Memphis Wrestling (2.21.1981) Review

-Originally aired February 21, 1981.

-Your hosts are Lance Russell & Dave Brown, and they’re hyped about an unusually big week in the TV studio. All three titles are on the line today!

-We go to Mid-South Coliseum for a rematch between Tony Charles and Billy Robinson, and the time limit has been extended as a result of their previous match. Charles is a really good sparing partner for Robinson and they’re putting on a pretty damn good exhibition. With just over two minutes to go in the time limit, Robinson looks incredibly frustrated, and Tony tries to cool him down by offering a handshake. Robinson accepts the handshake… then just drops him with a forearm and follows with a neckbreaker.

-And you’d think that, but Charles kicks out at two. Robinson keeps doing finishers and going for the pin, but he can only get a two-count over and over as Charles keeps hanging on, and after a slew of near-falls, the bell sounds and it’s a draw again, so Billy Robinson fought dirty and STILL couldn’t win!

-Charles heads to the locker room, but Robinson gets on the mike and demands five more minutes, and Charles agrees and comes back. Two-count. Robinson attacks at the bell and tries to wear him out. They roll back and forth, dueling for an inside cradle and rolling all over the ring with it until they end up in the ropes. Charles gets aggressive himself with a dropkick and a backdrop, and right as Lance announces a two-minute warning, Charles locks Robinson in a backslide and gets the three-count! Charles is the winner, and Robinson is shocked and furious.

-In the studio, Charles insists on being gracious, putting over Robinson as a great wrestler, but he makes some great points: Robinson insisted that being a bigger wrestler made him better, but then he turned it into a fight, and how many great boxers do you know who weighed more than 220 pounds? The greats hover around that mark or under, so if you turn it into a fight instead of wrestling, the smaller man has an edge.

-We get a house show promo, and as always, this show doesn’t make a secret about the promos being recorded after the rest of the show, and so here’s Jimmy Valiant, carrying his Southern Heavyweight Title belt and bragging that he’s the champion. Super.

-Lance Russell chats with Jerry Lawler. Yes, he has a grudge against Jimmy Hart, but he hasn’t lost his focus on the Southern Heavyweight Title, and he promises to win the Southern Heavyweight Title and THEN get his hands on Jimmy Hart.

-We get a Jimmy Valiant highlight reel, with a lot of clips of Valiant beating on Lawler in past matches.

SOUTHERN HEAVYWEIGHT TITLE: HANDSOME JIMMY VALIANT (Champion, with Jimmy Hart) vs. HECTOR GUERRERO
-Oooooh, suspense is killing me on this one. Jimmy Hart has finally, FINALLY completed his look, wearing sunglasses for the first time.

-Match goes off the rails in under a minute, as all the ropes completely give out on an attempted clothesline, and that could have been scary. They adapt and Valiant takes advantage of the confusion to take over. Elbow misses and Hector throws rapid-fire punches. Backbreaker by Hector gets two.

-Jimmy Hart slips a hand in the ring to help block an attempted monkey flip, and Valiant produces a weapon from his tights and knocks Hector out to get a three-count. This never got going.

-The commentators vamp a bit while the referee frantically tries to repair the ropes.

-We go to the Mid-South Coliseum to see the Bounty Hunters against Tommy Rich and Bill Dundee, with Jimmy Kent’s hair on the line. Tommy and Bill get the win…and then they cut away, like, the frame after the bell rings and we don’t see a haircut!

-Tommy lays out a post-match angle that we missed where the Bounty Hunters attacked and injured his hand, but he promises that it’s just going to make his hand harder for the next time they meet.

TV TITLE: KOKO WARE (Champion) vs. TOJO YAMAMOTO
-Koko, a fighting champion, is honoring the mandatory 90-day window for TV Title defenses in this territory.

-Tojo attacks and chops Koko as David Letterman strolls into the studio to do his hilarious “Tojo, Koko; Koko, Tojo” routine. Tojo dumps Koko out to the concrete. Tojo keeps kicking Koko off the apron when he tries to re-enter. The referee finally has enough and gives Tojo a stern lecture, provoking an argument, and while Tojo is arguing, Koko sneaks under the ring and re-enters behind Tojo, and rolls him up for a three-count. Another quicky. One odd thing: They’re retconning Koko’s title history, noting that he won it in “a series of matches.” No the hell he didn’t, he won a battle royal! Weren’t you guys watching that episode?

-And now, in walks a masked wrestler dressed head-to-toe in black, holding a plaque with Jerry Lawler’s picture on it. He hands Lance a note of explanation. His name is Black Diamond, he’s a wrestler from Mexico, he speaks no English, and he wants to present an award as a show of respect on behalf of all Mexican wrestlers for Jerry Lawler’s contributions.

-Jerry comes out to graciously accept the honor, only for Diamond to suddenly break the plaque over his head and pound on him until the Babyface Corps makes the save. And after they carry Lawler to the back, Black Diamond unmasks, and it’s Austin Idol, taking credit for taking out the trash in Memphis, Tennessee.

4.4

The final score: review Poor

The 411

So to recap, we had two title matches that took up about five minutes of TV time.