Today much is made about wrestling wars, but how much do wrestling fans know about the “war for Atlanta?” It was very real and saw the biggest stars in wrestling being utilized by the NWA to protect what was seen as an assault on one of its major territories. Standing opposite the Alliance and Jim Barnett was Ann Gunkel, widow of promoter and wrestling star Ray Gunkel.
Join host Jim Cornette and Bill Eadie, The Masked Superstar, one of the Georgia territory’s huge stars and bookers, for a trip down Atlanta way. Go inside the Georgia wrestling operation before TBS, Black Saturday, and the Crocketts. Hear the stories surrounding the area’s colorful stars like Tommy Rich, T Bolt Patterson, Freebirds, Mr. Wrestling I and II, Ole Anderson, and so many more. Jump in, we’re heading to Hot-lanta!
Join host Jim Cornette and Bill Eadie, The Masked Superstar, one of the Georgia territory’s huge stars and bookers, for a trip down Atlanta way. Go inside the Georgia wrestling operation before TBS, Black Saturday, and the Crocketts. Hear the stories surrounding the area’s colorful stars like Tommy Rich, T Bolt Patterson, Freebirds, Mr. Wrestling I and II, Ole Anderson, and so many more. Jump in, we’re heading to Hot-lanta!
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00:00:00NWA World Heavyweight Championship, Harley Race vs. Andre the Giant, Georgia Tag Team Championship, Jack and Jerry Briscoe against Dory and Terry Funk, Dusty Rhodes and Wildfire Tommy Rich against Ernie Ladd and Stan Hanson, and, not to ignore, among these six other matches, featured prominently the Georgia Heavyweight Champion, the Masked Superstar, against Mr. Wrestling 2.
00:00:22NWA World Heavyweight Championship, Harley Race vs. Andre the Giant, Jerry Briscoe against Dory and Terry Funk, Dusty Rhodes and Wildfire Tommy Rich against Ernie Ladd and Stan Hanson, and, not to ignore, among these six other matches, featured prominently the Georgia Heavyweight Champion, the Masked Superstar, against Mr. Wrestling 2.
00:00:52NWA World Heavyweight Championship, Harley Race vs. Andre the Giant, Jerry Briscoe against Dory and Terry Funk, Dusty Rhodes and Wildfire Tommy Rich against Ernie Ladd and Stan Hanson, and, not to ignore, among these six other matches, featured prominently the Georgia Heavyweight Champion, the Masked Superstar, against Mr. Wrestling 2.
00:01:22NWA World Heavyweight Championship, Harley Race vs. Andre the Giant, Jerry Briscoe against Dory and Terry Funk, Dusty Rhodes and Wildfire Tommy Rich against Ernie Ladd and Stan Hanson, and, not to ignore, among these six other matches, featured prominently the Georgia Heavyweight Champion, the Masked Superstar, Andre the Giant, Jerry Briscoe against Dory and Terry Funk, and, not to ignore, among these six other matches, featured prominently the Georgia Heavyweight Champion, Andre the Giant, Jerry Briscoe against Dory and Terry Funk, and, not to ignore, among these six other matches, featured prominently the Georgia Heavyweight Champion, Andre the Giant, Jerry Briscoe against Dory and Terry Funk, and, not to ignore, among these six other matches, featured prominently the Georgia Heavyweight Champion, Andre the Giant, Jerry Briscoe against Dory and Terry Funk, and, not to ignore, among these six other matches, featured prominently the Georgia Heavyweight Champion, Andre the Giant, Jerry Br
00:01:52Briscoe against Dory and Terry Funk, and, not to ignore, among these six other matches, featured prominently the Georgia Heavyweight Champion, Andre the Giant, Jerry Briscoe against Dory and Terry Funk, and, not to ignore, among these six other matches, featured prominently the Georgia Heavyweight Champion, Andre the Giant, Jerry Briscoe against Dory and Terry Funk, and, not to ignore, among these six other matches, featured prominently the Georgia Heavyweight Champion, Andre the Giant, Jerry Briscoe against Dory and Terry Funk, and, not to ignore, among these six other matches, featured prominently the Georgia Heavyweight Champion, Andre the Giant, Jerry Briscoe against Dory and Terry Funk, and, not to ignore, among these six other matches, featured prominently the Georgia Heavyweight Champion, Andre the Giant, Jerry Briscoe against Dory and Terry Funk, and, not to ignore, among these six other matches, featured prominently the Georgia Heavyweight Champion, Andre the Giant, Jerry Briscoe against D
00:02:22Briscoe against Dory and Terry Funk, and, not to ignore, among these six other matches, featured prominently the Georgia Heavyweight Champion, Andre the Giant, Jerry Briscoe against Dory and Terry Funk, and, not to ignore, among these six other matches, featured prominently the Georgia Heavyweight Champion, Andre the Giant, Jerry Briscoe against Dory and Terry Funk, and, not to ignore, among these six other matches, featured prominently the Georgia Heavyweight Champion, Andre the Giant, Jerry Briscoe against Dory and Terry Funk, and, not to ignore, among these six other matches, featured prominently the Georgia Heavyweight Champion, Andre the Giant, Jerry Briscoe against Dory and Terry Funk, and, not to ignore, among these six other matches, featured prominently the Georgia Heavyweight Champion, Andre the Giant, Jerry Briscoe against Dory and Terry Funk, and, not to ignore, among these six other matches, featured prominently the Georgia Heavyweight Champion, Andre the Giant, Jerry Briscoe against D
00:02:52Briscoe against Dory and Terry Funk, and, not to ignore, among these six other matches, featured prominently the Georgia Heavyweight Champion, Andre the Giant, Jerry Briscoe against Dory and Terry Funk, and, not to ignore, among these six other matches, featured prominently the Georgia Heavyweight Champion, Andre the Giant, Jerry Briscoe against Dory and Terry Funk, and, not to ignore, among these six other matches, featured prominently the Georgia Heavyweight Champion, Andre the Giant, Jerry Briscoe against Dory and Terry Funk, and, not to ignore, among these six other matches, featured prominently the Georgia Heavyweight Champion, Andre the Giant, Jerry Briscoe against Dory and Terry Funk, and, not to ignore, among these six other matches, featured prominently the Georgia Heavyweight Champion, Andre the Giant, Jerry Briscoe against Dory and Terry Funk, and, not to ignore, among these six other matches, featured prominently the Georgia Heavyweight Champion, Andre the Giant, Jerry Briscoe against D
00:03:22Briscoe against Dory and Terry Funk, and, not to ignore, among these six other matches, featured prominently the Georgia Heavyweight Champion, Andre the Giant, Jerry Briscoe against Dory and Terry Funk, and, not to ignore, among these six other matches, featured prominently the Georgia Heavyweight Champion, Andre the Giant, Jerry Briscoe against Dory and Terry Funk, and, not to ignore, among these six other matches, featured prominently the Georgia Heavyweight Champion, Andre the Giant, Jerry Briscoe against Dory and Terry Funk, and, not to ignore, among these six other matches, featured prominently the Georgia Heavyweight Champion, Andre the Giant, Jerry Briscoe against Dory and Terry Funk, and, not to ignore, among these six other matches, featured prominently the Georgia Heavyweight Champion, Andre the Giant, Jerry Briscoe against Dory and Terry Funk, and, not to ignore, among these six other matches, featured prominently the Georgia Heavyweight Champion, Andre the Giant, Jerry Briscoe against D
00:03:52Briscoe against Dory and Terry Funk, and, not to ignore, among these six other matches, featured prominently the Georgia Heavyweight Champion, Andre the Giant, Jerry Briscoe against Dory and Terry Funk, and, not to ignore, among these six other matches, featured prominently the Georgia Heavyweight Champion, Andre the Giant, Jerry Briscoe against Dory and Terry Funk, and, not to ignore, among these six other matches, featured prominently the Georgia Heavyweight Champion, Andre the Giant, Jerry Briscoe against Dory and Terry Funk, and, not to ignore, among these six other matches, featured prominently the Georgia Heavyweight Champion, Andre the Giant, Jerry Briscoe against Dory and Terry Funk, and, not to ignore, among these six other matches, featured prominently the Georgia Heavyweight Champion, Andre the Giant, Jerry Briscoe against Dory and Terry Funk, and, not to ignore, among these six other matches, featured prominently the Georgia Heavyweight Champion, Andre the Giant, Jerry Briscoe against D
00:04:22Briscoe against Dory and Terry Funk, and, not to ignore, among these six other matches, featured prominently the Georgia Heavyweight Champion, Andre the Giant, Jerry Briscoe against Dory and Terry Funk, and, not to ignore, among these six other matches, featured prominently the Georgia Heavyweight Champion, Andre the Giant, Jerry Briscoe against Dory and Terry Funk, and, not to ignore, among these six other matches, featured prominently the Georgia Heavyweight Champion, Andre the Giant, Jerry Briscoe against Dory and Terry Funk, and, not to ignore, among these six other matches, featured prominently the Georgia Heavyweight Champion, Andre the Giant, Jerry Briscoe against Dory and Terry Funk, and, not to ignore, among these six other matches, featured prominently the Georgia Heavyweight Champion, Andre the Giant, Jerry Briscoe against Dory and Terry Funk, and, not to ignore, among these six other matches, featured prominently the Georgia Heavyweight Champion, Andre the Giant, Jerry Briscoe against D
00:04:52Briscoe against Dory and Terry Funk, and, not to ignore, among these six other matches, featured prominently the Georgia Heavyweight Champion, Andre the Giant, Jerry Briscoe against Dory and Terry Funk, and, not to ignore, among these six other matches, featured prominently the Georgia Heavyweight Champion, Andre the Giant, Jerry Briscoe against Dory and Terry Funk, and, not to ignore, among these six other matches, featured prominently the Georgia Heavyweight Champion, Andre the Giant, Jerry Briscoe against Dory and Terry Funk, and, not to ignore, among these six other matches, featured prominently the Georgia Heavyweight Champion, Andre the Giant, Jerry Briscoe against Dory and Terry Funk, and, not to ignore, among these six other matches, featured prominently the Georgia Heavyweight Champion, Andre the Giant, Jerry Briscoe against Dory and Terry Funk, and, not to ignore, among these six other matches, featured prominently the Georgia Heavyweight Champion, Andre the Giant, Jerry Briscoe against D
00:05:22Andre the Giant, Jerry Briscoe against Dory and Terry Funk, and, not to ignore, among these six other matches, featured prominently the Georgia Heavyweight Champion, Minney and Terry Funk, and, not to ignore, among these six other matches, featured prominently the Georgia Heavyweight Champion,Briscoe
00:05:32money and he had the ability to talk he was a natural with the black audience in
00:05:38the south but he appealed to everybody wherever he went white black whatever he
00:05:42talked and he had that rap and then that aura about him but he couldn't or
00:05:47wouldn't here's here's what happens you know how many guys will you see in an
00:05:55event and actually believe they did what they did yeah you didn't help them and I
00:06:01didn't help them they won yeah no we helped him yeah that's there and that's
00:06:07a do you think that's why he adopted the every time that he couldn't get a job or
00:06:13couldn't get a push because you couldn't put a belt on him because you couldn't
00:06:17get it off of him from what I understand I'm gonna have a Cadillac tournament you
00:06:21couldn't have Cadillac tournament he'd keep the car and then when and only
00:06:25booked him many more times than most people would because only knew that he
00:06:30was a money card and he did like him but that's when he started the
00:06:34discrimination lawsuits if he couldn't get booked well I'll sue and then they'd
00:06:38give him a pity booking and that didn't do anybody any good yeah was he his own
00:06:41worst enemy because he at one point was was such a big star and just well see I
00:06:46I I can't comment on it honestly because I don't like the guy okay and there's
00:06:56not too many people you know me yeah I I like almost everybody well let's talk
00:07:02about another unpopular asshole Jim Wilson I didn't know Jim very much but I
00:07:10don't know if he was as bad as Thunderbolt but boy he got money for not
00:07:16doing much well the thing is he believed and and once I I saw him very early when
00:07:21I saw him on television I've read his book for those of you don't know Jim
00:07:25Wilson was former college football star in in Georgia who was broken in the
00:07:29wrestling business and later on played for the Falcons right yeah not only
00:07:33college but pro yes and and later on sued and and actually that he and
00:07:39Thunderbolt worked together quite a bit tried to sue Barnett because he said the
00:07:42reason why he was not made the NWA world heavyweight champion is because he
00:07:48wouldn't go to bed with Barnett and this is a guy who never worked anywhere but
00:07:53the territory of Georgia where he was established as a legitimate sports star
00:07:56because he wasn't very good and he wasn't getting any better and he didn't
00:08:01have it and now whether the promoters told him one day he'd be the world
00:08:07heavyweight champion that's entirely possible because you know hey boy you'll
00:08:10be farting through silk and the promoters tell you a lot of things yeah
00:08:13but to for him to actually have believed it enough to write a book go on
00:08:17television make these claims file lawsuits it was only because I wouldn't
00:08:21sleep with Barnett if Jim Barnett was gonna sleep and there's no evidence that
00:08:25he ever did with any wrestlers what do you pick Jim Wilson first I don't think
00:08:31so and I think that was his close association with T-bolt you know that
00:08:36was the way that he bolted in the year yeah it's I mean and I remember Jim and
00:08:42I never remember him being heavyweight champion quality no but you know we all
00:08:50look in different mirrors you know we we all have flaws and we don't see the
00:08:55gray hair and the thinning hair you know the no hair yeah it's just you also you
00:09:03had a program let's go back to the talent you had a program there for a
00:09:07while with Wahoo McDaniel talk about the chief oh one of the most unique
00:09:10characters and toughest guys in the history of business you talk about an
00:09:14athlete an all-around athlete golfer Fisher then football player softball
00:09:21player honest good guy give you the shirt off his back literally my wife's
00:09:27Native American Lakota Sioux and Wahoo sort of adopted her although he was
00:09:36chalked off but what a good guy he could he could play golf with Lee
00:09:42Trevino competitively played pro football for several teams was a pro
00:09:49wrestler at a high level yeah was high school for sport star with a flare says
00:09:55he's the toughest man that ever walked was there any anything Wahoo couldn't do
00:10:00and and until his mobility was compromised with with age in the ring he
00:10:05was you know he'd take that upside down bump in the turnbuckle better than you
00:10:09know anybody but Ray Stevens and they had the most wicked chop of all it
00:10:14would hit the marks remember when they switched him heel and he and the marks
00:10:17would come at him he'd hit the marks yeah chops and knock him out yeah I
00:10:20remember a funny story well who and I were middle of a program and not that I
00:10:26bruise easy but when you get hit by a jackhammer yeah 20 times in one week you
00:10:34end up bruising so I was in scope in Norfolk and I says well can I talk to
00:10:41you yeah yeah boy what's up I said wahoo my wife your friend doesn't want to see
00:10:49tonight's match on my chest tomorrow morning what are you talking about says
00:10:54you're killing me with those chops I'm bruising I'm bleeding him and Valentine
00:10:58and flair they used to have these chopping battles yeah where they were
00:11:01literally busting each other's skin open I said that's for you three I don't want
00:11:06to see that boy okay throw was it throw Ronnie Garvin in there too with the
00:11:11overhand yeah overhand oh my god as a matter of fact the maddest that the
00:11:15Midnight Express ever got at me Bobby into Dennis Condrey it was when I cut a
00:11:19promo it was wahoo McDaniel and Ronnie Garvin teaming up and I called him Fred
00:11:23Flintstone and Barney rubble and they took it out on Bobby and Dennis and
00:11:27after the match he said don't ever say that about him ever again my god he was
00:11:33wahoo there's another one had pizzazz he had fire he wasn't afraid to sell he
00:11:42knew what this business was about yeah it was getting the people to get behind
00:11:46you to fight off the evil Empire that's it there's no it's not rocket science
00:11:52who was it said white hat black hat white hat wins in the end yeah there you
00:11:56go there's wrestling and if the if the black cat has the belt the baby face has
00:12:02the belt people are cheering but you didn't win it legitimately I'm not
00:12:06taking it drop it off on the guy's chest and he's out in the middle of the ring
00:12:10I'm gonna get it I'm gonna win it legitimately the right way but that's
00:12:14not taking into account work rate and quality of backstory on the storyline of
00:12:20the booking of what I was written yeah so you you spent the first year in
00:12:27Georgia of the constant matches with wrestling too but also as we mentioned
00:12:31of anybody from t-bolt to wahoo to Tony Atlas another guy yeah who was
00:12:36tremendously over and looked like a million dollars with the audience and a
00:12:39heck of an athlete and I enjoyed working with Tony because it was so he would
00:12:45listen to you he knew that he needed to learn and we all do I mean you could
00:12:51still get in the ring today and learn something new yeah just keep your eyes
00:12:55and ears open and try something don't try something goofy a lot of times now
00:13:00guys try something that they think they can do well do you have your practice
00:13:03no but I think I can well if you try to no but I saw it don't do it until you I
00:13:09woke I woke up this morning I dreamed I could do it so actually guys do that you
00:13:13know and and and want to do it with you that's the problem if you do your own
00:13:16yeah that's fine but well here's another blast from the past in Atlanta November
00:13:2322nd 1979 because every Thanksgiving was the annual Thanksgiving tag team
00:13:28tournament and that night you and Austin Idol heck of a team beat the Briscoes in
00:13:34the finals and you won the Georgia tag team title but you finally a team from
00:13:39Georgia well there you go but you lost him back a week later to the Briscoes
00:13:42and then the week after that you beat Tommy Rich and regained the Georgia
00:13:46heavyweight championship and went back to wrestling too and in the Omni main
00:13:50events what was only just he he liked to switch belts a lot no what what was
00:13:57going on there the Briscoes had part of the territory okay well that's that's
00:14:01true I forgot at that time it was Barnett Paul Jones Fred Ward and Ralph
00:14:06and the Briscoes had Graham had peace and and Eddie actually that piece was
00:14:11kind of the floating Florida piece because one time didn't at one time
00:14:14Buddy Fuller owned part of Georgia and Lester Welch his uncle owned part of
00:14:18Florida and they decided they wanted to move so they just switched yeah they
00:14:21just traded yeah you could do that then yeah but but they always only always
00:14:27left the door open to go back to guys that he had the program he wanted to do
00:14:34in the his local guys yeah the thanks you know why did these guys come in on
00:14:38Thanksgiving on Christmas on New Year's because the Omni was a hell of a
00:14:43building pick up there it was gonna draw and not only are they getting a portion
00:14:47of their ownership they're also getting a better payday too yeah you can't blame
00:14:51them for doing that I mean if you own a territory say I think I'm gonna go take
00:14:55a trip to Florida today put me on the cart what are you gonna say no those big
00:15:00events in in the Omni on the holidays and the big the big blow-offs were
00:15:0613,000 people 15,000 people yeah and and that the same amount of people that's a
00:15:11weekly town that's that's the the City Auditorium was what five six thousand
00:15:15seats probably five or six thousand so you do three weeks City Auditorium fourth
00:15:20week Omni Omni three weeks for three weeks for and when 1980 started it was
00:15:28it was trouble again you you lost the Georgia title in a cage match to
00:15:34wrestling too but there we were just talking about the auditorium they at the
00:15:40city of Atlanta closed finally the City Auditorium the Omni was the only game in
00:15:44town this was a big bone of contention with the promotion and trouble later
00:15:50because you could run a five or six thousand seat building yeah three weeks
00:15:54in a row and then run the the fourth at the Omni but now all of a sudden do you
00:15:58run a 17,000 seat building even city as hot as Atlanta every week or do you cut
00:16:04back the number of shows which they ended up did they go and went to every
00:16:08two weeks point is that was a steady income source it was oh I think mitigate
00:16:14I think that was the time that Georgia State University bought that land from
00:16:20the city and now it's it's all encompassed big university there 40 or
00:16:2650,000 students right on that property yeah but you're right it went from you
00:16:31know you use those three weeks to build up to build the big one to the big one
00:16:36and then boom then you it's not done yet you come back or somebody else is
00:16:41starting their program the nice thing about Georgia you know you had King Kong
00:16:45Moscow there you had Stan Hansen myself five or six top guys on both sides of
00:16:53the coin yeah and you might be in Augusta on Monday at the main event for
00:17:00the third time but then the fourth time you're in the first match again but you
00:17:05knew you're going to work your way up yeah as long as it was money wasn't that
00:17:10different it wasn't an insult in those days for a top guy to be bumped down the
00:17:15card after he finished a program when you're in between programs you've shot
00:17:19an angle on TV and waiting for it to play around so the Booker would put you
00:17:22in an underneath match to get a win especially if you'd come out if you were
00:17:28a heel and you came out on the wrong end of the program you just finished you'd be
00:17:31underneath a couple weeks to get wins while you were doing whatever you can do
00:17:33on TV and the guy that you just work with was the same situation but there's
00:17:37always still tension between you but you're also starting a new adversary
00:17:42with this guy or this guy this guy so you knew that if you were in the main
00:17:47event say you make $500 that night well the first guy's making two or three so
00:17:54at the end of the week the difference is only going to be minimal and you know
00:17:59it's going to rotate just hang in for a little bit we were everybody was working
00:18:04to bring in seats to bring in people in the seats yeah they would come for the
00:18:10main event they would come for the second match they'd come for the third
00:18:12match a lot of people were coming for the opening match because they had a
00:18:15little contention between so everybody contributed we've talked about Atlanta
00:18:20at this point how were the other towns doing because at Columbus I remember
00:18:24the municipal auditorium was a 5,000 seat building Macon at the time the
00:18:30Macon Coliseum I think was a little bit too big I remember Macon was Macon was
00:18:34probably eight or nine thousand now wouldn't fill up a lot if we would have
00:18:39had the Macon Coliseum or the Columbus building when they shut down the
00:18:44Atlanta yeah it would still be going Cobb Civic Center held about 2,000 people
00:18:49Rome wasn't a big building but it wasn't a long trip Augusta was a
00:18:55beautiful that was the Bell Auditorium back in those days that was that was a
00:18:58nice place then they went to the Civic Center later on they had all the spot
00:19:01shows Porterdale and and Carrollton and all these places would seat psychic
00:19:06would seat 1,500 18 sometimes they'd the fire marshal will come say no
00:19:12more it ever was while you go down to Valdosta but you would go to these high
00:19:16school gyms in wherever Wartburg Georgia and you'd have 1,200 or 1,500
00:19:21people jumping up and down and screaming yeah and when you think about it in one
00:19:25state state of Georgia counting especially on a week that the Omni ran a
00:19:29big show you would easily have 30,000 people see your live matches just that
00:19:34week we were at sometimes and I sometimes we'd have three shows a night
00:19:42three shows a night in Georgia in the summertime they'd split it up yeah in
00:19:47to have smaller shows yeah more of them you were out of the territory for
00:19:52several months in in 1980 was that a Japanese trip or did you go some I was
00:19:58going back and forth to Japan all the time I just like I said I had a
00:20:02arrangement with Inoki so they would send me the year's contract and then
00:20:08they would send me the calendar for the year in January so it's a pick 12
00:20:12weeks you want to come so I got smart after a while I'd go one week instead of
00:20:17going eight first couple tours they wanted me to go to eat I said I can't
00:20:21just I love Japan but eight weeks long time yeah so they went to four and then
00:20:27they'd say okay two and three and sometimes one sometimes one day that's a
00:20:32long trip for one day yeah but were you noticing I guess it was hard for you to
00:20:39unless you were working you obviously wearing the mask you had an element of
00:20:43privacy that a lot of guys didn't have but when you would go to other places in
00:20:47this country and wrestle on your times out of the territory were you noticing
00:20:51the increasing effect of TBS that was starting to what it was at 77 they
00:20:57started going up on satellite and by later you know everybody was right we
00:21:02were in Michigan we were in Ohio it got to the point where the roles reversed we
00:21:07were only in Georgia to do the TV's on Saturday would fly back Saturday morning
00:21:13early do the TV's and then fly back up and was up in Michigan Ohio Illinois
00:21:20Indiana for a whole week that started in late 70s I remember they did Columbus
00:21:25first because Columbus in this country was one of the first cities that was
00:21:29predominantly wired for a kind of a state-of-the-art at the time cable
00:21:33system and they got TBS 17 was one of the stations they got and the cable
00:21:38coverage was so good even though it was spotty everywhere else that point that
00:21:42they started running the Ohio Center and the Sheik had pretty much you know stick
00:21:47a fork in him he's done killed the territory with the hardcore stuff five
00:21:51years beforehand so it was a virgin territory again and the people were
00:21:55popping on headlocks and I remember going up Cincinnati when Crockett open
00:21:59up Cincinnati and me and my friends you know we got there at like 730 for the
00:22:04eight o'clock matches I'd been to Cincinnati Gardens before I hadn't
00:22:07drawn a house in 10 years as well we'll get third row we there was 8,000 people
00:22:11there we got up in the in the bleachers as close as we could get the that
00:22:16territory Ohio Michigan and parts of West Virginia that had been burnt and
00:22:20scorched earth and dead for a while dark as they say all of a sudden became the
00:22:26new hotbed as you lost a city auditorium and you're just started
00:22:31because they had seen every big name in the world obviously as we've just read
00:22:36for so long that it was starting to be they were jaded it was a little harder
00:22:39to impress them but all of a sudden now you got a new territory yeah yeah it was
00:22:44fantastic wait I'm at Parkersburg who would think you go to Parkersburg and
00:22:48Marietta in 5,000 people are there Canton you know I was in Kent when I
00:22:55first started as one of the Mongols was dying yeah didn't go in there oh my god
00:23:01your memories of Canton or Cincinnati like you say and then boom there's
00:23:05thousands of people Cleveland that old downtown building yeah my god you take
00:23:09your life in your head they threw Vaseline jars people's shoes rock
00:23:13Euclid Avenue yes oh my god it was dark and you it was it that's where Ox Baker
00:23:18and Johnny Powers and Ernie Latta had the riot that building that's all over
00:23:21you talking about that first time I was in that building I was in there was a
00:23:25Mongol and we were Ox Baker and everybody was in there and we were
00:23:29sitting back in the dressing room we're reading this wrestling magazine and on
00:23:32the cover it says Bearcat Bearcat Brown died and they had a big article about
00:23:38Briggs and then oh my god oh my god put the book down to get ready and Bearcat
00:23:43Bearcat walks through the door. I thought you dead. As a matter of fact one time we we were
00:23:51working for Crockett he is when he first started running Texas because the world
00:23:55class was you know kind of on the outside we were at Reunion Arena we
00:23:59walked in and that's when they rumor had gone out to Buddy Roberts was dead yes
00:24:03and there was Buddy sitting there on the table and and Dennis Condrey looked at
00:24:06him said buddy we heard you were dead he's waited for a beat and he said I see
00:24:10they were right but you weren't on the card for one of the most famous nights
00:24:18at the Omni of July 20th 1980 I was there first time I ever got to go to the
00:24:23Omni Harley race and Tommy Rich for the world title was the main event with Lou
00:24:26Thez referee but that took a backseat to the cage match Dusty Rhodes and Ole
00:24:33Anderson against the Assassins with two referees Gene Anderson and Ivan Koloff
00:24:38and it's on YouTube. That's where George Scott got the idea of the two referees
00:24:43and the stipulations. And that is where that basically does it. Ole had
00:24:48switched babyface a year beforehand and he had teamed with Rich and he teamed
00:24:53with Atlas and he teamed with whoever but he couldn't get Dusty to team with
00:24:57him and finally they'd got the team they had one match two matches and then Ole
00:25:02said in that masterful promo I got it I said how about a cage Dusty we can keep
00:25:07those Assassins in. I've never seen anything like this as they got Dusty
00:25:12down and he sold and he juiced and the Assassins are beating him up and as
00:25:15soon as he tags Ole and Ole jumps in he looks at Gene and he looks at the
00:25:19Assassins and Koloff and he turns around he starts kicking his shit out of Ole
00:25:222 or out of Dusty 2. The people started climbing the cage it was chaos I would
00:25:30have been ringside shooting the thing had I not forgot to bring high-speed
00:25:33film because I couldn't shoot with the flash with the cage blah blah blah long
00:25:36story I just said I'm gonna go sit down for this one. I would have never gotten
00:25:40out of there alive they it was 30 minutes to get those guys out of the
00:25:43ring the fans are climbing the cage they're trying to knock them off yeah
00:25:46Dusty's laying there bleeding that was one of the hottest things I've ever seen
00:25:50in my life and oh Dusty recreated it for Starrcade several years later with the
00:25:55Horsemen but they came back two weeks later and Andre was Dusty's partner
00:26:04against Ole and Gene and Dusty loses and has to leave town and he comes back two
00:26:09weeks later as Uvalde Slim and he and Bill Watts beat Ole and Gene and Gene left
00:26:12and on the same card that night two beat you in a lose or leave town match in the
00:26:19cage where was everybody going everybody was leaving town back and forth to
00:26:23Charlotte or Japan or Japan yeah back and forth to Charlotte in Japan and I
00:26:30would just I think I just started working in for Dino Bravo at the time
00:26:36going back and forth Montreal Montreal because Dino and I were on a couple
00:26:41tours in Japan and he was in Charlotte when I burned Igor's eye with a cigar
00:26:49remember that and it just took off well Inoki was over on one of the tours and
00:26:56saw the reaction so I did the same thing that Inoki in the Sumo Palace burned
00:27:02his eye almost didn't get home they sent me home early and then Bravo was
00:27:10on that tour so I made I spent I think there were $1.25 cigars cheap because
00:27:18Boris didn't like to smoke so I burned Igor and I got about a year two years
00:27:24out of that in Charlotte burning Inoki got 13 years out of that one and burnt
00:27:30Dino Bravo and got four four years out of that Montreal so for less than ten
00:27:35bucks three cigars yeah talk about the the hold that Dusty had by that point on
00:27:42those people in Georgia because I'd heard about it obviously I'd seen him on
00:27:46TV seen him a few times live outside the state of Georgia but I never a Georgia
00:27:52and Florida was his his backyard is you know his people and I'd never seen that
00:27:56kind of connection he just he had those people in the palm of his hand and they
00:28:00would do anything to lay down their life for him talk about some of the the fans
00:28:06support to the point of violence well he at that point he was sort of a bigger
00:28:10version of Tommy Rich you know you know he did was an impressive specimen
00:28:16physically but did a a serious interview a little comedy once in a while but he
00:28:23had charisma I mean he had fire he had it yeah and I didn't work that many
00:28:30times with Dusty at all and I think basically because there was heat between
00:28:36he and Boris and Boris was my manager most of the time and Boris often told
00:28:45him that I was going to hurt him for some reason much I wouldn't have done
00:28:48but I always respected his ability to draw fans and you know he had charisma I
00:28:56mean you what more can you say he drew money and drew people into the building
00:29:02when it was I guess the fall of 1980 it was a strange period that fall and
00:29:08winter the Freebirds came from they had started in obviously worked for Nick
00:29:14Goulas and switched over to Jerry Jarrett went down and made their name in
00:29:17Mid-South and then they got the chance and they were synonymous with TBS
00:29:21Channel 17 the Freebirds I mean I would drive 20 miles to my friend's house that
00:29:26cable so we could watch the Freebirds but at the same time he went from the
00:29:30sublime to the ridiculous because at the same time the Freebirds and Ted DiBiase
00:29:34are getting hot on Georgia TV for whatever reason and I love you poo-poo
00:29:40but for whatever reason they gave Robert Fuller the book and I don't know whether
00:29:43you were there that much then but he and he and Plowboy Frazier were in a
00:29:47program with the Freebirds and they had the Georgia Tag Team title for a while
00:29:51did you ever experience the world of LSD that was Robert Fuller's booking no I
00:29:59was never in a territory that he was booking or actually working at all I
00:30:06guess that was fortunate on my part well no you know and I say this and I
00:30:11should have run run his brother was actually I thought a very good booker
00:30:15and was a very smart businessman and ended up out of wrestling before too
00:30:19long and a millionaire and owned hockey teams Robert was a hell of a promo it
00:30:24still is hell of a talker and he had great matches in in his youth and he
00:30:28worked for me in Smoky Mountain Wrestling but every booking stint that
00:30:32he seemed to have there was some kind of weirdness going on and and there was a
00:30:37famous story he took the book in in Memphis and because Robert of course was
00:30:41Roy Welch's grandson and Buddy Fuller's son and and the Welch's and Fuller's
00:30:45same family and he took the book and brought in all his guys from Knoxville
00:30:50and the houses kept going down kept going down and kept and finally they
00:30:52were down to I remember $12,000 in Memphis which on a Monday night was like
00:30:563,000 people in those days and that was just unheard of yeah and Robert and
00:31:01Jerry Jarrett are standing in the back and Jerry's got his spit cup and he says
00:31:04Robert can't get much worse and Robert said oh yes it can he fired boom done
00:31:12that was Monday night he fired him he went back to Knoxville with all his guys
00:31:15after Wednesday night in Evansville and Jerry Jarrett had two days to re-rack
00:31:19the territory and come up with a complete new crew and shoot an angle and
00:31:21he did the concession stand thing with Lawler and Dundee and the Blonde Bombers
00:31:25and tripled business in three weeks but the same thing happened it was weird and
00:31:30and it just it didn't last long and I guess he was three or four months he was
00:31:34gone by the spring of 81 only took the book back the Omni was running a couple
00:31:40times a month maybe every three weeks every once a while Gordy and Hayes split
00:31:45up and feuded with each other D Biasi was still getting over Flair had a
00:31:48bigger presence you returned in August and you beat Tommy Rich to unite the
00:31:53Georgia and national heavyweight titles because now it wasn't just a Georgia
00:31:58heavyweight it was the national heavyweight championship since the
00:32:00program was was nationwide do you remember in that most of the year that
00:32:06you were gone there that how the business had changed when you came back
00:32:11not really you know not being there of course I I didn't have any reference
00:32:17point I was just glad and comfortable to be back because I was I had planned on
00:32:23making Georgia my home you know we were in Charlotte and and my wife and I both
00:32:29enjoyed the time we had in Georgia and then I moved to Georgia bought a home
00:32:34and then of course had to go back to Charlotte and live in an apartment and
00:32:38that wasn't that wasn't good so we were happy to be in Georgia and we thought
00:32:43our next move would have been to Florida my wife often we only about a mile from
00:32:48the where we live now about a mile from the North Fulton border and she still
00:32:56tells me she's I'm not moving any further north than we're at we'll go
00:33:00south but we're not going any further north so yeah I some of my fondest
00:33:06memories or the time I was in Georgia who pitched the the tag team with
00:33:12Super Destroyer Scott Irwin I think all he had approached us about that you know
00:33:17he liked he liked Scott and Scott was a good performer hard worker willing just
00:33:27to work for the match died way way way too young how he was it was he even 40 I
00:33:33don't think he was you know you know cuz I never knew him but I knew his brother
00:33:37Bill yeah and and Bill wasn't in there at the time I had met Bill after that
00:33:42when I saw other territories but Scott boy he was one I mean he you know he
00:33:46started that superplex yeah oh that was the big thing if we get you know we
00:33:50would wait you would watch the TV matches just to get to see the Super
00:33:54Destroyer do the superplex that was the biggest bump that it all my goodness
00:33:57nobody could live through that he was a strong dude and you know I remember he
00:34:02was probably six two six three three hundred pounds yeah size seven shoes
00:34:08what size seven no yeah it looked like he was gonna tip over but what a nice
00:34:17guy he was a good good friend of mine good friend of my my wife and and you
00:34:23know we knew her his wife and it was just sad when he died just I couldn't
00:34:28get over that and when I see Bill I'm happy to see Bill but I often think of
00:34:33Scott yeah so it's just it's nice and bad at the same time at that point time
00:34:4082 in Georgia the some new talent was coming in Kabuki and Gary Hart obviously
00:34:46we're hot at the time Buzz Sawyer had just started only took a liking to him
00:34:50because he was you know he's tough he's crazy but he's tough Paul Orndorff yeah
00:34:56and and Roddy Piper who had been in the Carolinas for ages but he pretty much
00:35:04started it at least before Jesse Ventura the the heel color commentary position I
00:35:10first met Roddy when he was a heel in California and we was working in Japan
00:35:17they came over as Captain America or something he had a cheap Karl Hildegard
00:35:24mask the Captain America shirt and rowdy pipe paper tights and stuff and
00:35:33but he was a feisty guy you know he was energetic and good always on always on
00:35:41always happy and you're right when he did the interviews I mean people paid
00:35:46attention he started out he was supposed to be the heel color commentator which
00:35:50he was and fill that role but he was so since he wasn't wrestling and really
00:35:54actively screwing around the baby faces he was just so sharp and so quick and so
00:35:58entertaining that the people started getting behind him and that's when
00:36:02finally he took up for Gordon Soley when Gordon was being menaced and the people
00:36:07all of a sudden boom just they they took to him and then I was salivating for it
00:36:12that's when Lawler was coming down from Memphis and they were having the battle
00:36:15of the promos Jerry Lawler Roddy Piper with Lawler a heel yeah which is my
00:36:18favorite role for him and they're gonna have the match and then Piper I think
00:36:23gets fired some way he's only gets mad at him or whatever anyone I don't know
00:36:26for a while I don't know what happened with that but and suddenly it was it was
00:36:31uh I think Lawler and Bob Armstrong what I don't know but you also in addition to
00:36:38teaming with Super Destroyer you had some matches teaming with one of the
00:36:42legendary names in the business a guy who everybody said was the the worker
00:36:46inside the ring in the 60s Ray Stevens oh yeah and at the time he had been in
00:36:51the business he was teaming with you at this time he'd been in the business 30
00:36:53years and was still on 45 he started as a teenager tell tell me anything about
00:37:00I'm a mark for Ray Stevens tell me anything about Ray Stevens it didn't
00:37:04happen in it didn't happen in Georgia but it happened in the Carolinas when he
00:37:12was working with just when I just made my switch from superstars a heel you
00:37:18know Gene and Oli and Snooker came out and kept interfering in my promos so I
00:37:24made the switch and beat the crap out of both of them and through Stevens on top
00:37:29of Snooker and they fell down that broke the cane over Gene Henderson so we're
00:37:34involved in a in a stipulation match and we had gone through a number of matches
00:37:39well it led up to a lumberjack match with all his lumberjacks around the ring
00:37:45and was a tag that was a single between Ray Stevens and myself well Ray was
00:37:51trying to escape and this and that and he was supposed to jump over out of the
00:37:57ring over the top rope and on the way down Ox Baker supposed to catch him okay
00:38:03well Ox was preoccupied so he's taking off and I'm just lunging and I
00:38:09see Ray and he didn't hit the ropes or anything he went and Ox hadn't even turned
00:38:16around and he landed right behind Ox and his both legs split and he tore all the
00:38:24muscles in his groin oh jeez oh if he could have gotten up which he couldn't
00:38:29yeah he probably would have would have beat the crap out of Ox Baker but yeah
00:38:34that was a painful so that put a look a little kibosh on our program yeah like
00:38:38six or eight weeks that he was out and then another time I'm in Georgia and Ray
00:38:47comes in and only was sort of trying to give him a favor and trying to give him
00:38:52a little piecemeal here and there and we found a little apartment for Ray and he
00:39:00had a travel he had a travel trailer and a truck pickup truck so one day we get
00:39:07to the office and there's no Ray don't hear from him about nine months later we
00:39:13get a phone call Bill Ray yeah how you been great where you at he said do you
00:39:25remember where I parked my truck I said no Ray I don't so she's okay thanks
00:39:33Bobby Heenan's favorite story from the AWA was Stevens was up there he met a girl and he got
00:39:39married took off and yeah when he gave notice the territories time for him to leave he
00:39:43told everybody he was leaving except her he comes back after a year and a half
00:39:46and found out she's divorced him he's like honey why she didn't know if he was
00:39:50alive or dead you couldn't find people in those days I got to ride with him one
00:39:54night and just listen to the we flight canceled and and I said I'll drive
00:39:59instead of it Charlotte we went to Atlanta right and I said I'll drive us
00:40:03if you'll just ride with me right okay tell stories yeah and and he told me you
00:40:08know and make it a hundred and fifty grand a year in San Francisco in 1962
00:40:12with a house on the beach yeah and a boat and a motorcycle and a car and
00:40:17married six times to five different women and it just he had more fun than
00:40:24any human being should be allowed to have and wouldn't have traded any of it
00:40:28no or you know and for years and years and years every time I saw a flare take
00:40:32that upside down bump yeah I would see Ray Steve it's an homage because he took
00:40:37it from Ray but he never got it right I mean I love the nature but he never got
00:40:42it right and Michaels just looked like a Olympic gymnast doing it yeah it's so
00:40:47pretty but it didn't hurt anybody but yeah Stevens would launch himself oh yeah
00:40:52you grab that wrist and as the guy let go he was going so you wouldn't believe
00:40:57you could get up that much speed in 18 feet and then suddenly upside down and
00:41:01just hit it and the variation I've heard is when he'd go upside down and he'd hit
00:41:06and he'd sit up and he'd hit his head on the post he'd have the blade in his hand
00:41:09he'd get the juice on the way back down and he'd have the blade back in his
00:41:12mouth by the time he hit the ring and I admit I took one of his bumps because a
00:41:17guy would get me going and I'd take a punch or this and that I'd spin around
00:41:23and I'd be two or three feet from the rope and I'd choke myself over the top
00:41:29rope yeah and take the bump backwards and raised to do that all the time I
00:41:33said that's a that's a neat move I'm gonna use that rate I go ahead he's
00:41:36well stakes go ahead here have a sandwich you know in July 4th 1982 back
00:41:44to the Omni you imagine this you beat wrestling to again underneath the the
00:41:50main event which was Flair and Backlund NWA versus WWF championship which once
00:41:57again was it happened it happened in Florida a couple times because of Eddie
00:42:01Graham who knows never meant anything when they brought Bruno down they never
00:42:04meant it well that's the thing that's what I was going to ask you is how did
00:42:07the how did you feel the fans react to it and how did you think the boys
00:42:10reacted to it because it was it was such a special match it was surprising
00:42:15shocking it would never happen like I said Eddie Graham could get one done in
00:42:18his big Florida towns every once in a while but I think they had one in st.
00:42:21Louis with Harley and Backlund couple in the Omni but for something that would
00:42:29appear to be the dream match of the era you don't hear them drawn record gates
00:42:33did people not care about the other titles down there did they were they
00:42:37smart enough to know that nothing was going to change it was always a I don't
00:42:41know I don't know about that but I know that when they brought in other area
00:42:46champions the people really didn't they were I think they were cordial they
00:42:52would watch the match but they wouldn't get excited because they probably knew
00:42:55they weren't going to see him again for a couple years yeah they didn't mean
00:42:59anything to him you know Bruno used to come down there and when I grew up in
00:43:04Pittsburgh and Bruno was it yeah but when they came down there Bruno was just
00:43:09some guy with a belt from up north well I remember I learned a lesson in 1979
00:43:15Lexington Kentucky Jarrett had opened up her up arena which at the time was
00:43:19the biggest arena in the south of course they curtain down half of it but in a
00:43:22city size of Lexington the only reason they built that arena was because the
00:43:25University of basketball and nothing else could fill it even the Rolling
00:43:30Stones so wrestling you go in first Thursday of every month and Jarrett
00:43:35tried to make that for a while the big card even above Memphis and one month
00:43:39was a double main event Nick Bockwinkle versus Bill Dundee for the AWA title and
00:43:44Jerry Lawler versus superstar Billy Graham for the CWA title that they had
00:43:49created to give Lawler a world title that drew 6,000 people two world title
00:43:55matches with superstar Billy Graham and Nick Bockwinkle the next month one title
00:43:59match Lawler's belt he just won from superstar Billy Graham against the
00:44:03fabulous Jackie Fargo oh yeah the people get the chance the first time in five
00:44:07years to see Lawler and Fargo legendary match 8,000 people 2,000 extra people
00:44:11with no Graham and Bockwinkle just throw Fargo in there they want to see
00:44:15what's over with them that was the beauty of territorial wrestling what's
00:44:19local you you know people everywhere don't like Chinese food people
00:44:24everywhere don't they they want a certain thing that they like that
00:44:27they're accustomed to that was the beauty of educating the fan base in
00:44:32those days to the product that the promoter was best at presenting and that
00:44:37the talent that he knew and had good relationship with was best at performing
00:44:41that's what you whether it was bloody fights in Texas or the bench clearing
00:44:47brawls in Memphis or you know amateur wrestling with a little Zabada thrown in
00:44:51in Florida or the Big X jocks in Minnesota the fans bought that and it
00:44:57the promoters didn't care whether fans in another area cared about their shit
00:45:02because they weren't buying the tickets it's sort of like nationalism this is
00:45:08American and you're Chinese and you're French and you know I'm Southern and
00:45:14you're not it's just I think that's the downfall of now you can't take the same
00:45:21match from New York City to Salt Lake or to Phoenix yeah you got to add a little
00:45:29local flavor to it but we're not in that situation right now but you're
00:45:35absolutely true I mean they would like to see the one guy that did make a
00:45:42difference of all the champions you mentioned it was accepted because it was
00:45:46there a lot was Bachwinkel yeah Bachwinkel came into Georgia he meant a
00:45:52little bit more a lot more than the New York champ or the and he had been a top
00:45:56guy there back in the in the late 60s early 70s but it's also because Nick
00:46:00could work yeah any style he wasn't yeah pigeon-holed it I think they cared more
00:46:05about Nick personally than they did the belt he was carrying which was an outside
00:46:09belt that they didn't yeah yeah he had good matches everybody Christmas night
00:46:14was another once again where have all the Christmases gone Christmas night
00:46:18Thanksgiving your Christmas both were the biggest nights of the year for
00:46:22wrestling like wrestling Thanksgiving was the biggest of the year you want to
00:46:25make sure that you had a good program going there Christmas night and then
00:46:31Christmas week and then New Year's those were the moneymakers and that makes
00:46:38right you can't be home if you're home something's wrong I didn't I had two
00:46:44Christmases off between 1982 and 1995 and that and that wasn't on purpose is
00:46:50just because I was in between things I was well we used to celebrate Christmas
00:46:53on the 24th because my wife knew I wasn't going to be home from the 25th
00:46:57to the day after New Year's a lot of times you do double the Carolinas would
00:47:01do the double shot go Greenville Charlotte or then later Greenville
00:47:04Atlanta but it in 82 the main event was you Super Destroyer and Kabuki against
00:47:11Stan Hansen Tito Santana and Andre the Giant stacked up card 13,000 fans and at
00:47:18the start of 83 you were you were in and out for most of that year back and forth
00:47:22to Japan few things and while business up north Michigan Ohio West Virginia
00:47:28Center we talked about off cable was still staying strong the state of
00:47:33Georgia was starting to suffer did you start and did you start to see the
00:47:39whether whether it was just not only having to run the Omni which was more
00:47:43expensive and having to be probably the payoffs went down because expenses were
00:47:47up but that's that's what part of the Briscoe's problem was Jack and Jerry
00:47:50were realizing hey our dividend checks are are going down and and you know the
00:47:55northern tours were still doing well but the state of Georgia they had kind of
00:47:59almost abandoned in some case because it was it was June of 83 that only made the
00:48:03deal to bring a bunch of us you know job guys down to run his Georgia towns
00:48:08because he was so concentrated on the yeah everything was reversed I mean we
00:48:11were spending more time up north and I often thought that you know why don't
00:48:18you do two and two or one or ten days up there in the rest week in a week or
00:48:25two weeks two weeks or something you're absolutely right they were bringing in
00:48:29other guys and I know at that time I was going back and forth to Japan 14 15
00:48:36weeks a year so I'd be there for a couple weeks and gone a couple weeks and
00:48:40gone but yeah they were they were emphasizing the northern because we're
00:48:45making more money up there yeah and well which came first the chicken or the
00:48:50egg was it a self-fulfilling prophecy could one Omni might draw 3,000 people
00:48:54next one draw 9,000 people depending on the attraction the summer of 83 of
00:48:59course remembered finally as the debut of the Road Warriors which made a huge
00:49:04splash on television and once again the you know the northern towns but a lot of
00:49:10people don't remember that they still didn't draw in in Georgia yeah if if a
00:49:17if a tree with spikes and face paint falls in an empty forest I wrote this
00:49:20town but but this was this when what was the time frame when only booted Barnett
00:49:26and what do you know about it there was a bunch of rumors I remember up Mosca
00:49:33and Stan and myself and only would be asked to come to meetings and this and
00:49:41that and I think I was in Japan when it actually took place but there again I
00:49:49think it would have coexisted with Barnett being there yeah because he
00:49:56wasn't going to stand in the way of making money you know but what what I
00:50:01heard and and I think we were we were like I said I was not going to ask
00:50:06anybody any question except what do you want me to do and when do I need to be
00:50:09there at that point but we were down there in the summertime and the way that
00:50:14I had heard it is that only had come in late at night and gone through the facts
00:50:21and figures of the books or whatever and seeing that Jim was taking some of the
00:50:25because some of the partners were upset about their checks Jim had taken some of
00:50:30the money and done whatever and he was in Hong Kong at the time having his new
00:50:34wardrobe done but the point was made that when business had been bad in the
00:50:41past Jim had put his money into it without so why couldn't he take some or
00:50:45whatever point is he said she said in truth somewhere in the middle but only
00:50:50with the support of the other stockholders was able to force Barnett
00:50:54out that's when Jim because one thing you didn't do is force Jim Barnett out
00:51:00of any obviously he's the one that the NWA had come back to win the war to
00:51:04begin with he immediately calls Vince and he's working for Vince McMahon as
00:51:08his consultant right within weeks and probably days days and only had made an
00:51:15enemy and it would come back to bite him about not even a year later because
00:51:20spring 1984 you were back you and Bundy at the Omni beat the Road Wars for the
00:51:25national tag team title then two weeks later there was a tournament for the
00:51:29belts and the Warriors won it back because you had to go back to Japan
00:51:31probably but the roster still had a lot of names at that point but not like the
00:51:39past were they the houses were down so they weren't bringing in as many fly-ins
00:51:45and then because they didn't have as many stars and the fans were jaded and
00:51:49spoiled the they were staying away way was it you know I don't really recall
00:51:56that period of time too much because I was going back I was going into Japan I
00:52:01was going in up into Montreal going in and out of for Watts but I I had my base
00:52:10in Georgia so I probably wanted it to last forever yeah but you know you could
00:52:17see the writing on the wall there was different faces there and some of the
00:52:24guys didn't like what only only was always good to me he always paid me what
00:52:28he told me was gonna do give it a time off when I wanted I just asked him you
00:52:34know he threw a couple fits about me at the beginning but he he realized you
00:52:38know I'm not gonna be able to stay here a long time if only didn't throw a fit
00:52:42about you I don't think he liked that's right you know and and I've come to
00:52:46appreciate his crustiness after all these years especially when as he told me one time and I
00:52:50repeat this all the time he said Cornette I used to think you were a dumb fuck but so many other
00:52:54dumb fucks have come along that are worse than you you moved up the ladder that's it but it was
00:52:59the point is he'd made an enemy and July 14 1984 was Black Saturday Jim Barnett had convinced the
00:53:08Briscoe brothers to Barnett basically it was a the story that that Jack and Jerry tell and I
00:53:15believe them was that they were calling Vince to find out about Roddy Piper's health because he was
00:53:20up there then and they'd heard he'd got injured but the point was that Jim Barnett had gone to
00:53:25work for Vince McMahon and he told Vince exactly what was going on in the Georgia office who owned
00:53:29what how you could get majority interest that national TV spot there they're fucking it up
00:53:36Vince yeah and so Barnett convinced the Briscoes to sell their shares to Vince McMahon along with
00:53:42his and along with Paul Jones's who was in ill health at the time and was just anxious to get
00:53:47out of it all of a sudden only Anderson has 10% of nothing because they owned the majority interest
00:53:53in the company and they could do what they wanted and suddenly one day people tune in Georgia
00:53:58Championship Wrestling on Channel 17 and there's Freddie Miller introducing Vince McMahon jr. who
00:54:02says we got a great new program for you that you're gonna see and you're gonna love and they
00:54:07hadn't and they had offered only a job I know on two or three occasions but he turned him down yeah
00:54:14and that irascible that offer was not extended anymore no no but I think you know that was a
00:54:23big turning point it was a big adjustment for the fans in in Georgia I know a lot of the people
00:54:31comment when I talked to him about the past they remember that day like was just yesterday yeah and
00:54:36that was a like one of your family members died well it was like all of a sudden you tuned in to
00:54:42see Gunsmoke and there was a new sheriff it just it I can't even I bet it's a dated reference well
00:54:47fuck I'm old I can't I can't express every people today they see wrestling change every two weeks
00:54:55and there's people all over the place there's no real shocking thing anymore but this was the most
00:55:00shocking thing that had ever happened on mainstream wrestling television all of a sudden and the fans
00:55:06that did the closest thing to riot that fans do when they're calling from home they're writing
00:55:12letters they're calling the station in droves where's our Gordon Soley wrestling what is this
00:55:16shit because the WWF style didn't fly and they were they were showing clips from the Boston
00:55:21Garden or Madison Square Garden or whatever it wasn't a studio show there was no we're going no
00:55:24Gordon Soley they didn't like the style they knew some of the names but it just didn't work and
00:55:30Turner had been told by Vince that he was going to get a studio show just with the different
00:55:35promotion and all of a sudden he's not and Vince made a half-hearted attempt at it but that's when
00:55:40he relinquished and gave Oli an early Saturday morning slot and then because he'd known Watts
00:55:48from years ago he put Mid-South wrestling on Sunday afternoon so now it on one station in
00:55:55Atlanta for a brief period of time maybe six months you had Georgia wrestling the new company
00:56:01that Oli formed on Saturday morning two hours of WWF on Saturday night and Mid-South wrestling on
00:56:05Sunday afternoon and Mid-South wrestling that had never been seen nationally was beating them all in
00:56:10the ratings yeah and that's when Watts was going to go in partnership with with Turner when Jimmy
00:56:17Crockett appeared do you remember where were you when when you heard that Crockett had bought the
00:56:22time slot I was in Dallas because I instantly I was watching probably overseas with you and that
00:56:28all that that era for me was just a blur you're absolutely right the fans and some of the boys
00:56:37had no idea what was going on yeah you couldn't keep this story of that story or were they going
00:56:43or what are they doing and it's just blurry it Turner Turner was going to he was going to force
00:56:50Vince off the station because he didn't like the program and it wasn't performing and it was not
00:56:54what he was in the business for because Vince had bought the company but the company was not really
00:57:00guaranteed the time slot unless it performed right so they needed Turner Barnett once again brokers
00:57:07the deal he's well Jimmy Crockett will take it so Barnett arranges for Crockett to pay Vince a
00:57:15million dollars in very early 1985 which Vince turns around and finances WrestleMania one with
00:57:22that he had overextended himself and what was what was the comment that you'll choke on that million
00:57:27and it took about us 85 it took about three or four years but he choked on it yeah yeah it's
00:57:33and everybody thinks they've got the golden secret for everything you just you have to you have to
00:57:44wade through this you know Crockett's I think probably thought they were going to take off and
00:57:50just take over the Jordan old Georgia territory and they had to step up because they had a lot
00:57:55of guys yeah there were familiar faces to the fans but you know you're right Watts Watts did
00:58:01real well with that I remember and and and I will say that at the end of 84 just off of right before
00:58:09Crockett bought the time slot just off that early morning show only was still trying to run the Omni
00:58:14and the Omni at the end of the year last show in December of 1984 was down to a thousand people
00:58:19so you had a town that had been the hottest hotbed of wrestling that was drawing when the Omni ran
00:58:27once and the city auditorium ran three times maybe 40,000 paid admissions per month it was
00:58:33down to a thousand people and and I remember when we started working for Crockett and going into the
00:58:37Omni and I'd waited so many years to work the Omni and I went in and it was there was 8,000
00:58:44people or there was 9,000 or sometimes seven and every once while a Starcade or whatever it would
00:58:48be a you know a near sellout but we never turned them away never really filled everything up and
00:58:53the people it didn't have the feel that I remembered when I had gone to see the matches
00:58:59there they they felt like their feelings had been hurt well they just couldn't get all the way into
00:59:04it and when it was going at the hottest if you went in and it wasn't at least over three quarters
00:59:10full yeah Barnett was upset and somebody was gonna get fired well as we've seen when Jim Barnett gets
00:59:17upset yeah it takes place and you just took for granted I mean you build it up for three weeks
00:59:23you're going in there it's gonna blow off you know to say I never saw it at a thousand thank God I
00:59:28would have been really disappointed oh god where you should win when Turner Broadcasting finally
00:59:33bought ended up with the whole thing you've seen it in less than a thousand you could shoot deer
00:59:37in the balcony oh my god it was brutal but that's that in in one way it was the death of one of the
00:59:45classic wrestling territories and in another way it was the start of the only war maybe that ever
00:59:51beat the war of 72 to 74 the Monday Night Wars because the what formed Atlanta wrestling really
01:00:00was it was there was three different generations there was the the old Atlanta wrestling there was
01:00:04the Georgia championship wrestling heyday between 74 and 84 and then there was the Crockett years
01:00:11and the Monday Night Wars that followed in WCW so Atlanta if it hadn't been for the city of Atlanta
01:00:16wrestling history would have been significantly different and very much changed yeah and it's sad
01:00:23I mean it's sad that the WCW never took off and sustained like it should have you got channel 17
01:00:32for guys they had all the tools they had all the tool it was the loose nut behind the wheel yeah
01:00:36that caused the whole thing to fall apart sad you're making me depressed I feel so bad but
01:00:45what are your final thoughts final memories on Georgia championship wrestling well like I said
01:00:50I think my fondest memories of being in this business were in Georgia made a lot of good
01:00:58friends I still have I still live there the towns I can picture the towns we talked about these
01:01:07individuals and I can see the guys in the ring I can see how frantic the fans were yeah you know
01:01:15fanatic yes the buildings overflowing just the excitement and it was a good time it was a good
01:01:24time in my life well this was a good time here Bill I want to thank you very much don't put
01:01:29the Cobra on me please no no Bill Eadie the masked superstar Bolo Mongo demolition whatever
01:01:36the case you've you've you change your names regularly to stay ahead of the law but we thank
01:01:40you for being a part of back to the territories we thank you for being a part of back to the
01:01:44territories and we will see you once again very soon when we go to another far-flung territory
01:01:50revisit the days of the past in professional wrestling for kayfabe commentaries I'm Jim
01:01:54Cornette we'll see you later
01:02:14you