The SmarK Rant for GCW at the Omni – 02.26.84

The SmarK Rant for WWE Vault – Omni Show 02.26.84

Like I didn’t have enough projects on my plate already without the Vault dropping THIS one out of nowhere on me.

Taped from Atlanta, GA. No commentary for this one but some pristine video quality for it. Unfortunately the territory was on its last legs at this point, leaving it open for the Black Saturday takeover by Vince McMahon that killed it off for good. Still, I’m never gonna say no to Georgia.

Jesse Barr v. Pistol Pez Whatley

They trade takedowns to start and Pez gets a small package for two and takes him down with a hiptoss. Barr goes to a chinlock and that goes on for a while, but he charges and misses a kneelift. Pez makes the comeback with a running headbutt for the pin at 6:45. Well that was not very much of an opener. ½*

The Spoiler v. Johnny Rich

Spoiler of course “adjusts” his mask behind the ref’s back during instructions, but Rich comes at him with a dropkick and hiptoss out of the corner. Slam gets two and Johnny slugs away in the corner and goes for the mask, but Spoiler runs him into the corner and ropewalks into a forearm smash for two. Well that’s definitely Don Jardine then. Rich gets booted to the floor and Spoiler lets him back in and then hits him with ANOTHER ropewalk clobbering forearm, sending Rich to the floor to regroup. Back in the ring, Rich makes a comeback with a backdrop and drops a knee on him, but Spoiler ropewalks away to escape and Rich slams him off the top rope in a cool visual. But then Rich tries a monkey flip and Spoiler thumbs him in the eyes to block it and puts him in a clawhold of some kind, and Rich bumps to the floor again. Rich with a sunset flip into the ring, but Spoiler blocks that with another clawhold and squeezes the life out of him at 7:00. Impressive squash win for the Spoiler, who was doing all kinds of cool shit before the Undertaker. *1/2. And Rich’s face is all busted open from the claw, another nice touch.

Ted Dibiase v. Mr. R

Another masked babyface who lost a loser-leaves-town match and returns to torment Ted Dibiase. Seems to happen a lot to Ted. The beer gut and shock of blond hair under the mask should probably give away the identity of Mr. R, but in case you need a stronger hint it’s Tommy Rich. Dibiase works a headlock and Mr. R reverses to his own and takes Dibiase down with hiptosses and goes back to the headlock. And he really works on that thing until finally Dibiase reverses him to a wristlock takedown and goes to work on the arm. But with R down, Spoiler and Jesse Barr both run in and try for the unmasking to claim the bounty offered on the mask, which is a DQ at 6:30 as Mr. R escapes with his mask intact. Not much to the match but Mr. R escaping the three heels got a big babyface reaction. *

NWA World Junior title: Les Thornton v. Tommy Rogers

Rogers looks like a younger Paul Orndorff here, although without quite the same amount of bulk. They trade headlocks on the mat and Les controls with a headscissors and some judicious cheating. Tommy with a sunset flip and that gets two, and he immediately snags Les in a headscissors to take him down and Les reverses to his own. Man these time calls are all over the place tonight, with the first match having a dead-on 5:00 call but this one takes until 5:50 to call it 5:00. Is there some weird time dilation thing in Georgia? Besides everyone still thinking it’s 1920? Rogers makes a comeback and takes Thornton down with a headlock, but Les reverses into another headscissors to cut off the comeback and beats him down in the corner. Rogers with another sunset flip for two and Thornton gets a butterfly suplex for two. Rogers comes back off a missed charge and drops a knee on him for two and then dropkicks him to the floor, but he tries a suplex back into the ring and Les falls on top. Rogers keeps fighting, but misses a charge and Thornton boots him down. Rogers with a suplex and he goes up with a sunset flip for two, and a rollup for two, but Les grabs the trunks and reverses to a cradle for the pin at 14:00. Super hot finish as the crowd was crazy for Rogers’ babyface comeback there. ***1/2. Thornton was an unlikely WWF raid target but that’s wrestling for ya.

Wahoo McDaniel v. Nikolai Volkoff

Volkoff was another unlikely raid target, aging quickly even at this point, but he ended up in the north soon enough too. They slug it out to start and Wahoo wins that battle, so Volkoff puts the boots to him in the corner until Wahoo fights back with chops. Volkoff with a backbreaker for two. He goes to the bearhug, but Wahoo fights out of that, so Volkoff puts him down with a back elbow for two. They fight to the floor and Nikolai is swinging chairs, but Wahoo escapes and they head back into the ring where Wahoo makes the comeback. But then the ref gets in his way and Wahoo throws him away so he can continue beating on the Russian, and that’s a DQ at 5:00. *

World TV title: Jake Roberts v. Ronnie Garvin

Jake is managed by Paul Ellering as a part of the original Legion of Doom concept. Jake takes him down with a headlock and goes to work on the arm for a while, and then puts Garvin down with a sweet kneelift for two. Back to the arm as Ellering helpfully yells him to crank on the arm even harder, and the feed switches to a different source all of a sudden, with more desaturated color and more even brightness that reminds me of WWE 24/7. Not sure what that’s all aboot. Garvin fights back and slugs Jake down in the corner, sending him to the floor. Back in, Jake fights him off and then runs away again for advice from Ellering, who tells him “Lay off the crack if you want a longer career.” Sadly Jake was too high on crack to heed that advice. Back in the ring, Jake offers a free shot and then sucker-punches Garvin before dropping elbows on him and choking him out with some of his rib tape. Just crazy heat for Jake here, and Garvin powers out of the choke, but Jake punches him in the ribs to cut him off. He beats on Garvin with chops and Ron is FIRED UP, as he beats on Jake’s taped ribs and makes a comeback while the crowd goes crazy. Jake gets tied in the ropes and Garvin continues beating on the ribs, but the ref is bumped and Ellering brings in a chair. So naturally Jake DDTs Garvin on THAT, and pins him to retain the title at 13:22. Great match, Roberts was just tremendous and Garvin’s babyface comeback was the BEST. ***1/2

The Road Warriors v. Stan Hansen & King Kong Bundy

I believe this would be classified as a HOSS FIGHT. Hawk and Hansen electrify the crowd with a damn LOCKUP and Hawk is so overwhelmed that he retreats and lets Animal have a go. So Bundy comes in and sends Animal to the floor as this is more than I’ve ever seen the Roadies sell in this point in their careers. Over to Hawk again who wants a test of strength with Bundy, and he loses that. So Bundy goes to the corner and dares Hawk to move him, and Hawk can’t do that either. King Kong Bundy as a BABYFACE is quite the deal and I don’t hate it. Over to Animal and Bundy slams him and brings Stan back in, and he hits everyone with elbows and gets two on Hawk. I miss fans who go “HOO!” with every shot from the babyfaces. We should normalize that happening again. Bundy and Hansen switch off on an armbar in the corner, keeping Hawk there and working on the arm. Hawk fights up, so Hansen beats on him with elbows on the ropes as they are SLOBBERKNOCKING out there. Animal finally cuts Hansen off and they go to work on him and double-team the arm, just a couple of heels doing heel stuff instead of the drastic shift in dynamic that the team would take soon after. Hansen fights out and they switch off behind the ref’s back and stay on the arm, as Hansen gets the heat until finally fighting them off and giving KING KONG BUNDY a goddamned hot tag. This is incredible. Bundy runs wild and splashes Animal for two before Hawk desperately saves, but Ellering trips up Bundy and it’s BREAKING LOOSE IN TULSA and they just throw hands until it’s so awesome the ref can’t continue and has to call for the bell at 15:22 to keep the audience’s heads from exploding due to how awesome it is. THIS WAS FUCKING AWESOME. In case you didn’t get that. ****. They nearly had the crowd rioting because of a LOCKUP. I can’t go any lower on the rating, that’s the rules. I don’t make them.

NWA World title: Ric Flair v. Brad Armstrong

Man there’s not many times when you feel bad that RIC FLAIR has to follow a match but geez. Armstrong had won the title as the payoff to the Mr. R storyline shortly before, playing the role of “R” and beating Ted Dibiase for the belt after Tommy Rich appeared at ringside despite supposedly being the guy under the mask. I’m not sure why Rich was still playing Mr. R on the road at this point, unless it was weirdness with TV airdates and such. Brad works a headlock and takes Flair to the mat with that and they work off that for quite a bit before Flair makes the ropes and then gives Brad a clean break. Test of strength follows and Brad goes to work on the arm, but Flair escapes and offers a sportsmanlike handshake. Well it was still fairly soon after Starrcade 83 so he was mostly a nice guy. Brad puts him down with dropkicks and Flair retreats to the floor. Back in, Brad controls with the headlock, but Flair takes him to the corner for some cheapshots to turn the tide and then beats him down with chops. Flair with the butterfly suplex for two. He goes for a suplex and Brad blocks that, and then comes back with forearms to fight out of the corner and unloads on Ric. We get a Flair Flop off that and Brad follows with the sleeper, as Ric is unable to make it to the ropes but then falls down and gets his leg on it instead. Oh sneaky. Brad with a suplex for two. Flair tries a hiptoss and Brad counters into an abdominal stretch before making a comeback and beating on Ric in the corner. We get the Flair Flip off that and Brad smoothly hooks him with a backslide for two. Rollup gets two. The ref accidentally counted three there, but Scrappy had done every match tonight so I can cut him a break. Plus his parents named him “Scrappy”. Flair quickly goes to the top and Brad slams him off and drops a knee on him for two. They slug it out and Brad beats on Ric in the corner, but Ric fights back with chops, so Brad gives him some of his own. Brad tries a crossbody and loses his footing, so Ric covers with a slam attempt and Brad falls on top for two. Another crossbody gets two, but Ric rolls through this time and uses the ropes for the pin at 20:30 to retain. That slip in the corner was literally the only time I’ve ever seen Brad Armstrong miss a spot, EVER. He was just an impossibly smooth worker. And this was no exception, probably one of the easiest nights of Flair’s whole year in there where he didn’t need to carry a thing. ****

THIS WAS GREAT. Plus Mr. Vault sir, more of this! And I know it’s out there. Watch it, love it, share it, and continue to let WWE know that this is the content we want.