Mid Atlantic Wrestling 17 October 1981

On this week's episode there are two new champions,  Gus talks about who they are, including details on the tournament to crown the new US Champion.

In action are debuts for Handsome Jimmy Valiant and Kabuki, along with a really good Jay Youngblood v Roddy Piper match.  We also see Jake Roberts, Leroy Brown and Sgt Slaughter.

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

https://watch.wwe.com/episode/Mid-Atlantic-Championship-Wrestling-3564

You can contact me via email retroreviews@hotmail.com

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

Transcript

Hello everyone and welcome to the Retro Wrestling Reviews podcast, I’m Gus Edwards and on today’s show we are going to be reviewing Mid Atlantic Wrestling from 17 October 1981.  For those of you following along weekly, no you haven’t missed any episodes, its just that the WWE Network don’t have the 3rd and 10th October episodes available.  Before we get into the show today, I again want to give a big thank you to everyone who has listened to these shows and who have sent in feedback, it is all very much appreciated.  If this is your first time listening, then please subscribe, leave a review and tell a friend.  We are starting to build up a back catalogue now, this is the 4th episode of Mid Atlantic we are reviewing today and if you have missed any episodes they are available in the archives.  Also every week, usually on a Tuesday, we put out a bonus episode reviewing another show.  So far we have done the Big Event from 1986 headlined by Hulk Hogan and Mr Wonderful Paul Orndorff and Summerslam 1991.  This coming week we will be looking at the Battle Royal from the Royal Albert Hall show, so make sure you check it out.  If you want a specific show to be reviewed, then send me a quick email retroreviews@hotmail.com or hit me up on Twitter @retrowrestling4.  Lets get on with the show.

Mid Atlantic Wrestling 17 October 1981

Show starts off as usual with David Crockett and Bob Caudle at the desk with a rundown of who is on the show this week.  We will see the debut of Handsome Jimmy Valiant, also Jake Roberts, Leroy Brown, a match with Roddy Piper and Jay Youngblood alongwith Sgt Slaughter, who is the new US Champion (we will go over that later).

Jake Roberts and Jay Youngblood come out for an interview, Jake is looking for a tag team title shot.  The Andersons, due to Gene’s injury haven’t defended the title in over 60 days.  Jay Youngblood is calling out Piper for their match later tonight, wanting a fair fight.  Piper then comes out.  Piper challenges Youngblood for a death match, but David Crockett steps in and says that is a no go, as the match has already been signed as a normal match.  I’m guessing the death match must be the stipulation for the house show circuit.

Bob and Dave introduce a tape of Jimmy Valiant, clips from a different territory, possibly Memphis.  We then cut to the ring for Valiant’s Mid Atlantic debut v Jim Nelson.  I love Jimmy Valiant, he is one of those over the top goofy characters that I love in wrestling.  He is horrible in the ring though, he selling is like the antithesis of Ricky Steamboat.  Valiant gets the win with an elbow drop.

Back from break and its Jay Youngblood v Roddy Piper.  I never realised how small Youngblood was, Piper towers above him.  They do some amateur wrestling back and forth on the mat.  Youngblood is over huge with the girls in the crowd.  Big “Go Jay, Go” chant.  Giant chop in the corner by Jay, in the same corner as the camera so you really hear it.  Youngblood is dominating the mat wrestling.  Piper takes over with a backbreaker and a bear hug and then a sleeper.  Crowd are into Youngblood’s comeback.  A double shoulder block takes both guys out.  Commentators let us know there are 30 seconds left and they trade near falls.  This is going way past 30 seconds, so someone has missed their cue.  A headbutt knocks both down and the bell goes for the time limit draw.  Piper attacks Youngblood after the match until another ref comes out and breaks things up.

We then go to an interview spot with Johnny Weaver, Paul Jones and Blackjack Windham Jr (Barry Windham) hyping up an upcoming show.  Its going to be Windham v Kevin Sullivan.  Windham is really young here, dark hair and about 200lbs.  Weaver and Jones are going to be wrestling the Russians Markoff and Volkoff, who will be with their manager Al Hayes.  The story is Weaver wants Hayes.

Back to action and it’s the debut of Kabuki.  Kabuki comes out with a sword, a kimono and a headdress.  His opponent is Charlie Fulton.  Kabuki gets in a sumo pose to start the match.  Face paint for Kabuki, he does stand out in Mid Atlantic, there is nobody like him.  Kabuki hits a back kick, a chop to the back of the neck and then a chop to the chest for the pin.

Wahoo McDaniel is out for an interview talking about Roddy Piper, followed by Jake Roberts again.  

In the ring is Leroy Brown & Jake Roberts v Ricky Harris & Ali Bey.  In our couple of week absence, Harris has obviously got rid of Mike Miller and trying a different partner to finally get a win.  I don’t expect his luck to change though.  They actually get some heat on Jake, before Brown takes over again and he gets the pin on Harris with a big splash.

More hype for the house show, this time Kevin Sullivan talking about Windham, he promises to end his career.  Al Hayes comes out with the Russians, to talk about Weaver and Jones.  

Back to the ring and it’s the new US Champion Sgt Slaughter v Frank Monte 

Slaughter dominates the whole match and takes out Monte with the Cobra Clutch.  

Slaughter is then interviewed by Bob Caudle good promo, then Ivan Koloff is out telling Ricky Steamboat its not over between the two of them and it won’t be until one of them are out of the territory.  Ricky Steamboat has beaten Koloff for the Mid Atlantic Heavyweight title at a house show recently.  Ole Anderson ends the show talking about the tag team titles, he says when the time comes the will defend the titles.  

Another decent show this week.  Slaughter’s push continues now he has the US title and I think the show will be focussed around him for the next few months.  The tag belts were mentioned quite a bit on here today, so I wonder if Gene Anderson is close to coming back from his injury.

I hope you enjoyed the show, we will be back again next week, but unfortunately the WWE Network has more gaps, so it will be the 31 October 1981 show we will be watching.  If it was 2021 this show would have a Halloween gimmick, don’t think they will do that though.  Remember we also have a bonus episode coming out in a couple of days, reviewing Battle Royal at the Royal Albert Hall, featuring Ric Flair, Roddy Piper, the British Bulldog, the Legion of Doom and the Undertaker!

Thanks again for listening, take care of yourselves and I’ll speak to you again soon.