Loss

Wahoo cut a promo in 1983 Georgia Championship Wrestling about a heel sending him a bogus telegram informing him his match was cancelled. All for more text message chicanery in 2021 wrestling angles.

I love watching Wayne Ferris as a multi-promotional arc instead of out of nowhere WWF creation. Bleached blond in early 80s. He dies the hair jet black in 1982, is "Honky Tonk Man" Wayne Ferris by the end of 1983, is Honky Tonk Wayne by 1985 in Stampede, and is full-on Honky Tonk Man by late '86. Guy who went through full-on Elvis transformation. If you look at it that way, solid Memphis heel over time starts believing he's Elvis is an awesome story that played out spanning years, countries and territories.

- I still like Georgia Championship Wrestling in '83, but it doesn't feel as much the place to be as it did a couple of years earlier. They are just overloaded with heels but have a rotating cast of babyfaces, which is strange. Also, Buzz Sawyer is incredible. Maybe my favorite wrestler of the decade to this point. Even the squashes are must-see. - Anyone who thinks 1995 was the worst year for WWE has not watched much of their 1983 stuff. (By the way, Vince had much bigger priorities and things on his mind in 1983 than being a great booker, so I don't fault him. He was playing the long game.)

Early 80s heel champ Ric Flair really was the master of saying things that seem nice or polite enough, but delivering them in such a condescending way. Confronting Tommy Rich in GCW: "Relax, Gordon Solie. I'm not here to cause trouble. We're grown men, we're athletes, and we have a difference of opinion. So let's talk." And everyone knows the famous Memphis angle, where he keeps delivering backhanded compliments to the city of Memphis -- constant insults cloaked in insincere compliments. I had some other thoughts about Flair's portrayal that sort of bleed outside of the Pro Wrestling Only mission, so I'll just link to the thread for those who are interested in the rest of it. Reply to me there if you like.

I really love 1983 heel Jacques Rougeau in Memphis because he gets all this heat just for being a total idiot. Hard to think of someone comparable. He plays his own entrance music by holding up a microphone to a boom box, people. His entrance music was "Dirty Laundry" by Don Henley.

Starting to think it doesn't feel right to just think of WCW as having continuity with JCP. Crockett folded in Mid South, Florida, and GA before the sale, so maybe a historic view of WCW that covers the pre-1988 sale period should also include all of those places. Not entirely comfortable thinking of "WCW" as being that all encompassing, but at least thinking out loud about it. At a minimum, GCW and Mid Atlantic should both be considered part of WCW lineage. FWIW, when Dave did his WCW history piece when Vince bought the company, his starting point was not Jim Crockett Sr.'s foray into pro wrestling, but rather the launch of WTBS in 1972.

I wish we had more footage of All Star on Screensport in 80s UK. The little I've seen more closely resembles American wrestling than the stuff broadcast on WOS -- more booking/angles, sharper face/heel contrasts, more partial announcers, etc. Wish more of it was out there.

I was tempted to compile all of these like I did for the Memphis bumpers, but couldn't do it. Still, watch Southwest. I think newer fans would enjoy it. Very heavy workrate territory with a lot of smaller guys and heavy focus on action.

Other thoughts: - Almost finished with 1981 stuff, and I'm pretty sure Rick Martel and Tony Garea are teaming in perpetuity in Allentown, PA. - Steve O is likely the most forgettable semi-pushed wrestler in history. - Now wondering if late '81 Georgia Championship Wrestling has the most great talkers assembled in one place. Flair, Dusty, Piper, Hayes, Idol, Bob Armstrong, Ole, Rich, Jonathan Boyd, Mr. Wrestling II ... - I don't want to jump to huge conclusions just based on the limited stuff we have, but Wrestling at the Chase and whatever other St. Louis footage we have has often been so underwhelming. - Jimmy Garvin is one of the best examples ever of a guy hitting paydirt with a new gimmick. He'd been languishing in opening matches for years and years. Suddenly, he's in demand everywhere and hitting magazine covers.

Thought from December: Interesting watching all the 1981 TV I can find. By late spring, Flair was wrapping up most of his issues in JCP & was being introduced in other territories, winning matches every week but mostly being kept above the fray. Doing occasional strategic jobs to set up challengers. I'm guessing this was the basic formula for introducing new NWA champs every time going back pretty far but Race and Rhodes were established, so it had been years since they had to do it, and Baba and Rich never really left home with the title.

Always watch Bob Armstrong.

Some random thoughts: - Early 80s guy who should have been a bigger star: Bobby Jaggers. Really good in the ring and an even better talker. - Who does everyone think was the best of the late 70s/early 80s WWF JTTS crew? I really like Denucci, Estrada and Scicluna. The WWF TV format was a tough one but their matches were usually very well-worked.

Here's Terry Funk being Terry Funk.

Here's Adrian Street in an alternate universe, doing "Pomp and Circumstance" in the Los Angeles territory years before Savage ever used the track.

Quote of 1980: "No matter how long the match lasts, Rick Martel and Tony Garea are in there the entire time." -- Vince McMahon on All Star Wrestling, seeking inspiration where he can find it.

Click through to see Tommy Rich's AWESOME return to Georgia Championship Wrestling in 1981, in all 3 parts.

Random thought: I always knew a clipped version of Backlund vs Spiros Arion from MSG existed but had no idea where it came from, so I was happy to find it on an episode of All Star Wrestling from 1980 on the Network.

Random thought: For all the reputation of Memphis, it's so weird going through 1980 footage when they became more serious and wrestling-driven because Billy Robinson was the top star, while Georgia Championship Wrestling was BY FAR the wilder show. That's not a quality statement. I love both in different ways. Just not what you'd expect. GCW is more likely to be the show with fans screaming and fists flying w/the ring full of people in street clothes at that point.

One of the great early music videos in wrestling.

Austin Idol's tribute band offered a diss track, which would be a really cool thing to see more of in wrestling.

A 3-part musical look at the Dennis Condrey/David Schultz tag team in 1979-80 Memphis. Click through to see the other parts. Marvel at the use of an instrumental version of "Good Times" by Chic in wrestling. It seems surprisingly progressive for wrestling, especially in 1980.

Tony Atlas puts it all out there.

Random thought: The uneven production, near constant debuts & lack of discipline around language that they are famous for (they call it "professional wrestling") makes 1984-86 WWF pretty fascinating to watch. The Big Event would probably mark the end of this first phase of Vince going national. A switch flipped in fall, when Championship Wrestling and All Star Wrestling were replaced by Superstars and Challenge, and when NBC changed the lighting on SNME. From there on, most WWF TV was run off of a template that they've just kept refining for the 35ish years since then.