Mid-Atlantic #1 '80-'82

 

Disc 1

Johnny Weaver & Jake Roberts vs. Volkoff & Markoff

- This is from Maple Leaf. I actually liked this tag match. I’ll have to re-watch it to see if it is worthy of a nomination but it just felt like it was disjointed.

 

Slaughter & Valentine vs. Weaver & Youngblood

- Another match from Maple Leaf. This was one of those matches that probably could have used another 10 minutes or so to flesh the match out.

 

Ole Anderson vs. Jay Youngblood

- Didn’t really get going until an interference finish.

 

Ole Anderson vs. Leroy Brown

- This is another match from Maple Leaf. This was a blast to watch. Brown hits Ole over the head with his hard hat with shots as hard as any in the Slaughter-Sheik boot camp match. The first few minutes are Brown manhandling Ole and Ole is selling and bumping like a champ. Damn, Brown’s hits are just solid. This was going along great until Ivan Koloff interferes and they beat down Brown. Man, I don’t know if it will find its way on the set but I can see it going on as an EXTRA.

 

Sgt. Slaughter vs. Jay Youngblood

- More Maple Leaf. Slaughter is such a great heel. Too bad he became a GI Joe. Most of the match revolves around Youngblood working on Slaughter’s arm but it wasn’t very exciting. Slaughter was much more enjoyable on offense and he ends it with the Cobra Clutch. TO me, this match felt like the first fall of a Portland main event. I guess that is the problem with watching so much Youngblood Portland recently. However, Youngblood’s matches with Rose were much better.

 

Roddy Piper vs. Jay Youngblood

- A lot of stalling from Piper until he uses some cheap shots to take advantage. The end stretch was some greta back and forth action but the match ends in a draw. This was a fun match but short of a nomination.

 

Sweet Ebony Diamond vs. Greg Valentine

- Diamond is Rocky Johnson under a mask. Decent match with a horrible finish.

 

Greg Valentine vs. Blackjack Mulligan

- Early on, not much actual wrestling but both guys are laying the shots in. Mulligan hooks in the claw but gets distracted by Ole Anderson. He ends up throwing Valentine over the top rope for the DQ and goes to the outside. I would really like to see these two in a house show match or a No DQ.

 

Sweet Ebony Diamond vs. Bobby Duncam

- Lots of restholds here before Diamond wins with a rollup.

 

Johnny Weaver vs. Killer Khan

- Maple Leaf. I am not a Khan fan but this was pretty fun. Khan beats him around until Weaver sees an opportunity to get the sleeper and he jumps on Khan’s back and tries to hang on for dear life. Khan, however, escapes and end sit with a backbreaker and a vicious knee drop. Low level nomination.

 

Jay Youngblood & Pat Patterson vs. Sgt. Slaughter & Greg Valentine

- Maple Leaf. Slaughter and Valentine make a pretty good team but this match wasn’t much to see.

 

Jake Roberts & Paul Jones vs. Ole Anderson & Super Destroyer

- I really would have liked to see some more Ole-Jake interaction. Hell, you could have taken out SD and Jones and I would have been content. I know Ole has a bad rep for not selling but in these early matches, he is bumping and selling just fine. Really cool ending involving Destroyer’s mask. Man, I wish this would have been ten minutes longer.

 

Paul Jones vs. Ivan Koloff

- Ivan Koloff is another guy I am growing fond of but this isn’t much of a match.

 

 

Disc 2

Roddy Piper vs. Ricky Steamboat (JIP)

- Maple Leaf. Steamboat wins. I may have to borrow this tape from Jeff as I think the 1st part was on Vol. 1. Still, I don’t think it lasted more than 5 minutes.

 

Rocky Johnson vs. Greg Valentine

- Decent match, not great.

 

Jerry Brisco & Wahoo McDaniel vs. Greg Valentine & Paul Jones

- This was just heating up before Brisco ends it with the Figure 4.

 

Ric Flair Interview (EXTRA)

Jack Brisco vs. Ric Flair

- Really good TV match that has Brisco pin the champ. Flair is irate! I know Flair didn’t have too many TV matches but when he did, he usually delivered. This needs to be on the set with interviews included.

 

Sgt. Slaughter vs. Jake Roberts

- One of the stars from the WWF set meets a star from the Mid South set. Man, these guys really needed a 15 minute match. Slaughter wins a short match with a clothesline.

 

Joe LeDuc vs. Jimmy Valiant (JIP)

- Match begins as Valiant is biting LeDuc in the head and he is already bleeding. LeDuc wins in short order.

 

Greg Valentine vs. Wahoo McDaniel

- Really good TV match that sees McDaniel busted open so Valentine just works on the bloody head of Wahoo. Seriously, these guys are giving and taking some evil looking shots. Valentine’s elbows look really nasty. Ending came out of nowhere as Valentine makes Wahoo submit to a leg hold. Still, a really great match. Nomination.

 

Dory Funk Jr. vs. Jay Youngblood

- Not much of a match.

 

Steamboat vs. LeDuc (9:15)

- Damn, LeDuc throws a mean punch. LeDuc overpowers Steamboat but Steamboat displays his own power by slamming Joe twice and giving him a backbreaker. Really nice sequence where Joe powers out of a Steamboat chinlock with Steamer on his back so Steamer pushes him to the corner into a rollup only for Joe to kick out and send Steamer head first into the bottom turnbuckle. Damn, I never thought I would see Joe LeDuc and Steamboat get into a chopping contest but it rules. Dory Funk Jr. eventually comes in for a DQ and puts a bad ending on a super fun match. Nomination.

 

Mike Rotundo vs. Gene Anderson

- Rotundo ends the win by reversing a small package.

 

Mike Rotundo vs. Leroy Brown

- Not a very good match

 

Flair vs. Piper (clip)

- Shit, I wish there was a complete version of this matchup.

 

Jack Brisco vs. Paul Jones

- I could see some people liking this match but I wasn’t feeling it.

 

Jimmy Valiant vs. Joe LeDuc

- I love Valiant as a character but I hate watching him wrestle.

 

Johnny Weaver vs. Joe LeDuc

- Quick match and LeDuc win

 

Wahoo McDaniel vs. Greg Valentine

- I liked the TV match better but this is still worthy of a nomination. What a great matchup these two ended up being a part of. Wahoo wins with a small package

 

Jimmy Valiant & Bugsy McGraw Interview

One Man Gang – Jimmy Valiant Tug of War (EXTRA)

Chris Markoff & Nikolai Volkoff vs. Jake "The Snake" Roberts & Johnny Weaver (9/21/81)

 

Weaver & Jake were fun here but Markoff & Volkoff plodded around a little too much for this to be considered for a nomination.

 

Then there is a bunch of stuff I've already seen.

 

Killer Khan vs. Johnny Weaver (10/4/81)

 

Khan dominates Weaver early here using his power offense while screaming out which was fun. Weaver would fight back even getting the Weaver Lock but Khan broke free by pounding his head into the ringpost. Khan would then hit his backbreaker then diving knee off the middle rope to win. Decent match and I love Khan but there isn't enough here for me to pass this on as a nomination.

 

Then more stuff I've seen.

 

Will nominated the Valentine/Wahoo match on here but this is the I BROKE WAHOO'S LEG match from 1978 so not an 80's match. This aired BTW on East Coast Wrestling which was like Crockett's version of Power Pro Wrestling that showed old matches and house shows matches. I wish we had more of that show on tape.

 

NWA World TV Title: Jos LeDuc © vs. Johnny Weaver (10/27/82)

 

Johnny puts up a fight and makes it competitive but LeDuc is too powerful for him.

 

US Heavyweight Title: Chief Wahoo McDaniel © vs. Greg "The Hammer" Valentine (9/19/82)

 

This is from Charlotte Coliseum and Wahoo is already bandaged from a previous injury so you know Valentine is going to work over the cut. This is full of stiff shots as you would want here and I loved Wahoo working over Valentine's leg as payback from their angle 4 years earlier. This became a total slugfest and Valentine looked like he was about to win the title but Wahoo snuck in an inside cradle and got the win. Damn solid match and a fairly easy nomination.

 

The rest is stuff I've seen.