The SmarK Rant for Georgia Championship Wrestling – 03.08.80

The SmarK Rant for Georgia Championship Wrestling – 03.08.80

Skipping ahead another couple of weeks now from where we left off last time.

Taped from Atlanta, GA

Your host is Gordon Solie

Austin Idol joins us to start, and Gordon accuses him of being a bounty hunter from Harley Race. That is a LIE, according to Idol, and in fact they’re merely doing real estate deals together in cash. So he’s going to beat Mr. Wrestling II in the Omni tomorrow night, and then he’ll collect that $10,000 in cash from Harley Race. For the property that is being sold, you see.

The Russians and their new manager Rock Hunter join us, as apparently the Andersons were forced to submit in their last meeting due to nefarious tactics.

Lars Anderson & Stan Hansen are up next, as Lars admits that he threw in the towel for Ole last time, but he never would have given up to save himself, and now he’s out for 3-4 months with a broken arm as a result of the Russians injuring the arm. So now Stan Hansen is stepping into Ole’s place and will be teaming with Lars tomorrow night to get some ALL AMERICAN REVENGE on the Russians. And they’re coming for body parts!

Lars Anderson & Stan Hansen v. ??? Garrett & Bob Owens

The ring announcer is cut off here a bit. Lars and Stan double-team Owens and work on his arm, practicing for when they face the Russians, and Stan hits Owens with the lariat and then Lars comes in and cranks on the armbar until he submits at 2:20.

Over to the second hour now.

Dusty Rhodes v. Charlie Fulton

Dusty is carrying the Southern title from Florida around at this point, and he takes Fulton down and works the arm right away, but Fulton slugs away in the corner before taking a Flip Flop and Fly to put Dusty back in control. Dusty goes back to the armbar and then hits him with elbows and drops the bionic elbow to finish at 2:00.

Mr. Wrestling II joins us and he too is not convinced of Austin Idol’s story about “real estate transactions” with Harley Race. Wrestling II claims to have won the NWA World title in the ring and then lost it in the backrooms. Must have been one of those weird match stips.

Terry Funk is SICK of hearing people say Dusty Rhodes was the World champion, because he was the shortest lived of all World champions. And yes, he did break Dusty’s arm, and yes, he does want to put Dusty Rhodes out of wrestling in order to make his dead father proud. He just wants to be King of the Texas Death Matches! So tomorrow night he’s teaming up with his brother and they’re going to do unspeakably evil things to Dusty Rhodes and Wahoo, involving twisting their heads off until their eyeballs turn black and liquify. Gordon has to end the interview in disgust but I bet he was trying hard not to corpse.

Tony Atlas joins Gordon, and shows off his training regimen. You probably don’t remember but a few months ago I reviewed an episode of Mid-South from 1982 where they showed a video of Atlas training and I noted that it was probably recycled from Georgia a couple of years earlier, and BY GOD, this is that same video! THE FORBIDDEN DOOR IS OPENING! I should note, in case it hasn’t been said before, that 1980 Tony Atlas is terrifyingly strong.

Tony Atlas & Kevin Sullivan v. The Avengers

Atlas actually gets knocked down by an Avenger a couple of times, and he seems tough so we’ll call him Bruce Banner, but Tony comes back with a FULL BODY LIFT AND SLAM and it’s over to the other Avenger. This one seems patriotic so we’ll call him Steve Rogers. Kevin Sullivan, who is apparently being called The Boston Battler by all the kids on their TikToks these days, works on the arm of an Avenger, who seems drunk so we’ll call him Tony Stark. Over to the other Avenger, who seems like he’s pretty quick so we’ll call him Pietro Maximoff, but the babyfaces send the first Avenger flying like he’s an arrow so we’ll call him Clint Barton, and Tony finishes the other guy with a bodypress at 3:55.

Afterwards, they join Gordon and Tony rambles some bullshit and Gordon calmly goes “That’s an interesting observation” and then throws it to Sullivan, who actually can string two words together. Kevin Sullivan is campaigning on a platform of having all bald-headed foreigners expelled from the country, starting with Baron Von Raschke and Killer Khan.

Dusty Rhodes & Wahoo McDaniel join us, and they don’t even think the Funks are the #1 family in West Texas, because Wahoo and Dusty are FAMILY and when you look in the record books in Texas, it has their names and not the Funk family. Wahoo promises to beat the Funks so badly that they’re gonna go hide under the ring to keep from getting beaten any further.

Wahoo McDaniel v. Jim Nelson

It’s a rather understated debut for young Jim Nelson on this show, something only his third match in the sport, even before the days of being Sgt. Slaughter’s Private. Wahoo quickly beats on him with a chop and takes him down with an armbar before bringing him to the mat with a series of takedowns. He switches to working the leg and beats on that for a while until Nelson bails to the floor to escape. So Wahoo suplexes him back in the ring and pins him at 3:20.

Baron Von Raschke joins us and all the babyfaces are SHAKING THE BOOTS thinking about having to face him and his BRAIN CLAW. It does sound pretty scary, I’m not gonna lie.

Baron Von Raschke v. Marvin Turner

Baron hammers away on him in the corner and takes him down for a chinlock before slapping the BRAIN CLAW on him and putting his lights out at 1:30.

Austin Idol joins us and Gordon is still giving him shit about the real estate transactions. Austin clarifies that he’s the prettiest and most intelligent of all time and people are just jealous of his looks and greatness. This is supposed to be the land of the free, but how can the people get behind a man like Mr. Wrestling II who has to hide his face. He’s probably an escaped convict! Even Gordon can’t help but crack a smile at that one.

Billy The Kid & Joe Powell v. Chief Jay Strongbow & Chief Lone Eagle

Yes, it’s a mixed match with half fun sized wrestlers and half full sized wrestlers. Strongbow and Powell do some criss-cross silliness and then it’s over to Billy the Kid and Lone Eagle, as the Kid hides behind the ref and it’s back to Strongbow and Powell again. Back to the midgets and Billy keeps running away, but takes Lone Eagle down and puts the boots to him. Over to the big guys again and they do a test of strength, but Lone Eagle comes in and dropkicks Powell. So Billy comes in and runs away again, but gets a cheapshot and beats Lone Eagle down on the ropes. Powell comes in and runs Strongbow into the corner, but Jay goes to a facelock. Powell brings Strongbow into the heel corner, but the heels end up colliding in the middle and Lone Eagle catapults Billy into his partner and pins him at 9:15. This was very long for what they were doing.

And we finish with another look at the Tony Atlas training video.

For those wondering, here’s how the Omni card shook down the next night:

Jay Strongbow defeats Charlie Fulton

Lone Eagle defeats Billy The Kid

Ernie Ladd defeats Ray Candy

Tony Atlas defeats Killer Khan

Kevin Sullivan defeats Baron von Raschke by DQ

NWA Georgia Tag Team Title Match: Alexis Smirnoff & Ivan Koloff (c) defeat Lars Anderson & Stan Hansen

NWA Georgia Heavyweight Title Match: Mr. Wrestling II (c) defeats Austin Idol by DQ

Dusty Rhodes & Wahoo McDaniel defeat The Funk Brothers (Dory Funk Jr. & Terry Funk)