The SmarK Rant for Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling – 09.25.82
No Dark Elevation tonight because my boys in the Outrunners are on original recipe Dark on Tuesday night and I want to review that instead. So you get Mid-Atlantic and you like it.
Taped from Charlotte, NC
Your host is Bob Caudle
$100,000 Challenge Match: Dory Funk Jr. v. Mike Davis
Well obviously we are now into the era of Dory booking the territory. We are joined in progress with this one, as Funk has stormed into Mid-Atlantic with $100K for anyone who can beat him under NWA rules in 10:00 or less. Dory pounds on Davis with forearms in the corner and cradles him for two, and then brings him out and beats on him with more forearm uppercuts for two. Funk puts Davis down with another forearm for two and drops an elbow on him for two. Davis fights back with a backslide for two, but that just angers Junior and he tosses Davis onto the floor. Back in, Davis initiates the criss-cross to get something going, but Funk nails him with a forearm on the way by and adds a suplex before finishing him off with the spinning toehold at 4:18. So Funk keeps his money in his first challenge. And this officially kicks off a pretty friggin’ great era for this promotion.
Jimmy Valiant v. Jim Dalton
Valiant has lost the TV title to Jos LeDuc apparently, and so this is the newly focused Jimmy with no music. HE’S BEEN UP FOR 72 HOURS STRAIGHT, BOB! Sounds like the old Jimmy to me. And he finishes Dalton with the back elbow and elbow smash at 0:30.
Jim Nelson v. Jay Youngblood
So we get some off-air development, as apparently Nelson’s partner in Privates, Don Kernodle, was supposed to be here for a tag team match, but Kernodle abruptly received a “telegram from Japan” dealing with something involving Sgt. Slaughter and he had to leave. As it turned out, that urgent summons was to a fictitious NWA World tag team title tournament, which was “won” by the team of Slaughter and Kernodle. I always thought that if Nelson was going to be repackaged as Boris Zhukov, they should have done a storyline where he gets jealous of Slaughter abandoning him for Kernodle and joins the Communist regime to get revenge. Nelson works a headlock on Youngblood and rams him into the turnbuckles a few times before going to a chinlock on the mat. Youngblood fights out and gets a sleeper, but Nelson runs him into the turnbuckle to break and goes to the COBRA CLUTCH. But he’s no Slaughter, so Youngblood makes it to the ropes and makes the comeback. He beats on Nelson with chops and really winds up for a running one in the corner, which gets two. Another one with STANK on it finishes at 5:53. An entertaining little match here.
Keith Larson joins Bob at the desk to talk about Greg Valentine and He Won’t Back Down. He’s gonna go out there and be Free Fallin’. He sounds just like Tom Petty is what I’m getting at here. Anyway the promo is so dull that they literally cut him off and go to commercial like he’s on an award show or something.
Greg Valentine v. Keith Larson
Valentine gets a quick rollup for two and slams him off the lockup attempt, but Keith gets his own and tries for a hammerlock. Valentine SWEEPS THE LEG to take him down and just destroys him with a high knee, as that looked like Larson wasn’t expecting it and got knocked a bit silly. Valentine with a gut wrench and he goes to a chinlock for a bit and then finishes with the elbowdrop and figure-four at 4:10.
Jimmy Valiant joins us and OH MY GOD the House of Humperdink has smashed his brand new radio from a couple of weeks ago. That thing is a CLASSIC. So we get footage of Jimmy defending the TV title against Jos LeDuc, and he has Jos in a sleeper, but Humperdink threatens the boombox with destruction, so Jimmy breaks the sleeper while the ref goes to check on the boombox. But then Jos gets the radio and WHAM, Valiant is out and pinned and LeDuc is the champion. “I GOT KNOCKED CUCKOO!” notes Valiant while reviewing the footage. And then LeDuc smashes the boombox on the post. The boombox stuff was goofy but effective, giving the feud actual stakes besides the TV title, and I also liked that they showed the title change to really hammer it home. Jos LeDuc was a mean fucker before, but now he’s SPECIFICALLY mean to Jimmy Valiant by destroying the one thing he loves. Besides that sweet, sweet China White.
Wahoo McDaniel stops by and Bob asks him to comment on Jimmy losing his boombox. Wahoo: “Yeah well that’s his whole deal. Everyone’s got something important to them. I love my golf clubs, you know?” Well that seems a bit callous but I laughed. Anyway Wahoo has footage of getting jumped by Slaughter and his Privates, as Slaughter makes sure to drape his Privates all over Wahoo and uses his Privates to tear up and ravage Wahoo’s headpiece.
Mike Rotundo v. Ali Bay
Rotundo works a wristlock on Bay, but Bay takes him down and works the leg for a bit. Rotundo goes to a headlock, but Ali takes him down and holds an armbar on the mat and gets various cheapshots to take over, but then Rotundo takes him down and works a wristlock on the mat as they do some basic wrestling stuff. Bay with a backdrop, but Rotundo dropkicks him to the apron and back in the ring for a backdrop, and Mike drops the leg for two. And then Mike finishes him off with the airplane spin at 7:05. This was fine, as Rotundo transitions a bit more from rookie jobber to pushed guy.
Ken Timbs & Bill White have words with Bob before they get squashed by Wahoo and Jack Brisco in a few minutes. White admits that Wahoo and Brisco have a reputation and he doesn’t, but they’ll still tangle anyway. Well at least he’s honest.
Jack Brisco & Wahoo McDaniel v. Ken Timbs & Bill White
Well now we see if White’s warning of “tangling” hold true. Timbs grabs a headlock on Wahoo and Wahoo rolls him up for two, while Greg Valentine comes down to ringside to scout the match. White comes in and works a facelock on Brisco, and brings him back to the heel corner for some double-teaming, but Jack fights off Timbs with a backbreaker before going to an abdominal stretch. White comes in to save, but Wahoo beats him down with chops and that was apparently the heel team’s one save and if they do it again, they’re DQ’d. Oh we’re doing THAT again, I see. Wahoo comes in with the sleeper on Timbs, but he manages to tag White, so Wahoo just casually puts HIM in the sleeper on the way into the ring. White breaks free and Wahoo puts him right back into it, and since Timbs can’t save, White is in trouble. But he manages to roll into the ropes to break in a bit of a surprise, and makes a comeback with forearms. So they get into a pretty hellacious slugfest, which White loses, and Brisco and comes in with a kneelift for two. White keeps fighting and then walks into a dropkick from Brisco, and Wahoo lays him out with the chops and a delayed suplex for the pin at 7:32. Hey, Bill White backed it up, give him credit.
And we finish with Paul Jones and his Mid-Atlantic title, as he promises to beat on Jack Brisco day after day and keep the title in the stable. Also Leroy Brown is pretty sure that the “big fat Indian” is too chicken to face him, so he’s throwing Ricky Steamboat in the way to save himself. Also Oliver presents Jos LeDuc with the newly redesigned TV title and it’s a BEAUTY. It looks like the mid-80s NWA tag team title belts. Hopefully they’re redoing the other belts soon as well. And that’s where we wrap it up for the week.
Really enjoyed this episode. And we all know which famous show this is all building towards now, right?