Southeastern/Continental Championship Wrestling

[goc]

The next episode starts in the middle of a tag match between The Super Pro who Les tells us "everyone thinks is Randy Rose" and Ron Bass against Roy Welch (
We get a cut in the tape and immediately start the next match between The Stomper and Charlie Cook. I'm quite alright with that assuming we didn't miss any good Ron Fuller promos. Stomper is apparently the Southeastern champion which I missed last week. Plowboy Frazier is doing guest commentary along with Les & Charlie on this match. Charlie Cook spends a lot of time with Stomper in a headlock. Charlie Cook really kind of dominates this match, continually re-establishing the headlock. Les Thatcher talks about Dennis Condrey "the cousin of The Super Pro" coming to the area soon. That doesn't do much to help The Super Pro keep his secret identity! Stomper finally takes over with some shots to the throat. And sticks with what works: shots to the throat. Charlie Cook starts a comeback which leads to a double knockdown spot where Cook rolls out of the ring. As the ref is counting him out, Don Carson "loads" the boot of The Stomper and when Cook makes it back into the ring, Stomper boots him right in the face and that's all she wrote. Charlie Cook is very good for a wrestler you've never heard of.

Looks like this was just a partial episode because we go straight from that match to Les and Charlie, who appear to now be in their new home and away from the Gulf Coast backdrop welcoming us to another episode of Southeastern Championship Wrestling. I'll post the review for that episode probably later today.

 

I believe this is going to be the final appearance of the Gulf Coast Wrestling name as they are fully changed over to Southeastern by the start of the upcoming episode. That cheap little Southeastern sign on front of the desk fell off during the Super Pro/Brad Armstrong confrontation:

 

[Dewar]

This thread is awesome. Thanks for doing this.

[goc]

I think we are somewhere in mid-November of 1980 here as Les Thatcher & Charlie Platt run down today's card and we start off with the Southeastern Tag Team Champions Ron Bass & The Super Pro facing my man Charlie Cook & Charles Oden. Les continues talking about The Super Pro being Randy Rose. Well, there IS a rose on the side of his mask now so maybe Les is on to something. Les says that Bass & Super Pro have been defending the belts about 3 weeks now which I relate solely so I can come back to this later to try and put dates on these episodes. This is a pretty good little tag match with the old "strong jobber/weak jobber" formula where Charlie Cook gets to look good and get in offense while his partner Charles Oden pretty much just gets his ass kicked when he's in there. Randy Rose is also impressing me with some cool amateur stuff on the mat. Oden gets beat on for a while before finally making the hot tag to Charlie Cook. Cook comes in on fire and eventually we get all 4 guys in the ring and Ron Bass pinning Oden, who wasn't the legal man. COME ON REF!

After commercials we come back to a promo hyping the card on November 24th in Birmingham, Alabama. Alabama Champion Bob Armstrong (who I am guessing won the tournament) vs. Killer Khan?? Damn I want to go...After that we get Les Thatcher at the desk with Robert Fuller & Jos LeDuc. Before he talks to them we get a video promo from Don Carson's Tag Team Championship team:The Super Pro & Ron Bass. Not too impressed by Don Carson on the stick. Robert Fuller has a very heavy mustache here that is amusing me. These guys didn't make me go buy a ticket to see their tag match.

After the Robert Fuller/Jos LeDuc promo we cut to Charlie Platt standing with The Super Pro & Dennis Condrey. The Super Pro introduces us to his cousin, the former Georgia Heavyweight Champion, Dennis Condrey. Condrey isn't bad on the stick here although I've never really heard him talk too much. He is here to help his cousin take care of some "unfinished businesses."

We go to the ring with Jerry Stubbs and it's announced that his scheduled opponent couldn't make it so now he's going to have to wrestle Norvel Austin. This does not please Jerry Stubbs at all.
Norvel Austin hasn't ever really done anything for me but he is looking really good in this match. I guess that's the difference 4-5 years can make for a pro wrestler as most of the Norvel I've seen is from 84-85. This ends in a double countout after Stubbs throws Norvel out of the ring and tries to piledrive him on the floor but eats a backdrop instead. This seems like a pretty good pairing that I actually didn't expect anything out of going into the match.

We're back from commercial with Les Thacher and it's time for the Personality Profile. This week it's Jos LeDuc & Bob Armstrong both of whom are going very orange for this occasion. They are talking about some of the different kinds of matches in pro wrestling such as Lumberjack matches and then Texas Death Matches. Bob cuts a good promo about the 8 Man, 4 on 4, Texas Death match. Unfortunately I still don't know who is going to be in it by the time it's over and we go to the next match.

Dennis Condrey is making his in ring debut on Southeastern TV against some dude. Condrey is so fun to watch when he's doing a lot of takedowns and matwork to hurt a guy. Awww man! There's a cut in the tape and we don't get the end of that match as it goes straight to Mr. Wrestling II vs. Mike Masters (who I will continue to pretend is the father of Chris Masters) Les drops a line that he knew Mr. Wrestling II before he was II which I'm not sure was a good thing for him to say. The fun thing about commentary is you can usually tell which guys the announcers are marks for and Les seems to be a big one for Mr. Wrestling II. Oh, cool we don't get a finish to that match either. Damn it...

We get a cut from the Mr. Wrestling II vs. Mike Masters match into a Don Carson promo with The Mongolian Stomper. Don Carson is like the most generic promo in the world almost to the point of feeling like someone doing a parody of a wrestling promo hitting every single one of the cliches. Wrestling II follows that up with a promo of his own and it's good and fiery. Which he finishes by breaking a wooden cane by bending it over the top of his head, telling Stomper to imagine it's his arm or his leg. I don't care what Parv says, Mr. Wrestling II is awesome.

Well that appears to be all for this episode(s?) as the next cut in the tape takes us to Les & Charlie introducing us to another edition of Southeastern Championship Wrestling. There was some good stuff going on here but 2 of the matches being cut off on the tape was disappointing to me. Looking forward to seeing more of Dennis Condrey and would say the same for II but I know he only makes sporadic appearances in Southeastern.

 

"That's what's gonna happen pal!"

[goc]

The show opens up with Les & Charlie introducing us to a man who they say has turned the area upside down in the one week he's been here: Jonh Valiant. Apparently he pinned The Stomper on TV in 15 seconds last week, which I don't have footage of, and then they show arena footage of him coming out to be a lumberjack and attacking Ron Bass and then the other lumberjacks and gettin sent back to the dressing room. Then he saves Ron Fuller from Don Carson & The Stomper after Fuller's match and he ends up with a bull rope and hangs The Stomper over the ropes with it! During this whole thing John Valiant and Ron Fuller are talking over the footage and Valiant is...interesting. I am not sure how Ron Fuller is now a babyface though. The problems of trying to follow this Southeastern footage. They show a video of Don Carson & The Stomper with Don Carson explaining why he and The Stomper aren't on TV. Don Carson & The Stomper aren't going to be back at the TV studio until John Valiant is GONE. He says they will make every town but they are not coming to do TV. It's tough when the babyfaces like Fuller & Valiant are so much better at cutting promos than the heel manager Don Carson. Suddenly we got a masked man in the ring calling out John Valiant! Valiant and Ron Fuller are totally nonchalant with Valiant saying he already took his mask off and Fuller encouraging him to go do it again.

The "match" starts and that's pretty much exactly what happens. El Diablo attacks John Valiant as he comes in but Valiant quickly cuts him off and then unmasks him. El Diablo doesn't appear to live up to his Spanish name as it's just some short bald white dude who quickly runs off. The ref starts to count him out but doesn't even get to 5 before he just raises John Valiant's hand and declares him the winner. Alright then.

We come back from a commercial brack with hype for this Monday Night in Birmingham (no date unfortunately) The card is Mike Jackson opening against Oki Shikina, Ron Bass vs. Jos LeDuc in a Canadian Lumerjack Match, Mr. Saito vs. Bob Armstrong for the Alabama Title, Brad Armstrong & Steve O challenging Dennis Condrey & Randy Rose (no longer The Super Pro) for the Southeastern Tag Team Titles and John Valiant vs. The Stomper in a No DQ match with Don Carson & Ron Fuller barred from the building. After the card hype we get John Valiant & Ron Fuller at the desk again with Les Thacher to talk about the match. Before Les talks to Ron & John we get a video promo from Don Carson who continues not to impress me. Ron says he won't be there but he has been the one controlling crazy John Valiant telling him "please Johnny don't do that" but now he tells John to go ahead and do whatever he wants.

After another break we're back to Dennis Condrey & Randy Rose at the desk with Charlie Platt with their Southeastern Tag Team Titles in front of them. Charlies asks them about facing another tag team of family members, Bob & Brad Armstrong. Condrey implies that Brad isn't even really Bob's son. Randy Rose talks trash about Brad being too young to face real men and champions. I am digging this original Midnight Express team who don't yet have the MX name.

The next match is Brad Armstrong & Bob Armstrong against some jobbers. Les Thatcher tells us that Brad Armstrong has only been wrestling for 4 months. Brad looks ok here, really good if we're judging him based on being in his 4th month of wrestling. Pretty basic little match here with Brad winning with a crossbody.

 

Next we have Charlie Platt doing a Personality Profile with Jerry Stubbs. Charlie tells us that the Jr. Heavyweight Title is held up and then shows us tape of what happened to cause that. The match ends with Stubbs doing a back suplex and the ref counting both men's shoulders down. Stubbs & Charlie Platt argue about the ref holding up the title and then we get a video promo from Norvel Austin that's...not very good. I neglected to mention that his nickname here is The Junkyard Dog. Stubbs calls Norvel Austin a born loser and guarantees that Norvel won't win his TV match today.

We go from that to the ring where Roy Lee Welch & Norvel Austin are teaming to face the Southeastern Tag Team Champions Dennis Condrey & Randy Rose. This is is a decent little match with Condrey & Rose being a pretty good heel team as far as cutting off the ring and distracting the ref. The finish is Jerry Stubbs tripping Norvel Austin leading to Condrey pinning him. After the match Condrey & Rose make their way to the desk where Charlie plays arena footage of them facing Bob Armstrong & Jos LeDuc. LeDuc gets distracted by Ron Bass who has LeDuc's "Canadian Lumberjack Championship belt" leading to him being counted out during which Condrey & Rose double team Bob Armstrong including Condrey coming off the top rope with a knee to Bob's back. LeDuc comes back and helps clear the ring and then we go back to the desk where Condrey & Rose have a Stretch Armstrong doll which they start having a tug of war with and say this is what's gonna happen the next time they face Bob Armstrong. Hahah that's fun stuff.

After a commercial break we've got Bob Armstrong at the desk with Les Thatcher but before they talk we get another video from Georgia with Saito and Freddie Miller. Saito is asked about Bob Armstrong and asks if that's a singer? Haha. Saito's video gets cut off in progress so I guess there was no where to go but down after that high point. Bob says he's not impressed by Saito's judo because an American right cross is better than any Judo chop. Boutwell Auditorium, be there!

The funky music Southeastern bumper is actually intact on this break (wish I knew what song that was) and we come back to Ron Bass at the desk with Charlie & Les. Ron Bass has a Bullrope with him which he says he is the master of. And then he also he a title with him which he says makes him the Canadian Lumerjack Champion. We get arena footage of Ron Bass facing Mr. Wrestling II in a lumberjack match. Ron Bass gets sent outside and Jos LeDuc attacks him which ends up causing a big melee between the faces and the heels outside the ring. While the ref is distracted with that Dennis Condrey comes in from the other side and hits Mr Wrestling II in the back of the head with some kind of gimmick and Ron Bass pins him to win the match. Ron Bass talks trash about LeDuc attacking him during the match and then again after and challenges LeDuc to come out and tie his hand to the other end of the bullrope and get in the ring with him. LeDuc comes out and Ron Bass says he has to go but as he pulls the bullrope to bring it with him LeDuc grabs the other end and pulls him back and blasts him. They both end up in the ring with a referee and the Bullrope and Ron Bass quickly attacks with the bell. He works LeDuc over for a while until LeDuc makes a comeback which brings on jobber Bob Owens and some other scrub to help Ron Bass escape.

After a commercial we get a video promo from Ron Bass where he talks about how LeDuc put him out with an injured shoulder and he came back with revenge on his mind. He got a piece of his revenge today busting LeDuc's head open with the bell and he's going to get more. LeDuc comes to the desk bleeding and talks about how he is going to take back his Canadian Lumberjack Title that Ron Bass stole but his promo cuts get off by the funky Southeastern bumper. Hit your time cues people!

That's it for today's edition of Southeastern Championship Wrestling. Charlie & Les wrap up the happenings of the episode and welcome us to join them again next week.

 

 

 

 

 

[BArthur]

goc, I'm way behind you, and couldn't do any better on the recaps anyway. I'm just going to add a few thoughts on the 1986 episodes as I watch them

 

1/11/86-

-The opening squash match ends with the Nightmares attacking Tommy & Johnny Rich, and they actually tar and feather Johhny. There's something I've never seen before in wrestling. Great segment.

 

-This is pretty much the first I've seen of Adrian Street. First thought, he might have one of the best entrances ever. His theme "Imagine What I Could Do to You" got robbed in the Greatest Theme tournament.

Aside from that, his mannerisms and overall work are pretty damn entertaining.

 

-Sorry but I'm not really digging Norvell Austin. Need to form a more educated opinion I suppose. From what little I've seen though, he's not much on the mic and his offence looks pretty weak. Maxine totally has all the heat here.

 

- Actually I'm surprised Lady Maxine never had a run in the WWF. Seems like someone Vince would have pushed pretty hard. She had the cartoon character kind of appeal they were all about in the 80's, plus seemed very charismatic. She could talk too.

 

- Can't get over how much I love the bumper music being "Party All the Time"

 

- Perennial WCW jobber/JTTS Tim Horner is more over here than 90% of the WWE roster is now.

 

-The crowds here make the bad stuff good and the good stuff great. As far as my enjoyment of wrestling goes, I value crowd heat greatly. That and commentary are usually make or break factors for me. Which brings me to another reason I love this promotion so far, Gordon Solie. Night and day from 90's Worldwide, which is the only other perspective I have on him.

 

-I've never heard of Boomer Lynch before, but his promo was pretty damn hilarious.

 

-Robert Fuller is amazing, I can't even articulate how awsome he is with the cocky heel gimmick.

 

Can't wait to go through more of these.

[conker8]

Actually Lady Maxine (or Mad Maxine) was in WWF in 1985.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lhTVmcoEeLg

[BArthur]

Actually Lady Maxine (or Mad Maxine) was in WWF in 1985.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lhTVmcoEeLg

Right. I knew that and it somehow didn't register. Blanked out on that one.

[goc]

Something to keep in mind about Norvell Austin is that he's near the end of his career in 1986 and had been wrestling for somewhere around 20 years.

[BArthur]

Something to keep in mind about Norvell Austin is that he's near the end of his career in 1986 and had been wrestling for somewhere around 20 years.

Fair Point, I did look up some stuff from the PYT Express that I enjoyed, after seeing the promo that the Network had up in Feb.

[goc]

This is a great video about just how big of a deal Bob Armstrong's heel run and rivalry with the announcer Charlie Platt was. Anyone who enjoys heel Bob Armstrong should watch this. This is Charlie Platt explaining it.

 

[goc]

I have really gained a new respect for Charlie Platt after watching that video and the bit of Southeastern that I watched this morning. I was looking for something to watch on Boomer T. Lynch and happened to put in the DVD that has the very last episode of Southeastern on it. Watching Charlie sit at the desk and hype the big change over to Continental Wrestling and how the Continental show is going to be hosted by Gordon Solie was impressive to me. He really wanted to sell the change over and seemed to have no animosity or resentment about it being his last show as the host.

 

I don't know how many wrestling announcers could sit there and hype the guy coming in who is putting them out of work

[goc]

We. Are. Back! Let's jump right back into the end of 1980 because there's some awesome stuff coming in 1981. We jump into the middle of a show right at the hype for THIS MONDAY NIGHT at the Boutwell Auditorium in Birmingham, Alabama. All the great things we missed include: a 13 man elimination tag match (don't ask me how it works), Tennessee Stud vs. Ron Bass, Randy Rose & Dennis Condrey vs. Bob & Brad Armstrong, Jerry Stubbs vs. The Shadow, Mr. Saito in a handicap match against Bob Owens & Burrhead Jones and John Valiant vs. Oki Shikina. Take my money.

Randy Rose tells Bob Armstrong to buy his little boy a toy to play with for Christmas because these tag titles are for men and Brad doesn't have a chance to take them. Bob Armstrong cuts a great promo, like always, putting over Brad and talking about how much money they will have to buy whatever they want after they beat Condrey & Rose for the Southeastern Tag Team Titles.

We get a "Season's Greetings" bumper from Charlie Platt coming back from commercial with a Christmas Tree, Jos LeDuc, Roy Lee Welch & The Armstrongs behind him. My main man Mr. Saito is at the desk with Charlie Platt and Ron Bass. Charlie Platt puts over Mr. Saito having possibly the strongest hands in professional sports and talks about his special version of the sleeper. Ron Bass cuts a promo about wanting the NWA World Champion and how he's going to take the Southeastern title from Ron Fuller and make him a stepping stone on his way to the World Title.

We get some more Saito, this time a Personality Profile with Les Thatcher asking Saito about hs version of the sleeper. Saito says it was taught to him by his father and offers to show the sleeper hold on Charlie Platt who looks scared shitless. Saito puts his arms around Charlie's head real gentle and then gives one quick jerk on the sleeper before letting go and Charlie looks like he needs to change his pants. Les says he thinks it's time to give Charlie a much needed break and send it down to the ring.

This is a matchup I like: Charlie Cook vs. Mr Saito. This is a very cool little match with the matwork feeling like a real struggle. Eventually Saito is about to get the sleeper on Charlie Cook who escapes through the ropes and gets out of the ring and Saito bows as a sign of respect. Charlie Cook throws one HELL of a dropkick right at Saito's head that takes him down but Cook misses on the second one and that gives Saito the opening to come in behind him and hit the Saito suplex. Very fun competitive 6 minute match.

 

After a commercial break we are back to Les Thatcher trying to explain to us the rules of the 13 man tag elimination match. It's every man for himself so it's not like a tag TEAM match. Two men are in the ring and everyone else surrounds the ring holding the middle rope and it's one fall elimination until the winner gets $5,000. Les Thatcher asks Bob what happens if he gets tagged in to come in and face his son Brad Armstrong. He kind of side steps that and just talks about how much everyone is going to be fighting for that money right before Christmas and he hopes he wins it or if not him then Brad. Les tries again and asks Brad the same question about what would he do if he got tagged in to wrestle Bob and Brad says if that's what it comes down to then his Dad taught him to be competitive. Les turns it over to Charlie who is standing with like every heel in the match: Ron Bass, Condrey & Rose, Mr. Saito & Jerry Stubbs. Condrey says he's so confident he's going to win it he already spent it: he bought a boat. We go back to Les Thatcher and The Armstrongs and Bob is one of the top babyface promos ever. I mean he's right there with Dusty & Lawler. Les wraps it up the "NWA Spotlight" segment and sends it to the next match.

My least favorite Southeastern guy Oki Shikina is wrestling Brad Armstrong. This is kind of your standard "rookie vs. wily veteran" match but Brad looks pretty good for what I am pretty sure is still his first year in the business. Brad reverses a body slam into a pin that didn't look too great for the win.

After a commercial we have Les Thatcher sitting with Ron Bass & Mr. Saito. These guys are getting a lot of promo time today. Ron Bass repeats himself about wanting the Southeastern title that Ron Fuller has and tells us what he'll do with the $5,000. Saito is asked about his handicap match and he doesn't care how many American wrestlers he faces he can beat them all. Saito says he works out 4-5 hours a day in the gym but American wrestlers never work out they just drink beer and talk to girls. They're fat. Too soft. Saito is the man.

We get another Season's Greetings bumper and then Jerry Stubbs comes out to talk to Charlie Platt about Stubbs' win of the U.S. Jr. Title in a Texas Death Match with Norvell Austin. They show footage of his match with Norvell while Charlie & Stubbs talk over the footage. Stubbs bald head is covered in blood in this clip. Stubbs ducks a crossbody and Norvell hits the referee again and that spot can usually look contrived but not this time. Stubbs hits an atomic drop on Norvell dropping him down onto the top rope instead of his knee and that puts Norvell down for the count to win the Texas Death Match. Jerry Stubbs says the Texas Death Match is the end of it, he is done with Norvell Austin and Norvell won't be getting title shots any more title shots.

Jerry Stubbs goes down to the ring to face Roy Lee Welch and Roy Lee blasts him with a right hand as Stubbs steps through the ropes and Welch is all over him at the start. Stubbs takes over but The Shadow (obviously Norvell Austin in a mask) runs in after Stubbs hits a powerslam and attacks him which causes a DQ. Disappointed we didn't get a real match between Welch & Stubbs.

Les & Charlie are at the desk wrapping up the show and suddenly the video cuts to a show opening with Charlie and...someone who is not Les Thatcher wtf. So that's all for today, tune in next time when we find out who is this guy at the desk with Charlie Platt who has suffered the tragic misfortune of not being Les Thacher.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[goc]

My new thing is to take every fun Charlie Cook match I see from my collection and put it on youtube. Here is the Saito vs. Charlie Cook match from the recap above:

 

[goc]

As a bonus I put something else on youtube today, one of my favorite things from 1986 Continental: Ronald Reagan's phone call to Roy Lee Welch:

 

[goc]

Charlie Platt starts this show off with new co-host Al Roberts? and fills us in on the news that Bob & Brad Armstrong have won the Southeastern Tag Team Titles from Dennis Condrey & Randy Rose. We also learn that Jimmy Golden has return to the area with a bit of a change in his personality which will be the topic of today's Personality Profile and Charlie lets us know that Paul Orndorff & Ken Lucas are both on their way to the Southeastern area. Lots of stuff going on in the area to start 1981 and now we have the first match: Ray Harris vs. Jerry Stubbs.

I think Jerry Stubbs may be one of the few wrestlers who had a worked weight that was LOWER than what he actually weighed. He looks awful big for 225 which just happens to be the weight limit for the U.S. Jr. title. Jerry Stubbs makes short work of Ray Harris and pulls him up from a few pinfalls before finally finishing him off with a powerslam.

There's a cut and then we get Norvell "The Shadow" Austin at the desk with Charlie showing tape of an arena match between Jerry Stubbs & Norvell Austin in a non title match. The Shadow says all he wanted was one chance to prove he could beat Jerry Stubbs and he made the best of it. I just don't get Norvell Austin he really doesn't do anything for me. This is a territory of great talkers and he's not really on their level, this was the worst of the "talk over arena footage" segments I have seen so far.

We get local promos for the Boutwell Auditorium from The Shadow & Jerry Stubbs and then that's the end of this DVD. In an amazing shock to me, the next DVD I have is a continuation right where the last one ends with an interview of the new tag team champions: Bob & Brad Armstrong. Poor Brad is in such a tough spot to have to follow behind Bob in these interviews where he can barely even get his 2 or 3 lines out right before Bob takes it back over.

Our next match is Jimmy Golden vs. The Avenger and Charlie mentions the last time he was here he had his back injured by cousin Robert Fuller but now he's come back a little bit different. Oh hey Les Thatcher joins the broadcast in progress so I guess he was just late to work haha the joys of live TV. Thatcher is a pro too because he likely walked right into the building and just sat down and started calling this match. Golden is working this match like a technical babyface with these neat little amateur takedowns and this is fun because I've NEVER seen him do that. He finishes it off with a swinging neckbreaker that would make Matt D proud and then Charlie Platt tells us we have our Personality Profile with Jimmy Golden coming up after the break.

Charlie asks Jimmy Golden about his past dealings with his family in wrestling and he doesn't really want to talk about that because the past is the past but he's here now just to wrestle the very best and prove he's the best himself. Golden says he may have had a little bit of a change of heart but he just wants to focus on facing the toughest competition. Charlie then shows a tape of a crazy big brawl with Bob Armstrong & Ron Fuller getting a beating and Jimmy Golden coming in to help even the odds for the babyfaces and clear the ring. Golden says he was just doing what was right but he's not apologizing to anyone for anything that's happened.

The next segment after a cut in the tape is Charlie Platt welcoming us to another edition of Southeastern Championship Wrestling so I guess that's all for this episode that is likely missing something. But oh well, you take what you can get.

[goc]

Lots of talk about who is coming into the area to start this January 1981 show just like last week's and this time we learn that Robert Gibson is coming in and that in February that both NWA World Champion Harley Race and Andre the Giant will visit the area. It's a big year for Southeastern in 1981.

Jimmy Golden is in the first match against Frank Lavert and he makes quick work of him and finishes with that swinging neckbreaker. Amusing to me was Les Thacher talking about Jimmy Golden wanting to challenge Jerry Stubbs but there being some question over whether Jimmy Golden can make the weight limit.

After that, the U.S. Jr. Champion Jerry Stubbs is out to talk over arena footage of another match with The Shadow. Norvell Austin goes for a crossbody but Stubbs ducks and Norvell takes a pretty nasty bump into the ropes. Also in the clips was Norvell doing a really awesome suplex where he kind of "pumps" Stubbs while he has him all the way up. Stubbs runs down Jimmy Golden when he's asked about Jimmy Golden's challenge and Jerry Stubbs says Jimmy has been out of wrestling and hasn't been in the gym, he put on weight can't hang with Jerry Stubbs now. Jerry Stubbs is getting ready to unmask The Shadow on the tape when Jimmy Golden runs in and attacks him! Golden hits some crazy high dropkick that surprises me and sends Stubbs out of the ring. Stubbs reiterates his point about Golden not having the discipline to lose the weight to challenge him for the U.S. JR. title to wrap up the segment.

Alexis Smirnoff apparently makes a rare Southeastern appearance on this Boutwell card facing Paul Orndorff. Now we get another Shadow promo about Jerry Stubbs and I have to say as much as I love this territory they had a tendency to run some of their feuds into the ground. I can only imagine how long they ran this feud with Norvell having his "last chance" and now being to the "last chance" as The Shadow. Jerry Stubbs is a pretty good promo. He'd probably have a better rep in that department if he didn't have to continuously be overshadowed by Bob Armstrong & The Fullers in this territory.

Jimmy Golden is next at the desk with Charlie Platt and he says he IS 225 and he's coming for Jerry Stubbs. They go over his "change in personality" and style and Jimmy Golden is kind of boring as a babyface here where I actually liked him a lot in the role against Kevin Sullivan & his New Guinea Headhunters. But I know that is not going to last long.

Our next match is Norvell Austin & Mike Jackson vs. Dennis Condrey & Randy Rose so I would imagine that Norvell is on his way out now if he's on his "last chance" with Jerry Stubbs as The Shadow and teaming with Mike Jackson as himself. Apparently this is Mike Jackson's first appearance on Southeastern TV? He has a lot of hair but the bald spot is already there, unfortunately I have no idea how old he is in 1981. Condrey & Rose might just be the lesser of the Midnight Express teams but they look really good here and I wish they had the arena footage to really compare. Condrey & Rose win with a double clothesline on Mike Jackson with Condrey on the apron & Rose in the ring. Condrey & Rose head right over to the desk to talk trash about The Armstrongs who are only walking around with their belts.

After a commercial we come back to Les Thacher talking to John valiant, Ron Fuller, Bob Armstrong & Brad Armstrong. Ron talks about a handicap match he had against Don carson & The Stomper where Bob Armstrong came out to help him and then we see the footage of it. For the record, Fuller is wrestling in his Tennessee Stud mask and doing his promos with the mask just so people understand this is just the way that dynamic works. This turns into a real mess as Condrey, Rose & Bass run out and atack Armstrong & Fuller. Armstrong was apparently already cut from his tag match earlier and he's REALLY bleeding now. The main event at Boutwell will be an 8 man tag Texas Death Match which sounds like it would have been fucking nuts to be there live for that. The winning team wins $30,000 with each man putting up $5000 and the promoter Don Curtis adding $10,000. Just a nice little touch to put over why these guys are going to be killing each other on Monday night.

The next match is The Scorpion vs. The Tennessee stud and Scorpion attacks Stud from behind right at the start. Fuller is a smart man because looks way tougher with the mask on than he does as balding Ron Fuller. He makes a quick comeback and The Scorpion is quickly squashed.

After The Stud match we get Les Thatcher at the desk with Conrey, Rose, Bass & Saito. Bass has made his whole team honorary Texans and is flying in the governor of Texas to see one it's native sons win the Texas Death match and all the money. I have my doubts if the entire house for that Monday night in Birmingham was even $30,000.

The next match is the main event with "TV time remaining" and Bob & Brad Armstrong are facing the oddly random team of Oki Shikina & Ron Bass. This was actually a lot of fun and the ending was really fun with BOB Armstrong slingshotting himself in over the top rope to sunset flip Oki Shikina has Brad in a front facelock. Right before that Bob Armstrong hit no joke one of the best wrestling punches I have ever seen on Ron Bass while Brad has Ron in an arm wringer. Almost as soon as the match is over, Saito, Condrey & Rose hit the ring and attack The Armstrongs. Armstrongs get their ass kicked until The Stud & John Valiant run down to help out and the heels decide to take off.

After a commercial we come back to the card run down of the 8 man tag Texas Death match, Jerry Stubbs vs. The Shadow, Jimmy Golden vs. Oki Shikina, Paul Ordnorff vs. The Avenger & Bob Armstrong vs. Dennis Condrey. They kind of blew their load on that 8 man tag but I mean who gives a shit you'd still buy a ticket wouldn't you?? We get one more word from the babyface team and Bob says what is good for the goose is good for the gander and he is going to get Condrey's goose. I need to make like an hour long compilation of Bob punching people with Bob's best promos as the soundtrack.

Les & Charlie wrap up the day's events and hype the big 8 man tag on Monday Night, saying that this is getting out of hand and surely someone is going to get hurt. Ron Bass comes out and says he isn't done and he calls out the babyface team and we have another 8 man brawl in the ring! And that takes us out of this edition of Southeastern, join me next time where we will immediately jump into an epsiode in progress with arena footage of Jimmy Golden vs. Jerry Stubbs.

 

[goc]

I watched a short clipped up episode last night but I was drunk and on the couch so there is no usual in depth write-up on it, I hope you will find it in your heart to forgive me.

 

The show started with highlights of an arena match between Jimmy Golden & Jerry Stubbs and I wish I could see the whole thing because the closing moments looked pretty good. Jimmy Golden's stock goes up with me pretty much every time he's got a mic in his hand and I know that this is headed into the Golden/Fuller feud that made me a hardcore mark for this territory so there's nothing but good things ahead for Golden.

 

Most of the promos on this show were hyping a one night tournament for a brand new 1980 Corvette which is one of those fun old school things that we'll never see again. We also found out that John Valiant turned on his buddy Ron Fuller due to a large sum of money from someone that Valiant didn't want to name. I'm not sure who paid him off and I'm intrigued as to where that goes.

 

They are still hyping the arrival of Paul Orndorff this time with a video from Mid-South of him beating Ox Baker in an arm wrestling match. I kind of forgot some of the tournament matches but the ones I remember were Brad Armstrong vs. Dennis Condrey, John Valiant vs. Ron Fuller, Jimmy Golden vs. Jerry Stubbs so I think it was probably a good night at the Boutwell Auditorium.

 

Join me next time when we hopefully don't skip a week so we can find out who won the car.

[goc]

I had a better intro typed up but it's gone and I don't feel like rewatching the parts I lost. So I will just say that this show opens with Les Thatcher & Charlie Platt telling us about the recent happenings around the Southeastern area including Jimmy Golden beating Jerry Stubbs for the U.S. Junior Title but weighing in at 226 pounds, 1 lb over the weight limit so the title has been held up. Randy Rose & Dennis Condrey have regained the Southeastern Tag Team Titles and Paul Orndorff will finally be making his TV debut on this episode. No update on who won the 1980 Corvette though so I'm already annoyed.

 

Jerry Stubbs has the first match and squashes the spitting image of every pasty white skinny 80s jobber in the form of Ray Harris. After that we have Paul Orndorff at the desk talking to Charlie & Les. They show Paul Orndroff facing Larry Cheatham from Mid-South TV and holy shit Cheatham has some of the most ridiculous wrestling hair I've ever seen. It's like if Mocho Cota bleached blonde the front of his afro. Well that guarantees we at least have one picture to go with this recap. Orndroff has a beard in this match from Mid-South which is a look I've never seen from him. Apparently Orndroff is going to be wrestling Harley Race soon for the NWA World Title. Orndorff is a boring babyface promo.

 

We go to commercial and come back with the rundown for Monday night's card at Boutwell which has Les Thornton defending the World Jr. Title against Norvel Austin, MY MAN Mr. Saito defends the Alabama Title against Bob Armstrong and...wait we're still hyping the Corvette tournament? Was there not a card at Boutwell the week before? Because they spent the whole last show building up the Corvette tournament and now it's on the upcoming card. I have no idea. Anyway, it's Tennessee Stud vs. John Valiant, Jerry Stubbs vs. Jimmy Golden, Brad Armstrong vs. Dennis Condrey, Randy Rose vs. Robert Gibson and Paul Orndorff vs. Ron Bass. I have absolutely no idea how this 10 man tournament is supposed to work. They said nothing about byes and didn't show a bracket. Somebody needs to come and cut a good promo here because I'm getting annoyed.

 

We get Orndorff & Golden talking about Ron Bass and Jerry Stubbs and then the rebuttal from Bass & Stubbs. Jerry Stubbs amuses me by talking shit about Jimmy Golden never going to the gym. Jesus this is the Paul Orndorff hour because now we get our 3rd Orndorff promo this time talking about how much he was hearing about Southeastern while he was wrestling all over other parts of the country. I'm already sick of hearing babyface Orndorff talk. Way too much of a mediocre thing.

 

Finally we get something good as Rose & Condrey are out to brag about winning back the Southeastern Tag Team Titles. Randy Rose has some ridiculous E&C era Christian sunglasses on. We have my favorite thing from territory wrestling now as they show highlights of Rose & Condrey winning back the titles with the them & Les talking over the footage. Rose says he didn't get a chance to get to the gym so his work out was picking up Brad Armstrong and slamming him back down. Bob Armstrong gets the hot tag and I could watch Bob punch people all day. The ref gets bumped and then Condrey pulls something out of his knee pad and then knocks out Bob Armstrong with it and then Rose goes up to the top rope to drop a knee into the chest of Bob Armstrong but Brad crawls on top of him and takes the bullet. The referee then comes to and counts as Condrey covers Bob Armstrong. They should have done that part before Bob got knocked out or something, I don't know. Bob was just laid out for way too long before he got pinned.

 

The next match is NON bleached blonde Ken Timbs facing Ron Bass. Timbs was never in great shape but he's pretty fat here. Bass just kicks the shit out of him and beats him in less than 2 minutes. After the match they go back to the desk with Brad Armstrong there and ask him where Bob is. Brad says his Dad had to take care of some business in Columbus, GA that morning but he should have been at the studio by now. They get ready to show the tape of Condrey & Rose winning the tag belts and Brad saving his Dad again but we don't end up watching it because Mr. Saito comes out to talk some trash. He wants to know why Bob Armstrong isn't here. Saito says that Bob is scared of him and then slaps Brad which starts a brawl. Saito chops Brad in the throat and then rips his shirt off to reveal his ribs are taped up from the knee drop from Rose so Saito starts stomping and kicking on the ribs before some of the other babyfaces run out for the save.

 

Next we have a Personality Profile with Robert Gibson. He says he came to Southeastern to fight Ron Bass who put his brother Ricky Gibson out of wrestling. And that's all we get, not much of a Personality Profile this week. Robert Gibson heads down to the ring for a squash match against Jimmy Jones. Great jobber name there. Bob Armstrong shows up during the match and does guest commentary to give his thoughts about Mr. Saito's attack on Brad Armstrong. I love fired up Bullet Bob. Gibson wins with the old "dodge a charge into the corner and then sunset flip your opponent" deal.

 

We come back from commercial with Saito vs. Charles Odem. This ain't Charlie Cook vs. Saito, this one is a total squash that goes less than a minute. After that we get Ron Fuller & Jimmy Golden out to talk and Robert says he's as surprised as everyone else that he and Jimmy Golden are now on the same side after all the bad blood between Ron & Jimmy Golden. Jimmy says they are going to team up to get rid of some New York trash in the form of John Valiant. They show arena footage of Valiant vs. The Stud and Valiant gets busted open after being sent into the ring post. I don't know how it ends though because the DVD cuts off and the next DVD I have starts with the intro to the next episode. THE JOYS OF TRACKING DOWN OBSCURE 80S TERRITORY FOOTAGE!

 

 

 

[goc]

*There was another episode before this one and I had the first 30 minutes of the show typed up and then took a nap at which point my computer decided to do an auto update and restart itself and lose everything I wrote up. So I will just say that Randy Rose won the tournament for the 1980 Corvette and some other stuff happened but this episode I have the full recap of is the more important one because it kicks off the big angle of 1981: Jimmy Golden's turn on Ron Fuller.

 

Charlie & Les welcome us to the show and tell us that Dennis Condrey & Randy Rose will face Norvel Austin & Robert Gibson on TV today, Jerry Stubbs will face Roy Lee Welch and they run down the rest of the people who will be in action. Then they tell us about Jimmy Golden injuring Ron Fuller. We also find out that the U.S. Junior Title was decided in a one night tournament that was won by Brad Armstrong. Then out comes the Junior Champion himself who has already upped his 80s fro game to surpass his father Bullet Bob.

Our first match of the day is the big tag match between the Southeastern Tag Team Champions, Condrey & Rose vs. Norvel & Robert Gibson. That's a pretty big TV match for this era whether it seems like it now reading this through your jaded 2015 eyes. And they don't even tell us how this match could main event any arena in the country, what a missed opportunity Charlie & Les! Ron Bass does guest commentary on this match to talk about Robert Gibson and then he gets involved in the finish by tripping Robert Gibson.

After the match they go to Norvel & Paul Orndorff at the desk and they watch footage of their recent match at Boutwell against Condrey & Rose. Ordnorff & Norvel win the non-title match and now they'll be receiving a title match THIS MONDAY NIGHT.

We go to commercial and come back with the Monday night rundown which includes Tony Atlas vs. Jimmy Golden, Mr. Saito vs. Bob Armstrong in a "karate is legal" match and Brad Amstrong against Jerry Stubbs in a No DQ match. Then we get a promo from Norvel & Orndorff about their title match. Neither of these guys are doing anything for me on the mic. Condrey & Rose have their rebuttal and say Orndorff & Norvel are only getting one shot at the belts and that's all they are going to want anyway.

After that we get Jimmy Golden talking about all the people coming in to face him on behalf of The Tennessee Stud, Ron Fuller. Golden has the Stud mask with him and says that's all that is left of Ron Fuller and thanks all the people for sending their cards and letters to Ron Fuller to tell him that Golden was changed and Ron should take him as a partner. Fuller fell right into the spider's web and Golden ate him alive. Charlie asks him why he did it and Golden says he did it because the Fullers are Tennessee trash. The Fullers are always talking about breaking arms and breaking legs but Jimmy Golden is the one who put out Ron Fuller and if he doesn't fight him when he gets back out of the hospital then Ron is a gutless coward. Golden says Ron Fuller is not the Tennessee Stud anymore because Jimmy Golden is the Super Stud now.

Our next match is the World Junior Champion Jerry Stubbs facing Roy Lee Welch. I guess Les Thorton dropped the belt during his trip through the area. Jerry Stubbs works this very much like a World Title match because Roy Lee Welch kind of dominates and then Stubbs reverses a pin attempt at the end and eeks out a win. Pretty good little TV match for this era. After the match we get an interview with Jerry Stubbs where he talks about the one night tournament that Brad Armstrong won for the U.S. Junior Title. Oh, now I figure out that Stubbs wasn't even in that tournament because he faced Les Thornton that night and beat him for the World Junior Title. Now he says he's going to beat Brad Armstrong and be the first man to have both the U.S. and the World Junior Titles at the same time.

After a commercial break we come back to a Les Thatcher talking to Mr. Saito in the ring and Saito is going to do "demonstration" of his version of the sleeperhold on Roy Lee Welch. I get that they taped this earlier than the Welch/Stubbs match but they didn't really specify that and it kind of looks silly for Welch to be in perfect condition now when he was just in a match on the earlier segment. But anyway, you know how this goes Saito demonstrates how the hold works but then cinches it in and won't let go. Saito goes off on the referee who tries to pull him off and puts him in the Sleeper until Bob Armstrong hits the ring and starts kicking his ass. Armstrong puts his own sleeper on Saito and then Condrey & Rose come and grab Saito's legs and pull him out of the ring. After that we get Bob Armstrong at the desk and they talk over footage of him vs. Saito from the arena. I love hearing Bob Armstrong talk about Saito's karate. In this match Armstrong gets the sleeper on Saito just like the TV angle they just ran and Condrey & Rose come out and attack him 3 on 1. Saito puts Bob out with the sleeper until the other babyfaces run out and help clear the ring.

After the commercial we come back to more promos from Saito & Bob Armstrong talking about their "non sanctioned Karate is legal" match this Monday night. Bob is the best "Everytime I turn around in Birmingham, that Saito is karateing me half to death, well why not make it legal? Let's just karate each other and like I said before he might be a master he might know a million way to chop me to pieces but I know one darn good way to chop you brother, and you know what, it only takes on Les, one in the right place brother and you will go down like the big Japanese man that you are." Ohh then he drops this line at the end "In Boutwell we gonna get it on karate, kung fu or boogaloo." Bob Armstrong is the best.

Our next match is Jimmy Golden against Jimmy Jones. Jimmy Golden has already gone over to full on heel tactics in his matches and Les talks about how Golden is more comfortable working this style now that he doesn't have to fool Ron Fuller any more. Jimmy Golden wins with a neckbreaker and pins Jones like a dickhead, essentially sitting on his chest/face. After the match Golden goes over to the desk to talk to Les & Charlie. Now we are going to see footage of the Double Bullrope match where Golden turned on his partner Ron Fuller when they faced Don & Ron Bass. Ron Fuller has Don Bass in the Fuller Leglock and we are told he had broken Don Bass' leg with that hold when Ron & Jimmy Golden come back in and attack him. They untie the bullropes from Don Bass and themselves and then start tying them one to each arm of Ron Fuller. Jimmy Golden says Ron Fuller has broken leg after leg but he's not going to break any more because he's GONE! They take the ropes and tie them to opposite corners and Ron Fuller can't go anywhere or do anything and Jimmy Golden then pulls the Tennessee Stud mask off of Ron Fuller. They keep beating on him and Golden stomps him right in the nuts as Les asks Golden why he says Ron Fuller deserved this when he's never tied anyone up like what Golden did to him. Golden says he doesn't care, he's seen both the Fullers do horrible things that you can't even imagine and says they've had a silver spoon in their mouth their whole lives and when things get tough they're always heading out the back door. Golden says The Tennessee Stud is gone for good and now there is only the Super Stud. Golden once again thanks the fans for their letters to Ron Fuller that helped make this happen. Charlie Platt gets disgusted and walks off which sets Golden off on another tirade and they start wrapping the segment up to go to commercial as Jimmy yells that they need to just buy more time instead of cutting him off. Really good stuff and this is the angle that got me hooked on Southeastern and made me track down and collect an 80+ DVD collection of this territory. They really put this over by having big stars coming in to avenge Ron Fuller like Tony Atlas this week and then Mr. Wrestling II and Ken Lucas come in after that.

Before the show ends they show a video promo by Tony Atlas from Georgia talking about his friendship with Ron & Robert Fuller and how they looked out for him when he was a young guy just starting in the business when everyone else was trying to take advantage of him. Apparently Robert lose some kind of loser leaves so he can't come in and get Jimmy Golden so Tony is going to do it for him. Les Thatcher wraps up the show and runs down the card for Monday night again and that's all for this episode.

[goc]

Charlie & Les welcome us to the show and let us know that Mr. Saito will be defending the Alabama Title on TV today against Bob Armstrong. We are also informed that Jerry Stubbs lost the World Jr. Title back to Les Thornton. We are also informed that Ron Fuller has vacated the Southeastern Title. We see an interview with Ron Fuller who talks about just having stitches taking out and talking to a neck specialist who has told him he shouldn't wrestle for the next 3-4 weeks. Ron talks about being turned on by John Valiant and then Jimmy Golden and how it's been more of a mental torment than a physical one. Ron has decided he's going to leave the Southeastern area because he feels like he's been humiliated by what happened to him and he's going to be competing in other parts of the country. Ron hands the Southeastern title over to Charlie Platt and says he doesn't have the heart or the desire to compete in the Southeastern area anymore.

The first match of the day is the fake Japanese wrestling and actual Mexican - Oki Shikina vs. Paul Orndorff. I really do not like Shikina and think he's the worst guy I've seen in this territory whether that be Southeastern or Continental era. Oki's offense could be summed up with the words choppy choppy. Orndorff looks incredibly athletic in this match and pretty much squashed Shikina.

 

After that match we have Condrey & Rose out to the desk to talk over footage of their title defense against Norvel Austin & Paul Orndorff. Condrey is a good talker who doesn't get his due in that department because he ended up with such a great manager like Cornette. Condrey & Rose are doing my favorite Southeastern thing where the heels talk about how great and virtuous they are, always playing by the rules against those dastardly cheating babyfaces. Randy Rose gets DQ'd for coming off the top rope but insists that "No, no I didn't come off the top rope because you see my left foot was on the second turnbuckle." Dennis calls it trick photography.

 

We come back from commercial with a run down of the Monday night card at Boutwell which has Ken Lucas against Jimmy Golden, the Southeastern Champion (?) Ron Bass vs. Paul Orndorff, Norvel Austin, Bob & Brad Armstrong vs. Mr. Saito, Randy Rose & Dennis Condrey, the women's liberation tag match of Joyce Grable & Judy Martin vs. Roy Lee Welch & Robert Gibson (and I would love to see video of how that played out) and some other matches that don't interest me. Les tells us that there will be no wrestling on TV next week and then talks to Ron Bass & Paul Orndorff about their Southeastern Title match. They both want to have that title because whoever has the belt gets a shot at NWA World Champion Harley Race when he comes into the area in a few weeks.

 

We go to another commercial and come back to Saito, Condrey & Rose with their titles. Saito says he's going to beat the hell out of Bob Armstrong retire him to sit at home, eat popcorn and watch TV. The next match of the show is Ron Bass facing the man who's brother he "retired" Robert Gibson. Bass grabs the mic from the ring announcer and says he's going to get to Gibson's leg today on TV and put him out just like he did his brother. This is really short as Ron Bass gets DQ'd for throwing Gibson over the top rope

 

After another commercial break we come back to Charlie Platt doing a Personality Profile with Roy Lee Welch & Robert Gibson talking about their "Women's Liberation" match against Joyce Grable & Judy Martin. Charlie tells us that the women called Don Curtis and asked to face men and specifically asked for Jr. Heavyweights. They really play this straight with Roy saying he thought it was a joke by Don Curtis at first but thinking about it and realizing the women went through the same tough training as the men and that since the women are already former Women Tag Team Champions the only way to go any further in their careers is to start wrestling men. Charlie tells us this match has been booked in not just one town but all over the Southeastern area so the women have more than 1 chance. We hear from Bob Armstrong and he puts over the concept and the two women and I'm still blown away by how much they really put this match over and don't put down the women's chances of winning or being competitive.

 

We get the funky bumper music and come back a SPLIT SCREEN promo of Mr. Saito and Charlie Platt on the left and Bob Armstrong & Les Theacher on the right talking about their match on TV today. After that we go to the ring for the Alabama Title match with Mr Saito defending his title against THE BULLET Bob Armstrong. This is a pretty good little match until we get a shitty ref bump as Bob picks Saito up for a bodyslam and the ref kicks hit by Saito's feet. Randy Rose comes and blasts Bob Armstrong over the head with a board and then another referee runs in and calls off the match as Bob Armstrong is totally laid out in the ring. The senior referee Tommy Weathers says he is going to hold the belt up and then they go to commercial.

 

We come back to Les running down the Monday night card and then he talks to the Norvel, Bob & Brad about their 6 man tag coming up against Saito, Conrey & Rose. Bob cuts a good promo, as usual, and makes me want buy a ticket to see that 6 man tag. After that we get Jimmy Golden vs. jobber Ray Harris. Golden is a real shit head in this match and wins pretty easily with his swinging neckbreaker.

 

After the match we get arena footage of Jimmy Golden vs. Mr. Wrestling II. Golden is great during this just talking shit about Ron Fuller, calling him a coward, saying he left the area because he's afraid of fighting Jimmy Golden. Golden beats Wrestling II after hitting him with a foreign object and starts talking some more trash to the fans in the studio audience about how's now the living legend of the area. Ken Lucas comes up behind him, taps him on the shoulder and then blasts him with a right hand. Lucas starts beating on him and Charlie screams "let's get out of here" which takes us to a commercial.

 

After commercial we get Jimmy Golden ranting about Ken Lucas, saying he's whipped everyone around here for years but Jimmy Golden is to be the one to whip him. Then we get the rebuttal from Ken Lucas and after that Les & Charlie wrap up the day's events.

 

 

*I have 11 consecutive posts in this thread, it'd be nice to get some feedback. I could get through these a lot faster without doing the writeups so it'd be nice to know it's not a waste of time.

[Dewar]

I love reading this, so at least one person is paying attention.

[UKWildcat]

I love reading these as well.

[Wade Garrett]

Goc if you have the time please keep this thread alive. Everyone on this board with a passion for the old territories (especially Southern) should be reading this.

[goc]

I'll eventually get back to this. It's like my wrestling version of comfort food, when I start losing interest or see some really crappy wrestling then I go back to Southeastern. It's just that the NWAClassics stuff and the 1983 fantasy project have taken up most of my rasslin time recently. I've tried to keep everyone on my fantasy roster involved in some kind of story/feud/issue as a tribute to the greatness of this territory.

 

I specifically avoided taking Southeastern as my territory though due to not feeling like I could do it any better than it was already done in real life. It didn't feel like too big of a challenge to make Southwest better.

[goc]

Let's try and get this train back on the tracks. The date I have for this show is 2/14/81 but the only thing I know for sure is that it's in early 81. Charlie and Les welcome us to the show and run down the matches for today's show which include Ken Lucas vs. Ron Bass and Paul Orndorff vs. Chick Donovan. They talk about how everyone is looking to become the Southeastern champion before Harley Race comes into the area to defend the NWA World Title against whoever is the title holder.

Then we get a pre-taped split screen promo between Brad Armstrong & Jerry Stubbs with Stubbs talking about how he wants back his U.S. Jr. title and Brad kind of stumbles his way through a rebuttal. This takes us straight to the ring where both guys are already waiting for the bell. This match is kind of losing me and then Dennis Condrey & Randy Rose come out with a board and try to get Jerry Stubbs to take it and use it on Brad Armstrong and Stubbs thinkgs about it but decides not to which causes them to run in and attack Stubbs with it! Then hell breaks loose as Bob Armstrong, Mr. Saito and a whole bunch of other people run in and we get a bunch of people brawling in the ring before the heels retreat. Stubbs wins by DQ but Brad retains the title and we go to commerical with Stubbs trying to get up in the ring while he's bleeding big time.

We come back with the rundown for the Monday show in the Boutwell Auditorium which has a Light's Out match with Ken Lucas vs. Jimmy Golden, Ron Bass defending the Southeastern Title against Paul Orndorff in a No DQ match, Bob Armstrong, Brad Armstrong and a "mystery partner" (almost assuredly Jerry Stubbs now) against Saito, Condrey & Rose, Jerry Stubbs vs. Oki Shikina and Robert Gibson vs. Stan Lane in what may have been the first of the MANY times they would be in the ring together. I'd have gone.

Then we get promos from Paul Orndorff & Ron Bass about their match with both guys accusing the other of chickening out of the match and getting themself disqualified to set up their No DQ match for Monday. Orndorff is outclassed badly by all the other great talkers in this territory. After that we get Charlie Platt interviewing Ken Lucas about returning to the area. I have no idea what is going on as Ken Lucas has the Southeastern title in front of him and they're talking about him winning it but we JUST saw a promo from Ron Bass with the title on his shoulder talking about defending it against Orndorff. Lucas talks about wanting to hold on to the belt so he can be the one to wrestle Harley Race for the NWA World Title but I'm still confused.

After they finish making my head spin we go back to Charlie & Les at the desk talking about how Southeastern had the best action of any promotion in 1980 and then we get a video from the Southeastern figurehead promoter Don Curtis. He talks about spending $150,000 on special prizes for matches and plans to double that budget in 1981. That's amusing to me. He says he also plans to go around to the towns in the area so the fans can tell him what they like and don't like about the promotion. Just imagine someone trying to do that today.

After that we get my least favorite Southeastern guy the fake Japanese actually Mexican Oki Shikina vs. Robert Gibson. This match does nothing for me and instead I sit here and think about how much wrestling has changed since 1981 and how desperate WWE is for a Mexican star while back in 81 they would be so under used it was easier to get bookings by shaving your head and pretending to be Japanese (or Mongolian in the case of Juan Reynosa becoming Taras Bulba) You can't get away with that shit today just look at how WWE had to backtrack on Kofi Kingston being from Jamaica once it got outed he was really from West Ghana. It's too bad really, The Ascension would make much better fake Mongolians than fake Road Warriors. Gibson wins this with a Thesz press to save you from more of my pointless musings.

We move on from that to our Personality Profile with Rose, Condrey & Saito. Thank you, this is more like it. Condrey & Rose still have the Southeastern Tag Titles and Saito has the Alabama Title making them the "Terrific Trio" according to Rose. These guys are really under rated promos especially Condrey. We get a promo from Bob Armstrong who talks about the concussion he got from Condrey and he walked sideways for 3 days. Bob says he's been hit by so many karate chops by Saito his voice has changed 3 times in the last month. Bob wants to show who his partner is going to be and OHH SHIT it's not Jerry Stubbs, it's Andre the Giant! They built that reveal up great and even got me hyped with it almost 35 years later. The "Terrific Trio" sell it perfectly and damn now I *REALLY* wish I could have seen that Boutwell card.

After that awesomeness we get "The Golden Boy" Chick Donovan against Paul Orndorff. Chick looks about as jacked as I've ever seen him in this match. Les Thatcher sums up Donovan's strategy in this match as a "hit and run artist" which is a lost art of being a heel. God forbid a wrestler stall to get heat these days they might not get a good review on the internet or a this is awesome chant. Orndorff kind of starts moving too fast here and just throws out a bunch of offense without letting any of it breathe including the weakest looking powerslam I've ever seen him do. Orndorff wins with a back body drop attempt countered into a backslide.

We go back to the desk with Les Thatcher talking to Bob & Brad Armstrong along with a video promo from Rose, Condrey & Saito. They go all in on the Andre hype saying he's never been off his feet but they're going to chop down the tree and then we get Bob & Brad's response. "Salt, karate, kung fu boogaloo I don't care what it is in Birmingham you will go down." Bullet Bob is the best.

After a commercial we get another promo from Ken Lucas at the desk with Charlie Platt and they look at footage of Jimmy Golden vs. Ken Lucas from the arena. Lucas shoves off the first referee for trying to push him off Golden and then Golden punches the referee out once he recovers and tries to break them up again. They keep fighting and then the second referee comes in and gets the same treatment. Lucas keeps kicking Golden's ass but Condrey & Rose come down and pull him out of the ring to save him and Lucas promises more of the same for Jimmy this Monday night.

Then we get our TV main event of Ron Bass vs. Ken Lucas and I suspect some bullshit on the finish for this one. Neither guy comes out with the belt or gets called the champion in an effort to make sure I stay confused on that point. And that doesn't take long as Lucas gets his Sleeper on Ron Bass and then gets attacked from behind. Lucas tries to fight them off and then Bob Armstrong comes out and helps him and they clear the ring.

After a commercial we get the card rundown again for Monday night and the last little bit of hype from Les Thatcher who shows a video promo from Jimmy Golden who has is holding The Stud's mask on a stick with him while he talks trash about Ken Lucas. I love trash talking Jimmy Golden. Then we get Charlie and Les at the desk recapping the day's show and welcoming us back next week. I'm surprised we didn't get a bloody promo from Stubbs about the attack from Condrey & Rose but I guess they didn't want to take the focus off the Andre surprise.