1980 Georgia Championship Wrestling: January (2/2)
Superstar & Mr. Wrestling II escalates. Sullivan & Idol's history revealed. The Funk & Rhodes feud comes to Georgia. Plus, links to watch along!
Welcome to Georgia Championship Wrestling, in this edition you’ll read about The Superstar, Mr. Wrestling II, Austin Idol, Kevin Sullivan, Tommy Rich, The Great Mephisto, Abdullah the Butcher, The Sheik, Killer Khan, Toru Tanaka, Terry Funk, Dusty Rhodes, Steve Travis, Ray Candy, Tony Atlas, Ole and Lars Anderson, and a whole lot more!
We’re coming off the January 13th Omni show that you can read about in Part One.
Sat. Jan. 19 Georgia Championship Wrestling
Gordon Solie is at ringside with Austin Idol & Eddie Mansfield. Idol is on probation for misuse of the Figure Four. They often refer to promotion as just "Championship Wrestling." Mansfield was injured by Sullivan and undergoing surgery. Famed doctor James Andrews is doing surgery already in 1980. Solie presses Idol on Sullivan. He’s confused and claims he never knew him and Sullivan is using him as a stepping stone. Solie asks about his brother and sends us to an exclusive report from Kevin's father! Kevin's brother was stopped in his tracks by Austin Idol with his vicious hold. Destroyed his leg. He’s not anxious for Kevin to wrestle that barbarian. Kevin says his father is afraid he'll lose another son. Kevin is obsessed with getting Idol. Incredible piece of back story here. We go back to Idol. Hogwash! He sticks to his story. We now go to Columbus to see what Idol did. He had cast on and backed out of wrestling Sullivan. He claimed he pulled a tendon at the gym. Funny. Idol jumped Sullivan and nailed him with the arm. Back to the studio and Idol claims Sullivan provoked him. A match is signed for Jan. 27th at The Omni and if Idol doesn’t appear, he forfeits $5k. Idol says he’ll break Sullivan’s leg in The Omni. Great segment. (Watch)
The Great Mephisto announcement. His country is rich with oil money. Prejudiced americans. The price of oil may go up! The Sheik, Abdullah The Butcher and Killer Khan are with him. What a crew! They come to take the Americans' money. Mephisto pays Gorgeous George Jr. for Khan and Toru Tanaka. (Watch)
Abdullah the Butcher vs. Billy B. Goode. Squash for Butcher. Billy puts up a bit of a fight. Mephisto does a post match interview and says trading and dealing is a way of life. (Watch)
Other Results: Mr. Wrestling II defeated Wayne Rogers. Ivan Koloff and Alexis Smirnoff defeated Jim Nelson and Marvin Turner. Terry Funk defeated Chick Donovan. Ray Candy defeated Bob Owen. Mr. Wrestling II defeated Bob Owen. Kevin Sullivan defeated Gerald Finley. Tommy Rich defeated The Superstar by disqualification.
TITLE CHANGE!!! Mr. Wrestling II defeated The Superstar for the Georgia Heavyweight Title on January 23rd in Rome, Georgia. (WrestlingData)
Sat. Jan. 26 Georgia Championship Wrestling
Gordon Solie promotes a special feature on Dusty Rhodes today.
Mr. Wrestling II interview. New Georgia Champ. He’s developed a counter for The Superstar. Solie shows a videotape replay of II countering Charlie Fulton’s cobra hold taught to him by Superstar. Superstar was cheering Fulton on. II hit his kneelift for the win. II versus Superstar tomorrow night in The Omni. It’s a Shackle Match! Good promo. (Watch)
Kevin Sullivan interview. Payback on Austin Idol. Steve Travis here as his partner for the upcoming Tag Team Tournament. (Watch)
Terry Funk promo. Talks about NWA title and that egg sucking dog Dusty Rhodes. His big fat obnoxious belly. Ripping him. Funk and Rhodes in The Omni. Great promo. (Watch)
Tommy Rich vs. The Collector. Huge pop for Wildfire. He’s going after the Georgia Title. Fans wild for Rich. “Fight up Tommy” chants! The Collector attacks the arm. Great selling by Rich. Makes a fiery comeback. Wins with a spinning toe hold. Good match. (Watch)
Tommy Rich post match interview. There’s a bounty out on him. He can beat Harley Race. 1980 is his year. He wrestled Pat Patterson in Honolulu and he’s facing Killer Khan in The Omni. He dreams of gold. Very good promo and Tommy comes off as a very credible babyface World Title challenger. (Watch)
Austin Idol & The Superstar interview. Idol hates Sullivan’s guts. They’re going after the Tag Team Titles as well. These two have a great dynamic with Idol being bombastic and Superstar calm and serious. They’re supposed to have a match next with Sullivan and Travis but Travis will let Mr. Wrestling II take his place! Nice little surprise and the babyfaces outsmarting the heels. (Watch)
Austin Idol & The Superstar vs. Kevin Sullivan & Mr. Wrestling II. It’s bedlam from the start with the two big feuds intersecting. They get some good heat on Sullivan with some great cut offs. The wrestling is very physical and snug. We Want II chants. He makes a very good hot tag and then we get a DQ finish. Good match while it lasted. There’s some mayhem and Sullivan & II send Idol & Superstar packing to big cheers. A great taste of how good all four were. (Watch)
Post match interview with Sullivan, II, and Travis. $3K to II for breaking Superstar’s hold. Superstar got his mask but he’s got the title now. Coming after Superstar’s mask next. Gordon points out that he tripped over Idol. Sullivan vows that Idol is gonna see a maniac. Great babyface fire here promoting The Omni. (Watch)
Steve Travis vs. Bob Owen. Mat wrestling style. Travis swinging blindly and connects. Good punches. Travis wins with a bulldog. Decent. (Watch)
Ray Candy & Tony Atlas interview. Big reaction. Ray can TALK. He thinks they should be tag champs. The big tag tournament begins in February (Watch)
Ivan Koloff & Alexis Smirnoff interview. Superstar should not have to pay. Going into the US Tag Tournament. Facing Ole and Lars Anderson again at The Omni. (Watch)
Georgia Tag Team Champs Ivan Koloff & Alexis Smirnoff vs. Marvin Turner & Big Bill Dromo. Some nice armdrags by Dromo. He’s pretty good. Turner & Dromo get some offense. Ivan’s still a beast. Russians win with a gutbuster. Good little match. (Watch)
Lars Anderson interview. He looks like a dad. They want in the US Tag Tournament. The Russians staring him down. Solie reiterates that attacks during interviews result in suspension. Lars does a pro USA promo. Solie informs us Superstar and II will put up $4K on a pole at The Omni and show us the pole. (Watch)
The Superstar interview. He lost the title on a technicality. No excuses. He has faith in himself. He’s being railroaded. Going to do it himself at The Omni and get his money back. Very good heel promo after losing a title. (Watch)
The Superstar vs. Bob Simms. Great punishing squash from The Superstar. (Watch)
TV Champ Austin Idol interview. He quotes MLK. He’s the top of the mountain. The Georgia TV Title is the National TV Title. The pinnacle. Idolmania breeds jealousy and Sullivan is jealous. He promises to hurt Sullivan in The Omni. (Watch)
Kevin Sullivan interview. He needs to get Idol to make good with his family. Sullivan pride. He’s gonna get Idol. He’d become best known as a heel but Sullivan was a great babyface promo here. (Watch)
Kevin Sullivan vs. Charlie Fulton. Solid win for Sullivan. Uses the Figure 4 as his finish. (Watch)
Other Results: Mr. Wrestling II defeated Charlie Fulton. Killer Khan defeated Chic Donovan.
Heck of a show again and Gordon Solie is at his finest here. The studio crowds are electric.
Sun. Jan. 27 Best of Georgia Championship Wrestling
The Superstar interview. He’s disappointed. II didn’t break the hold. He lost on a technicality. Hates his guts. It’s gotta come to an end. Maybe he was too overconfident? He wants II out of wrestling. Tonight at Omni. Georgia is not big enough for the both of them. Good hype! (Watch)
Mr. Wrestling II interview. This goes way back. He’s suited and calm to start. Superstar did one thing after another. This needs to end. We see clips from when Superstar took his mask. A fake II was around getting beat up to destroy his name. The imposter was revealed and was paid off by The Superstar. He realized what he had been doing and felt bad. A great recap of the feud as the final push. (Watch)
Sun. Jan. 27 @ The Omni
Steve Travis defeated Charlie Fulton
Tony Atlas and Ray Candy defeated Manchurians (Tio and Tapu)
Dick Slater defeated Oki Shikina
Tommy Rich defeated Killer Khan
Bruiser Brody defeated French Angel
WWF Heavyweight Title Match: Bob Backlund (c) defeated Toru Tanaka
NWA Georgia Tag Team Titles Match: Ivan Koloff and Alexis Smirnoff (c) defeated Minnesota Wrecking Crew (Ole Anderson and Lars Anderson)
NWA Georgia Television Title Match: Kevin Sullivan defeated Austin Idol (c) - TITLE CHANGE!!!
Dusty Rhodes defeated Terry Funk
Shackle Match: Mr. Wrestling II defeated The Superstar
Thank you for joining me for January 1980. We’ll be back for February.
If anything is missing or incorrect, please let me know!
Credits: WrestlingData, Retro Wrestling Archive, Kris Zellner, Cagematch