The SmarK Rant for Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling – 11.20.82

The SmarK Rant for Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling – 11.20.82

Back to Mid-Atlantic again, since it’s been a while since I checked in.

Taped from Charlotte, NC

Your hosts are Bob Caudle & Rowdy Roddy Piper

Cowbody Bob Orton v. Ben Alexander

We’re immediately joined in progress with Orton destroying Alexander and pinning him with an atomic drop into a back suplex for the pin at 0:20. Afterwards, Orton joins Piper in the name of running the House of Humperdink out of the territory.

Ricky Steamboat joins us, and he’s got footage of a match with himself and Youngblood against Slaughter & Kernodle at a house show in Charlotte and man they’ve got some heat going on. Slaughter and Kernodle switching off to cheat behind the ref’s back has the crowd ENRAGED. Steamboat takes an absolute shit-kicking on the heel side but fights back with a suplex on Kernodle and it’s HOT TAG Jay Youngblood. Slaughter takes his great bumps in the corner off that and they hit the slingshot splash for the apparent pin…but Sarge has his feet on the ropes and Tommy Young couldn’t stop the momentum of his count. So Kernodle bumps the ref and the champs double-team Youngblood and destroy him, setting up a Doomsday Device version of the Slaughter Cannon! Sarge with the Cobra clutch, and at this point Kernodle just tosses the ref out and it’s CENSORED because it’s so violent! They literally put up a red screen with CENSORED in the middle. Awesome. So Steamboat has to carry his fallen partner out to save him and the heels escape with the titles. THIS WAS FUCKING AMAZING. No wonder they drew so much money with the blowoff.

Rowdy Roddy Piper v. Jim Nelson

Nelson is starting to transition away from his Slaughter phase, looking like any other pasty jobber at this point. Maybe he needs a new gimmick? Piper wallops him right away and backdrops him out of the corner, but Nelson goes to a chinlock until Piper fires up and nails him with a chop in the corner. Gut wrench suplex gets the pin at 2:03.

Mid-Atlantic title: Paul Jones v. Jack Brisco

Another house show match from Charlotte, with Brisco on commentary with Caudle this time, and we join the match with Jones working on the leg and trying for his deathlock. Brisco makes the comeback and slugs Jones down, but the ref is bumped and Jones gets a rollup for the visual pin. Jones jumps over the top rope, trying to trick the ref into calling for the DQ, but the ref sees him do that and Brisco continues his comeback. Jack slugs him down and gets the figure-four, which Jack notes is himself channeling all his anger at Jones into the hold, and Paul makes the ropes to escape that. But Jack is TOO ANGRY and won’t release the hold despite the five count, drawing a DQ after all. This show must have been like a Saturday Night’s Main Event watching it in 1982 for people who never got to see any of those matches at home.

Back at the studio, Jack promises that the Brisco brothers will try to get revenge on Slaughter & Kernodle on their behalf.

US title: Wahoo McDaniel v. Greg Valentine

Next we get the footage of the match where Valentine won the US title from Wahoo, with Valentine joining us for commentary, and Greg calls Wahoo a “moron and a savage”. They slug it out and Wahoo fights back with chops while Valentine reminds us that he broke Wahoo’s leg four years ago. A chop goes awry and hits Greg in the face, and he’s pretty upset about that. What kind of a dangerous and sloppy worker chops someone in the face? Valentine bumps to the floor, but Wahoo pulls him in and continues chopping, which gets two. Valentine bails to the apron, but Humperdink hands him something, which Valentine denies is happening, and Greg hits Wahoo with the object from the apron and gets the pin and the title.

$100,000 Challenge: Dory Funk Jr. v. Jack Brisco

Well this is quite the challenger for Funk’s money. Brisco takes him down with a couple of fireman’s carries, and he stops a takedown attempt from Dory. They fight for a lockup, and Dory goes with the cheapshot to take over instead, which works better for him. He tries a suplex and Jack reverses to a backslide for two. Dory bails to think it over while Bob runs down some of the big names coming soon to Mid-Atlantic, and there’s some big ones as promised. Brisco works on a headlock, but Funk puts him down with an elbow and slugs him down with forearms. Funk gets the spinning toehold, but Brisco does a slick reversal right into the figure-four, and Funk makes the ropes. Brisco with an atomic drop for two and Funk runs away again. Back in the ring, Brisco wins a slugfest and rolls him up for two, but Funk throws him over the top rope in frustration to draw the DQ at 5:11. So no money for Brisco here because you have to pin or submit Dory to win the cash. Obviously these two could have a good match literally in their sleep.

Bad Bad Leroy Brown v. Dusty Rhodes

Next up for our house show footage, we’ve got Leroy taking on the Dream, as we join things with Brown holding a chinlock and then giving him “an old fashioned Chicago style beatdown” according to Humperdink, which amounts to a nerve pinch. If it’s anything like a Chicago-style hot dog I don’t want any part of it anyway. Dusty makes the comeback and beats on Brown with elbows while Leroy notes that he used to work in a slaughterhouse and thus knows how to deal with big pigs like Dusty. So they brawl to the floor, but Dusty comes back with a FLYING BODYPRESS for two. So I guess pigs really can fly then. Dusty makes the comeback and elbows Leroy to the floor as Humperdink calls him a “paraplegic sheep dog” and they fight to a double countout.

Back at the studio, Humperink and Leroy are sick of Mike Rotundo continuing to fight instead of taking the hint and going away quietly.

Mike Rotundo v. Bad Bad Leroy Brown

So Mike tries it again and Leroy puts him down with a back elbow and drops an elbow on him. Big splash gets two. Leroy goes to an armbar and Rotundo fights out of that, but Leroy slugs him down again and beats on him with clubbing forearms. Brown smashes the shoulder into the corner and goes for another piledriver, but then changes his mind and tosses Rotundo instead, into the front row of the crowd. Brown hauls him back in and continues pounding on him with the clubbing forearms and holding the armbar. Brown’s offensive output is somewhat limited to say the least. Rotundo sweeps the leg to fight back and keeps taking Brown down, but Leroy decides to go for the piledriver and finish him off. Rotundo backdrops out of that, however, and comes back with a dropkick before getting distracted by Humperdink, and Brown drops an elbow on him for the pin at 6:20.

And we finish with the tag team champions, as Don Kernodle declares that they’re DONE with Ricky Steamboat and Jay Youngblood, and Jay is on a respirator in the hospital. Slaughter has a sharp suit in camo colors, I should note, which is amazing. And we also get comments from Paul Jones and Jos Leduc to wrap up the show for the week.

Damn this was a GREAT show this week! This Dory Funk booking era is a home run so far.