Memphis Wrestling (2.11.1984) Review

-Originally aired February 11, 1984.

-Your hosts are Lance Russell & Dave Brown.

-Lance welcomes the FORMER Southern Tag Team Champions, the Zambuie Express. They won the belts three times in two weeks, and then the belts got STOLEN from them by Stagger Lee & Norvell Austin. Zambuie Express attacked them after the bell and left them for dead after the match, though, so if you want those guys to be your champions, you can have ’em!

-We get pre-taped words from JJ Dillon. Many “brothers,” as JJ likes to call them, have been stuck in the ghetto for 200 years. Some, like Norvell and Stagger Lee, are content to shuck and jive in those ghettos while some other brothers wear 18-carat gold and hang out in the finer billiard halls with attractive women surrounding them. So that’s JJ Dillon’s Update on the Activities of Black People for February 11, 1984. Some brothers have their managers in person when they appear on TV, and some guys just have managers checking in on pre-recorded zoom meetings, I guess.

ZAMBUIE EXPRESS vs. KEITH ERIC & JIM JAMISON
-Kareem Muhammad pounds Jamison down to the mat and the Express switches without bothering with a tag. Express dishes it out on Eric next, and a big fat elbow finishes. I hope JJ has a tight five he can do about how some brothers drop the left elbow, but the other brothers always drop the right elbow. Hamburger! What’s up with that?

-We go to Mid-South Coliseum for post-match chaos, as Stagger Lee and Norvell Austin do indeed win the Southern Tag Team Titles, and then as advertised, the Zambuie Express beats them into goo.

-In the studio, Stagger Lee and Norvell Austin are out here with their new title belts. They’re here to be champions FOR ALL THESE GREAT PEOPLE!

NORVELL AUSTIN & STAGGER LEE vs. MASKED MARAUDER & PAT HUTCHINSON
-Powerslam by Stagger Lee on the Marauder looks like it’s going to be a quick one, but he’s too close to the ropes. Something akin to a flying forearm from Norvell wraps it up.

RICK RUDE (with Angel & Jimmy Hart) vs. DAVID JOHNSON
-Jimmy’s wearing a ridiculous-looking top hat when he accompanies Rick now, and he brags that Rick is getting fan mail now. Quick week for Rude, who hits the neckbreaker right away for the three-count, then beats up Johnson after the bell. Rick is starting to look a LITTLE more comfortable out there this week…but not for long, as Austin Idol hits the ring and encourages Rick to come get him some. Rick Rude and Jimmy Hart leave…but Angel stays to watch Austin Idol until Rick realizes that she’s still out there, and he has to hurry back to retriever her. Uh-ohhhhh…

AUSTIN IDOL (International Champion) vs. BIG LOU WINSTON
-Idol hammers away at Winston. One interesting detail here. Idol was never out of shape but he suddenly appears to be a bit more cut this week, when he’s suddenly getting ready to feud with Rick Rude. Las Vegas leglock wraps this one up.

-Idol cuts a really awkward promo here where they seem to be trying to explain why he suddenly has a championship that everyone forgot about, and he cuts a rambling promo about a successful title defense over Terry Funk in the Tokyo Dome, and somehow Stanley Blackburn has determined that this title defense in Tokyo ten months ago means that Idol deserves an AWA World Heavyweight Title shot. So our kayfabe explanation that the promotion itself came up with is that the AWA is so inept that they just straight-up forgot a title match that happened in the Tokyo Dome and they forgot to use it when calculating their rankings.

-Ken Resnick has words with Nick Bockwinkel, and Nick slyly tries to stir some shit with Idol about whether he or his good buddy Jerry Lawler is actually the most popular wrestler in Memphis.

-Jerry Lawler is out here next. A few months ago, a new wrestler debuted in the Memphis area. Jerry was impressed with him, but as happens so often in wrestling, some no-good troublemakers take advantage of a naive rookie who wants to be famous, and this dynamic newcomer fell in with the wrong crowd. In this case, Bill Dundee corrupted this guy. But now Bill Dundee is gone, and without Dundee around, it turns out that the rookie actually a pretty good guy.

-So Lance finally clarifies, “Oh wait, you’re talking about Jim Morris!” And Jerry says that he actually learned something interesting when he befriended Jim Morris. Jim Morris isn’t that guy’s real name, but he’s been going by a fake name because his real name is so ridiculous that he always gets kidded about it.

-Well, it turns out Jim Morris’ real name is HARLEY DAVIDSON, and Jerry is encouraging to wrestle under his real name because it’s kind of a cool name. And out comes Harley Davidson, now clad in leather biker gear because he’s decided he’s going to embrace the name and the image that comes with it instead of trying to hide from it.

JOE LE DUC & KING KONGA vs. ROBERT REED & ART CREWS
-Le Duc hiptosses Crews. Crews shows some fire but gets booted down. Reed tags in to take his ass-kicking. Konga stunguns him. Le Duc throws a dropkick and gets the pin. Le Duc has done an ugly blade job at some point in the past week.

-We watch highlights of a BLOODY battle pitting Konga & Le Duc against the Sawyer brothers. Referee gets tossed aside for the cheap-o DQ to set up next week’s card. Joe Le Duc says that hey, it might be fun to make it a dog collar match. Who’s going to win? The fine people at Gillette.

-Jimmy Hart comes out with a box of tissues for Dutch Mantel because Dutch is crying about all the times that managers have interfered. Dutch actually assaulted poor Angelo Poffo last week! So Jimmy, who by the way is wearing his title belt for being the CWA Handicap Champion because he’s undefeated in handicap matches, offers to stand at ringside and lend his moral support to Angelo Poffo and his son Randy Savage when they face Dutch in a handicap match. Dutch comes out with his whip and Jimmy gets out of there, and Dutch announces that he’ll have a special cornerman to keep an eye on Jimmy Hart. Roll tape!…

-And we get highlights of Bugsy McGraw’s shenanigans in WCCW. I always enjoyed Bugsy’s stuff and I’m a LITTLE surprised that he didn’t get a WWF run in this era, but I guess between George Steele and the Bushwhackers there was kind of never a need for him.

-Lance welcomes a newcomer to Memphis: DIRTY RHODES, Dusty’s cousin. This is journeyman wrestler Roger Smith doing a dead-on impression of Dusty, right down to pronouncing “here” “hyanh.”

EXPIRATION OF TIME: HARLEY DAVIDSON & DIRTY RHODES vs. SABU & THE PINK PANTHER
-FALL ONE: Sabu slams the Dirty one, but misses an elbow. Harley tags in and gives Sabu a shot to the ribs. Sabu tries to stall, but Harley calls out “Subaru” and demands to face him, slamming Sabu down. Sabu gets pinballed back and forth before finally making a tag.

-Panther gets hiptossed down and tries to get Harley set up for a double-team move, but Harley is so big that Panther can’t hold him and Panther gets walloped by his own partner. Dirty gives his opponent some Stooges pokes and offers to let Panther put him in a full nelson, but Panther STILL can’t get a grip and gets hammered on again.

-Sabu tags in and finally gets things going, with Harley playing hick-in-peril for his team. Hot tag to Dirty, who does Dusty-style elbows to put Panther away and get the pin. And that’s it for TV time!

6.9

The final score: review Average

The 411

I'm still not entirely convinced that JJ Dillon's promo wasn't a weird dream I had.