Georgia Championship Wrestling Journey: Introduction

The Omni. Atlanta. Gordon Solie. Tommy Rich. The Superstar. Ole Anderson. It's all here.

The Omni in Atlanta, GA

When I got back into watching wrestling a few years ago, I remember going down the rabbit hole on YouTube and watching a lot of classic wrestling again. One of the things I stumbled upon was an episode of Georgia Championship Wrestling from 1979. I watched it, loved it, and wanted more, but it took me quite some time before I finally circled back to watching more.

When I did, I decided to start in 1980. Given the incomplete nature of the available footage, I began taking notes along the way, mostly to help myself keep track of everything. I quickly became hooked and watched everything I could from 1980 up to the sale in 1984. There were times when it was the only wrestling I watched, and now, as I’ve gone back to start the write-ups, I could easily watch it all over again from beginning to end. Since the time I first watched it, some great people have uploaded more episodes, so I’ve been able to fill in some gaps.

One big realization I had was how little of Georgia Championship Wrestling I had actually seen. I feel like I learned a fair bit about it in a broad sense through osmosis, but I had never really seen much of it. Watching it closely helped put a lot of the 1980s into context for me and deepened my appreciation for many wrestlers, whether they were constants like The Superstar, Ole Anderson and Tommy Rich or there for shorter periods like Ted DiBiase and Austin Idol. Many of the big stars of the time, such as Dusty Rhodes, Harley Race, Terry Funk, and Ric Flair, came through and did great things. The Freebirds and Roddy Piper did some of their best work in Georgia. The entire period is like a who’s who of wrestling, with stars coming and going.

Georgia Championship Wrestling would tape their television show at WTBS Studios in Atlanta on Saturday mornings for airing that evening. They also aired a Best Of Georgia Championship Wrestling program on Sundays, which featured some new promos. Founded by Ted Turner, Superstation WTBS was America’s first nationally distributed station through cable and satellite. Ted Turner recalled in an interview how popular Georgia wrestling was in the early days of WTBS:

“We carried wrestling, and people liked that. Wrestling, baseball, basketball and movies and some other sporting events that we could get our hands on. We had a very, very viable, popular network there.”

When The Freebirds arrived in 1980, they even got a mention in Billboard Magazine.

The Freebirds mentioned in Billboard Magazine.

Georgia Championship Wrestling would run The Omni Coliseum in Atlanta for their major shows, generally twice a month and often on Sundays. That allowed out-of-town stars to stop by for TV tapings and give a final boost of hype for The Omni. The Omni Coliseum was part of the Omni International Complex in downtown Atlanta, which opened in 1972. The Omni was home to the NBA’s Atlanta Hawks and the NHL’s Atlanta Flames (until 1980). Its capacity for basketball was 16,400, with reports of 16,000 fans attending wrestling events.

The most common cities the promotion ran outside of Atlanta were Columbus, Macon, and Augusta, all within driving distance. Check out WrestlingData and Cagematch for more information on where they ran.

The host of Georgia Championship Wrestling throughout this run was Gordon Solie. Freddie Miller joined in for some interviews and to run down the Omni cards, but Solie was the voice of the promotion. Throughout this journey, I gained a great appreciation for Solie as a host. His calm, reassuring demeanour helped elevate what was unfolding in front of him. He was serious but never too serious. He had a presence about him but never felt like he was overshadowing the wrestlers. I felt that the studio setting as the host was where Gordon was at his best, rather than strictly as a play-by-play man. As a viewer some 40 years later, I felt in tune with the happenings of the promotion, what was important, and why, thanks to Gordon Solie.

For a great walkthrough on the history of Georgia Championship Wrestling, I’d recommend Kayfabe Memories. The Regional Rasslin’ Podcast has done a great series on 1981 Georgia and are continuing with 1982. Wrestling Playlists is a great source of all wrestling history as well. Of course, all the great uploaders like Kris Zellner, Retro Wrestling Archive, The Wrestling Memory Grenade, and more who will be linked throughout.

Now I hope you enjoy this journey through Georgia Championship Wrestling…