The SmarK Rant for GCW at the Omni – 08.14.83

The SmarK Rant for GCW at The Omni – 08.14.83

OH YEAH. Keep it coming, Vault!

Originally written 07.11.25

Taped from Atlanta, GA

Chief Joe Lightfoot v. Arn Anderson

Interesting that I’m currently in January 83 in Mid-South as of this writing, where young Marty Lunde is an enhancement guy at best on TV, and now a mere 7 months later in Georgia he’s an Anderson! They trade headlock takedowns and Arn controls on the mat, but Lightfoot takes him down with an armbar. I’m not familiar with Lightfoot at all, was he like the Georgia attempt to duplicate Jay Youngblood? Because he sures seems to be trying for that. Joe beats on AA with chops and tries a full nelson, but Arn pushes off in the corner and lifts his shoulder for the pin at 5:30. Getting the sneaky W even early in his career! An OK opener. **

Mr. Wrestling v. Rick Rude

This would presumably be Tim Woods, the original Mr. Wrestling, although he looks like someone younger and more svelte than he was in 1983, and a VERY young and green Ricky Rude. He’s barely got his training abs yet! Wrestling takes him down and works the arm on the mat, and then controls with a top wristlock. Rude reverses to his own armbar as this seems to building to a 10 minute draw. Rude with shoulderblocks and he catches Wrestling’s leg on a kick attempt, but he doesn’t have any followup and just keeps working the arm instead. Rude with a sunset flip for two, but Wrestling beats him down again with forearms and a hammerlock slam for two. Rude reverses a suplex with time running out, but it only gets two. Small package gets two. Rollup gets two. And they fight for a takedown as time expires at 10:00. Rude was surprisingly effective as a plucky young babyface here. And the referee actually awards the decision to Rude, prompting Mr. Wrestling to throw a fit and attack him from behind, laying him out and then tossing him to the floor in a huff. Pretty decent little match. **1/4

The Iron Sheik v. Brett Wayne (Sawyer)

The ring announcer makes it sound like “Brad Kelly” but it’s pretty clearly Brett Wayne. I dunno, probably just audio issues. Wayne with dropkicks to send the Sheik running and he talks it over with Precious Paul Ellering, who seems like a weird managerial fit here. Back in the ring, Wayne takes him down with a headlock and works on that, but Sheik whips him into a criss-cross and Brett gets a sunset flip for two. Sheik hits him with a cheapshot and backdrops him to take over, and a gut wrench gets two. Backbreaker gets two. Sheik runs him into the POINTY TOE OF DEATH in the corner while Ellering takes the ref, but Wayne fights back until Sheik bites him in the face to cut him off again. Wayne is bleeding by now, and Sheik pounds him down for two, and then hoists him up for a pretty sweet belly to belly throw for two. Wayne fights back again, and Sheiky Baby misses a splash, allowing Brett to make the comeback. Sheik tries another suplex, and Wayne reverses into a cradle for the pin at 9:00, prompting a beatdown from the heel side until Tommy Rich and big brother Buzz Sawyer both make the save, albeit for different reasons. **1/2. This really made me want to see Iron Sheik and Kurt Angle throwing each other around in the Bald Suplex Battle.

National TV title: Ronnie Garvin v. Larry Zbyszko

Only the first 10 minutes are for the TV title, as was the style at the time. Larry hits him with a cheapshot in the corner, so Garvin beats the stuffing out of him and tosses him to the floor. Back in, Larry hits him with a knee and slams him for two, and a spinning neckbreaker gets two. Larry with the facelock, but Ronnie takes him to the corner and chops the crap out of him before dropping a knee for two. Garvin rakes the back in the corner and whips him into the buckle, notably not charging in and just calmly following, but Larry goes to the eyes to take control again. Larry drops knees on him and they slug it out in the corner and that of course goes wrong for Larry, as Garvin ties him up with a crucifix for two and then twists him all up like a pretzel. Garvin’s Georgia-era shaggy haircut always amuses me. Looks like he’s trying to be Ray Stevens. Larry fights out of the hold and backdrops Garvin to set up a suplex before going to his own hold on the mat. Gut wrench gets two. Garvin fires back again, but misses a kneedrop. Zbyszko tries a piledriver, but Garvin reverses to a jackknife cradle and pins him at 9:48 to retain. Nice finish, good match. ***. Ronnie Garvin was really something to behold before that NWA World title reign in 87 ironically destroyed his career. I now believe strongly they should have run with him as champion much earlier, even for a little bit, when it would have meant something.

National tag team title: The Road Warriors v. Mr. Wrestling & Mr. Wrestling II

Not sure why Woods is working double duty tonight. Animal storms in and powerslams 2 and elbows him down for two before going for the mask, but that turns into a brawl and they all slug it out. OK, I’m really confused now, because THIS is clearly lumpy old Tim Woods as Wrestling #1, whereas the guy who was playing the role in the Rude match was cearly younger and more toned and had an elbowpad. Was this like the fake Wrestling II deal where there was another guy playing the role in kayfabe? Wrestling II slams Hawk for two and Wrestling 1 comes in with a sleeper, but Animal breaks it up and allows Hawk to take over. LOD with a double elbow for two on #1. Hawk with a back elbow and he slams #1 to cut off a tag, but Hawk misses an elbow and it’s hot tag #2. They all brawl and Hawk tosses #1 while #2 sets up Animal for the kneelift, but someone who I believe was Larry Zbyszko runs in and hits #2 from behind, allowing Animal to powerslam him for the pin at 7:12. To say that the Road Warriors were limited at this point would be an understatement but the match had big heat. *. More notably, this was the second-to-last match of Tim Woods’ career, as he did a match with Joe Lightfoot at the next Omni show and then retired.

US title: Greg Valentine v. Pistol Pez Whatley

Pez hits him with a headbutt and backdrop right away, sending Hammer running to the floor. Back in, Pez slugs away in the corner and whips him into the corner, but Valentine catches him with his head down and hits a Gotch piledriver for two. Valentine works on the arm and works the arm and works the arm and then necks Pez on the top rope and wraps the arm around the post. Pez fights back and Valentine dumps him to cut off the comeback. Back in the ring, Valentine tries a piledrive and Pez fights out of that a gets a bodypress for two, and then escapes the figure-four and comes back with a clothesline for two. Valentine retreats to the apron and grabs the title belt, beating on Pez with that and then taking out the ref as well to finally draw the DQ at 15:55. This one was a lot of arm work and Pez had some good comebacks but it wasn’t like a classic match or anything. **1/2

Bullrope on a pole: Wild Bill Irwin v. Tommy Rich

Tommy lunges for the whip right away and Bill pulls him down, so Tommy slams him and climbs again. Irwin slugs him down and drops an elbow on him, but he climbs for the whip and Tommy yanks him down and goes for it himself. Irwin brings him down for a gut wrench and drops a knee on him before climbing again, but Rich makes it past him and nearly unhooks the whip before Bill punches him down again and puts him down with a kneelift. Back to the top and Rich wins that battle, elbowing Irwin to the mat and trying for the whip again. So Irwin goes HARD with the nutshot in desperation and they’re both down. Irwin goes up and misses a flying elbow and they slug it out. Rich wins a battle for a suplex, so Irwin grabs a chair and nails Rich to keep him from getting the whip, as the ring announcer reminds us that it’s NO DQ. Irwin misses a blind charge and takes a dramatic bump to the floor. Rich goes for the whip and Irwin manages to haul him down again and goes to work on the leg to presumably affect his climbing ability. Irwin climbs again and Rich limps over to stop him, so Irwin hits him in the knee again to further hobble him. Rich comes back and slugs Irwin down, but Bill catches him with a stungun to counter the Thesz Press, and that’s enough for Irwin to finally retrieve the whip and start beating the red off of Tommy’s neck. Bill charges and hits boot in the corner and Tommy tries to steal the whip like a sore loser, smashing the handle into Bill’s head before whipping him with his own whip! Irwin thankfully gets his property back, but Tommy steals it again and delivers another whipping, and Irwin wisely runs away from this maniac and gets counted out at 13:23. The finish felt like they didn’t really know how to end the match, but it was BY FAR the best match of the show so far, with the silly stip feeling like it had real weight behind it, and some great heat for all the teases of getting the whip. ****

Dog collar Chain match: Buzz Sawyer v. Rowdy Roddy Piper

THERE WILL BE BLOOD. They do a tug of war with their necks to start and Piper gives him with a shot with the chain to win that one. Back to the battle of wills, and this time Sawyer uses the chain to win, but when they go low, Piper goes lower, and he chokes Buzz out with the chain until Buzz beats on him in the corner to escape. They head to the floor and Sawyer beats on him with the chain to take over, but Piper comes out of the corner and blasts him with the chain to put him down again. Buzz chokes him down as Piper is bleeding all over the place now, and that gets two. They slug it out and fight to the floor again, but this time Piper yanks him into the post to bust him open and then goes nuts with the chain in the ring. Buzz goes low to stop that comeback and hangs Piper on the ropes and they fight to the floor again, with Piper retreating into the crowd to escape and then making a comeback out there. Buzz takes a bump over the railing and back into the ring, as Piper slugs away with the chain and Buzz sells big, and Piper slugs him down one last time and wraps up the feet with the chain before pinning him at 10:00. Another absolute banger to end the show. ***3/4. Paul Ellering attacks in the name of sportsmanship, but Piper fights them off to wrap it up.

Georgia was definitely on the downswing in 1983, but I loved the two main events here, and Ronnie Garvin delivered as usual, and babyface Rick Rude is wild, and the Road Warriors are here, so it’s recommendations all around!