The SmarK Rant for Georgia Championship Wrestling – 02.23.80

The SmarK Rant for Georgia Championship Wrestling – 02.23.80

I need to wash out my brain after that last episode of Nitro 2000.

Taped from Atlanta, GA

Your host is Gordon Solie

Tommy Rich joins Gordon as a GREAT HUE AND CRY erupts from the crowd, according to Gordon. Tommy is getting butterflies just thinking about getting a shot at World champion Harley Race TOMORROW NIGHT in the Omni, but tonight he’s got Austin Idol for the TV title. And he GUARANTEES victory over Idol, which is always dangerous for a babyface to do.

Austin Idol joins us to respond, and he wants to make it clear that he’s the kingpin and some people, namely Tommy Rich, need to be whipped like dogs because their fathers never took the time to properly discipline them as a child.

Georgia TV title: Austin Idol v. Tommy Rich

They criss-cross into some armdrags from Rich, and Idol leaves for the floor and protests all the cheating and nefarious hair-pulling that Tommy Rich is apparently doing. Back in the ring, Harley Race joins us at ringside to observe his challenger while Rich gets a FULL BODY LIFT AND SLAM on Idol and goes to the headlock on the mat. Idol puts him down with a high knee to take over and backdrops Rich for two. Idol goes up and drops an elbow for two, and drops a knee for two. Rich makes the comeback and slugs away, and follows with a monkey flip out of the corner and puts Idol in the sleeper, but the ref is bumped by Idol as he escapes. Idol goes after the leg to set up the figure-four, but Rich runs Idol into Harley and gets the visual pinfall. But then Race comes in with a diving head butt and misses, hitting Idol by mistake, and Rich gets the pin and the title at 4:49! Two things here: First up, Rich said he guaranteed a win, so he had to win because you can’t burn that card. Also the double swerve finish with Race costing Idol the title was a neat twist for a 1980 show. Afterwards, Idol clips the knee of Rich and puts him in the figure-four, acting as a bounty hunter for Harley Race as the babyfaces all storm the ring and try to break it up. Race fights them all by himself before they finally overwhelm the heel forces and chase them off to the back, but Tommy is seriously injured and may never walk again. I mean, I don’t know that, but I just assume.

After the break, Gordon declares that there will be NO MORE WRESTLING until he speaks with Harley Race about this travesty, and so Race joins us and explains that he doesn’t care who or what he does or hurts in order to maintain his World title. So he dangled $5000 as a piece of bait and Austin Idol came and took it and eliminated the challenger for him. That just makes him the fisherman, not the bad guy. The disgust in Gordon’s voice is awesome while still being respectful and professional.

In case I haven’t mentioned lately, WRESTLING IS TERRIFIC.

Mr. Wrestling II v. Genichiro Tenryu

Well this is a wacky matchup for a random episode of Georgia. Tenryu would have been in his 20s at this point if my math is correct. He works a headlock on Wrestling II and beats on him with chops, but II takes him down with a headscissors on the mat. Meanwhile the crowd starts singing “Oops Upside the Head”, which was a big hit for the Gap Band at the time but got an unlikely second life when it was covered by Snap in the 90s as “Oops Up”. I just thought that was funny as a music geek. They trade some slick mat reversals and Tenryu gets a pair of cradles and a backslide for two, but Wrestling II has had enough and hits him with a kneelift to finish at 4:30. Oh this Tenryu kid clearly has a future!

Freddy Miller joins Gordon and since Tommy Rich is seriously injured, the logical replacement for the Omni is Georgia Heavyweight champion Mr. Wrestling II. Wrestling II is of course honored to accept the spot in place of his friend Tommy Rich, and he’s gonna get even and dedicates the match to Rich.

Terry and Dory Funk join Gordon Solie and they brought a tape with them, which Gordon immediately disavows but shows it anyway. So we go to a dump in Amarillo, which reminds Terry of Atlanta for some reason, and he wants to shoot a few rats there. For example, Dusty Rhodes, who is an EGG SUCKING DOG in case he hasn’t mentioned it lately. Also the Brisco brothers make him sick because they’re from OKLAHOMA and thus they’re silly and stupid. Back at the studio, Terry demands to know where Dusty Rhodes is and he assumes that he’s successfully run Dusty out of the state of Georgia. Also, Terry has a surprise: They bought the contracts of the two foreigners facing the Briscos tonight, so we’ll get Jack & Gerry v. the Funks instead.

Terry & Dory Funk v. Jack & Gerry Brisco

But before we can get started or even see the Briscos’ entrance, Dusty Rhodes and Wahoo McDaniel hit the ring and it turns into a wild brawl, as rumors of his departure were greatly exaggerated by the Funks. Now I never found out who won their Texas Death Match at the Omni earlier in the month, but I have to guess it was Terry Funk because he’s the King of the Texas Death Matches and had a big supporting whiteboard listing the rules and such, but I could be wrong.

Dusty Rhodes and Wahoo join Gordon and Wahoo drove all the way from Arlington TX overnight to back up Dusty because they’re BROTHERS, and now they’ve bought out the Brisco Brothers’ contract for the Omni and they’ll be facing the Funks and they shall be the ones putting the Funks in the dump!

Austin Idol joins us and although $5000 ain’t nothing to him because he blows more than that in one hand at the blackjack tables, he wanted to injure Tommy Rich as a personal favor to Harley Race. And since he’s not TV champion anymore, he’ll be acting as a lumberjack for Kevin Sullivan’s match at the Omni and whipping him with a belt until Kevin begs for mercy and says “I’ll be your slave, Austin Idol!”. Well that’s a very specific threat.

Ole & Lars Anderson join Gordon and Ole is sick of foreigners pushing America around, and makes reference to the Miracle on Ice, which had just happened that weekend back in 1980. So they’re gonna take their inspiration from the US hockey team and beat the Russians at the Omni in a Texas Tornado match tomorrow night.

Harley Race joins us and Gordon still holds respect for the NWA World title, but he’s hugely disappointed in the conduct of the man himself. Oh man that’s a sick burn from Solie. Race repeats his explanation from earlier, noting that Tommy needed to be taught a lesson and finally justice was served. And then we get a replay of the title change from earlier in the show, and then Harley promises to eliminate Wrestling II from the sport FOREVER at the Omni.

Mr. Wrestling II joins us, and he’s sick to see some funky no-good geek like Race taking out his friend Tommy Rich and he’s coming after Harley Race.

Dusty Rhodes and Wahoo McDaniel join us again and accuse the Funks of being yellow dogs and if Dory Funk Sr was alive he would whup his sons. And then we look at the earlier brawl with Team Dusty and the Funks as this second hour has seemingly been one big recap of the first hour.

And Kevin Sullivan finishes things off with more threats against Austin Idol in advance of their lumberjack match at the Omni.

And here’s the results of that Omni show if you’re interested. Lots of DQs, of course.

https://www.cagematch.net/?id=1&nr=166647

Anyway, a couple of S-tier angles and the TV debut of TENRYU make this another stellar trip to Georgia.