Any GCW wrestlers go to WWF in 7/84

[horsemen4ever]

So when Vince bought Georga Championship Wrestling and its time slot, etc., did he own the rights to roster or not? Or was it similar to when he bought WCW, in certain talent had Time Warner contracts.

I recall Volkoff was in GCW during the buyout, so maybe he came over, but how come the like of the Road Warriors, Jake Roberts, Ted DiBiase, Ron Garvin, come over to the WWF during that time? What was the situation of the GCW talent during that time. That is something that never gets talked about.

[The Barber]

The Brisco brothers came over because he bought their stake in the company.

[cjh]

Dec 8, 2018 21:48:01 GMT -5 horsemen4ever said:

So when Vince bought Georga Championship Wrestling and its time slot, etc., did he own the rights to roster or not? Or was it similar to when he bought WCW, in certain talent had Time Warner contracts.

I recall Volkoff was in GCW during the buyout, so maybe he came over, but how come the like of the Road Warriors, Jake Roberts, Ted DiBiase, Ron Garvin, come over to the WWF during that time? What was the situation of the GCW talent during that time. That is something that never gets talked about.

Hulk Hogan, despite what's been said for years, was signed specifically to WCW, Inc., not any other division of Time Warner, and if that was the case for him, it was likely the case for everyone else in WCW.

The Spoiler came to WWE after the buyout for a bit and even had his title (the GCW National Championship) acknowledged.  

[Joe Neglia]

One big thing you have to keep in mind is that, at this time, Georgia and Crockett were sharing a lot of talent, and Ole spent a time booking both concurrently. And the way the system worked at the time, no one on the roster were "part" of the sale, the way the WCW contracts were. When Vince took over, he immediately brought his own roster in and immediately stopped booking the previous roster. Since their Georgia bookings were kaput, many just stuck to their Crockett bookings. Some that were more "exclusive" to Georgia went different directions. A few got onto the Crockett roster, several stuck by Ole and were part of his Championship Wrestling from Georgia promotion, some just took off for other places (isn't this when the Roadies took off for AWA?). Some asked for a job with McMahon in the aftermath, some he sought out and offered a WWF roster spot.

Mr. Wrestling 2, the Spoiler, Volkoff, Les Thornton, Steve Travis, Bill Eadie, and I think maybe Buzz Sawyer all would join McMahon in the 2-3 months following Black Saturday.

Oh, and some guy named Iron Mike Sharpe. Dude wrestled Georgia's penultimate show and was jobbing to Tony Garea a week later.

[Deleted]

I think the answer is: nobody who worked for Georgia Championship Wrestling had "contracts" other than agreeing to show up and wrestle when told to do so.

[cabbageboy]

Volkoff and Eadie seem like the only ones who had any longevity in the WWF though. It does beg the question as to why the Road Warriors didn't go to the WWF though. I would have thought they would be the #1 guys to try and sign if you're Vince in 1984.

[Joe Neglia]

Dec 8, 2018 23:28:41 GMT -5 cabbageboy said:

It does beg the question as to why the Road Warriors didn't go to the WWF though. I would have thought they would be the #1 guys to try and sign if you're Vince in 1984.

Probably was, but he just bought another promotion and they were already turning into higher-priced A-listers. They had a Georgia match on Friday (July 13), and then an AWA match on the Sunday (15th) following Black Saturday (14th). Chances are, Verne, who still had money, just made a better offer than Vince could at that moment.

Mike Sharpe, as far as I can tell, was the first to "jump ship":

WWF @ Landover, MD - Capital Centre - July 28, 1984 (15,000)
- Tony Garea pinned Iron Mike Sharpe at 5:39 after jumping into Sharpe and pushing his knees down on the shoulders during the cover

The rest don't start showing up until literally the last day of 7/84:

WWF @ Poughkeepsie, NY - Mid-Hudson Civic Center - July 31, 1984
- The Spoiler defeated Jeff Lang via submission with a claw hold at 3:24; during the bout, David Wolff joined the commentary team of Vince McMahon & Tony Garea and announced that the Fabulous Freebirds were on their way to the WWF
- Nikolai Volkoff (w/ Freddie Blassie) pinned SD Jones at 5:07 by hoising him up in a gorilla press and then dropping him across his knee (Volkoff's return after a 5-year absence)

WWF @ Atlanta, GA - Omni - August 25, 1984 (9,000)
- Les Thornton fought Bob Orton Jr. to a draw

WWF @ St. Louis, MO - Chase Hotel - September 28, 1984
- Jack & Jerry Brisco defeated Rene Goulet & Dave Barbie at 3:16 when Barbie submitted to Jerry's figure-4 (the Brisco's debut)

WWF @ Atlanta, GA - Omni - October 5, 1984 (2,000)
- Mr. Wrestling II defeated Rene Goulet

WWF @ Birmingham, AL - October 22, 1984
- Rene Goulet defeated Steve Travis

Thanks to wrestlingdata.com and thehistoryofwwe.com

[Joe Neglia]

Oh, and I was mistaken about Eadie. In fact, he had JUST gotten to Georgia after leaving WWF when Vince bought them out. He had ventured off to Stampede when Black Saturday happened, so when he got back, he joined up with Ole's new CWG promotion. He wouldn't go back to the WWF until July of '86

[Deleted]

Yeah I (barely) remember seeing the Spoiler. And Les was pretty much brought in and announced as the WWF Junior Heavyweight Champion, no?
(Forgot about Wrestling 2. Shame on me.)

[Edit: Sharpe too? He was just there about a year earlier. Weird.]

[cabbageboy]

Truth be told the deal was more about getting the TBS time slot than it was raiding the GA roster of talent. Vince got around to raiding everyone else as time went on, with the continued pilfering of the AWA, some of Crockett, later Mid-South/UWF, even Memphis with Savage.