TEW '07 - Georgia Championship Wrestling (D.O.T.T. mod)

[JonInMiddleGA]

I guess this was bound to happen sooner or later. I've played with the Death of the Territories mod some in the past, put the game aside for quite a while & recently picked back up with a freestyle game with a modern real world mod and have been spending a lot of time with that.

Now, with '08 tempting me but not tempting me enough yet, I get a notion to take a more serious crack at another D.O.T.T. career.

If you've seen past threads in the dynasty forum from me you probably know already that I'm largely a results & universe guy, so don't expect any long-winded posts where I try to channel the spirit of Stan Lane for a promo. If you know the era then you can likely picture the scenes in your head far better than I could conjure them up anyway. If you don't know the era then I'm not sure how much fun this universe is going to be for you. But maybe there'll be at least a few people who get a kick out of seeing some familiar names pop up, sometimes in some unusual places no doubt.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Georgia Championship Wrestling Overview
I start with $250,000 in the bank and a challenging schedule: A weekly 90 minute TV show, a weekly "Stars of GCW On Tour" show, and a larger show at the end of the month. There's a reasonable amount of talent on hand but with the exception of color commentator Freddy Miller and referee Ronnie West it's all working under PPA contracts. The challenge is likely to be keeping everybody happy with enough work without busting the bank.

Popularity
I start at C in the Southeast, C+ in the Great Lakes, and E everywhere else in the US. I've got an E- in Ontario and F's in the rest of Canada. The rest of the world we begin at F-.

Because of the interest levl in the Great Lakes we begin the game as one of four Cult level promotions in the U.S., along with the WWF (B prestige), Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling (C+ prestige), and the American Wrestling Association (C prestige).

Titles
A total of five belts, three regular and two tournament titles. All are currently vacant since most of the recent champions have moved on to other promotions.
1) National Heavyweight - Main Event Title with 80 prestige. Most recent holders are Larry Zbyszko, Killer Tim Brooks, and Tommy Rich.
2) National Tag Team - Main Event Title with 70 prestige. Most recent holders are Afa & Sika, Michael Hayes & Terry Gordy, and Super Destroyer and Big John Studd.
3) National Television - Midcard Title with 65 prestige. Most recent holders are Steve Keirn, Kevin Sullivan, and Steve Olsonoski.
4) The Cadillac Cup - Main Event Singles Tournament Title with 85 prestige. Not held since 1977 when Thunderbolt Patterson became the only winner. We'll likely officially retire this one.
5) Omni Thanksgiving Tag Team - Main Event Tournament Titles with 85 prestige. The Moondogs Rex & Spot won last year, the Armstrongs (Bob & Brad) the year before.

[JonInMiddleGA]

The Roster

Non-wrestlers
Road Agent (2)
1)My user character -- I'm not going to be much help back there I'm afraid.
2)Mr Wrestling Tim Woods -- $1400 p.a. for 12 months.
His body is worn down but his mind is still sharp. With plenty of respect and a strong understanding of the basics, we hope he'll improve his ability to translate psychology to younger workers. A locker room leader.

Announcer (1)
1)Gordon Solie - $1900 p.a. for 12 months. The Dean of Wrestling Announcers, a master with the mic, revered by everyone, and a great help putting matches together too. But he also has strong ties to the CWF down in the Sunshine State, will we be able to keep him down the road?

Color Commentator(1)
1)Freddy Miller - $3000 written for 10.5 months A nice fellow who can talk and is more than serviceable as an announcer.

Referees (2)
1)Scrappy McGowen - $1200 p.a. for 9 months. B+ referee who could double as a road agent in a pinch (C- respect, C psychology)
2)Ronnie West - $1500 written for 18 months. A locker room leader with C+ ref skill that can also double as a road agent and probably will.

Authority Figure/Owner (1)
1)Jim Barnett - $1200 p.a. for 6.75 months. A manipulative guy with some charisma and respect. Not much purpose I can see except giving me orders and signing my paycheck.

Manager (1)
1)Paul Ellering - $800 p.a. for 7.25 months. Can talk the hind legs off a donkey. But will I be able to put up with his free spirit ways & politicking in the back?

Active Wrestlers
Main Event (5) - Not the easiest bunch to get along with but enough talent to get away with it.

1)Buzz Sawyer - $1400 p.a. for 9 months. 25 year old Heel brawler that could be an even bigger asset if he weren't a selfish pain in the butt.
2)Larry Zbyszko - $1400 p.a. for 9.75 months. 29 year old Heel that will be a real asset if his selfishness doesn't get in the way.
3)Mr. Wrestling II - $1400 p.a. for 18 months. 46 year old Face technician with popularity around the country, especially in the South East.
4)Ole Anderson - $1400 p.a. for 9 months. 40 year old Face brawler who would be better as a heel, but I need him as a favorite ... for now. A bitter politician with a lot of influence in the back.
5)Stan Hansen - $1800 p.a. for 12.25 months. 33 year old Face brawler. Loyal to AJPW but willing to work for us when he can.

Upper Midcard (5) - A decent enough group that can be a handful at the bar and the hotel.

1)Paul Orndorff - $1000 p.a. for 9 months. 32 year old Face that could climb into the main quite easily.
2)Ronnie Garvin - $800 p.a. for 9 months. 38 year old Face brawler who wishes he was better than he actually is.
3)The Iron Sheik - $1000 p.a. for 12 months. 43 year old Heel who will have to keep his free spirit in check.
4)The Spoiler - $1000 p.a. for 9 months. 43 year old Heel who is also popular in Canada.
5)Tommy Rich - $1000 p.a. for 12 months. 26 year old Face brawler that might be a big part of our future ... if he'll stay out of trouble.

Midcard (8) - With some tweaking this might be the strongest part of the roster.
1)Brett Wayne - $800 p.a. for 9 months. 24 year old Face brawler who is a major pain in the butt. Not half the worker his brother is.
2)Bruno Sammartino, Jr - $500 p.a. for 9 months. 22 year old Face that lacks the skills to go with the name.
3)Bullet Bob Armstrong - $800 p.a. for 3.5 months. 43 year old Face brawler that is only known in the South East. Staple of our midcard.
4)Jake Roberts - $800 p.a. for 9 months. 27 year old Heel brawler with personality to spare. Probably ought to have his own full-time road agent.
5)Les Thornton - $600 p.a. for 6.5 months. 35 year old Heel technician that is a master chain wrestler.
6)Pez Whatley - $350 p.a. for 9 months. 25 year old Heel lightweight that might get more work than his talent dictates because he still comes cheap.
7)Road Warrior Animal - $800 p.a. for 9 months. 23 year old Heel brawler that looks like a star in the making but still green.
8)Road Warrior Hawk - $800 p.a. for 9 months. 25 year old Heel brawler that's a future star if he doesn't alienate everyone around him.

Lower Midcard (4) - A group that really needs to be upgraded.
1)Brad Armstrong - $100 p.a. for 10.25 months. 21 year old Face lightweight who will likely team up with his dad.
2)Italian Stallion - $350 p.a. for 9 months. 27 year old Face who is easy to get along with but doesn't have much else going for him.
3)Joe Lightfoot - $350 p.a. for 9 months. 26 year old Face who belongs further down the card.
4)Rick McGraw - $350 p.a. for 9 months. 23 year old Face cruiserweight who wants to suceed but may not have the skills to reach the top.

Opener (3) - Will work for food.
1)Mike Starbuck - $100 p.a. for 9 months. 27 year old Face that shows up for work on time.
2)Pat Rose - $100 p.a. for 9 months. 22 year old Heel suited only for looking up at the lights.
3)Tim Horner - $100 p.a. for 18 months. 24 year old Face super junior that may have some hidden talent but might have style issues with the rest of the roster.

Enhancement Talent (1) - Walks, chews gum, occasionally at the same time.
1)Randy Barber - $100 p.a. for 5.5. months - 26 year old Face who can take a licking. He doesn't tick much, but he can take a licking nonetheless.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Rest of the World
There are 28 other promotions of note around the world, and we seem to have some sort of relationship with most of them.

United States
1)World Wrestling Federation (WWF) - Cult with B prestige - at war
2)Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling (MACW) - Cult with C+ prestige - working agreement
3)American Wrestling Association (AWA) - Cult with C prestige
4)Championship Wrestling from Florida (CWF) - Regional with D+ prestige - working agreement
5)World Class Championship Wrestling (WCCW) - Regional with D prestige - hostile
6)Mid-South Wrestling (MSW) - Regional with D prestige - working agreement
7)Central States (CSTATE) - Regional with D prestige - working agreement
8)World Wrestling Council (WWC) - Regional with E+ prestige
9)Southwest Championship Wrestling (SWCW) - Regional with E+ prestige - working agreement
10)Pacific Northwest (PNW) - Regional with E+ prestige - working agreement
11)Championship Wrestling Association (CWA) - Regional with E+ prestige - working agreement
12)Houston Championship Wrestling (HCW) - Small with E prestige - working agreement
13)Southeastern Championship Wrestling (SECW) - Small with F+ prestige - working agreement
14)International Championship Wrestling (ICW) - Small with F+ prestige
15)World Wrestling Association (WWA) - Small with F+ prestige
16)Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling (GLOW) - Regional with F prestige

Canada
1)Maple Leaf Wrestling (MLW) - Regional with D- prestige
2)Calgary Stampede Wrestling (CSW) - Regional with E+ prestige
3)International Wrestling Montreal (IWM) - Regional with E+ prestige - non-agression
4)Atlanta Grand Prix Wrestling (AGPW) - Regional with E prestige
5)All-Star Wrestling (ASW) - Small with F+ prestige - non-agression

Mexico
1)Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (CMLL) - Cult with C prestige
2)Universal Wrestling Association (UWA) - Regional with E prestige

Japan
1)All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW) - Regional with C prestige
2)New Japan Pro Wrestling (NJPW) - Regional with C prestige
3)All Japan Women's Pro Wrestling (AJWP) - Small with E- prestige

UK
1)Joint Promotions (JP) - Cult with D prestige
2)All Star Wrestling UK - (ASWUK) - Regional with E prestige

[JonInMiddleGA]

Monday Week 1, April 1983

The first thing we have to do is figure out what we want to do. Even with the economy (B-) and the wrestling industry (E-) currently rising in the U.S., I'm scared silly about the financial end of things while running three shows a week. Granted, it's simple enough to do away with the weekly shows on the road but I know we can make progress faster with them than without them.

And of all the neighbors to have, why does it have to be Mid-Atlantic? They've got the roster I'd like to have, and even though we've got a working agreement with them I don't like having someone with higher prestige sitting so close to me. Just too easy for my talent to draw their attention, and if I use their guys to my advantage then I'm also improving their situation at the same time. I'm actually less worried about the WWF in spite of their even higher prestige and being at war with them. As for the other current member of "The Big Four" in the States, I suspect that we'll join the other two in picking the AWA clean over time. And as if there wasn't enough problem with MACW already, sitting on my other border is Dusty & CWF down in the sunshine state. It's bad enough that I end up sharing Solie with them, but the same push pull exists over talent with them too and they wouldn't need much of an improvement to reach the same level we're at.

I've got a roster that seems to be half prima donnas and half backyarders. The latter is a lot easier to deal with than the former I'm afraid and there's likely to be some surprising changes because of that. There's nobody, and I mean nobody (well, except maybe for Solie) that I'm willing to put up with too much crap from, especially not when there's so many workers with similar skill sets available.

And goals & guidelines from Barnett haven't even hit my desk yet.

Still, we've got at least one area of the roster that needs to be addressed ASAP and we make a few phone calls to try to shore up the bottom half of the heel roster.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Tuesday Week 1, April 1983
We awake to an early phone call from Jim Barnett, who has some instructions:

Critical Goal #1 - We must not fall in size over the next year.

Goal #2 - We're blocked from signing any wrestler with less than B- grade in resilience.

The first goal doesn't bother me much, I wasn't planning on doing that anyway. The second goal however ... so much for my phone call to Rick Hunter to help shore up the heel undercard. Also puts the kibosh on my plan to bring Lars Anderson to team with Ole, among other things. I make another call, just trying to get a little more help in here.

Elsewhere ... Houston Championship Wrestling & AJPW Women both rise to regional promotions ... Mid-Atlantic sells out the Myrtle Beach Center as 10,000 watch Mike Rotundo & Jerry Brisco defeat Ricky Steamboat & Jay Youngblood to win the Crockett Cup (Show rating C-) ... The Spoiler wins the AGPW International HW Title by defeating Leo Burke at the Moncton Theatre in the Maritimes. On the same show, Kendo Nagasaki won the AGPW US HW Title by beating Hubert Gallant ... Southeastern Championship wrestling cuts eight names from their roster including our own Pat Rose. We might take a look at one or two of these guys for future filler ... Down in Mexico the UWA also trims their roster, cutting 8 young talents including Rey Mysterio, Negro Casas, and Octagon ...

[JonInMiddleGA]

Wednesday Week 1, April 1983
Nobody has returned my calls yet, so not much going on around here except getting ready for tomorrow night's tour show.

Some interesting things around the world last night though. Terry Funk loses an afternoon TV taping match for AJPW and then proceeds to win three times in one night to claim the Champions Carnival Title. ... Down in Florida, the strange Purple Haze wins the Florida HW Title by defeating Scott McGhee. On the same show, our own Jake Roberts defeated Rufus R. Jones to win the Florida Bahamas Title ... Up in Michigan, Chris Markoff beat Dick the Bruiser to claim the WWA Heavyweight Title ...In Calgary, The Bulldogs (Dynamite Kid & Davey Boy Smith) took the Stampede International Tag Team belts from Duke Myers & Kerry Brown. ... Jerry Jarrett's CWA visited Sarasota last night and Jesse Barr left with Koko B. Ware's Mid-America HW Title while Jerry Lawler defended the AWA Int'l belt against Moondog Rex.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Thursday Week 1, April 1983

Still no call backs from the talent we're looking at, so we'll go tonight with what we've got.

A few interesting cards around last night though, including another sell-out (2,000 in Sarasota, FL) for Mid-Atlantic to see Private Jim Nelson & Ken Timbs defeat Angelo Mosca, Jr & Kelly Kiniski for the MA Tag Team Titles, as well as Steamboat & Youngblood defending the NWA World Tag Team Titles against Roddy Piper & Dory Funk, Jr. Nelson previously held the same title on two occasions with former partner Don Kernodle who is now working for the WWE ... World Class also had a big crowd (10k) last night in Denton, TX and they weren't disappointed. Kerry Von Erich won the WCCW Texas HW Title from Jimmy Garvin while The Freebirds Gordy & Hayes defended their American Tag Team Titles against Kevin & Mike Von Erich. ... 5000 showed up in Minnesota for the AWA Road Tour, watching AWA World HW Champion Nick Bockwinkel defend against Hulk Hogan and the High Flyers (Gagne & Brunzell) retain their World Tag Titles by beating David Schults and a recently heel turned Mike Graham. ... In Arkansas, our own Mr. Wrestling II teamed with Tiger Conway, Jr to retain the Mid-South Tag Team titles against Ted DiBiase & Mr. Olympia, while our Tim Horner lost to Steve Williams in the curtain jerker.

We did complete one small order of business before heading to the show, reaching a working agreement with All Japan Pro Wrestling. Most of their roster is fiercely loyal to them anyway so there's little risk of this being something we'll regret any time soon. Might be good for us down the road when we need some fresh faces & could provide useful experience for some of our guys to boot.

Stars of GCW On Tour ! -- Decatur (IL) Civic Center - Attendance 1,563
I figure if we're going on tour, we might as well see how well we travel, visiting the region where we have the second most popularity.

Results ... coming up later

[BYU 14]

Sweet, this will be enjoyable! Georgia was far and away my favorite territory and I have dabbled in DOTT dynasties here before. It will be interesting comparing how things unfold in your world to the way they did in mine.

I lost my TBS show fairly early in my last GCW dynasty and it hurt, hopefully you can keep the ratings up and Turner happy.

[condors]

good luck, I will be reading

[JonInMiddleGA]

Thursday Week 1, April 1983 (continued)

Stars of GCW On Tour ! -- Decatur (IL) Civic Center - Attendance 1,563

I figure if we're going on tour, we might as well see how well we travel, visiting the region where we have the second most popularity.

Pre-show incident Best Dressed Contest (5 minutes C+)
An impromptu incident before the show officially begins, as an arriving Paul Orndorff catches the eye of Larry Zbyszko, who offers some verbal abuse about his wardrobe. Orndorff, knowing which way the wind usually blows, challenges Larry to let the crowd show who they think looks better in their street clothes. Zbyszko agrees, and soon regrets it as the fans vote Orndorff the winner by their applause.

Paul celebrates his victory by saluting the fans, unaware of Zbyszko charging from behind, and gets leveled by a big knee. Orndorff falls hard to the mat with an audible scream of pain, but before he even hits, Zbyszko is upon him with a whirlwind of kicks and punches. As the fans unleash a swarm of debris into the ring, Zbyszko shreds the coat off of Orndorff's back before making a hasty retreat up the aisles.

Later, as the show officially begins Gordon Solie tries to talk to the Road Warriors before their match. The duo glares at him for a few seconds, then stalk silently toward the ring, leaving a perplexed Solie shrugging his shoulders. 3 minutes (C)
Road Warrior Animal is developing better performance skills.

Road Warriors d. Brett Wayne & Joe Lightfoot in 5:40 (D) when Hawk pinned Lightfoot after a Hangman's Neckbreaker.
Joe Lightfoot seemed off his game tonight. The announcing quality lifted the match. The colour commentary gave the match a boost. Road Warrior Animal is improving in Performance skills. Road Warrior Hawk is improving in Rumble skills.

Ellering hypes his team - 3 minutes (C)
Paul Ellering comes to the announce table at ringside with his charges in tow, hyping his duo as the second coming of Death. Road Warrior Animal is developing better performance skills.

Ronnie Garvin d. Pat Rose in 5:40 (C-) by pinfall with a Hands of Stone Punch.
Gordon was joined at ringside by Larry Z. The announcing quality lifted the match. The colour commentary gave the match a boost. Ronnie Garvin came out of the match looking good.

Solie talks to Wildfire, Jake the Snake interrupts 4 minutes (D)
The spotlight turns to the announcer's podium where Gordon Solie brings out Tommy Rich, seeking the blonde favorite's thoughts about the vacant title situation. Suddenly, Jake Roberts strolls onto the set and begins vehemently arguing with Rich over his chances to win any title after their match tonight. The segment wasn't very good to begin with, and this crowd really turned against it. Tommy Rich is developing better performance skills. Gordon Solie is improving at acting.

Tommy Rich d. Jake Roberts in 11:36 (C+) with a Vertical Splash. Tommy Rich seemed off his game tonight. The announcing quality lifted the match. Jake Roberts is improving in Rumble skills.

Larry taunts both Orndorff & Rich 4 minutes (C)
Larry Zbyszko cuts a vicious promo taunting both the Tommy Rich and Paul Orndorff relentlessly. The 6 for the National HW Title storyline has continued with this segment.

Larry d. Orndorff in 14:14 (B-) by pinfall after a Shoulder Breaker. The announcing quality lifted the match. This match lifted the crowd. Paul Orndorff is improving in Technical skills.

Final Show Rating: C+
This show can be considered a success, it should have increased our popularity

[BYU 14]

A nice mix with Rich, Zbyszko and Orndorff in the hunt for the Belt. Should be a great storyline.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Friday Week 1, April 1983
So maybe it wasn't anything spectacular but we learned a few things, including not to send Rich & Roberts into an angle together. We also started to get some idea about how much the crowd will tolerate the use of the same worker in long angles & matches on the same night (they seemed fine with it, at least if it's the right guy). We also managed, with some careful planning to limit costs, to make a small profit (up $5,958) on the night even with a crowd that was disturbingly sub-par compared to what other promotions have been drawing this week.

Plenty of action all over the place last night, starting overseas where New Japan had Kuniaki Kobayashi win the vacant WWF Junior Heavyweight Title (apparently licensed to them) at an afternoon TV taping only to see Tiger Mask claim the same belt a few hours later at their second show of the day. ... The WWF drew a capacity crowd of 10,000 at the Niagara (NY) Convention Center to see Bob Backlund defend his WWF Heavyweight Title against Ray Stevens ... Central States TV Title changed hands in St. Joseph (MO) as Jerry Oates defeated Mark Romero ... World Class visited Iowa and drew a sell out crowd of 2,000 as Terry Gordy defeated Kerry Von Erich in the main event and Kevin Von Erich defended the American HW Title against The Great Kabuki. ... Big Time Wrestling ran before a full house as well, where Dr. Tom Prichard defeated Dean Malenko for the PNW TV Title ... ICW ran in Jacksonville where our Pez Whatley won their TV Title by defeating Sonny Rogers.

We also make the first additions to our roster, signing a PPA deal with veteran heel brawler Len Denton (9 months, $875 p.a.). He'll probably never get past the midcard here but we're hoping he'll provide some experience & depth while jobbing to our stars. We also reach a PPA agreement with Eric Embry (9 months, $700 p.a.), with similar hopes for some midcard depth. Both currently work for SWCW.

[molson]

This kicks ass, I'll be reading

[JonInMiddleGA]

Saturday Week 1, April 1983

We start the day with another addition to the roster, this time a face midcarder in veteran Rick Hunter (9 months, $625 p.a.), allowed to do so in spite of his low resilience since we had already called him with an offer before the restriction was put into place. Not sure yet whether he'll work unmasked or as The Gladiator.

Plenty of action in the wrestling world to talk about while we get ready for tonight's ninety minute TV show. Former San Francisco promoter Roy Shire has joined Paul Boesch in Houston as head booker. ... Mid-Atlantic had a successful show in Michigan as Ric Flair pinned Jos Leduc to retain the NWA World Title and Wahoo McDaniel defeated Ivan Koloff ... Our Paul Ellering will be picking up frequent flyer miles having signed a per appearance deal to manage for AJPW's women's promotion ... Hector Guerrero won the SWCW Junior Heavyweight Title from Buddy Moreno in Austin, TX ... Mid South worked Joplin, MO where Mr. Olympia defeated Iron Mike Sharpe for their TV title. Mr. Wrestling II & Buddy Landell lost to Dirty Dick Murdoch & Kamala in the main event, overshadowed somewhat by Ted DiBiase taking the North American belt from The Junkyard Dog in the match prior ... Maple Leaf Wrestling in Toronto has added Adrian Adonis to their roster, which sorely needed some youth near the top of the card to work against Raymond Rougeau ... Closer to home, Puerto Rico's WWC slipped into our backyard and drew 300 people in Macon, GA where Abdullah the Butcher & Bruiser Brody won the WWC World Tag Titles from Carlos Colon & Invader #1.

Next up for us is this afternoon's TV taping at the Atlanta Civic Center.

[SirFozzie]

Damn. Wish I coulda seen that. Abby and Brody vs Carlos Colon and the Invader? Betcha it was one hell of a wild brawl.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Damn. Wish I coulda seen that. Abby and Brody vs Carlos Colon and the Invader? Betcha it was one hell of a wild brawl.

It's a wonder any of them are still alive at this point. I'm actually a couple of cards ahead of what's been posted here so far (hopefully I can stay that way too, keeps the dynasty moving even if I slow down a bit), here's what those guys have been doing just in the first three weeks of the game.

Abby -- works for both WWC & NJPW, between them he's worked six matches in 17 days, facing Colon 1x single & 1x tag, Pedro Morales 1x in singles, Hulk Hogan 2x in tag, Inoki 1x in tag, and Hercules Ayala 1x in tag. Currently Abby is B+ fatigue with no physical stat higher than C+

Brody -- works for WWC, NJPW, and CSTATE. Has worked 9 matches in 17 days, including facing Colon 2x singles & 1x tag, Terry Funk 1x singles, Stan Hansen 1x singles, Giant Baba 1x singles, and Scott Irwin 1x singles. Currently Brody is B fatigue & C- two of four physical condition stats.

Colon is only working for WWC so he's in a little better shape despite facing Brody 2x singles & 1x tag plus Abby 1x singles & 1x tag.

Invader #1 (Jose Gonzales) is working for both WWC & the WWF, 6 matches in 17 days with opponents including Brody, Abby, Hercules Ayala, and Ivan Putski.

Both of them are in the B-/C+ rang on physical condition stats.

[SirFozzie]

Apparently, some of my wrestling friends have visited the ribs place that Abby owns, and they serve some of the best ribs in the south.

He apparently has so many grooves in his forehead and skull from his wrestling days, that you can stick various items into his forehead lengthwise and have them stay there (I've heard it done with Casino Chips and quarters.

God only knows how he's lived to be 71 (just turned 71 last month), and according to Wikipedia he's going to wrestle one more match tommorrow night in Puerto Rico

[JonInMiddleGA]

Apparently, some of my wrestling friends have visited the ribs place that Abby owns, and they serve some of the best ribs in the south.

Eh, it's pretty good, but the fun (for me at least) was knowing it's his place & that he's actively involved in it, etc. moreso than the food. Meat was good, sauce was okay.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Saturday Week 1, April 1983 (con’t)

Georgia Championship Wrestling (TV)
90 minutes at the Atlanta Civic Center with 4,759 in attendance

Pre-show
Tim Horner defeated Italian Stallion in 5:58 (E) by pinfall with a Bridging Roll-Up.

Pez Whatley hypes himself talking to Freddy Miller – 2 minutes (D)
The segment wasn't very good to begin with, and this crowd really turned against it.

Brad Armstrong defeated Mike Starbuck in 5:34 (D-) by pinfall with a Side Russian Leg Sweep. Brad Armstrong and Mike Starbuck have great chemistry, and it showed in their performances. The announcing quality lifted the match. The colour commentary gave the match a boost. This match brought the crowd's mood down. Mike Starbuck is improving in Flying skills.

Rick Hunter hypes himself talking to Gordon – 2 minutes (D)
Rick Hunter is developing better performance skills.

Cameras rolling and cue Gordon …

Jake Roberts defeated Thunderbolt Patterson in 7:23 (C) by pinfall with a DDT. Jake Roberts and Thunderbolt Patterson don't seem to click, and it made for an awkward bout. The announcing quality lifted the match. Jake Roberts is improving in Performance skills. Thunderbolt Patterson is improving in Performance skills.

Hansen Sawyer angle (B-) – 5 minutes - Stan Hansen is walking backstage, turns a corner, and bumps into Buzz Sawyer. Sawyer says something that Hansen doesn't like, and they start arguing. After some heated words, Sawyer challenges Hansen to meet him in the ring for a match. The 6 for the National HW Title storyline has continued with this segment. Buzz Sawyer is developing better performance skills.

Rick Hunter defeated Les Thornton in 7:55 (C) by pinfall with a Russian Legsweep. The announcing quality lifted the match.

Wrestling II talks to Gordon, Ellering interrupts – 4 minutes (B) The cameras head to the announcer's podium where Gordon Solie brings out Mr. Wrestling II. Mr. Solie begins to question Mr. Wrestling II about the recent arrival of the Road Warriors and the vacant tag team titles, to which Wrestling II talks about not being afraid of anybody anyway. Suddenly, Paul Ellering strolls onto the set and begins arguing with Wrestling II, telling him if he was smart enough he'd be afraid for his career.
Mr. Wrestling II is improving at acting.

Len Denton defeated Ronnie Garvin in 9:43 (C+) by pinfall after using a pair of brass knucks. The match suffered because there was not enough selling shown. The announcing quality lifted the match. The fans were really turned off by the finish to the match. Len Denton is improving in Rumble skills.

Ole Anderson talks to Gordon - 4 minutes (B-) Ole Anderson cuts a promo hyping up his skills and desire to be a champion.

Ole Anderson defeated Pez Whatley in 11:26 (C) by pinfall with an Anderson Running Knee. Pez Whatley was visibly tiring toward the end. Ole Anderson and Pez Whatley don't seem to click, and it made for an awkward bout. The announcing quality lifted the match.

Paul Ellering hypes upcoming match – 5 minutes (C+) Paul Ellering cut a promo Animal & Hawk's upcoming tag team match against Mr. Wrestling and Mr. Wrestling II. The 4 top partners for Tag Titles storyline has continued with this segment. The 4 second partners for tag titles storyline has continued with this segment. Road Warrior Animal is developing better performance skills.

Mr. Wrestling I and II defeated The Road Warriors in 9:39 (C-) when Paul Ellering's interference attempt backfired & failed to prevent Mr. Wrestling II pinning Animal by pinfall while using the ropes for leverage. Earlier in the match Ellering attacked Wrestling II from the ring apron. Road Warrior Animal was really off his game tonight. Road Warrior Animal was visibly tiring toward the end. Road Warrior Hawk was visibly tiring toward the end. The match suffered because there was not enough selling shown. The announcing quality lifted the match. The fans were really turned off by the finish to the match. Mr. Wrestling II looked excellent out there. The 4 top partners for Tag Titles storyline has continued with this match. The 4 second partners for tag titles storyline has continued with this match.

Stan Hansen drew with Buzz Sawyer in 13:38 (D+) following a double count out. The finish to the match didn't go down well at all, the fans hated it. The 6 for the National HW Title storyline has continued with this match. Stan Hansen is improving in Rumble skills.

Final Show Rating: C- This show can be considered a success, it should have increased our popularity.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Sunday Week 1, April 1983

If that was a success, I’d hate to see what a failure feels like the next morning. It could have been a very nice show, and should have been, if I hadn’t screwed up the finishes to the two biggest matches of the night. At least we managed to make a little money on the show, about $17,000 in profit. We took a small hit to our popularity in both the South East and the Great Lakes but improved in all the other U.S. regions (except Puerto Rico). Live & learn, live & learn.

The rumor mill says that Jerry Lawler has turned down an offer from the WWF, that Bret Hart turned down an offer from Maple Leaf Wrestling, and that both Bull Nakano & Devil Masami turned down an offer from GLOW in order to focus on AJPW’s women’s promotion, which also announced the signing of Susan Sexton.

A couple of other talents had different reactions to recent overtures though. Freebird Michael Hayes has reportedly accepted a per appearance deal from the WWF and Bobby Heenan said yes to an offer to work for HCW in addition to his job with the AWA.

Since we didn’t use him last night, Bullet Bob Armstrong tagged with Super Olympia in the main event of SECW’s show in Sarasota, beating The Flame & Jimmy Golden. The show was good enough to help the promotion rise to the regional level & they’ll be looking to increase the size of their roster soon.

Speaking of the old marine, we’re negotiating an extension with him but haven’t come to terms yet. We also failed to find a suitable agreement with Dirty White Boy Tony Anthony, unwilling to pay him the $1050 per appearance he was looking for. Might be for the best if his regular tag team partner Len Denton continues to perform as well in singles action as he did in his debut last night. If not, we’ll find someone cheaper to pair him with.

We also make a few more phone calls, hoping to find some reasonably priced improvements for the roster, including one bit of addition by subtraction as we call in Italian Stallion to release him from his agreement since we do not plan to use him any longer.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Monday Week 2, April 1983

Taking a look at the TV ratings for various wrestling shows for the past week
GCW on TBS posted a 2.22, peaking in the second half hour at 2.38
WWF on US Synd Small I posted a 1.50
AWA on US Small Synd II posted a 1.41
Mid-Atlantic on Local TV posted a 0.74
WCCW Local-Mid South posted a 0.54
CWF on Local-SE posted a 0.32
SWCW on USA posted a 0.20
Mid-South on Local II posted a 0.18
Big Time Wrestling on Local-NW posted a 0.12
WWC on WAPA/Puerto Rico posted a 0.12
CWA All-Stars on WMC posted a 0.10
GLOW on US Small Syn III posted a 0.09
Wrestling at the Chase (CENT) on Local MW II posted a 0.04
SECW on Local SE II posted a 0.00
ICW All-Stars on WTVQ posted a 0.00
HCW on Local – Mid South III posted a 0.00
CWA on Local – Grt Lks III posted a 0.00
---------------
Puroresu Chukei (AJPW) on Nippon TV posted a 1.52
World Pro Wrestling (NJPW) on ASAHI posted a 1.41
CMLL on Telemundo posted a 1.27
Ringside Wrestling (MLW) on TV Canada East posted a 0.91
ITV World of Sport on ITV posted a 0.63
IWM on Local Quebec posted a 0.39
Stampede Wrestling on TV Canada West posted a 0.30

Today’s news includes … MSW star Ted DiBiase turning down offers from both the WWF and the AWA, Tully Blanchard remaining loyal to SWCW and turning down the WWF & MLW … In Vancouver, Al Tomko signs some non-wrestler help, reaching deals with Gene Okerland, Killer Kowalski, and Eddie Creatchman … Candi Devine signs with AJW … Mid-Atlantic watches as Roddy Piper signs with the WWF .. Speaking of which, they ran in New England last night as Don Muraco retain the Intercontinental Title with a win over Tony Atlas, Michael Hayes also debuted with a time limit draw vs Jules Strongbow … CWF goes up to Spartanburg, SC where Purple Haze defeated Dusty Rhodes while Jake Roberts partnered with Kevin Sullivan but lost to Barry Windham & Ron Bass … In Quebec, our Pez Whatley retained his ICW TV Title with a win over Lanny Poffo.

We extended our agreement with Bullet Bob Armstrong, although it unfortunately retained the existing creative control clause and upped his pay to $1050 per appearance, but it does keep him on hand through the end of the year now. We also completed termination proceedings with Italian Stallion and wish him luck in his future endeavors.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Tuesday Week 2, April 1983
HCW ran in Asheville, NC (att 142) last night where Gino Hernandez & Jim Duggan took the HCW Tag belts from Super Destroyer & Matt Borne, and Marty Lunde won the Nationwide Title from Chavo Guerrero. … ASW-UK sells out a show (att. 300) in Aberdeen where Steve Wright took the British Lt Hvywgt Title from Fit Finlay … AGPW was back in The Maritimes as The Spoiler retained his Int’l HW Title with a win over Leo Burke … Our own Rick McGraw lost to Captain Ed George on the undercard of the WWA show in Fremont, CA …

The bigger news was made outside the ring however, as the WWF signed AWA talents Hulk Hogan and Jesse Ventura. Maple Leaf Wrestling in turn signed Sgt Slaughter to add some punch to their thin roster … Debbie Combs reached an agreement with ASW … Dory Funk, Jr remains loyal to AJPW and turns down offers from HCW and SECW

Wednesday Week 2, April 1983
AJPW ran a small show in Chubu where Mighty Inoue & Dory Funk, Jr teamed to win the All Asia Tag Team Titles from Ishikawa & Sato. In the main event Stan Hansen defeated Umanosuke Ueda … In Calgary, Davey Boy Smith took the British Commonwealth Mid-Hvywt Title from Dan Davis on television (but nobody watched) … In Scotland, JP-UK fans saw Blondie Barrett take the British Heavy Middleweight belt from Alan Kilby … CWF traveled up to Illinois for a show where Jake Roberts defended his Florida Bahamas Title against Scott McGhee and The Professional (aka Les Thornton) defeated Mike Rotundo to claim the Florida Television Title … Both SWCW and Calgary Stampede are being threatened with cancellation of their TV shows if ratings don’t improve soon

Meanwhile we’re still awaiting responses from four workers that we’ve contacted about the possibility of coming into GCW. There’s nobody that we “have” to have at the moment but a few guys that we’d like to add to the mix nonetheless.

Thursday Week 2, April 1983
Plenty of news to digest while we get ready for tonight’s road show. New champions aplenty after last night including: Terry Gordy taking the WCCW Texas HW Title from Kerry Von Erich, Dutch Savage taking the PNW HW Title from Sheik Abdullah Ali Hassan, in the UWA Canek took the WWF World Lt HW Title from Villano III, Leo Burke took the AGPW Int’l HW Title from The Spoiler, and Greg Gagne won the vacant AWA Television Title.

Mid-Atlantic traveled west to Phoenix and put on a C-minus show before 783 fans, Wahoo McDaniel beat Terry Funk in the main event … World Class also ran in Phoenix, a D+ show in front of 1,000 with David Von Erich & Sweet Brown Sugar beating The Freebirds (Hayes & Roberts) in the main event … The AWA Road Tour drew 2,000 in Canton, Ohio as Nick Bockwinkel defended his world title against Hulk Hogan … World Wrestling Council ran in New York in front of 300, Carlos Colon defended his Universal HW Title against Bruiser Brody … Mid-South Wrestling went to Orlando as Ted DiBiase defended their N.A. Hvywt belt against JYD and Mr. Wrestling II paired with Butch Reed in a losing effort versus Kamala & Dirty Dick Murdoch.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Thursday Week 2, April 1983 (con’t)

Stars of GCW On Tour ! – Tulsa, OK High School - Attendance 300 (sold out)

Pre-show
Tim Horner talks to Freddy Miller – 2 mins (F+) Such a weak segment really bombed with the crowd.

Paul Ellering defeated Tim Horner in 5:31 (E) by pinfall, illegally using the ropes for leverage. The announcing quality lifted the match. The colour commentary gave the match a boost. The fans were really turned off by the finish to the match. This match brought the crowd's mood down.

Paul Ellering hypes Road Warrior Animal – 4 minutes (D-) Precious Paul hypes his client as the second coming of pestilence. The segment wasn't very good to begin with, and this crowd really turned against it.

Main Show
Bullet Bob Armstrong defeated Road Warrior Animal in 5:45 (C) by pinfall with a Piledriver. The announcing quality lifted the match. Bullet Bob Armstrong is improving in Rumble skills.

Larry Zbyszko hypes himself – 4 minutes (D) The segment wasn't very good to begin with, and this crowd really turned against it.

Larry Zbyszko defeated Randy Barber in 5:34 (D) by pinfall with a Shoulder Breaker. The announcing quality lifted the match. The colour commentary gave the match a boost. Larry Zbyszko looked good out there. Randy Barber is improving in Performance skills.

Wildfire Tommy Rich talks to Gordon Solie – 4 minutes (D) The segment wasn't very good to begin with, and this crowd really turned against it. Tommy Rich is developing better performance skills.

Paul Orndorff defeated The Iron Sheik in 10:47 (C+) by pinfall with a Piledriver. The match suffered because of the lack of selling on display. The announcing quality lifted the match.

The Spoiler had an interview hyping his upcoming singles match with Tommy Rich. – 4 mins (D) The segment wasn't very good to begin with, and this crowd really turned against it. The 6 for the National HW Title storyline has continued with this segment.

Tommy Rich defeated The Spoiler in 11:57 (B-) by pinfall with a elbow drop.
The announcing quality lifted the match. The 6 for the National HW Title storyline has continued with this match.

Final Show Rating: C
This show can be considered a success, it should have increased our popularity

[JonInMiddleGA]

Friday Week 2, April 1983
If I didn’t know better, I’d think the crowd in Tulsa didn’t like us very much. Every time we opened our mouths the crowd got restless. I think the problem was a general lack of overness for our roster in the area, which will just be something that has to get better over time. Thank goodness for Wildfire & Jardine, they saved the show with a heck of a main event. Given how they bailed us out, I’m more concerned today with the fact that we lost about $9,000 running the show. Even though we’re still on the positive side of the ledge for the month we can’t do that very often, that’s for sure.

While we were doing our thing, so was the competition.

The WWF ran In Your Neighborhood at the Toledo Rec Center (att. 2,000 sold out), a D+ show with recently signed Roddy Piper teaming with Rocky Johnson to defeat Don Kernodle & Big John Studd in the main event … WCCW ran Monroe, LA (att. 5,000 sold out) with Freebirds Hayes & Gordy beating David & Kerry Von Erich in the main event of a solid C rated show … Overseas, Hulk Hogan defeated Antonio Inoki in the NJPW main event of a small show in Chubu … Maple Leaf Wrestling had a title change in Ontario, as Tiger Jeet Singh claimed the Canadian Hvywt Title by beating Angelo Mosca. They have to hope the change helps, as they’re facing the loss of the weekly TV show if ratings don’t improve soon … The World Wrestling Association also ran Monroe, LA last night, with the most notable moment being an injury to our Rick McGraw. He’ll be working through biceps tendonitis. …

And this morning, our phone started ringing suddenly. First the bad news, as promising youngster Bret Hart declined our offer to work here, opting to remain focused on efforts with Calgary Stampede.

And then the good news.

First, versatile lightweight Chic Cullen agrees to visit the States on a regular basis, on a 9 month, $525 p.a. deal. He’ll bolster our midcard almost certainly.

Next, Cullen will likely have a traveling companion, as promising 24 year old lightweight tough guy Dave “Fit” Finlay agreed to a 9 month deal for just $150 per appearance. I think it’s a real bargain, a downright steal in fact, as he’s more talented than more than half our roster already.
If we can get him over with the U.S. fans, he might find himself rising quickly through the ranks.

And to cap off what turned out to be a pretty darned good morning, we come to an agreement with a veteran that I believe will fit into our roster very well: 42 year old brawler Adrian Street. Already known in the South East from his work with the CWF, The Exotic One might find himself with a high profile in a hurry if his style meshes with our top guys as well as I think it will. Even at $1,100 p.a. he should become a mainstay for at least the next 9 months as he’s still cheaper than most of our main eventers.


Saturday Week 2, April 1983
We release Rick McGraw from his contract, figuring that we weren’t going to use him while he was injured and probably weren’t going to be using him after he healed either.

I initially planned to go ahead & release Bruno Sammartino, Jr before today’s show as well, then after letting him know I wanted to talk with him I changed my mind, figuring to job him out to one of the newcomers before cutting him loose. And then he comes in griping about how long it’s been since he was used on a show. Against my better judgement (and after counting to ten not once but twice) I decide to stick with my new original plan. He wants to be “used”? I think I can arrange that.

The other person who stopped by to not so subtly hint that they’re getting antsy was a surprise: Jim Barnett. Now exactly what am I supposed to do when the guy who signs my paycheck makes it clear he’d like something to do? Well duh, I try to figure out something he can do without making a mess of it. I’ll let him handle one of the matches tonight as a road agent & see if that satisfies his itch to be important. If so, great, otherwise I’ll figure out a way to give him a couple of minutes of face time next week.

[BYU 14]

Good move bringing in Sweet, he was so underrated as a wrestler. Too bad Hansen is in an angle, would be great to see him and the Exotic one go at it.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Saturday Week 2, April 1983, (con't)

Georgia Championship Wrestling (TV) – 90 minutes at the Municipal Auditorium, Columbus, GA Coliseum with 4,124 in attendance

Pre-show

Dave Finlay introduces himself & insults the crowd – 3 minutes (F)
Such a weak segment really bombed with the crowd.

Joe Lightfoot d. Pat Rose in 4:40 by pinfall with a Victory Roll. (D-)
The announcing quality lifted the match. The colour commentary gave the match a boost. This match brought the crowd's mood down.

Len Denton talks in-ring with Gordon Solie – 3 minutes (D)
The segment wasn't very good to begin with, and this crowd really turned against it. Len Denton is developing better performance skills.


TV Taping

Mr. Wrestling II d. Les Thornton in 9:42 by pinfall with a Million Dollar Knee Lift. (B)
The match suffered because of the lack of selling on display. This match lifted the crowd.

Wrestling II praises Stan Hansen and makes mention of how glad he is that Hansen is in the area. – 5 minutes (B-)

Dave Finlay d. Bruno Sammartino, Jr in 5:36 by pinfall with a Rolling Fireman's Carry Slam. (D-)
The announcing quality lifted the match. The colour commentary gave the match a boost. This match brought the crowd's mood down. Bruno Sammartino Jr. is improving in Performance skills.

Pez Whatley goes for some cheap heat and delivers a wicked promo in which he insults the humanoids in the audience. – 3 minutes (E+)
The segment wasn't very good to begin with, and this crowd really turned against it.

Pez Whatley d. Tim Horner in 5:44 by pinfall with a Flying Willie Headbutt. (D) The announcing quality lifted the match. The colour commentary gave the match a boost.

Jake Roberts cuts a promo hyping himself up – 4 minutes(C+)

Eric Embry d. Brett Wayne in 10:30 by pinfall with a Piledriver. (D-) Eric Embry and Brett Wayne just don't click at all, and it showed in their performances. The announcing quality lifted the match. The colour commentary gave the match a boost. This match brought the crowd's mood down. Eric Embry is improving in Flying skills. Brett Wayne is improving in Performance skills.

Ole Anderson hypes his upcoming match against Buzz Sawyer – 3 minutes (B)

Stan Hansen d. Len Denton in 12:16 by pinfall with The Lariat. (B-) This match lifted the crowd.

Hansen cuts a post-match promo on Buzz Sawyer & the vacant title - 5 minutes (B) The 6 for the National HW Title storyline has continued with this segment.

Buzz Sawyer d. Ole Anderson in 13:50 by pinfall with a Running Powerslam. (B-) This match lifted the crowd. Ole Anderson is improving in Rumble skills.

Final Show Rating: B-
This show can be considered a success, it should have increased our popularity.

[condors]

B- nice show kutgw!

I really like your top 10 guys


If you don't mind when you do your updates from other promotions could you include Billy Superstar Graham he was my favorite wrestler back in the day and I am always interested what happens to him in dott mods as the world evolves.

[JonInMiddleGA]

B- nice show kutgw!

Thanks. It's fun, but a real change of pace from the rapid fire three shows a week freestyle no pressure career I've been playing for the past couple of months. A lot harder, since there's a lot more decisions than "do I want this guy?" which is what that one had become.

If you don't mind when you do your updates from other promotions could you include Billy Superstar Graham he was my favorite wrestler back in the day and I am always interested what happens to him in dott mods as the world evolves.

No problem. SBG is an occasional wrestler for the WWF at this point and through the dates I've posted so far he's worked two matches. A (D) win over Sal Bellomo at an In Your Neighborhood show and a (D) double DQ against Charlie Fulton at their second IYN show of the month. A rematch between the two is booked for their end of the month show.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Sunday Week 2, April 1983
Now THAT was a show. The top of the roster really delivered, now if we could just get a little more out of the middle of the roster we’d be cooking with gas. Even turned a profit last night, about $9,000 or so, which will help cover our outings in other regions.

One thing that’s becoming more & more clear with every passing show is that regional popularity is very important to the success of a segment, especially where angles are concerned. Even our better workers outside the ring just don’t get the reaction from a crowd that isn’t partial to them, and so-so guys on the mic get killed if they aren’t already over.

The most obvious solution would be to cherry pick certain workers for certain regions but the problem become keeping a bloated roster happy. In the short term, I’ve increased our expected match ratio to 80% without objection from Mr. Barnett, hopefully reducing the number of angles needed will help with the problem.

Elsewhere last night SECW (bizarrely) ran in Fremont, CA in front of 137 people (D-) Since he wasn’t booked for us, Bullet Bob Armstrong made the trip and defeated Jimmy Golden … The CWA visited Tampa for a sold out (2,000) D+ show that included The Bruise Brothers (Troy Graham & Porkchop Cash) defeating Phil Hickerson and The Spoiler (not ours, the other one).

Maple Leaf Wrestling made overtures to both Ted DiBiase & Jerry Lawler only to be rejected …. Jaguar Yokota reportedly turned down an offer to tour with GLOW … Tully Blanchard remains loyal to SWCW, turning down an offer from the AWA … SECW gets some considerable help in the office and backstage, signing veteran booker George Scott

Monday Week 3, April 1983
The day off gives us a chance to take care of one small piece of business, the release of Bruno Sammartino, Jr. from his PPA contract. Just nothing else for him to do here that I could see, especially not at $500 p.a.

The WWE ran in Fresno last night (C-) with Hulk Hogan teaming with Andre the Giant to defeat the Wild Samoans … The CWF sold out (2000) in Tampa (C) with Kevin Sullivan defeating Dusty Rhodes in the main event. Jake Roberts also worked the show, losing to Ray Candy, same result for Les Thornton (as The Professional) against Ron Bass … Although not on hand for their show in Quebec last night, Maple Leaf Wrestling has signed Ricky Steamboat to a p.a. deal, while ICW star Randy Savage & HCW’s Gino Hernandez are the latest to reject their offer … Both the WWA and ICW are being warned that their TV shows are in jeopardy if ratings don’t improve soon.

Speaking of television, here’s the ratings from the past week:
GCW on TBS posted a 2.36, peaking in the second half hour at 2.54 (up 0.14)
WWF on US Synd Small I posted a 1.52 (up 0.02)
AWA on US Small Synd II posted a 1.31 (down 0.10)
Mid-Atlantic on Local TV posted a 0.67 (down 0.07)
WCCW Local-Mid South posted a 0.62 (up 0.08)
CWF on Local-SE posted a 0.50 (up 0.18)
SWCW on USA posted a 0.34 (up 0.14)
Mid-South on Local II posted a 0.25 (up 0.07)
WWC on WAPA/Puerto Rico posted a 0.14 (up 0.02)
Big Time Wrestling on Local-NW posted a 0.12 (same)
CWA All-Stars on WMC posted a 0.11 (up 0.01)
GLOW on US Small Syn III posted a 0.09 (same)
Wrestling at the Chase (CENT) on Local MW II posted a 0.07 (up 0.03)
SECW on Local SE II posted a 0.00 (same)
ICW All-Stars on WTVQ posted a 0.00 (same)
HCW on Local – Mid South III posted a 0.00 (same)
CWA on Local – Grt Lks III posted a 0.00 (same)

Puroresu Chukei (AJPW) on Nippon TV posted a 1.54 (up 0.02)
World Pro Wrestling (NJPW) on ASAHI posted a 1.51 (up 0.10)
CMLL on Telemundo posted a 1.44 (up 0.17)
Ringside Wrestling (MLW) on TV Canada East posted a 0.93 (up 0.02)
ITV World of Sport on ITV posted a 0.59 (down 0.04)
IWM on Local Quebec posted a 0.37 (down 0.02)
Stampede Wrestling on TV Canada West posted a 0.29 (down 0.01)

[SirFozzie]

I'm trying to imagine Jaguar Yokota wrestling in GLOW. And failing miserably :)

[JonInMiddleGA]

I'm trying to imagine Jaguar Yokota wrestling in GLOW. And failing miserably :)

I'm curious to see what happens when them when they begin their tour & actually start running shows next month (apparently their weekly TV show is airing highlights of their "previous" tour at the moment).

In addition to the roster they start with, they've made five signings so far (I'm a couple of weeks ahead in game time vs what's posted here): Luna & Vivian Vachon, Judy Martin, Klondyke Kate, and Rhonda "Monster Ripper" Singh.

That brings their roster to: 8 main eventers (both Vachons, Tammy Jones, Mt Fiji, California Doll, Tina Ferrari, Matilda the Hun, and Ashley Cartier), 8 upper midcarders, 12 midcarders, 6 lower mids, 4 openers, and 1 enhancement talent, for a total of 39 workers. For a regional promotion with only E- popularity anywhere outside the South West, I'm not sure how their touring schedule will work out financially.

[BYU 14]

Holy smokes, Graham going to a double DQ against one of my favorite Georgia Jobbers Charlie Fulton.....The Superstar has fallen on hard times indeed.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Tuesday Week 3, April 1983
Reality hits the AWA today as both Hulk Hogan and Jesse Ventura officially depart for the WWF. … Maple Leaf Wrestling continues to try to beef up their roster, adding Bad News Brown from Calgary Stampede … Leo Burke retained his AGPW Int’l HW Title with a win over the Cuban Assassin, The Spoiler picked up a win over Stephen Petipas on the same show … Over in the UK, Mal Sanders defeated Mighty John Quinn to capture the ASWUK Championship while Steve Wright took the British Lt Hvywt belt back from Fit Finlay

Since I hate to miss an opportunity to kick someone when they’re down, I make a couple of long distance calls in their general direction myself. Seems only appropriate since I’ve been told that they’ve contacted both Buzz Sawyer and Larry Zbyszko. Larry came to let me know he was considering their offer and accidentally let it slip about Buzz in the same conversation. We also place a couple of calls into the Tennessee area codes to see who might be interested in getting a little more work.

Wednesday Week 3, April 1983
Six phone calls out and not a single decent conversation out of any of them yet. I’m not expecting, nor even hoping really, that all six people we’ve called will be interesting in spending some time in GCW. But you’d think that at least one of them might jump at the chance. Jump? They haven’t even crawled in the direction of the chance by accident yet.

Nine promotions ran shows last night, so there’s plenty of odds & ends today. AJPW television featured Umanosuke Ueda taking the TV title from Genichiro Tenryu … The AWA held their big show for the month, with Nick Bockwinkel & The High Flyers retaining their respective titles … SWCW came to Atlanta (bastards) for a show (D+) that included a win for The Grapplers (Len Denton & Tony Anthony) over Bobby Jaggers & Kelly Kiniski … Barry Windham & Ron Bass won the CWF Florida Tag Team titles at a house show (D) down in Puerto Rico, where Terry Allen & Ray Candy teamed to defeat Adrian Street & The Professional (Les Thornton) and Jake Roberts teamed with Kevin Sullivan to win over Scott McGhee & Mike Rotundo …

Thursday Week 3, April 1983
Getting ready for tonight’s tour show, checking to see what happened elsewhere last night.
MACW ran a successful (C) show down in Sarasota with Ric Flair again defending the NWA World Title against Jos Leduc … The AWA did some nice work (C) out in Phoenix where Nick Bockwinkel defended their World Title against Wahoo McDaniel … WCCW drew 5,000 to their show (D) in Wichita Falls where Freebirds Hayes & Gordy defended their tag titles against Kerry & Mike Von Erich, Iceman Parsons retained their TV belt beating Magic Dragon, and Kevin Von Erich hung on to the American Hvywt belt with a win over Buddy Jack Roberts … Mid-South Wrestling ran in Virginia with Mr. Wrestling II teaming with Junkyard Dog to beat Mike Sharpe & Kendo Nagasaki … In Puerto Rico Carlos Colon again defended his Universal belt with a win over Bruiser Brody … And from Japan we hear that AJPW is under increasing pressure to improve the ratings of their weekly TV show or else.

And oh, I almost forgot, we did hear from one of the people we called. :)

[JonInMiddleGA]

Thursday Week 3, April 1983 (con’t)
Stars of GCW On Tour ! – Indianapolis (IN) Center - Attendance 1,000 (sold out)

Pre-show action

Paul Orndorff talks to Freddy Miller – 3 minutes (C)
Standard hype segment.

Pez Whatley d. Joe Lightfoot in 6:26 by pinfall (D+) with a Flying Willie Headbutt. Pez Whatley and Joe Lightfoot have pretty good chemistry, and it lifted the match. The announcing quality lifted the match. The colour commentary gave the match a boost.

Pez Whatley talks to Gordon – 3 minutes (E)
The segment wasn't very good to begin with, and this crowd really turned against it.

Main card

Stan Hansen d. Jake Roberts in 11:54 (B) by pinfall with The Lariat. Stan Hansen and Jake Roberts have great chemistry, and it showed in their performances. The match suffered because there was not enough selling shown. The match deserved better colour commentary. This match lifted the crowd.

Stan Hansen promo about Zbyszko and vacant title – 5 minutes (B-)
The 6 for the National HW Title storyline has continued with this segment.

Dave Finlay d. Brad Armstrong in 5:58 (E+) by pinfall with an Inverted Piledriver. The announcing quality lifted the match. The colour commentary gave the match a boost. This match brought the crowd's mood down. Brad Armstrong is improving in Performance skills.

Ole Anderson promo with Gordon – 3 minutes (C+)

Paul Orndorff d. Len Denton in 6:53 (C+) by pinfall with a Forearm Clothesline. The announcing quality lifted the match. Paul Orndorff is improving in Performance skills.

Zbyszko blasts Hansen – 5 minutes (C+)
The 6 for the National HW Title storyline has continued with this segment.

Larry Zbyszko d. Ole Anderson in 13:48 (C+) by pinfall with a Shoulder Breaker. The announcing quality lifted the match. Ole Anderson is improving in Technical skills.

Final Show Rating: C+ This show can be considered a success, it should have increase our popularity

[JonInMiddleGA]

Friday Week 3, April 1983

Hard to complain after last night. Turned a small profit, left the crowd happy & wanting more. Could have been better of course, if we had replaced the one dud match with something better but that kept cost down as intended and we learned something useful if we need to bump up a short show rating in the future.

But if I were to decide to complain then it would definitely be about Buzz Sawyer’s failure to show up as expected. And I could be even more upset about the fact he didn’t bother to call & tell anyone anything concerning his absence.

Plenty going on elsewhere naturally, including a well received show in Tohoku for NJPW where Riki Chosyu defeated Tiger Mask to retain the WWF Int’l Hvywt Title. Earlier in the day a similar showing for their TV taping highlighted by Antonio Inoki’s win over Hulk Hogan. … The WWF runs an okay show (C-) in Ithaca, NY with Bob Backlund (over Ray Stevens), The Wild Samoans (over Ivan Putski & Tito Santana), and Don Muraco (over Tony Garea) all making successful title defenses. Also, Superstar Billy Graham defeated Frankie Williams … MLW taped their weekly TV show with Raymond Rougeau over Adrian Adonis as the main event … Wrestling at the Chase for CSTATE headlined by Bruiser Brody defeating Roger Kirby … WCCW goes up to the Bronx with Terry Gordy over David Von Erich in the main event before a sold out crowd of 300 … More dire warnings for MLW that if their TV ratings don’t improve soon they’ll be facing cancellation.

Saturday Week 3, April 1983
Both Larry Zbyszko and Buzz Sawyer agree to p.p.a. deals with the AWA, however both have assured us that GCW will remain their top priority.

Much as I hated to, had to turn down the opportunity to bring in Mr. Saito (asking $1200 p.a.) and Steve Keirn (asking $1075 p.a.). I would have liked to have them but it was impossible to justify long commitments at those prices for guys who would have been no more than the top of our midcard right now. We might work out something for Keirn with CWF for a short visit sometime down the road though.

Elsewhere last night, MACW drew 1,000 in Beaumont, TX to watch Ric Flair retain the NWA World Title against Terry Funk … The AWA took what might have been an ill-advised trip out to the North West, drawing just 714 to watch Baron Von Raschke & Wahoo McDaniel defeated Nick Bockwinkel & Ken Patera … Manny Fernandez & Scott Casey teamed to win the SWCW main event over Tully Blanchard & Adrian Adonis before an equally small crowd in the North West … Mid-South Wrestling ventured to the same area as Ted DiBiase defended his N.A. Hvywt Title with a win over Mr. Wrestling II and Tim Horner defeated Magnum T.A. … The WWC came stateside to Chandler, AZ with Abdullah the Butcher & Bruiser Brody winning a tag team main event over Carlos Colon & Invader I to retain their Tag Team titles. … AJPW television featured Giant Baba & Jumbo Tsruta defending their Int’l Tag Team Titles with a win over Stan Hansen & Mighty Inoue.

Before we head out for tonight’s TV taping, Ronnie Garvin pokes his head in to make sure he’s scheduled. I assure him that he’ll be working tonight … and make a mental note to make sure he does.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Saturday Week 3, April 1983 (con’t)
Georgia Championship Wrestling (TV) – 90 minutes at the Atlanta Civic Center with 4,517 in attendance

Pre-show

Rick Hunter talks to Gordon about upcoming match – 3 min(C)
Rick Hunter is developing better performance skills.

Les Thornton d. Randy Barber in 5:32 by pinfall with a Brainbuster (C-)
The colour commentary gave the match a boost. Les Thornton looked good out there.

Tommy Rich hypes upcoming match with Buzz Sawyer – 3 minutes (D)
The 6 for the National HW Title storyline has continued with this segment.

TV Taping
Larry Zbyszko argues with Paul Orndorff about vacant titles and life in general and they decide to take it to the ring. – 3 minutes (B-)

Larry Zbyszko d. Paul Orndorff in 12:19 by pinfall with a Shoulder Breaker. (B-)
The match suffered because there was not enough selling shown. The announcing quality lifted the match. This match lifted the crowd.

Promo video of Road Warrior Hawk showing his “training” regiment, which mostly consisted of smashing things. – 3 minutes (C+)

Chic Cullen d. Dave Finlay in 5:40 by submission. (D)
The announcing quality lifted the match. The colour commentary gave the match a boost.

Paul Ellering comes out & replaces Freddy Miller, interrupting his upcoming events spiel – 4 minutes (C+)

The Spoiler d. Ronnie Garvin in 7:53 by pinfall with a Tightrope Clawhold. (C-)
Ronnie Garvin and The Spoiler just don't click at all, and it showed in their performances. The match suffered because of the lack of selling on display. The announcing quality lifted the match. The 6 for the National HW Title storyline has continued with this match.

The Spoiler messes with a fan on the way out, security finally clears a path – 3 minutes (C+)

Rick Hunter d. Road Warrior Hawk in 6:06 by pinfall with an Inverted Suplex. (C)
The match suffered because there was not enough selling shown. The announcing quality lifted the match. Rick Hunter is improving in Rumble skills.

Solie hypes upcoming main event – 3 minutes (B)
The 6 for the National HW Title storyline has continued with this segment.

Adrian Street d. Bullet Bob Armstrong in 11:46 by pinfall with a Crucifix Cradle. (B)

Street cuts a promo, explaining that “I’m in love with me”. – 4 minutes (D+)
The segment wasn't very good to begin with, and this crowd really turned against it.

Tommy Rich d. Buzz Sawyer in 13:41 by pinfall with an exploder suplex. (B+)
The match deserved better colour commentary. The 6 for the National HW Title storyline has continued with this match. This match lifted the crowd. Tommy Rich is improving in Rumble skills.


Final Show Rating: B
This show can be considered a success, it should have increased our popularity.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Sunday Week 3, April 1983

Happy as a pig in slop about last night’s show. Kind of wishing I had saved some of that for a later date actually, but I’m not going to complain one bit. The crowd was hot from the get go and even when things weren’t great, they didn’t turn on the show as a whole.

While the Exotic One may not have gone over with the crowd, I believe that the more they get to know him the more they’ll like him … err, hate him. You know what I mean.

Elsewhere last night, The CWF held their Battle For the Belts card (D+) in Baton Rouge, where all their champs retained, including Purple Haze who defeated Blackjack Mulligan & kept the Florida Hvywt Title. Also on the show, Jake Roberts defended his Bahamas Title with a win over Mike Graham. … The WWC remained stateside, visiting the North West to showcase Carlos Colon defending his Universal Heavyweight belt with a win over Bruiser Brody … The CWA ran in Orange County (VA) (D-) with The Fabulous Ones (Keirn & Lane) beating Austin Idol & Moondog Rex to keep their Southern Tag Team Titles … SECW traveled to the North West with The Midnight Express (Dennis Condrey & Randy Rose) defeating Brad Armstrong and his brother Scott.

Our approach to AWA midcarder Brad Rheingans was rejected as he wishes to focus his attention there. We actually heard back from Bobby Heenan about coming to work here but we found his asking price of $2,650 per appearance to be one of the easiest decisions we’ve ever made. Umm, thanks but no thanks.

Real-world interruption:
Adrian Street, just one example of why he’s one of the great characters in wrestling history
YouTube - "Exotic" Adrian Street - "I'm In Love With Me" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j-zp23xEKWo)

[BYU 14]

Street is definitely one of the most underrated entertainers from the territory era. By all accounts a legit tough guy as well, who not many guys would even think about messing with.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Monday Week 4, April 1983

As expected, David Von Erich turned down an offer to come to work here, opting to remain focused on WCCW. We shouldn’t feel too bad, he also reportedly turned down Maple Leaf Wrestling as well, one of the few guys to do so as they continue to try to become a major player. They further strengthened their roster this week, reaching p.a. agreements with current WWF World Champion Bob Backlund, NWA U.S. Champion Greg Valentine, and recent WCCW Texas Hvywt Champion Jimmy Garvin. They’ll join other recent signees Ricky Steamboat, Sgt. Slaughter, and Adrian Adonis to form one of the biggest name rosters in the business, much less in Canada.

Last night, the WWF ran in Lewiston, ME (C-) with Pedro Morales defeating Jimmy Snuka in the main event … The CWF took Wrestling From Florida on the road to Joplin, MO (D+) where the Purple Haze defended his Florida Title successfully against Blackjack Mulligan. Also on the show, Adrian Street lost to Outlaw Ron Bass … The Sportatorium in Dallas was at capacity (2,000) for a visit by MSW (C), a strong show that included Ted DiBiase defending his North American Hvywt Title with a win over Mr. Olympia, Kendo Nagasaki over Tim Horner, and Junkyard Dog teaming with Mr. Wrestling II to defeat King Kong Bundy & Wild Bill Irwin.

Looking to bolster our heel options toward the bottom of the card, we put out a few feelers to some reasonable solid but unremarkable workers to see if someone might be wiling to work cheap. We took one step in that direction with a quick call to Mid-Atlantic, who agreed to trade Mike Starbuck for Masa Fuchi on a three appearance deal. Both have admitted that if push ever came to shove, they’ll accept a booking for them ahead of us (which is what I really wanted to find out with this deal).

Taking a look at the TV ratings for various wrestling shows for the past week …
GCW on TBS posted a 2.49, peaking in the second half hour at 2.66 (up 0.13)
WWF on US Synd Small I posted a 1.50 (down 0.02)
AWA on US Small Synd II posted a 1.37 (up 0.06)
Mid-Atlantic on Local TV posted a 0.75 (up 0.08)
WCCW Local-Mid South posted a 0.55 (down 0.07)
SWCW on USA posted a 0.32 (down 0.04)
CWF Wrestling from Florida on Local-SE posted a 0.29 (down 0.21)
Mid-South on Local II posted a 0.17 (down 0.08)
WWC on WAPA/Puerto Rico posted a 0.12 (down 0.02)
Big Time Wrestling on Local-NW posted a 0.12 (same)
CWA All-Stars on WMC posted a 0.10 (down 0.01)
GLOW on US Small Syn III posted a 0.09 (same)
Wrestling at the Chase (CENT) on Local MW II posted a 0.07 (same)
SECW on Local SE II posted a 0.00 (same)
ICW All-Stars on WTVQ posted a 0.00 (same)
HCW on Local – Mid South III posted a 0.00 (same)
CWA on Local – Grt Lks III posted a 0.00 (same)

Puroresu Chukei (AJPW) on Nippon TV posted a 1.52 (down 0.02)
World Pro Wrestling (NJPW) on ASAHI posted a 1.49 (down 0.02)
CMLL on Telemundo posted a 1.24 (down 0.20)
Ringside Wrestling (MLW) on TV Canada East posted a 0.91 (down 0.02)
ITV World of Sport on ITV posted a 0.58 (down 0.01)
IWM on Local Quebec posted a 0.39 (up 0.02)
Stampede Wrestling on TV Canada West posted a 0.30 (up 0.01)

[JonInMiddleGA]

Tuesday Week 4, April 1983
Still preparing for a three show week, culminating with our larger End-of-Month Show on Sunday. I’ve been busy on the phone, looking to maybe strengthen us for the months to come, still trying to find the right mix while keeping the budget reasonable.

Houston Championship Wrestling rewarded one of the up & coming stars of the business last night at their month-end event (D+), as Gino Hernandez won the HCW Universal Title from Kamala. … The vacant AGPW Tag Team Titles were won by The Cuban Commandos (Gerry Morrow & The Cuban Assassin) who defeated Hubert Gallant & Pierre Lefebvre. Also on the show (D+) Leo Burke retained the AGPW Int’l Hvywt Title by defeating The Spoiler … Across the pond, ASWUK ran in Nottingham (C) and saw Mark Rocco defend his World Heavy-Middleweight belt against Mal Sanders while Steve Wright defeated Chic Cullen to retain the British Lt Hvywt strap

Wednesday Week 4, April 1983
Why is it so difficult for people to pick up the phone & return calls? Don’t people know I’m trying to build something special here and they should be happy to be considered for a role in that. Honored? I’d settle for some common courtesy. I’ve got one ace in the hole for Sunday (or Saturday if I get restless) but I’d like to have something else to look forward to next month too.

Lots of TV tapings around the world last night, starting in Japan where AJPW ran their weekly Puroresu Chukei with Stan Hansen & Bruiser Brody teaming to beat Terry Funk & Harley Race. … In Manitoba, CSW’s main event saw Leo Burke defeat Jim Neidhart … In the UK, Joint Promotions touring show featured Johnny Saint’s successful defense of his World Lightweight Title against Tony Walsh … In Sarasota, CWF tag champs Windham & Bass defended against Haze & Sullivan. The show (C-) also included Bob Roop over Adrian Street and Leroy Brown over The Professional (aka Les Thornton) … The American CWA ran in Tampa as Jerry Lawler retained the Int’l Title with a win over Moondog Rex … CWA Europe headlined with Otto Wanz defeating Axel Dieter to keep the CWA World Hvywt belt … Amidst rumors of financial problems, the WWA visited Bridgeport, CT where Chris Markoff kept hold on their Hvywt Title by defeating Steve Regal

Thursday Week 4, April 1983
We get a couple of callbacks before heading out to our road show tonight. Playboy Doug Somers hasn’t been hungry long enough apparently, or else he’s been hungry so long that it’s made him a little lightheaded. We quickly end the conversation when he asks for $450 p.a. and doesn’t intend to budge. No problem, neither do I.

We have a different reaction to the exact same price for Emilio Charles, Jr. He’s just what we’re looking for at the moment, a versatile heel that shouldn’t be a drag on our shows while doing a j-o-b. I’m a little concerned about his non-existent English but hopefully he’ll manage to pick up some along the way.

Last night, Mid-Atlantic ran before a full house in Richmond (C) with Wahoo McDaniel going over Ivan Koloff in the main event … WCCW sold out Huntsville, TX (C-) to see David & Kerry Von Erich defeat The Great Kabuki & Buddy Roberts in the main event … The AWA sold out Toledo (C) as Nick Bockwinkel defended the AWA World Title against Baron Von Raschke. Also on the show, Ken Patera & Larry Zbyszko teamed to beat Buzz Sawyer & Jim Brunzell. … Mid South Wrestling went out to Fremont, CA with Ted DiBiase retaining his N.A. Hvywt Title by beating Mr. Wrestling II. Also on the card Buddy Landell d. Tim Horner … The WWC was back home in Puerto Rico for Carlos Colon to defeat Bruiser Brody and Abdullah the Butcher d. Pedro Morales … SECW visited Macon, GA (D+) where Bob Armstrong defeated The Flame to retain the SE Hvywt Title. Brad Armstrong & his brother Scott lost again to The Midnight Express

[JonInMiddleGA]

Thursday Week 4, April 1983 (con’t)
Stars of GCW On Tour ! – Norman (OK) Field House - Attendance 419

Pre-show

Eric Embry talks to Gordon Solie – 2 minutes (D-)
The segment wasn't very good to begin with, and this crowd really turned against it.

Pat Rose d. Mike Starbuck in 6:27 (E-) by pinfall with a Corner Bulldog.
The announcing quality lifted the match. The colour commentary gave the match a boost. This match brought the crowd's mood down.

Mr. Wrestling I & II talk to Freddy Miller – 4 minutes (C+)
Freddy Miller is improving at acting.

Regular Show

Stan Hansen d. The Iron Sheik in 7:48 (B-) by pinfall with The Lariat.
The match suffered because there was not enough selling shown. Stan Hansen is improving in Technical skills.

Hansen cuts a promo about Larry Zbyszko – 4 minutes (B)
The 6 for the National HW Title storyline has continued with this segment.

Ole Anderson d. Eric Embry in 5:57 (C) by pinfall with an Anderson Running Knee.
The announcing quality lifted the match.

The Spoiler hypes his upcoming match – 4 minutes (C)

The Spoiler d. Mr. Wrestling I in 11:46 (C) by pinfall with a Tightrope Clawhold.
Mr. Wrestling was visibly tiring toward the end. The match suffered because there was not enough selling shown. The announcing quality lifted the match. The Spoiler is improving in Technical skills.

Gordon Solie introduces newest member of GCW, Terry Gordy – 4 minutes (C+)

Terry Gordy d. Mr. Wrestling II in 14:04 (B) by pinfall with a Powerbomb.
The announcing quality lifted the match. This match lifted the crowd.

Final Show Rating: B-
This show can be considered a success, it should have increased our popularity.

[BYU 14]

Thats a stacked card for an area you are trying to build in, it will be interesting to see how much more you draw when you go back there.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Friday Week 4, April 1983
Nice job last night, and although I hated sticking Wrestling II with a loss, the GCW debut of Terry Gordy needed something big and it did not disappoint. It was hard to sit on his signing for even a week, so we pulled the trigger tonight & got pretty much exactly what we were hoping for. On the downside, Johnny Walker is feeling the strain of working so much lately so we’ll give him Saturday off in hopes that he’ll be in better shape for Sunday’s End of the Month Spectacular.

CMLL ran in Phoenix last night, with Lizmark claiming the vacant NWA Middleweight Title by beating El Satanico … In the UK, ITV featured Johnny Saint defeating Jim Breaks … NJPW’s World Pro TV show saw Riki Chosu defeat Andre the Giant to retain the WWF International Hvywt Title. Later that night at their regular weekly house show, Tatsumi Fujinami would take the title from Choshu … Back here in the US, WCCW ran in Bessemer, AL with Michael Hayes over Sweet Brown Sugar in the main event … Wrestling at the Chase went to Rochester, MN, where Manny Fernandez beat Harley Race in the main event … MLW taped their Ringside Wrestling TV programme as Raymond Rougeau beat Adrian Adonis in the main event. Bad News Brown & Bob Backlund teamed up to win the vacant Canadian Open Tag Team belts over Singh & Slaughter … The WWF visited Pennsylvania (C) with Jimmy Snuka going over Hulk Hogan in the main event, The Wild Samoans retaining their Tag Team Titles with a win over Roddy Piper & Tony Atlas, and George Steele going to a double countout with Bruno Sammartino.

We had a conversation with Central States announcer Larry Matysik about coming on board to fill in if Gordon ever wanted a day off but his asking price of $1623 seemed a little high for the time being. Solie is just a little better at everything than Matysik, so although he’s quite good & could fill in as a road agent as well, we pass for now.


Saturday Week 4, April 1983
Problems in the back as a couple of the boys decide they don’t like each other much. Given all the free spirits running around here that’s not really a surprise. What was surprising were two workers involved, Chic Cullen and Rick Hunter, neither of whom we expected something like that from. We’ll keep an eye on it for now & see if they can coexist but with Hunter exceeding expectations thus far while Cullen was so-so in his debut, if we’re forced to make a choice it’ll be easy to decide who would become an ex-employee.

A couple of very difficult hiring decisions to make today. First, we get a positive reaction from The Missouri Mauler Larry Hamilton. He’s retired from the ring but is a respected locker room leader that could work in a variety of roles from road agent to color commentator to even working the odd dark match here & there to help some of the youngsters. Problem is, he wants $1565 p.a. with a $782 downside. The latter doesn’t bother me since I wouldn’t be hiring him to not use him. The part I’m having a hard time swallowing is his cost per appearance. As much as I’d like to have him sitting in the gorilla position (especially with this locker room), I’ve got to say “not at this time”.

The next conversation is with referee Dave Hebner. A solid official who would be a good addition but I can’t justify his $900 p.a. asking price, nor anything we might reasonably negotiate. Would be great if money were no object but we’re not in that situation at this point so I have to say no thanks.

In other news as we prepare for our first back to back shows … It’s being reported that TV ASAHI has issued a stark warning to NJPW that if the ratings for their show World Pro Wrestling don’t improve quickly the show will be pulled from the lineup. … The AWA ran in St. Joe’s, MO last night (C) with Larry Zbyszko & Ken Patera defeating Baron Von Raschke & Nick Bockwinkel in a tag team main event. Also on the show Greg Gagne retained his AWA TV Title by beating Buzz Sawyer … Harley Race was the standout of AJPW’s King’s Road show in Kyushu but also looking good was Stan Hansen with a victory over Giant Baba … For MACW Ric Flair defeated Greg Valentine to retain the NWA World Hywt Title. On the opposite end of the card Dick Slater easily pinned Mike Starbuck … Mid-South traveled to Wisconsin for Ted DiBiase to retain his North American Title against Mr. Wrestling II, while down the card Terry Taylor went to a double count out with Tim Horner … The WWF went down to Puerto Rico for the big month end show, headlined by Bob Backlund defeating Afa to retain the WWF Hvywt Title. Superstar Billy Graham claimed the upper hand over Charlie Fulton, winning their match here after a double DQ earlier in the month. … And speaking of P.R., the WWC was in the Great Lakes where Hercules Ayala defeated Bob Sweetan in the main event of an unusual show that did not include mainstays Carlos Colon, Bruiser Brody, or Abdullah the Butcher.

NEXT UP: Our final TV show of the month, leading up to our End of the Month Spectacular

[JonInMiddleGA]

Saturday Week 4, April 1983 (con’t)
Georgia Championship Wrestling (TV) – 90 minutes at the Akron Civic Center with 2,000 in attendance


Pre-show
Larry Zbyskzo d. Mike Starbuck in 6:04 (C-) by pinfall with a Shoulder Breaker.
The colour commentary from Tommy Rich joining Freddy Miller gave the match a boost. Larry Zbyszko looked good out there. Mike Starbuck is improving in Performance skills.

Paul Orndorff talks to Freddy Miller about the possibility of him getting a shot at the vacant TV title. – 3 mins (D-)
The segment wasn't very good to begin with, and this crowd really turned against it.

TV Taping
Les Thornton d. Chic Cullen in 6:19 (C+) by pinfall with a Brainbuster.
The announcing quality lifted the match.

Buzz Sawyer attacks Tommy Rich while Wildfire is talking to Gordon about tomorrow night’s big show & his shot at the NWA National Heavyweight Title – 3 minutes (C+)
The 6 for the National HW Title storyline has continued with this segment. Tommy Rich is developing better performance skills. Buzz Sawyer is developing better performance skills.

Emilio Charles, Jr. d. Joe Lightfoot in 6:07 (D) by pinfall after using a foreign object.
Emilio Charles Jr. and Joe Lightfoot have great chemistry, and it showed in their performances. The announcing quality lifted the match. The colour commentary gave the match a boost. The fans were really turned off by the finish to the match.

Tommy Rich tells Jim Barnett he’ll risk his title shot in order to get a match against Buzz Sawyer tonight. Barnett hesitates & then agrees. 3 mins (C)
The 6 for the National HW Title storyline has continued with this segment. Jim Barnett is improving at acting.

Masa Fuchi d. Brett Wayne in 6:41 (D) by pinfall with a Backdrop Suplex.
The announcing quality lifted the match. The colour commentary gave the match a boost.

Mr Wrestling II talks with Freddy Miller about the high level of competition in Georgia Championship Wrestling – 4 mins (C)

Pez Whatley d. Brad Armstrong in 7:33 (E) by pinfall while using the ropes for leverage.
Brad Armstrong was visibly tiring toward the end. The announcing quality lifted the match. The colour commentary gave the match a boost. The fans were really turned off by the finish to the match. This match brought the crowd's mood down.

Self-hype promo from The Spoiler – 4 mins (D)
The segment wasn't very good to begin with, and this crowd really turned against it.

Rick Hunter d. Len Denton in 8:36 (C-) by pinfall with a Russian Legsweep.
Rick Hunter and Len Denton don't seem to click, and it made for an awkward bout. The announcing quality lifted the match. Len Denton is improving in Performance skills.

Larry Zbyszko cuts a promo, talking about the NWA National Heavyweight title as though he’s already won his match tomorrow night. His arrogance knows no bounds. – 4 mins (C+)

Paul Orndorff d. The Spoiler in 9:41 (C-) by pinfall with a Piledriver.
Paul Orndorff and The Spoiler don't seem to click, and it made for an awkward bout. The announcing quality lifted the match.

Tommy Rich d. Buzz Sawyer in 11:41 (B-) by pinfall with a Vertical Splash.
The 6 for the National HW Title storyline has continued with this match.

Final Show Rating: C
This show can be considered a success, it should have increased our popularity.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Sunday Week 4, April 1983
Not really all that happy with yesterday’s TV, thank goodness for Rich & Sawyer pulling our bacon out of the fire. Sawyer wasn’t really happy about the outcome but I guess he’ll have to deal with it, same as the similar complaint from The Spoiler.

Elsewhere last night, Calgary Stampede has new tag team champions as Bruce & Bret Hart defeated Dynamite Kid & Davey Boy Smith to win the CSW Int’l belts. … In Iowa, WCCW held their big monthly blowout show (D) with The Freebirds defending their American tag titles against Kerry & Mike Von Erich while Kevin Von Erich retained the American Hvywt title with a win over Bill Irwin. Iceman King Parsons defended his TV title as well, beating Frank Dusek. … Bullet Bob Armstrong worked the SECW show up in Wisconsin, beating The Flame. One half of their tag team champs, Jimmy Golden, is expected to miss up to a month with a bicep problem that gave him trouble in his match against Wendell Cooley.

The Iron Sheik has received an offer from the AWA, no decision yet though.

Meanwhile we took a look at bringing in WCCW veteran Al Madrill since he’s no longer working for them but felt that his asking price of over $1,000 per show was simply too much. Also passed on WCCW referee James Beard, as nearly $2,000 per show for an official is just silly at this point. We will have one addition to the roster though, as we agree to terms with UK technician Mark Rocco. He’ll start near the bottom of our card at $525 per appearance but should be capable of some steady matches and help improve the skills of some of our faces while giving them wins. And who knows, if he gets over a bit he could move up the card, certainly a technical oriented tag team with Les Thornton might be an interesting prospect.

Mr. Wrestling II is still feeling the effects of his recent workload around the country, even though we gave him light duty yesterday with just a promo & some road agent work. Risky perhaps but we’ll still use him on the big show tonight. More troubling is that we’ve had to fine Buzz Sawyer for arriving late to yesterday’s tapings. Something has got to give with that boy if he doesn't get his out of the ring act together soon.

Next up: Our end of the month spectacular from the Atlanta Civic Center.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Sunday Week 4, April 1983 (con’t)
Georgia Championship Wrestling EotM Spectacular – 2 hours at the Atlanta Civic Center with 3,294 in attendance


Pre-show
Thunderbolt Patterson tells Paul Ellering he needs a good old fashioned butt whooping – 3 mins (D)
The segment wasn't very good to begin with, and this crowd really turned against it.

Thunderbolt Patterson d. Paul Ellering in 6:25 (C-) by pinfall with a Clothesline.
Thunderbolt Patterson and Paul Ellering don't seem to click, and it made for an awkward bout. The announcing quality lifted the match. The colour commentary gave the match a boost. Paul Ellering is improving in Performance skills.

The Iron Sheik promises victory later tonight – 2 mins (C+)
The Iron Sheik is developing better performance skills.

Eric Embry & Dave Finlay d. Brad Armstrong & Mike Starbuck in 4:46 (D) when Eric Embry defeated Mike Starbuck by pinfall with a Piledriver.
The announcing quality lifted the match. The guest commentary from Stan Hansen gave the match a boost. Brad Armstrong is improving in Performance skills.

Main Show
The Iron Sheik d. Bullet Bob Armstrong in 5:43 (B-) by pinfall with a Loaded Boot Blast.
The announcing quality lifted the match

Ellering hypes his powerful team – 3 mins (C+)
The 4 top partners for Tag Titles storyline has continued with this segment. The 4 second partners for tag titles storyline has continued with this segment.

Mr Wrestling I & Mr Wrestling II d. Road Warriors Hawk & Animal in 7:28 (C-) when Mr. Wrestling II defeated Road Warrior Animal by pinfall with a Million Dollar Knee Lift. Mr. Wrestling I and II win the National Tag Team titles.
Road Warrior Animal was visibly tiring toward the end. Road Warrior Hawk was visibly tiring toward the end. The match suffered because there was not enough selling shown. The announcing quality lifted the match. Mr. Wrestling II looked good out there. The 4 top partners for Tag Titles storyline has continued with this match. The 4 second partners for tag titles storyline has continued with this match. Road Warrior Hawk is improving in Technical skills.

Mark Rocco d. Tim Horner in 6:11 (D) by pinfall with a Tombstone Piledriver.
The announcing quality lifted the match. The colour commentary gave the match a boost.

Adrian Street makes flamboyant entrance – 3 mins (C)

Adrian Street d. Ronnie Garvin in 9:13 (B-) by pinfall with a Crucifix Cradle.
Adrian Street and Ronnie Garvin have pretty good chemistry, and it lifted the match. The match suffered because of the lack of selling on display. This match lifted the crowd. Adrian Street is improving in Rumble skills.

Jake Roberts d. Paul Orndorff in 7:55 (B) by pinfall with The DDT.

Ole gets the mic, says he doesn’t just want to beat Buzz Sawyer, he wants to hurt him because he’s an annoying prima donna – 3 mins (B-)

Ole Anderson d. Buzz Sawyer in 11:38 (B-) by pinfall with an Anderson Running Knee.

Rick Hunter d. Pez Whatley in 9:50 (C+) by pinfall with an Inverted Suplex. Rick Hunter wins the National Television title.
The announcing quality lifted the match. Pez Whatley is improving in Technical skills.

Stan Hansen & Terry Gordy jaw at each other before the match, tobacco juice a-flyin’ – 3 mins (B-)

Stan Hansen d. Terry Gordy in 12:43 (B+) by submission with a Brazos Valley Backbreaker.
This match lifted the crowd. Stan Hansen is improving in Technical skills.

Zbyszko tells the crowd (and his opponent) that’s he’s already the champ & that this should be an easy title defense – 3 mins (C)

Larry Zbyszko d. Tommy Rich in 14:41 (A+) by pinfall with a Shoulder Breaker. Larry Zbyszko wins the National Heavyweight title.
[Larry Zbyszko seemed off his game tonight. The 6 for the National HW Title storyline has continued with this match. This match lifted the crowd.

Final Show Rating: B+
This show can be considered a success, it should have increased our popularity.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Monday Week 1, May 1983, (part one of four)

Dang that was good. What a fantastic finish on night that saw standout performances up & down the card. And with those warm fuzzies dominating my thoughts, I make the phone rounds & check in to see what other folks were doing while we were burning the house down in Atlanta.

The WWF ran a tiny venue in the Northwest where Sgt. Slaughter defeated Bob Backlund in the main event … CWF went up to New England with Windham & Bass defending their Florida Tag Team Titles successfully against Duncam & Kent in the main event, while The Professional (Les Thornton) lost to Ray Candy in the curtain jerker … CSW’s Wrestling at the Chase taping was on the road in Louisiana where Bob Brown & Buzz Tyler took the Tag Team titles from Robertson & Hernandez … Over in New Japan Tatsumi Fujinami defeated The Masked Superstar to retain the WWF Int’l Hvy belt, Tiger Mask defeated Dynamite Kid to retain his WWF Jr Hvywt title, but the bigger news might have been a fatigued Hulk Hogan coming away from the match with a vague injury known as Facet Syndrome, which he’ll be working through for now and a more serious spinal problem finally forcing main event Seiji Sakaguchi to take some time off, probably 3 months or so.

Also making the gossip mill today are several forthcoming retirements including Mae Young, Ricky Romero, and Bill Watts, who hands over the reins of Mid-South Wrestling to his son Joel.

As we usually do on Monday, let's take a look at the TV ratings for various wrestling shows for the past week …
GCW on TBS posted a 2.21, peaking in the 2nd half hour at 2.36 (down 0.28,our worst to date)
AWA on US Small Synd II posted a 1.61 (up 0.24 and into second place)
WWF on US Synd Small I posted a 1.51 (up 0.01)
Mid-Atlantic on Local TV posted a 0.75 (same)
WCCW Local-Mid South posted a 0.59 (up 0.04)
SWCW on USA posted a 0.34 (up 0.02)
CWF Wrestling from Florida on Local-SE posted a 0.30 (up 0.01)
Mid-South on Local II posted a 0.18 (up 0.01)
WWC on WAPA/Puerto Rico posted a 0.12 (same)
Big Time Wrestling on Local-NW posted a 0.12 (same)
CWA All-Stars on WMC posted a 0.09 (down 0.01)
GLOW on US Small Syn III posted a 0.09 (same)
Wrestling at the Chase (CENT) on Local MW II posted a 0.07 (same)
SECW on Local SE II posted a 0.00 (same)
ICW All-Stars on WTVQ posted a 0.00 (same)
HCW on Local – Mid South III posted a 0.00 (same)
CWA on Local – Grt Lks III posted a 0.00 (same)

World Pro Wrestling (NJPW) on ASAHI posted a 1.51 (up 0.02 and into 1st place)
Puroresu Chukei (AJPW) on Nippon TV posted a 1.50 (down 0.02)
CMLL on Telemundo posted a 1.25 (up 0.01)
Ringside Wrestling (MLW) on TV Canada East posted a 0.90 (down 0.01)
ITV World of Sport on ITV posted a 0.63 (up 0.05)
IWM on Local Quebec posted a 0.37 (down 0.02)
Stampede Wrestling on TV Canada West posted a 0.28 (down 0.02)

[Izulde]

Nice A+ match!

[JonInMiddleGA]

Nice A+ match!

Thanks. Everything just lined up right for that one, although I wish Zbyszko hadn't have been off his game, maybe I could have gotten a A++ ;)

And alas ...

[JonInMiddleGA]

Monday Week 1, May 1983, (part two of four)

I should have known better than to think the lovely afterglow would last long, after all, this IS wrestling so there has to be some drama. I arrive at the office smiling about our good news until the other shoe falls.

The bad news? We lost nearly $80,000 last month :eek: , dropping our cash reserves to about $145k.
Obviously we’re going to have to make some adjustments & start watching things more closely.

We lost nearly $25k in merchandising alone ($14.9k sales vs $38.4k costs), so we’ll switch from conservative to just in time for the coming month to see if that helps. We had $346k and change in revenue for the month versus over $425k in costs. Assuming our non-worker costs & revenue both remained stable, we have just under $60k for the month available for paying talent to break even. That’s an average about $6700 per show we can afford right now, which means putting on some really weak shows or pushing guys into matches that are probably longer than they’re ready for. Another way to look at it would be per match, with the house & TV schedule combined going 12 matches per week for 48 in the month, plus at least 8 more on the end of the month show, that’s 56 matches with an average talent cost around $1075 per match. Roughly 1/3rd of our current roster makes more than that per appearance by themselves, never mind an opponent.

And I just realized that doesn’t include the $1,900 per show for Solie, who has been the strongest part of a lot of our shows and has been handling most of the road agent work to boot. This is getting depressing, since I don’t know how on earth I’m supposed to build a promotion with the only affordable people on the roster :banghead:

After a month, here are the changes in our roster & positions
Tommy Rich up one level to Main Event
Terry Gordy debuts, added to Main Event
Jake Roberts up one level to Upper Midcard
Rick Hunter debuts, added to Upper Midcard
Adrian Street debuts, added to Upper Midcard
Len Denton debuts, added to Upper Midcard
Ronnie Garvin down one level to Midcard
Brett Wayne down one level to Lower Midcard
Eric Embry debuts, added to Midcard
Mark Rocco debuts, added to Midcard
Masa Fuchi debuts, added to Midcard for 3 show loan
Dave Finlay debuts, added to Lower Midcard
Emilio Charles, Jr debuts, added to Lower Midcard
Tim Horner up one level to Lower Midcard
Chic Cullen debuts, added to Opener
Bruno Sammartino, Jr released from Midcard
Italian Stallion released from Lower Midcard
Rick McGraw released from Lower Midcard

Talking to the guys
Brett Wayne sees himself as more of an upper midcarder & is unhappy with his number of losses
Chic Cullen sees himself as more of a lower midcarder
Emilio Charles, Jr sees himself as more of a midcarder
Eric Embry sees himself as more of an upper midcarder
Mark Rocco sees himself as more of an upper midcarder
Mr. Wrestling would rather be a road agent but occasional wrestler is okay too.
Paul Orndorff sees himself as more of a main eventer
Road Warrior Animal sees himself as more of an upper midcarder
Ronnie Garvin sees himself as more of an upper midcarder
The Spoiler sees himself as more of a main eventer

Our popularity remains fairly stable in our top regions, still C+ in the Southeast & C- in the Great Lakes. We did move up a tick, to E+, in both the Mid-Atlantic and Puerto Rico on the solid word of mouth generated by our end of the month show.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Monday Week 1, May 1983, (part three of four)

Rest of the World Promotions
There are 28 other promotions of note around the world, and we seem to have some sort of relationship with most of them.

United States
1)World Wrestling Federation (WWF) - Cult with B prestige - at war
2)Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling (MACW) - Cult with C+ prestige - working agreement
3)American Wrestling Association (AWA) - Cult with C prestige
4)Championship Wrestling from Florida (CWF) - Regional with D+ prestige - working agreement
5)World Class Championship Wrestling (WCCW) - Regional with D prestige - hostile
6)Mid-South Wrestling (MSW) - Regional with D prestige - working agreement
7)Central States (CSTATE) - Regional with D prestige - working agreement
8)World Wrestling Council (WWC) - Regional with D- prestige up from E+
9)Southwest Championship Wrestling (SWCW) - Regional with E+ prestige - working agreement
10)Pacific Northwest (PNW) - Regional with E+ prestige - working agreement
11)Championship Wrestling Association (CWA) - Regional with E+ prestige - working agreement
12)Houston Championship Wrestling (HCW) – Regional up from Small with E+ prestige up from E - working agreement
13)Southeastern Championship Wrestling (SECW) – Up to Regional from Small with E prestige up from F+ - working agreement
14)International Championship Wrestling (ICW) - Small with F+ prestige
15)World Wrestling Association (WWA) - Small with F+ prestige
16)Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling (GLOW) - Regional with F prestige

Canada
1)Maple Leaf Wrestling (MLW) - Regional with D- prestige
2)Calgary Stampede Wrestling (CSW) - Regional with E+ prestige
3)International Wrestling Montreal (IWM) - Regional with E+ prestige - non-agression
4)Atlanta Grand Prix Wrestling (AGPW) - Regional with E prestige
5)All-Star Wrestling (ASW) - Small with F+ prestige - non-agression

Mexico
1)Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (CMLL) - Cult with C prestige
2)Universal Wrestling Association (UWA) - Regional with E prestige

Japan
1)All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW) - Regional with C+ prestige up from C
2)New Japan Pro Wrestling (NJPW) - Regional with C prestige
3)All Japan Women's Pro Wrestling (AJWP) – Regional up from Small with E- prestige

UK
1)Joint Promotions (JP) - Cult with D prestige
2)All Star Wrestling UK - (ASWUK) - Regional with E+ prestige up from E

Top Champions Around The World
1)World Wrestling Federation (WWF) - Bob Backlund since Dec 1979
2)Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling (MACW) - Ric Flair since Sept 1981
3)American Wrestling Association (AWA) - Nick Bockwinkel since October 1982
4)Championship Wrestling from Florida (CWF) - Purple Haze since April 1983
5)World Class Championship Wrestling (WCCW) - Terry Gordy since April 1983
6)Mid-South Wrestling (MSW) - Ted DiBiase since April 1983
7)Central States (CSTATE) - Manny Fernandez since September 1982
8)World Wrestling Council (WWC) - Carlos Colon since April 1982
9)Southwest Championship Wrestling (SWCW) - Adrian Adonis since April 1983
10)Pacific Northwest (PNW) - Dutch Savage since April 1983
11)Championship Wrestling Association (CWA) - Jerry Lawler since April 1983
12)Houston Championship Wrestling (HCW) – Gino Hernandez since April 1983
13)Southeastern Championship Wrestling (SECW) – Bob Armstrong since December 1982
14)International Championship Wrestling (ICW) - Randy Savage since January 1982
15)World Wrestling Association (WWA) - Chris Markoff since April 1983
16)Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling (GLOW) - Tammy Jones since April 1983

Canada
1)Maple Leaf Wrestling (MLW) - Vacant
2)Calgary Stampede Wrestling (CSW) - Bret Hart since October 1982
3)International Wrestling Montreal (IWM) - Gilles Poisson since April 1983
4)Atlanta Grand Prix Wrestling (AGPW) - Leo Burke since April 1983
5)All-Star Wrestling (ASW) - Moose Morowski since April 1982

Mexico
1)Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (CMLL) - Lizmark since April 1983
2)Universal Wrestling Association (UWA) - Canek since April 1983

Japan
1)All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW) - Jumbo Tsuruta since October 1982
2)New Japan Pro Wrestling (NJPW) - Tatsumi Fujinami since April 1983
3)All Japan Women's Pro Wrestling (AJWP) – Dump Matsumoto since April 1983

UK
1)Joint Promotions (JP) - Johnny Saint since unknown
2)All Star Wrestling UK - (ASWUK) - Mal Sanders since April 1983

[JonInMiddleGA]

Monday Week 1, May 1983, part four of four

Meanwhile, an amazingly gifted teenager in Bristol, VA has offered to bring the power of modern technology to Georgia Championship Wrestling, with the introduction of something new to the sport: computer rankings.

While young Wes Colley’s rankings, which he calls “The Matrix” won’t be used as the sole determination of anything in GCW, owner Jim Barnett is excited to have another tool with which to evaluate our talent and continue to bring the finest wrestling in the world to our fans.

Colley Matrix Rankings as of Monday Wk 1, May 1983

Wrestler Rating W L T
1 Larry Zbyszko 420 6 0 0
2 Rick Hunter 361 4 0 0
3 Stan Hansen 335 4 0 1
4 Tommy Rich 323 4 1 0
5 Adrian Street 279 2 0 0
6 Ole Anderson 233 3 2 0
7 Emilio Charles Jr 231 1 0 0
8 Mark Rocco 223 1 0 0
9 Masa Fuchi 221 1 0 0
10 Pez Whatley 216 3 2 0
11 Jake Roberts 203 2 2 0
12 Dave Finlay 201 2 1 0
13 Paul Orndorff 198 3 3 0
14 Terry Gordy 188 1 1 0
15 Les Thornton 178 2 2 0
16 Chic Cullen 172 1 1 0
17 Bob Armstrong 172 1 1 0
18 Mr Wrestling II 171 1 1 0
19 Thunderbolt Patterson 170 1 1 0
20 The Spoiler 168 2 2 0
21 Departed Contender 167 0 0 0
22 Departed Midcarder 167 0 0 0
23 Eric Embry 160 1 1 0
24 Paul Ellering 154 1 1 0
25 Buzz Sawyer 131 1 3 1
26 Hawk 123 0 1 0
27 Joe Lightfoot 114 1 2 0
28 Brad Armstrong 103 1 2 0
29 Animal 96 0 1 0
30 Len Denton 96 1 3 0
31 Mr Wrestling I 95 0 1 0
32 Pat Rose 76 1 2 0
33 Randy Barber 75 0 2 0
34 The Iron Sheik 67 0 2 0
35 Tim Horner 63 1 3 0
36 Ronnie Garvin 62 1 3 0
37 Brett Wayne 48 0 2 0
38 Departed Jobber 33 0 2 0
39 Mike Starbuck 11 0 3 0

One random bit of info before we close out our review of the month.
Of the 10 most popular wrestlers in the United States (B- pop or higher)
-- three are retired: Lou Thesz, Haystacks Calhoun & Johnny Valentine
-- two are semi-active: Sheik of Araby & Bobo Brazil
-- just five are still active full-time: Andre the Giant (NJPW & WWF), Dusty Rhodes (CWF & MACW), Harley Race (CSTATE & AJPW), Mil Mascaras (CMLL & HCW), and Ric Flair (MACW).

Of the next 9 most popular (C+ in the US), the youngest active is Terry Funk at age 38 and seven of the group are over 40.

Talk about an opportunity for someone to climb to the top and stay there for a long time, sheesh.

**Real world note here, the Colley Matrix is one of two computer ranking systems available in reproduced form for your gaming needs at College Football Games and Tools - Team Ranker - Introduction (http://sixpoints.slosoft.com/pages/team-rankings-intro) Takes a little getting used to in order to get the data into the format required for input but there's an Excel template that helps a lot. Along with Colley, the Mease system is also there.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Tuesday Week 1, May 1983
Worried about our finances, I put out a half dozen calls looking for bodies that will work cheap without embarrassing us. Who knows, maybe I’ll get lucky & somebody has an alimony check due or something.

While we worry & stew & generally fret about our financial situation, the rest of the wrestling world carries on. HCW ran in New Orleans (C-) with Marty Lunde going to a double countout with Butch Reed to retain their Nationwide title … Central States was in Greenville, SC (C rating, 300 people) for Manny Fernandez to defend his CS HW belt over Harley Race in a solid match (B-). Jerry Oates also defended his TV title but will be out for about a month due to a blowout fracture (of what bone I’m not sure) … ASW ran a show in Cowichan Valley, BC where Al Tomko & Moose Morowski defeated Dean Ho & Buck Ramstead to claim the Canadian Hvywt Tag Team titles … AGPW was out in The Maritimes for Leo Burke to successfully defend their Int’l HW belt with a win over Gerry Morrow. Also on the card, The Spoiler beat The Cuban Assassin. … JPUK had Jonny Saint retain the World Ltwt Title with a win over Vic Faulkner … ASW-UK matches at Exeter included Fit Finlay with a win over Frank Manley and Mark Rocco & Mighty John Quinn defeating Chic Cullen & Mike Bennett … Out in Vegas, GLOW kicked off their tour at the Showboat Sports Pavillion with an 8 match card (E+, 2000 people sold out) that featured 24 workers highlighted by Tammy Jones defense of the GLOW Crown Title against Ashley Cartier.

Wednesday Week 1, May 1983
No returned calls yet, so we just quickly check out the competition near & far.

New Japan crowned Yoshiaki Fujiwara as this year’s MSG League champion with a final round win over Hulk Hogan … All Japan weekly TV was highlighted by Stan Hansen beating Tenryu … CWA-Europe results included Tony St. Clair beating Fit Finlay to retain their World Middleweight Title … JPUK had a title change, as Sid Cooper took the British Heavy-Middleweight belt from Blondie Barratt … CWA took their show up to Wisconsin where Jerry Lawler defended the AWA International title with a win over Moondog Rex … WWA ventured into our backyard, running at Macon(GA) Central High (D-) as Bobo Brazil defeated The Sheik of Araby in the opener and Dick the Bruiser teamed with Spike Huber for a main event win over Paul Christy & Igor Volkoff … CWF took their Endless Beach Tour to Staten Island, NY as The Purple Haze defeated Barry Windham to retain the Florida Hvywt Title. The Professional (Les Thornton) also defended the Florida TV title with a win over Mike Rotundo, and Jake Roberts kept the Bahamas title by beating Scott McGhee. Adrian Street took a loss, pinned by Blackjack Mulligan … Randy Savage defended the ICW Hvywt belt by beating Pez Whatley at a lightly attended (145) show in Texas, while our own Ronnie Garvin beat Crusher Bloomfield … Bruce & Bret Hart defended their Stampede tag titles by beating Leo Burke & Hubert Gallant on a decent (C-) show.

The okay showing probably wasn’t enough to make the moods around Calgary Stampede much better though, as their TV show was cancelled by TV Canada West. USA Network also pulled the plug on Southwest Championship Wrestling after weeks of disappointing ratings.

Meanwhile Maple Leaf Wrestling continues to collect workers, this time adding AWA midcarder “Dr. D” David Schults to one of the more interesting rosters in the business.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Thursday Week 1, May 1983
Several notable shows around the world last night but the bigger news is that AJPW is the latest promotion to find themselves suddenly without the benefit of television. They’ve still got their weekly King’s Road shows to help keep them busy but with such a narrow advantage over New Japan, they cannot be happy about this development.

MACW was on the road in Wisconsin last night (C) for a solid outing headlined by Ric Flair beating Terry Funk in the main event … WCCW was also on tour but closer to home, selling out (5,000) in San Antonio as Terry Gordy beat David Von Erich to retain the Texas Hvywt title … The AWA also packed their bags, hitting Stockton, CA where a capacity crowd of 5,000 saw Nick Bockwinkel defeat Wahoo McDaniel to keep the AWA World title. Buzz Sawyer lost his bid to take the TV title from Greg Gagne while Larry Zbyszko teamed with Crusher Blackwell to best the Hennigs … The UWA ran a small show in southern Mexico and saw Los Villanos (I and III) take their World Tag Team belts from The Revenge Warriors (Sangre Chicana & Lobo Rubio) … In Puerto Rico, Carlos Colon retained the WWC Universal Hvywt belt by beating Bruiser Brody in the main event, after Pedro Morales & Abdullah the Butcher went to a no contest in the penultimate match of the night … Mid-South was in Iowa as Dick Murdoch defeated the Junkyard Dog.

As for us, I’m almost panicking as I see what sort of cards would be fiscally responsible, so I make a few more phone calls.

Thursday Week 1, May 1983 (con’t)

Stars of GCW On Tour ! – Franklinton (LA) High School - Attendance 300

Pre-show
Dave Finlay d. Mike Starbuck in 6:27 (D-) by pinfall with an Inverted Piledriver.
The announcing quality by Freddy Miller lifted the match. The colour commentary from Bob Armstrong gave the match a boost. This match brought the crowd's mood down.

Bob Armstrong talks to Freddy Miller at ringside, getting ready for his upcoming match – 3 mins (E+)
The segment wasn't very good to begin with, and this crowd really turned against it.

Regular Show
Mark Rocco d. Bob Armstrong in 11:52 (C-) by pinfall with a Tombstone Piledriver.
The colour commentary from The Spoiler gave the match a boost.

Mark Rocco tells Freddy Miller that GCW better be ready for him – 3 mins (D-)
The segment wasn't very good to begin with, and this crowd really turned against it.

Chic Cullen d. Pat Rose in 6:26 (D-) by pinfall.
The announcing quality of Freddy Miller lifted the match. The colour commentary by Mark Rocco gave the match a boost. This match brought the crowd's mood down.

The Spoiler tells the crowd just how good he is – 5 mins (C)

Eric Embry d. Joe Lightfoot in 8:18 by pinfall with a Piledriver. (D)
The announcing quality of Freddy Miller lifted the match. The colour commentary by The Spoiler gave the match a boost.

Wildfire Tommy Rich thanks the fans & says that Zbyszko hasn’t seen the last of him – 3 mins (D+) The segment wasn't very good to begin with, and this crowd really turned against it.

Tommy Rich d. The Spoiler in 13:32 by pinfall with a Vertical Splash. (B-)
The 6 for the National HW Title storyline has continued with this match. This match lifted the crowd.

Final Show Rating: C
This show can be considered a success, it should have increased our popularity.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Friday Week 1, May 1983

Well that wasn’t easy but it turned out okay. Freddy Miller did a fine job handling the ringside pbp role, with other workers on the card already filling in his commentary spot. As we’ve done in the past, we used referee Ronnie West exclusively on the show since he’s under written contract just like Miller, saving Scrappy McGowen for TV & end of the month. We probably could have drawn another 100-125 people but opted to go with a smaller building that we could fill to capacity.

Still, even as careful as we tried to be, we lost about $4,100 dollars with $2100 in ticket sales but $6,200 in the workers and the building. And that probably went about as well as it could have all things considered, with more worries coming from the fact that while this so-so show actually helped us in a region where we aren’t well known, it actually would have hurt us in the South East and would have done us no good in the Great Lakes.

So … meh. I don’t feel like I solved anything, just dodged a bullet for another day or two.

A bullet that I’m rapidly growing tired of dodging is the free spirited Buzz Sawyer. Once again last night he simply fails to show up, rendering any decision about whether to use him a moot point. He’s been notified that he’s suspended for one week up to this point, and I really can’t see anything left for me to do except either job him out before firing him outright or start drinking heavily & hope I can get too drunk to be mad about his antics. Well, there’s those options and dangling his contract to other promotions for some cheaper equivalent talent to provide some temporary help.

To wit:
-- GCW makes Sawyer the problem of one Jerry Lawler for 3 shows, in return for three apperances by Ricky Morton ($800 p.a.)
-- GCW sends Sawyer to SECW for 3 shows, in return for three appearances by Dennis Condrey ($500 p.a.)

On a more permanent basis we also found some relatively affordable help I think, at least he will be if I can get people to believe he isn’t a villain (for a while). We agreed to terms, 9 months for $650 p.a., with Bobby Eaton. He’s a former NWA/GCW National TV champion, holding the belt for less than a month back in January 1981 as a heel sandwiched between the reigns of Steve Olsnowski. He’s back, having turned over a new leaf (or at least claiming he has). We’ll see how the fans react to him this time around. He’s a better heel of course, but struggles on the mic regardless, and with most of our ring talent working the heel side of the street we really needed to have him bolster our face ranks until further notice.

Also getting some new work was Raging Bull Manny Fernandez, who agrees to terms with the AWA. He’s currently the reigning CSTATES Hvywt champion and one-half of the SWCW Tag Team champs with partner Bob Sweetan.

Elsewhere last night, PNW worked small show (C-, 2000 attendance) in the North West with Jules Strongbow going over Al Madril in the main event … MLW ran their Ringside Wrestling weekly TV program with Adrian Adonis over Tiger Jeet Singh in the main event only to learn immediately afterwards that the show has been dropped from the TV Canada East schedule effective immediately … NJPW house show featured a successful Int’l Hvywt Title defense by Tatsumi Fujinami against Abdullah the Butcher. Also on the show Inoki beat Choshu … CSTATES ran in CT, with Harley Race over Roger Kirby in the main event … The WWF visited Ocala, FL for In Your Neighborhood, Jimmy Snuka & Ray Stevens went to no contest. Superstar Billy Graham defeated Jose Luis Rivera and Don Muraco defended his Intercontinental title with a win over S.D. Jones … WCCW drew 941 in Michigan to see Iceman Parsons retain the TV title with a win over Great Kabuki, also Kerry Von Erich & Chris Adams beat Bill Irwin & Buddy Roberts in the main event … ICW was in Atlanta, borrowing the WTBS studios to draw 821 (D-) with a six man tag main event of Ronnie Garvin, Randy Savage, and Lanny Poffo beating Ratamyas, Pez Whatley and Crusher Bloomfield.

Saturday Week 1, May 1983
I’m sure the locker room will be buzzing (no pun intended) about the roster moves yesterday … until they hear the latest ones we’re making this morning.

A couple of easy ones first
-- Gentleman Chris Adams overestimates his value, asking for $1,111 per show. No thanks. Next.

-- Koko B. Ware, we sign him quickly for 9 months at $450 p.a. (down from his $474 asking price)
He’s versatile in the ring, he’s above average on the mic, has more charisma than most of our roster, and has a former tag team partner already on the roster in Bobby Eaton. What’s not to like?

The next two decisions were tougher.

-- El Halcon aka The Hawk aka Jose Luis Melchor Ortiz. On the upside he’s got popularity in the South West & the Mid South, largely based on his reigns as a WCCW tag team champion with both Jose Lothario (3x) and Kerry Von Erich. On the downside he’s relatively unknown elsewhere in the U.S. On the upside he speaks passable English, is solid in the basics, is athletic especially for his middleweight size, and is decent at worst as a brawler, a flyer, or a technician. On the downside he’s not going to help us or himself with the mic, he could be a better salesman in the ring, and he’s not likely to be a star for us. On the upside he wants less than $800 per show. On the downside he wants more than the $500-$600 per show I’d rather pay him. In the end, the deciding factor were the words “very nice” and “professional” that references kept saying about him. After a month of Buzz Sawyer, that has some appeal. We negotiate him down from $774 to $725 p.a. and agree to terms for nine months.

-- 31 year old Tony St. Clair, the current CWA Middleweight champion and 2x former British Heavyweight champion who has been working for both ASWUK and CWA(Europe). A main eventer in the UK and Europe, he’s pretty much unknown here & would have to start near the bottom. But as a technician who can brawl enough to hold his own, with some of the best charisma & mic skills of anyone we’ve got around the place, and with a little more respect from the boys in the back he should become a valuable locker room leader at some point. I really hate paying so much for him but I think he’s going to be worth it in the end, so with a little haggling we settle on $1,000 p.a. for the next 9 months.

Yes, we now have way too many people on the roster.
No, I don’t know what I’m going to do with all of them.
Yes, some of these (okay, nearly all of these) acquisitions are still too expensive for budget.
No, I don’t know what I’m going to do about that either.

But I can figure that out later, right now I just have to put together a show for tonight’s TV.

Quickly through the news in the business … Our own Iron Sheik has reached a per appearance deal with the AWA … We’ve recently inked a working agreement with Stu Hart’s Calgary Stampede … Tom Renesto has been named the head booker for Mid-South Wrestling, replacing the retiring Bill Watts … Our request for negotiations with TV Local Canada were rejected …

Last night, the AWA ran in the Mid West (C), with Larry Zbyszko getting a win over Rick Martel … MACW was in Huntsville, AL, drawing 5,000 to watch a good show (C) headlined by Rick Steamboat & Jay Youngblood retaining their NWA World Tag Team belts with a win over Jerry Brisco & Greg Valentine. Ric Flair also kept the NWA World Heavyweight title by defeating Dory Funk, Jr. Our own [b]Mike Starbuck did a job for Abe Jacobs in the undercard …MSW was in Arlington, TX (2,000, C) where Mr Wrestling II and Tiger Conway, Jr retained the Mid-South Tag Team titles with a victory over Ted DiBiase & Mr. Olympia. Also on the card, Kendo Nagasaki over Tim Horner … Just days after AJPW lost their TV show, New Japan’s World Pro Wrestling show was dropped by TV Asahi. That news came as AJPW ran King’s Road headlined by Stan Hansen & Ueda failing in their attempt to take the Int’l Tag Team titles from Giant Baba & Jumbo Tsuruta … The UWA ran a small show in West Central Mexico last night, where Canek defeated Gran Hamada to keep the WWF World Lightweight belt. The mood there was very good, as the promotion announced that a TV deal for next season had been reached with TV Mexico South for a new show called “Lucha Total” … They weren’t the only promotion getting good TV news either, as AGPW will debut “Hittin’ Hard” on TV Local Canada-The Maritimes next season as well.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Saturday Week 1, May 1983, (con’t)
Georgia Championship Wrestling (TV) – 90 minutes at the Columbus (GA) Civic Center with 5,000 in attendance


Pre-show

Paul Ellering d. Mike Starbuck in 5:53 by pinfall (E+)
The announcing quality lifted the match. The colour commentary gave the match a boost. This match brought the crowd's mood down. Paul Ellering is improving in Performance skills.

Gordon Solie introduces Koko B. Ware to the crowd & welcomes him to GCW – 3 mins (C)

Dave Finlay d. Randy Barber in 6:23 by pinfall with a Rolling Fireman's Carry Slam. (D-)
The announcing quality of Freddy Miller lifted the match. The colour commentary by Larry Zbyszko gave the match a boost.

TV Taping

Bob Armstrong d. Road Warrior Hawk in 5:46 by pinfall with a Piledriver. (C+)
The match suffered because there was not enough selling shown. The announcing quality lifted the match.

Gordon & Freddy discuss last Sunday’s title victory by Zbyszko – 4 mins (C+)

Koko B. Ware d. Pez Whatley in 8:26 by pinfall with a Missile Dropkick. (C-)
The announcing quality lifted the match. The colour commentary gave the match a boost.

Ellering makes excuses for Hawk and hypes Animal – 3 mins (C)

Ronnie Garvin d. Road Warrior Animal in 6:04 by pinfall with a Garvin Stomp. During the match we also had Paul Ellering run in and attack Garvin. (C+)
Road Warrior Animal seemed off his game tonight. The match suffered because of the lack of selling on display. The announcing quality lifted the match.

Rick Hunter tells Gordon Solie he plans to be a fighting champion – 3 mins (C+)
Rick Hunter is learning to show more charisma. Rick Hunter is developing better performance skills.

Rick Hunter d. Emilio Charles, Jr in 10:58 by pinfall with a Russian Legsweep. Rick Hunter makes defence number 1 of his National Television title. (C-)
The announcing quality lifted the match. The colour commentary gave the match a boost. Rick Hunter looked good out there. Emilio Charles Jr. is improving in Performance skills.

Paul Orndorff talks to Freddy Miller, Zbsyzko interrupts & argues with Orndorff, giving The Iron Sheik an opportunity to attack – 5 mins (C+)
Freddy Miller is improving at acting. The Iron Sheik is developing better performance skills.

Paul Orndorff d. The Iron Sheik in 13:01 by pinfall with a Piledriver. (B-)
The match suffered because of the lack of selling on display. The announcing quality lifted the match.

Mr Wrestling II tells Zbyszko his time is coming … and it might just be tonight – 4 mins [b](B)[/i]

Larry Zbyszko d. Mr. Wrestling II in 14:48 by pinfall with a Shoulder Breaker. Larry Zbyszko makes defence number 1 of his National Heavyweight title. (B-)
The announcing quality lifted the match.

Final Show Rating: C+
This show can be considered a success, it should have increased our popularity.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Sunday Week 1, May 1983
Not bad, but it sort of seemed like the total show was less than the sum of its parts somehow.
On the bright side, looks like we cleared a decent amount of cash with about $80k in ticket sales versus only $30k or so in costs, with the capacity crowd of 5,000 being our largest since I arrived. Of course, that doesn’t count all of our overhead for the month but if we could do a full house like that for all of the TV tapings then our income for the month should be up considerably & might get us near break even.

After the show, both Wrestling II and Mike Starbuck (talk about opposite ends of the spectrum) mentioned needing some time off due to all the work they’ve been doing lately. How come it is that people keep asking me to give them a break while they’re working steadily for other people?

A couple of personnel decisions to make today, both pretty easy really. Veteran referee Frenchy Bernard wanted $1,499 per show to come down from Canada, far too much for a guy who doesn’t even have a job at the moment. Veteran brawler Cyclone Negro is also unemployed but also wanted more than he was worth to us ($1,000 p.a.) and was thanked for his interest as we quickly passed on the opportunity. Very nice guy & all but at age 51 in semi-retirement that’s a laughable request frankly, at least for a promotion in the U.S.

Elsewhere last night, the CWA ran in Fremont, CA with Bill Dundee & Robert Gibson defeating the team of Phil Hickerson and The Spoiler … SECW was in Turnbull, CT (116 attendance) as The Midnight Express (Dennis Condrey & Randy Rose) defeated Scott & Steve Armstrong and Olympia & Super Olympia teamed up to beat The Flame and Buzz Sawyer … CWA-Europe ran a small show that included Tony St. Clair defeating Michael Schneider to retain his CWA World Middleweight Title.

Monday Week 2, May 1983
Quiet day around here, kind of quiet everywhere really. The last few phone calls we have out to prospective employees haven’t been returned, no one has shown up complaining about anything, nobody got themselves arrested, hurt, or tried to set fire to a co-workers car. Almost makes me nervous.

A few shows last night including the WWF in Sheboygan, WI (2,000 att. C- rating), where Jimmy Snuka d. Sgt Slaughter in the main and Don Muraco d. Rocky Johnson to retain the Intercontinental title on the undercard … CWF ran in Spartanburg, SC (1,814 att, D rating) as Barry Windham defeated Don Kent in the main event, Ray Candy d. Adrian Street, and Jake Roberts kept his Bahamas title with a win over Scott McGhee … IWA ran in Quebec (4389 att., C rating) with Gilles Poisson retaining their International Hvywt belt with a victory over Raymond Rougeau.

Only one notable transaction this morning, as Hector Guerrero agrees to per appearance terms with Maple Leaf Wrestling.

Taking a look at the TV ratings for various wrestling shows for the past week …
GCW on TBS posted a 2.46, peaking in the 2nd half hour at 2.64 (up 0.25,our 2nd best to date)
AWA on US Small Synd II posted a 1.64 (up 0.03 for their best yet)
WWF on US Synd Small I posted a 1.52 (up 0.01)
Mid-Atlantic on Local TV posted a 0.75 (same)
WCCW Local-Mid South posted a 0.52 (down 0.07, lowest to date)
CWF Wrestling from Florida on Local-SE posted a 0.30 (same)
Mid-South on Local II posted a 0.18 (same)
WWC on WAPA/Puerto Rico posted a 0.16 (up 0.04, highest to date)
Big Time Wrestling on Local-NW posted a 0.12 (same)
CWA All-Stars on WMC posted a 0.10 (up 0.01)
GLOW on US Small Syn III posted a 0.08 (down 0.01)
Wrestling at the Chase (CENT) on Local MW II posted a 0.08 (up 0.01, best yet)
SECW on Local SE II posted a 0.00 (same)
ICW All-Stars on WTVQ posted a 0.00 (same)
HCW on Local – Mid South III posted a 0.00 (same)
CWA on Local – Grt Lks III posted a 0.00 (same)
SWCW on USA cancelled finishing on a 0.34

CMLL on Telemundo posted a 1.23 (down 0.02, lowest to date)
ITV World of Sport on ITV posted a 0.60 (down 0.03)
IWM on Local Quebec posted a 0.39 (up 0.02)
World Pro Wrestling (NJPW) on ASAHI cancelled finishing on a 1.51
Puroresu Chukei (AJPW) on Nippon TV cancelled on a 1.50
Ringside Wrestling (MLW) on TV Canada East cancelled on a 0.90
Stampede Wrestling on TV Canada West cancelled on a 0.28

[JonInMiddleGA]

Tuesday Week 2, May 1983

Before we check the news, three roster additions to consider as we get some phone calls returned.

Had a nice conversation with Sputnik Monroe, a former Georgia Heavyweight champion who has a strong personality, is respected by the boys in the back, and knows his stuff. Great conversation. Unfortunately there’s no chance in hell I’m going to pay him more than $2,000 per appearance for being a nice guy. Next.

George “Crybaby” Cannon was the next call. Good conversation with him too. The big Canadian would be great in the back for us as a jack of all trades, but his asking price of $1,732 p.a. is far too steep for what I’m looking for right now. Will keep him in mind for something down the road someday if the bank account ever looks good though.

The last call was the toughest decision, as we spoke at length with Dick Graham, the veteran announcer from Phladelphia. He’s probably a little better than Freddy Miller as the lead guy on the broadcast, nowhere near as good as Solie of course. He wanted $1,160 p.a. with no downside, we countered with $1000 p.a. & a $500 downside (knowing that we would use him at least once a month if we signed him). He said that was a little low, we came back with $975 p.a. & an $800 downside, no dice. Last try, we go back to $1, 000 per, with $850 downside & a (meaningless) creative control clause. Still couldn’t hook him but we agreed to talk again tomorrow. Here’s the thinking behind this even being considered: if we use him once a month instead of Solie, we save on Gordon’s $1,900 per show, and Graham + Miller on commentary is probably a little stronger than Miller + random wrestler on commentary. Even a $900 savings per show is the difference between using $100 Pat Rose versus $1000 for The Spoiler, and that’s a pretty big difference. But I can’t seem to get quite comfortable with having a spare part make over $1k per show either.

Elsewhere last night, HCW ran in Arizona again, with The Masked Superstar going over Mr. Olympia in their main event … ASW was in Quebec (142 att., E+ show) as Moose Morowski retained his Canadian Hvywt belt with a win over Buck Ramstead … AGPW worked in the Maritimes (C-) as Leo Burke defeated The Cuban Assassin to retain the Int’l Hvywt title and The Spoiler was too much for Gerry Morrow … ASW-UK visited Scotland (C-) where Mark Rocco defeated Marty Jones to defend his World Heavy-Middleweight strap, Tony St. Clair d. Frank Manley, and Dave Finlay and partner Skull Murphy came up short against Chic Cullen and Steve Wright … CMLL ran a packed show in West Central Mexico (2,000 att. C-) with 10 matches & 38 workers headlined by El Faraon & Ultraman defeating Babe Face & El Dandy to retain their World Tag Team titles … And, speaking of top heavy, GLOW took their tour on the road to Williston, FL (300 att. E rating) as Tammy Jones defended her GLOW Crown by beating Meeka the Headhunter. Also on the card The Cheerleaders retained the GLOW Tag Team belts with a win over Colonel Ninotchka & Spanish Red while Mt. Fiji & California Doll beat Hollywood & Vine.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Wednesday Week 2, May 1983

Still having a hard time making a decision, so we’ll check the news first.

Abdullah the Butcher has extended his ppa deal with the WWC, no surprise there. Rumor has it that MACW is working on an extension for The Great Muta as well.

CWA-Europe took their tour to the western part of the region (1,824 att, C- rating) as Otto Wanz defended their World Hvywt title with a win over Klaus Kauroff, Tony St. Clair made another World Middleweight defense by beating Mile Zrno and Dave Finlay lost to Moose Morwoski … JPUK was in Scotland (831 att, C- rating) for successful title defenses by Johnny Saint & Steve Grey over Alan Dennison & Blondie Barratt respectively … The WWA took Bruiser’s Bedlam on tour with a visit to Fremont, CA as Chris Markoff retained the WWA title with a win over Steve Regal … CWF’s Endless Beach Tour went to Indianapolis (1,000 at, D+ rating) with Leroy Brown taking the Florida TV title from The Professional (Les Thornton) after just one successful defense … CWA went to the Mid West (1,000 att, D- rating) where Jerry Lawler defended the AWA Southern Hvywt belt with a win over Austin Idol, Bobby Eaton & Koko B. Ware beat Jacques Rougeau & King Cobra, and Bart Sawyer teamed with Moondog Rex to defeat Ricky Morton & Rick Link.

After much reflection, I’ve decided I’m over thinking this. I offer Dick Graham $1,150 per show, he quickly agrees & he’s on board for the next 9 months. If all else fails I’ll just release him or not use him.

Thursday Week 2, May 1983

Getting ready for tonight’s road show, checking to see who did what to whom last night. MACW ran in Delaware (5,000 & C) highlighted by Ric Flair beating Dory Funk, Jr to defend the NWA World Heavyweight Title … Mid-South wrestling came to Atlanta (1,000 & C) where Ted DiBiase defended their North American Hvywt title by beating The Junkyard Dog, Mr. Wrestling II defeated Matt Borne, and The Epidemic (King Kong Bundy & Wild Bill Irwin) squashed Art Crews and Tim Horner … The AWA visited the Municipal Auditorium in South Dakota (5,000 & C) where Ken Patera & David Schults d. Rick Martel & Jim Brunzell in the main event. Also on the show, Nick Bockwinkel defended the AWA World Heavyweight belt with a win over Baron Von Raschke, Greg Gagne beat Buzz Sawyer to retain the AWA TV Title, Crusher Blackwell and Larry Zbsyzko edged The Hennigs, and Wahoo McDaniel & Manny Fernandez teamed to best The Iron Sheik and Mr. Saito … WCCW went on tour visiting Phoenix (1,000 & D) with Freebirds Michael Hayes and Terry Gordy defeating Kerry & Mike Von Erich to retain their American Tag Team Titles … The WWC visited Brooklyn (300 & D+) where Abdullah the Butcher & Bruiser Brody defeated Carlos Colon & The Invader to retain their WWC World Tag Team titles … Down in Mexico, the UWA ran another solid show (2,000 & C) with highlights including Perro Aguayo beating Villano I to keep their World Junior Hvywt belt.

Word today that The Assassin has extended his p.a. deal with PNW and that Jim Brunzell has done the same with the IWA.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Thursday Week 2, May 1983 (con’t)

Stars of GCW On Tour ! – Rock Island (IL) Fieldhouse - Attendance 1,000 (sold out)

Pre-show

Koko B. Ware d. Tim Horner in 5:48 by pinfall with a Brainbuster. (D)
The announcing quality lifted the match. The colour commentary gave the match a boost.

Eric Embry works the crowd & hypes himself – 3 mins (E+)
The segment wasn't very good to begin with, and this crowd really turned against it.

Regular Show
Ole Anderson d. Len Denton in 11:44 by pinfall with an Anderson Running Knee. (C)
The colour commentary from Jake Roberts gave the match a boost.

Ole thanks the fans and celebrates with them on his way to the back – 4 mins (C)

Chic Cullen d. Masa Fuchi in 6:04 by pinfall. (D)
The announcing of Freddy Miller lifted the match. The colour commentary by Jake Roberts gave the match a boost.

Wildfire Tommy Rich talks to Freddy Miller (and the crowd) – 3 mins (C)
Tommy Rich is developing better performance skills.

Eric Embry d. Brad Armstrong in 7:45 by pinfall with a Piledriver. (D+)
Brad Armstrong was visibly tiring toward the end. Eric Embry and Brad Armstrong have great chemistry, and it showed in their performances. The performance of Eric Embry stood out as being good. Brad Armstrong is improving in Rumble skills.

Jake Roberts hypes the main event – 5 mins (C+)

Tommy Rich d. Jake Roberts in 13:31 by pinfall with a Wildfire Driver. (B-)

Final Show Rating: C+
This show can be considered a success, it should have increased our popularity.

Friday Week 2, May 1983

A good enough showing I guess, helped us a little just about everywhere except the South East where they expect a little more but it did no harm which is a good thing too.

As usual, Thursday night was one of the busiest for other promotions too. CMLL sold out 2,000 seats in Southern Mexico (C- rating), JPUK sold out 2,000 in London (C- rating), and Tatsumi Fujinami defeated Abdullah the Butcher in Kanto for New Japan to keep the WWF Int’l Heavyweight title … WCCW sold out in Commerce, TX (5,000 & C) as The Freebirds (Gordy, Hayes, and Roberts) retained their 6 Man Tag Titles by beating David, Kevin, and Kerry … CENT visited Bronx High School (300 & C-) where Roger Kirby beat Harley Race in the main event … PNW went to the Showboat in Nevada (1560 & D+) for Rip Oliver to beat Jules Strongbow … The WWA ran in Iowa (870 & D) where Chris Markoff beat Steve Regal in the main event … ICW was at Northside (IN) High School where Randy Savage beat Ratamyas in the main to defend his ICW Hvywt belt & Pez Whatley defeated Mike Doggendorff to keep his ICW TV Title … The WWF sold out (5000 & C) Mid-Hudson (NY) Civic Center to see Bob Backlund retain the WWF Heavyweight Title with a win over Don Muraco and The Wild Samoans defend the tag belts against The Invaders. Down the card a bit, Hulk Hogan & Andre the Giant teamed up to defeat Ivan Putski & Tito Santana …

And some extensions of existing agreements making the news include The Masked Superstar with New Japan, El Satanico with CMLL, Frank D’Amato staying with GLOW, Dave Brown with the CWA, and Mr. Fuji staying with the WWF.

Saturday Week 2, May 1983

Time to get ready for tonight’s show, and complaints about lack of use have been duly noted from Stan Hansen, Adrian Street, Les Thornton, Terry Gordy, and (of course) Jim Barnett.

Last night’s action around the biz included an AWA show in Texas (759 & C-) where Nick Bockwinkel & Larry Zbyszko teamed up to beat Wahoo McDaniel & Manny Fernandez … MACW went to the Mid West (1,000 & C) as Ric Flair defended the NWA World Hvywt Title with a win over Jos LeDuc … Mid-South was in Dallas (2,000 & C-) where Ted DiBiase retained his North American title with a win over Butch Reed, JYD & Mr. Wrestling II defeated Matt Borne & Buddy Landell, and Tim Horner pinned Mike Bond … The CWA visited Sarasota, FL (2,000 & C-) as The Fabulous Ones retained the Southern Tag Team titles with a victory over Austin Idol & Buzz Sawyer and Bobby Eaton beat Bill Dundee … AJPW had Jumbo Tsuruta defending the NWA United National Heavyweight Title with a win over Terry Funk, Stan Hansen defeated The Mighty Inoue, and Umanosuke Ueda kept their TV title by beating Harley Race … The WWC had Pedro Morales over Hercules Ayala … The UWA show in Northern Mexico included Perro Aguayo defending their World Junior Ltwt belt with a win over Black Terry … A small independent show in West Central Mexico drew a sparse crowd (16 & D) featuring Fuerza Guerrera over Espectro Jr and Mascara Sagrada beating Villano IV.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Saturday Week 2, May 1983, (con’t
Georgia Championship Wrestling (TV) – 90 minutes at the Knoxville Civic Coliseum with 5,000 in attendance (sold out)

Pre-show
Pez Whatley d. Thunderbolt Patterson in 5:46 by pinfall with a Flying Willie Headbutt. (C)
The colour commentary from Stan Hansen gave the match a boost.

Rick Hunter talks to Freddy Miller about being the TV champion – 3 mins (D)
The segment wasn't very good to begin with, and this crowd really turned against it. Rick Hunter is learning to show more charisma. Rick Hunter is developing better performance skills.

TV Taping
Terry Gordy d. Bullet Bob Armstrong in 10:09 by pinfall with a Powerbomb. (B)
Terry Gordy and Bullet Bob Armstrong have great chemistry, and it showed in their performances. The announcing quality by Dick Graham wasn't up to the same standard as the match. This match lifted the crowd.

Larry Zbyszko talks about … being Larry Zbyszko – 5 minutes B

Randy Barber & Tim Horner d. Masa Fuchi & Pat Rose in 5:42 when Randy Barber defeated Masa Fuchi by pinfall. (E+)
The announcing quality of Dick Graham lifted the match. The colour commentary of Freddy Miller gave the match a boost. This match brought the crowd's mood down.

Rick Hunter d. Les Thornton in 9:36 by pinfall with a Russian Legsweep. Rick Hunter makes defence number 2 of his National Television title. (C+)

Eric Embry talks to Freddy Miller about how he’s going to rise through the ranks – 3 mins (D-) The segment wasn't very good to begin with, and this crowd really turned against it. Eric Embry is learning to show more charisma.

Bobby Eaton d. Eric Embry in 7:38 by pinfall with an Alabama Jam. (D+)
Bobby Eaton and Eric Embry just don't click at all, and it showed in their performances. The announcing quality lifted the match. The colour commentary gave the match a boost. Bobby Eaton is improving in Performance skills.

Adrian Street hypes upcoming main event, talks about what a “physical specimen” Stan Hansen is – 5 mins (C+)

Larry Zbyszko d. Ronnie Garvin in 12:15 by pinfall with a Shoulder Breaker. Larry Zbyszko makes defence number 2 of his National Heavyweight title. (C)
The match suffered because there was not enough selling shown. The 6 for the National HW Title storyline has continued with this match.

Stan Hansen tells Zbyszko he better not get used to that belt, because the lariat is coming – 5 mins (B+)

Stan Hansen d. Adrian Street in 13:33 by pinfall with The Lariat. (C+)
Stan Hansen is improving in Technical skills.

Final Show Rating: C+
This show can be considered a success, it should have increased our popularity.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Sunday Week 2, May 1983
Several matches that didn’t work out like we expected, including a less than spectacular return for Bobby Eaton but I guess some nights are just like that. Terry Gordy was considerably later to arrive than he was supposed to be too, but since he was part of the best match of the night it’s kind of tough to really give him a hard time about it. Against my better judgment most likely, I’m going to let it slide this time.

Masa Fuchi’s appearance in last night’s tag match was the final one under his loan from MACW. A pair of D rated matches as a single’s performer & an E+ without much to work with last night, all in all not bad really. Also completing a loan assignment was Buzz Sawyer who was 1-2 in his outings with the CWA.

In a somewhat amusing development, after last night’s win Randy Barber complained that he wanted a better push (to lower midcarder). I’m happy enough to oblige on paper but if he thinks he’s suddenly going to start going over people he’s out of his flippin’ tree. I swear, give a guy one little win & suddenly he thinks he’s Lou Thesz.

Only a few other promotions ran last night, including CWA in Brooklyn (252 & D-) with Jerry Lawler going over Buzz Saywer … SECW went to Tampa (1,593 & D) as Mr. Olympia defeated Punk Rock Ferris to retain the Alabama Heavyweight title … WWC visited West Monroe, LA (261 & D+) as Carlos Colon beat Bruiser Brody to retain their Universal Hvywt title and Pedro Morales bested Abdullah the Butcher.

Rumor has WCCW ready to resign Iceman Parsons, just as MACW has completed resigning The Great Kabuki.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Monday Week 3, May 1983

Last night the WWF visited Lewiston, ME (2,000 & C) as Sgt. Slaughter d. Pedro Morales and Don Muraco d. Roddy Piper to defend the Intercontinental Title … The CWF stayed close to home, running TV from the Roberts Arena in Sarasota (2,000 & C). The Purple Haze defeated Barry Windham to defend the Florida Hvywt Title, Adrian Street beat B.Brian Blair, and Jake Roberts pinned Leroy Brown to retain the Florida Bahamas Title … IWM was in Montreal (5,000 & C) where Dino Bravo defeated Raymond Rougeau in the main event.

Two more TV cancellations due to low ratings, as WTVQ cancels ICW All-Stars and Great Lakes III cancels the CWA show. Our approach to WAPA-TV in Puerto Rico to possibly carry GCW TV was rejected as they did not feel we were popular enough to take on. No big deal, figured it was worth a try.

Taking a look at the TV ratings for various wrestling shows for the past week …
GCW on TBS posted a 2.64, peaking in the 2nd half hour at 2.84 (up 0.18,our best to date)
WWF on US Synd Small I posted a 1.66 (up 0.14, highest to date & back into 2nd)
AWA on US Small Synd II posted a 1.50 (down 0.14)
Mid-Atlantic on Local TV posted a 0.74 (down 0.01)
WCCW Local-Mid South posted a 0.61 (up 0.09)
CWF Wrestling from Florida on Local-SE posted a 0.32 (up 0.02)
Mid-South on Local II posted a 0.28 (up 0.10, highest to date)
WWC on WAPA/Puerto Rico posted a 0.17 (up 0.01, highest to date)
Big Time Wrestling on Local-NW posted a 0.12 (same)
CWA All-Stars on WMC posted a 0.10 (same)
GLOW on US Small Syn III posted a 0.07 (down 0.01)
Wrestling at the Chase (CENT) on Local MW II posted a 0.08 (same)
SECW on Local SE II posted a 0.00 (same)
HCW on Local – Mid South III posted a 0.00 (same)
SWCW on USA cancelled finishing on a 0.34
CWA on Local – Grt Lks III cancelled finishing on a 0.00
ICW All-Stars on WTVQ cancelled on a 0.00

CMLL on Telemundo posted a 1.42 (up 0.24, highest rating to date)
ITV World of Sport on ITV posted a 0.58 (down 0.02)
IWM on Local Quebec posted a 0.44 (up 0.05, highest to date)
World Pro Wrestling (NJPW) on ASAHI cancelled finishing on a 1.51
Puroresu Chukei (AJPW) on Nippon TV cancelled on a 1.50
Ringside Wrestling (MLW) on TV Canada East cancelled on a 0.90
Stampede Wrestling on TV Canada West cancelled on a 0.28

[JonInMiddleGA]

Tuesday Week 3, May 1983

Quiet around the GCW offices today, just waiting for Thursday to arrive at this point.

Elsewhere last night HCW visited Pine Bluff, AR (1,808 & C-) with Kamala going over Gino Hernandez in the main event & Marty Lunde defeating Art Crews to retain their Nationwide Title … SECW went to Newark (DE) High School (295 & E+) for Bob Armstrong to successfully defend the Southeastern Hvywt Title with a victory over Plowboy Frazier, Bart Saywer & The Flame defeated Randy Rose & Norvell Austin, and Brad Armstrong pinned Mike Jackson … ASW went to British Columbia (1,000 & D) where Al Tomko & Moose Morowski beat Dean Ho & Buzz Tyler to defend their Canadian Hvywt Tag Team belts … AGPW went to the Moncton Capital Theatre (1,000 & C-) where Leo Burke defeated Gerry Morrow to retain their International Hvywt Title, and The Spoiler & Ron Ritchie were winners over Pierre Lefebvre & Hubert Gallant … ASW-UK sold out Birmingham Town Hall in the Midlands as Mal Sanders defeated Mark Rocco to keep the ASWUK Championship, Tony St. Clair & Terry Jowett paired up to defeat Chic Cullen & Mighty John Quinn, and Skull Murphy & Dave Finlay beat Johnny Savage & Mike Bennett … GLOW took their tour to Orange County (VA) HS (300 & E) where Tammy Jones defeated Vine to retain the GLOW Crown, the Cheerleaders beat the Headhunters to remain GLOW Tag Team champs, and Tina Ferrari & Mt. Fiji were too much for California Doll & Vivian Vachon.


Wednesday Week 3, May 1983

Still quiet here but some interesting grist in the rumor mill as CWF is reportedly considering allowing Gordon Solie’s contract with them to expire without renewal. Although I don’t believe they’ll actually do it, they could be thinking about moving color commentator Buddy Colt to the lead role & shifting any of several candidates to the second slot including Oliver Humperdink, J.J. Dillon, John Heath, or even Dusty Rhodes hisself.

Speaking of CWF, their Endless Beach Tour was in San Antonio (1,000 & D+) last night as The Purple Haze retained the Florida Hvywt with a defense against Blackjack Mulligan, Jake Roberts again defended his Bahamas Title by beating Ron Bass, and Leroy Brown defeated The Professional (Les Thornton) to keep the Florida Television belt … The WWA was on Staten Island (241 & D) where Chris Markoff defeated Steve Regal to remain WWA Heavyweight champion … CWA went to West Virginia (300 & D-) where Jerry Lawler & Ricky Morton beat Dirty Dutch Mantell & Moondog Spot and The New York Assassins defeated Bobby Eaton & Koko B. Ware … JPUK was in Newcastle (2,000 & C-) as Saint & Breaks beat Giant Haystacks & Mal Kirk … CWA-Europe saw Otto Wanz defeat Axel Dieter to keep the CWA World Hvywt Title while Tony St. Clair was too much for Mile Zrno & remains their World Middleweight champion.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Thursday Week 3, May 1983

Results from around the rest of the world last night include MACW running in Sarasota, FL (2,000 & C) where Dusty Rhodes defeated Jos LeDuc … MSW in West Virginia (300 & D+) for The Junkyard Dog beating Dick Murdoch … The AWA visited Michigan (2,000 & C) where Ken Patera & Larry Zbyszko went to a double count out with Baron Von Raschke & Wahoo McDaniel, Jim Brunzell beat Buzz Sawyer, and The Iron Sheik defeated Brad Rheingans … WCCW sold out the Tulsa Convention Center (5,000 & C-) with Freebirds Michael Hayes & Terry Gordy defeating David & Kerry Von Erich, Iceman Parsons retained the TV title with a win over The Great Kabuki, and Kevin Von Erich kept their American Hvywt belt with a victory over Buddy Jack Roberts … The WWC stayed at home (2,000 & C) with fans seeing Carlos Colon retain the Universal Hvywt title with a win over Abdullah the Butcher and Bruiser Brody pinning Invader III.

The WWF is reportedly negotiating a contract extension with Rocky Johnson, ICW is said to be working to re-sign Bart Battan, and GLOW wants to keep Olympia. Iceman Parsons has agreed to an extension with World Class & will stick around for the Texas promotion.


Thursday Week 3, May 1983 (con’t)

Stars of GCW On Tour ! – Albuquerque Pavilllion - Attendance 586
Pre-show

El Halcon d. Randy Barber in 6:30 by pinfall. (D+)
The announcing quality of Freddy Miller lifted the match. The colour commentary by Ole Anderson gave the match a boost. El Halcón looked good out there. El Halcón is improving in Performance skills.

Ole Anderson joins Freddy Miller to hype GCW & tonight’s show – 3 mins (D+)[/i]
The segment wasn't very good to begin with, and this crowd really turned against it.

Regular Show
The Spoiler d. Ole Anderson in 11:53 by pinfall with a Tightrope Clawhold. [b](C_-)
The Spoiler and Ole Anderson don't seem to click, and it made for an awkward bout. Ole Anderson is improving in Technical skills.

The Spoiler celebrates by insulting the fans – 5 mins (C)

Pez Whatley d. Brett Wayne in 6:09 by pinfall with a Flying Cross Body Block. (D-)
Pez Whatley and Brett Wayne have pretty good chemistry, and it lifted the match. The announcing quality of Freddy Miller lifted the match. The colour commentary of The Spoiler gave the match a boost.

El Halcon talks to Freddy Miller about how much he enjoys being in Albuquerque – 3 mins (D-)
The segment wasn't very good to begin with, and this crowd really turned against it. El Halcón is developing better performance skills.

Ricky Morton d. Emilio Charles, Jr. in 7:51 by pinfall with a Missile Dropkick. (C-)
The colour commentary by The Spoiler gave the match a boost.

Wildfire stops by to hype main event with Freddy – 4 mins (C+)
Tommy Rich is developing better performance skills.

Tommy Rich d. Terry Gordy in 14:11 by pinfall with a Wildfire Driver. (C+)
Tommy Rich and Terry Gordy just don't click at all, and it showed in their performances.

Final Show Rating: C
This show can be considered a success, it should have increased our popularity.

[Izulde]

Rick Hunter seems to be doing pretty well at the midcard-ish level for you. How old is he again?

[JonInMiddleGA]

Rick Hunter seems to be doing pretty well at the midcard-ish level for you. How old is he again?

47, and surprisingly durable considering his C+ body & C legs, with C resillience.
He's solid in the ring thanks to B- to B+ grades for all of the basics as well as stamina.

I think he's proving to be so reliable for me at the moment in part because I'm his only contract, so the only time he works is once a week for me as opposed to somebody like Wrestling II who is working for both me & Mid-South and seems to be complaining about workload/triggering fatigue warnings almost every time out.

I kind of like the way things have gone with Hunter from the standpoint of the mod portraying him as a guy that nobody ever really ran with (and I'm not planning to push him much higher than he is now either) but who had a solid set of skills that made him a valuable member of the roster. A similar effect seems to be in play off my roster for the same age Abduallah the Butcher, who works either 3 or 4 shows per week with only D+ stamina & C- resillience but is still only getting the "first signs of fatigue" message on his physical condition.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Friday Week 3, May 1983
Our weakest show in a couple of weeks and we lose money on top of it. Yippee.
I’m not in the best of moods after that outing, so it takes all my restraint not to overreact about the fact that The Iron Sheik showed up terribly late last night. Okay, that’s his freebie, he doesn’t get another one.

Okay, might as well see how much better everybody else did than us last night, I sure don’t have to look very far to find out. The WWE sold out in Tempe, AZ (2,000 & C-) where Bob Backlund defeated Afa to retain their Heavyweight title, and Hulk Hogan & Andre the Giant were far too much for the team of Ivan Putski & Tito Santana to handle … WCCW sold out in Minneapolis (2,000 & D+) with a main event double count out for Sweet Brown Sugar & Jimmy Garvin … CSTATE sold out in Iowa (2,000 & D+) as Bob Brown & Buzz Tyler defeated Tank Patton & Mark Romero to retain their Tag Team belts … PNW sold out on their home turf (2,000 & C) as Dutch Savage pinned Rip Oliver in the main … CMLL sold out a show in Northern Mexico (2,000 & C-) where Lizmark beat Gran Apache in the main event … JPUK ran their TV taping with Saint & Breaks going to a double count out with Faulkner & Nagasaki .. New Japan ran a full card of eleven matches in front of a capacity crowd in Tohoku (2,000 & C-) that watched Tatsumi Fujinami defend the WWF Int’l Hvy title by beating Riki Choshu and Tiger Mask pinned Dynamite Kid to retain the WWF Jr. Hvywt belt.

We’ve chosen to end our non-aggression pact with Maple Leaf Wrestling, hoping to renegotiate it into a working agreement. The first part of that is done, we’ll see how they react to the second part soon enough I guess.

Saturday Week 3, May 1983
So I arrive to prepare for the TV taping & it’s like Grand Central Station around here as people want to complain about the recent workload. Or more accurately, the lack thereof. Mark Rocco, Tony St. Clair, Mr. Wrestling II, Paul Orndorff, The Iron Sheik, Hawk, and Animal are all up in arms about not being used enough. And of course Jim Barnett wanted to gripe about his lack of face time too. Egomaniacal old fart. And speaking of ego problems, Brett Wayne isn’t happy about jobbing either. Barnett I have to keep relatively happy, Wayne quite a bit less so.

I wonder if all the people running shows last night had as many headaches as I do? The AWA was in Santa Monica (2,00 & C-) where Greg Gagne defended his TV title by beating David Schultz … The WWC visited the Mid West (149 & D+) as Bob Sweetan defeated Pierre Lefebvre to claim their North American Hvywt Title … MACW ran a packed card at the Riviera Hotel & Casino (1,000 & C) as Ric Flair retained the NWA World Heavyweight Title by beating Ivan Koloff, Greg Valentine defeated Ricky Steamboat to retain the US Hvywt title, and The Assassin pinned Mike Starbuck … CWF went to Puerto Rico (1,000 & D) as The Purple Haze beat Barry Windham to keep the Florida Hvywt belt, Blackjack Mulligan & Bob Roop teamed to beat Kevin Sullivan & The Professional (aka Les Thornton), Bobby Duncam & Adrian Street were too much for Ray Candy & Terry Allen, and Jake Roberts defended his Bahamas Title again with a victory over Leroy Brown … MSW went to Louisiana (2,000 & C) for a title change, as Dick Murdoch & Kamala took the Mid-South Tag Team Titles from Mr. Wrestling II & Tiger Conway, Jr after three defences. Also on the show Tim Horner defeated Art Crews … AGPW was in Moncton (1,000 & C) where Leo Burke successfully defended their International Hvywt title by beating The Spoiler.

The Universal Wrestling Association has been making strides lately but apparently it hasn’t been working well enough at the box office at they release 10 workers from their per appearance contracts, including Super Kendo, Villano V, Black Terry, and Fantasma

[JonInMiddleGA]

Saturday Week 3, May 1983, (con’t
Georgia Championship Wrestling (TV) – 90 minutes at the Boutwell Memorial Auditorium in Birmingham, AL with xxxxx in attendance

Pre-show

Mike Starbuck d. Pat Rose in 5:33 by disqualification. (E-)
The announcing of Freddy Miller lifted the match. The colour commentary by Stan Hansen gave the match a boost. The finish to the match didn't go down well at all, the fans hated it. This match brought the crowd's mood down.

Paul Ellering hypes The Road Warriors who pose in the background – 3 mins (C)

Brad Armstrong d. Paul Ellering in 5:54 by pinfall with a Side Russian Leg Sweep. (E+)
The announcing of Gordon Solie lifted the match. The colour commentary of Freddy Miller gave the match a boost. This match brought the crowd's mood down.

TV Taping
Ole Anderson & Stan Hansen d. The Road Warriors in 5:40 when Hansen defeated Animal by pinfall with The Lariat. During the match we also had Paul Ellering attack Anderson from the apron. (C+)
Road Warrior Animal seemed off his game tonight. The match suffered because there was not enough selling shown. The announcing quality lifted the match. The performance of Stan Hansen stood out as being good. Ole Anderson is improving in Rumble skills.

Hansen & Anderson grab mics to warn Zbyszko that one of them will take his title – 5 mins (B)
The 6 for the National HW Title storyline has continued with this segment.

Mark Rocco d. Ricky Morton in 7:43 by pinfall with a Tombstone Piledriver. (C-)

A backstage camera sees Larry Zbyszko talking to The Iron Sheik – 3 mins (C+)

Tony St. Clair d. The Iron Sheik in 10:17 by pinfall. (C-)
Tony St. Clair and The Iron Sheik don't seem to click, and it made for an awkward bout. The announcing quality lifted the match.

Buzz Sawyer interrupts the start of an interview with Gordon Solie & Mr. Wrestling II, leading to an argument between the two wrestlers – 5 mins (B)
Buzz Sawyer is developing better performance skills.

Rick Hunter d. Pez Whatley in 9:33 by pinfall with a Russian Legsweep. Rick Hunter makes defence number 3 of his National Television title.
The announcing quality lifted the match.

Mr. Wrestling II d. Buzz Sawyer in 11:57 by submission with a Sleeperhold. (B)
This match lifted the crowd.

Larry Zbyszko takes verbal shots at both Hansen & Anderson, and then Orndorff as an afterthought – 5 mins (B)

Larry Zbyszko d. Paul Orndorff in 13:36 by pinfall with a Shoulder Breaker. Larry Zbyszko makes defence number 3 of his National Heavyweight title. (B-)
The match suffered because there was not enough selling shown. This match lifted the crowd.

Final Show Rating: B
This show can be considered a success, it should have increased our popularity.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Sunday Week 3, May 1983
I feel as though I should be more excited about last night than I am. I don’t know whether it’s knowing how much that episode of TV just cost us from the bank account or whether it’s getting some of the best ratings of the night from Buzz Sawyer who I swear has no future here due to his antics or what,but I’m a lot more meh about our best show since the April end of the month spectacular than I ought to be.

Maybe it’s the little things, like Dennis Condrey showing up very late for the show. When you’re late before you even make an appearance that’s not exactly endearing. Or maybe it’s the “I’ve been working so hard lately I really need some rest” conversation with Mark Rocco who we’ve got tabbed for big things. You’re just 29 years old, suck it up a little.

Light schedule last night, with the CWA selling out in Tampa (2,000 & C-) as The Bruise Brothers (Terry Graham & Porkchop Cash) beat Bobby Eaton & Koko B. Ware and The Fabulous Ones (Keirn & Lane) defended their Southern Tag Team titles with a win over Austin Idol & Moondog Rex … SECW played to a small house in the Mid West (146 & D-) with Bullet Bob Armstrong retaining the Southeastern Hvywt title with a victory against Super Olympia … Calgary Stampede was in The Prairies (1,000 & C-) where Bret Hart beat Davey Boy Smith to keep the CSW North American Hvywt belt … Al Tomko took ASW to a high school in Ontario (137 & D-) as Moose Morowski kept their Canadian Hvywt strap by beating Buck Ramstead.

After the ASW show, they released four wrestlers from the p.a. contracts, including Honky Tonk Man Wayne Ferris, Leatherface Rick Patterson, and Lobsterman Jeff Costa.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Monday Week 4, May 1983

Another fairly light schedule for the major (and mid-major) promotions, headlined by the WWF at the Hamburg (PA) Fieldhouse (4,700 & C+) where Andre the Giant defeated Sgt. Slaughter in the main event … CWF went to Joplin, MO (935 & C-) as The Purple Haze retained the Florida Hvywt title with a win over Dusty Rhodes and Jake Roberts continued his string of Bahamas Title defenses by beating Ron Bass … The IWA sold out Arena Maurice Richard (5,000 & C) highlighted by Gilles Poisson defeating Rick Martel in the main event … Mid-South Wrestling headed west to Fremont, CA (300 & D+) where The Iron Men (Murdoch & Kamala) beat Junkyard Dog & Mr. Wrestling II to retain the Mid-South Tag Team titles, Ted DiBiase kept their North American title by beating Butch Reed, Steve Williams pinned Tim Horner, Tiger Conway, Jr defeated Jim Neidhart, and Perry Jackson beat Ernie Ladd.

SWCW worker Chick Donovan will be dealing with a bad back for a while after some sort of freak accident/incident involving a bull. Details are still quite sketchy (and probably should remain that way). The WWF reached an agreement on a contract extension for Rocky Johnson, and Al Madril is reportedly close to reupping with PNW.

Taking a look at the TV ratings for various wrestling shows for the past week …
GCW on TBS posted a 2.65, peaking in the 2nd half hour at 2.84 (up 0.01,our best to date)
WWF on US Synd Small I posted a 1.65 (down 0.01)
AWA on US Small Synd II posted a 1.50 (same)
Mid-Atlantic on Local TV posted a 0.70 (down 0.04)
WCCW Local-Mid South posted a 0.48 (down 0.13, lowest to date)
CWF Wrestling from Florida on Local-SE posted a 0.35 (up 0.03)
Mid-South on Local II posted a 0.26 (down 0.02)
WWC on WAPA/Puerto Rico posted a 0.17 (same)
Big Time Wrestling on Local-NW posted a 0.13 (up 0.01, highest to date)
CWA All-Stars on WMC posted a 0.11 (up 0.01, equals their highest)
GLOW on US Small Syn III posted a 0.07 (same)
Wrestling at the Chase (CENT) on Local MW II posted a 0.07 (down 0.01)
SECW on Local SE II posted a 0.00 (same)
HCW on Local – Mid South III posted a 0.00 (same)
SWCW on USA cancelled finishing on a 0.34
CWA on Local – Grt Lks III cancelled finishing on a 0.00
ICW All-Stars on WTVQ cancelled on a 0.00

CMLL on Telemundo posted a 1.23 (down 0.19, equals their lowest)
ITV World of Sport on ITV posted a 0.59 (up 0.01)
IWM on Local Quebec posted a 0.41 (down 0.03)
World Pro Wrestling (NJPW) on ASAHI cancelled finishing on a 1.51
Puroresu Chukei (AJPW) on Nippon TV cancelled on a 1.50
Ringside Wrestling (MLW) on TV Canada East cancelled on a 0.90
Stampede Wrestling on TV Canada West cancelled on a 0.28

[JonInMiddleGA]

Tuesday Week 4, May 1983
Another Tuesday, another quiet day before we get serious about the end of the week, including finalizing plans for our Sunday end of the month show.

HCW took their monthly Big Show on the road to Bridgeport, CT (220 & D) and headed back to Houston with a new Nationwide Champion, as Jim Duggan defeated Marty Lunde. Also on the show, Duggan’s partner as the current HCW Tag champs, Gino Hernandez retained his HCW Universal title by beating Kamala, and Black Gordman went to a time limit draw with Mil Mascaras to open the show with reportedly the best match of the night … The WWA visited Indianapolis (1,000 & D+) where Chris Markoff retained their Heavyweight title by beating Steve Regal and Jerry Valiant beat Igor Volkoff … AGPW tour stop was in The Maritimes (1,000 & C-) where odd pairing of The Cuban Commandos (heel Cuban Assassin & face Gerry Morrow) beat the equally unlikely team of The Spoiler & Leo Burke to retain their North American Tag Team belts … ASW-UK sold out the Birmingham Town Hall (1,000 & D+) where Mal Sanders & Mighty John Quinn beat Mark Rocco & Tony St. Clair and Fit Finlay formed an uneasy partnership with Marty Jones to secure a victory over Rocky Moran and Drew McDonald … Al Tomko’s ASW trekked to Manitoba (116 & E+), with the owner losing his bid to unseat Canadian Hvywt champ Moose Morowski … G.L.O.W. was on the road to Fresno (2,000 & D-) with successful title defenses for Tammy Jones over Matilda the Hun & The Cheerleaders over the Headhunters.

Rumors from the north say that The Mongolian Stomper will likely leave Calgary Stampede at the end of his current contract as the company simply isn’t big enough for him any more.

Wednesday Week 4, May 1983
While we move toward three shows in four days, the CWF stopped down the road in Macon again (2,000 & C), leaving with a new TV champion after Bobby Duncum beat Leroy Brown to recapture a belt he last held back in 1978. Also on the card The Purple Haze keeps the Florida Heavyweight title by beating Ron Bass, Jake Roberts keeps the Bahamas Title after a no contest with Mike Graham, Bob Roop beat The Professional (Les Thornton), and Dusty Rhodes teamed with Blackjack Mulligan to beat Kevin Sullivan & Adrian Street … The WWA sold out in Joplin, MO (1,000 & D) where Chris Markoff retained their Heavyweight title with a win over Spike Huber while Jerry Valiant beat Bobo Brazil … Jarrett & Lawler took the CWA to Lorain, OH (1,000 & D-) with The King beating Moondog Spot to keep the AWA International title and Bobby Eaton teamed with Koko B. Ware for a victory over Phil Hickerson & The Spoiler … CWA-Europe drew a small crowd in Eastern Europe (300 & D+) as Otto Wanz beat Axel Dieter to defend his CWA World Hvywt title, Tony St. Clair retained their World Middleweight strap by beating Mile Zrno, and Fit Finlay beat Steve Casey on the undercard … JPUK went to the Midlands Arts Centre (300 & C-) with a crowded lineup featuring 5 tag matches out of 8 total contests.

A couple of contract notes as Bruiser Brody extends his deal with the WWC and The Purple Haze will be sticking around in the Sunshine State for at least another round with CWF.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Thursday Week 4, May 1983,
A lot of the competition was busy last night, as usual, including the AWA who took their road show to the Nebraska Coliseum (5,000 & C+) where a packed house saw Nick Bockwinkel defeat Wahoo McDaniel to retain the AWA World Heavyweight Title, Larry Zbyszko went over Baron Von Raschke, The Iron Shiek beat Buddy Rogers, Buzz Sawyer teamed with Mr. Saito for a win over Rick Martel & Manny Fernandez, and Greg Gagne retained their TV title by beating David Schultz … MACW set up shop in Sumter, SC (5,000 & C) with a short but solid show headlined by Jos Leduc getting a non-title victory over Ric Flair … WCCW stayed close to home for a show in Texas (5,000 & C-) with the match of the night coming from Michael Hayes & Terry Gordy who beat Kevin & Mike Von Erich to retain their American Tag Team titles … Mid-South visited the Northwest where Ted DiBiase defeated Mr. Wrestling II to keep his hold on their North American title … The WWC was busy in Puerto Rico (2,000 & C-) with Bob Sweetan beating Ron Starr to keep the North American Hvywt title … The UWA had a solid outing in West Central Mexico (2,000 & C+) as Perro Aguayo defeated El Signo to retain their World Junior Lightweight title.

Easy Ed Wisnowski extended his deal with PNW, Jonathan Boyd reached an agreement with the UWA, while speculation surrounds the likely contract extension of Kamala with MSW.

Thursday Week 4, May 1983, con’t
Stars of GCW On Tour – 60 minutes at Innisdale HS, Barrie, Ontario with 107 in attendance

Pre-show
Brad Armstrong d. Pat Rose in 5:50 by pinfall with a Side Russian Leg Sweep (E)
The announcing of Freddy Miller lifted the match. The colour commentary by Koko B. Ware gave the match a boost. This match brought the crowd's mood down.

Ronnie Garvin talks to Freddy Miller & thanks the fans for coming out – 2 mins (D)
The segment wasn't very good to begin with, and this crowd really turned against it.

Main show
Mark Rocco d. Ronnie Garvin in 12:31 by pinfall with a Tombstone Piledriver. [b](C+)

Jim Barnett makes a donation to charity, Rocco returns to the ring to complain – 3 mins (E) The segment wasn't very good to begin with, and this crowd really turned against it.

Dave Finlay d. Tim Horner in 5:39 by pinfall with a Rolling Fireman's Carry Slam. (E+)
The announcing of Freddy Miller lifted the match. The colour commentary by Koko B. Ware gave the match a boost. This match brought the crowd's mood down. Tim Horner is improving in Technical skills.

Koko B. Ware d. Pez Whatley in 8:58 by pinfall with a Brainbuster. (D)
The announcing of Freddy Miller lifted the match. The commentary of Ole Anderson gave the match a boost.

Ole Anderson talks to Freddy Miller and the fans – 5 mins (C)
Freddy Miller is improving at acting.

Ole Anderson d. Les Thornton in 15:52 by pinfall with an Anderson Running Knee. (C) The match suffered because of the lack of selling on display. Les Thornton is improving in Performance skills.

Final Show Rating: C-
This show can be considered a success, it should have increased our popularity.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Friday Week 4, May 1983

Okay so that wasn’t pretty & it probably cost us more money than it was worth but it should give us a boost in Ontario at least. As much as anything though I was trying to give our three regular regions a few extra days breather, hoping to avoid burning them out on us at least before tonight’s end of the month show & tomorrow’s TV taping. That’s right, the EotM Spectacular is tonight instead of Sunday, although I may not have remembered to tell you about the change of schedule until now. Let’s just hope the ticket buying public got the word in plenty of time.

Lots to do before the show, so we just quickly check our sources for news, including word about a solid show (2,000 & C) for PNW where Dutch Savage beat Playboy Buddy Rose to retain their Heavyweight title … CSTATES regular weekly show traveled to Oak Park, MI (1000 & C-) with Harley Race beating Bruiser Brody in the match of the night .. The WWF headed down to Puerto Rico (1,000 & C-) for Bob Backlund’s latest successful defense of their World Hvywt title against Don Muraco on a packed show featuring 32 different wrestlers in 12 matches … WCCW headed up to New Jersey (300 & D+) for The Freebirds successful defense of their Six Man Tag Team titles over David, Kevin, and Kerry … JPUK went with an all tag team lineup (1,000 & C-) at the Royal Exchange Theatre in the Northern UK … New Japan drew a small but happy capacity crowd in Kinki (1,000 & C-) where Tiger Mask & Tatsumi Fujinami both successfully defended their titles with wins over The Cobra & Antonio Inoki respectively … CMLL got a similar crowd in Santa Barbara, CA (1,000 & D+) where Lizmark defended the NWA World Middleweight title with a victory against El Satanico.

No surprise & not exactly earthshaking news but Al Madril & Don Running Bear have both extended their contracts with PNW.

While my focus has to be on making tonight’s show a success, there’s also the reality of having to plan ahead for the show after that, and the one after that, and the one after that. So I take a few minutes & make a long distance call to work out the details of a deal that I’ve been pondering for most of the last month. Actually it was two deals but one of them had an unexpected temporary wrinkle, although in the long run that might work out just fine too.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Friday Week 4, May 1983, (con’t
Stars of GCW On Tour – 120 minutes at Viking Hall, Bristol, TN with 3,752 in attendance

Pre-show
The Spoiler d. Brad Armstrong in 6:06 by submission with a Clawhold. (C-)
The commentary of Jake Roberts gave the match a boost. The Spoiler looked good out there.

Dave Finlay d. Joe Lightfoot in 5:44 by pinfall with a Rolling Fireman's Carry Slam. (D)
Dave Finlay and Joe Lightfoot have pretty good chemistry, and it lifted the match. The announcing of Gordon Solie lifted the match. The commentary of Jake Roberts gave the match a boost.

Jake the Snake says he’s coming up later so don’t go away – 4 mins (B-)

Main show

Tommy Rich d. Len Denton in 7:35 by pinfall with a Vertical Splash. (B-)
This match lifted the crowd.

Bob Armstrong & Ronnie Garvin d. The Road Warriors in 5:56 when Bullet Bob Armstrong defeated Road Warrior Animal by pinfall with a Piledriver. (C+)
Paul Ellering did some good work at ringside. Road Warrior Animal and Paul Ellering have great chemistry. The match suffered because there was not enough selling shown. The announcing of Gordon Solie lifted the match. The RW vs Bullet & Garvin storyline has started with this match.

Mr Wrestling I & II d. Dennis Condrey & Les Thornton in 8:20 when Mr. Wrestling II defeated Dennis Condrey by pinfall with a Million Dollar Knee Lift. Mr. Wrestling I and II make defence number 1 of their National Tag Team titles. (B-)
The match suffered because there was not enough selling shown. The announcing quality lifted the match. Mr. Wrestling II looked good out there. This match lifted the crowd. Mr. Wrestling II is improving in Performance skills. Les Thornton is improving in Rumble skills.

Adrian Street d. Chic Cullen in 5:57 by pinfall with a Crucifix Cradle.(C)
The announcing quality lifted the match.

Jim Barnett says he’ll lower ticket prices for kids at upcoming shows – 2 mins (E)
The segment wasn't very good to begin with, and this crowd really turned against it.

Paul Orndorff d. Buzz Sawyer in 9:50 by pinfall with a Forearm Clothesline. (B-)
The announcing quality lifted the match. This match lifted the crowd.

Mark Rocco insults the crowd – 3 mins (D-)
The segment wasn't very good to begin with, and this crowd really turned against it.

Jake Roberts d. Tony St. Clair in 8:47 pby pinfall with The DDT. (B)
Jake Roberts seemed off his game tonight. This match lifted the crowd.

Mark Rocco d. Rick Hunter in 10:56 by pinfall with a Tombstone Piledriver. Mark Rocco wins the National Television title. (C)
The announcing quality lifted the match. Rick Hunter is improving in Flying skills. Rick Hunter is improving in Performance skills.

Zbyszko warns Hansen that he doesn’t know what he’s getting himself into – 6 mins (A)
The Larry's Helper storyline has continued with this segment. This segment lifted the crowd.

Ole Anderson d. Terry Gordy in 12:36 by pinfall with an Anderson Running Knee. (B-)
The announcing quality lifted the match. This match lifted the crowd.

Hansen makes his way to the ring bloodied & battered from an attack – 5 mins (B+)
The big Texan is clearly staggered by the sneak attack of an unseen assailant in the back but in spite of repeated attempts to convince him otherwise, he insists on going ahead with the title match.

Larry Zbyszko d. Stan Hansen in 14:53 by pinfall with a Shoulder Breaker. Larry Zbyszko makes defence number 4 of his National Heavyweight title. (A)
The match suffered because there was not enough selling shown. The Larry's Helper storyline has started with this match. This match lifted the crowd. Stan Hansen is improving in Technical skills.

Final Show Rating: B+
This show can be considered a success, it should have increased our popularity.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Saturday Week 4, May 1983 (pt 1 of 2)
Hard not to be happy with most of the show last night, and it doesn’t appear to have damaged our bank account too badly, but it’s not all sweetness and light for me either.

We’ve got extremely high hopes for the mystery surrounding Stan Hansen’s attacker, although I don’t have much confidence in the eventual health of whoever perpetrated the dastardly deed. Also taking a bit of a gamble with Mark Rocco’s win of the TV title from Rick Hunter. Hunter had been nothing short of rock solid for us but Rocco, in spite of some concerns about his workload, is probably the most overall talented guy in the ring on our entire roster. Whether we can get him over is another question entirely right now but I guess we’ll find out the answer to that soon enough. Our tag team situation is another matter that I’m not really happy with but I really don’t see much of a solution yet. Last night’s match was fine, better than could be expected from a thrown together team for opponents really, but I’m not satisfied with where we’re at in the division. I use the term “division” pretty loosely, as the Road Warriors are really the only full-time regular team we have, and with their attitudes and poor conditioning I don’t think I could stomach putting belts on them for long if at all. I’d rather have Wrestling II working singles and Tim Woods would rather not be in the ring at all, but at the moment I don’t have a heel team other than the RW to take the belts from them. Bobby Eaton & Koko B. Ware might be worth a reasonable mid-length run with titles but I haven’t really figured out how to get them over there without using Hawk & Animal as the transition. And the real crux of the tag team problem is financial, it’s simply not efficient to be putting $2k or more into a tag team match, especially one that’s not likely to produce anything more than a C’ish rating.

A new concern reared its head last night too, as Pez Whatley arrived very late for the show & didn’t really bother with anything resembling an excuse. That’s his freebie, I’ll be keeping an eye on him going forward though. Whatley may have been dealing with some business issues since he’s reportedly considering a contract extension offer from ICW.

And while we were taking care of our business, the rest of the industry was pretty busy last night too, none moreso than the WWF. The McMahon’s took their end of the month show to Kansas City, MO (1,000 & C) and certainly gave the fans their money’s worth with a new WWF World Heavyweight champion for the first time since December 1979, as Sgt Slaughter defeated Bob Backlund to claim the title. Also on the show, Hulk Hogan & Andre the Giant beat Ivan Putski & Tito Santana, The Wild Samoans retained their World Tag Team titles by beating Rocky Johnson & Jimmy Snuka, and Don Muraco kept the Intercontinental Title with a win over Tony Atlas … MACW visited Louisiana (1,000 & C) where Ric Flair defended the NWA World Hvywt title with a win over Greg Valentine and Dusty Rhodes beat Ivan Koloff … The AWA ran a small show (300 & C-) in Brooklyn as Ken Patera beat Greg Gagne in the main event … MSW headed up to Illinois (300 & D) where The Iron Men (Dick Murdoch & Kamala) defended their Mid-South Tag Team titles by beating The Hacksaws (Duggan & Reed). Tim Horner also tagged with Jim Neidhart to defeat Mike Jackson & Steve Williams… PNW Television champion Dr. Tom Prichard defended his title with a win over Don Running Bear at a show in Huntington, NY (300 & D-) … MLW has a new World Hvywt champion (2,000 & C-) after Tiger Jeet Singh defeated Adrian Adonis to claim the vacant title … The WWC went to Connecticut (123 & D) as Abdullah the Butcher beat Invader I in the main event … AJPW sold out (2,000 & C) in Kanto to see Bruiser Brody beat Jumbo Tsuruta to keep the NWA Int’l Hvywt title … The UWA did a packed house (1,000 & C) to see Hamada, Solitario, and Caras defend their World Trios title by beating Canek, Wagner, and Aguayo.

[BYU 14]

Really enjoying this Jon. Tough call with the Road Warriors, they were so raw and unpolished during this time. Like you said, it is hard to justify putting belts on them, unless you have a good veteran team to carry them to better matches.

Larry Z looks like he is red hot, I always enjoyed watching him, the qunitessential old school heel.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Really enjoying this Jon. Tough call with the Road Warriors, they were so raw and unpolished during this time.

Making things even tougher is that their conditioning is so bad that anything more than a 6 minute match & they're blown up and the match suffers. And that short is completely counter to anything I like to do with champs. In theory I suppose I could let them do squashes of lesser teams but that's going to stink up the joint since there's hardly any selling ability among the potential victims.

Larry Z looks like he is red hot, I always enjoyed watching him, the qunitessential old school heel.

It's a great comfort to me to have him on the roster, really easy to just plug him in to just about anything I want to do.

I'm glad you're enjoying this and I really appreciate the feedback. I'm actually enjoying what I've got cooked up for the coming month but even before it gets started good I'm disappointed that the circumstances of it (you'll see what I mean soon) mean I probably have to zip through the angle much faster than I would otherwise. I honestly have no idea what effect what I'm trying will have but that's actually making it more fun for me to do it. I'm having to make much tougher decisions than I'm used to with my previous private sandbox games so it really adds another element.

One OOC observation I'll make here, just in case somebody reading hasn't played much TEW.

If you've had trouble really getting into the game but have only played mostly "straight"; i.e. you can be fired, you have to deal with owner goals, etc., give yourself a chance to play in open mode, where you're the owner, can't be fired, can do pretty much whatever you want. That's what allowed me to learn enough & get comfortable enough with the game mechanics to make something like this challenging but not completely frustrating. In turn, that makes the clickfesty moments a lot more tolerable. There's not much doubt in my mind that I couldn't have gotten into this dynasty except for playing another scenario very fast & loose in an open universe strictly for my own amusement. When you've got a gazillion dollars and can sign virtually anyone you might ever want, there's a lot more freedom to experiment since you can afford to fail, which means you learn things that'll help when every match seems like life or death for your next fed.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Saturday Week 4, May 1983, (part 2 of 2)
Georgia Championship Wrestling (TV) – 90 minutes at Hara Arena, Dayton, OH with 3,136 in attendance

Pre-show
Paul Ellering hypes The Road Warriors and mocks “has beens” like Bob Armstrong & Ronnie Garvin – 4 mins (C)
The RW vs Bullet & Garvin storyline has continued with this segment.

Ronnie Garvin d. Paul Ellering in 6:09 by pinfall with a Garvin Stomp. (D+)
The match suffered because there was not enough selling shown. The colour commentary of Jake Roberts gave the match a boost. Paul Ellering is improving in Performance skills.

Chic Cullen & Joe Lightfoot d. Dave Finlay & Pat Rose in 5:50 when Chic Cullen defeated Pat Rose by pinfall. (D-)
The announcing of Freddy Miller lifted the match. The colour commentary of Jake Roberts gave the match a boost. This match brought the crowd's mood down. Pat Rose is improving in Technical skills.


Main show
Larry Zbyszko d. Tim Horner in 8:04 by pinfall with a Shoulder Breaker. Larry Zbyszko makes defense number 5 of his National Heavyweight title. (C-)
Tim Horner was exhausted by the end. Larry Zbyszko and Tim Horner just don't click at all, and it showed in their performances. The announcing of Gordon Solie lifted the match. The commentary of Freddy Miller gave the match a boost. Larry Zbyszko came out of the match looking good.

Road Warrior Animal d. Brad Armstrong in 5:52 by pinfall with a Flying Shoulder Tackle. (D)
The match suffered because there was not enough selling shown. The announcing & commentary gave the match a boost. Road Warrior Animal came out of the match looking good.


Gordon Solie shows clips & talks about the mystery attack on Stan Hansen before his title match at last night’s show in Bristol – 5 mins (C+)
The Larry's Helper storyline has continued with this segment.

Bob Armstrong d. Road Warrior Hawk in 6:29 by pinfall with a Bulldog. During the match we Paul Ellering interfered unsuccessfully and attacked Bob Armstrong. (C-)
Road Warrior Hawk was really off his game tonight. The announcing of Gordon Solie lifted the match. The RW vs Bullet & Garvin storyline has continued with this match.

El Halcon d. Ricky Morton in 7:44 by pinfall. (D-)
El Halcón and Ricky Morton just don't click at all, and it showed in their performances. Solie & Miller gave the match a boost. This match brought the crowd's mood down.

Stan Hansen goes off After asking Gordon to leave for a few minutes because he didn’t think it was safe for him to stay, The Bad Man from Borger Texas starts with a slow burn that explodes into a spittle flying desk destroying rage. He doesn’t know who attacked him from behind backstage last night but he knows what he’s going to do about it, even if he has to go through the entire roster to find them. He displays a large rope knotted into a noose, saying that’s what’s coming for whatever coward Zbyszko recruited to do his dirty work. “But don’t worry Zbyszko, I haven’t forgotten about you. Your day is coming” as he produces a second noose to close the segment. – 5 mins (B)

Jake Roberts d. Mr. Wrestling I in 9:57 by pinfall with The DDT. (C)
The announcing quality lifted the match.

Paul Orndorff d. Eric Embry in 8:32 by pinfall with a Piledriver. (C+)
The announcing quality lifted the match.

Larry Zbyszko tells Gordon to go away as he mocks Hansen, calling the big man paranoid if he believes the champ had anything to do with what happened before their match last night. Says it was probably some hick upset that Hansen stole his horse. He proclaims his innocence but points out that he isn’t the only person who can’t stand the sight or smell of Hansen. – 5 mins (B)
The Larry's Helper storyline has continued with this segment.

Stan Hansen d. The Spoiler in 13:49 by pinfall with The Lariat. (B)
Stan Hansen and The Spoiler have pretty good chemistry, and it lifted the match. The match suffered because of the lack of selling on display. This match lifted the crowd.

Final Show Rating: (B-)
This show can be considered a success, it should have increased our popularity.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Sunday Week 4, May 1983
Much as night follows day, we seem to be able to rely on Hansen, Zbyszko, and Solie to deliver.
And increasingly it seems the same should be said for Freddy Miller.

Last night was the final appearance of the loan contract for Ricky Morton. Didn’t get as much help getting Hacon over with the win as we hoped for but we’ll probably use Morton again down the road after getting a pair of C- matches from him in his other outings. Bart Sawyer also made his final appearance for SECW last night, while we still have another couple of matches from Dennis Condrey in the bank on that deal.

After the show we heard from Brad Armstrong, Tim Horner, and Dave Finlay, who all would like us to take it easy on them while they recover from their recent schedules. There’s a certain temptation to tell them to just cowboy up a little but if their performance suffers from being worn down then I’d probably be cutting off my nose to spite my face.

WCCW took their Parade of Champions to Rhode Island last night (300 & D+) where Terry Gordy beat Kerry Von Erich to retain the Texas Hvywt title and the team of David Von Erich & Gentleman Chris Adams defeated Freebirds Hayes & Roberts in the main event … SECW visited Tampa (1,832 & D+) where Mr. Olympia pinned Buzz Sawyer … SWCW ended the month in Austin, TX (2,000 & C-) where Adrian Adonis beat Bob Sweetan to retain the Southwest Hvywt title and Grappler #1 (aka Len Denton) defeated Juan Reynosa … CWA headed to West Monroe, LA (209 & D-) for Jerry Lawler to pin Moondog Rex and retain the AWA International title, also Stan Lane beat Austin Idol … Terry Funk was the star in an underdcard tag match as AJPW ran their Super Power Series event (1,000 & C-) with a main event featuring Giant Baba & Jumbo Tsruta beating Tenryu & Inoue to keep their NWA International Tag Team titles.

The rumor mill says The Sheik of Araby doesn’t plan to resign with MLW because the company isn’t big enough for him. Nightmare Ken Wayne on the other hand is expected to stay with CSW.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Monday Week 1, June 1983 (part one of four)
As usual the month ends with some of our main competition running their end of the month shows.

MACW’s May Clash of Champions was at the Marian College Auditorium in Wisconsin (2,000 & C+) highlighted by Ric Flair’s successful defense of the NWA World Heavyweight title with a win over Terry Funk. Wahoo McDaniel beat Jos LeDuc just before the main event … The AWA took their big show of the month to the Pittsfield (MA) Boys Club (804 & C) with the main event going to a double count out to allow Nick Bockwinkel to retain his AWA World Hvywt title despite a tough challenge from Baron Von Raschke. Also appearing were Larry Zbyszko who teamed with David Shults to beat Jerry Blackwell & Buck Zumhofe, Manny Fernandez & Brad Rheingans tagged together to beat Buzz Sawyer and Mr. Saito while Ken Patera paired with The Iron Sheik for a win over Mike Graham & Sonny Rogers … CWF went to Wheeling, WV (1,653 & D) with Bob Roop going over Don Kent in the main event, while Jake Roberts teamed with Kevin Sullivan to beat Windham & Bass … The WWF headed to Burlington, VT (2,000 & C-) as Hulk Hogan & Andre the Giant were too much for Sgt Slaughter & Michael Hayes. Don Muraco turned back Bob Backlund’s challenge to retain the Intercontinental belt … The IWA drew well (4,528 & C) in Quebec as Gilles Poisson beat Raymond Rougeau to keep their International Hvywt title …

With the end of May three veterans of the business officially retired, Bill Watts who remains as the owner of MSW, women’s legend Mae Young, and Ricky Romero who will have more time to watch his sons Mark & Chris “Youngblood” as their careers progress.

Several other veterans have announced that they will be winding up their obligations this month and move to retirement as well. None of the names are bigger than The Sheik of Araby Ed Farhat, who will be missed by his current promotions MLW & WWA as well as a legion of fans as he remains one of the most popular wrestlers all over the globe. CWF will certainly miss Don Kent, UK veteran Jackie Pallo is done, Great Goliath will be missed in both Mexico & the western U.S., European & UK stalwart Mal “King Kong” Kirk is hanging up the boots despite still being a reliable performer, and Ric Flair’s former tag team partner Rip Hawk calls it quits at the age of 61.

Also making news are rumors of financial problems for both Dick the Bruiser’s WWA and Al Tomko’s ASW in Vancouver with creditors giving both of them 90 days to turn things around.


Taking a look at the TV ratings for various wrestling shows for the past week …
GCW on TBS posted a 2.63, peaking in the 2nd half hour at 2.79 (down 0.02)
AWA on US Small Synd II posted a 1.52 (up 0.02)
WWF on US Synd Small I posted a 1.51 (down 0.14)
Mid-Atlantic on Local TV posted a 0.76 (up 0.06, new high)
WCCW Local-Mid South posted a 0.45 (down 0.03, 2nd straight low to date)
CWF Wrestling from Florida on Local-SE posted a 0.29 (down 0.06)
Mid-South on Local II posted a 0.27 (up 0.01)
WWC on WAPA/Puerto Rico posted a 0.16 (down 0.01)
Big Time Wrestling on Local-NW posted a 0.13 (same)
CWA All-Stars on WMC posted a 0.10 (down 0.01)
GLOW on US Small Syn III posted a 0.08 (up 0.01)
Wrestling at the Chase (CENT) on Local MW II posted a 0.08 (up 0.01)
SECW on Local SE II posted a 0.00 (same)
HCW on Local – Mid South III posted a 0.00 (same)
SWCW on USA cancelled finishing on a 0.34
CWA on Local – Grt Lks III cancelled finishing on a 0.00
ICW All-Stars on WTVQ cancelled on a 0.00

ITV World of Sport on ITV posted a 0.59 (same)
IWM on Local Quebec posted a 0.43 (up 0.02)
UWA Lucha Total on TV Mexico South hasn’t debuted
CMLL on Telemundo cancelled 1.23
World Pro Wrestling (NJPW) on ASAHI cancelled finishing on a 1.51
Puroresu Chukei (AJPW) on Nippon TV cancelled on a 1.50
Ringside Wrestling (MLW) on TV Canada East cancelled on a 0.90
Stampede Wrestling on TV Canada West cancelled on a 0.28

[BYU 14]

Blackwell and Zumhofe are certainly an odd pairing. I really enjoy these updates from the rest of the Wrestling world. It is interesting to see how other companies are booking.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Monday Week 1, June 1983, (part two of four)

All in all, I’m happier than I was at this time a month ago.

We probably haven’t closed the gap on Mid-Atlantic or the WWF as much as we would like but it’s definitely a lot better to get the financials and see a $12,040 profit instead of the nearly $80,000 loss of the month before.

Sponsors & merchandise revenue were down a tiny bit but our ticket sales were up by over $100k vs the previous month. Miscellaneous expenses were up about $30k but offset in part by cutting our worker wage bill by nearly $20k.

We should be able to stay in the same range for salaries this month as long as we’re mindful of the need to do so, now we just have to keep the ticket revenue around the same level as we just had.

Starting the new month, here are our roster positions
Main Event (8) – Sawyer, Zbyszko, Wrestling II, Anderson, Hansen, Gordy, Rich, 1 not debuted
Upper Midcard (8) – Street, Bob Armstrong, Roberts, Denton, Orndorff, Animal, Sheik, Spoiler
Midcard (11) – Eaton, Wayne, Condrey, Halcon, Embry, Thornton, Rocco, Hunter, Hawk, R. Garvin, St.Clair
Lower Midcard (6) – Brad Armstrong, Charles,Jr, Ware, Whatley, Barber, Horner
Opener (4) – Cullen, Finlay, Lightfoot, Starbuck
Enhancement (1) – P. Rose

Talking to the guys
Brett Wayne sees himself as an upper midcarder & isn’t happy with how often he’s been jobbed
Buzz Sawyer isn’t enjoying the backstage atmosphere
Chic Cullen sees himself as more of a lower midcarder
Emilio Charles, Jr sees himself as more of a midcarder
Eric Embry sees himself as more of an upper midcarder
Jim Barnett is unhappy with how many shows he hasn’t been used on
Mark Rocco sees himself as more of an upper midcarder
Mr. Wrestling would rather be a road agent but occasional wrestler is okay too.
Paul Orndorff sees himself as more of a main eventer
Randy Barber is unhappy with how many shows he hasn’t been used on
Road Warrior Animal sees himself as more of a main eventer
Ronnie Garvin sees himself as more of an upper midcarder
The Spoiler sees himself as more of a main eventer

Our popularity still stable in our top regions, C+ in the Southeast & C- in the Great Lakes. We’re now up to E+ in all the rest of the U.S. regions.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Blackwell and Zumhofe are certainly an odd pairing. I really enjoy these updates from the rest of the Wrestling world. It is interesting to see how other companies are booking.

Glad you like it, that's been something that I felt like was a good supplement to my not-so-hot writeup skills but really didn't know how it was getting over.

Funny you mention that odd pairing, as it's one of many I've noticed in the hundreds of matches I've glanced through picking out highlights. Whether it's more prevalent in this universe or whether I simply never noticed how often it happens in other outings I can't really say but there are not only some odd pairings but also a lot more instances of Face+Heel versus Face+Heel matches than I've ever seen before. I also can't figure how some of the promotions make enough money to stay out of the red entirely when they're booking more than two dozen workers a show & drawing a few hundred people. On the other hand it's kind of fun to see promotions in Mexico occasionally doing an all trios matches card.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Monday Week 1, June 1983, (part three of four)

Rest of the World Promotions
There are 28 other promotions of note around the world, and we still have some sort of relationship with most of them.

United States
1)World Wrestling Federation (WWF) - Cult with B prestige - at war
2)Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling (MACW) - Cult with C+ prestige - working agreement
3)American Wrestling Association (AWA) - Cult with C+ prestige up from C
4)Championship Wrestling from Florida (CWF) - Regional with D+ prestige - working agreement
5)World Class Championship Wrestling (WCCW) - Regional with D prestige - hostile
6)Mid-South Wrestling (MSW) - Regional with D prestige - working agreement
7)Central States (CSTATE) - Regional with D prestige - working agreement
8)World Wrestling Council (WWC) - Regional with D- prestige up from E+
9)Houston Championship Wrestling (HCW) – Regional with D- prestige up from E+ - working agreement
10)Pacific Northwest (PNW) - Regional with E+ prestige - working agreement
11)Championship Wrestling Association (CWA) - Regional with E+ prestige - working agreement
12)Southeastern Championship Wrestling (SECW) –Regional with E prestige-working agreement
13)Southwest Championship Wrestling (SWCW) - Regional with E- prestige down from E+ - working agreement
14)Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling (GLOW) - Regional with F prestige
15)International Championship Wrestling (ICW) - Small with F prestige down from F+
16)World Wrestling Association (WWA) - Small with F- prestige down from F+

Canada
1)International Wrestling Montreal (IWM) - Regional with E+ prestige - non-agression
2)Maple Leaf Wrestling (MLW) - Regional with E prestige (down from D-)– working agreement
3)Calgary Stampede Wrestling (CSW) - Regional with E prestige (down from E+)
4)Atlanta Grand Prix Wrestling (AGPW) - Regional with E prestige
5)All-Star Wrestling (ASW) - Small with F+ prestige - non-agression

Mexico
1)Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (CMLL) - Cult with C prestige
2)Universal Wrestling Association (UWA) - Regional with E prestige

Japan
1)All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW) - Regional with D+ prestige up from C+
2)New Japan Pro Wrestling (NJPW) - Regional with D prestige down from C
3)All Japan Women's Pro Wrestling (AJWP) – Regional with E+ prestige up from E-

UK
1)Joint Promotions (JP) - Cult with D prestige
2)All Star Wrestling UK - (ASWUK) - Regional with E prestige back down from E+

Europe
1)Catch Wrestling Association (CWA) - Regional with D- prestige

Top Champions Around The World
1)World Wrestling Federation (WWF) – Sgt Slaughter since May 1983
2)Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling (MACW) - Ric Flair since Sept 1981
3)American Wrestling Association (AWA) - Nick Bockwinkel since October 1982
4)Championship Wrestling from Florida (CWF) - Purple Haze since April 1983
5)World Class Championship Wrestling (WCCW) - Terry Gordy since April 1983
6)Mid-South Wrestling (MSW) - Ted DiBiase since April 1983
7)Central States (CSTATE) - Manny Fernandez since September 1982
8)World Wrestling Council (WWC) - Carlos Colon since April 1982
9)Houston Championship Wrestling (HCW) – Gino Hernandez since April 1983
10)Pacific Northwest (PNW) - Dutch Savage since April 1983
11)Championship Wrestling Association (CWA) - Jerry Lawler since April 1983
12)Southeastern Championship Wrestling (SECW) – Bob Armstrong since December 1982
13)Southwest Championship Wrestling (SWCW) - Adrian Adonis since April 1983
14)Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling (GLOW) - Tammy Jones since April 1983
15)International Championship Wrestling (ICW) - Randy Savage since January 1982
16)World Wrestling Association (WWA) - Chris Markoff since April 1983

Canada
1)Maple Leaf Wrestling (MLW) – Tiger Jeet Singh since May 1983
2)Calgary Stampede Wrestling (CSW) - Bret Hart since October 1982
3)International Wrestling Montreal (IWM) - Gilles Poisson since April 1983
4)Atlanta Grand Prix Wrestling (AGPW) - Leo Burke since April 1983
5)All-Star Wrestling (ASW) - Moose Morowski since April 1982

Mexico
1)Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (CMLL) - Lizmark since April 1983
2)Universal Wrestling Association (UWA) - Canek since April 1983

Japan
1)All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW) - Jumbo Tsuruta since October 1982
2)New Japan Pro Wrestling (NJPW) - Tatsumi Fujinami since April 1983
3)All Japan Women's Pro Wrestling (AJWP) – Dump Matsumoto since April 1983

UK
1)Joint Promotions (JP) - Johnny Saint since unknown
2)All Star Wrestling UK - (ASWUK) - Mal Sanders since April 1983

Europe
1)Catch Wrestling Association (CWA) – Otto Wanz since July 1978

[Izulde]

Nice work you're doing and are there actually signs of the Road Warriors starting to improve?

Also, I've noticed a lack of selling seems to be a major problem in your matches. Are there guys with high selling worth pursuing who could help alleviate that?

[JonInMiddleGA]

Nice work you're doing and are there actually signs of the Road Warriors starting to improve?

Thanks, and not really. They purely suck in the ring & I'm tolerating it right now because I don't have much in the way of better ideas. Actually I do have one better idea: scrap worrying about the tag division altogether & just be the best damned singles promotion going ... but that just doesn't seem right given the era. But as for Hawk & Animal, at this point I'm getting as much out of Paul Ellering in the ring as I can drag out of either of the alleged wrestlers.

Also, I've noticed a lack of selling seems to be a major problem in your matches. Are there guys with high selling worth pursuing who could help alleviate that?

I think my sales problem stems from the guys that are the core of the roster, just quite a few no-selling guys in the group, at the top where a lot of them think they're above it and at the bottom where a lot of them simply don't know how. But in some ways that's also part of the GCW experience. In hindsight they weren't always the most all around talented crew in the world, but they had a way of inspiring passion in the audience that made it work - Wrestling II & Thunderbolt Patterson are a couple of prime examples - but it wasn't the easiest lockerroom in the world either.

Wildfire is a B+ bless his bleeds like a stuck pig heart, Sawyer is a B, Gordy is a B- Hansen is a C+, Larry is a C, II is a C-, Ole is a D+. Of the upper midcarders, only Jake Roberts is above a C, with Sheik & Spoiler in the D's, same with Ronnie Garvin. And Animal is an E, Hawk an E-. And most of these guys are too old to expect any real improvement. And to top it off Sawyer is perpetually one day away from me getting fed up with his attitude & firing him, Gordy is freelancing & the clock is ticking on his contract

Compare that with MACW, where Steamboat, Flair, Rhodes, Funk, and even Slater are A's, Valentine is a B, and most of the rest of the roster are C's.

I could easily brings some of those guys in but at the expense of having to deal with being 2nd priority for all of them right now, plus anything I do with them that helps me helps them & ultimately they're as much competition for me as Vince is.

So for now I swallow hard & deal with it, and hope I can move a couple of younger guys who aren't above selling up the card in the next few months.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Monday Week 1, June 1983, (part four of four)
Colley Matrix Singles Rankings as of Monday Wk 1, June 1983

Team Rating W L T
1 Larry Zbyszko 513 11 0 0
2 Tommy Rich 426 8 1 0
3 Mark Rocco 392 5 0 0
4 Rick Hunter 371 7 1 0
5 Stan Hansen 365 6 1 1
6 Koko B Ware 320 3 0 0
7 Dave Finlay 297 6 1 0
8 Adrian Street 285 3 1 0
9 Ole Anderson 274 6 3 0
10 Paul Orndorff 271 6 4 0
11 El Hacon 269 2 0 0
12 Jake Roberts 255 4 3 0
13 Bobby Eaton 236 1 0 0
14 The Spoiler 214 4 4 0
15 Chic Cullen 208 3 2 0
16 Mr Wrestling II 190 2 2 0
17 Pez Whatley 180 5 5 0
18 Terry Gordy 175 2 3 0
19 Departed Contenders 167 0 0 0
20 Dennis Condrey 167 0 0 0
21 Bob Armstrong 166 3 3 0
22 Tony St Clair 158 1 1 0
23 Eric Embry 155 3 3 0
24 Departed Midcarders 134 2 3 0
25 Les Thornton 119 2 4 0
26 Emilio Charles Jr 114 1 2 0
27 Ronnie Garvin 113 3 5 0
28 Thunderbolt Patterson 112 1 2 0
29 Buzz Sawyer 94 1 5 1
30 Animal 94 1 2 0
31 Paul Ellering 73 2 3 0
32 Len Denton 68 1 5 0
33 Brad Armstrong 68 3 5 0
34 Mr Wrestling I 59 0 2 0
35 Departed Undercards 40 0 2 0
36 Tim Horner 24 1 6 0
37 Hawk 23 0 3 0
38 Randy Barber 20 0 4 0
39 Joe Lightfoot 18 1 4 0
40 The Iron Sheik 7 0 4 0
41 Brett Wayne -3 0 3 0
42 Mike Starbuck -13 1 5 0
43 Pat Rose -52 1 5 0

[JonInMiddleGA]

Tuesday Week 1, June 1983
While we keep fine tuning our next few shows behind the scenes, the rest of the wrestling world continues on.

WCCW held their June Star Wars event last night in Bessemer, AL (1,000 & C-) with The Freebirds defeating Kevin, Kerry, and David Von Erich to retain their Six Man Tag Team titles … HCW visited New Orleans (1,882 & C-) where Gino Hernandez & Jim Duggan (aka The Partners) beat the team of Junkyard Dog & Butch Reed … ASW went to Whitehorse Takhini Arena in BC (1,000 & C-) for Moose Morowski to beat Buck Ramstead & Bob Brown in a three-way match and retain the Canadian Heavyweight title … GLOW was in Austin, TX (300 & E) where Tammy Jones defended her GLOW Crown with a win over Meeka the Headhunter .. ASW-UK fans in Exeter (300 & C-) saw Mal Sanders beat Mighty John Quinn to keep his Championship title, Steve Wright went over Chic Cullen to retain the British Light-Heavyweight belt, and the team of Drew McDonald & Tony St. Clair defeated Skull Murphy and Dave Finlay … AGPW sold out a small show in the Maritimes (1,000 & C-) to see Leo Burke defend his International Hvywt title by beating Gerry Morrow as well as The Spoiler & the Cuban Assassin beat Pierre Lefebvre & Bobby Bass.

One minor roster item I failed to mention earlier, we approached Randy Savage about coming into Georgia for some work but he said he wanted to focus all his attention on his ICW career at the moment. Oh well, his loss.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Wednesday Week 1, June 1983
Just a quick look around at the competition’s activity from last night, starting with our neighbors to the south at CWF. Their Endless Beach Tour traveled to the colder clime of Bridgeport, CT (300 & D+) for a show headlined by The Purple Haze retaining the Florida Heavywt title after a no contest against Barry Windham. Also on the show Adrian Street lost to Blackjack Mulligan, Jake Roberts defending the Bahamas title again by beating Mike Graham, Bugsy McGraw over The Professional (Les Thornton) and Dusty Rhodes over Kevin Sullivan … The CWA was in Sarasota, FL (2,000 & C-) where Jerry Lawler beat N.Y. Assassin #1 to retain his AWA International title, The Fabulous Ones beat Bobby Eaton & Koko B. Ware and Phil Hickerson pinned Jesse Barr to claim their Mid-American Hvywt title … The WWA took Bruiser’s Bedlam on Tour with a visit to Austin, TX (258 & D-) where Chris Markoff again defended their Hvywt title by beating Steve Regal although the best match of the night was Igor Volkoff defeating The Sheik of Araby … JPUK was in London (2,000 & C) as Johnny Saint beat Alan Dennison to retain their World Lightweight title … CWA-Eur drew less than a full house (1744 & D+) as Tony St. Clair retained their World Middlewt title with a win over Mike Zrno and the tag champs Butcher Brannigan & John Quinn beat Dave Finlay and Jaroslav Novak to keep their belts intact.

A minor roster note of some interest from Japan where AJPW has reportedly decided not to resign promising youngster Toshiaki Kawada. Down in Mexico however the UWA has no such reservations about one of their top stars and is ready to resign Villano III.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Thursday Week 1, June 1983, (part one of two)
We’re just getting ready to do what we do on the road tonight so we’ll just get right to last night’s busy schedule for the rest of the world with nine promotions in action.

The biggest story, no pun intended, comes from New Japan (3,978 & C), where Andre the Giant claimed the IWGP League Tournament title with wins over Animal Hamaguchi, Ryuma Go, and Rusher Kimura in the final. The big man was the only main eventer to participate in the tournament so anything less than a win would have been the surprise … Down in Puerto Rico, the most notable result for the WWC (2000 & C-) wasn’t Carlos Colon retaining his Universal Hvywt title with a win over Abdullah the Butcher but rather recent WWF Intercontinental champion Pedro Morales suffering from vertigo during a six man tag match. He’s expected to miss up to three weeks with the condition … Down in Mexico, the UWA also made more news out of the ring than in it. In West Central Mexico (2000 & C+) Canek beat El Solitario to keep the WWF World Lightweight belt but the talk was more about the signings of Angel Azteca, Black Man, and Kung Fu to beef up the roster, just a month after nearly a dozen workers were released from their contracts. Canek’s reign may be coming to an end soon however as reports indicate that he has rejected their offer to renew his contract … WCCW ran a sold out show in Austin, TX (5,000 & C) with The Freebirds again defending their six man titles by beating the Von Erichs … The AWA traveled to the Northwest (1,000 & C) where Nick Bockwinkel defended his World Hvywt title with a win over Baron Von Raschke. Also appearing were The Iron Sheik who lost to Brad Rheingans, Buzz Sawyer who lost a TV title match to champ Greg Gagne, and Crusher Blackwell & David Schults who lost to the team of Ken Patera & Larry Zbyszko … MACW was in North Carolina (5,000 & C) as Ricky Steamboat & Jay Youngblood defended their NWA World Tag Team belts by beating Jerry Brisco & Dory Funk … AGPW went to Nova Scotia (1,000 & C-) for Leo Burke to beat The Cuban Assassin and keep his International Hvywt strap. Also on the show Gerry Morrow pinned The Spoiler … MSW went to the Midwest (1,000 & D+) where Dick Murdoch & Kamala (aka The Iron Men) beat Junkyard Dog & Mr. Wrestling II to defend their Tag Team titles and Mr. Olympia keeps their TV title by beating Tim Horner … AJW showcased All Japan’s take on the women in a tiny show (1,000 & D+) in Kanto. The main event saw Dump Matsumoto defeat Chigusa Nagayo to retain her Singles title. Also Lioness Asuka & Candi Divine beat The Jumping Bomb Angels.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Thursday Week 1, June 1983, (part two of two)

Stars of GCW On Tour – 60 minutes at McDonald Gym, Beaumont, TX with 694 in attendance

Pre-show
Dave Finlay & Pat Rose d. Mike Starbuck & Randy Barber in 5:40 when Finlay defeated Barber by pinfall with an Inverted Piledriver. (E+)
The announcing of Freddy Miller & the commentary of Koko B. Ware gave the match a boost. This match brought the crowd's mood down. Randy Barber is improving in Rumble skills. Dave Finlay is improving in Flying skills.

Paul Ellering d. Joe Lightfoot in 5:32 by pinfall after using a foreign object. (E+)
The announcing of Miller & commentary of Bob Armstrong gave the match a boost. The fans were really turned off by the finish to the match. This match brought the crowd's mood down. Paul Ellering is improving in Performance skills.

Freddy Miller hypes ongoing Hansen storyline & the TV show – 3 mins (F+)
Such a weak segment really bombed with the crowd.


Main show
Bobby Eaton d. Pez Whatley in 7:57 by pinfall with an Alabama Jam. (D+)
Bobby Eaton and Pez Whatley have pretty good chemistry, and it lifted the match. The commentary of Jake Roberts gave the match a boost.

Jake Roberts comes out to hype himself – 3 mins (C+)

Koko B. Ware d. Tim Horner in 6:28 by pinfall with a Brainbuster. (D)
The announcing of Miller & commentary by Roberts gave the match a boost. Tim Horner is improving in Performance skills.

Jim Barnett hypes charity raffle – 1 min (E)
The segment wasn't very good to begin with, and this crowd really turned against it.

Jake Roberts d. Brett Wayne in 7:48 by pinfall with The DDT. (C)
The commentary of Paul Ellering gave the match a boost. Jake Roberts came out of the match looking good.

Tommy Rich d. Animal (w/Paul Ellering) in 7:56 by pinfall with a Wildfire Driver. (C+)
Road Warrior Animal was visibly tiring toward the end.

Terry Gordy stops by on the way to the ring to insult Freddy Miller & the fans in Beaumont – 3 mins (B-)

Terry Gordy d. Bob Armstrong in 12:44 by pinfall with a Powerbomb. (B-)
Terry Gordy and Bullet Bob Armstrong have great chemistry, and it showed in their performances. The announcing of Miller wasn't up to the same standard as the match. Terry Gordy came out of the match looking good.

Final Show Rating: [b](C+)/b]
This show can be considered a success, it should have increased our popularity.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Friday Week 1, June 1983

Eh, it was what it was I guess. Nice work from Gordy & Bullet to pull the night out for us, and Jake Roberts managed to drag more out of Brett Wayne than anyone could have expected. Snake is young but he also did a pretty fair job of putting together most of the matches on last night’s show too.

We’ve issued a warning to Hawk after he arrived late to last night’s show. Whether we were using him or not, if you’re going to show up then be on time. Terry Gordy & Dave Finlay have both asked me to keep their recent grueling schedules in mind when we’re booking in the future.

While we were busy in Beaumont, several other promotions were also doing their thing, including the WWF which ran In Your Neighborhood in Jacksonville, FL (1,000 & C). Sgt. Slaughter was the star of the night, defending his Heavyweight title with a win over Ray Stevens. Also on the show Roddy Piper picked up a big win over Hulk Hogan, who is reportedly not going to be resigned by New Japan … Speaking of NJPW, they put on a pretty good show in Kanto last night (2,000 & C) as Tatsumi Fujinami beat Antonio Inoki to retain the WWF International Hvywt title and Tiger Mask defeated The Dynamite Kid to keep his WWF Junior Hvywt belt … WCCW traveled to Lorain, OH (801 & D+) where The Great Kabuki defeated Kevin Von Erich in the main event … CENT visited the Sportatorium in Dallas, TX (2,000 & C-) where Manny Fernandez & Bruiser Brody beat Bob Brown & Buzz Tyler and Ted Oates defeated Jerry Oates on the undercard … PNW went to Andover, MI (255 & D) for Rip Oliver & Kendo Nagasaki to beat Randy Savage & Jay Strongbow … JPUK taped their weekly TV at the Royal Court Theatre (1,000 & C-) including Sid Cooper beating Mick McMichael to successfully defend the British Heavy-Middleweight belt.

Along with the rumor about Hogan not being renewed by NJPW, there’s also a story floating around that Mid-Atlantic isn’t planning to renew the contract of Bob Orton, Jr.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Saturday Week 1, June 1983, (part 1 of 2)
While we’re preparing for tonight’s TV, a quick look at last night’s happenings, starting with MACW “In Your Town” which went to the NorthWest (1,000 & C) for Ric Flair to beat Dory Funk, Jr and retain the NWA World Heavyweight title … The AWA visited Puerto Rico (553 & D+) as The High Flyers defeated Steve Regal & Steve O to retain their World Tag Team titles … New tag team champions in the WWC as they sold out a small show (300 & D+) in Mississippi for Carlos Colon & The Invader to beat Abdullah the Butcher & Bruiser Brody after four title defenses … Mid-South Wrestling visited Fort Worth, TX (2000 & C) where Dick Murdoch & Kamala defeated The Hacksaws (Duggan & Reed) by DQ to keep their Tag Team titles & Ted DiBiase beat Mr. Wrestling II to retain his North American Hvywt title. Also on the show Buddy Landell defeated Tim Horner … The WWA went to the North West (243 & E+) as Chris Markoff retained their Heavyweight title by beating Spike Huber … AJPW ran in Tohoku (2000 & C+) with a double main event featuring Harley Race’s successful PWF Hvywt title defense over Giant Baba and Jumbo Tsuruta going to a double countout with Stan Hansen… The UWA event in Southern Mexico (1000 & C+) saw Canek defeat Villano III to keep hold of the WWF World Light Hvywt title … ASWUK’s Nottingham show (1000 & C) featured Mark Rocco defeating Tony St. Clair to retain their World Heavy-Middleweight belt and Dave Finlay teaming with Skull Murphy to beat Chic Cullen and Marty Jones.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Saturday Week 1, June 1983, (part 2 of 2)

Stars of GCW On Tour – 90 minutes at the Columbus(GA) Auditorium with 5,000 in attendance

Pre-show
Paul Ellering hypes The Road Warriors – 4 mins (D)
The segment wasn't very good to begin with, and this crowd really turned against it. The RW vs Bullet & Garvin storyline has continued with this segment.

Bob Armstrong d. Paul Ellering in 5:55 by pinfall with a Bulldog. (C+)
Bullet Bob Armstrong looked good out there. Paul Ellering is improving in Performance skills.

Ole Anderson d. Pat Rose in 5:42 by pinfall with an Anderson Running Knee. (C-)
The performance of Ole Anderson stood out as being good.

Main show

Stan Hansen d. Eric Embry in 8:58 by pinfall with The Lariat. (B-)
This match lifted the crowd.

Hansen talks to Solie, Ole Anderson joins them & tells Hansen that he’s got his back and that he’s coming after Zbyszko while the big Texan takes care of his other business – 3 mins (B+)
The Larry's Helper storyline has continued with this segment.

Len Denton d. Thunderbolt Patterson in 7:37 by pinfall with a Piledriver. (C)
The announcing of Gordon Solie lifted the match.

Road Warrior Hawk d. Brad Armstrong in 5:51 by pinfall with a Hangman's Neckbreaker. (D)
The match suffered because there was not enough selling shown. The announcing of Solie & the commentary of Freddy Miller gave the match a boost.

Ronnie Garvin d. Road Warrior Animal in 6:42 by pinfall with a Hands of Stone Punch. (C)
Road Warrior Animal was visibly tiring toward the end. The match suffered because of the lack of selling on display. The announcing of Solie & commentary by Miller gave the match a boost. The RW vs Bullet & Garvin storyline has continued with this match.

Mark Rocco d. Dennis Condrey in 8:32 by pinfall with a Diving Headbutt. Mark Rocco makes defence number 1 of his National Television title. (C+)
The announcing quality lifted the match.

The Iron Sheik d. Rick Hunter in 10:52 by pinfall with a Loaded Boot Blast. (C+)
The Iron Sheik and Rick Hunter don't seem to click, and it made for an awkward bout. The announcing quality lifted the match.

Larry Zbyszko taunts Hansen but says this has gone on long enough, if he’ll come down then Zbyszko will introduce him to the mystery man – 4 mins (B+)
The Larry's Helper storyline has continued with this segment.

Hansen runs down to confront Zbyszko, the champion bails and the lights go out. When the lights come back up, a battered Hansen is lying in the ring and has to be helped to the back during the commercial break – 4 mins (B+)

Larry Zbyszko d. Buzz Sawyer in 15:04 by pinfall with a Shoulder Breaker. Larry Zbyszko makes defence number 6 of his National Heavyweight title. (B-)
The announcing quality lifted the match. Larry Zbyszko looked good out there. This match lifted the crowd. Larry Zbyszko is improving in Flying skills.

Final Show Rating: (B-)
This show can be considered a success, it should have increased our popularity.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Sunday Week 1, June 1983
Not bad, not bad at all really. Okay, granted, it’s not all sweetness & light since it’s tough to pull good matches out of Hawk or Animal consistently and I obviously should have switched the order for Ellering and Hawk, which is kind of a sad statement about the alleged wrestler of the pair’s ability but Zbyszko & Hansen are both money. Probably got more out of Patterson & Denton than I had any right to either.

Elsewhere last night CWA visited the North West (206 & D-) where Austin Idol beat Jerry Lawler … SECW headed out to Fremont, CA (146 & E+) as Randy Rose & Norvell Austin teamed up to defeat Steve Armstrong & The Tonga Kid … MLW ran at the Dunlop Arena in Ontario (2,000 & C) where a sold out crowd saw Tiger Jeet Singh defend his MLW World Hvywt belt with a win over Adrian Adonis and Raymond Rougeau beat Ricky Steamboat … The WWC was in Chandler, AZ (291 & D-) for Carlos Colon’s successful Universal Hvywt title defense against Bruiser Brody … Down in West Central Mexico the UWA show (1775 & C+) featured Dos Caras victory over Dr. Wagner.

The UWA can’t seem to make a decision & stick with it, as after the show they released several workers from their contracts, including some they only recently picked up. Black Man, MS-1, Angel Azteca, and Black Cat are all out

[JonInMiddleGA]

Monday Week 2, June 1983
Only one item of business for us today, as we finally get a call back from recently retired Mexican star Ricky Romero who we thought might be a valuable guy to have in the back. We still think he’d be valuable as a staff member but not at the $1750 per appearance he’s looking for. So after a short conversation, we’ll be moving right along …

The WWF was at the Joyce Center Rink (IN) last night (1867 & D) where The Wild Samoans defended their tag team belts with a win over Jimmy Snuka & Bob Backlund. Also on the show were Andre the Giant & Hulk Hogan, who teamed up to defeat Tito Santana & Rocky Johnson … CWF ran in Lorain, OH (1,000 & D+) headlined by Dusty Rhodes win over Bobby Duncum. Also on the card, Mike Graham pinned Adrian Street … ASW visited Quebec (120 & D-) where Moose Morowski defeated Bob Brown to retain his Canadian Hvywt title … The IWF was also in Quebec before a much larger crowd (4,376 & C) to see Gilles Poisson beat Rick Martel to defend their International Hvywt title … In Indiana, an Independent show drew a small crowd (40 & D-) for the main event of Lars Anderson over David Novak. Other names of note appearing on the nine match card included David Sammartino, Rick Rude, Terry Orndorff, Mighty Wilbur, and Otis Sistrunk.

Taking a look at the TV ratings for various wrestling shows for the past week …
GCW on TBS posted a 2.86, peaking in the 2nd half hour at 2.87 (up 0.23 for a new high)
AWA on US Small Synd II posted a 1.52 (same)
WWF on US Synd Small I posted a 1.43 (down 0.08)
Mid-Atlantic on Local TV posted a 0.84 (up 0.08, 2nd straight all-time high)
WCCW Local-Mid South posted a 0.56 (up 0.11)
CWF Wrestling from Florida on Local-SE posted a 0.35 (up 0.06)
Mid-South on Local II posted a 0.26 (down 0.01)
WWC on WAPA/Puerto Rico posted a 0.17 (up 0.01)
CWA All-Stars on WMC posted a 0.11 (up 0.01)
Big Time Wrestling on Local-NW posted a 0.11 (down 0.02, a new low)
GLOW on US Small Syn III posted a 0.08 (same)
Wrestling at the Chase (CENT) on Local MW II posted a 0.08 (same)
SECW on Local SE II posted a 0.00 (same)
HCW on Local – Mid South III posted a 0.00 (same)
SWCW on USA cancelled finishing on a 0.34
CWA on Local – Grt Lks III cancelled finishing on a 0.00
ICW All-Stars on WTVQ cancelled on a 0.00

ITV World of Sport on ITV posted a 0.61 (up 0.02)
IWM on Local Quebec posted a 0.41 (down 0.02)
UWA Lucha Total on TV Mexico South posted a 0.09 (debut)
AGPW on TV Local Canada-Maritimes posted a 0.08 (debut)
CMLL on Telemundo cancelled 1.23
World Pro Wrestling (NJPW) on ASAHI cancelled finishing on a 1.51
Puroresu Chukei (AJPW) on Nippon TV cancelled on a 1.50
Ringside Wrestling (MLW) on TV Canada East cancelled on a 0.90
Stampede Wrestling on TV Canada West cancelled on a 0.28

[JonInMiddleGA]

Just when you thought it was safe to go back to the Dynasty forum ...

Tuesday Week 2, June 1983
Yesterday’s conversation with Ricky Romero got us thinking about our backstage area and so we put out some phone calls, just to see who might be in a more reasonable state of mind than he was. Probably nothing will come of it but we’ll see.

Only a handful of events last night, including HCW visiting Asheville, NC (142 & D+) where Kamala & The Masked Superstar defeated Junkyard Dog & Butch Reed … ASW went to BC (1,000 & D) as Al Tomko & Moose Morowski beat the team of Ramstead & Brown to defend their Canadian Hvywt Tag Team titles … ASW-UK was at the Bedlam Theater in Edinburgh, Scotland (300 & D+) with Chic Cullen and Steven Regal teaming to beat Terry Jowett & Mike Bennett in the main event, Mal Sanders & Tony St. Clair[/i] pairing to defeat [b]Dave Finlay & Skull Murphy while Mighty John Quinn & Mark Rocco went to a double count out with Steve Wright & Marty Jones … AGPW went to the Stephenville Dome in the Maritimes (1000 & C) for Leo Burke to beat The Spoiler and defend his Int’l Heavyweight title once again … GLOW visited the Mid West (300 & E) where Tammy Jones retained the GLOW Crown title by beating Matilda the Hun.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Wednesday Week 2, June 1983
The CWF Endless Beach Tour made the short trip to Sarasota, FL (2000 & C-) where The Purple Haze & Blackjack Mulligan ended in no contest allowing Haze to retain his Florida Hvywt title. On the undercard, Kevin Sullivan teamed with The Professional (Les Thornton) to beat Bob Roop & Rufus R. Jones, Adrian Street tagged with Bobby Duncum for a win over Leroy Brown & Terry Allen, and Jake Roberts defended his Bahamas title with a victory over Ron Bass … The WWA took Bruiser’s Bedlam on tour, stopping in Joplin, MO (1000 & D) for Chris Markoff to defend his Heavyweight title against Steve Regal, also Bobo Brazil went over Igor Volkoff … The CWA hit Kansas City, KS (1000 & D) for Jerry Lawler to defend the AWA Southern Hvywt belt by beating Moondog Rex, also Onslaught (Jacques Rougeau & King Cobra) defeated Bobby Eaton & Koko B. Ware … JPUK went to Glasgow, Scotland (1000 & C-) where Johnny Saint pinned Vic Faulkner to retain their World Lightweight title … CWA-Eur went to Central Europe with title defenses of their World Hvywt belt by Otto Wanz over Klaus Wallas and their World Middleweight belt by Tony St. Clair over Mile Zrno, also Team Dynasty (John Cox & Jaroslav Novak) defeated Fit Finlay & Rocky Moran.

Bigger news perhaps than most of the shows last night was word from across the pond that JPUK had released eight workers from their contracts, including Blondie Barratt and veteran Ben McCoy.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Thursday Week 2, June 1983 (part 1 of 2)
We made a decision, right or wrong, and have added Bob Orton, Jr. to our roster on a short term 3 month contract for $1,300 p.a. with an $800/month downside. He’s another of those notorious “free spirits” so I’m wary going in but while his popularity is midcard’ish at the moment, he also rivals Mark Rocco as the most all around talented guy on our roster. He’s a guy who I really can’t have big plans for with such a short contract length but should be able to make some use out of while he’s here. Somewhat better suited to be a heel, we’ll try him as a face to help bolster that part of the roster if he can.

Out & about last night, the AWA sold out Municipal Auditorium in South Dakota (5,000 & C+) to see Nick Bockwinkel defeat Baron Von Raschke to retain the AWA World Hvywt title and Ken Patera beat Larry Zbyszko. Also appearing were Buzz Sawyer who teamed with Manny Fernandez to beat Rick Martel & Kenny Jay and Jerry Blackwell who partnered with Brad Rheingans to defeat The Iron Sheik and Nacho Berrera. … MACW went to Sarasota, FL (2000 & C) where Ricky Steamboat & Jay Youngblood defeated Ivan Koloff & Jos LeDuc to retain the NWA World Tag Team titles and Wahoo McDaniel pinned Terry Funk … WCCW was in Phoenix (1,000 & C-) as Terry Gordy pinned David Von Erich to keep the Texas Hvywt title while Kevin Von Erich defeated The Great Kabuki to remain WCCW American Hvywt champion … MSW went down to Jacksonville, FL (1000 & C-) where The Ironmen (Kamala & Dick the Bruiser) turned back the challenge of Mr. Wrestling II & Junkyard Dog to remain Mid-South Tag Team champions … In Lacy, NJ, the WWC had Carlos Colon & The Invader defending their WWC World Tag Team belts with a win over Abdullah the Butcher & Bruiser Brody … The UWA show in West Central Mexico saw Canek beat El Solitario to retain the WWF World Light Hvywt title.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Thursday Week 2, June 1983, (part two of two)

Stars of GCW On Tour – 60 minutes at Cathedral HS, Hamilton, ON with 112 in attendance

Pre-show
Dave Finlay d. Pat Rose in 5:43 by pinfall with a Rolling Fireman's Carry Slam. (E+)
The announcing of Freddy Miller & the commentary of Tony St. Clair gave the match a boost. This match brought the crowd's mood down.

Adrian Street cuts a promo insulting the fans in attendance – 4 mins (D-)

Randy Barber d. Mike Starbuck in 6:29 by pinfall. (E-)
The announcing of Miller & the commentary of Mr. Wrestling II gave the match a boost. This match brought the crowd's mood down.[/i]

Main show
Ole Anderson d. Dennis Condrey in 11:38 by pinfall with an Anderson Running Knee. (C)

Tony St. Clair d. Les Thornton in 8:42 by pinfall. (C)
Tony St. Clair is improving in Technical skills. Les Thornton is improving in Performance skills.

Ole Anderson cuts a promo hyping his intent to take down Larry Zbyszko & to help Stan Hansen – 6 mins (C-)

Adrian Street d. Rick Hunter in 9:57 by pinfall with a Crucifix Cradle. (D)
Adrian Street and Rick Hunter don't seem to click, and it made for an awkward bout. The announcing of Miller & the commentary of St. Clair gave the match a boost.

Mr. Wrestling II d. The Iron Sheik in 15:09 by pinfall with a Million Dollar Knee Lift. (C)
The match suffered because there was not enough selling shown.

Final Show Rating: (C-)
This show can be considered a success, it should have increased our popularity.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Friday Week 2, June 1983
Yuck. That wasn’t very pretty nor was it much fun to watch from the back but there are going to be nights like that for any promotion. I’m just glad it was in front of a tiny crowd in a market where just showing up will improve our situation slightly. Better to get those stinkers out of the way when & where the TV cameras aren’t rolling.

Last night was the final appearance of the loan agreement with SECW for Dennis Condrey. Didn’t really get as much out of him as we wanted, but a C+ average match rating in three appearances isn’t all that bad actually.

We get a trio of returned phone calls, none of which ultimately amount to anything as backstage help tends to want to be paid as though they’re World Title contenders. Former NWA World Champion Whipper Billy Watson wanted $1,600 p.a., retired German standout Horst Hoffman wanted $1,650 p.a., and veteran manager Saul Weingeroff wanted $1,300 p.a. We passed the time making small talk before explaining that we simply weren’t in a position to pay that sort of money right now no matter how much we’d like to have them be on board.

Elsewhere last night, the WWF sold out Buffalo Alumni Arena (5,000 & C) as Sgt Slaughter defended his World Hvywt title beating Jimmy Snuka, former champ Bob Backlund beat Mr. Fuji, and Roddy Piper teamed with Ray Stevens for a main event victory over Michael Hayes & The Masked Superstar … Three Von Erichs wrestled in Dallas (5,000 & C+) for WCCW, three Von Erichs got their hands raised as David beat The Great Kabuki, Kerry beat Buddy Jack Roberts, and Kevin beat Bill Irwin to retain their American HW title … PNW was in Reno, NV at The Showboat (1767 & C-) where Rip Oliver pinned Dean Ho … CENT sold out Wayne Memorial Stadium in Nebraska (2,000 & C) with Manny Fernandez pinning Roger Kirby to retain his Central States Hvywt belt and Jerry Oates beat Ted Oates to keep their TV title … New Japan ran in Hokkaido (1000 & C-) with Tatsumi Fujinami going over Abdullah the Butcher to retain the WWF International Hvywt title … JPUK visited London (2000 & C-) where fans saw Kendo Nagasaki & Johnny Saint team up to defeat Crybaby Breaks & Big Daddy in an afternoon show and then the TV taping audience watched Breaks & Big Daddy gets a win over Giant Haystacks & Mal Kirk …

[JonInMiddleGA]

Saturday Week 2, June 1983, (part 1 of 2)

A quick look around at last night’s results starts with the AWA who were in Fresno,CA(2000 & C-) as Ken Patera teamed up with Larry Zbyszko to defeat Wahoo McDaniel & Manny Fernandez while Jim Brunzell & Rick Martel were a winning combination in their match against Buzz Sawyer and Curt Hennig … MACW visited the Mid West (1,000 & C) with Steamboat & Youngblood retaining the NWA World Tag Team belts with a win over Greg Valentine & Dory Funk. Ivan Koloff also got a victory, beating Bob Orton, Jr … MSW sold out the Sportatorium in Dallas, TX (2000 & C+) as Ted DiBiase defended his North American Hvywt title with a win over Junkyard Dog while Mr. Wrestling II beat Kendo Nagasaki … The WWC drew okay at Mario Morales Coliseum (2611 & C-) with a main event that featured Carlos Colon & The Invader beating The Last Hard Men (Abdullah & Brody) to retain the WWC Tag Team belts … AJPW went to Chubu (1000 & C+) with a main event of Jumbo Tsuruta over Stan Hansen to retain the NWA United National Hvywt title while Umanosuke Ueda kept the TV title by beating Harley Race … There’s a new champion in the UWA, where a crowd in West Central Mexico (2000 & C+) saw El Solitario defeat Canek to claim the WWF World Light Hvywt title and a new team of Perry Aguayo & El Matematico beat Villanos I & III to take the UWA World Tag Team belts.

Before starting to put tonight’s lineup down on paper we handle a few phone calls, including short conversations similar to those in recent days with the legendary Karl Gotch (asking $1,875 p.a.) and Dick Hutton (asking $1,728 p.a.). A different outcome though when we talk with Sonny King, who has largely recovered from injuries in an unfortunate stabbing incident in Charlotte last year but is officially retired at age 36 & looking to work as a manager or at least a non-wrestling role. He knows the business, is pretty good on the mic and we believe we can convince him to work the occasional dark match and pass along what he knows to some of our greenest workers. “The Black Kojak” is our newest addition, at $500 p.a. I’m definitely not sure whether this will eventually turn out to be worth it but I’m in a mood to take a chance & find out.

We also make a phone call to young Joel Watts, who’s now running Mid-South for his dad & work out an talent trade that gives him the use of Pat Rose in return for … well, you’ll see.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Saturday Week 2, June 1983, (part 2 of 2)

Georgia Championship Wrestling (TV) – 90 minutes at UIC Pavilion, Chicago, IL with 3,136 in attendance

Pre-show
Gordon Solie introduces Bob Orton, Jr, the newest addition to the roster – 4 mins (C-)
Bob Orton Jr. is learning to show more charisma.

Bob Orton, Jr d. Pat Rose in 5:56 by pinfall with a Running Powerslam. (D)
Pat Rose seemed off his game tonight. The announcing of Freddy Miller & the commentary of Paul Orndorff gave the match a boost. Bob Orton Jr. looked good out there. Pat Rose is improving in Performance skills.

Paul Ellering d. Brad Armstrong in 5:40 by pinfall after using a foreign object. (E+)
Paul Ellering seemed off his game tonight. The announcing of Miller & the commentary of The Spoiler gave the match a boost. This match brought the crowd's mood down.

Main show

Buzz Sawyer d. Terry Gordy in 14:04 by pinfall with a Running Powerslam. (C-)
The announcing of Gordon Solie & the commentary of Freddy Miller gave the match a boost.

Hawk (w/Paul Ellering) d. Ronnie Garvin in 6:38 by pinfall with a Top Rope Clothesline. During the match Paul Ellering attacked Garvin. (C)
Road Warrior Hawk was visibly tiring toward the end. The match suffered because of the lack of selling on display. The announcing of Solie & the commentary by Miller gave the match a boost. The RW vs Bullet & Garvin storyline has continued with this match.

Stan & Ole challenge Zbyszko[u] to a tag match with Larry’s mystery partner – 3 mins (B-)

Bob Armstrong d. Animal (w/Paul Ellering) in 6:40 by pinfall with a Bulldog. (C-)
Road Warrior Animal was visibly tiring toward the end. The announcing of Solie lifted the match. The RW vs Bullet & Garvin storyline has continued with this match.

Paul Orndorff d. Dave Finlay in 6:15 by pinfall with a Piledriver. (D+)
Paul Orndorff and Dave Finlay don't seem to click, and it made for an awkward bout. The announcing of Solie & the commentary of Miller gave the match a boost.

Jim Barnett tells Zbyszko to produce his partner or else Barnett will provide one for him – 1 min (D+)

The Spoiler d. Randy Barber in 6:37 by submission with a Clawhold. (D)
The announcing of Solie & the commentary by Miller gave the match a boost. The Spoiler looked good out there.

Mark Rocco d. El Hacon in 7:38 by pinfall with a Tombstone Piledriver. Mark Rocco makes defence number 2 of his National Television title. (c-)
The announcing of Solie & the commentary by Miller gave the match a boost. El Halcón is improving in Technical skills. El Halcón is improving in Performance skills

After some stalling by Zbyszko, his partner finally appears … career midcarder Iron Mike Sharpe ?!? Although somewhat confused by the seemingly random motivation of Sharpe to be involved in attacking Hansen, the faces methodically demolish Sharpe while Zbyszko makes sure he spends virtually no time in the ring.

Stan Hansen & Ole Anderson d. Larry Zbyszko & Iron Mike Sharpe in 16:07 when Ole Anderson defeated Iron Mike Sharpe by pinfall with an Anderson Running Knee. (C+)
The announcing of Solie lifted the match. Stan Hansen looked good out there. The Larry's Helper storyline has continued with this match. Ole Anderson is improving in Rumble skills.

[u]After the match, Zbyszko tries to take a cheap shot at Anderson with the belt but misses … while Anderson chases Zbyszko, Hansen has a fairly subdued celebration in the ring … and is attacked from behind by Sgt Slaughter !!! – 7 mins (C)


Final Show Rating: (C)
This show can be considered a success, it should have increased our popularity.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Sunday Week 2, June 1983
And so the great reveal comes with a middling response at best. The hodgepodge of matches in the middle of the show didn’t help build any heat but from the outset things didn’t seem to be going our way, with Sawyer & Gordy producing only limited reaction to what ostensibly was a strong opening segment.

I feel like I’m to blame for the lack of heat tonight, the angle itself still seems as solid as ever. If anything, the unexpected appearance of the WWF World Heavyweight Champion qualifies as an outright stunner.

His appearance is the product of a loan agreement reached with Maple Leaf Wrestling nearly a month ago. Since we’re at war with the WWF, it was a calculated gamble. At best I thought there was a chance that Vince McMahon would overreact and fire Slaughter for making the appearance for us which doesn’t seem to have happened. At worst, I felt there was a chance if that happened he would then target one of our workers as a replacement or at least another NWA affiliate worker that would actually make the WWF stronger in the long run while weakening our pool of available talent. Instead we seem to be somewhere in the middle, with no apparent external affects and me getting a couple more shots to use a guy who is more over than anyone on our roster not named Hansen or Zbyszko.

The Iron Mike Sharpe swerve was, as you’ve probably figured out by now, the result of the last second talent trade arranged with Joel Watts just hours before the show.

Meanwhile, from the land of bizarre conversations, we reached out with a possible opportunity to a local talent that had caught our eye on a small local TV program. 28 year old interviewer Boni Blackstone is the wife of local promoter Joe Pedicino & has been working with him as the host of a show that features highlights from promotions around the country. A nice young lady with camera appeal but virtually no popularity outside the South East we figured she might give us something different in our interview segments & angles at a reasonable cost. Her asking price?
$1,207 per appearance. Let’s just say the conversation didn’t last long after that, I had to hang up pretty quickly because it would have been downright rude to let her hear all the laughter that followed.

Elsewhere last night, the AWA went to Shreveport, LA (2000 & C) where Wahoo McDaniel & Baron Von Raschke went to a time limit draw against Nick Bockwinkel & Ken Patera. Also, The Iron Sheik & partner Brad Rheingans came up short against Rick Martel & Jim Brunzell … SECW ran to a lukewarm crowd in Andover, MI (234 & E+) with Plowboy Frazier beating Punk Rock Ferris in the main event … The CWA went to Tampa, FL (2000 & C) as Moondog Rex & Austin Idol became the new Southern Tag Team champions by defeating The Fabulous Ones (Keirn & Lane) after 10 title defenses … For the UWA it was another successful show in West Central Mexico (2000 & C+) as Dr. Wagner & Canek beat El Solitario & Gran Hamada.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Monday Week 3, June 1983
Still kind of bummed out about the response to Saturday’s show but there’s two more house shows & one more TV show between now and the end of the month show on Week 4 Friday, so maybe there’s time to regain momentum. But that next TV show sure looms large in my mind at the moment.

While we do our thing, other people do their thing, including the WWF who ran last night at The Showboat (1,519 & C-) where Don Muraco defeated Jimmy Snuka and Ray Stevens teamed with Roddy Piper to upset Hulk Hogan & Andre the Giant … For the CWF it was a night in San Antonio (822 & D+) as Windham & Bass beat Kevin Sullivan & Jake Roberts to retain their Florida Tag Team titles, while Bob Roop pinned Adrian Street and Leroy Brown was too much for The Professional (Les Thornton) … PNW stayed close to home in the North West (2,000 & C) as Dutch Savage defeated Buddy Rose to retain their Heavyweight title, Dr. Tom Prichard beat Don Running Bear to keep their TV title and Joe Malenko d. Dean Malenko to open the show … In Montreal (4,646 & C-) the IWF saw Gilles Poisson go to a double DQ with Pierre Lefebvre and Ray Rougeau & Rick Martel defeat Tony Parisi & Dino Bravo … GLOW ventured to Tempe, AZ (2000 & E+) where Tammy Jones and The Cheerleaders retained their titles with wins over Manna the Headhunter and The Headhunters respectively. Best match of the night saw California Doll defeat Judy Martin.

After weeks of speculation, WCCW reached an agreement to extend the contract of Texas Hvywt champion Terry Gordy while the CWF is attempting to do the same with Barry Windham.

Taking a look at the TV ratings for various wrestling shows for the past week …
GCW on TBS posted a 2.89, peaking in the 1st half hour at 2.90 (up 0.03 for a new high)
AWA on US Small Synd II posted a 1.51 (down 0.01)
WWF on US Synd Small I posted a 1.51 (up 0.08)
Mid-Atlantic on Local TV posted a 0.84 (same, equals their high)
WCCW Local-Mid South posted a 0.62 (up 0.06, equals their high)
CWF Wrestling from Florida on Local-SE posted a 0.36 (up 0.01)
Mid-South on Local II posted a 0.26 (same)
WWC on WAPA/Puerto Rico posted a 0.17 (same)
CWA All-Stars on WMC posted a 0.12 (up 0.01 for a new high)
Big Time Wrestling on Local-NW posted a 0.12 (up 0.01)
GLOW on US Small Syn III posted a 0.08 (same)
Wrestling at the Chase (CENT) on Local MW II posted a 0.07 (down 0.01)
SECW on Local SE II posted a 0.00 (same)
HCW on Local – Mid South III posted a 0.00 (same)
SWCW on USA cancelled finishing on a 0.34
CWA on Local – Grt Lks III cancelled finishing on a 0.00
ICW All-Stars on WTVQ cancelled on a 0.00

ITV World of Sport on ITV posted a 0.62 (up 0.01)
IWM on Local Quebec posted a 0.41 (same)
UWA Lucha Total on TV Mexico South posted a 0.14 (up 0.05 for new high)
AGPW on TV Local Canada-Maritimes posted a 0.07 (down 0.01 for new low)
CMLL on Telemundo cancelled 1.23
World Pro Wrestling (NJPW) on ASAHI cancelled finishing on a 1.51
Puroresu Chukei (AJPW) on Nippon TV cancelled on a 1.50
Ringside Wrestling (MLW) on TV Canada East cancelled on a 0.90
Stampede Wrestling on TV Canada West cancelled on a 0.28

[JonInMiddleGA]

Tuesday Week 3, June 1983
Quiet day for us, not a lot going on elsewhere last night either.

ASW went to British Columbia (1,000 & D) as Moose Morowski won a three way dance over Bob Brown & Buck Ramstead to retain his Canadian Hvywt title, while Timothy Flowers took the TV title from Oly Olsen after seven defences … HCW traveled to New Orleans (1,941 & C-) for The Masked Superstar to defeat The Junkyard Dog and Iron Mike Sharpe beat Art Crews … ASW-UK ran at the Liberty Theatre in the Northern UK (300 & C-) with four successful title defenses by Mal Sanders over Mighty John Quinn for the ASWUK championship belt, Steve Wright over Skull Murphy for the British Light-Hvywt title, Mike Bennett over Frank Manley for the British Empire Middleweight title, and Marty Jones over Terry Jowett for the World Mid-Hvywt belt. All of that plus Mark Rocco over Tony St. Clair, Fit Finlay over Dorsey Lagner, and Chic Cullen over Johnny Kidd. … For AGPW is was The Maritimes (1,000 & D+) where Leo Burke defeated Pierre Lefebvre to retain their International Hvywt title and The Spoiler defeating Rick Valentine … GLOW went eastward to Bridgeport, CT (300 & E) where The Cheerleaders successfully defended their Tag Team belts with a victory over Rhonda & Corporal Kelly and California Doll teamed with Tina Ferrari to beat The Headhunters.

Industry veterans continue to tout Pat Rose as a worker with considerable promise. I don’t see it personally but hey, who knows, anything is possible I guess. Monkeys could theoretically fly out of my butt at the next show too.

Wednesday Week 3, June 1983
Typical midweek fare for most promotions, but the CWF is learning to adjust to life without Gordon Solie, who left following his contract expiration. They headed to the University of Puerto Rico (1,000 & D) for the next stop on the Endless Beach Tour, with The Purple Haze going to no contest with Blackjack Mulligan to retain the Florida Hvywt title. The Professional (Thornton) got a rare win by beating Scott McGhee, Jake Roberts retained his Bahamas title by beating Terry Allen, and the team of Charlie Cook & Adrian Street came up on the short end against Dusty Rhodes & Mike Graham … CWA visited Asheville, NC (300 & D-) as Jerry Lawler retained the AWA International title by beating Moondog Spot, also The Bruise Brother (Troy Graham & Porkchop Cash) defeated Koko B. Ware and Bobby Eaton … The WWA headed to Brooklyn, NY (240 & D-) where Chris Markoff defended the WWA Hvywt title by beating Spike Huber … JPUK sold out the Palace Theatre in Northern UK (2,000 & C) as Johnny Saint defeated Jim Breaks to retain their World Lightweight title, one of four successful title defenses on the night … CWA(Eur) saw Otto Wanz beat Klaus Wallas to retain their World Hvywt title to headline a visit to Western Europe (1921 & C-). Also on the show Tony St. Clair retained his World Middleweight belt by beating Mile Zrno and Fit Finlay suffered a disappointing loss to John Cox.

In addition to Solie’s departure from CWF, another notable exit came down in Texas where Mil Mascaras has left HCW

[JonInMiddleGA]

Thursday Week 3, June 1983 (part 1 of 2)
Fairly busy last night in the US, with MACW running a short card (4 matches) that did well in Salem, VA (5000 & C) where Dusty Rhodes beat Terry Funk in the main event and Jos Leduc defeated Ricky Steamboat on the undercard … The AWA took the opposite approach with 12 matches for the fans at Marian College, WI (2000 & C). In the main event Nick Bockwinkel defeated Wahoo McDaniel to retain the AWA World Hvywt title while Greg Gagne beat Buzz Sawyer to keep his TV title. Also on the show Larry Zbyszko got a win over Sonny Rogers, Rick Martel & The Iron Sheik were too much for Crusher Blackwell & Brad Rheingans and Jake Milliman defeated Kenny Jay … WCCW visited the Corn Palace in South Dakota (2000 & C-) where The Freebirds defeated Kevin, Kerry, and David Von Erich to retain their Six Man Tag Team titles and Iceman Parsons beat Jim Garvin to keep their TV belt … MSW traveled up to Newark, DE (300 & D+) as Kamala & Dick the Bruiser beat Mr. Wrestling II and Junkyard Dog (again) to retain their Tag Team titles and Ted DiBiase pinned Jim Duggan earlier in the show … For the WWC it was time to stay close to home, selling out the Pepin Cestero Arena (2000 & C) for another successful Universal Hvywt title defense by Carlos Colon over Invader II … The UWA put on a fantastic show in West Central Mexico (4303 & B-) where El Solitario defeated Canek to retain the WWF World Light Heavyweight title and Dos Caras took their World Junior Lightweight title from Perro Aguayo after 16 defenses.

In true schizo UWA fashion, after the show it was learned that the promotion which seems to perpetually sign and release wrestlers have added Ultraman, Rayo de Jalisco, Jr, and La Parka to their roster. Meanwhile we’ve asked Terry Gordy for negotiations that might extend his contract which now has only 30 days remaining.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Thursday Week 3, June 1983, (part two of two)

Stars of GCW On Tour – 60 minutes at Grambling (LA) Memorial Gym with 604 in attendance

Pre-show
Chic Cullen defeated Tim Horner in 5:33 by pinfall. (D-)
The announcing of Freddy Miller lifted the match. The commentary by Jake Roberts gave the match a boost.

Tommy Rich stops by to talk with Freddy Miller – 3 mins (C+)
Tommy Rich is developing better performance skills.

Brad Armstrong defeated Randy Barber in 5:45 by pinfall (E-)
The announcing of Miller lifted the match. The commentary by Roberts gave the match a boost. This match brought the crowd's mood down.

Main show

Tommy Rich defeated Iron Mike Sharpe in 7:51 by pinfall (C+)

El Halcón defeated Pat Rose in 5:50 by pinfall. (D)
The announcing by Miller lifted the match. The commentary by Roberts gave the match a boost.

Jake Roberts hypes his upcoming match and general all around greatness – 3 mins – (B-)

Paul Orndorff defeated Terry Gordy in 9:36 by disqualification. (B)
This match lifted the crowd.

Jake Roberts defeated Koko B. Ware in 10:17 by pinfall (C-)
Jake Roberts and Koko B. Ware don't seem to click, and it made for an awkward bout. The commentary by The Spoiler gave the match a boost.

Mr. Wrestling II cuts a standard face promo – 3 mins (C+)

The Spoiler defeated Mr. Wrestling II in 10:06 by pinfall by using underhanded tactics. (B-)
Mr. Wrestling II and The Spoiler have great chemistry, and it showed in their performances. The match suffered because of the lack of selling on display. This match lifted the crowd.

Final Show Rating: (C+)
This show can be considered a success, it should have increased our popularity.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Friday Week 3, June 1983
Uneven show with some very good moments last night, not bad considering the small crowd that made the guys work for every pop.

Also last night the WWF visited Augusta, ME (5000 & C-) where Ray Stevens & Rocky Johnson defeated Jesse Ventura & Don Kernodle in the main event while Andre the Giant & Hulk Hogan got a victory in the middle of the show over The Masked Superstar & Big John Studd … WCCW headed down to Lake Charles, LA (5000 & C) with The Great Kabuki & Jimmy Garvin beating Kevin & Mike Von Erich in the main event while Dave & Kerry Von Erich beat Freebirds Hayes & Roberts earlier in the show … CENT was in Warren, RI (300 & D+) highlighted by Harley Race beating Roger Kirby … PNW went cross country to Williston, FL (254 & D+) as Kendo Nagasaki & Rip Oliver beat Dean Ho & Al Madril … New Japan ran in Tohoku (2000 & C-) with Inoki & Kimura going over Fujiwara & Abdullah the Butcher in the main event and Tatsumi Fujinami defending his WWF International Hvywt belt with a victory against Riki Choshu … JPUK was at the Royal Festival Hall in the Southern UK (2000 & C-) where Big Daddy beat Tony Walsh in the main event.

Freelance veteran The Mongolian Stomper has left CENT as his contract expired.

Saturday Week 3, June 1983, (part 1 of 2)
We’re getting ready for the final TV show before our end of the month biggie but the rest of wrestling world wasn’t sitting still.

MACW hit the road to Santa Barbara, CA (1000 & C-) where Ricky Steamboat & Chris Youngblood defended their NWA World Tag Team titles with a win over Jerry Brisco & Dory Funk while Greg Valentine retained the US Heavywt title by beating Bugsy McGraw … The AWA was in nearby Macon, GA (300 & C) where Rick Martel defeated Ken Patera and Wahoo McDaniel beat Buzz Sawyer … MSW headed up to New Jersey (300 & D) and came back with a new TV champion as Nikolai Volkoff defeated Mr. Olympia. And of course Dick Murdoch & Kamala teamed to beat the Junkyard Dog and Mr. Wrestling II, what MSW show would be complete without that match? (the fifth such matchup in four weeks). Also on the show Tiger Conway, Jr defeated Pat Rose … The WWC was in Austin, TX (134 & D) for a quick show that featured Carlos Colon going over Invader II …To the north the IWA was in Quebec (2000 & D+)

[JonInMiddleGA]

Saturday Week 3, June 1983, (part 2 of 2)

Stars of GCW On Tour – 90 minutes at Oman Arena, Jackson, TN with 5,000 in attendance

Pre-show
Les Thornton defeated Mike Starbuck in 5:36 by pinfall. (B-)
The announcing of Gordon Solie lifted the match. Mike Starbuck was really off his game tonight. Les Thornton and Mike Starbuck have great chemistry, and it showed in their performances. The match suffered because there was not enough selling shown. This match lifted the crowd.

Main show
Bob Orton, Jr defeated Terry Gordy in 7:51 by pinfall (B)
Terry Gordy and Bob Orton Jr. don't seem to click, and it made for an awkward bout. The announcing quality lifted the match. This match lifted the crowd.

Emilio Charles, Jr defeated Brett Wayne in 5:32 by pinfall. (D)
The announcing by Solie lifted the match. The commentary by Sonny King gave the match a boost.

Gordon Solie talks about the importance of Stan Hansen having friends like Ole Anderson now that Larry Zbsyzko has brought in Sgt Slaughter – 3 mins – (B+)

Ole Anderson defeated Iron Mike Sharpe in 6:48 by pinfall. (D+
The work of Solie & King gave the match a boost.

Bobby Eaton defeated Len Denton in 5:52 by pinfall. (C+)
The announcing quality lifted the match. Bobby Eaton is improving in Performance skills.

Gordon Solie talks about the unexpected turn of events with Zbyszko & Hansen – 3 mins – (B)

Tommy Rich defeated Eric Embry in 7:35 by pinfall. (C+
Eric Embry is improving in Performance skills.

Buzz Sawyer defeated Ronnie Garvin in 7:18 by pinfall. (B)
Ronnie Garvin seemed off his game tonight. The announcing quality lifted the match. This match lifted the crowd. Ronnie Garvin is improving in Technical skills.

Gordon Solie tries to talk to Larry but Hansen comes in & security has to separate the two – 5 mins – (B)

Stan Hansen defeated The Iron Sheik in 8:37 by pinfall. (B+)
The match suffered because there was not enough selling shown. This match lifted the crowd. Stan Hansen is improving in Technical skills.

Larry Zbyszko defeated Bullet Bob Armstrong in 12:27 by pinfall. Zbyszko makes defence number 7 of his National Heavyweight title. (B)
[i] Bullet Bob Armstrong was really off his game tonight. Larry Zbyszko and Bullet Bob Armstrong don't seem to click, and it made for an awkward bout. The announcing quality lifted the match. This match lifted the crowd. [i]


Final Show Rating: (B)
This show can be considered a success, it should have increased our popularity.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Sunday Week 3, June 1983
Not too shabby, with a strong start seemingly helping the show out a lot. Last night was the final appearance on the loan contract for Iron Mike Sharpe.

The best news of the weekend is something that the fans won’t really see, or rather, that they’ll keep seeing. We reached a 9 month p.p.a. contract extension with Gordon Solie, with only a slight increase in his weekly cost (about $250/wk more). Didn’t want to lose The Voice.

Elsewhere last night, SECW drew almost 2,000 people to Tampa, FL where Jimmy Golden beat Norvell Austin the main event … SW Championship Wrestling sold out a 1,000 seat venue in Ohio as Manny Fernandez & Bob Sweetan beat The Sheepherders to retain the SW Tag Team Titles … CWA was in Frederick, MD where Stan Lane beat Austin Idol … Down in Southern Mexico the UWA show was highlighted by Hamada, Solitario, & Caras beating Canek, Wagner, & Aguayo to retain their Trios Titles.


Monday Week 4, June 1983
One more house show before the end of the month big show, hopefully we regained some momentum with that strong TV outing.

Elsewhere last night, the WWF was in New Jersey (4,709 & C+) where Sgt Slaughter beat Andre the Giant in the main event. Thanks  … CWF came to Macon, GA and sold out the 2,000 City Auditorium with Barry Windham & Ron Bass beating Kevin Sullivan and Jake Roberts to retain the Florida Tag Titles. … International Wrestling ran in Quebec and 2,000 fans watched Raymond Rougeau go to a no contest with Gilles Poisson.

One other note, a recent poll found that fans think Dusty Rhodes is “The Most Entertaining Wrestler in the World”.

Taking a look at the TV ratings for various wrestling shows for the past week …
GCW on TBS posted a 2.97 (up 0.08 for a new high)
AWA on US Small Synd II posted a 1.64 (up 0.13)
WWF on US Synd Small I posted a 1.62 (up 0.11)
Mid-Atlantic on Local TV posted a 0.82 (down 0.02)
WCCW Local-Mid South posted a 0.56 (down 0.06)
CWF Wrestling from Florida on Local-SE posted a 0.45 (up 0.09 for a new high)
Mid-South on Local II posted a 0.27 (up 0.01)
WWC on WAPA/Puerto Rico posted a 0.17 (same)
Big Time Wrestling on Local-NW posted a 0.11 (down 0.01)
CWA All-Stars on WMC posted a 0.10 (down 0.02)
GLOW on US Small Syn III posted a 0.08 (same)
Wrestling at the Chase (CENT) on Local MW II posted a 0.08 (up 0.01)
SECW on Local SE II posted a 0.00 (same)
HCW on Local – Mid South III posted a 0.00 (same)
SWCW on USA cancelled finishing on a 0.34
CWA on Local – Grt Lks III cancelled finishing on a 0.00
ICW All-Stars on WTVQ cancelled on a 0.00

ITV World of Sport on ITV posted a 0.61 (down 0.01)
IWM on Local Quebec posted a 0.32 (down 0.09 for a new low)
UWA Lucha Total on TV Mexico South posted a 0.14 (same)
AGPW on TV Local Canada-Maritimes posted a 0.08 (up 0.01)
CMLL on Telemundo cancelled 1.23
World Pro Wrestling (NJPW) on ASAHI cancelled finishing on a 1.51
Puroresu Chukei (AJPW) on Nippon TV cancelled on a 1.50
Ringside Wrestling (MLW) on TV Canada East cancelled on a 0.90
Stampede Wrestling on TV Canada West cancelled on a 0.28

[JonInMiddleGA]

Tuesday Week 4, June 1983
Negotiations will continue with Terry Gordy, he’s still not willing to commit to a longer term contract & we’re trying to avoid overpaying.

Could HCW be starting to worry about their future? After drawing less than 300 fans to their big show of the month (C-) in the Midwest, they released five workers from the midcard ranks, including El Sicodelico, Art Crews, and Perry Jackson … GLOW sold out a tiny Northwest venue & entertained (E) with Tammy Jones beating Matilda the Hun to retain the GLOW Crown Title in the main event … AGPW Int’l HW Champ Leo Burke defeated The Cuban Assassin in the main event in The Maritimes (1,000 & C-) … ASW was in Manitoba (123 & D-) where Moose Morowski beat Bob Brown to keep his Canadian HW Title … Over in the U.K., All-Star Wrestling sold out Birmingham Town Hall with Mal Sanders defending his Championship Title with a win over Mighty John Quinn. Also appearing on the show were Tony St. Clair who defeated Skull Murphy and Fit Finlay, who lost to LHW Champion Steve Wright in a solid match.

Wednesday Week 4, June 1983
Negotiations will go to round three with Terry Gordy, he’s still not willing to commit to a longer term contract & we’re trying to avoid overpaying. Having trouble getting things exactly to everyone’s liking.

We also failed to come to terms with Harley Race. Both sides were interested & willing, but it came down to a simple matter of being too far apart on dollars. I just couldn’t justify paying him almost double what Stan Hansen has been making, at least not with the current makeup of our roster. Maybe later.

We did reach agreement with one very talented worker, whose identity will be revealed fairly soon.

Elsewhere in wrestling last night, Mid-Atlantic visited Shreveport, LA (1,000 & C-) with Ric Flair defending his NWA World Title with a win over Ivan Koloff … CWF took their act to the Midwest (1,000 & D+) with Windham & Bass once again defeating Kevin Sullivan & Jake Roberts to retain their Florida Tag Team titles. Also on the show, Terry Allen & Adrian Street went to no contest ... The CWA was in Oak Park, MI (1,000 & D) where Jerry Lawler beat Austin Idol to retain the AWA International belt, while The Bruise Brothers beat Bobby Eaton[b] & [b]Koko B. Ware in the opener … The WWA traveled to Indianapolis where a capacity crowd (1,000 & D+) watched Chris Markoff beat Stunning Steve Regal to retain the WWA HW Title … JPUK put on a solid show at the Nottingham Playhouse (750 & C), with Johnny Saint turning back Jim Breaks in the main event to retain their World LW Title … Catch Wrestling Association ran a small show in Eastern Europe (276 & D+) with Otto Wanz beating Axel Dieter in the main event, while Tony St. Clair defeated Michael Schneider to retain the CWA MW Title

[JonInMiddleGA]

Thursday Week 4, June 1983, (part one of two)
It took several sessions but we finally reach agreement with Terry Gordy who will be sticking around for at least another three months.

Elsewhere last night Ric Flair defended the NWA World HW Title with a win over Jos LeDuc at the MACW show in Huntington, NY (300 & D+) … Nick Bockwinkel defeated Wahoo McDaniel to defend the AWA World HW Title on their show in South Dakota (5,000 & C+) … WCCW was in Conway, AR (5,000 & C) where Terry Gordy went to a double countout with David Von Erich in the main event to retain the Texas HW Title. Earlier in the evening Jimmy Garvin defeated Kevin Von Erich to win the American HW Title … Mid-South visited Stephenville, TX (2,000 & C) where Dick Murdoch & Kamala defended their Tag Team titles with a win over Mr. Wrestling II & The Junkyard Dog

Thursday Week 4, June 1983, (part two of two)

Stars of GCW On Tour – 60 minutes at Marion College Auditorium (WI) with 1,368 in attendance

Pre-show
Bobby Eaton defeated Pat Rose in 5:50 by pinfall. (D+)
Bobby Eaton and Pat Rose don't seem to click, and it made for an awkward bout. The announcing of Dick Graham & commentary of Sonny King gave the match a boost..

El Halcon defeated Pez Whatley in 5:48 by pinfall (D+)
The announcing of Dick Graham & commentary of Sonny King gave the match a boost.

Main show

Mr. Wrestling II defeated Eric Embry in 6:49 by pinfall (C-)
Mr. Wrestling II and Eric Embry just don't click at all, and it showed in their performances. The announcing and commentary gave the match a boost.

Rick Hunter defeated Dave Finlay in 5:37 by pinfall. (C-)
The announcing by Graham lifted the match. The commentary by King gave the match a boost.

Tommy Rich hypes with Sonny King at ringside prior to his match – 3 mins – (C )

Tommy Rich defeated Road Warrior Hawk in 6:29 by pinfall (B-)
Paul Ellering did some good work at ringside. This match lifted the crowd.

Jake Roberts defeated Ronnie Garvin in 5:35 by pinfall. (B)
This match lifted the crowd.

Jake Roberts grabs a mic and insults the crowd – 3 mins – ( C )

Adrian Street defeated Paul Orndorff in 7:50 by pinfall (B-)

Buzz Sawyer defeated Bullet Bob Armstrong in 8:50 by pinfall. ( C )


Final Show Rating: (C)
There are no specific comments to be made about this show

[JonInMiddleGA]

Friday Week 4, June 1983 (part one of two)
Things were going pretty well right up until the main event fell flat compared to the rest of the show. Might have burned the crowd out too soon.

8 other promotions ran shows last night, including the WWF who took In Your Neighborhood to the University of Puerto Rico (1,000 & D) as The Wild Samoans defended their WWF Tag Team Titles with a win over Jimmy Snuka & Bob Backlund, Don Muraco beat Tony Garea to retain the IC Title, and Ivan Putski & Tito Santana defeated Jesse Venture & Don Kernodle in the main event. Also on the card, Big John Studd defeated Rocky Johnson but will miss a month after suffering a broken wrist … World Class was in New Jersey (300 & D+) where Jimmy Garvin defended his American HW Title with a win over Kerry Von Erich while David Von Erich beat The Great Kabuki in the main event … New Japan sold out a show in Kanto (2000 & C) as Tiger Mask beat The Dynamite Kid to retain the WWF Jr HW Title and Tatsumi Fujinami defeated Osamu Kido to retain the WWF International HW title …

Friday Week 4, June 1983, (part two of two)

GCW End of the Month Spectacular – 120 minutes at Atlanta Civic Center with 4,219 in attendance

Pre-show
Bobby Eaton defeated Pez Whatley in 6:08 by pinfall. (C+)
Bobby Eaton seemed off his game tonight. Pez Whatley seemed off his game tonight. Eaton & Whatley have pretty good chemistry, and it lifted the match. The announcing of Gordon Solie lifted the match.

El Halcon defeated Brett Wayne in 5:31 by pinfall (D-)
The announcing quality lifted the match. The colour commentary of Sonny King gave the match a boost. This match brought the crowd's mood down..

Main show

Terry Gordy defeated Bullet Bob Armstrong in 6:46 by pinfall (B+)
Terry Gordy and Bullet Bob Armstrong have great chemistry, and it showed in their performances. The match suffered because of the lack of selling on display. This match lifted the crowd.

Len Denton defeated Chic Cullen in 5:31 by pinfall. (D+)
The announcing quality lifted the match. The colour commentary gave the match a boost.

The Spoiler hypes himself at ringside – 2 mins – (B-)

The Iron Sheik defeated Ronnie Garvin in 5:48 by pinfall (C+)
The match suffered because of the lack of selling on display. The announcing quality lifted the match.

Paul Orndorff defeated Emilio Charles, Jr in 5:42 by pinfall. (B-)
The announcing quality lifted the match. Paul Orndorff is improving in Technical skills.

Mark Rocco brags about being TV Champion – 2 mins – (D+)
There are no specific comments to be made about this angle.

[u]The Spoiler defeated Thunderbolt Patterson in 5:50 by pinfall (C+)
Thunderbolt Patterson seemed off his game tonight. The Spoiler and Thunderbolt Patterson don't seem to click, and it made for an awkward bout. The announcing quality lifted the match.

Adrian Street defeated Tony St. Clair in 5:50 by pinfall. ( C )
Adrian Street and Tony St. Clair don't seem to click, and it made for an awkward bout. The announcing quality lifted the match.

Jake the Snake brags about being Jake the Snake – 2 mins – (B)
There are no specific comments to be made about this angle.

[u]Jake Roberts defeated Rick Hunter in 5:40 by pinfall (B)
This match lifted the crowd.

Mark Rocco defeated Les Thornton in 6:50 by pinfall to defend his National TV Title for the 3rd time ( C )
The announcing quality lifted the match.

Sgt. Slaughter bragged about what he planned to do to Stan Hansen tonight – 3 mins – (B)
There are no specific comments to be made about this angle.

Buzz Sawyer defeated Tommy Rich in 6:52 with a handful of tights (B)
This match lifted the crowd.

Mr Wrestling I & Mr Wrestling II defeated The Road Warriors in 5:54 by pinfall to defend their National Tag Teams Titles for the 2nd time (C+)
Animal seemed off his game tonight. Paul Ellering did some good work at ringside.The match suffered because there was not enough selling shown. The announcing & commentary quality lifted the match. The performance of Mr. Wrestling II stood out as being good.

Larry Zbsyzko bragged about being champion & staying champion – 3 mins – (B)
There are no specific comments to be made about this angle.

Larry Zbsyzko defeated Ole Anderson in 8:39 by pinfall to defend his National Heavyweight Title for the 8th time (B)
The match suffered because there was not enough selling shown. The announcing quality lifted the match. This match lifted the crowd.

Stan Hansen defeated Sgt Slaughter in a Texas Death Match in 12:12 (A)
This match lifted the crowd.

Final Show Rating: (B+)
This show can be considered a success, it should have increased our popularity.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Saturday Week 4, June 1983, (part 1 of 2)
Not too shabby, but there’s no rest for the weary as we have to rebound for a TV taping tonight.
With the loan contract for Sarge about to be used up & the contract of Pat Rose entering its final month, we could use a couple of bodies to maintain the heel side of the roster so we make a couple of talent swaps to fill that need.

First we reach out to Pacific Northwest Wrestling and agree on a three match deal that brings in Rip Rogers ($500/per) in return for the use of Brett Wayne.

Next we look to Houston and find Rome, GA native Marty Lunde ($500/per), who will be available for up to three matches in return for the use of Pat Rose.

Also got a couple of other phone calls out, just fishing really.

Both are a bit expensive for what we’ll use them for but somebody has to be out there & I’d prefer to avoid jobbing Emilio Charles & Dave Finlay every week. We also reached out to the management at JPUK to inquire about a working relationship with them, neither of us is a threat to the other any time soon, if ever.

Elsewhere last night, Wahoo McDaniel & Baron Von Raschke beat Nick Bockwinkel & Ken Patera in the main event of the AWA show (2,000 & C) in Tempe, AZ … Ric Flair beat Ivan Koloff once again, as MACW sold out in Boone, NC (10,000 & C+). Also on the card, Dusty Rhodes beat Bob Orton, Jr and Dizzy Ed Hogan became the new MACW HW Champion by beating Dory Funk, Jr. … CWF struggled in Pennsylvania (300 & D) with a no contest main event between Purple Haze & Bob Roop … Ted DiBiase beat Mr. Olympia to retain the NA HW title as MSW visited Landover, MD (300 & D) Also appearing were Tim Horner who pinned Perry Jackson and Pat Rose who lost to Mike Bond … The WWC traveled to the Northwest US (110 & D+) with Carlos Colon & The Invader retaining their tag titles with a win over Pedro Morales & Hercules Ayala … Bruiser Brody defeated Giant Baba as AJPW sold out a small show in Kinki (1,000 & C) … The UWA ran in West Central Mexico (2,000 & C+) with El Solitario going over Vilano III to retain the WWF LHW belt …

Saturday Week 4, June 1983, (part two of two)

Georgia Championship Wrestling (TV) – 90 minutes at Akron Civic Theater with 2,000 in attendance

Pre-show
Rip Rogers defeated Dave Finlay in 5:38 by pinfall with The Hustle. (D)
Rip Rogers seemed off his game tonight. The announcing of Dick Graham lifted the match. The commentary of Freddy Miller gave the match a boost.

Main show

Paul Orndorff defeated The Iron Sheik in 9:39 by pinfall with a Piledriver. ( C )
There are no specific comments to be made about this match..

Pez Whatley defeated Joe Lightfoot in 6:23 by pinfall with a Flying Willie Headbutt. (D-)
Pez Whatley and Joe Lightfoot have pretty good chemistry, and it lifted the match. The announcing & commentary gave the match a boost. This match brought the crowd's mood down.

The Spoiler hypes himself at as a dangerous man – 4 mins – (C-)

The Spoiler defeated Brad Armstrong in 6:19 by pinfall with a Tightrope Clawhold. by pinfall (D+)
The announcing & colour commentary gave the match a boost. The Spoiler looked good out there.

Koko B. Ware defeated Pat Rose in 5:48 by pinfall with a Brainbuster. (D+)
Koko B. Ware and Pat Rose have pretty good chemistry, and it lifted the match. The announcing & commentary gave the match a boost. Pat Rose is improving in Performance skills.

Koko B. Ware celebrates & poses with a young fan – 2 mins – (D)
There are no specific comments to be made about this angle.

Mark Rocco defeated Mr. Wrestling in 7:55 by pinfall with a Diving Headbutt. Mark Rocco makes defence number 4 of his National Television title. (C)
There are no specific comments to be made about this match.

Tony St. Clair defeated Les Thornton in 7:55 by pinfall. ( C )
There are no specific comments to be made about this match.

Zbyszko tells Jim Barnett that Stan Hansen can’t beat him, will never beat him, and that Barnett & the fans may as well learn to live with that reality – 3 mins – (B-)
There are no specific comments to be made about this angle.

Larry Zbyszko defeated El Halcón in 6:31 by pinfall with a Shoulder Breaker. Larry Zbyszko makes defence number 9 of his National Heavyweight title. (C)
There are no specific comments to be made about this match.

Stan Hansen defeated Adrian Street in 13:51 by pinfall with The Lariat. ( C )
This match lifted the crowd. Stan Hansen is improving in Technical skills.

Final Show Rating: (B-)
This show can be considered a success, it should have increased our popularity.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Sunday Week 4, June 1983
Hansen & Street deliver a big finish & save what could have been a disappointing week of television. Whew.

We’ve also gotten word through the grapevine that Larry Zbyszko turned down an offer from MLW, although that’s apparently more due to his loyalty to the AWA than to us. Also hearing that AJPW may not renew the contract of promising youngster Mitsuharu Misawa.

Elsewhere last night, the WWF ran their big show at the end of the month, drawing less than 1,000 people in Austin, TX (817 & C-). Sgt Slaughter retained the WWF HW Title with a win over Pedro Morales, while Hulk Hogan & Andre the Giant beat Superstar Billy Graham & Michael P.S. Hayes … SECW went to the Northwest (187 & D-) where Mr. Olympia beat Bob Armstrong … The CWA was in New Mexico (235 & D) as Moondog Rex upset Jerry Lawler … AJPW sold out a small venue in Kyushu (1,000 & C) with Giant Baba & Jumbo Tsuruta retaining their NWA Int’l Tag Team titles with a win over Bruiser Brody & Terry Funk. Also on hand, Harley Race who defeated Motoshi Okuma … In West Central Mexico, the UWA had a nice crowd (2,000 & C) as the trio of Hamada, Solitario, and Caras defeated Aguayo, Villano III, and Wagner, Jr to retain the UWA World Trios Title. The show also marked the final UWA appearance for superstar Canek, who chose not to renew his contract in hopes of finding bigger & greener pastures.

Monday Week 1, July 1983 (part one of four)
So we’ve made it to another month, hopefully things will continue to heat up for us just like the weather.

Elsewhere last night, the WWF was in Ft.Laudedale, FL (1,000 & C-) where Don Muraco & Sgt Slaughter teamed up to beat Ray Stevens & Bob Backlund in the main event … The CWF traveled up to Farmville, VA (1,749 & D+) with Blackjack Mulligan defeating Kevin Sullivan in the main event. Also, Dusty Rhodes beat Adrian Street… Mid-South Wrestling ran their big show for the month in the Mid West (1,000 & C-) where Ted DiBiase beat The Junkyard Dog to retain his N.A. HW Title. Also Mr. Wrestling II beat Dick Murdoch, [b]Tim Horner went to a double countout with Art Crews, and Steve Williams pinned Pat Rose … CENT had a capacity crowd in Ft. Worth (2,000 & C-) for Manny Fernandez to beat Super Destroyer & retain his CS HW Title … International Wrestling ran in Quebec (2,000 & C-) for Gilles Poisson to beat Pierre Lefebvre in the main event … Stampede went to Saskatoon (1,000 & C-) as Bret Hart defeated Davey Boy Smith to retain his CSW N.A. HW Title … Catch Wrestling visited Western Europe (2,000 & D+) where Otto Wanz beat Klaus Wallas to retain the CWA World HW Title. Also, Yasu Fuji beat Dave Finlay and Tony St. Clair pinned Jaroslav Novak to retain the CWA World MW Title …

Other news includes the official retirement of the incredibly popular Sheik of Araby, along with the retirement of Bulldog Don Kent, former MACW & Florida Tag Team champion Rip Hawk, UK legends Jackie Pallo & Mal Kirk and Mexico’s Great Goliath who was a former WCCW tag team champion when he teamed with Black Gordman.

Several other well known stars have announced their plans to retire at the end of the month, including The Fabulous Moolah, Reggie “The Crusher” Lisowski, Bob Orton, Sr., and 60’s tag team star Smasher Sloan aka “Spoiler #2”.

Taking a look at the TV ratings for various wrestling shows for the past week …
GCW on TBS posted a 2.86 (down 0.11)
AWA on US Small Synd II posted a 1.51 (down 0.13)
WWF on US Synd Small I posted a 1.51 (down 0.11)
Mid-Atlantic on Local TV posted a 0.76 (down 0.06)
WCCW Local-Mid South posted a 0.56 (same)
CWF Wrestling from Florida on Local-SE posted a 0.37 (down 0.08)
Mid-South on Local II posted a 0.28 (up 0.01)
WWC on WAPA/Puerto Rico posted a 0.17 (same)
Big Time Wrestling on Local-NW posted a 0.13 (up 0.02)
CWA All-Stars on WMC posted a 0.11 (up 0.01)
GLOW on US Small Syn III posted a 0.08 (same)
Wrestling at the Chase (CENT) on Local MW II posted a 0.07 (down 0.01)
SECW on Local SE II posted a 0.00 (same)
HCW on Local – Mid South III posted a 0.00 (same)
SWCW on USA cancelled finishing on a 0.34
CWA on Local – Grt Lks III cancelled finishing on a 0.00
ICW All-Stars on WTVQ cancelled on a 0.00

ITV World of Sport on ITV posted a 0.62 (up 0.01)
IWM on Local Quebec posted a 0.31 (down 0.01 for a new low)
UWA Lucha Total on TV Mexico South posted a 0.14 (same)
AGPW on TV Local Canada-Maritimes posted a 0.07 (down 0.01)
CMLL on Telemundo cancelled 1.23
World Pro Wrestling (NJPW) on ASAHI cancelled finishing on a 1.51
Puroresu Chukei (AJPW) on Nippon TV cancelled on a 1.50
Ringside Wrestling (MLW) on TV Canada East cancelled on a 0.90
Stampede Wrestling on TV Canada West cancelled on a 0.28

[JonInMiddleGA]

Monday Week 1, July 1983, (part two of four)

Remember how happy I was last month at this time? I’m not that happy today.

A rough month financially, losing $61,264. Ticket sales were down nearly $50k, worker cost was up nearly $40k, a brutal combination after a small $12k profit the previous month. We’re going to have to be more careful in the cost of booking shows.

Starting the new month, here are our roster positions
Main Event (8) – Sawyer, Zbyszko, Wrestling II, Anderson, Hansen, Rich, Bob Orton, Jr., Sgt. Slaughter,
Upper Midcard (8) – Gordy, Street, Bob Armstrong, Roberts, Rocco, Orndorff, Sheik, Spoiler, one not debuted
Midcard (12) – Denton, Sheik, Eaton, Halcon, Embry, Hunter, Hawk, Animal, R. Garvin, St.Clair, Marty Lunde, Rip Rogers,
Lower Midcard (6) – Thornton, Wayne, Charles,Jr, Ware, Whatley, Horner
Opener (4) – Brad Armstrong, Finlay, Lightfoot, Barber
Enhancement (1) – Cullen, Starbuck, P. Rose
Occasional – Thunderbolt Patterson, Mr. Wrestling I

Talking to the guys
Brett Wayne sees himself as a midcarder & is extremely unhappy with his amount of losses
Chic Cullen sees himself as more of an opener
Emilio Charles, Jr sees himself as more of a midcarder
Eric Embry sees himself as more of an upper midcarder
Mark Rocco sees himself as more of a main eventer
Marty Lunde sees himself as more of an upper midcarder
Mr. Wrestling would rather be a road agent but occasional wrestler is okay too.
Paul Orndorff sees himself as more of a main eventer
Rip Rogers sees himself as more of an upper midcarder
Road Warrior Animal sees himself as more of an upper midcarder
Ronnie Garvin sees himself as more of an upper midcarder
The Spoiler sees himself as more of a main eventer

Our popularity still stable in our top regions, C+ in the Southeast & C- in the Great Lakes. We’re now up to E+ in all the rest of the U.S. regions.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Monday Week 1, July 1983, (part three of four))

Rest of the World Promotions
There are 28 other promotions of note around the world, and we still have some sort of relationship with most of them.

United States
1)World Wrestling Federation (WWF) - Cult with B prestige - at war
2)Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling (MACW) - Cult with C+ prestige - working agreement
3)American Wrestling Association (AWA) - Cult with C+ prestige
4)Championship Wrestling from Florida (CWF) - Regional with D+ prestige - working agreement
5)Mid-South Wrestling (MSW) - Regional with D+ prestige,up from D - working agreement
6)World Class Championship Wrestling (WCCW) - Regional with D+ prestige, up from D - hostile
7)Central States (CSTATE) - Regional with D prestige - working agreement
8)World Wrestling Council (WWC) - Regional with D- prestige
9)Houston Championship Wrestling (HCW) – Regional with D- prestige - working agreement
10)Pacific Northwest (PNW) - Regional with E+ prestige - working agreement
11)Championship Wrestling Association (CWA) - Regional with E+ prestige - working agreement
12)Southeastern Championship Wrestling (SECW) –Regional with E prestige-working agreement
13)Southwest Championship Wrestling (SWCW) - Regional with E- prestige - working agreement
14)Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling (GLOW) - Regional with F prestige
15)International Championship Wrestling (ICW) - Small with F prestige
16)World Wrestling Association (WWA) - Small with F- prestige

Canada
1)International Wrestling Montreal (IWM) - Regional with E+ prestige - non-agression
2)Atlantic Grand Prix Wrestling (AGPW) - Regional with E prestige
3)Maple Leaf Wrestling (MLW) - Regional with E prestige – working agreement
4)Calgary Stampede Wrestling (CSW) - Regional with E prestige (down from E+)
5)All-Star Wrestling (ASW) - Small with F+ prestige - non-agression

Mexico
1)Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (CMLL) - Cult with C prestige
2)Universal Wrestling Association (UWA) - Regional with E prestige

Japan
1)All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW) - Regional with D+ prestige
2)New Japan Pro Wrestling (NJPW) - Regional with D+ prestige, up from D
3)All Japan Women's Pro Wrestling (AJWP) – Regional with E+ prestige

UK
1)Joint Promotions (JP) - Cult with D+ prestige, up from D
2)All Star Wrestling UK - (ASWUK) - Regional with E prestige

Europe
1)Catch Wrestling Association (CWA) - Regional with D prestige, up from D-

Top Champions Around The World
1)World Wrestling Federation (WWF) – Sgt Slaughter since May 1983
2)Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling (MACW) - Ric Flair since Sept 1981
3)American Wrestling Association (AWA) - Nick Bockwinkel since October 1982
4)Championship Wrestling from Florida (CWF) - Purple Haze since April 1983
5)Mid-South Wrestling (MSW) - Ted DiBiase since April 1983
6)World Class Championship Wrestling (WCCW) - Terry Gordy since April 1983
7)Central States (CSTATE) - Manny Fernandez since September 1982
8)World Wrestling Council (WWC) - Carlos Colon since April 1982
9)Houston Championship Wrestling (HCW) – Gino Hernandez since April 1983
10)Pacific Northwest (PNW) - Dutch Savage since April 1983
11)Championship Wrestling Association (CWA) - Jerry Lawler since April 1983
12)Southeastern Championship Wrestling (SECW) – Bob Armstrong since December 1982
13)Southwest Championship Wrestling (SWCW) - Adrian Adonis since April 1983
14)Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling (GLOW) - Tammy Jones since April 1983
15)International Championship Wrestling (ICW) - Randy Savage since January 1982
16)World Wrestling Association (WWA) - Chris Markoff since April 1983

Canada
1)International Wrestling Montreal (IWM) - Gilles Poisson since April 1983
2)Atlantic Grand Prix Wrestling (AGPW) - Leo Burke since April 1983
3)Maple Leaf Wrestling (MLW) – Tiger Jeet Singh since May 1983
4)Calgary Stampede Wrestling (CSW) - Bret Hart since October 1982
5)All-Star Wrestling (ASW) - Moose Morowski since November 1982

Mexico
1)Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (CMLL) - Lizmark since April 1983
2)Universal Wrestling Association (UWA) – El Solitario since June 1983

Japan
1)All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW) - Jumbo Tsuruta since October 1982
2)New Japan Pro Wrestling (NJPW) - Tatsumi Fujinami since April 1983
3)All Japan Women's Pro Wrestling (AJWP) – Dump Matsumoto since April 1983

UK
1)Joint Promotions (JP) - Johnny Saint since unknown
2)All Star Wrestling UK - (ASWUK) - Mal Sanders since April 1983

Europe
1)Catch Wrestling Association (CWA) – Otto Wanz since July 1978

[JonInMiddleGA]

Monday Week 1, July 1983, (part four of four)
Colley Matrix Singles Rankings as of Monday Wk 1, July 1983

Team Rating W L T
1 Larry Zbyszko 567 15 0 0
2 Stan Hansen 468 10 1 1
3 Tommy Rich 459 12 2 0
4 Mark Rocco 434 9 0 0
5 Adrian Street 367 6 2 0
6 Jake Roberts 359 8 3 0
7 Paul Orndorff 353 10 5 0
8 Bobby Eaton 347 5 0 0
9 Ole Anderson 316 9 4 0
10 The Spoiler 302 8 4 0
11 Rick Hunter 283 8 4 0
12 Koko B Ware 283 5 1 0
13 El Hacon 265 5 2 0
14 Bob Orton Jr 254 2 0 0
15 Buzz Sawyer 248 5 6 1
16 Rip Rogers 241 1 0 0
17 Mr Wrestling II 234 4 3 0
18 Tony St Clair 222 3 2 0
19 Dave Finlay 189 7 4 0
20 Terry Gordy 168 4 6 0
21 Departed Contender 167 0 0 0
22 Marty Lunde 167 0 0 0
23 Chic Cullen 166 4 3 0
24 Sgt Slaughter 138 0 1 0
25 Len Denton 133 3 6 0
26 Bob Armstrong 119 5 8 0
27 Pez Whatley 110 6 8 0
28 Eric Embry 101 3 6 0
29 Emilio Charles Jr 95 2 3 0
30 Hawk 86 2 4 0
31 The Iron Sheik 86 2 7 0
32 Paul Ellering 72 4 4 0
33 Departed Midcarder 69 2 6 0
34 Mr Wrestling I 66 0 3 0
35 Les Thornton 65 3 7 0
36 Ronnie Garvin 52 4 9 0
37 Thunderbolt Patterson 43 1 4 0
38 Departed Undercard 21 0 2 0
39 Brad Armstrong -2 4 8 0
40 Randy Barber -16 1 6 0
41 Animal -17 1 5 0
42 Tim Horner -25 1 8 0
43 Joe Lightfoot -74 1 6 0
44 Brett Wayne -83 0 6 0
45 Mike Starbuck -99 1 7 0
46 Pat Rose -133 1 11 0

note for self: 1352

[JonInMiddleGA]

Tuesday Week 1, July 1983
Still awaiting some returned phone calls, although one call we aren’t planning to make is to Pat Rose, whose contract will expire around the end of the month. But we promise to wish him well in his future endeavors.

Elsewhere last night, Kamala the Ugandan Giant won the HCW Universal Title by defeating Gino
Hernandez in Enid, OK (1,973 & C) … GLOW sold out a high school gym in NJ (300 & E), with a main event of Royal Hawaiian & California Doll defeating Hollywood & Vine … AGPW was in Nova Scotia (1,000 & C-) as The Cuban Commandos retained their N.A. Tag Team Titles with a win over Leo Burke & The Spoiler … ASW played British Columbia (1,000 & D+) with Moose Morowski keeping his Canadian HW Title with a win over Bob Brown … ASW-UK played London (300 & C-) with Mal Sanders beating Mighty John Quinn to retain the ASW Championship Title. Also on the show Dave Finaly teamed with Skull Murphy for a win over Manley & Taylor.

Wednesday Week 1, July 1983
Still awaiting a number of returned phone calls, although one call wasn’t fruitful as we looked briefly at bringing in the worker known as Rambo down in Mexico. Just weren’t able to convince ourselves he was worth $500/p.a. to job, at least not after seeing the stark financials from last month.

Elsewhere last night, Dusty Rhodes defeated The Purple Haze to claim the Florida Heavyweight Title on a show in Rhode Island (300 & D+). Also appearing last night, Kevin Sullivan & Jake Roberts who lost to Barry Windham & Ron Bass … The WWA visited Joplin, MO (1,000 & D) as Chris Markoff retained his HW Title with a win over Spike Huber … The CWA went to the Northwest (300 & D-) for Jerry Lawler’s win over NY Assassin #1 in an AWA Int’l Title match. Also on the show, The Fabulous Ones defeated Bobby Eaton and Koko B. Ware … JPUK was in Newcastle (2,000 & C) where Johnny Saint once again defended his World Lightweight Title with a win over Jim Breaks … Catch Wrestling played Central Europe (300 & D+) where Otto Wanz once again defended his World HW Title by beating Axel Dieter. Also, Tony St. Clair defended his MW Title with a win over Mile Zrno, and Dave Finlay defeated Jaroslav Novak.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Thursday Week 1 July 1983, (part one of two)
Some particularly grueling negotiations with a potential major signee continued today, not sure whether an agreement is going to be possible but we will continue working on a possible deal.

Last night, MACW was back in Macon, GA (2,000 & C) with Terry Funk beating Jimmy Valiant in the main event … The AWA headed to the Northwest (1,000 & C) where Nick Bockwinkel defended his World HW Title with a win over Baron Von Raschke. Also on the show Larry Zbyszko beat Kenny Jay and The Iron Sheik defeated Dick the Bruiser … Mid-South ran in the Northwest (300 & D+) as The Iron Men (Kamala & Dick Murdoch) defended their Tag Team titles with a win over Mr. Wrestling II and The Junkyard Dog … WCCW was in Orlando, FL (1,000 & C-) as Terry Gordy retained his Texas HW Title with a count out victory over Kerry Von Erich … The WWC visited Lexington, KY (300 & C-) for Carlos Colon to beat Abdullah the Butcher & keep his Universal HW Title …

Thursday Week 1, July 1983, (part two of two)

Stars of GCW On Tour – 60 minutes at Cathedral HS in Ontario with 117 in attendance

Pre-show
Randy Barber defeated Pat Rose in 5:56 by pinfall. (E-)
The announcing of Dick Graham lifted the match. The colour commentary by Freddy Miller gave the match a boost. This match brought the crowd's mood down.

Main show

The Iron Sheik defeated Ronnie Garvin in 6:35 by pinfall with a Loaded Boot Blast.(C-)
The match suffered because there was not enough selling shown. The colour commentary of Miller gave the match a boost..

El Halcón defeated Tim Horner in 5:35 by pinfall. (D-)
The announcing quality lifted the match. The colour commentary of Miller & Jake Roberts gave the match a boost. This match brought the crowd's mood down.

Paul Orndorff talks to Freddy Miller, thanks the fans for their support – 3 mins – (D- )

Bob Orton Jr. defeated Dave Finlay in 6:28 by pinfall with a Running Powerslam. (D+)
The announcing of Graham & commentary of Miller & Roberts gave the match a boost

Bobby Eaton defeated Emilio Charles Jr. in 7:16 by pinfall with an Alabama Jam.
(D-)
The announcing quality lifted the match. The colour commentary gave the match a boost. This match brought the crowd's mood down..

Jake Roberts tells Freddy Miller just how good he really is – 3 mins (D)

(D+)[/b]
The announcing of Graham & commentary of Miller & Roberts gave the match a boost

[uJake Roberts defeated Tommy Rich in 9:10 by pinfall with The DDT.
(C+)
There are no specific comments about this match.


Final Show Rating: (C-)
This show can be considered a success, it should have increased our popularity.

Friday Week 1, July 1983
Tiny crowd, so-so show, but in a new market we have to start somewhere.

We have some conversations this morning, first with manager/announcer Bobby “The Brain” Heenan. Alas, we aren’t anywhere near ready to pay anyone $2,500 per appearance, much less for not being in the ring.

Next on the line was Steve Keirn, currently working for CWA. He’s quite popular in the Southeast, much less so elsewhere. He’d be a nice midcard addition, but we really don’t need to pay $1,250 p.a. for the lower half of the midcard so we have to decline.

Then the tough decision we’ve been wrestling with (no pun intended) for a third day. One way or the other we have to finish this. A talented under-30 performer with solid popularity all over the U.S. and exceptional popularity in some of our active territories. Good enough talker, a locker room leader, can work heel or face. What’s not to love?

The price: About $2,000 p.a. with a downside guarantee.

Ah crap, we’re already bleeding money, but the potential of an 18 month agreement hold the promise of some stability since this is someone we believe could maintain a long title run without turning off fans. What to do, what to do?

Elsewhere last night, the WWF was In Your Neighborhood if you live in Kansas City (1,000 & C) where Roddy Piper & Ray Stevens beat Bob Backlund & Superstar Billy Graham in the main event. Also on the show, Sgt Slaughter beat Pedro Morales to retain his HW title … A doubleheader for World Class, as they ran an odd twinbill show at the Rock Island Field House (1,000 & C-) highlighted by their Independence Day Star Wars which flipped three singles titles. David Von Erich defeated Terry Gordy to reclaim the Texas HW Title, Kerry Von Erich beat Jimmy Garvin for the American HW Title, and Bill Irwin defeated Iceman King Parsons for the TV Title …SWCW was in Arlington (2,000 & C-) where Adrian Adonis retained his SW HW Title with a victory over Al Madril … Big Time Wrestling visited the Pacific NW (1,556 & D+) for Dutch Savage to beat Kendo Nagasaki to keep the PNW HW Title … In Chubu (2,000 & C) for New Japan, Tatsumi Fujinami defeated Osamu Kido to retain the WWF Int’l HW Title … JPUK’s World of Sport TV show featured Breaks, Saint, and Big Daddy over Kendo, Faulkner & Walsh.


note to self: 1375