Georgia Championship Wrestling
June 8, 1980
Atlanta, GA
WTBS-17 Studios

The current GCW champs are as follows:
NWA World Heavyweight Champion: Harley Race (11/7/1979)
NWA Georgia Heavyweight Champion: Austin Idol (3/29/1980)
NWA Georgia Tag Team Champions: Ivan Koloff & Alexis Smirnoff (4/26/1980)
NWA National Television Champion: Tommy Rich (2/23/1980)

TIME FOR SOMETHING DIFFERENT. That’s right. While this show is incomplete and jumps around, it’s available here on YouTube for all of us to enjoy and there’s enough action here to warrant a watch.

Your host is Gordon Solie.

• Ricky Steamboat & Jay Youngblood vs. Doug Somers & Len Denton – (Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling, 5/31/80)

Right off the bat, we are taken away to Mid-Atlantic to show off how awesome Ricky Steamboat and Jay Youngblood are before they come to the Omni on the SAME NIGHT as this show airs to face the Assassins over the NWA world tag titles. Pretty cool as we have the underrated Doug Somers and the future Grappler here. No rope walking today. Denton is just here to bump around. Steamboat’s mustache game is actually pretty weak.That’s not a great looking ‘stache. Somers has some serious chicken legs, folks. He gives Steamboat a backbreaker and his legs are all bone. Denton gives Steamboat a backbreaker as well. Somers comes off the top rope to lower the boom on Steamer. Denton gets a backdrop for two. Somers tags in and lands a gutwrench suplex for another nearfall. Steamboat backdrops away a piledriver from Denton, but still can’t make the tag. Denton misses a flying elbow drop and finally Ricky makes the hot tag to Youngblood. He goes CHOP CRAZY! Denton misses a corner charge and runs into the post. Steamboat tags back in and grabs the DOUBLE CHICKEN WING submission for the win. (5:00 shown) Awesome all the way around. Denton is a great bumper. *½ 

We now go to an interview with Rick Stewart as he talks with the NWA world tag champs Ricky Steamboat and Jay Youngblood so they can talk to the people of Atlanta. Youngblood feels the people have referred to him and Steamboat as the “People’s Champions”. They can’t wait to get down there to see all those fine folks.

Back in the WTBS studio, Freddie Miller talks to Austin Idol who has changed his ways because of his brother. IDOLMANIA IS STILL RUNNING WILD! He calls his opponent for tonight in the Omni the Baron Von Frankenstein because now Idol thinks Raschke looks like Frankenstein.

• Blackjack Mulligan & Jim Brunzell vs. Tank Patton & Gene Lewis – (Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling, 1980)

We all know Mulligan and Brunzell, but Tank Patton is best known for his work in 1970s Central States, which I doubt there’s a ton of footage out there to see of that. He even had a tag team run with Jesse Ventura early in his career in the Central States territory. As for Gene Lewis, he’s best known on a national scale for working as Cousin Luke as part of the hillbilly family in the WWF back in the ‘80s.  Patton roughhouses with Mulligan to start, but Mulligan comes back and Patton starts begging off. Tag to Brunzell, he gets caught in a tight headlock from Lewis. When he escapes, he trips up Lewis a bunch before tagging in Mulligan. Patton comes in and squares off against the big man. When Patton puts the boots to Mulligan, Blackjack hops up and he’s FIGHTING MAD. Headlock by Patton, Mulligan shoves him off into the ropes and takes a shoulderblock, but then catches Patton off the ropes with a big boot. Tag to Brunzell, he gives Patton an atomic drop, but Patton gets his feet on the bottom rope. Lewis tags in and he starts to go after Brunzell’s neck when Brunzell scurries over to tag Mulligan. He applies an armbar on Lewis. He backs Mulligan into the ropes and starts pounding before tagging out to Patton. He snapmares Mulligan and lands a Hogan legdrop for just a one count. Again, Mulligan is MAD. He winds up and punches down Patton. Tag to Brunzell, he lands a backdrop and a dropkick. Back to Mulligan, he whips Patton into the ropes for the CLAWHOLD. Brunzell takes care of Lewis while Mulligan puts Patton down on the mat for the three-count. (6:09) Great stuff. I haven’t seen nearly enough Blackjack Mulligan. Jim Brunzell on the other hand will be returning to Georgia by the fall of 1980. *½

Short but sweet. Until next time, so long for now.