This rare shot of NWA Champion Tommy "Wildfire" Rich with Freddie Miller was shot during a segment to air on the "Best of Georgia Championship Wrestling Program."
Check out this YouTube video of the interview from which this photograph was taken:
See our earlier post with details about Rich's 5-day reign as champ, and the controversy that remains over the taping and airing of these segments on Georgia television.
Great shot of the belt with the globe horribly dented and the paint all missing from either side of the globe. It would be totally repaired with and fixed back up just before Funk lost it to Race in early 1977. You will also notice the white lettering on a black background over the flags. This would be reversed (black letters on white background) on the next version of the belt. You'll also notice the NWA letters on the globe are straight across. On the next version of the belt, they would arched/curved along the bottom of the globe.
See how beautiful the belt would later look, as seen on the night Race beat Funk in Toronto. When the referee presents the belt to Race (at around 9:27 in the video), you'll see it at it's sparkling, shiny best!
I believe, although I am not completely certain, that this is taken
from the Macon Championship Wrestling program taped in Macon, GA in the
1970s. Normally hosted by Jim Carlisle, Gordon Solie was filing in for
some reason.
If you have further info on the origin of this clip, please contact us so we can confirm or update this information.
Classic Video from Georgia Championship Wrestling, February 23, 1980 by Dick Bourne Mid-Atlantic Gateway
I was happy to come across this classic old video on YouTube (embedded below). It is one of my all-time favorite matches and angles in Georgia Championship Wrestling history.
The match was Tommy "Wildfire" Rich challenging "The Universal Heartthrob" Austin Idol for the TV championship, with Harley Race at ringside. But the TV title wasn't the main focus.
NWA Champion Harley Race on "Georgia Championship Wrestling"
Idol was the #1 contender for the NWA world championship in Georgia and was slated to challenge reigning champion Harley Race for the laurels on Sunday February 24, 1980 at the Omni in Atlanta. Race had made no bones about the fact that he did not want to face Rich, and had placed a $5000 bounty on his head. Any wrestler who could take Rich out before the match at the Omni would collect the cash.
No one really considered that Idol would be in the hunt for the bounty, as he had his own issues to worry about defending his TV title. However, Idol somewhat unexpectedly agreed to defend against Rich on national television the day before the Race-Rich showdown.
On the Saturday 2/23/80 edition of "Georgia Championship Wrestling", Idol met Rich in the cozy confines of WTBS studios in Atlanta. Prior to the match, Idol did an interesting interview where he had his TV championship belt over his right shoulder and a simple dress belt over his left shoulder. He never mentioned the belt, and Gordon Solie never asked him about it; it was just there. We would find out why Idol had the belt a little later.
The actual match between Idol and Rich was a typically good match between the two, with Rich maintaining the upper hand through most of the early moments with classic chain wrestling, arm drags, and hip tosses.
A few minutes in, however, who should show up at ringside to watch the match but the NWA World Heavyweight Champion himself, Harley Race. Race was in street clothes, and was clearly cheering on Idol in the match, getting on the referee for what Race thought were slow counts, complaining that Rich's sleeper hold was actually a choke, etc. Race became a distraction at ringside, however, and Idol began to dominate the match with a elbow drop from the middle turnbuckle and a flying knee drop to the forehead of Rich.
As Rich began to regain momentum, though, Idol threw him into referee Scrappy McGowan, and with the ref down, Idol attempted to apply a figure-four leglock to Rich. Race became excited at this, climbed up on the ring apron, an exhorted Idol to go after the leg of Rich while the referee was down. However, as Idol was attempting to apply the hold, Rich kicked him off and Idol collided with Race on the ring apron, sending Idol crashing to the mat and Race crashing to the floor.
Rich covered a stunned Idol in an attempted pin, but the referee was still down from the earlier collision. Seeing the ref down himself, Race removed his sport coat, climbed to the top of the turnbuckles and dove off attempting to hit Rich with his famous, patented flying headbutt. But Rich saw it coming and moved to the side and Race hit Idol with the headbutt instead. Rich covered Idol again and a revived referee Scrappy McGowan crawled over and made the three-count.
Tommy Rich had just won the National TV Championship from Austin Idol, and much of that had been brought on by Harley Race.
Rich immediately went after Race in response to his interference, and the two brawled in the ring, Rich hammering away at the world champion as the WTBS studio crowd became unglued.
Idol momentarily left the ring but when he returned he had that dress belt with him, the same simple dress belt he had draped over one shoulder in the earlier interview with Gordon Solie. He attacked Rich from behind, laid him out, and applied the figure-four leglock. It was then that it became clear why Idol had been carrying around that dress belt. He looped it around both his and Rich's legs, basically strapping both of them together so that Rich could not escape the hold. Idol began clamping down hard on the figure-four leg lock and as he did so, Race began dropping his knee repeatedly down on Rich's left knee and leg.
It became clear what was going on: Austin Idol was attempting to collect the bounty that Harley Race had placed on the head of Tommy Rich. And Race was happy to help him do it.
Eventually, help came from the locker room, and Mr. Wrestling II delivered his famous knee lift that sent Race sailing out of the ring. Idol eventually bailed out of the ring as well, aided by Race, and the two hightailed it to their locker room.
Rich had won the TV title, but was badly injured at the hands of Idol and Race. He was unable to challenge Race the next night at the Omni. Idol had successfully claimed the bounty.
There is much more that developed from this angle. Mr. Wrestling II replaced Rich and got the shot at Race for the title. Wrestling II dedicated the match to Rich, but in the end, II wasn't able to take the title from Race. Race's master plan had worked, and he was successful in getting out of Atlanta with his championship intact. Rich would get a measure of revenge, but we'll save that story for a future update.
I've included the video of all this here for two reasons: (1) as mentioned up front, this is one of my favorite Georgia angles ever, and (2) the video includes some wonderful interviews with Race spotlighting the NWA domed-globe belt, ten pounds of "PURE gold", as Race liked to say.
This match takes place on "Macon Championship Wrestling" in 1976. The opponent is Irvin "Rip" Smith. The host at the desk is Gordon Solie. The ring announcer (who would later take over hosting duties on the Macon show) is Jim Carlisle. The referee is Ronnie West.
From a post on the video page: "Smith was an early tag team partner for Ted DiBiase, and I've heard
DiBiase credited Smith as the person he credited his power slam after.
Smith also used the figure-four as a finisher."
Dusty Rhodes held the NWA world championship on three different occasions. Above, he wears the 1973-1986 version of the NWA title belt known popularly as the "ten pounds of gold."
In 1986, he won his third world title and briefly wore the new version of the title popularly known as the "big gold" belt. It was not known until recently that a special nameplate was ordered for the big gold belt with Dusty's name on it, but it never made it to the belt.
You can read all about both belts and the men who wore them in our books "Ten Pounds of Gold" and "Big Gold", available directly from the Gateway or on Amazon.com.
The legendary Harley Race wrestles the patriarch of the Poffo wrestling family, Angelo Poffo. Angelo was the father of Randy "Macho Man" Savage and "Leaping" Lanny Poffo.
Gordon Solie provides the call of the action, during which he gives a good history of the NWA title during those years.
NWA World Champion Tommy Rich with Freddie Miller on
"Best of Championship Wrestling" 5/3/81
In April of 1981, Tommy Rich shocked the world when he upset Harley Race to win the NWA World Heavyweight Championship and the belt known as the "ten pounds of gold."
Most fans didn't learn about Rich's historic win until after he had already lost the title back to Race. He won the belt on a Monday night in Augusta, GA and lost it back to Race 5 days later on a Friday night in Gainsville, GA.
Back in those days, the main TV shows for the territorial wrestling promotions all aired on Saturdays, and so Rich didn't even have a chance to celebrate his win in proper fashion on television.
When "Georgia Championship Wrestling" aired the Saturday after Rich's loss back to Race, Tommy was noticeably melancholy even when being congratulated by host Gordon Solie and NWA President Jim Crockett, Jr. They showed film footage of Rich's win over Race at the Bell Auditorium in Augusta. Crockett talked about having just flown back to the U.S. from Japan where that nation was all abuzz over Rich's title win.
Since that time, now 35 years later, the only VCR footage that has widely circulated was that Saturday segment with Solie, Rich, Crockett, and the footage from Augusta. It has been on YouTube for years, as well.
But recently, additional footage has surfaced (posted on YouTube by user KrisZ891979) of Rich being interviewed while he was still NWA champion, footage I had heard might exist but had never seen before.
In this clip, Rich is being interviewed by Freddie Miller, who did promotional announcing and occasional ring announcing on Georgia Championship Wrestling on WTBS. Miller also served as the host of the "Best of Championship Wrestling" program that aired on Sunday evenings on WTBS, and it was on this Sunday show that this interview aired, two days after Rich lost the title back to Race.
Which then begs the question when was this interview with Rich actually taped? Since Rich still had the belt, it almost certainly had to have been taped during the week in which he held it. However, the interview took place on the actual Georgia set with the Georgia Championship Wrestling backdrop which normally wasn't set up until Saturday morning before the weekly Saturday TV taping to air later that evening on WTBS. "Best of" was a studio show (without a studio audience) usually taped late on Saturday mornings or early Saturday afternoon after the 2-hour taping of the main Georgia show with Solie.
Could it be that this interview was actually taped on Saturday 5/2 after Rich had lost the belt back to Race on Friday 5/1? I suppose that's possible. Race was still booked with the georgia office on that Saturday, and defended the title for them that Saturday night in Chattanooga, TN, a GCW town during those days. Point being, the belt would have still been available for this interview with Race still in the territory.
But I doubt that could have happened. It would have been way too big a breach of kayfabe with so many people at the WTBS TV studio seeing this (cameramen, studio crew, director, etc.) and in those days that would have been unheard of. I'm guessing either (1) the studio backdrop was set up early for this interview before Tommy lost the belt, or (2) the backdrop was left hanging in the studio during the week as a normal practice in those days. It's also worth pointing out that Rich is wearing different clothes in each of the segments, indicating as well that segments were taped on different days.
Regardless of when or how the interview was conducted, it is great to see that a formal interview with Rich and the NWA title belt took place and still exists. Rich's reign as NWA champion is not much more than a mere footnote to the title's grand history, but as even Harley Race has said himself, Rich won the title in the ring and deserves to be recognized as a world champion.
The footage on YouTube contains both the Saturday and Sunday segments. The link below will take you to YouTube and directly to the point in the footage (7:33) where the Sunday interview begins.
Freddie Miller Interviews NWA World Champion Tommy Rich "Best of Championship Wrestling" - WTBS Atlanta GA - Airdate Sunday 5/3/1981 https://youtu.be/d7UCExVvVo0?t=7m33s
Thanks to Scott Bowden for letting us know about this rare footage of Tommy Rich with the "Ten Pounds of Gold."
Tommy Rich's Week As NWA World Champion (1981)
Monday 4/27 - Augusta GA - Rich wins NWA world title from Harley Race
Tuesday 4/28 - Macon GA - Rich beats Race to retain the NWA world title
Wednesday 4/29 - Columbus GA - Rich beats Race to retain the NWA world title
Thursday 4/30 - Rome GA - Rich beats Race to retain the NWA world title
Friday 5/1 - Gainsville GA - Race defeats Rich to regain the NWA world title
Saturday - 5/2 - Rich appears on "Georgia Championship Wrestling" with Gordon Solie and Jim Crockett, Jr.
Sunday - 5/3 - Taped interview airs on "Best Of" of Freddie Miller and Rich with the NWA title belt.
This article was originally published on The Mid-Atlantic Gateway. The Domed Globe website is part of the Mid-Atlantic Gateway family of websites.
Dory Funk Jr. with the Ten Pounds of Gold
(Photo from the Pete Lederberg Collection - plmathfoto@hotmail.com)
Dory Funk, Jr. believes he has one the NWA world championship from Ric Flair in Florida, but in the end, the title was returned to Flair.
It's hard to think of Dory Funk, Jr. as world champion without the classic "Thesz" style belt he held from 1969 through 1973. The domed-globe version of the title belt came along shortly after he lost the title to Race.
We have a few photos collected of wrestlers who never held the NWA title, but came close, and these photos feature them with the "ten pounds of gold." It's a feature called "Great Pretenders" You can see those by clicking the links below.
Funk, Jr. doesn't really fit here becasue he wasn't a pretender to the thrown (to say the least), but we've included the photo in that section becasue of how interesting it is to see him with the domed globe belt.
See earlier posts with other photos featuring great pretenders to the NWA title:
Great Pretenders (featuring Bruiser Brody, Mr. Wrestling II, Wahoo McDaniel, Jerry Lawler, and Buddy Landel)
