Georgia Championship Wrestling
June 21, 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: Baron Von Raschke (6/8/1980)
NWA Georgia Tag Team Champions: The Assassins (6/16/1980)
NWA Georgia Jr. Heavyweight Champion: Kevin Sullivan (6/8/1980)
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 to enjoy and there’s enough action here to warrant a watch.

Your host is Gordon Solie.

He is standing by with Austin Idol at the start of the video. Baron Von Raschke has put out a bounty on Idol, but Idol feels he’s way too sexy and smart for Baron Von “Onion Head”. NOBODY CAN STOP IDOLMANIA~! Tonight in Marietta, Idol meets the Angel, who Solie believes is a paid assassin. Idol thinks the Angel is floundering and has no chance against Idol.

• Terry Taylor vs. Charlie Fulton

Just as the match starts, the Assassins stop by to yell at Solie about Dusty Rhodes not showing up in the TV studio again this week. DUSTY IS TOO CHICKEN TO SHOW UP BECAUSE HE’S A MARKED MAN. Whoops, now we start the match. There’s a series of hammerlocks traded to start. This is a very young Terry Taylor. He’s fresh out of Florida here. Probably 6-8 months in the biz. Taylor controls with an armbar. Fulton goes low to get the break and starts catching Taylor with some shots. He hits a slam, but misses a legdrop. Taylor returns the favor and knee drops Fulton for a two-count. The Five-Arm gets two. Fulton again headbutts the groin and takes over for a chinlock. Taylor fights up to his feet, but Fulton yanks the hair to get Taylor back on the mat. The ref *sees* that Fulton cheats and makes him break the hold. That’s one for the books. Taylor punches back and slams Fulton for two. FOR THE THIRD TIME, Fulton goes low on Taylor. However, Taylor reverses a corner whip and then rolls up Fulton for the three-count out of nowhere. (5:27) Over at Gordon, Kevin Sullivan is standing by and puts over Terry Taylor as a “budding young star”. Solie and Sullivan discuss Taylor as the #1 contender to Sullivan’s newly won Georgia Jr. Heavyweight champ. They will square off tomorrow night in the Omni. Taylor gets a chance to speak and tells Sullivan that he’s coming for the championship. *½

We now go to Solie standing by with the Great Mephisto, Mark Lewin, and Abdullah the Butcher. Dick Slater has been summoned by Tommy Rich and he’s coming back to Atlanta to battle Mark Lewin tomorrow night in the Omni. He has a pre-recorded message for Lewin from Florida basically telling Lewin if he wants to get nuts, LET’S GET NUTS.

Next up, we see Kevin Sullivan and Jim Nelson being pummeled by the Assassins. Of all people, AUSTIN IDOL comes in for the save and helps Sullivan clear the ring of the Assassins. Sullivan doesn’t stick around to shake Idol’s hand because how can Sullivan possibly trust Idol. They head over to Gordon Solie to get to the bottom of this. Idol says they are both people who have done terrible things, but the one thing he regrets concerning Sullivan is breaking his brother’s leg. Yeah, that sounds like a regret to me.

Onto the next clip, the Assassins are kicking the shit out of Mike Davis when DUSTY RHODES shows up. Dusty immediately goes down to the floor and he’s beaten to the point of bleeding. Tommy Rich, Don Diamond, and Kevin Sullivan head out to chase off the Assassins and help out Dusty. Rhodes is so distraught, he’s even swinging at the good guys because DUSTY IS JUST THAT GOOD. Dusty goes over to Solie and the camera goes wide due all the blood. He’s pointing his finger, he’s ripping off his shirt, and he’s yelling at the camera that he’s got something for the Assassins. THIS IS GETTING READY TO GET AWFUL FUNKY, DADDY. Solie has never seen Dusty like this. Awesome.

Moving on, Dusty Rhodes comes back out with his white shirt bloody and a head wrap. HE GETS REAL. Off comes the shirt. He wants Freddie Miller to go get the guy Dusty is talking about. Miller knows who attacked Dusty in the parking lot last year. Dusty says he’s putting up his innocence and he’ll pay this guy back in scores if he messes with him. Wow. Next thing we know, the man Dusty is talking about is OLE ANDERSON. Dusty puts his hand out for Ole to shake it – and he does. Ole Anderson starts ripping off his shirt and he’s HYPED. Holy crap. TOMORROW NIGHT IN THE OMNI. OLE ANDERSON AND DUSTY RHODES TEAMING UP AGAINST THE ASSASSINS! NO ONE WOULD EVER DREAM OF SUCH A TEAM. An epic segment of Georgia Championship Wrestling for sure.

Looks like there’s another surprise for tomorrow’s Omni show. Austin Idol has tricked Baron Von Raschke into facing STAN THE LARIAT HANSEN. Idol feels he’s going to whoop Abdullah the Butcher too!

• NWA National Television Championship: Tommy Rich (c) vs. Bob Sweetan

They play around with an armbar to start. Once Sweetan breaks loose, he tries knocking Rich loopy and even sends him through the ropes to the floor. Back on the apron, they struggle for a sunset flip and Rich only gets two. Sweetan goes low and pulls back on the chin while sticking a knee in his shoulder blades. The arm drops once, twice, BUT NOT THREE TIMES. Sweetan tries to turn this back into a brawl, but Rich goes for the arm. Sweetan backs him into the corner and grabs a front headlock. Rich reverses out into a hammerlock staying on the arm. Sweetan grabs the bottom rope, but Rich returns to the injured arm. Sweetan runs Rich off into the corner to get a break and punches away. Rich fires back with a series of turnbuckle smashes and elbows Sweetan down for two. Sweetan catches Rich in the bread basket and punches him down for a nearfall. Rich comes off the ropes with a THESZ PRESS FROM OUTTA NOWHERE, but only gets two. He tries following up with a dropkick, but misses the dropkick. Rich avoids the Piledriver and backdrops Sweetan as the tape switches to another segment. (7:22 shown) Yep, that’s all we get. I’m certain Rich wins in the end, but I liked the story they were telling here. **

We now go to Austin Idol and Freddie Miller for a sit-down interview. IDOLMANIA IS BIGGER AND BETTER THAN EVER. Miller says that while Idol’s attitude may have changed, his level of modesty has stayed the same. He mentions some of Idol’s biggest challengers right now: the NWA world champ Harley Race, Abdullah the Butcher, and Baron Von Raschke. Idol mentions the recent history between he and Race. He sticks to his old story about money changing hands concerning a real estate transaction and that was where their relationship started and ended. Otherwise, they have nothing in common and Idol and Race aren’t in the same league. Next up, a band called the Idolaters performs a song they made called “Heartthrob” set to the tune of the Troggs’ song “Wild Thing”. This is amazing. Graham Cawthon may or may not be the bassist in this band. Its honestly not that bad of a performance and one of the better wrestling songs I’ve heard – if I’m being honest. HOT TAKE: Jimmy Hart should take notes. Back over to Idol, he says that song confirms it: IDOLMANIA IS RUNNING WILD. Miller wishes Idol the best of luck and thinks Idol is achieving success here every day.

As we wrap up over on the Sunday night show, Solie talks with Stan Hansen, Austin Idol, Terry Taylor, and Big Red (who talks smack about Bob Sweetan) to discuss their opponents for the Omni.