NWA: Southeastern Championship Wrestling
March 22, 1980
Knoxville, TN
WBIR-10 TV Studio

The current SECW champions are as follows:
NWA World Champion: Harley Race (11/7/1979)
NWA Southeastern Heavyweight Champion: Killer Karl Kox (3/16/1980)
NWA Southeastern Tag Team Champions: The Manchurians (3/2/1980)
NWA Southeastern TV Champion: Dutch Mantell (3/15/1980)
NWA U.S. Junior Heavyweight Champion: Tony Charles (6/22/1979)

Your host is Les Thatcher.

• Terry Taylor vs. Ron Slinker
  

Thatcher describes Slinker as a karate guy who has successfully switched over to catch as catch can style wrestling. He even goes as far as to say Slinker is a contender to Harley Race. I don’t know about that, Les. Slinker looks like John Dehner to me. Look him up, kids. Taylor is VERY young here. He’s probably about 6-7 months in the business at this point. We got Scrappy McGowan as the referee. It’s strange because I’m so used to seeing him only in Georgia before that operation shut down. Anyways, they exchange leg and arm holds until they start going for the quick pin without really any setup. Slinker is the one who manages to score the pinfall with an inside cradle in 4:03. I really expected this go to the other way.

I’m loving these promos set to disco music. I’m sure that gets over real good in Knoxville.

Back to the show, a referee calls for babyface Ole Anderson to be suspended for beating him up REAL bad. Killer Karl Kox stops by to support what the referee wants to happen. They were in the Marines together for crying out loud! The audio is pretty bad so it’s hard to figure out what’s going on, but sounds like there will still be a “lights out” match between Ole and KKK.

Next up, Troy T. Tyler – clearly doing a Dusty Rhodes imitation – talks about his upcoming NWA Southeastern heavyweight title match with Killer Karl Kox in Hazard KY. Memphis fans will remember him as the Dream Machine.

• The Manchurians (w/The Great Mephisto) vs. The Matador & Jerry Roberts
  

The Matador is under the hood as the great Jerry Stubbs while Jerry Roberts is best known as Jacques Rougeau because smelly Frenchmen don’t get over as blowjob babyfaces down Knoxville way. This is ‘MERICA, folks. In case it’s confusing, the Manchurians are essentially the Mongolians here. Makes sense, right? They are geographic neighbors after all. Ron Slinker has joined Thatcher for extra special commentary. Big brawl to start as the Great Mephisto decides to leave after getting beat up. Matador gets his ribs stomped by the Manchurians and stuck in a chinlock. Tag to Roberts, he gets stuck in the Manchurians corner with heel moves. Roberts takes a knee lift and falls back into his corner to tag the Matador. It’s bad news for the Manchurians, but for some reason Roberts gets tagged in again. He hits one of the Manchurians with a dropkick from the second rope, but telegraphs a backdrop. The Great Mephisto is back at ringside now. One of them applies the NERVE HOLD on Roberts until he can’t continue to get the win. (5:23) The match was fun, but the aftermath is even more interesting. With Roberts out, the Matador gets double-teamed and tied up in the ropes to be whipped. When Ron Slinker comes to save him, the Great Mephisto throws a FIREBALL at him. DOWN GOES SLINKER~!

When we return from a break, the Matador complains about being “beat like a dog” and can’t wait to get his hands on the Great Mephisto.

Les Thatcher is now with Allen Williams and promoter Bob Polk. They discuss how out of hand and violent wrestling has gotten lately. Polk wants anybody who has photographic evidence of the incident involving the Manchurians and the Matador & Jerry Roberts that happened out in the parking lot last week during the TV taping to let him know because right now it’s just one person’s word over another and that doesn’t mean a whole lot. Talk turns to Killer Karl Kox wanting Ole Anderson to be suspended for hitting the ref, but Stan Hansen stands up for Ole and shows video proof that there might be some serious collusion between Killer Karl and that referee. In one instance, Killer Karl knocked out Ole with some foreign object from his tights in plain sight of the ref and didn’t get DQ’ed for it. In fact, the ref still just counted the three-count like normal. In a second instance, Ole beats up the ref and gets held by KKK to be punched on by the ref! Now that’s collusion. Hansen mentions other instances where Killer Karl Kox won matches in other areas and this guy was the referee there as well. Hansen feels that referee should be suspended and that Killer Karl has a belt that doesn’t mean anything because he didn’t win it fair and square. Hansen leaves his cowboy hat there on the table to go wrestle.

• Stan Hansen vs. The Seraph
  

While Hansen is in the ring, Killer Karl Kox comes out and screws around with his hat. KKK takes out his pocket knife and cuts up the hat. The crowd is yelling at Hansen to look over at the table. Oh boy. (about 2:00) Hansen finally sees what’s happening and gets into a fight with Kox. NOBODY MESSES WITH HANSEN’S STUFF AND GETS AWAY WITH IT! Awesome.

Check out this Troy T. Tyler promo. It’s so much Dusty. It’s hilarious. Thatcher points out that Tyler is a protégé of Dusty Rhodes because it’s undeniable. He explains how a bull rope match works with the gimmick in his hand. When Dutch Mantell comes out for their match, he gets awful pumped up and heads to the ring for their match.

• NWA Southeastern TV Title: Dutch Mantell (c) vs. Troy T. Tyler
  

It starts out as all Tyler as he beats Dutch from corner to corner. Back elbow and a splash gets two. Dutch fires low and rakes the face to take control. Running knee drop by Mantell sets up a chinlock. Tyler escapes and goes back to his brawling tactics. Mantell tears at the eyes to slow him down. He misses an elbow drop though and Tyler comes back with jabs. They trade more shots, but Mantell takes him over with a back suplex. BOTH MEN ARE DOWN! Mantell goes for a slam, but Tyler falls on top for two. Everybody gets knocked down on this next exchange – including the ref. When they return to their feet, Mantell grounds Tyler for the COBRA CLUTCH. Tyler sees it coming and retreats to the floor. Back inside, Tyler finds himself on top of Mantell and rains blows down upon him. Mantell goes to the eyes again and grabs a bearhug. Once Tyler escapes, the ref gets nailed again – this time falling out to the floor. As Mantell starts running the ropes, he runs into a back elbow and takes a weak BIONIC ELBOW from Tyler. Another ref Brett Sawyer appears and slides into the ring to count the pinfall. (6:01) Ladies and gents, we’ve got a NEW TV champion. The fight continues after the bell as Mantell posts Tyler and puts the boots to him to bust him open. Tyler finally scares Mantell away with the bull rope. THIS AIN’T OVER – NOT BY A LONG SHOT!

Time for some more Hazard KY promos. Stan Hansen hypes his NWA world title match with Harley Race. He’s going to bring it to ya, Harley. Seems like an interesting match. Would Harley take the LARIAT? I wonder.

And Les Thatcher and Allen Williams wrap up the show for the week. The Matador wishes Ron Slinker the best in his recovery especially since he’s looking to face Harley Race since he’s coming to town. Matador shows us the welts on his back again and vows revenge. Stan Hansen stops by once more with his cut up cowboy hat to let Killer Karl Kox know their beef is only getting started. WOO!