Memphis Wrestling (10.29.1983) Review

-Originally aired October 29, 1983.

-Your hosts are Lance Russell & Dave Brown.

-The Fabulous Ones are here, fresh from a crushing defeat in the Mid-South Coliseum. Guys spend the whole match watching Jimmy because they know he’s going to do SOMETHING, and it throws off their whole game from the opening bell. So going forward, new strategy: If Jimmy comes to ringside for a match, he gets his ass kicked before the bell even sounds, just to get rid of him.

-Jimmy Hart and the Assassins and their shiny new trophy come out here for a good laugh about the Fabulous Ones whining about their defeat. They dazzle everyone with their shiny outfits and rock & roll entrance music, and it was enough for MOST tag teams to forget that there’s nothing underneath. The Assassins spotted it. Also, The Fabulous Ones had their day in the sun, it’s over now, and it’s time to give a NEW tag team a shot at the titles.

CWA WORLD TAG TEAM TITLE: THE ASSASSINS (Champions, with Jimmy Hart) vs. ROBERT REED & KEN RAPER
-Reed gets pounded on so hard that his season 4-style perm is season 2-style straightened by the impact. He gets bieled into the corner and tags in Ken Raper, who gets double-suplexed and kneed. He looks like he’s wishing he followed his brother Tom into RV sales. Shout out to the four states in the union that’ll get that reference.

-Fabulous Ones come to ringside as the Assassins set up a slingshot splash. They bungle the timing a LITTLE, but it works out okay as Stan Lane distracts one Assassin, Steve Kiern pulls Raper out of the way of the splash of the other, so an Assassin crashes face-first on the mat, AND KEN RAPER GETS THE THREE-COUNT! Robert Reed and Ken Raper are the new World Tag Team Champions, and the babyface locker room swarms the ring and surrounds them to congratulate the new champs and dissuade any post-match beatdowns. Jimmy Hart has a full-blown meltdown after the bell, and Lance tells the Assassins that they don’t have room to talk because of all the mocking talk they did earlier about “whining over outside interference.”

-Back from commercial, Jimmy Hart returns in a slightly better mood, bringing along the Moondogs and a new find, a big fat guy with a bleached mohawk, streaks of facepaint, and a chain. It’s Man Mountain Link, and the real story is kind of interesting. He’s a legit childhood friend of One Man Gang, and Gang would shoot to stardom after making himself over with a better version of the look that Link has here. And so our Monday night main event is set: Jerry Lawler, Austin Idol, and Bill Dundee vs. The Moondogs and Link.

-Except…Jerry Lawler is here after the break. wants a piece of Jimmy Hart, the Moondogs, AND Man Mountain Link…but he has something else on his mind. He wants to talk to Eddie Marlin and arrange a replacement because he doesn’t want this six-man tag match. Jerry beats around the bush a LOT before he finally cracks and admits that for all the peacemaking over the past few weeks, and for the fact that he and Bill Dundee have put aside their differences and teamed up already to deal with some common enemies. but they have too much of a past, it feels awkward being around him, he doesn’t really like Bill, and he gets the impression that Bill still doesn’t really like him, either.

-Jerry walks off and Bill Dundee comes out here with Eddie Marlin. Eddie is going through the card and starts to announce that one of the Fabulous Ones will be a substitute, but Bill Dundee objects because their identities are so tied to each other that he doesn’t trust either one of them to give their full 100% to a different partner.

-Eddie says, okay, fine, they’ll put Dutch Mantell in the match. Bill objects because he doesn’t like Dutch. Eddie is getting annoyed now and says at this point, he’d rather replace Dundee than replace Lawler, if Bill’s going to be this annoying about it.

-Monday night is Halloween, so for the kids who are going to have to cut trick-or-treating short, kids 12 and under who come to the Mid-South Coliseum in costume will be admitted free, with a TV awarded to the kid who wears the best costume of the night. A 12-INCH BLACK & WHITE QUASAR! See, to little Adam, “black and white” would have been the deal breaker, I would have just gone trick or treating.

-Oh, also, it turns out the kids who come to the arena WILL get to go trick-or-treating. They’re going to open the arena doors early, and they’re going to have all the babyfaces in “houses” around the arena, passing out candy. Cute.

-The two Jimmys and the Assassins are back out here, and nobody makes a fool out of them. Jimmy Hart wants a rematch against Reed and Raper. Titles on the line, AND if Reed and Raper don’t leave the building in an ambulance, Jimmy Hart will leave Memphis.

-We go to the Mid-South Coliseum, where Jesse Ventura is challenging any man in the building to an arm wrestling match. Bobby Fulton answers the challenge, and Jesse beats him handily.

-Jim Cornette is suddenly here in Jesse Ventura’s behalf. He’s offering 10:1 odds for the contest, so $500 for anyone who challenges Jesse, and Cornette will put up $5,000. Two new wrestlers, Charles Atlas and James Daniels, reply immediately, and Cornette takes off quickly.

-Jim Cornette struts out here with Buddy Landel, Dennis Condrey, and Norvell Austin. Cornette is offering another $5,000 cash prize for a match on Monday night. It’s going to be a six-man tag against Ricky Gibson and the Rock & Roll Express. They divide the match up into stipulations for the individual guys, which is a little complicated, but here it is: Depending on which team wins, Ricky Gibson or Dennis Condrey will have to leave the territory; Buddy Landel or Ricky Morton will have to cut his hair; and Norvell Austin and Robert Gibson are both putting up $2,000 of their own money on the outcome.

-We go to Mid-South Coliseum, with the Invader squashing Tom Prichard until Prichard pulls out one offensive move and gets a surprise win. Invader busts him open with a a Russian flagpole afterward.

7.1

The final score: review Good

The 411

A fun, fresh, different type of angle this week. I liked it!