GCW #7 Page #2
Superpushes were quite common in Georgia, bringing a wrestler or a team in and making them seem indestructable from the very beginning. Some that come to mind are The Freebirds, The Road Warriors, Tommy Rich's 1981 return to Georgia that set up his five day reign as NWA champ. Actually, most of the new main eventers were given a huge push and a run at the Georgia title, and later the National title. The Road Warriors' superpush was well deserved, there was no other team like them at the time, a combination of speed, strength, and at the time had a look to them that would scare you. Add Paul Ellering as their manager, and you had an unbeatable team. Sure, they were green and stiff, and wouldn't sell, but that was their image.
The Freebirds also was very deserving. Michael Hayes had 5 star mic skills, Terry Gordy and Buddy Roberts worked great as a team, and also Hayes was great at interfering. The difference between them and the Road Warriors is that the Freebirds earned it. Hayes and Gordy teamed in various regions, then picked up Roberts in Mid South, where they really took off with the JYD angle. They were the real deal, and needed and deserved national exposure. So, off to Georgia they went, and the rest is history. I'll tell you what, I really miss that old Techwood Drive studio where GCW was taped. When I purchased my first GCW tape, that and Gordon Solie were the two biggest reasons why. Gordon certainly knew the business, he forgot more than these announcers now, excluding Jim Ross, will ever know. That studio was GCW for many, because they didn't appear in their area. Even in 1989, there was still a touch of GCW in the NWA, when they closed down the wrestling studio, it wasn't World Championship Wrestling anymore.
Lastly, this is something that has been debated in the message boards and I would like to throw my hat into this. The subject is the tapes, THOSE tapes. The tapes that are feared to be lost in the ruin at the city dump. The tapes that any GCW fan would want to have. Well, here's my take on that. Ole was a wrestler, a booker, and a part owner. Wrestling wasn't entertainment for him, it was his job. He could've got caught in the moment of cleaning his garage, the tapes were in the way of everything, and he just didn't have room for them. Take into consideration as well that the time frame could've been in the 1984-85 span, where not everybody had a VCR. Sure, he could've sold the tapes to somebody for re-use, or distribution. The tapes didn't do Ole any good at the time, GCW was dead, CWG Inc. was dead and buried. The tapes could be as well. The counterpoint is that Ole could be storing them away for a wrestling network, I don't know if it's still in the works. Personally, I can't see him just throwing all of the footage away, that's a lot of tapes. He could still have a few, if not all of them. But, if he did we'd seen some of it during the anniversary Clash where GCW's wrestlers were honored. In my opinion, if there is undeniable proof that they're destroyed, I'll still think they exist. It would be nice to look one day and see GCW footage from the 70s there, but I don't think it will happen. But we can always hope.
NEXT MONTH:
I will focus on the 80s, the events and feuds that made GCW the most popular territory in that time span. Until then, so long from the Peach State of Georgia.