Mid Atlantic Wrestling 12 September 1981

On this week's episode I am reviewing Mid Atlantic Wrestling from 1981, featuring Ricky Steamboat, Jake Roberts, Roddy Piper, Abdullah the Butcher and the Mid Atlantic debut of Sgt Slaughter and his struggles with spelling.

If you want to follow along, this episode is available on the WWE Network

https://watch.wwe.com/episode/Mid-Atlantic-Championship-Wrestling-3247

You can contact me via email retroreviews@hotmail.com

Twitter http://www.twitter.com/retrowrestling4

Check out the Going Over Podcast,  a friend of this podcast https://www.betwrestlingpodcast.com/

Transcript

Hello everyone, this is Gus Edwards and welcome to Retro Wrestling Reviews.  This week we will be taking a look at Mid Atlantic Wrestling from September 12 1981.  If you enjoy what you hear today, please subscribe to the podcast, leave a review and tell your friends.  You can always follow us on Twitter @retrowrestling4 or email to get in touch @ retroreviews@hotmail.com.

Mid Atlantic Wrestling 12 September 1981

Lets get on with the episode.

The show opens up with Bob Caudle and David Crockett on commentary, announcing that Ron Bass is the new NWA TV Champion.  Then they start talking about the feud with Roddy Piper and Wahoo McDaniel, apparently both have been kept off TV due to the intensity of their feud.  But it looks like they will be back soon.  There is a promise of a video recap of their feud later in the show.

Ron Bass comes out for a short interview, typical babyface stuff, this title belongs to the fans, I’ll be a fighting champion etc. Not exactly the most bombastic babyface you will ever see.

Caudle and Crockett go through who will be on the show today, including Ricky Steamboat, Jake Roberts and the debut of Sgt Slaughter

The opening match is Jim Nelson & Mike Miller v Ricky Steamboat and Jake Roberts.  Jim Nelson of course is the future Boris Zukoff.  Steamboat, who is just back from a tour of Japan, does some excellent high spots with Nelson.  Jake is looking really young here and its strange to see him in trunks instead of the long tights he is famous for.  Jake still had most of his signature spots, including the knee lift.  Mike Miller looks like a lovechild of Greg Valentine and Barry Windham.  Women in the crowd are loving Steamboat here.  Jake’s punches look incredible.  Jake/Ricky with an interesting double team, as Jake puts Steamboat in full nelson and then lifts Steamboat up and he kicks Miller as he runs into him.  Jake then hits a knee lift and a back suplex on Nelson for the win.

Continuing on with action and its Ivan Koloff (the Mid Atlantic Heavyweight Champion) v Terry Latham.  I’m assuming the Mid Atlantic title is the main title in the territory when the world champion isn’t around.  Basic match with Koloff overpowering Latham, and mixing in a few heel tactics like pulling the hair.  Koloff hits a kneedrop off the second rope but doesn’t go for the pin.  Latham makes a firey comeback but gets cut off with a knee lift.  Koloff wins with a knee to the back of the head from the top rope. A lot of knee based offence from Koloff.

Caudle and Crockett throw to a video of Wahoo v Sgt Jacques Goulet.  Roddy Piper comes out with Abdullah the Butcher who attacks Wahoo with his fork.  They edit the video so you can’t see the blood.  Piper is holding back the referee, screaming at Abdullah to pound on Wahoo.  Some jobbers run in and get destroyed.  

Super Destroyer/The Grappler v Don Kernodle/Scott McGhee.  Unfortunately we lost Don Kernodle a few weeks ago.  Destroyer and Grappler get the heat on McGhee, crowd are getting behind him though.  Destroyer, who I think is Scott Irwin, you can correct me if I’m wrong, misses a dropkick.  Kernodle gets in for the comeback but doesn’t last long and we get another heat segment.  The finish comes when Destroyer hits a really nice superplex on McGhee for the win.  They did have issues getting up there though, but the actual superplex was really smooth.

Interview now with Steamboat and Roberts.  Steamboat has apparently been away for 8 months in Japan working on his martial arts skills.  Jake with a cowboy hat.  Basic promo.  Jay Youngblood and Ron Bass out now.  Bass calling out anyone for a title shot.  Youngblood putting over Bass.  Nothing really to see here.

I will say with watching Jake on this show is that he is the Jake we all know of in the ring and with the psychology, but he doesn’t have the gimmick down yet.  Currently is using the basic cowboy gimmick which just doesn’t suit him.

We go to the debut of Sgt Slaughter v Mike Davis.  Slaughter in as a heel here.  Caudle trying to claim Slaughter is 305lbs of solid muscle with not an ounce of fat on him.  You are probably thinking Slaughter must look like Lex Luger in his prime – just so you know, he doesn’t.  Ole Anderson comes out to watch, puts over Slaughter on commentary.  Slaughter wins with the cobra clutch.  

We then go to a taped match with Abdullah the Butcher (w/Roddy Piper) v Ron Ritchie.  Straight away Butcher takes him outside and throws him into the announcer table.  Abdullah finishes him off with two elbow drops.  Abdullah can really move at this point when he is dropping that elbow.  You never think of Abdullah as being agile but he gets a lot of height for his size on the elbow drop.

The main event of the show is Ron Bass/Jay Youngblood v Ricky Harris/Ally Bey.  Ricky Harris went on to have a career as Black Bart, and Bey looks like a small, fat Ivan Koloff.  This match just goes on and on and on.  Bass finally finishes off Harris with a powerslam.

Ivan Koloff interview, challenging all the babyfaces to face him for his title, followed by Austin Idol.  Not much from Idol, just that he is back and all the women are happy because of that.  Then Sgt Slaughter comes out.  Says he is willing to face anyone, and wants respect from the fans, but that doesn’t go according to plan as you can hear here.  Not the best of debuts for Slaughter, but I guess he isn’t at a spelling bee!

And that takes us to the end of the show.  It was an easy watch.  There were no stand out matches but again there was nothing bad.  The Youngblood/Bass tag match went a bit too long, but it wasn’t like it was filled with blown spots.  The promos were ok, but with Piper and Ole Anderson being around there should be a higher quality over the next few weeks.

Before I go, I just want to give a shoutout to my friends Scotsman and Vintown at the Going Over Podcast.  This is a more unique wrestling podcast as they preview big shows from WWE & AEW but from a gambling perspective.  They give really good insight and even if you are not a gambler, hearing their previews from a different point of view is always fun.  I’ll leave a link to their podcast in the description.

If you have enjoyed today’s podcast, please lookout for the next episode when I continue on with Mid Atlantic Wrestling, and we will be looking at Roddy Piper and Ole Anderson together as a tag team and much more.  Take care of yourself and I’ll hopefully speak to you again soon.