Taped from St. Paul, MN
Airdate: September 17, 1985 (taped 09/08)
Attendance: 4,000
Hosted by Larry Nelson, Ron Trongard, & Verne Gagne
Can Hennig, Hall, and Greg overcome the vicious combination of Bockwinkel, Stevens, and Zbyszko? What happens when Slaughter challenges Flair for the NWA World title? Can Zumhofe defeat Roberts, or will the wily Freebird prevail? Let’s find out!
Hello You!
Chael Sonnen’s Coke Dealer suggested giving this a go in the comments section last week, so I had a search over on YouTube and picked a show at random. You can watch along with me if you like by clicking HERE.
Southwest Championship Wrestling was based out of San Antonio and run by Joe Blanchard (The father of Tully and grandfather of Tessa). Southwest was apparently the first ever promotion to get a slot on the USA Network, but Vince McMahon ended up bring an end to that by flashing his nickers at USA and getting Southwest dropped for All American Wrestling.
I have no idea what to expect here, so let’s watch some chuffing wrestling and find out!
Taped from Atlantic, City, NJ
Airdate: September 10, 1985 (taped 07/08)
Attendance: unknown
Hosted by Larry Nelson, Doug McLeod, & Verne Gagne
Can Greg get the better of Bockwinkel? Will Zumhofe regain the Light Heavyweight title? How do the Freebirds fare tonight? And we’ll revisit the night Martel won the AWA title.
The SmarK Rant for Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling – 05.29.82
Time for a little palate cleanser before Wrestlemania weekend!
Taped from Charlotte, NC
Your host is Bob Caudle
I wasn’t really feeling All Japan this week, so I decided to try something different. We might go back to it, we might not, I’ll see how I feel in a few weeks.
This week we’re going for something a bit different, in the form of Continental Wrestling, which was a territory operating out of Knoxville and Dotham that ran from the 50’s to the 80’s before finally going out of business in 1989.
The main reason I chose this particular episode is that it has a young Mick Foley working in one of his first territories, and I believe it was in Continental that he invented the famed “Nestea Plunge” bump off the apron, which of course led to him taking it night after night for a while, because wrestling.
He was also in World Class/USWA around this time as well though and I haven’t sat down to re-read “Have A Nice Day” in a while, so he might have invented it there instead, but he was still young in his career at this stage at any rate, so this should hopefully be an interesting time capsule.
If you’d like to watch along with me you can do by clicking HERE
Taped from Atlantic, City, NJ
Airdate: September 3, 1985 (taped 07/08)
Attendance: unknown
Hosted by Larry Nelson, Dick McLeod, & Nick Bockwinkel
Can Gordy defeat Martel and become World champion? What’s on the mind of the Road Warriors? Long Riders? Jimmy Garvin? What’s that? A pair of wrestlers have infiltrated this reflection? Let’s check it out!
Taped from Dallas, TX
Airdate: July 6, 1985 (taped 06/28)
Attendance: unknown
Hosted by Bill Mercer
How will Kevin and Parsons fare against Gang and Brooks? What’s new with Adams? What does Mike have to say about his shoulder injury? And who will join me for this hair-raising episode?
The SmarK Rant for Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling – 05.22.82
I know I had promised NWA Back for the Attack PPV for this morning, but I’m just not feeling that one at the moment and this show makes me happy.
Taped from Dallas, TX
Airdate: June 29, 1985 (taped 06/14)
Attendance: unknown
Hosted by Bill Mercer
Can Kerry and Kabuki beat the undefeated Dynamic Duo? What’s Parsons’ side of the story about Mike? And who will join me for this never-say-die episode?
The SmarK Rant for Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling – 05.15.82
OK, so the Network is missing a week of the show, omitting the May 8 episode for some reason. I honestly thought that they had filled in all those random gaps by now.
Taped from Charlotte, NC
Your hosts are Bob Caudle & David Crockett
Taped from Dallas, TX
Airdate: June 22, 1985 (taped 06/14)
Attendance: unknown
Hosted by Bill Mercer
Can Adias defeat the returning and menacing Brooks? Will Cornette retrieve his blazer this week? How will Fulton fare against the “Crippler”? And who will join me for this rather odd episode?
The SmarK Rant for Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling – 05.01.82
I had wanted to do some Crockett stuff earlier in the week, but I already had Superstars in the can when he passed so I figured I might as well get it posted first. But what better way to pay tribute to an all time great promoter than by taking a look at Slaughter’s Privates for our weekly check-up.
This event – the last in Smoky Mountain Wrestling’s history – took place at the Cookeville Community Center in Cookeville, Tennessee on November 26, 1995. Attendance for the show could not be found, but there are lots of empty seats and a generous estimate of the crowd might be 150 people. Like the Thanksgiving Thunder show in Johnson City, this event was recorded by a fan.
Fans do not take kindly to the announcement that Terry Gordy is not in attendance because of a “concussion.”
Taped from Dallas, TX
Airdate: June 15, 1985 (taped 05/31)
Attendance: unknown
Hosted by Bill Mercer
Can Kerry defeat Gang in a return match? Will Cornette succeed in retrieving his green jacket? And who will join me for this playful episode?
The SmarK Rant for Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling – 04.24.82
Nothing like checking out Slaughter’s privates on a Sunday morning.
Taped from Charlotte, NC
The SmarK Rant for Mid-South Wrestling – 08.17.85
Taped from Shreveport, LA
Your hosts are Joel Watts & Jim Ross
This show took place at Freedom Hall in Johnson City, Tennessee on November 25, 1995. It drew a crowd of 550 fans, a decline from the 800 fans who attended the Halloween Scream card there on October 28. Footage of the show is provided by a fan recording.
Ring announcer Tommy Noe tells fans that Terry Gordy has a concussion and cannot compete, covering up for Gordy’s inability to show due to a prior commitment in Japan.
Buddy Landel walks into the ring and tells fans that Jos LeDuc has no showed because of a family issue. Landel says that he is willing to face Tommy Rich and the Punisher in a handicap match until Commissioner Bob Armstrong comes out and says he will help Landel find a partner.
Taped from Dallas, TX
Airdate: June 1, 1985 (taped 05/17)
Attendance: unknown
Hosted by Bill Mercer
Can Adias defeat Gino and become Texas champion? What’s going on between Cornette and Casey? And who will join me for this greenish episode?
The SmarK Rant for Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling – 04.17.82
This is a really short episode with a Network runtime of 40 minutes, so there must be a bunch of stuff that was cut out of it.
Taped from Charlotte, NC
The SmarK Rant for Mid-South Wrestling – 08.10.85
Yes, it’s a BONUS RANT, as usually I don’t do a Thursday morning posting on Dynamite days, but I’m on vacation and since we’re basically under stay at home orders, I got nothing else to do with my time but catch up on wrestling. I also reviewed the Yokozuna documentary for Inside the Ropes magazine and that’ll be out a couple of months from now as well. So Wednesday was a productive day!
Taped from Shreveport, LA
Your hosts are Jim Ross & Joel Watts