Final Conflict 1983

I began to think about what my first review would be for this little project and looked over my collection to find the right subject to look over. I decided to go after one of my earliest, and more obscure, parts of my wrestling collection.


Final Conflict 1983


This is an event not a lot of people are really aware of and even fewer have seen. It was never released commercially in any form and the only way any of the footage saw the light of day was it was in the personal collection of Jim Nelson who wrestled on the show. He gathered together the raw footage from this show and it was sold on DVD if you looked hard enough.

Setting the stage, it was March 12, 1983 at the Coliseum in Greensboro North Carolina. In these days before monthly pay per view broadcasts and mountains of hours of TV wrestling every week The fabled Territorial system of the NWA was still very much in effect where individual promoters operated in defined borders of the country under the National Wrestling Alliance banner. The Vince McMahon buyout of his father and subsequent national expansion of the WWF was months away and out of the territories at the time, one of the biggest was Jim Crockett Jr.'s Mid Atlantic Championship Wrestling. Mid Atlantic operated mostly between Baltimore, the Carolinas, and Virginia, but also booked talents for the Georgia and Florida Territories so they had a strong presence in the NWA. The hottest feud that they had was between the defending NWA Tag Team Champions Sgt. Slaughter and his Private, Don Kernodle and the challenge of the former Champions, the popular Ricky Steamboat (pre Dragon days) and Jay Youngblood. The feud (which I will get into later) had been brewing for months and this card was set up to be the finality of the feud. Longtime Mid Atlantic announcer Bob Caudle is at Ringside. So with the stage set we get to the action.

The Greensboro crowd is lively as The "Voice of Mid Atlantic Wrestling" Dr. Tom Miller goes through the usual announcements before the show starts about were the local fans can watch Mid Atlantic on TV before the playing of the national anthem. You can tell right off this is spliced together raw footage as instead of seamlessly going from one segment to another it just cuts right to the next bit of action.

Gerry Brisco V/S Ken Timbs

This was your typical opening match for these types of shows featuring a recognized name in the area to get the crowd fired up. Brisco is well known for being the younger brother of former NWA Champion Jack Brisco and was a big name himself in the NWA, having won a number of tag titles with his brother and also being the champion of the Mid Atlantic region in the early 70's. Timbs on the other hand was a generic bottle blond bad guy and a bit of the journeyman wrestler who bounced around the territories in the 80's, mostly know for his future team with Eric Embry as the Fabulous Blonds before wrestling in South and Central America for the rest of his career before passing away in 2004.
The match begins with Brisco using amateur wrestling while Timbs tries his luck with a wrist lock but that doesn't get him very far. Both Brisco brothers were NCAA wrestling stand outs so whatever Timbs tries Gerry just counters his way out of it. Timbs finally gains the advantage with the wrist lock and pulling of the tights that just makes Gerry mad. Timbs keeps working over the arm with a wrist lock and wrapping Brisco's arms in the ropes before making the mistake of whipping Brisco into the corner and not following up. Brisco hits a dropkick and finishes Timbs off with a figure 4 leg lock (the finisher of both Briscos) to win the match.

Winner: Gerry Brisco in 5:00. Well that match was certanly quick, even for the standards of the day. It did what it was supposed to I guess with getting the crowd fired up.

Dr. Tom Miller comes in the announce the Easter Sunday card featuring the Brisco brothers V/s Dory Funk Jr. and Paul Jones.

Mike Rotundo V/S Rick Harris

Rotundo was just getting started in his wrestling career as was known as the young Syracuse wrestling stand out. Eventually he'd have an incredible run as Capt. Mike Rotundo and as IRS in the WWF. Rick Harris was later known more famously as Black Bart, and was a generic kick and punch brawler who had decent runs in Florida and Mid Atlantic before being known as one of the worst recognized world champions of all time when he won the WCCW title in 1986. Beyond that he was used as a jobber for both WWF and WCW. The match starts off slow with Harris using power to try and wear down Mike, working arm and wrist locks to show he's more powerful while Mike using his counters to get out of it. Harris switches to punches and forearms before settling for a headlock at Mike counters only for Harris to nail Mike with a knee to regain control. They trade moves back and forth before Harris runs into Rotundo's airplane spin and the 3 count.

Winner: Mike Rotundo in 6:00. These guys aren't getting paid by the hour tonight. It was basically Harris dominating with Rotundo countering for the win.

Dr. Tom Miller makes another announcement about the Easter Sunday card featuring a 6 man match with Greg Valentine, the One Man Gang, and Sir Oliver Humperdink going against Bugsy Mcgraw, Jimmy "Boogie Woogie man" Valiant, and Andre the Giant.

Johnny Weaver & Pvt. Jim Nelson V/S Gene Anderson & Red Dog Lane

Our undercard tag match of the evening. Johnny Weaver was a long time staple of the area, going back to the early 60's. At this point his wrestling days were winding down and he was used mostly as a tag partner for younger guys to show them the ropes in the ring. Pvt. Jim Nelson was formerly part of Sgt. Slaughter's corp but turned against the Sarge to help train Steamboat and Youngblood for the main event. He would later be better known as the Russian Boris Zukov in the AWA and WWF. The opponents are Gene Anderson, another long time staple of east Coast Wrestling and was part of one of the best Tag teams of all time the Minnesota Wrecking Crew with his "brother" Ole Anderson that was a top draw back in the 70's and early 80's until Gene suffered a stroke and became a manager for a while before coming back. At this point Ole was wrestling as a face in Georgia while Gene was used the same as Weaver was, helping younger guys. Red Dog Lane (from Mule Shoe, Texas) I have no clue about so he never amounted to much I would guess. Weaver and Lane start the match with Weaver leading Lane through some moves and outfoxing the younger Lane. They do a cool spot in the match where Lane goes for a Monkey flip and Weaver just sits down. A simple counter but one I've never seen before or since. Tired of being schooled Lane tags in the vetren Anderson. Gene takes control with punches and works over Weaver for a while. Weaver scoots through Gene's legs to tag in Nelson who takes on both opponents with bodyslams. Weaver tags back in and is caught with a knee from Gene. Gene and Lane trade offense on Weaver before he makes the tag to Nelson who pins lane with a small package.

Winners: Johnny Weaver and Pvt. Jim Nelson in 7:00 minutes. A quick basic tag match where the veterans lead the younger guys around. Short and inoffensive.

You can tell this was raw footage as we hear bob Caudle talking to the people in the back about David Crockett joining him for commentary while Dr. Tom Miller hypes the Easter Sunday card to the crowd again leading to the first intermission.


NWA Television Title: Dick Slater (champion) V/S Roddy Piper

Our first title match of the evening as the NWA TV Champion Slater is managed by Gary Hart. Slater came out of Florida in the late 70's as one of Dusty Rhodes's buddies and was known through his career as "Mr. Unpredictable" as he changed from a technical wrestler to a crazy brawler mid match and changed from heel to face so often as well. He bounced around the territories with stints in Georgia, Florida, Mid Atlantic and Mid South and had a brief run in the WWF and two runs in WCW before going into semi retirement and facing some legal issues. Hart was a former wrestler turned manager who had his most success being a foil for the Von Erich family in Texas, and was in Mid Atlantic after having a falling out with Fritz Von Erich after their big 1982 Christmas show that sparked World Class's huge run. He would stay in the area until mid 1984 before going back to be the booker and lead manager. Roddy Piper had made a name for himself in the Northwest Territory under Don Owen before moving to Mid Atlantic and his star grew even more. His wrestling skills were average but his timing and his abilities on the mic got him over big with the fans. He started in the area in the early 80's as a heel but became a popular face. He eventually jumped to the WWF and was a big time player n the Rock N wrestling Connection. The match starts very oddly as Gary Hart comes to the ring and grabs to house mic to tell Dick Slater it was match time and get to the ring, I guess playing into the Mr. Unpredictable namesake. This match is for the TV title where the match itself was time limited to 60 minutes but the belt itself was only on the line for the first 15. The match kicks off as Slater chokes Piper with a towel, but Piper reverses it and begins to choke Slater. Both men are known for their high energy offense so this match picks up in a hurry as fists start flying and the crowd finally gets into the action. Both men trade offense back and forth while Hart keeps jumping on the ring apron. The Referee even shoves him to the floor at one point but Hart keeps coming back up. Slater goes for a spinning toe hold that Piper counters with a poke to the eyes. action spills to the floor where Piper is thrown to the ringpost to give Slater the advantage but Piper comes back again. Hart keeps trying to distract the ref but it doesn't work as Piper keeps on the offensive. Both men slug it out trading punches as the pacing of this match over the earlier ones is like night and day. Piper goes for the sleeper hold and Hart keeps trying to distract the ref. Slater gets out of it on his own but Piper regains the advatage again. Hart distracts Piper and then the ref as Slater throws Piper over the top rope (which would have been a Disqualification had the ref seen it). Slater suplexes Piper in the ring and pins him, but Piper has his foot on the ropes so the ref restarts the match. Hart keeps trying to distract the ref but Piper scored the hit on Slater and scores the pinfall. Unfortunately it was outside the time limit so Piper doesn't get the belt.

Winner: Roddy Piper in 17:00. This match was so much better than the undercard matches. While the previous matches were very basic and "old school" this match had a lot more energy from both the wrestlers and the crowd.

Unfortunately this collection omits the World title match where NWA Champion Ric Flair went to a 60 minute draw against US Champion and former Tag Partner Greg Valentine. Knowing both men's styles it probably wasn't breaking any speed records but was a heavy hitting battle.

NWA World Tag team Title: Sgt. Slaughter & Don Kernodle (Champions) V/S Ricky Steamboat and Jay Youngblood.

The cage is up and it's time for our Main Event. The feud got started when Slaughter and Kernodle "Won" the NWA Tag Titles in late 1982 (In reality the previous Champions Ole Anderson and Stan Hansen left the area for Georgia and the titles were given to Slaughter and Kernodle without a match). Meanwhile Steamboat and Youngblood got back together as a tag team having won the titles 3 times prior to this and made it known they wanted a shot. Slaughter's main weapon was the Cobra Clutch which no man could break, but Youngblood developed a counter for it, demonstrating it on Kernodle during a tag match (The famous quote from Slaughter "You didn't counter MY Cobra Clutch"). Previous matches between these teams turned into wars without a clear winner or a dubious ending so Steamboat and Youngblood demanded one more match. Slaughter and Company returned with a clause that said if Ricky and Jay lost the match they'd have to split up as a tag team. Ricky and Jay then alluded to someone who was "helping" them train and a little while before the match it was revealed to be Pvt. Jim Nelson. The build up to this match was huge for the territory for the time and they packed the Greensboro Coliseum. The match begins with the challengers entering the ring first. The cage is barely taller than they are and is cyclone fence. The champions enter to the theme from Rocky and instead of military combat attire they are wearing work out gear. David Crockett has a conversation with someone in the back over the fact that Kernodle's t shirt has the wrong date printed on it. The refferee is Sandy Scott, former wrestler and brother of booker George Scott. The early action has the challengers dominating Kernodle with headlocks. This pretty much goes on for 10 minutes. Sarge tries to come in to help but it is ineffective as Scott chases him back. They have to do something since Nothing much has happened yet. There is a breif spot where Steamboat and Youngblood work over Don with some high flying moves but once again go right back to the headlock. Kernodle tries to go for a tag but Youngblood chops him down and goes back to the headlock again. Jay and Ricky finally start doing real offensive maneuvers before Kernodle makes the tag. Slaughter tries to go on the offensive but Jay sends him flying in the cage twice. Slaughter gains an advantage and tries to push Jay's head into the cage but Jay blocks it. Jay makes the tag and the challengers keep going for pins but the champions kick out. Slaughter impresses people by doing a leapfrog over Jay Youngblood before tossing him into the cage. Sarge tosses him into the cage a few more times before Jay starts to bleed from the forehead. Jay tries to make the comeback but Sarge and Don work him over more and more. The crowd really starts to react as Jay tries to make a comeback. Sarge tries to go for the Cobra Clutch by Jay slips out and sends slaughter into the cage cutting him open before making the tag. Steamboat rages on both Champions sending Kernodle into the cage twice before going for a diving chop only to have Sarge pull his partner out of the way and the Champions take the advantage. Don goes for the attack as Steamboat dives out of the way and Kernodle is cut open. Slaughter and Kernodle try for the finish but Steamboat counters, only to get sent into the cage and busted open. The ring is full of blood stains now. Slaughter sets Steamboat up and climbs to the top rope and then to the top of the cage for a Huge dives that of course misses. Both men tag and Youngblood dominates with hits and chops. The challengers take over on Kernodle as Sarge can't stand up in the corner. Slaughter tries to interfere but is taken out again as the challengers are in charge and the fans are really getting into it now. Jay goes for his own Cobra clutch on Kernodle while Ricky locks Sarge in a sleeper but Slaughter escapes and breaks up the Cobra clutch to save his partner but it also takes down the ref. Slaughter slips something into his elbow pad and clotheslines Youngblood. He places Don on top for the pin but when the ref comes around he shoes Slaughter back in the corner. Meanwhile Steamboat slips in and reverses the cover. The ref turns around and we have new NWA tag team champions.

Winners: Ricky Steamboat and Jay Youngblood. The fans go crazy as wrestlers from the back come out to congratulate the new champions. The match started out painfully slow but picked up half way through as the challengers worked the crowd up to a frenzy before the finish. We then see the former champions slowly and painfully make there way back to the locker room as one fans yells to them to "get them in the parking lot", priceless.

As some bonus material on the disc we see a segment not to long after this event from the TV show of the Brisco's heel turn after a match with the Champions and then attacking Jim Nelson. We also get treated to a Nelson match with Ric Flair.


Overall it wasn't much of a show, even for that time. Sure it's hard to say without the World Title match but the 3 openers were just overblown TV squash matches. However the build up for the main event and the show in general was HUGELY influential in the wrestling business. Why? This show did so well that a few months later Jim Crockett put on another big show with the tag title rematch, only this time Slaughter and Kernodle would have to split up if they lost. That did such great business that Crockett Promotions got together with a few other promoters, got some closed circuit clearance, and presented the first Starrcade event, often seen as the first of the modern Wrestling supercards, laying the ground work for the wrestling pay per view events today.