The SmarK Rant for GCW at the Omni – 05.15.83

The SmarK Rant for GCW in the Omni – 05.15.83

Originally written 05.15.26

Taped from Atlanta, GA

OK, we go back to 1983, before the promotion started to fall apart completely! This is why the Vault RULES.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7FfvJbHq2MU&t=20s

Chief Joe Lightfoot v. Brett Wayne

“OK, don’t do bodily harm unto one another” requests someone near the hard cam. That must be the 1983 version of “I hope both teams just have fun”. Wayne takes him down with a headscissors to start, but Lightfoot proves to be light in the feet and cartwheels out of it. The Chief works a headlock but Wayne reverses him back into a headscissors and they battle to a stalemate out of that. Once again, I don’t know much about Lightfoot, as he was a Quebec native who didn’t stick around the business very long and I presume was trying to be a Youngblood type of character. They trade headlocks and armbars as this doesn’t particularly go anywhere very fast. Finally Lightfoot takes the first cheapshot in frustration, but Wayne takes him down and works the ankle. This match is boring enough to lead me to wonder why referee Scrappy McGowan never transitioned to modern day WCW/WWF in the same way Nick Patrick and the Hebners did. He seems like he would have been a flamboyant Charles Robinson / Mark Curtis type, but he kind of disappeared after JCP went to Crockett. Anyway these two geeks trade cradles and Lightfoot gets frustrated again and tries another cheapshot, allowing Wayne to roll him up for the pin at 10:45 to finish. A competent but dull opener. **1/4. They make up afterwards but Lightfoot doesn’t seem thrilled about it.

Chic Donovan v. Brian Blair

They fight for the lockup and Blair chases Chic to the floor to think it over. Back in the ring, Blair rides him on the mat, but Chic makes the ropes. Chic with a rollup for two, but Blair takes him down and works the arm. Chic fights out of that and Blair gets a bodypress for two and goes back to working the arm again. But then Donovan puts it in LOCKDOWN with a chinlock that runs for 5 literal minutes, before missing a legdrop and allowing Blair to make a comeback. Blair slugs away and drops a knee on him for two. Blair with the sleeper and he puts out the lights at 13:30. Very basic match. *1/2. And then he wakes up poor Chic with a flying knee off the middle rope! That’s pretty mean.

Bob Roop v. Ronnie Garvin

Roop immediately takes Garvin down and they have a little mat battle before Roop starts working the leg. Garvin pops up with an enzuigiri to escape and they do the test of strength before Garvin slugs him down. Roop goes to the arm and runs Garvin into the corner with a hammerlock to take over. Garvin makes the ropes, so Roop wraps his arm around the post a few times and starts really cranking on it. Garvin finally slams out of it and Roop bails to the apron, so Garvin pounds on him out there until Roop necks him to take over again. Back in the ring, Roop takes him down with another hammerlock and goes back to the arm again. Garvin fights out of that and makes a mini comeback, but Roop beats him down with forearms and goes back to the arm on the mat again. Ronnie fights out of it, so Roop puts him down with a high knee for two. Roop drops a fist on him for two and continues pounding on him as Garvin is doing a great job of selling here, and then he makes a TREMENDOUS comeback and beats on Roop with a slam and the GARVIN STOMP as the crowd goes crazy for him. Elbowdrop gets two off that. Garvin bites him in the head and Roop is begging for mercy, but Ronnie gets meaner and dirtier with backrakes in the corner and then eye-gouging and chops as the crowd eats all of it up. Garvin puts the boots to him again and cradles for two, but Roop runs him into the corner in desperation and goes to the top rope. Garvin slams him off and goes to the top himself, but then Roop tries to slam HIM off, and Garvin slips behind and cradles for the pin at 19:35. This took a bit to get going but Garvin’s selling and babyface comeback were INCREDIBLE and this would up being a banger. ***3/4. Seriously, you gotta see Garvin making his comeback and electrifying the crowd with simple stuff. Afterwards, Roop grabs a chair and attacks, but Garvin fights him off and chases him to the back.

Tommy Rich & Ray Candy v. Matt Borne & Arn Anderson

OK so this is interesting to me, because when I was forced to abandon Mid-South in February of 83 due to the death of WWE’s Peacock deal, Arn was still rookie enhancement guy Marty Lunde, and I never saw him transition to being Arn Anderson. AA and Borne is a hell of a tag team combo, however. But Matt Borne with long bleached blond hair is certainly a choice. Was he trying to be Michael Hayes? When I left off Mid-Atlantic at the end of 1982, Candy was a pretty big heel, so it’s a bit jarring to see him teaming with Rich here as a babyface. Rich evades Borne and then takes him down for a Boston crab. Borne escapes that and it’s over to AA, but Candy slams both heels and the tape cuts out for a bit as they bail to the floor for advice from Paul Ellering. Back in the ring, Matt tries to wrestle Candy on the mat and he switches off with Arn, but they can’t really get anywhere with it. Finally Borne takes him down and puts him in a chinlock, but Rich comes in and he does his OWN chinlock on Borne and then switches to a sleeper instead. Arn breaks that up, so Candy headlocks him, but Borne trips him up from the apron and the heels take over. They’re getting the heat on RAY CANDY and leaving Rich standing on the apron? I question the agenting there. Arn chokes Candy out in the corner and puts the boots to him, but Candy fights back on the heels until Borne trips him up again and Arn gets two. But then Tommy gets the hot tag and it’s BONZO GONZO, before finally the heels get a cheapshot on Rich in the corner and start working him over, and all is right with the universe again. Arn with a backdrop for two. Borne runs him into the corner, but stops to gloat and Rich fires back with his own shot to the turnbuckles, before Arn lays him out from behind again. Arn drops a knee for two, but Borne misses a kneedrop and Tommy makes the comeback, throwing fists until Arn hits him from behind AGAIN to cut him off. But then Tommy cradles Borne off a slam while Arn is busy yelling at the front row, and gets the pin at 15:00. OK this was pretty good and the crowd reaction to Rich was something else. ***1/2

Larry Zbyszko v. Paul Orndorff

And this would be our main event, with Orndorff introduced as “The Brandon Bull” rather than “Mr. Wonderful”. Orndorff works a headlock after a brisk 2.5 minute stall from Larry instead of the usual 7, and gets a sunset flip for two. Back to the headlock on the mat and Larry escapes that, but he misses a dropkick and Paul goes to a chinlock. He switches to a facelock and turns that into a suplex for two, but Zbyszko trips him up while running the ropes and Paul bumps to the floor, allowing Larry to take over out there. Back in, Orndorff puts his head down and gets caught, and Larry slugs him down and works him over in the corner. Paul fights him off and goes up with an elbow from the middle rope, making a comeback with a kneelift before choking him out on the ropes and dropping knees on him. Orndorff drops a knee for two, but Larrry is in the ropes, so Paul stomps on his head dramatically and hen puts him on the floor with an elbow. Larry necks him from the floor and bumps the ref in the process, and then gets the cheap pin at 14:00 with the ref groggy and Orndorff’s legs all in the ropes. But then Tommy Rich comes out and stooges out Larry’s cheating to the ref, SO THIS MATCH MUST CONTINUE. Paul continues beating on Larry, but Larry kicks his leg out of his leg in the corner and goes to work on it. Paul fights him off and mule kicks him out of the corner, but Larry takes him down for a spinning toehold a couple of times, until Orndorff cradles for the pin at 16:30 to finally get the win. Hell of a match here too. ***1/4

The Vault continues to deliver like the postal service, with a great show here that was lacking in star power but brought the goods in the ring. I love this stuff.