Memphis Wrestling (1.3.1981) Review

-Originally aired January 3, 1981.

-Your host is Lance Russell because Dave is taking a well-earned vacation.

DAVID OSWALD vs. TOM MALEY
-And yeah, they’re following Oswald’s big showing last week with a jobber/jobber match where he’ll look like an equal to someone. They go to the mat for an amateur exhibition, and Lance is making it clear on commentary that Oswald is the bigger star here, putting over the increased experience and time in the gym he’s had in the last few months.

-And that’s pretty much the whole story of the first four minutes, as they just stay with basic mat wrestling until Oswald surprises Maley with fists. Maley comes back as this turns into a fight. Maley gets booted down, and Oswald drops a big elbow for the three-count.

-We watch some oddly-edited highlights of the Lawler/Dundee feud from before Lawler’s leg injury. It looks like they intended to add music to this and then just didn’t bother, so it’s a weird hodgepodge of clips with Lance winging the narration.

HANDICAP MATCH: TONY CHARLES (with Jerry “The King” Lawler) vs. BEAUTIFUL BOBBY EATON & JIMMY HART (with Dream Machine)
-From Mid-South Coliseum. If Tony loses, he gets his head shaved. If the heels lose, they leave town. Pre-match shenanigans go quite a while, as Machine is absolutely obsessed with getting his hands on Lawler and picks a fight with him at ringside while Lance is doing the ring introductions. They spill into the crowd, and Eddie Marlin comes to ringside and orders the seconds to leave ringside, because the match is too important for us to get distracted by what the seconds are doing.

-And after all the pre-match drama, we go back to the studio without even watching one second of the match!

EXPIRATION OF TIME: TOMMY GILBERT & CARL FERGIE vs. THE ANGEL & TONY RUSSO (with Jimmy Hart)
-FALL ONE: Russo boots Tommy down, then brings in the Angel and his sinister glove. Gilbert manages to tag out while caught in a front facelock, so Angel misses it and Fergie stings him with a series of boots.

-Angel fights back with a backdrop. Russo tags back in and Fergie makes short work of him, dropping an elbow and simply pinning him without any extra drama. Crowd seems completely surprised that that was all that happened.

-We re-watch the Tupelo Concession Stand Brawl because it’s the year-in-review show and that’s a perfect excuse for it.

FALL TWO: Fergie gets caught in the heel corner and double-teamed. Angel goes right for the fat grab to finish it, but Fergie punches out and makes the tag. Tommy Gilbert throws punches. Angel slams Gilbert and Russo takes some free shots while Fergie is arguing with the referee.

-Everybody tags and Fergie is a house of fire, but he runs into a big boot and crashes. Russo misses a second rope splash. Fergie tries to finish with a big elbow and misses. Angel hurriedly tags back in and wallops Fergie with the loaded glove, and that gets the three-count, and the match is tied up.

-During another rest period, we watch highlights of Jerry Lawler’s matches against past champions. I love that the year-in-review is laser-focused on a guy who missed 49 weeks of the year.

FALL THREE: All four men end up in the ring. Referee restores order and Angel tries to finish off Gilbert, but Fergie breaks the pin. All four men end up in the ring again, but the referee restores order and Gilbert applies an abdominal stretch as the bell sounds for TV time.

5.2

The final score: review Not So Good

The 411

Some fun highlights, but not much action to write home about.