The SmarK Rant for Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling – 08.01.84
Might as well bang out some of these Black History Month specials before we have to go back to forgetting about all the black people of the world again for the other 11 months of the year.
Your host is Bob Caudle.
Brian Adidas v. Paul Kelly
Some REALLY impressive video quality on this one, actually, which probably stems from the filmed look. At what point did “Adidas” become shortened to “Adias”, I wonder? Adidas is kind of looking like Dave Meltzer at this point, actually. He finishes the jobber with an airplane spin at 2:30.
Assassin #1 v. Brett Hart
That’s Barry Horowitz, not the more famous Bret Hart. The Assassin (Jody Hamilton, father of Nick Patrick) controls with a headlock, but Hart works the arm while Paul Jones claims that Assassin has never lost a taped fist match before. Yeah, back in 1984 that used to be an extreme stipulation. Hart continues working the arm, but the TAPED FIST OF DOOM finishes for Assassin at 4:00.
Meanwhile, the always electrifying Jim Crockett Jr. announces the signing of Barry Windham to the most lucrative deal ever signed by a pro athlete, complete with a Z28 convertible thrown in. He’s looking forward to Starrcade ’84! Yeah, in fact he wasn’t even on that show. We go to the tape of Windham upsetting Harley Race on TV to really build him up.
Jimmy Valient v. Gary Royal
As usual, Valient’s music gets scrubbed. Valient with his usual punching and choking (and he’s the babyface!) before finishing with a sleeper at 1:40. This was a virtual marathon compared to how fast he would usually finish jobbers around this time.
Meanwhile, Rufus R. Jones is also looking forward to Starrcade ’84. Apparently he was the King of Wrestling at this point.
Ivan Koloff & Don Kernodle v. Rufus R. Jones & Pistol Pez Whatley
Koloff and Kernodle were the tag champs at this point, as Kernodle was a turncoat, albeit one who didn’t go full Russian like Barry Darsow did. Whatley quickly drops Kernodle with a headbutt for two and Jones comes in with a cradle for two. They work the arm and Koloff comes in, only to get double-teamed as well. Jones slowly works the armbar and Whatley comes in to pick up the pace, only to get nailed in the heel corner. Kernodle with a powerslam for two. Back to Jones, who hits Koloff with shoulderblocks, but misses a blind charge. He quickly tags out to Pez again and he’s a house of fire, but goes with an abdominal stretch as his big finish of choice and gets nailed by a flying Kernodle as a result. Koloff gets the pin at 7:30 off that. Rufus was just awful and even Koloff bumping all over for him couldn’t save this. * So…I guess this was WWE honoring black history?
Meanwhile, Tully Blanchard might defend the TV title again sometime if Crockett can come up with the money. Maybe.
Meanwhile, Bob Caudle accuses the Assassin of NOT ACTUALLY HAVING AN INJURED HAND! Paul Jones admits that, yeah, he’s just taping his fist so that he can punch Jimmy Valient in the face.
Meanwhile, Ric Flair meets up with Blackjack Mulligan and Dusty Rhodes out in the backwoods somewhere while they’re all drinking and shooting. Flair of course is still rocking a $4000 suit, but rips off his shirt to show that he means well and needs help against Wahoo McDaniel and Tully Blanchard. They agree to have a beer and shoot some stuff in celebration of their newfound alliance.
The Renegade v. Jeff Sword
Renegade is Jay Youngblood, who for some reason is not being referred to by that name, even with Mark Youngblood at ringside. He works a very extended headlock and puts Sword down with a chop, and finishes with a clothesline and flying chop at 3:25. Not sure what that rebranding was about.
Meanwhile, The Russians feel like all Americans are weak and unworthy of their titles. Nikita was still working on the Russian accent at this point, but he typically didn’t say much anyway.
Wahoo McDaniel & Tully Blanchard v. Sam Houston & Vinny Valentino
Dusty Rhodes is on commentary and he’s looking for the UPSET, baby. The jobbers manage to avoid Wahoo’s chops, but Vinny gets caught in the heel corner and beat up. Over to Houston and Tully cuts him off immediately, then slingshots him into a Wahoo chop. Slingshot suplex finishes at 2:30. Well, no upset there, sorry Dusty.
The Pulse
Glad to see this stuff start trickling in now, even lacking in context like it is.
I can't believe Brian Adidas got to win a match. He was really such a loser in wccw. His only gimmick was being Kerry's bff.
ReplyDeleteIf it is anything like the 12 Days of Attitude special they ran in December, they'll eventually delete all of it :(
ReplyDeleteWhen/if you review the wwwf all star episode be ready for the god awful announcing of Antonio Rocca.
ReplyDeleteHa, opening sentence cracked me up.
ReplyDeleteThe man who came close to being the first WWWF champion!
ReplyDeleteWould have made for some horrific promos.
ReplyDelete"Bob Caudle accuses the Assassin of NOT ACTUALLY HAVING AN INJURED HAND! Paul Jones admits that, yeah, he’s just taping his fist so that he can punch Jimmy Valient in the face."
ReplyDeleteBest character motivation ever
Yeah, I wanted to watch Halftime Heat the other day, but I couldn't because apparently that can't coexist with Rufus Jones setting back black people by about 250 years
ReplyDelete"Brett Hart
ReplyDeleteThat’s Barry Horowitz, not the more famous Bret Hart."
Interesting. Was there a story behind that name change?
Jeff Sword would go on to become the man we know today as Brock Lesnar.
ReplyDeleteHe said JEFF Sword. Not Chest Sword.
ReplyDeleteWoosh.
ReplyDeleteFry: I GET IT!
ReplyDelete**later**
Fry: Oh, NOW I get it!
Excellent review, Shelton.
ReplyDeleteI had no idea Barry Windham was in Mid-Atlantic in 1984, i know he started and worked in Florida for years but this run is a complete surprise.
ReplyDeleteVince snaps him up almost immediately though as he's in the WWF by November. Guess that lucrative Crockett contract wasn't so lucrative.
Really that Jones/Watley match is the reason this was a Black History Month choice? Eesh.
ReplyDeleteDo you have a pay-pal account ? in case if you have you can create an additional 1700 every week to your revenue just working on the internet for 2 hours per day... check out->http://SEE MORE NOW.. takes only a few mins ....
ReplyDelete#BlackWrestlersMatter
ReplyDeleteYes, I certainly approve of any reason for somebody to load up a fist and punch Valient.
ReplyDeleteShow honoring blacks featuring a ton of white folks. Don't you ever change America
ReplyDeleteYeah, it was really weird. I was like "Oh, so big upset of the tag champions upcoming, I'd bet", but no, they job cleanly. Like they couldn't find ANY other episodes with a notable black name getting a win, maybe? And this was the first episode uploaded for the special month!
ReplyDeletePistol Pez is one of my favorites
ReplyDeleteThe Boogie Woogie Man was soooooooo bad
ReplyDeleteOK, so I'll be the one to look stupid. What's the Barry Horowitz/Brett Hart joke? I checked out the video, and that dude doesn't look like either of them.
ReplyDeleteIt's Barry Horowitz. No really, Barry used to wrestle as "Brett Hart" as his ringname.
ReplyDeleteHe was JYD if JYD had no charisma, talent, brains, proper hair care products, strength, stamina.....
ReplyDeleteWell they were technically all uploaded at the same time on Sunday (except a 3rd Mid-South episode, which went up on Monday).
ReplyDeleteJust a young Barry Horowitz. He also wrestled as jack Hart.
ReplyDelete"I'm with you, Renegade."
ReplyDelete"Let's do this thing."
Of course they don't show the hilarious Ernie Ladd ripping off $1000 from Freight Train episode. Poor St. Louis legend Rufus R. Jones... Then again wrestling was a place where a boredom factory like Rocky Johnson was a star. Jesus fuck he was awful.
ReplyDeleteSo I *shouldn't* request a Michael Hayes marathon to celebrate Black History Month?
ReplyDeleteSounds dreadful.
ReplyDeleteThis show sounded horrible.
ReplyDeleteBarry was a 4/10 as far as being a Bret Hart.
ReplyDeleteThe black guys may have done the job, but at least they weren't sent out there to yell "Whoomp, there it is!" 20 years after that was a thing. You see, the black guys only lost this match. They weren't lost AND publicly humiliated.
ReplyDeleteSo in a strange way, the WWE truly honored black people by airing this segment
You're obviously not a Street Person, from Mempho.
ReplyDeleteThen trying to recreate the Chris Adams betrayal angle 1-2 years later, right down to calling him and Al Madril the Dynamic Duo.
ReplyDeleteI saw the tail end of a Garvin/Rhodes vs. Flair/Arn match from Worldwide...what was that part of?
ReplyDelete= wants to see SK review the GWF show on the Black History Month package. Or any GWF, for that matter.
ReplyDeleteWhen Bret joined the WWF, Barry came up to him with a tear in his eye and said there was no way he could match up to the legacy of the real Bret Hart.
ReplyDeleteEven the Adias turn itself was low-rent. At least Adams got to turn on Kevin...Adias had to try to get heat by turning on Mike. Eesh.
ReplyDeleteI didn't know they put up an episode of Global. Totally going to watch that later. GWF was my jam as a kid. It came on after school when I was 6/7 and I was super into it. The Dark Patriot story was insane to me.
ReplyDeleteI grew up in Dallas in the 80s & saw plenty of Brian Adias. Decent worker, but not much charisma. He floated somewhere the second and third tier of talent, winning over enhancement, splitting his matches in the mid-card, and getting soundly beaten by top level talent. Elevating him to the top heel spot in WCCW was a sign of desperate times.
ReplyDeleteI'm going to say no.
ReplyDeleteRandom but Hayes said he rode with luger because they both listened to motown music. Using Hayes logic, liver is also blacker than mark Henry
based on his nose, Luger is more pug dog than anything.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad Florida cracker Michael Hayes is here to explain the African American experience.
ReplyDeleteThat was a few years ago
ReplyDeleteBarry was supposed to do some jobs in Nova Scotia and Bret demanded he change his ring name because Bret's name couldn't lose in Canada.
ReplyDeleteNeeds more Akeem.
ReplyDeleteBut, in 1984, even Bret was only 5/10 as far as being Bret Hart.
ReplyDeleteAs a kid in the mid-90s, I saw him at an indy show at my local high school.
ReplyDeleteThe
only thing I remember from his match is that his opponent was this big
fat guy, and the guy stood up on the second rope to appeal to the crowd.
Valient got down on one knee and stuck his finger up the guy's pooper.
That was my introduction to Jimmy Valient.
I've
run into him several times in the area over the last couple of decades.
I've always wanted to bring that up to him, but I also try to suppress
that memory.
Last time I saw him was at an indoor flea market a
couple towns over. He had a table set up, selling autographed copies of
his autobiography. I walked right on by, pretending I had no idea who he
was. In a shop several minutes later, I overheard the following conversation:
Guy 1: Hey, you can get Jimmy Valient's autograph out front.
Guy 2: The Boogie Woogie Man?
Guy 1: Yeah.
Guy 2: That guy fucking SUCKED.
I literally turned around and high-fived a total stranger, because fuck Jimmy Valient.
I watched him on TV back in 1986 or so and I remember this guy with very skinny arms and legs who would always kiss referees and Tony Schiavone.
ReplyDelete"At this point," hah. Adias ALWAYS looked like Meltzer's long-lost twin.
ReplyDeleteThe Flying Kernodle would be a great finisher.
ReplyDeleteJeff Sword is a fantastic wrestling name! It should be recycled. Daniel Sword, maybe? Definitely not Blade Sword, though...
ReplyDeleteThank god Wrestling Desires made that available to download before the Network inexplicably deleted all of them.
ReplyDeleteAnd the dude is still wrestling here in North Carolina to this day...
ReplyDeleteWoah when did that happen? I haven't seen any past 83. Did he turn on Kerry or something?
ReplyDeleteWait, have they even bothered to upload ANY of Bill Watts' Mid-South? Y'know, the only promotion that was consistently booked around Black Supermen like JYD and Butch Reed? Uploading Mid-Atlantic to celebrate racial diversity is like inviting David Duke to speak at an event honoring the legacy of MLK.
ReplyDelete