The SmarK Rant for Georgia Championship Wrestling – 01.26.80

The SmarK Rant for Georgia Championship Wrestling – 01.26.80

I’m a few episodes into Mr. McMahon and I need a palette cleanser. So let’s review the least Vince McMahon thing I have available to me: GEORGIA.

Taped from Atlanta, GA

Your host is Gordon Solie

Mr. Wrestling II joins Gordon and he’s got a counter for the cobra hold, which Charlie Fulton has now learned from the Masked Superstar. So we go to high-tech VIDEOTAPE REPLAY of Wrestling II breaking free of the cobra hold and putting Fulton away with the kneelift. So at the Omni this Sunday, it’s Masked Superstar defending the Georgia title against Wrestling II in a SHACKLE MATCH to settle things between them.

Kevin Sullivan joins us and he’s still after Austin Idol and he’ll get some revenge today in a tag match later in the show.

Terry Funk joins us, complaining that new NWA World champion Dusty Rhodes is an EGG SUCKING DOG with varicose veins and bleached blond hair and he’s a disgrace to the belt. I can’t disagree. And Dusty is gonna discover some pain at the Omni this Sunday when Terry gets his shot at the belt.

Tommy Rich v. THE COLLECTOR

Oh man I bet this guy has a wicked set of LJN wrestling figures at home. The Collector beats on Tommy in the corner, but Tommy takes him down with a headlock as Gordon reveals that in fact Wrestling II has won the Georgia title from Masked Superstar at some point, so now the Omni match is Wrestling II defending against Superstar. I’m a little confused but I’m assuming we lost some footage somewhere in this episode that explains things. Collector works the arm, apparently trying to break it off and add it to his collection, bending it on the ropes while Rich sells in pain and the crowd of young girls shrieks in horror. Rich fights back and slugs away on him, and then takes him down with a spinning toehold to finish at 3:44. Dammit, we never got to see Collector’s devastating finisher: THE CHASE VARIANT.

Tommy Rich joins Gordon afterwards, and he’s pretty sour about Harley Race putting a bounty of $10,000 on him. But tomorrow night at the Omni, Tommy is facing Killer Khan, who might be a paid assassin on behalf of Harley Race. Sounds like a crazy conspiracy theory to me.

Austin Idol and the Superstar join us, and Austin is waiting impatiently for the main event tonight so they prove that they’re the greatest by beating Kevin Sullivan and Steve Travis. Austin has a theory about why Kevin Sullivan is such a good runner: Because every morning he had to sling his drunken daddy over his shoulder and make a run for the school bus.

Mr. Wrestling II interrupts Kevin Sullivan’s interview and asks Steve Travis to step aside so he can have a piece of Masked Superstar on TV, and Travis agrees like a good babyface.

Kevin Sullivan & Mr. Wrestling II v. The Masked Superstar & Austin Idol

And it’s a PIER SIX BRAWL right away as Wrestling II attacks Superstar while Idol brawls with Sullivan, but Kevin quickly gets caught in the heel corner and double-teamed. Sullivan fights Idol off with a suplex, but Superstar cuts off the comeback and chinlocks Kevin to take over again. Idol drops a knee for two. Superstar comes in and drops Sullivan on the top rope for two. Idol misses an elbow, but Sullivan goes to the wrong corner and the heels cut him off again and double-team him. Superstar puts him down with a big boot for two. Superstar with a chinlock, but Sullivan fights that off and finally makes the hot tag to Wrestling II, and he goes APESHIT on Superstar and hits the kneelift for two. Idol trips him up, however, and the ref calls for the DQ at 4:44. So Superstar puts II in the cobra hold, but Wrestling II walks the ropes and breaks the unbreakable hold, sending Superstar running away in shame.

Afterwards, Wrestling II promises that he is coming after Superstars’s MASK tomorrow night in the Omni. And Sullivan is gonna beat the devil out of Austin Idol until welts appear on Austin’s body and the welts spell out DON’T HURT ME ANYMORE. I love that Kevin Sullivan is just going for it on these shows and letting his personality out full force. It was funny watching young Sullivan needing to come out of his shell early on. Anyway, beating on someone until the bruises actually spell out a cry for help certainly sounds painful. WHY CAN’T WE GO BACK IN TIME AND WATCH THESE OMNI SHOWS?!? Also for breaking the hold, Wrestling II should be getting $3000 from Superstar, but there’s some controversy because the bell had already rung and Gordon isn’t sure if the $3000 bet actually applies. We’ll get an update on the next hour of the show.

Onto the second hour now.

Steve Travis v. Bob Owens

Travis takes Owens down with a couple of nice armbar takedowns and adds a FULL BODY LIFT AND SLAM for two. Travis with a facelock and Owens rolls over and makes the ropes, and then gets a cheapshot off a headlock to take over. So Travis fights back with forearms and then finishes with a bulldog at 4:15. The execution was iffy but he did go “YEEEEEEEE-HAW!” while doing it, so that overcame the issues he had delivering it.

Tony Atlas and Ray Candy join us, and if you guessed that Atlas has no sleeves, you’d be RIGHT. Candy complains about no competition, and they’ve decided to enter the tag team tournament and become US tag champions when the tournament starts next week.

Ivan Koloff & Alexis Smirnoff v. Marvin Turner & Big Bill Drummo

The Russians are defending the Georgia tag titles against the Minnesota Wrecking Crew at the Omni, so I’m not liking their chances to retain. The Russians trade headlocks on Big Bill. Over to Marvin Turner, who I like to think facilitated the launch of wrestling on TBS when he was at an Under the Sea themed wrestling show in a high school gym and called up his cousin to say “Ted? It’s me, your cousin, Marvin. MARVIN TURNER! Anyway…you gotta see this wrestling stuff!” and then history was made. Probably he was watching an Outrunners match and that’s what got him so incredibly hyped. Russians double-team Turner in their corner while I’m busy coming up with that hilarious callback to Back to the Future for all the youths out there reading these Georgia Championship Wrestling reviews in between watching their Tik-Toks about “Scooby Doo toilet” or whatever the hell that’s supposed to be. The jobbers manage to get some offense on Smirnoff and Marvin Turner even gets a hot tag and runs wild for a bit before Ivan cuts him off. And then Smirnoff suplexes Turner onto Koloff’s knee for the pin at 6:52.

Lars Anderson joins Gordon, and we learn that although the promoter can’t rightly just award Wrestling II the money for breaking the cobra hold, due to the controversy, what they can do is put the money at the top of a pole and have them FIGHT FOR IT at the Omni this Sunday. So it’s a chain match for the Georgia title with $3000 at stake at the top of a pole? YOU ALREADY SOLD ME. You don’t need to keep selling it!

The Masked Superstar v. Bob Sims

Superstar takes him down and works a chinlock, and then beats Sims down in the corner and gives him a couple of shots to the throat. To the floor for a FULL BODY LIFT AND SLAM on the concrete and a trip to the post. Back in the ring, Superstar puts him down with a lariat and finishes with the cobra hold, which I assure you Bob Sims is not going to break free from. And Superstar just punishes him, slamming his head into the mat while putting him out with the sleeper and then not even waking him up afterwards! I’ve heard that’s really dangerous.

Austin Idol joins us while Solie keeps working the “National TV title” nomenclature into the interview about Idol’s belt, as they’re seemingly trying to downplay the “Georgia” name and make it more, well, national. And Idol doesn’t make many promises, but he PROMISES to hurt Kevin Sullivan so badly in the Omni that Kevin’s own parents won’t recognize him. This naturally only makes Kevin even more mad for having his family dragged into things and now he’s gonna beat Idol even more painfully tomorrow night.

Kevin Sullivan v. Charlie Fulton

Kevin controls Charlie with slams and an armbar while Gordon explains why wrestlers always go after the left arm: Because it’s generally the weaker of the two arms and thus more susceptible to injury. Well OK then. Sullivan gets the time cue and quickly slugs him down and finishes with a figure-four to finish at 3:20, thus sending a message to Austin Idol.

I would really really like to see that Omni show on January 27, so if anyone can make that happen for me, that’d be great. Thank you and good day.