1980 Georgia Championship Wrestling: April (2/2)
Austin Idol and Harley Race have a problem. Kevin Sullivan and Tony Atlas intensify their feud with The Russians. Plus, links to watch along!
Welcome to Georgia Championship Wrestling, in this edition you’ll read about Tommy Rich, Baron von Raschke, Kevin Sullivan, Tony Atlas, Ivan Koloff and Alexis Smirnoff, Austin Idol, Mr. Wrestling II, Ernie Ladd, Jay Strongbow, and a whole lot more!
Get caught up with Part One.
Sat. Apr. 19 Georgia Championship Wrestling
Tommy Rich vs. Baron Von Raschke. Rich with a ton of fire and movement. Makes this fun. Keeps the pressure on and shows heart. Baron’s working hard too. The great studio fans chanting for the sleeper. Idol comes in but gets fought off. Rich wins by DQ. Good match. Idol powders Baron by mistake and Baron puts the claw on him while blinded!! Rich clears the ring. Really great good guy stuff from Rich. Baron does an interview while blinded. It’s funny. He’s very upset. He works for no man. (Watch)
Other Results: Ivan Koloff and Alexis Smirnoff defeated Eddie Gilbert and Mike Davis. Jay Strongbow defeated Tenryu. Ernie Ladd defeated Chic Donovan. Austin Idol defeated Gerald Finley. Tony Atlas and Kevin Sullivan defeated Charlie Fulton and Jim Nelson. Baron Von Raschke defeated The Grappler. Leroy Brown defeated Marvin Turner. Bob Sweetan defeated Mike Fever.
Sun. Apr. 20 @ The Omni
Eddie Gilbert defeated Jim Nelson
French Angel defeated Gerald Finley
Bob Sweetan defeated Chic Donovan
Mike Sharpe and Lars Anderson defeated Charlie Fulton and Genichiro Tenryu
Ernie Ladd vs. Jay Strongbow ended without a winner as a no contest
Austin Idol vs. Tommy Rich ended without a winner as a no contest
Mr. Wrestling II defeated Baron Von Raschke
Russian Roulette Match: Kevin Sullivan and Tony Atlas defeated Ivan Koloff and Alexis Smirnoff
Baron Von Raschke defeated Tommy Rich
Sat. Apr. 26 Georgia Championship Wrestling
Iron Mike Sharpe vs. Tenryu. A good battle with a lot of stiff strikes from both guys. Sharpe wins. (Watch)
Mike Sharpe post-match interview. He puts over Tenryu. Impressed with the competition. He wants top guys. Solie shows his welts from the chops. (Watch)
Hour Two
Solie opens by talking about the Georgia Tag Team Champions Tony Atlas & Kevin Sullivan putting the titles on the line against Ivan Koloff and Alexis Smirnoff today. (Watch)
NWA World Heavyweight Champion Harley Race promo. Still talks about being held hostage. He’s the man. He’s gonna show em in The Omni. Claims he used Idol like a puppet. (Watch)
Austin Idol interview. Harley Race is a fool. Promises a fight. Solid logical feud from their earlier dealings and continues the progression of Idol to a fan favorite. (Watch)
Stan Stasiak interview. He’s been gone for 3 years and the heart punch was reinstated. He’s perfected it. The hardest hitting athlete. May 4th him and Ox Baker going for tag titles. Solid promo. (Watch)
Stan Stasiak vs. Chic Donovan. Stan bringing that New York squash style. Looks old. Working the punch. Solie is great on commentary getting Stasiak over. Stan uses the heart punch and gets some heat. (Watch)
Chief Jay Strongbow interview. He was recently humiliated on TV. Trying to keep spirits up. He can’t forget. May 4 vs Ernie Ladd at The Omni. (Watch)
Ivan Koloff, Alexis Smirnoff, Rock Hunter interview. $25k on the line. A record amount. 25k versus the belts. (Watch)
Kevin Sullivan & Tony Atlas Rocky workout video. Training in park. Awesome montage (Watch)
Georgia Tag Titles Tony Atlas & Kevin Sullivan vs. Ivan Koloff & Alexis Smirnoff. Hyped as a big TV match and started with lots of TV time remaining. Hot crowd. USA vs Russia. Atlas does some superhuman kickouts and makes a big hot tag. The Russians are in trouble. Rock Hunter puts the towel around Atlas’ face and he passes out! Ivan Koloff gets the pin and we have new champs! Really good TV match. Solie is outraged. Can smell the odor. Atlas is still out after the break. The fans smelled ether. Excellent follow up selling the angle. Outstanding work by Solie feeling like an on the scene reporter. (Watch)
Lars Anderson & Chief Jay Strongbow vs. Bob Sweetan & The Angel. A standby match that goes off air with it still in progress. Nice touch. (Watch)
Other Results: Baron Von Raschke defeated The Scorpion. Mike Sharpe defeated Tenryu.
Sun. Apr. 27 Best of Georgia Championship Wrestling
Buddy Rogers interview. Talking about the Figure 4. He worked out with Austin Idol as the master of it now. He gives a demo for Solie on danger of Figure 4. Four points of pressure. He believes Idol will be the next World Champ. Excellent segment to put over Idol as Race’s challenger. (Watch)
If anything is missing or incorrect, please let me know!
Credits: WrestlingData, Retro Wrestling Archive, Kris Zellner, Cagematch.