1980 Georgia Championship Wrestling: December
Ted Dibiase fights The Freebirds, Kevin Sullivan continues down a new path, and The Mongolian Stomper is a problem. Plus, links to watch along!
Welcome to Georgia Championship Wrestling, in this edition you’ll read about The Fabulous Freebirds, Ole Anderson, Bill Watts, Robert Fuller, Plowboy Frazier, Jack Brisco, The Mongolian Stomper, Kevin Sullivan, Tony Atlas, Mr. Saito, Mr. Wrestling II, Ted Dibiase, Steve Keirn, and a whole lot more!
Get caught up with November.
Current Champions (As of December 1, 1980)
NWA World Heavyweight Champion: Harley Race
Defeated Giant Baba (Sept. 9, 1980)
NWA National Heavyweight Champion: Jack Brisco
Brisco shows up as National Champion and Title stays in Georgia
NWA Georgia Heavyweight Champion: Tony Atlas
Defeated Dennis Condrey (Oct. 24, 1980)
NWA National Tag Team Champions: The Fabulous Freebirds
Won Tag Team Tournament (Nov. 27, 1980)
NWA National Television Champion: Kevin Sullivan
Defeated Steve Keirn (Nov. 29, 1980)
NWA Georgia Junior Heavyweight Champion: Stan Lane
Defeated Kevin Sullivan (Sept. 3, 1980)
Sat. Dec. 6 Georgia Championship Wrestling
Mr. Wrestling II interview. Returning from a short lived retirement. Mr. Saito is trying to capitalize on it. II is going to match his $5k and will wrestle him anywhere. (Watch)
Mongolian Stomper interview. Clips of Jack Brisco beating Dennis Condrey. Don Carson says Stomper has the next shot at the National Title on the 12th. (Watch)
Mr. Wrestling II interview. He’s watched Saito closely. (Watch)
National TV Champ Kevin Sullivan interview. He’s grown his beard out. He did it for a friend. Very disingenuous. Insults Steve Keirn. (Watch)
Other Results: Robert Fuller and Stan Frazier defeated Luke Graham and Charlie Fulton. NWA National Television Title Match: Kevin Sullivan (c) defeated Ricky Craven. Steve O and Ron Cheatham defeated Fabulous Freebirds (Terry Gordy and Buddy Roberts) by disqualification. Mongolian Stomper defeated Ricky Craven. Ted DiBiase defeated Rocket Monroe. Mr. Wrestling II defeated Tom Stanton. Steve O defeated Ron Cheatham
Fri. Dec. 12 at The Omni
9 Woman Battle Royal: Joyce Grable defeated ???
Jerry Brisco defeated Killer Khan
NWA United States Women's Title Match: Judy Martin (c) defeated Winona Little Heart
Ted DiBiase defeated Assassin #1
NWA National Television Title Match: Kevin Sullivan (c) defeated Steve Keirn
$5.000 Match: Mr. Wrestling II defeated Mr. Saito
NWA National Heavyweight Title Match: Mongolian Stomper defeated Jack Brisco (c) - TITLE CHANGE!!!
NWA National Tag Team Titles Match: Fabulous Freebirds (Terry Gordy and Buddy Roberts) (c) defeated Robert Fuller and Stan Frazier
Bill Watts defeated Ole Anderson (Special Referee: Bobo Brazil)
Sat. Dec. 13 Georgia Championship Wrestling
Robert Fuller & Plowboy Frazier interview. They’re upset again at the Freebird rule costing them. They show Omni clips where they had the visual pin but the Freebirds won. (Watch)
Mr. Wrestling II interview. He’s unsatisfied. They show clips from the Saito Omni match. II won then Saito attacked him after. (Watch)
We see Omni clips of the Mongolian Stomper beating Jack Brisco after the ref was distracted to steal the National Title. (Watch)
Fabulous Freebirds interview. We’re getting a Tag Title match on TV. If Frazier and Fuller lose, they leave Georgia. (Watch)
National Tag Titles Fabulous Freebirds (Terry Gordy and Buddy Roberts) (c) vs. Robert Fuller and Stan Frazier. Ted Dibiase is on commentary. He references fighting The Freebirds in Mid-South. Hayes comes in for the DQ in a very short match. Dibiase goes after Hayes. Kevin Sullivan comes in and we have a big brawl! (Watch)
Fabulous Freebirds interview. Ted Dibiase pushed them too far! (Watch)
Other Results: Mr. Wrestling II defeated Ron Cheatham. Kevin Sullivan defeated Jimmy Jones. Ted DiBiase defeated Jerry Oates. Mongolian Stomper defeated Jerry Roberts. Ted Oates and Jerry Oates defeated Charlie Fulton and Ricky Craven. Mongolian Stomper defeated Marvin Turner. Kevin Sullivan defeated Ken Woodby. Robert Fuller and Ted DiBiase defeated Tom Stanton and Butch Mantell. Fabulous Freebirds (Terry Gordy, Buddy Roberts and Michael Hayes) defeated Gerald Finley, Jimmy Jones and Jerry Roberts.
Sat. Dec. 20 Georgia Championship Wrestling
Fabulous Freebirds promo. Michael Hayes is upset. People said they couldn't do it in Georgia. They packed up, came and did it. They ran Austin Idol out of here. They beat all the top teams. It's not jailbirds, it's the Freebirds. His is all Michael going off. Solie accuses Hayes of letting Gordy and Roberts do all the work. Hayes will wrestle Ted Dibiase here tonight! (Watch)
National TV Title: Kevin Sullivan (c) vs. Terry Taylor. I like this style of competitive wrestling. Sullivan wins by countout. He held he full nelson outside and beat the count. Good match. (Watch)
Michael Hayes goes in to wrestle but leaves and Terry Gordy wrestles Dibiase instead. (Watch)
Ted DiBiase vs. Terry Gordy. Firing great punches. Fast and furious action. Freebirds attack for the DQ. Fun while it lasted. The Birds ake out Fuller too. Frazier helps but the Birds use a triple piledriver on him! Plowboy is hurt! (Watch)
Fuller, Dibiase, Frazier interview. They’re gonna be there on Thursday, Christmas Night. Michael Hayes is dead! (Watch)
The Freebirds respond quick as time runs out. (Watch)
Hour Two
We see Mongolian Stomper versus Jack Brisco clips from The Omni. Don Carson and Mongolian Stomper interview. He’s the 8th wonder of the world. The National Champ. They’ll be a rematch at The Omni. We cut to some Brisco post match comments. Carson distracted him. He’s coming after him. (Watch)
We see a Jack Brisco win. (Watch)
Robert Fuller, Stan Frazier, Ted Dibiase interview. They appreciate the idea of a six man elimination tag. Dibiase says it means Hayes can’t run! (Watch)
Kevin Sullivan interview. He’s upset about Steve Keirn and Steve O. Sullivan's promo style has changed as a heel. The fans are classless. We see Tony Atlas comments. Sullivan was his friend and turned on him. Tells him to come get his belt. Sullivan blames Tony for losing the tag titles. He’s gonna give him a wrestling lesson. (Watch)
Other Results: Mongolian Stomper defeated Ken Timbs and Tom Hart. Ted DiBiase and Robert Fuller defeated Ken Timbs, Tom Stanton and Ron Cheatham. Kevin Sullivan defeated Ricky Craven. Jos LeDuc defeated Mike Casaway. Fabulous Freebirds (Terry Gordy and Buddy Roberts) defeated Jimmy Jones and Steve Keirn
Sat. Dec. 21 Georgia Championship Wrestling
Ted Dibiase interview. He came out last week because he couldn't stand by. We’ve been lied to. Hayes backed out a match with him. Frazier is injured. Fuller and Dibiase are down a man on Christmas night. Very strong face promo from Dibiase. The Freebirds have really taken over the territory. (Watch)
Kevin Sullivan interview. He has more soul than Tony Atlas. Atlas responds in a taped promo. They were former tag team champions. He trusted Sullivan. Sullivan tells Tony not to mess him with him. Sullivan’s a full blown heel now. (Watch)
Joe LeDuc is here. They show a feat of strength of him pulling a bus!! He’s here for money. $30k to the winner of the battle royal. (Watch)
Thu. Dec 25 at The Omni
Steve O defeated Tom Stanton
Terry Taylor defeated Alexis Smirnoff
Steve Keirn defeated Assassin #1
Jos LeDuc defeated Jerry Brisco
NWA Georgia Heavyweight Title Match: Tony Atlas (c) defeated Kevin Sullivan
NWA National Heavyweight Title Match: Mongolian Stomper (c) defeated Jack Brisco
Lumberjack, Elimination Match: Ted DiBiase, Robert Fuller and Stan Frazier defeated Fabulous Freebirds (Terry Gordy, Buddy Roberts and Michael Hayes)
Judo Jacket Match: Mr. Wrestling II defeated Masa Saito
2 Ring Battle Royal: Robert Fuller and Ted DiBiase defeated Alexis Smirnoff and Assassin #1 and Buddy Roberts and Jack Brisco and Jerry Brisco and Jos LeDuc and Kevin Sullivan and Masa Saito and Michael Hayes and Mongolian Stomper and Mr. Wrestling #2 and Stan Frazier and Steve Keirn and Steve O and Terry Gordy and Terry Taylor and Tom Stanton and Tony Atlas and ???
Sat. Dec. 27 Georgia Championship Wrestling
Georgia Champ Tony Atlas interview. Steve Keirn is there too. Kevin Sullivan tried underhanded stuff. We see Omni clips from Christmas Day. Atlas fires up. There’s a ref bump. Sullivan uses a foreign object. Atlas still kicks out! Keirn grabs it and Atlas retains with a rollup. Nice to see an actual Omni finish. It seems like they used distraction finishes and interference quite a bit. We pivot back to Keirn and Sullivan feuding. (Watch)
Dusty Rhodes promo. He’s competing all over. Ole Anderson. He’s excited. The hottest feud for the last 3 years. Jan. 1st in The Omni. The Dream is back. No rules. He’s gonna get it done in 81! (Watch)
Show a cool Dusty hype video. (Watch)
Robert Fuller and Ted Dibiase sitdown interview. They show the Stan Frazier triple piledriver by The Freebirds last week that injured him. Fuller & Dibiase won the $30k battle royal. They’re wearing great coats. We see lots of Omni footage of the double ring battle royal. After they won, The Freebirds reinjured Frazier with a chair. Good way to keep the feud going. (Watch)
Fabulous Freebirds interview. Hayes calling them greedy! Very funny. They want footage of when they took out the fat man! (Watch)
Mr. Wrestling II interview on the Saito challenge. It was a Judo Jacket match. He enjoyed it. He capitalized on Saito’s mistake. Show some cool looking Omni clips. The jackets come off. The match looked intense. II feels he regained his confidence and is going for gold. One of my favorite things is wrestlers narrating their own highlights. (Watch)
Georgia Champ Tony Atlas interview. It’s hard to keep the belt. He’s a very honest character. Kevin Sullivan is no kind of a man. He calls him out. Alexis Smirnoff is his next Omni opponent. Atlas has been very good in Georgia when he’s around. (Watch)
NWA World Champ Harley Race vs. Jimmy Jones. Tony Atlas is on commentary. Total squash. Race goes for the headbutt after but Atlas stops him. (Watch)
Ted Dibiase vs. Golden Boy Donovan. Golden Boy is Chick Donovan. Ted is really solid here as a babyface technician. It’s a good match and not just a squash. Ted wins. (Watch)
Other Results: Steve Keirn defeated Tom Stanton. Robert Fuller and Ted DiBiase defeated Bob Simms and Larry Sexton. Fabulous Freebirds (Terry Gordy and Buddy Roberts) defeated Bill Dromo and Tom Hart. Mongolian Stomper defeated Mike Casaway. Mr. Wrestling II defeated Bob Garrett. Tony Atlas defeated Larry Sexton. Alexis Smirnoff defeated Ricky Craven. Jos LeDuc defeated Ken Timbs
If anything is missing or incorrect, please let me know!
Credits: WrestlingData, Retro Wrestling Archive, Kris Zellner, Cagematch.