NWA: Southeastern Championship Wrestling
Fall 1980
Dothan, AL
WTVY-4 TV Studio

Earlier in the year, we saw some footage from the East Tennessee area (or the Northern Division) of Southeastern Championship Wrestling, but now we will be looking at some footage from the Gulf Coast area which consisted of major towns such as Pensacola in the panhandle of Florida and cities in Alabama such as Mobile, Montgomery, and Birmingham. From what I understand, the Northern Division area (Knoxville and the Tri-Cities of East Tennessee) were sold to Georgia Championship Wrestling as early as June meaning SECW was no longer running regular shows in that area. However, by the fall of 1980 Knoxville saw Jim Crockett Promotions running shows there due to a co-ownership between Ric Flair and Blackjack Mulligan. Anyways, let’s get to some Southeastern Championship Wrestling.

THIS IS VOLUME TWO! Enjoy.

Your host is Charlie Platt.

We pick up where we left off at the end of volume one. The Super Pro reveals to the people that his cousin is Dennis Condrey who is here to help out with some trouble with the Armstrong boys. Condrey explains family means so much to him that he gave up the Georgia title to come out here to Alabama.

Out in the ring, Jerry Stubbs appears to have won a match via forfeit after some ham and egger is a no-show until Norvell Austin shows up to face him. Stubbs explains he doesn’t have a contract to wrestle Austin, but of course it happens anyways.

• Jerry Stubbs vs. Norvell Austin
  

After Norvell runs the ropes, he catches Stubbs with a crossbody block. They work off an armbar for most of the match until Stubbs has enough and drills Austin with a knee as he’s coming off the ropes. A slam and an elbow drop gets two. Gutwrench suplex scores a nearfall for Stubbs as well. Austin fights back out of the corner only to have Stubbs throw him out to the floor and put the boots to him. He threatens to give Austin a piledriver on the floor, but Norvell backdrops him. Unfortunately for Austin, he doesn’t make it back in the ring before the ten-count and both guys are counted out. (4:30) Austin continues to stomp on Stubbs as he crawls out the door of the studio area.

PERSONALITY PROFILE with LES THATCHER: His guests today are Jos LeDuc and “Bullet” Bob Armstrong. They discuss the rules and how brutal a Texas death match can be. Babyface Jos LeDuc is pretty tame, but of course Armstrong is one of the best talkers ever in the south. There’s going to be eight guys in this match, but no mention of who the other six will be.

• Dennis Condrey vs. Ray Harris
  

Super Pro (Randy Rose) drops by Thatcher and Platt to put his cousin over. We get almost two minutes of Condrey owning this guy until the tape changes over to our next match.

• Mr. Wrestling II vs. Mike Masters
  

Thatcher mentions he remembers Mr. Wrestling II before he became Mr. Wrestling II, but refuses to divulge any information as to who he is. He’s come to Alabama to challenge the Mongolian Stomper around Thanksgiving. He catches Masters with the lightning quick KNEE LIFT, but it’s more of a transition move than anything here. Mr. Wrestling II continues to work on Masters as once again our tape goes out at 4:00 shown.

We go to a promo of Don Carson and the NWA Southeastern heavyweight champ Mongolian Stomper. Carson dares to suggest that Mr. Wrestling II is SCARED of the Stomper.

Back in the studio, Mr. Wrestling II comes over hoping mad. He’s got Carson’s wooden cane and breaks it over his head comparing the cane as one of Stomper’s limbs. THAT’S WHAT’S GONNA HAPPEN! That’s one fiery promo from Mr. Wrestling II.

John Valiant and Ron Fuller stop by the announce table. Weird seeing a babyface John Valiant as he’s here to threaten the Mongolian Stomper’s title run. They go to a tape of a lumberjack strap match between Ron Bass and John Valiant. Apparently, Valiant created so much havoc that the match never actually took place. Ugh, Valiant on the mic is just terrible. Moving on, they show a clip of Ron Fuller after a match where he beat the Mongolian Stomper. Don Carson and Stomper are whipping the crap out of him when John Valiant saved the day. They end up hanging Stomper with the bull rope. Old as the hills Oki Shikina runs down to help the Stomper and fails. Back to the studio, Platt tells Fuller that Carson and the Stomper refuse to come into the building because of how violent he’s been.

Carson and the Mongolian Stomper send in a video message anyways. They won’t be anywhere near the TV studio until they get rid of John Valiant and Ron Fuller. They will make all the towns, but no more television.

• John Valiant vs. El Diablo
  

Valiant beats up El Diablo like only a Valiant can before Johnny V pulls off the mask for the win in :46.

Carson and the Mongolian Stomper have sent in another video to say that Carson will not be in the Boutwell Auditorium when the Stomper faces Johnny Valiant in a No-DQ match, but neither will Ron Fuller. Once the Stomper is finished with Valiant, he’s coming for the Tennessee Stud.

Charlie Platt talks with the NWA Southeastern tag champs Dennis Condrey and (no longer the Super Pro) Randy Rose. Condrey questions whether their opponents Bob and Brad Armstrong are actually related, but then considers their feud a “family feud”. Randy Rose questions Brad’s manhood and says he’ll present Brad with a baby rattler before their match.

• Bob & Brad Armstrong vs. The Superstar & Bob Owen
  

The Armstrongs handle the Superstar pretty easily, but Bob Owen tries to show up Bullet Bob and pays dearly. Brad gets to show off his talents playing around with a headlock. Owen works him over leading to the hot tag to his dad. Bob Armstrong whips Owen into the ropes for a crossbody block from Brad for the win in 4:23.

From the GCW TV studio, we hear from Mr. Saito who will soon be coming to Alabama.

PERSONALITY PROFILE with CHARLIE PLATT: His guest this week is Jerry Stubbs. The NWA U.S. Jr. heavyweight title has been held up after a match with Norvell Austin. Stubbs points out that now he doesn’t have to pretend to be a nice guy. He’s just a natural dick. They show us the finish of the match that caused the title to get held up after a double pin situation. Stubbs of course cries foul on the whole thing. There’s an interview sent in by Norvell Austin vowing to win the title the next time they face. Back to Stubbs, he feels there’s other challengers besides Austin who will be getting a shot. He calls Austin a “born loser” and that he’ll always be a loser.

• Randy Rose & Dennis Condrey vs Roy Lee Welch & Norvell Austin
  

Austin and Roy Lee own Condrey and Rose to start with wristlocks and armdrags. Norvell gets to shine some more as Condrey tries a turnbuckle smash, but of course that has no effect. Rose finally saves the day for his team as he gives Roy Lee a back suplex. The yet to be named Midnight Express cut the ring in half on Welch. The Running Powerslam from Condrey gets two. Welch punches past Condrey and hot tags Austin. As Austin has Condrey up against the ropes, Jerry Stubbs sneaks over and grabs one of Austin’s leg so Condrey can cold cock him for the three-count. (5:03) After the bell, Stubbs yells on Platt’s mic that he knew Austin wasn’t any good. Well, Austin runs him out of the studio again because Stubbs really is a dick. An awesome dick, but a dick nonetheless.

We look at some video tape footage of former tag champs Bob Armstrong and Jos LeDuc taking on Dennis Condrey and Randy Rose. There’s a hot tag to LeDuc, but he gets distracted by the appearance of Ron Bass with LeDuc’s Canadian belt. LeDuc runs off Bass and gets counted out. Back in the studio, Condrey and Rose are pulling on a “Stretch Armstrong” doll. HA! Okay, this was awesome.

After a break, Bob Armstrong listens to some pre-recorded comments in the GCW TV studio from Mr. Saito. He come from great country from Japan. Saito for some reason thinks Bob Armstrong is a singer. Hilarious. Anyways, Saito rambles on about how he’s going to beat up Armstrong. Back in Alabama, Armstrong says a good old American right cross is as good as any judo chop. THERE’S NO SUCH THING AS A JUDO CHOP.

Ron Bass comes out bragging about the Canadian belt he’s got. He’s also got with him a bull rope. They show the finish to a lumberjack strap match Bass had with Mr. Wrestling II. He knee lifts Bass out to the floor right in front of LeDuc for a beating. As the lumberjacks start fighting, Randy Rose sneaks in and drills Mr. Wrestling II from behind. Bass gets back inside the ring and pins II, but LeDuc chokes on Bass with his straps afterwards. Back in the studio, Bass challenges LeDuc to a bull rope match. To answer the challenge, here comes LeDuc! He beats Bass into the ring for an unscheduled bull rope match.

• Bull Rope Match: Ron Bass vs. Jos LeDuc
  

Never actually get tied to the rope, they punch each other and beat each other with the cow bell. Once LeDuc is on fire, some heel jabronis come out to distract him so that Ron Bass can run away. This went on for a little over a minute here.

After some pre-taped comments from Ron Bass telling Jos LeDuc he’s not afraid of him, a bloodied Jos LeDuc tells Bass from the studio that this will be settled. Hey, why did they cut him off?

Thatcher runs down the card for December 22 at the Boutwell Auditorium in Birmingham.

We hear from the tag champs Dennis Condrey and Randy Rose who will be defending their titles against Bob and Brad Armstrong. Rose suggests that Bob go get Brad some roller skates because he won’t be getting the tag belts for Christmas. These are belts for men and Brad is still a little boy. Condrey tells Brad that his dad got him in a WORLD of trouble. I love it. Condrey channels his pal Dr. D Dave Schultz saying he and Randy are “rich girl’s lovers and a poor girl’s dream”. Now over to the Armstrongs, Bob does all the talking saying that Brad hasn’t been in diapers in eighteen years and feels like Condrey and Rose will find out he’s got more of a partner than they know what to do with. There’s also a $5000 tag team elimination match happening on the same night. Bob says if he doesn’t run Condrey and Rose out of town in the tag match, he surely will in the elimination match. Bob could really talk them into the building.

Now Mr. Saito is in the building. Charlie Platt puts over the sleeperhold he’s got. Ron Bass wants to challenge Harley Race’s NWA world title, but he must go through the NWA southeastern champ Ron Fuller first to get to Race. Bass just considers anybody in the ring with a stepping stone for his big plans to become the NWA world champion.

Another promo with Mr. Saito. Les Thatcher explains the physiological effects of Saito’s sleeperhold, which is the cobra clutch. He demonstrates on Platt, but doesn’t really cinch it in. Even so, Platt sells the hold. He might need to take five.

• Mr. Saito vs. Charlie Cook
  

Cook escapes one sitout routine from Saito, but Saito gets him on the mat and ties up the legs. Cook tries fighting him off with a body scissors, but Saito is just a superior wrestler here. Cook does fight back with headbutts and a dropkick. Saito avoids a second dropkick and delivers the SAITO SUPLEX for the win in 5:17.

We hear from the Armstrongs again. Bob explains the elimination tag match rules. Two men fight in the ring, anybody can tag anybody, pinfall and submissions are the ways to eliminate an opponent, and the last man standing wins. He says there’s supposed to be thirteen men in this match so it could go a long time, but it’ll be worth it because the last man left will win $5000 right before Christmas.

Over to Charlie Platt, he’s with the heels Jerry Stubbs, Ron Bass, Dennis Condrey, Randy Rose, and Mr. Saito to get their comments on this $5000 elimination tag match. Some good stuff here.

• Brad Armstrong vs. Oki Shikina
  

Bob joins Platt and Thatcher for commentary to put over his son. He’s just letting his son do his own thing – win, lose, or draw. Shikina gets awful frustrated with Brad and goes over to yell at Bob, but Bob uses some self control. He finally jabs Brad in the throat to take control. The crowd is really getting behind Brad. He keeps slamming Brad until Brad slips out of one and rolls him up for the win in 5:05.

We hear from Ron Bass and Mr. Saito again concerning the December 22 card.

We see that Jerry Stubbs has regained the NWA U.S. Jr. Heavyweight champ. They show us some footage of his Texas death match with Norvell Austin. Stubbs is heavily lacerated. After Austin knocks down the ref by accident, Stubbs crotches Austin on the top rope and pins him. Austin’s dick and balls are hurt so bad that he can’t beat the ten-count to give Stubbs back his title.

• Jerry Stubbs vs. Roy Lee Welch
  

Welch BUM RUSHES THE SHOW after what Stubbs did to his friend Norvell Austin. This works out fine for Welch until Stubbs reverses a corner whip on him and sends Welch into the ref. Stubbs beats the crap out of Welch with some nice punches and powerslams him for the win in 1:12.

Just the three-count occurs, “The Shadow” enters the ring. It’s obviously Norvell Austin under a mask because Austin can’t get any more title shots against Stubbs.

We hear from the Shadow who explains to us what a shadow is. Yep. Anyways, he’ll be sticking to Jerry Stubbs like a shadow as they prepare for their match at the Boutwell Auditorium on December 22. Back in the studio, Stubbs isn’t the least bit fooled by Austin. Stubbs says when he’s through with the Shadow, he’ll be just a dark spot on the canvas who won’t be a threat to anyone.

As we close 1980, it appears the Armstrongs did in fact win the NWA southeastern tag titles from Dennis Condrey and Randy Rose, Jimmy Golden has returned to Alabama, Paul Orndorff is coming to the area, and Ken Lucas will be coming back in 1981.

• Jerry Stubbs vs. Ray Harris
  

Stubbs works smart against Harris making Harris think he’s got Jerry’s number. Well yeah, that’s not the case WHATSOEVER. Stubbs beats this ham and egger down starting about three minutes in and POWERSLAMS him for the win in 4:36.

They show us some footage of the Shadow (Norvell Austin) beating Jerry Stubbs in a non-title match. In this case, Stubbs gets really frustrated trying to pin the Shadow as he’s kicking out of everything. When Stubbs goes for the POWERSLAM, the Shadow rolls through and gets the three-count.

One more set of promos from Jerry Stubbs and the Shadow as they get set for the NWA U.S. Jr. Heavyweight title match on January 5 in Birmingham.

They show Bob and Brad Armstrong with the tag belts. More Dennis Condrey and Randy Rose talk.

Final Thoughts: I gotta say, as much as I like some of the talkers in this promotion, this was rather boring TV. Not a lot of excitement at this point like I had expected there to be.

There weren’t any angles happening on TV. Normally, the angles on TV sell the big house shows. This seemed to be booked backwards as far as I could tell, which doesn’t make much sense.

I don’t think they seemed to understand what the TV show exactly was at this point. Right now, it’s merely an advertisement with lots of squash matches and interviews. There obviously doesn’t need to be a crazy angle every week to hotshot your towns, but there needs to be something to keep me watching. They do have some good to great talkers here – I will give them that – but how long can you rely only on talking to sell me on a promotion.

Maybe I’m wrong. Maybe I’m seeing this period of Southeastern Championship Wrestling totally out of context, but with all the years the Welch family has promoted wrestling, it seems like they could make it a little more exciting.