Georgia Championship Wrestling (5.22.1982) Review

-Originally aired May 22, 1982.

-Your hosts are Gordon Solie and Roddy Piper. Piper says he has something important for Tommy Rich and Dusty Rhodes to see in the next two hours, and that’s all he has to say about it. And with that, he puts his microphone down and walks off, leaving Gordon to fly solo.

BRAD ARMSTRONG vs. PETE MARTIN
-Armstrong gets a side headlock takedown. Martin turns it into a bearhug and then a hammerlock, with Armstrong turning THAT into a drop toehold and his own hammerlock. Armstrong stays with the arm and there’s just not much to report because they’re keeping this one scientific, which Gordon suspects is a ploy by Martin to lull his opponent into a sense of false security.

-They collide on a double shoulderblock and the studio audience goes NUTS for that, because that’s how simple it used to be. Brad shakes off the cobwebs and goes back to the hammerlock and he’s getting a chant for that. Bodypress by Brad gets the three-count. Good basic mat wrestling.

-Gordon welcomes Atlanta’s mayor, Andrew Young, and GCW vice president Gerald Brisco! I’m a little surprised that they’d acknowledge Gerry has a role like that. Mayor Young thanks GCW for bringing national and worldwide prominence to the city of Atlanta with their weekly TV show, and presents the company with a special trophy acknowledging their importance to the community.

-Onto more concerning business, Brisco acknowledges that the show receives a large amount of mail concerning outrageous comments made by Roddy Piper and not-so-subtly dares Piper to sign some contracts and prove that he can back up all these ridiculous remarks.

MICHAEL HAYES vs. MIKE THAYER
-FULL bodyslam and an armdrag takedown by Hayes, and a bulldog gives Hayes the quick win.

-Tommy Rich is out here to review highlights from the Omni last week. Dusty Rhodes & Tommy Rich got a big win over Ole Anderson & Roddy Piper, but there’s a post-match melee and Tommy gets his hand injured.

-And now Piper is out here in gray slacks and short-sleeved button-down shirt, looking like a coked-up substitute teacher. He says that he WOULD wrestle Tommy Rich one-on-one, but since Rich has an injured hand, there would be no challenge or reason to do it, so Rich comes out swinging. It’s a back-and-forth brawl, but Rich wins it…just decisively outpunches Piper and leaves him scurrying for his life.

-The newly re-bearded National Heavyweight Champion, Buzz Sawyer is here to take on all comers.

BUZZ SAWYER (National Champion) vs. TONY ZANE
-The Human Bruise has arrived! Tony Zane, one of my favorite enhancement guys ever. If you’re not familiar with him, his real-life gimmick was that he bruised more easily than anybody who ever got into the wrestling business, so he has a fresh purple splotch somewhere on him every time that you see him. This is a rare, unbruised early appearance by Zane.

-Sawyer ties Zane up on the mat, and a belly-to-belly suplex.

-Bob Armstrong & Leroy Brown want a shot at the Tag Team Championship!

-Ric Flair is here fresh off eavesdropping on two stewardesses who were talking about him during his flight. Also, it’s embarassing to see some fat guy in overalls and a construction worker’s helmet walking around saying he should get a world title shot. Joke’s on Flair, construction workers have a union, Leroy would have had more money than Flair by now. Speaking of whom…

BAD BAD LEROY BROWN vs. KEN TIMBS
-A slug and a slam by Brown. He works the arm over while Flair recaps an angle from last week, where Brown made him look bad in an arm wrestling match because “I was tired and I had jetlag!” A slam and an elbow by Brown finish this one.

-Ric Flair won’t even let him walk away, demanding he come to the commentary table. Flair shows off his custom-made suit and his gold watch, and those bib overalls don’t even COMPARE. Brown flips Gordon’s lectern onto its side and demands an arm wrestling match right now, and gets a second win over the champ.

NON-TITLE: BIG JOHN STUDD & SUPER DESTROYER (Tag Team Champions) vs. BOB ARMSTRONG & KEVIN SULLIVAN
-Studd clamps on a side headlock. Armstrong starts to power out but Destroyer attacks. Sullivan tags in and gets double-teamed. Destroyer applies a standing front facelock on Sullivan, but Armstrong comes off the top with a sunset flip for a sudden three-count! Not much of a match, but it created a fresh set of challengers for the house shows, I guess.

-Ole Anderson and Roddy Piper dare anybody to try them in Huntington, West Virginia. This leads to a promo for the next run of house shows, and it’s interesting because they’re all for my neck of the woods, hovering around Ohio and West Virginia. The cracks were already starting to form, Vince or no Vince.

MASKED SUPERSTAR vs. DAVID JONES
-A bit of ridiculousness at the outset here, as Gordon is giving us his fun facts about Superstar’s credentials, and he mentions “This man has a master’s degree.” So…does it say “Masked Superstar” on his degree, or is it much, much easier to figure out his identity than maybe we’ve been led to believe? Superstar puts Jones away with a clothesline, which he had to provide two sources for.

-Piper has Sawyer and Superstar join him at the commentary table at the end of the hour, promising “gang warfare” coming in the next hour.

TOM PRICHARD vs. PETE MARTIN
-Prichard’s credentials include “a black belt in karate,” which by the way there’s no standardized qualifications for and can just as easily mean he attended enough classes and kept up with the payments to get one, and the entire concept of colored belts in the martial arts is kind of a crock to begin with. Just saying.

-Prichard takes down Martin and works the arm. Martin gets back to his feet and Prichard does a sweet takedown to work Martin over some more. Martin applies headscissors and they trade arm work. Martin slams Prichard but misses an elbow, and Prichard lets the anger flow through him, stomping and punching Martin in karate-like fashion before getting the pin with a legdrop.

-We get the mayor’s visit in its entirety, and it’s weird because Gordon doesn’t say “we saw this earlier, here it is,” it’s a smash cut from the match to Gordon chatting with the mayor and we’re just pretending that we’re doing all of this again for some reason.

-Big John Studd & Super Destroyer are frustrated because they haven’t had any REAL opponents since they won the belts! And there’s no mention of the previous hour at all, it’s weird.

SUPER DESTROYER & BIG JOHN STUDD (Tag Team Champions) vs. DAVID JONES & EL MONGOL
-Mongol pops Super D with a right hand to a big pop, and Super D tags out in frustration. Studd takes over and takes control. Jones gets double-teamed. Bearhug into a slam by Super D gets the pin.

-Bob Armstrong & Kevin Sullivan are here to politely mention that they got a win over the champs in the last hour. And then Kevin does a whole bit with an ugly doll that “looks like Buzz Sawyer.” It’s weird, they got a huge win in the last hour and it’s just a complete afterthought for everyone.

BUZZ SAWYER vs. ALLEN TUPPERELLO
-Sawyer throws Tupperello to the floor. Back in, Tupperello throws punches, so Sawyer just tosses him out again. Back in, Tupperello throws more punches, so Sawyer suplexes him, and that looks to be the end of it, but Sawyer lifts Tupperello’s shoulder to force the referee to stop the count, just to punish him some more. Tommy Rich comes to ringside because he’s disgusted by these tactics. Sawyer gives him a boot from inside the ring, and Rich doesn’t take too kindly to that, so the brawl is underway.

-Roddy Piper and a big masked man hit the ring, ganging up on Rich and undoing all the tape on his injured hand. They use the tape to tie Rich to the post and beat him down until the forces of good hurry to the ring and chase off the ne’er-do-wells.

-Back from the commercial, Tommy is still struggling to get back to his feet.

CHIC DONOVAN vs. TONY ZANE
-Gordon has already forgotten Zane’s name and we get the classic Solie bluff of calling it strictly as a Chic Donovan exhibition and calling the opponent “his man.”

-Arm wringers are exchanged as somebody finally manages to pass “Tony Zane” on a slip of paper to Gordon. Zane applies a wristlock. Donovan rams him into the turnbuckle and slams him. Thesz press by Donovan gets…a really…awkward….that was weird. I think everybody EXCEPT Zane thought that was the finish, including Donovan, Solie, and the referee. Neckbreaker by Donovan finally ends it for real.

-Gordon Solie asks Gerald Brisco for a medical update. Rich can’t move his hand at all, so he’s being taken to the hospital. Gerald acknowledges that he has personal issues with Piper, and we get footage from Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling of Piper injuring Gerald’s leg with a surprise attack. Gerald warns Piper that his time is coming and SOMEBODY is going to get to him.

RAY STEVENS vs. MIKE JACKSON
-Right hands by Stevens. Jackson comes to life with slams and a side headlock. Stevens gives him a knee but Jackson comes back with a bodypress for two. Side headlock by Jackson, followed by a hammerlock. Stevens gets him into the corner and throws rights, and the atomic drop gives Stevens the win.

-We get comments from Buzz Sawyer.

-We get more comments from Big John Studd & Super D, and there’s a “somebody mistimed the show” vibe happening at this point.

-We go to Mid-South Wrestling to watch the Wild Samoans in action.

-We finish up with comments from Leroy Brown.

5.5 The final score: review Not So Good The 411 Weird episode with the second hour seeming to exist in a parallel universe to the first hour.legend$(document).ready(function(){ $('.legend').on("click", function(e){ e.preventDefault(); $('.legend-container').slideToggle(); }); }) 0 - 0.9 Torture 1 - 1.9 Extremely Horrendous 2 - 2.9 Very Bad 3 - 3.9 Bad 4 - 4.9 Poor 5 - 5.9 Not So Good 6 - 6.9 Average 7 - 7.9 Good 8 - 8.9 Very Good 9 - 9.9 Amazing 10 Virtually Perfect

Georgia Championship Wrestling (5.22.1982) Review

Georgia Championship Wrestling (5.22.1982) Review

Georgia Championship Wrestling (5.22.1982) Review

Georgia Championship Wrestling (5.22.1982) Review

Georgia Championship Wrestling (5.22.1982) Review