and then cranks on a wristlock. What a dick. Billy takes him down again with ease, so Tony tries a headlock to hopefully keep him down. It doesn’t work, and Robinson pounds him with a forearm and drops knees in the corner, then hits him with a gutwrench for two. Full nelson sets up a tombstone piledriver for two, and the backbreaker finishes the poor bastard at 5:10. Billy Robinson RULES. 3 for 3.
Austin Idol is the promo for our Ann Arbor drop-in segment (seriously, why were they syndicating this show to MICHIGAN?) and he’s not going to set up kissing booths, no matter how much the girls ask.
World TV title: Ivan Koloff v. Keith Larson
Ivan takes him down and works the arm, then slams him around the ring and finishes with the knee to the back off the top at 3:18. Quite the grueling title defense there. 3 for 4.
Terry Taylor v. Tony Russo
Taylor takes Russo down and works the arm while David runs down his accomplishments in the sport thus far (Channel 17 National TV champion!) and Sandy pops in to inform us that Sarge will in fact be putting up his $1000 against Blackjack Mulligan Jr. I think we can all see the angle coming up Main Street for this one, but we’ll let it play out and see where it goes. Taylor continues working the arm while David wants everyone to write in and let us know how we feel about Terry Taylor, because if we don’t like him, they’ll do something about it! What a crazy concept. Terry switches to the leg, drops a knee, and then goes back to the arm again. Hopefully his run as Channel 17 National TV champion generated more excitement than this. I’ve got half a mind to write a card and/or letter to David Crockett and complain about how dull he is. Fivearm finishes at 5:05. 3 for 5.
Back to Michigan, as they continue hyping nothing in particular outside of the TV show.
Ox Baker & Pretty Boy Fergie v. Don Kernodle & Vinny Valentino
Valentino works the arm on Fergie to start and the jobbers manage to double-team him in their corner, but he tags out to Baker and Ox controls Kernodle on the mat with an armbar. And then it’s back to Fergie, who promptly gets his ass kicked again before catching Valentino with a knee out of the corner for two. Ox comes in again and puts Valentino down with a facelock, and the heels get some abuse in the corner. Kernodle can take no more and it’s BREAKING LOOSE IN TULSA, but Baker promptly puts the boots to him and chokes him out on the ropes. Back to Vinnie, but he walks into the heart punch like a geek and Fergie pins him at 6:48. Baker and Fergie were such a weird dynamic as a team and it didn’t work at all. 3 for 6.
$1000 Challenge: Slaughter has his chair and he’s ready for that punk Mulligan Jr. So he uses various stalling tactics, pulling the hair and distracting him, then locks in the hold and you might as well ring the bell right away because no one’s getting out. He manages to roll over, but Slaughter holds on even when the punk kid cheats and runs his head into the turnbuckles. And after a couple of minutes, he goes down, but WE’RE DESPERATELY OUT OF TIME and it’s a cliffhanger ending. 4 for 7. I thought for sure it would be Slaughter hitting him with the chair and Blackjack Sr. making the save to set up that program. However, just checking the results from around this time, and this show was taped on 12/10/81, and the Slaughter angle at the end set up a Christmas Day match against Windham in Charlotte that was a 60:00 draw. And in fact Slaughter was defending the US title against Blackjack Mulligan around the horn for the next two months after this as well, so my guess was partially correct and there must be an angle after the cameras stopped rolling for this one.