wrestling / Video Reviews
Memphis Wrestling (11.6.1982) Review
Image Credit: Memphis Wrestling
Loading...-Originally aired November 6, 1982.
-Your hosts are Lance Russell & Dave Brown. The Sheepherders interrupt immediately, in a rampage because their booking sheet says they have to be in the TV studio today. They got out of bed at 4 a.m. and made a 250-mile drive from their last match to be here, and they don’t even have a match scheduled for the show. They bitch and bitch and bitch so much that Lance finally leaves the table and goes to talk to Eddie Marlin just to placate them.
TERRY TAYLOR & JACQUES ROUGEAU vs. THE ANGEL & JESSE OWENS
-Kind of surprising to see the legendary Olympian working in the Memphis territory, and you can definitely tell he’s on the downside of his career, because he’s been dead for two years at this point.
-Faces trade off with side headlocks on the Angel. Angel goes to work with clubbing blows and a high backdrop, but he tags in Owens right after whipping Taylor into the ropes, and we get a slick spot where Taylor leapfrogs Owens on his way into the ring and dropkicks him. Savate kick by Rougeau gets the pin.
-We take a few minutes to eye-hump the Fabulous Ones to the sounds of “Everybody Wants You” by Billy Squier.
THE FABULOUS ONES vs. CARL FERGIE & THE ENFORCER
-The new team makes their first appearance in the TV studio, and they do a slick bit of production for the intro, splicing just a bit of the music video into their actual entrance.
-Fabs do a strut to show what they learned from their mentor, then knock Enforcer around. Not sure who Enforcer is, but somehow I don’t think it’s a pre-growth spurt Arn Anderson. Fergie shoulderblocks Keirn, but misses an elbow. Lane ties up Fergie in the corner for a nice monkey flip by Keirn.
-Keirn finally gets the ball rolling, putting the boots to Lane and slamming him for a one-count. Backdrop by Fergie and in comes the Enforcer. Lane makes a tag behind the Enforcer’s back and Keirn sneaks in with an atomic drop for the three-count. Girls are screaming, five guys are audibly booing, so their work here is done.
-Bill Dundee is here to address the rumors about why he’s been missing for several weeks, so he discusses getting into a brawl in the parking lot of a gymnasium a few weeks ago. He subtly omits the little detail that the other guy in the brawl was Randy Savage, and Dundee got his revenge a year later by becoming the booker for Mid-South Wrestling, IMMEDIATELY demoting Lanny Poffo to jobber there, and sinking the plans to bring Savage into the territory.
-The Sheepherders interrupt Dundee’s story to tell him he’s disgraced Scotland AND Australia by getting the crap kicked out of him in a parking lot. They get into a shouting match, and it quickly turns into a shoving match before Luke Williams knocks Dundee cold with a flagpole. Jacques Rougeau and Terry Taylor hurry out there before any more damage can be done.
SWEET BROWN SUGAR & BOBBY EATON (Southern Tag Team Champions, with Jimmy Hart) vs. JOE STARK & PAT HUTCHINSON
-Sugar with an aggressive neckbreaker and a backdrop on Stark, and he really seems to have a particular fire under his ass for some reason this week. Eaton tags in and drops an elbow. Sugar tags back in and takes on both opponents in their own corner because he’s so fired up. Sugar works over Hutchinson’s arm and headbutts him. Eaton tags in with a powerslam and an elbow to finish things.
-Over to the Mid-South Coliseum, where Jim Cornette is in Crusher Broomfield’s corner for his match against Mid-America champion Dutch Mantel. The makeover to One Man Gang was a game changer for Broomfield because he looks like “just a large man” and nothing more in this persona. Dutch and Crusher collide on a shoulderblock and both guys are dazed. Cornette seizes the opportunity to distract the referee while passing a chain into the ring, but Dutch gets his hands on the chain first and knocks Crusher out cold to get the three-count, with Cornette being so inept that his own chicanery costs his man the match.
-In the studio, Dutch comes out to tell Lance about how he made it a point to say “Thank you” to Cornette on his way out of the ring. Sheepherders come out running their mouths again and tell Dutch he’s a typical American coward. Dutch says he doesn’t want any trouble and leaves…then returns with his whip and runs the Sheepherders off.
MID-AMERICA TITLE: DUTCH MANTEL (Champion) vs. KING COBRA
-A rare title match in the TV studio.
-Feeling-out process goes to a chinlock by Dutch. He goes for a backdrop and Cobra surprises him with a sunset flip for two, and Dutch is so startled that he dives onto Cobra for his own two-count. Dutch manages to get an armbar clamped on. Shoulderblocks by Dutch, but Cobra catches him with a hard knee and clamps on his own chinlock as we get a three-minute warning for the end of TV time. They continue fighting it out until the Poochieherders interrupt ANOTHER segment, running in and strangling Mantel with his own whip until Bill Dundee makes the save.
-We get another promo from Jackie Fargo, now wearing Brett Somers’ glasses, congratulating Jimmy Hart on winning Worst Manager of the Year and getting the Tag Team Titles with “Bozo the Clown and Little Sambo holding the belts,” holy shit.
