INTRO
Doesn’t that bring back some memories? Having grown up in Ohio, we got Georgia Championship Wrestling during the early 1980’s on a local station, and while it was eventually overtaken by the WWF and JCP on WTBS, I still can’t help but think of the original “World Championship Wrestling” show. This theme would continue on past the fold of GCW and become a staple of the Saturday night program ran by JCP on TBS during the mid-1980’s. When you heard that theme kick in, you knew it was time for the NWA! It’s one of the most recognizable wrestling intro themes, and may have been the first theme recognized nationally due to WTBS’s status as a Superstation on cable outlets. No matter how you shake it, the theme always gives me goose bumps and has me pumped for a great episode of championship wrestling!
SEGMENT OF THE WEEK
Here you’ll find one of the great angles of the booming period of the territories during it’s turn from the 1970’s into the 1980’s. We stay with Georgia Championship Wrestling for a moment. Host Gordon Solie interviews one of the most beloved masked baby face wrestlers of all-time, Mr. Wrestling II, and at the same time he also interviews one of the most hated masked wrestlers of all-time, The Assassin. Both men discuss what the mask means to them, and the Assassin vows to remove the mask of Wrestling II. Things escalate during the interview, and we find Wrestling II in the ring, calling out the Assassin. There’s just one thing. Where there’s one Assassin, there’s another! LOOK OUT II!!!
This was a great couple segments of wrestling. First the Assassins get one over on Wrestling II as they bloody him up and remove his mask. But Wrestling II would take on the help of Mr. Wrestling #1, and a tag team brawl would take over, resulting in Assassin #1 getting his mask removed. This was big time back then. Simple angles drew so much heat, and they were done with great delivery by true pros of the business.
SQUASH OF THE WEEK
We head down to Orlando for one of the billion WCW TV Tapings to come out of Universal Studios. This happens to be from an episode of WCW Pro. It features a young future WWE Hall of Famer Edge (using the name Damon Striker) taking on the leader of the Dungeon of Doom, Kevin Sullivan, who has The Giant (Big Show) in his corner. Sullivan + The Giant = This can’t be good for Edge… Watch and see
While I was watching this video for the first time, I caught notice of an added piece of interest. Below is a clip from Chris Jericho’s Podcast, where Jericho interviews Edge about his brief sting with WCW. It’s pretty interesting, check it out below!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AhSbn7QUOdo
MUSIC VIDEO OF THE WEEK
If I could be serious for a moment, and while Lance Storm tweets about the latest episode of “Haven”, I’ll treat everyone to a very sentimental music video made in the mid 1990’s. The song is “Monday Night Memories”, written and sung by Jimmy Hart. The video is done in tribute to the history and memories of Memphis Wrestling and the decades of Monday night cards at the Mid-South Coliseum. It aired on USWA Television in time to promote their (at the time) upcoming Legends Reunion event at the MSC. Again, it’s Monday Night Memories by Jimmy Hart, and it’s a nice, fun song, that takes you back in time as it pays respect for all the stars of Memphis Wrestling.
INTERVIEW OF THE WEEK
YEP! You had to know it was coming… It took the wrestling world by storm when it first appeared on Youtube several years back. The original post has nearly a HALF A MILLION views. It’s called both, the GREATEST wrestling promo of all time, AND the WORST wrestling promo of all time. We go back a couple of decades to Bill Ash’s “IPW” promotion and the infamous interview with “Jumping” Jeff Farmer! The announcer comments to Jeff that his recent match was tough. Farmer simply responds… “YIP”… The interview doesn’t stop there. Not only does Jeff fumble over his words, he says some of the most ridiculous things I’ve ever heard. “I don’t like it when things aren’t going my way” and the ever popular “You turned the tables on me, you turned the tables in a wrong way”. It doesn’t end there, but I don’t want to spoil the entire interview. This stuff is classic, and watching it now for the 50th time, I still can’t help but chuckle. Check out this classic below. YIP!
BLAST FROM THE PAST
It’s blast from the past time, as we go back to January 18th, 1971 and New York City’s Madison Square Garden. If you recognize the date, there’s very good reason for it. It was the night Bruno Sammartino was first dehtroned of the WWWF Heavyweight Championship by “Russian Bear” Ivan Koloff. This is the surviving 16mm footage from the “Rocky Raymond” archives. Luckily, this version doesn’t have Raymond doing the gravely voice, but rather a bit more normal commentary is provided with the match, along with a ring bell and audience noise to give the footage a better feel. The additional audio does help you keep interest, rather than watching a silent film. Raymond would go into some of the MSG & Boston Garden events and they would allow him to record footage for whatever reason. I don’t recall the entire story, but he ended up with some gems. It’s Bruno vs. Koloff from 1971, the end of the original Sammartino era in the WWWF!
FEATURE MATCH OF THE WEEK
We’ve got a good one for our main event this week. We head down to Memphis, TN. and WMC TV5 Studios. The date was July 21, 1979, it’s a date that would live on in infamy, as we were first introduced to THE FREEBIRDS! Terry Gordy walks Michael Hayes out for an interview with Lance Russell. Hayes has a towel over his face to hide his great looks from the crowd, for fear that there may be a riot, people’s heads would explode, or something. The Freebirds cut a promo as they prepare for their very first match in Memphis. Their opponents wait in the ring, oh, but they’re not just any ordinary opponents. The Freebirds are scheduled to meet the two top names in all of Memphis Wrestling. For you see, the Freebirds opponents would be Jerry “The King” Lawler & “Superstar” Bill Dundee. As Gordy gets the camera man to zoom in for the unveiling of Michael Hayes, the towel comes off and Hayes introduces himself. Lawler’s face is priceless following the unveiling. Seriously, check it out. The Birds cut a good promo to build themselves up with the fans, and we prepare for the ring debut of the Freebirds gimmick. You can check out the Freebirds’ debut promo, and the three fall match in it’s entirety below.
The Birds shock the wrestling world when they score the very first fall over Bill Dundee. Yeah, the count looked questionable, but the Birds make it known that they’re not just another team that’s going to be pushed around by the Superstar and the King. I know the Birds would use variations of it for years to come, but the set up to the finish with Hayes backdropping Dundee into Gordy for an inverted shoulder breaker was really cool to see in this time period. The action continues with fall #2 below.
No shocker here, the King & The Superstar even up the falls with a nice sunset flip spot for the finish. With TV Time still remaining, we’re treated for a third and deciding fall, as seen below.
And the program ends with a stroke of brilliance. You have both teams gaining a fall and the final fall ends in a no contest for television, setting up the obvious return match. The two teams continue to brawl into the closing credits, encouraging you to buy your tickets for the return match at this Monday’s Mid-South Coliseum event. Lawler & Dundee would go on to win the undecided fall Monday night at the Coliseum, and the feud would go on another week before the Birds tackled other teams. This was a great way to bring the Freebirds into the territory and get the fans to take notice. Current companies may want to take notice. The Birds would go on to work in Memphis for most of the rest of 1979 before moving on to bigger and better things. The rest, as they say, is history.
That wraps up another edition of Memory Lane. I hope you enjoyed the program throughout. I tried to bring you a little bit of everything, and I’m confident in saying I delivered just that. Til’ next time…. YIP! !
