Mid-South Wrestling (9.10.1983) Review

-This one was written as part of the “Mid-South Classics” set a decade back, with some light modern-day tinkering in 2020.

-Your hosts are Boyd Pierce & Bill Watts, with Jim Ross doing ring announcing, as opposed to last week, when it was JR and Bill with Boyd Pierce ring announcing. Reeser Bowden has apparently just vanished off the face of the earth.

Bill has some storyline points to cover before getting started: Butch Reed is refusing to appear on television until he gets better opponents. Kamala & Skandor Akbar have no-showed this week’s taping for some reason. Ted DiBiase seemed a little TOO enthusiastic when he challenged Hacksaw Duggan to a loser-leaves-town match last week and he strongly suspects he’s had a brilliant idea..

JUNKYARD DOG vs. KING KONG BUNDY
-Lock-up and Bundy punches JYD in the gut. Another lock-up and this time JYD knocks Bundy to his knees with a punch. He attempts a bodyslam from that and Bundy blocks it. Bundy attempts a slam and this time JYD blocks it with a forearm. Bundy tries a hammerlock and that’s successful for a while. Quite a long while, actually, like…house show length, actually.

-JYD hiptosses Bundy off but Bundy gets to his feet quickly and re-applies the hammerlock. JYD reverses and Bundy makes it to the ropes to break. Arm wringer into another hammerlock by JYD as Bill Watts compares Bundy to a table; he has four supports and the hammerlock causes him to lose one of those supports and fall over. This, of course, is wrong, because according to Schoolhouse Rock, it takes three legs to make a table stand. So Bundy is okay.

-Bundy breaks the hold and tries a flurry of punches and kicks. JYD Irish whips Bundy and Bundy meets him with a shoulderblock. Bundy powerslams JYD and insists on a five-count. That turns out to be a mistake because JYD kicks out at four, powering out so hard that Bundy flops over on top of the referee, KOing him. JYD comes back with punches and a clothesline. Another referee comes in to make the count, but in comes Buzz Sawyer to break it up with a sneak attack.

-Bundy tries to turn it into a 2-on-1 attack but accidentally knocks Sawyer out of the ring. JYD Thumps King Kong Bundy and goes for the pin, which the referee goes ahead and counts anyway, but Max the Missing Link comes soaring in from the top rope and attacks JYD. JYD is in a world of hurt until Jim Duggan, Magnum T.A., and George Weingroff make the save. Slow match but a hot finish.

ROAD WARRIORS vs. ART CREWS & RICK ROOD
-Warriors attack before the bell and send Crews sailing out of the ring. Hawk misses a charge and Rood tries an arm wringer and Crews comes in to keep working the arm. Animal tags in and Crews has an arm wringer ready for him too. Rood & Crews switch off on Animal for a while, but Animal makes his way to the corner and tags in Hawk. Hawk walks into the arm wringer. Hawk fights out and rams Crews into the corner. Double-clothesline sends him to the floor and Rood gets a 2-on-1 assault while they wait for Crews to recover. Rood goes to the floor as Crews returns, and a powerslam from Animal puts the rookies out of their misery.

MISSING LINK vs. RIP ROGERS
-Knee to the stomach and an Irish whip by Rogers as Bill Watts again tells us that Link looks familiar but he can’t put together why. Atomic drop by Link and a couple of kneedrops. Rogers gets a desperate kick and a few elbows, but Link reverses an Irish whip and suplexes Rogers. Backbreaker followed by a second-rope…move…and the Link keeps dishing out the punishment. Camel clutch (it’s closer to a rear chinlock) gets the submission.

“Mad Dog” BUZZ SAWYER vs. TIM HORNER
-Chops are exchanged and Horner actually wins that fight, but Sawyer atomic drops him right back down to jobberdom. Side headlock by Horner and Sawyer struggles with it for a while. Sawyer shoves him off but Horner takes him down with a shoulderblock and goes right back to the side headlock. Sawyer makes it to his feet and shoves him away, but again Horner keeps the upper hand with a pair of dropkicks and we’re back to the side headlock. Sawyer makes it out of the hold and this time it’s Sawyer who lands the dropkick (and a damn good one, at that). Headlock by Sawyer wears down Horner. Horner fights out with elbows but Sawyer dodges the dropkick this time. He tries to capitalize with a leg drop but misses that. Horner goes to the second rope for a bodypress, but Sawyer catches him and powerslams him for the sudden victory.

LOSER LEAVES TOWN, NO-DISQUALIFICATION: HACKSAW JIM DUGGAN vs. TED DIBIASE
-DiBiase attacks at the bell and Duggan is ready for him. DiBiase keeps the upper hand and elbows Duggan down. Another fistfight erupts and DiBiase wins that. Elbow from the second rope gets a two-count. Forearm by DiBiase and an Irish whip. He slams Duggan down and heads for the Elbow Drop That He Never Ever Hits. He supposedly connects but clearly misses by over a foot, so even when he does the move right, he misses it. Amazing. Duggan gets fired up and throws punches. An elbow sends DiBiase to the floor for a breather. Back in the ring, Duggan jumps DiBiase and rams him into the turnbuckle. DiBiase begs for mercy and Duggan won’t give him any.

-Duggan Irish whips and backdrops him, and DiBiase leaves for another breather. Duggan follows him and chases him, and of course DiBiase attacks Duggan on the way back into the ring. He chokes the life out of Duggan and throws a forearm. He chokes Duggan with the top rope and drops him back down to the mat. Knee to the gut gets a two-count. Duggan Irish whips DiBiase again but misses a charge and his knee hits the turnbuckle. DiBiase sees that and capitalizes with a figure four. Duggan rolls over to reverse it, and in come the Road Warriors to double-team Duggan, which is legal because of the stipulations. Double-teaming becomes triple-teaming as DiBiase recovers and slaps Duggan senseless.

-Magnum TA and Rick Rood make their way to the ring but get sent to the floor in short order. DiBiase whips out the infamous glove and looks to finish with it, but JYD arrives on the scene with, of all weapons, a 2×4. JYD clubs the Road Warriors with it until Ted DiBiase steals it. JYD appears to be in trouble until Duggan gets to his feet and wallops everybody in sight. Road Warriors head out of the ring and that leaves DiBiase alone. A 2×4 shot to the gut knocks the wind out of him and Duggan gets the 3-count to send DiBiase packing.

KRUSHER DARSOW vs. JOHNNY RICH
-Darsow clubs Rich down to the mat but misses an elbow drop and Rich takes advantage with an arm wringer. Irish whip by Darsow turns the tide. Rich tries an Irish whip of his own but gets a shoulderblock for his effort. Elbow by Darsow and he chokes Rich down. Punches are exchanged but Darsow calmly picks Rich up and rams him into the corners before slamming him down. Elbowdrop and a backbreaker end things for the Krusher. I have NEVER seen anyone, uh, enjoy being in a backbreaker as much as Johnny Rich enjoyed being in this one. You can hang your jacket on him.

DOUG VINES & BORIS ZHURKOV vs. GEORGE WEINGROFF & MAGNUM T.A.
-I have never seen Tag Team Champions that team up less often than Duggan & T.A.

-Vines & Weingroff start. Amateur wrestling gives Weingroff the advantage to start. Hiptoss by Vines gets a one count. Dual for an Irish whip leads to a monkeyflip by Weingroff and Magnum tags in. Bodypress by Magnum gets a one-count. Zhurkov tags in and gets slammed down. Side headlock and Weingroff tags in for his own side headlock. Hiptoss by Weingroff and Magnum comes back in for the side headlock. He shoulderblocks Zhurkov down and keeps the side headlock applied. Vines comes back in and gets the advantage. He dominates Weingroff with elbows and punches. He rams Weingroff into the turnbuckle and Zhurkov returns for the sake of keeping the fresh man in. Vines tags back in but so does Magnum TA and he cleans house. Weingroff helps clear Zhurkov from the ring and they double-team the hell out of Vines until he just can’t take it anymore. Belly-to-belly suplex gives Magnum & Weingroff the duke.

8.2

The final score: review Very Good

The 411

Pretty big week for angles this week. Great show!