The SmarK Rant for Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling – 10.09.82
Taped from Charlotte, NC
Your host is Bob Caudle
Ricky Steamboat & Jay Youngblood v. Bill White & Juan Reynoso
We’re joined in progress in the ring for some reason, and the VQ on this episode is ROUGH. Looks like someone filmed a TV screen rather than a master copy of the video. Ricky and Jay double-team White and work on the arm, and Reynoso comes in and gets more of the same. They double-team him in the corner with chops, but Juan finally goes to the eyes of Youngblood and brings White in for two. But then the faces hit the double-team mule kick on White and Steamboat slingshots Youngblood in for the splash to finish at 3:50.
Jack Brisco & Wahoo McDaniel join us at the desk and Jack wants to get a hold of Paul Jones for stealing the Mid-Atlantic title, and then Wahoo gives us a replay of Greg Valentine BREAKING HIS LEG with the leglock a few years back. Just in case we had forgotten from the last 18 times that Valentine reminded us of it. I’m surprised he didn’t show up at Wahoo’s funeral and give a speech where he brought it up again, if we’re being honest with each other. Wahoo notes that Valentine coming after the US title is like “fishing for catfish” and he’s got the bait. Ew, so Wahoo is CATFISHING Greg Valentine? I’ve heard he takes 15 minutes to get going, if you know what I mean. Then we get a promo from Ric Flair, who informs us that he’s coming back to the Carolinas because he’s a man who shares his time and talents, and even some of his ladies. So line up the challengers for him! But not Wahoo, apparently, because Ric is never going to wrestle him again.
Wahoo McDaniel & Roddy Piper v. Ken Timbs & Jim Dalton
This is from Worldwide Wrestling, as Piper and Wahoo agree not to turn on each other before the match. They take turns working on Dalton’s arm and begrudgingly use some teamwork, with Pipeir leading Dalton to the corner for Wahoo’s chops, sending Dalton retreating back to his own corner to bring Timbs in. Timbs slugs away on Piper and he no-sells it and just tosses him to the floor and beats on him out there, and then back in for a chinlock. Dalton breaks that up, so Wahoo switches in behind the ref’s back and continues the move, as apparently the ref can’t tell the diference between Wahoo and Roddy. Piper takes Timbs to the floor and beats on him some more while claiming innocence, still not very good at this “good guy” thing, and then tags in for some cheapshots on Timbs and a double chop to the throat. Timbs fights back on him and brings in Dalton as Piper gets the heat for a bit and sells for the heels, and the crowd is rabid for Piper even while he cheats like a mofo. And indeed he pokes Dalton in the eyes and makes a hot tag to Wahoo, who chops Dalton down and pins him at 6:52. Piper was a lot of fun at this point, trying really hard to be a good person and still failing at it.
Paul Jones v. Keith Larson
They trade wristlocks to start, but Jones takes him down with the hair and goes to work on the arm before putting the boots to him. Larson fights back, but Jones catches him with his head down and finishes him off with the deathlock at 2:15.
Mike Rotundo & Jerry Brisco join us at the desk, as Bob confuses Jerry with his brother and then realizes his error. Mike gives us another electrifying promo about how he doesn’t need Humperdink to manage his career. Sounds like he could use Humperdink to do promos for him, though.
Mike Rotundo v. Mike Reid
Humperdink brings out Leroy Brown and offers up a match for Rotundo RIGHT NOW, but Rotundo declines and continues with the original match instead. So he takes the guy down with a headlock and cranks on that, but Reid takes him down with a single leg. Rotundo with a suplex for one, and the airplane spin finishes at 2:05. So naturally Leroy charges into the ring for the attack, but Rotundo catches him with the airplane spin! But then Hump trips him up and Brown falls on top, and then delivers a piledriver to win the fight. That was pretty damn impressive.
Bad Leroy Brown joins us at the desk and notes that what just happened was Rotundo’s own fault because that’s how they do it in Chicago and he should have known not to cross him. Brown’s actually getting better as a heel. And then Greg Valentine joins and ONE GUESS what he continues reminding us about.
Jos LeDuc & Dory Funk Jr. v. King Parsons & Abe Jacobs
So I guess Dory has gone from nebulous tweener to just full on heel so we know exactly how to treat him. Jos just clobbers Parsons with a forearm to put him down, and Dory comes in with a small package for two before switching to a facelock. He floats into a suplex and Leduc comes in with a big boot and resumes clobbering Parsons again. Over to Jacobs, who slams Dory for two, and they manage to double-team Dory for a bit before Funk hits Jacobs with a backdrop suplex to escape that. Leduc comes in and chokes away on Parsons, but Jimmy Valiant comes in for the DQ and goes after LeDuc at 4:20. LeDuc & Funk were the weirdest style clash tag team in ages and this wasn’t working at all anyway.
Ron Ritchie & Porkchop Cash are ready for their biggest test yet against the World tag team champions, next. Ritchie could not sound any more like a small town Canadian bumpkin unless he was watching Letterkenny and drinking a two-four of Pilsner, eh.
Don Kernodle & Sgt. Slaughter v. Ron Ritchie & Porkchop Cash
Sarge puts the boots to Ritchie and dropkicks him to put him down, and then Kernodle comes in with his own dropkick for two. Backbreaker gets two. Kneedrop gets two. Ritchie with a small package for two and he brings Cash in, but Slaughter uses his MOVEZ and takes Cash down with a drop toehold. Kernodle wraps up Cash in a form of an STF, and Slaughter comes off the top with a kneedrop and then drops another knee for two. Kernodle with a neckbreaker for two. Cash makes a comeback and slugs away on Kernodle, but Slaughter catches him with a stungun and Kernodle finishes him with the Slaughter cannon at 5:15.
And we finish with Jos LeDuc staring into the camera like a serial killer while Oliver Humperdink rants about Valiant “taking the law into his own hands” and ruining all the good sportsmanship he’s built up so far. Yeah I’m fully sold on LeDuc in this run now. Also Paul Jones laughs to himself at the irony of beating Indians with the Indian Deathlock. Again it’s not ironic, because the move is named after India the country, not the Native Americans. That’s what we professional smart asses call “Alanis irony”.
And on that note, we wrap it up for the week. Continuing to enjoy this run.