4/11/70 Rich was a fan favorite during his run in the NWA, working the babyface angle to the hilt as he battled with Buzz Sawyer, The Fabulous Freebirds, among many others. [Photo: Mervyn George Bishop/Fairfax Media]Barnett stayed in Australia for the next decade until he got the call to return to Georgia in 1974. Noah was the only Bainbridge wrestler to compete while the tournament was an open invitation to all wrestlers. 10/14/58 3/20/67 By this point, Ann Gunkels ASWA went out of business, and everything was re-absorbed by Barnetts newly built juggernaut. Another great transaction from this seller! 8/17/55 1/18/70 3/7/53 12/2/69 The following year, in addition to the cable contract and his nationally syndicated offerings (WWF Championship Wrestling and WWF All-Star Wrestling), McMahon expanded further by premiering Tuesday Night Titans on USA. 6/25/48 Please disable your ad blocker to view the video content. By Coach Chad Smith Noah Stutler, a 8th grade wrestler for Bainbridge Middle School and also a Junior Varsity starter for the Bainbridge High School wrestling team competed at the Georgia All Freshman State Competition yesterday in Atlanta. 9/9/55 This left the trio of The Briscoes and Paul Jones in the decision-making end of the office with Ole along for the ride with his little percentage of stock. 1/4/70 The promotion was affiliated with what had been the world's top sanctioning body of championship titles for decades before, the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA), and ran live wrestling shows throughout its geographic "territory" of Georgia. Buddy Fuller and Mr. Wrestling Tim Woods gave El Mongol his best matches, but he managed to capture the title ten times in that stretch of time. When WTCG became distributed via satellite in 1976, the renamed Georgia Championship Wrestling became the first television program produced by an NWA-affiliated promotion to be broadcast nationally. 1/13/50 6/10/68 4/18/70 Word began to spread between workers who lived on the East Coast and out to California that Georgia was one of the places to get over and make some money. 1/25/69 Additionally, in September of 1982, the name of the promotions highly-rated TV program was officially changed to World Championship Wrestling. 4/22/70 3/17/70 1/13/61 Tributes: Remembering Some of the World's Greatest Wrestlers, "End of an era on TBS Solie, Georgia and 'Black Saturday', "Full List Of WWE Network Additions (07/12/2018): Historic WWE Network Hidden Gem, Smackdown, and More! 1/14/55 Published Nov 7, 2021. 11/2/57 3/21/70 In 1999, it secured a cable deal to air a show on TNN, but the next year, TNN gained rights to WWF programming and dropped ECW, which folded in April 2001, shortly after the WWF's purchase of WCW's assets. 4/5/70 Well discuss one of the most prolific territories to have ever opened its doors on the way. 8/26/58 Jim Barnett went on to become Vice President at Titan Sports, the parent company of the WWF. View cart for details. These programs ran until March 30, 1985, using the same set that would later be used by Jim Crockett when he purchased the WWF time slot from McMahon (see below).[2]. 2/20/50 9/23/61 11 Unforgettable Wrestling Moments at The Omni, Battle for Atlanta How The NWA Crushed Ann Gunkels Outlaw Promotion, the tag division until The Fabulous Freebirds, Championship Wrestling from Florida | Wrestling Territories, A Ghost Story: How a Long-forgotten Territory Still Haunts WWE, Battle for Atlanta | How The NWA Crushed Ann Gunkels Outlaw Promotion, https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC_HWwv81Oni3PeOwYGuclbA, Disclaimer, Terms of Service, Privacy Policy, and Disclosure. In 1955, Barnett leveraged his way into the Chicago promotion and bought into the NWA franchise. In July 2018, the Black Saturday episode was made available as a hidden gem on the WWE Network.[7]. 10/27/60 12/29/61 4/7/70 The NWA Columbus Tag Team Championship was a professional wrestling tag team championship in Georgia Championship Wrestling (GCW). 2/28/70 Though many teams like Buddy Fuller and Ray Gunkel managed to wrangle the belts away from them on a few occasions, The Assassins always seemed to get them back in short order. A power struggle in late 1983 forced Barnett to sell most of his shares in GCW to a conglomerate consisting of wrestlers and brothers Jack Brisco and Jerry Brisco; Paul Jones; and Al Rogowski, a match booker, who also wrestled as "Ole Anderson." GCW was one of the most powerful wrestling promotions in the NWA. This program was hosted by Gordon Solie and was recorded in the studios of WTCG in Midtown Atlanta. All wrestlers report to the awards area immediately following their medal match. Though he got his break in Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling, it was in Georgia Championship Wrestling that he really made his mark on the NWA. 4/23/57 Georgia Championship Wrestling was a professional wrestling promotion whose self-titled TV program aired its first show on WTCG, a UHF independent station in Atlanta, as a Christmas special on December 25, 1971. Wrestling) > Bill Dromo and Luke Graham . 9/23/55 8/26/69 6/30/44 He can be reached by e-mail at squints72hhi@gmail.com. 2/1/70 In 1983, Barnett was edged out of any shot calling in GCW through politicking and backroom dealings. (The Australian promotion was called World Championship Wrestling.) Both images show the WTBS Techwood Drive studios on the right and Alexander Memorial . 1/2/69 5/13/57 1/27/66 3/14/70 Vincent K. McMahon (1984), STATES & PRIMARY CITIES: 1/31/59 , 9/3/43 Gerald Brisco (19741984) Tales From The Territories - GCW - Georgia Championship Wrestling - Full Episode 17/30 Original Wrestling Documentaries 61.1K subscribers Subscribe 1.9K 212K views 4 years ago. 11/26/56 The two sometimes ran shows against the NWA Detroit brand periodically but mostly kept within the confines of the organizations umbrella. Barnett saw this as an opportunity to go beyond the confines of just his home base of Atlanta to get his product into any cable market in the country. 10/2/59 11/25/55 1/14/44 4/21/70 In addition to the cities within Georgia that made up its traditional circuit, the stars of GCW began appearing in markets that had no specific NWA affiliation and soon cities in Ohio, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, Tennessee and Michigan became part of the Georgia promotions touring schedule. With the grizzled, stoic Ole calling the shots, and the pitbull of a young worker in Arn delivering the heavy hits and suffocating spine busters that looked like Rembrandt in motion, the two decimated any pair that they laid their gaze on. Georgia Championship Wrestling was an American professional wrestling promotion based in Atlanta, Georgia. Black Inventors Online Museum superstar sgt. 12/29/62 The old NWA cage matches are some of the bloodiest Ive ever seen, and The Masked Superstar was up at the top of that list with Dusty Rhodes and Ric Flair for the amount of blood let onto the canvas. A respected member of the National Wrestling Alliance for the vast majority of his three decades as a promoter, his ABC Booking company was one of the most successful regional wrestling companies of the era and, not excluding the normal fluctuations in attendance that were a part of the promotional business, that success continued through to the early 1970s when ABC Booking became Mid South Sports, Inc. and Georgia Championship Wrestling was born. 6/3/61 Ole Anderson (1980-1984) Consequently, he approached Turner with an offer to buy the Saturday night GCW time slot, only for Turner to reject him out of hand. GCW's program was hosted by NWA announcer Gordon Solie, who also hosted programs for various other NWA affiliated promotions at the time (such as Championship Wrestling from Florida). 11/4/55 Georgia Championship Wrestling. While the new WWE may not have the freeform promos that made the territory days great, or the bloody cage matches and specialty stipulation matches we all came to love as kids, so many of their stars today still have roots in not only the NWA but in the Southern Wrestling movement, and GCW as well. 4/4/70 1/12/61 Firstly, it started promoting matches at the then-brand-new Omni Coliseum. 1/26/61 Rich got his training from Jerry Jarrett when he was still a young man, and he took to the roads and worked most of the major NWA markets in the South and Southeast. 1/26/70 Promoter and businessman, Grady Odum acquired the rights to Georgia Championship Wrestling in the early 1990s. 2/9/70 On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. 4/15/70 4/19/70 11/15/56 Watts pulled out and headed to Oklahoma full-time with his Mid-South brand that would morph into the UWA before its eventual demise at the hands of national expansions. 1/19/63 2/23/70 3/12/61 Jack Brisco and Gerald Brisco had major stakes in the organization while Ole Anderson was head booker and was basically in charge of operations. Jim Crockett Promotions took over production of the television show using the same set. 8/7/61 , 1/31/58 9/25/58 12/14U - 12:30-1:00PM Wrestling will start at 2:00PM or at the conclusion of the 1st session. His battles with Wahoo McDaniel were also the stuff of legend in GCW. 2/24/70 2/2/61 Meanwhile, The Briscos payday, besides the near one million dollars they sold their stock for, was guaranteed spots at the WWF as road agents and later an on-air role for Gerald in the Attitude Era. After moving to Sydney, Australia, Barnett would open the original World Championship Wrestling there in 1964. 3/19/70 Simultaneously, unbeknownst to Barnett, McMahon also began making deals with the majority stockholders, The Brisco Brothers. The Tag and Heavyweight Titles werent the only championships in the Georgia Championship Wrestling territory being fought over in the promotions heyday. 2/5/69 Walker made a name for himself, working with NWA promoter Paul Boesch out of Houston but opted to start a family and retired as a young man just ten years after his debut. 3/30/70 11/21/69 9/30/55 1/27/70 4/30/57 By 1980, Georgia mainstays like Dusty Rhodes, Mr. Wrestling II, Tommy Wildfire Rich, The Masked Superstar, Tony Atlas, Austin Idol, Ole Anderson, Wahoo McDaniel and many others were genuine national wrestling celebrities due to the fact that Georgia Championship Wrestling had become cable TVs first legitimate hit show. 7/28/44 1/24/69 4/21/61 At the time, Crockett was trying to counter the WWF's national expansion by unifying the remaining NWA territories that McMahon had not driven out of business into one nationwide unit. The promotion underwent some big changes in 1972. 3/28/70 7/16/63 $15.99. 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