Mid-Atlantic #2 '81-'82

 

Disc 1

Steamboat vs. Prater

- Ends quickly with Piper interference

 

Slaughter Cobra Clutch Demonstration (EXTRA)

 

Jake Roberts, Jay Youngblood, Barry Windham vs. Ivan Koloff & The Andersons

- Damn, Barry is as skinny as Kendall here. Man, this would have been awesome but it doesn’t last long as it turns into a shmoz with interference. Man, that sucks.

 

Ricky Steamboat & Jake Roberts vs. Super Destroyer & Grappler

- I never knew Jake and Ricky ever tagged together. Really good tag as Jake and Ricky work well together. If this match doesn’t end in Piper’s interference then this is an easy nomination but the finish brings it down so I’ll call it a low level nomination.

 

Roddy Piper- Ricky Steamboat Signing (EXTRA)

 

Sgt. Slaughter- Wahoo McDaniel Challenge (EXTRA)

 

Wahoo McDaniel vs. Sgt. Slaughter (9:33)(4:19) (13:52)

- Pretty slow match to start out. I was hoping for some punching and chopping like the Valentine-Wahoo match. Seriously, I don’t want to see Wahoo and Slaughter taking it to the mat. They should be beating the shit out of each other. It begins ot pick up at the end with Wahoo even winning with a hard chop but it doesn’t make up for the boredom I felt beforehand. No vote.

 

Wahoo McDaniel, Don Muraco & Jake Roberts Interview

 

Ric Flair vs. Jay Youngblood

- This face vs. face. In the end, Flair loses his cool and attacks Youngblood from behind and even throws the referee out of the way. The faces come into the ring and ask Flair what is wrong with him. The match itself was nothing special. In fact, where did my Portland Youngblood go? In Portland, his matches were so much better and he actually had a personality. In Mid Atlantic, I don’t see anything from him so far. I know it will improve with the Slaughter/Kernodle feud but his single matches have been weak so far.

 

Don Muraco – Jack Brisco Confrontation

Jack Brisco vs. Don Muraco

- Brisco spends the majority of the match working on Muraco’s arm. This is fine and technically good but not very interesting. When Muraco gets the chance, he goes to work on Brisco’s leg. Eventually Roddy Piper interferes and attacks Brisco. This is not something I care to see again and it gets no nomination from me.

 

Roddy Piper explains his actions (confrontation with Wahoo & Steamboat)

Jack Brisco vs. Roddy Piper

- Maybe it’s just me but I am not digging the Briscos at all. Maybe one of you guys need to watch the Brisco matches and nominate them because I am bored to tears. This match revolves around Brisco applying the headlock and Piper working out of it. However, there are large chunks of time where nothing is happening… at all! It picks up at the end with a battle of dueling sleepers and some brawling. Eventually, Piper uses a roll of coins to knock out Brisco and win the Mid Atlantic Title. Man, that Steamboat/Youngblood feud can’t come soon enough because I don’t think I really like Brisco the singles guy. Hell, I didn’t even think his Starrcade tag was the best tag of the night.

 

Jimmy Valiant vs. Ivan Koloff

- This was actually a pretty fun Valiant match as Ivan kept feeding Jimmy and making him look much better than he actually is. The match ends with Ivan popping Jimmy with the loaded glove. Fun match but not a nomination.

 

 

Ric Flair Interview

Ric Flair – Wahoo McDaniel Confrontation

Ric Flair vs. Jack Brisco

- Flair does a much better job with Brisco as this was much more entertaining than the Piper match. Still, it doesn’t move me enough to nominate it although I can see that a Brisco-Flair match would be intriguing on an NWA set. It might have to go on if there aren’t any more singles matches between the two but I am not enthusiastic about voting for it.

EDIT: I already nominated a Brisco-Flair match

 

Dory Funk Jr. vs. Jay Youngblood

- Pretty short match. Dory wins with a spinning toe hold pin by using the ropes. Steamboat then comes in to protest and he pins Dory with Youngblood counting.

 

 

 

Disc 2

Ricky Steamboat vs. Joe LeDuc (9:22)

- Same match as before

 

Jimmy Valiant vs. Joe LeDuc

- Another short arena finish

 

Bob Orton Jr., Jerry Brisco & Dick Slater vs. Dory Funk Jr. , Greg Valentine & Larry Lane

- Decent 6-man tag, not great.

 

Flair vs. Piper (JIP) (11:00)

- Nice! We get 10 minutes plus of a Piper-Flair match and Flair made Piper look great, selling and stooging and brawling. Piper buts Flair open and works over the cut. For a minute, it looked like Piper was going to win the match but a cross body block is rolled through by Flair who gets a pin with the feet on the ropes. This was fun and a nomination.

 

Roddy Piper- Dick Slater Confrontation & Pull-apart brawl

 

Steamboat vs. Brown (10:15)

- This was not good.

 

Steamboat vs. Flair 1977 (5:24)(2:48) (8:12)

- From the 70s.

 

OMG Body Slam Challenge (EXTRA)

 

Slaughter & Kernodle vs. Youngblood & Steamboat (10:47)

- This isn’t anywhere close to the cage match but these two teams just bring it. Slaughter throwing out a Superfly Splash was awesome. These two teams can’t be contained and it ends in a double DQ. Nomination.

 

Slaughter & Kernodle vs. Youngblood & Steamboat (JIP) (9:56 w/ Slaughter/Kernodle interview)

- I want to check the Road to Greensboro DVD to see if more of this match is shown because as it stands, this is just an EXTRA.

 

Jack Brisco vs. Dory Funk Jr

- Someone else watch this and nominate it since I have put a moratorium on Brisco matches.

 

Joe LeDuc Interview

Joe LeDuc vs. Dick Slater

- This was pretty fun leading up to Greg Valentine interference. Not a nomination though.

 

Ricky Steamboat & Jay Youngblood Interview (attacked by Slaughter & Kernodle (EXTRA)

 

Kabuki vs. Jimmy Valiant

- No, just no. It was fun to see Valiant get the red mist in his eyes.

 

Joe LeDuc vs. Dick Slater

- They played this as a pretty straight wrestling match when it really needed to be a brawl. Awe have another ending with Greg Valentine interference. LeDuc has some great looking punches and seeing him fly was fun. No nomination though.

This starts with a Steamboat squash I've seen.

 

Next we get Sgt. Slaughter demonstrating the Cobra Clutch on a young Dirty White Boy Tony Anthony and this is extra material. (November 1981)

 

Blackjack Mulligan Jr., Jake Roberts, & Jay Youngblood vs. "Russian Bear" Ivan Koloff & The Minnesota Wrecking Crew (Gene & Ole Anderson) (November 1981)

 

Half the guys in this match were inserted in by Sandy Scott before it started and this was a fun little match before Roughhouse Fargo lost control of the match. Gene is working in his street clothes here since he wasn't originally supposed to wrestle.

 

Jake "The Snake" Roberts & Ricky Steamboat vs. The Grappler & Super Destroyer (November 1981)

 

JIP a little bit here. Jake & Ricky make for a really fun team and work well together plus it helps having good opponents. The faces take almost all of the match here and the heels are bumping machines for them. The heels got some offense in mainly on Jake and while it was short it was effective. Ole & Piper show up at ringside to cause a disturbance but it fires Jake up and he NUKES Grappler with a DDT which was a counter move for him at the time before getting the hot tag to Steamer. Steamer runs wild and the 4-way brawl was on before Piper pulled him to the floor for a DQ. Very fun match and a nomination even with the crappy finish.

 

Then we get Steamer out with a bag full of letters from fans wanting him to face Piper so Sandy Scott orders Piper to come out to sign a contract to face Steamer. Piper comes out crazy and they sign the deal for the Mid-Atlantic title. Extra material.

 

Next we get stuff I've seen.

 

Magnificent Muraco is out next as he has turned on Wahoo McDaniel and is a heel which brings out Jack Brisco who is pissed off at Muraco for turning on him as well and challenged him to a match. (6/9/82)

 

Jack Brisco vs. Magnificent Muraco (6/9/82)

 

Jack works over Muraco's left arm early but Jack's left knee is taped up and is ripe for the pickings for Muraco. Piper comes out to watch intently as Jack just works and works over the arm but Muraco finally gets to the leg and he does a good job of setting up the figure-four which Jack reverses the hold but Piper jumps off the top rope for the DQ. This was getting good when Piper jumped in so I won't go for it as a nomination.

 

Then we get stuff I've seen.

 

NWA World TV Title: "Boogie Woogie Man" Jimmy Valiant © vs. "Russian Bear" Ivan Koloff (8/18/82)

 

These two have feuded for months and they bring the match to TV. Decent match here as Ivan was really good at making Valiant look good and dominates the match basically even getting a shot on Sir Oliver Humperdink. Humpy ends up throwing his coal miners glove to Ivan who nails Valiant before Johnny Weaver jumps in from the announce position. Fun for what it was.

 

Next we get more stuff I've seen.

 

Jerry Brisco, Bob Orton Jr., & "Mr. Unpredictable" Dick Slater vs. Dory Funk Jr., Red Dog Lane, & Greg "The Hammer" Valentine (1/5/83)

 

The story here is that the heels constantly run out of the ring when Slater is in and they force him to tag one of his partners. This is basically a handicap match and there is some decent action here but the angle at the end is what is most memorable about this as Slater turns heel on his partners and destroys them with his new friends. The angle is a definite extra and started Slater's rise to being the lead heel in the territory.

 

NWA World Heavyweight Title: "Nature Boy" Ric Flair © vs. Rowdy Roddy Piper (1/1/83)

 

This is from Charlotte Coliseum via East Coast Wrestling and it's JIP a little bit but still a great treat to see a Flair/Piper singles match with the roles being reversed from two years earlier. The fans are apeshit for Piper who is great here with his insane fast paced striking offense while Flair is just as great bumping and selling for Piper's madness. Flair would eventually hit his kneebreaker to setup the figure-four but Piper found a way to break free and got his own figure-four. The battle would eventually go to the floor where Piper posted Flair which brought out the juice giving Piper something to attack and he does it vigorously as Flair's head is as red as his tights. Piper would get his sleeper hold on Flair but Flair would get to the ropes and would get the win after rolling under a Piper cross body block. Damn solid match and an easy nomination.

 

Then we get a promo from Piper who is talking to the fans about his issues he had getting back to the United States from Puerto Rico which forced him to miss bookings before Slater came out to talk shit on Piper and of course this ends up in a fun brawl. Definite extra. (February 1983)

 

Ricky Steamboat vs. "Bad Bad" Leroy Brown (9/19/82)

 

Heel Leroy is definitely not as good as face Leroy that's a fact.....huge difference. Steamer does what he could here but this wasn't very good.

 

Next we get the epic Flair/Steamer TV match from 1977 that made Steamer a star.

 

Then we get the Gang/Dizzy Hogan/Valiant angle which I've seen already.

 

NWA World Tag Titles: Don Kernodle & Sgt. Slaughter © vs. Ricky Steamboat & Jay Youngblood (2/5/83)

 

All out brawling from the start and this is great as there was no controlling these guys. Slaughter & Youngblood were in the ring while Kernodle & Steamer were on the floor doing battle. The match would eventually go conventional with Steamer tagging in and going after Slaughter only to eat a huge Slaughter Cannon for a nearfall. They go to a break and there is some clipping but not sure how much but it's still all action with Youngblood taking punishment with him taking a big Slaughter Cannon as well. Youngblood would hit a desperation piledriver but Slaughter would get up and hit yet another Slaughter Cannon to put Jay back down for a big splash off the top which he misses. Steamer gets the hot tag and runs wild before the 4-way brawl kicks up again with blood now flowing and Roughhouse Fargo calls for the bell after being assaulted prompting a DDQ. This was great stuff and a definite nomination.

 

Next we get clips of another match between these teams which is a definite extra.

 

Mid-Atlantic Heavyweight Title: Jack Brisco © vs. Dory Funk Jr. (1/30/83)

 

This is from the Charlotte Coliseum and this is your standard Brisco/Dory match with really good wrestling where both guys were going hold for hold but with this set being as deep as it is this isn't going to make the cut. If this match was on say the Florida set then it would be a fairly easy nomination but this area has so much stuff that a match like this doesn't need to go on.

 

Then we get Jos LeDuc with Bob Caudle and Jos is now a babyface after Humperdink turned on him so he wants a shot at Dick Slater's NWA World TV Title with Slater agreeing to the challenge.

 

NWA World TV Title: "Mr. Unpredictable" Dick Slater © vs. Jos LeDuc (3/23/83)

 

Greg Valentine is on commentary here with Bob Caudle and Slater starts out strong here but LeDuc fights back and this is nothing fancy here just two guys pounding on each other with various strikes. Slater would hit LeDuc with his big elbow off the top rope but Jos would kick out before 3 which shocked Valentine. LeDuc comes firing back with shots until Valentine gives Slater the US title belt which he uses as a weapon for the DQ. The heels would bloody up Jos afterwards. Cheap finish to a fun match.

 

Next we get a video of Kernodle & Slaughter stealing the tag belts from Steamer & Youngblood before a tremendous promo by Steamer with Youngblood looking pissed off. Definite extra.

 

"Boogie Woogie Man" Jimmy Valiant vs. The Great Kabuki (4/13/83)

 

Short match with Valiant winning but then getting red mist sprayed in his eyes after he attacks Gary Hart. Hart then cuts a fun promo afterwards. Extra material.

 

NWA World TV Title: Jos LeDuc © vs. "Mr. Unpredictable" Dick Slater (4/20/83)

 

This was worked different from their last TV match and it's way more conventional which is fine but they were in a feud here and this should've had more oomph to it. Jos is great here throwing his dropkicks and throwing great punches as well. Slater tried neutralizing Jos by keeping him on the mat working over his left arm. LeDuc would hit a desperation backbreaker which gave him the chance to go back on offense with this turning into a fun little back and forth battle until Valentine would again get involved for a DQ. They double up on Jos before Johnny Weaver jumps in but he would eat a Slater piledriver on the floor. Slater is continuing his rise as the lead heel and this is extra material.