George South

South made his World Championship Wrestling (WCW) debut on the April 6, 1985 edition of *World Championship Wrestling*, the inaugural broadcast of the show. That night a young South teamed with Greg Stone to face Ivan Koloff and Krusher Kruschev. A week later, he had his first singles match, losing to Magnum T.A. on the *Saturday Night* program. On June 1, 1985, he received his first ever match with then-WCW World Heavyweight Champion Ric Flair. South was used as enhancement talent but he always got in some offense and was very good at getting heel heat with the fans. He did however gain his first victory September 14, 1985, when he defeated Mack Jeffers in Columbus, Georgia.

In the first round of the 1987 Jim Crockett Sr. Memorial Cup, South teamed with Steve Keirn and wrestled Mike Graham and Nelson Royal to a draw. Throughout the year, he continued to team with Royal - usually as the Gladiators - and gained occasional victories in singles competition. In 1988, they were redubbed The Cruel Connection, and on April 22 entered the 1988 Jim Crockett Sr. Memorial Cup but lost to The Sheepherders in the first round.

While still wrestling for WCW, South made his first World Wrestling Federation appearance on August 2, 1988 at a television taping for *WWF Wrestling Challenge*. He wrestled The Honky Tonk Man in a non-title match. On the August 24, 1988 taping of *Wrestling Challenge*, South wrestled The Blue Blazer, with the match being the masked Owen Hart's first televised WWF match. South would have matches with a wide area of WWF performers, including Brutus Beefcake, Jimmy Snuka, The British Bulldogs, Sam Houston, The Rockers, Rhythm & Blues, and The Ultimate Warrior. On August 2, 1989, he was defeated by Al Perez in the latter's debut match. His final appearance came on the January 20, 1990 episode of *WWF Superstars of Wrestling*, where he teamed with Alan Martin to face Demolition.

On April 1, 1989, South would return to WCW and lose in The Great Muta's WCW debut, and then enter a house show series with him that month.

After 1989, he faced a wave of incoming new talent, including Johnny B. Badd, Van Hammer, and Marcus Bagwell as the new decade progressed. After 1992, his appearances became infrequent. On August 20, 1993, he teamed with The Italian Stallion to face The Cole Twins at a house show in Bluefield, West Virginia in what would be his only match of the year. In 1994, he returned for *WCW Saturday Night* matches against Alex Wright, Jim Duggan, and Dave Sullivan. In 1995, he would team with various opponents in matches against Stars and Stripes and The Nasty Boys. On May 27, 1995, just over ten years after joining the promotion he would have his last match when he teamed with Mike McKeefer in a *WCW Saturday Night* match that saw them defeated by The Nasty Boys.

South returned to the WWF for one match at a television taping on March 7, 1993 and faced Tatanka in Fayetteville, North Carolina. However in 1994, he would make numerous appearances, starting on the January 17 edition of *Monday Night Raw* where he was defeated by Tatanka in Richmond, Virginia. On the February 5, 1994 episode of *WWF Superstars*, he wrestled Doink the Clown, and in April, he faced Lex Luger in a losing effort. As the year progressed he would have matches with Sparky Plugg and The Bushwhackers.

George South made one more WWF appearance in 1996, wrestling Jake "The Snake" Roberts on the June 1st edition of *WWF Superstars*.