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Memphis Wrestling (7.12.1981) Review

April 26, 2023 | Posted by Adam Nedeff
Memphis Wrestling 9-13-1980 Jerry Lawler Image Credit: Memphis Wrestling
6.3
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Memphis Wrestling (7.12.1981) Review  

-Originally aired July 12, 1981.

-Your hosts are Lance Russell & Dave Brown. Lance kicks things off by announcing that Jimmy Hart has a broken leg, and the crowd claps appreciatively.

-And we head to the Mid-South Coliseum, where Jimmy Hart is defending the Southern Heavyweight Title against Jerry Lawler in a lumberjack match. Jimmy brings the First Family to the ring, and Eddie Marlin hustles out there to tell Jimmy that the First Family is barred. Jimmy uses a handful of powder to take control. And Jimmy’s enough of a wimp that even that isn’t quite enough, so he goes into the tights and pulls out a chain, strangling and punching Lawler with it, and Mid-South Coliseum is SILENT, thinking that holy shit, Jimmy Hart is seriously about to get a win over The King.

-But nope, Lawler gets the chain and knocks him right out to the floor, where all of Lawler’s buddies are waiting to throw him back in. Lawler applies a spinning toehold, and Jimmy’s had enough and submits. But Jerry has a LOT of pent-up frustration over Jimmy’s bullshit for the past year and a half, so he throws the referee out to the floor and then snaps Jimmy’s leg to put a period on this.

-We go to Jimmy’s hospital room, and a hilarious skit where it appears we’re getting the “raw footage,” with Jimmy playing up being too helpless to do ANYTHING and Kevin Sullivan is frantically trying to make everything perfect for him. With everything finally to Jimmy’s liking, he says he’s disgusted that everything he did in the music industry to make people care about a hick town like Memphis, they actually cheered for the maiming and crippling of a good Christian athlete.

CHICK DONOVAN vs. KOKO WARE
-Bad luck for Donovan, it’s his first week as a member of the First Family and Jimmy isn’t in the building.

-Koko takes the early lead working the arm. Dropkick by Koko. Donovan fights back and suplexes Koko for two. Donovan goes to the second rope and tries to finish with an elbow, but he crashes and Koko gets a hiiiiiigh backdrop. Weird finish, as after all that, Chick just throws a kick and rolls Koko up for an awkward three, with Koko pretty clearly kicking out multiple times.

-We go back to the Mid-South Coliseum, where Jimmy Hart, in saner, non-maimed times, manages Chick Donovan during a match against Steve Keirn. Referee gets bumped and Jimmy Hart runs in for a cheap shot, but Keirn won’t have that crap and beats him up. Referee regains consciousness and disqualifies Keirn for pulling Jimmy in the ring. What, again? Forgive me for a dumb question, but…when was that EVER a rule in pro wrestling?

-Keirn wants to serve warning to Ron Bass for his upcoming Mid-American Title shot against Ron Bass, and he promises to wrestle scientific, but if Bass wrestles dirty, Keirn will do something about it. Like what, get your ass disqualified for standing up for yourself? Oooh, look out, Ron.

STEVE KEIRN vs. KEVIN SULLIVAN

-Sullivan comes to the ring with a huge trophy and demands some attention for winning the Mr. East Coast bodybuilding pageant in NEW YORK CITY, a city that respects him!

-Sullivan steps in the ring and Keirn just immediately lights into him and tries to finish in under a minute with a suplex. Sullivan kicks out, but Keirn continues mauling him. Kevin finally gets some offense in, and the moment he has even a slight edge, the rest of Jimmy Hart’s men storm the ring and gang up on Keirn. Bill Dundee tries to make the save, but that’s still pretty solid outnumbering for the heels, so he gets beaten into goo, too. And heres Jerry Lawler, and he takes a shit-kicking. Koko, Dutch, and Dream Machine come to the ring TOGETHER, and that finally evens things out and the faces clear the ring. Still, good on Jerry Lawler for taking a beating, which elevates the gang that made the save a little bit.

EXPIRATION OF TIME: DUTCH MANTELL, DREAM MACHINE, & JERRY “The King” LAWLER vs. MASA FUCHI, MR. ONITA, & TOJO YAMOMOTO
FALL ONE: Lawler takes on the world, but then the First Family shows up again and it’s a spontaneous battle royal until Bill Dundee runs out with a baseball bat and clears everyone out. And its at that point that Bill Dundee realizes that Kevin Sullivan forgot to take his trophy back after his match, so he smashes it with the bat.

6.3
The final score: review Average
The 411
It's not like I had a low opinion of Jimmy Hart before, but holy crap, my opinion of his work has SOARED since I started watching this territory.
legend

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Memphis Wrestling, Adam Nedeff