wrestling / Video Reviews
Memphis Wrestling (8.14.1982) Review

-Originally aired August 14, 1982.
-Your hosts are Lance & Dave. And it’s a special week for us this week because NWA World Heavyweight Champion Ric Flair is making a rare appearance in the Memphis territory, and he’ll be wrestling a non-title match on TV against young up-and-comer Rick McCord. Lance promises that Flair will sign a contract to defend the NWA World Title somewhere in this area at a future date.
-Promoter Eddie Marlin is here to personally greet Ric Flair. Flair marvels that Memphis actually has a large airport and a few Cadillacs on the road, and hey, Lance is actually articulate, so he had Memphis figured all wrong. This is great. He’s babyface in tone and delivery, but he’s just condescending as hell all the way through. He asks Eddie for a contract and Flair cheerfully signs it, promising to turn Memphis into a big-time region for the wrestling business. The contract is just Ric’s signature for the moment, and Lance promises that a challenger and date will be determined later.
-Jimmy Hart walks out next. Jerry Lawler had a great chance to join the First Family and put all the bad blood behind him, and Jimmy recaps house show action. Lawler was up against Kimala, and Jimmy Hart interfered on Lawler’s behalf, unsolicited, to help him win. So he reasons Jerry owes him. Jimmy brings out Carl Fergie, a cousin of Lawler and Wayne Ferris who has been USED by Lawler over the years. He has the chance now to challenge his cousin for the Southern Heavyweight Title, and Jimmy guarantees him the belt.
-After the break, Jerry Lawler promises to straighten out Cousin Carl. Also, Jerry USED Jimmy. He won the Southern Heavyweight Title like he wanted, and Jimmy is right back where he started. Mission accomplished…
-…Having said that, Lawler mentions that he was supposed to wrestle Pat Hutchinson today, but Pat Hutchinson isn’t much of an opponent, so when Eddie told him that was his opponent for TV today, Jerry told him to just scratch the match. He doesn’t want Pat. BUT…today is a really special day because the NWA World Heavyweight Champion is in the building! In fact, Lawler thinks that’s so exciting that he actually came to the building extra early to make sure he didn’t miss the chance to see Ric Flair in person. And Lawler wants to know if Ric would be willing to come out and shake hands with Jerry, because he’s such a big famous wrestler that Jerry just wants to shake hands.
-Flair comes out, now dressed in his robe and ring gear, preparing to battle Rick McCord, but Lance calls him over and asks if he’d be willing to shake hands with Jerry Lawler, because Jerry has always wanted to meet him. Flair just wants to wrestle his match with McCord and when he’s done he’ll shake hands with Jerry…
-King just completely kisses Ric’s ass, but, gee whiz, Jerry points out that Ric is in town to show everyone what a star he is, what a great competitor he is, and impress all the beautiful women, and who is he going to impress by beating inexperienced rookie competition like Rick McCord? If Ric wants to look GOOD, he should face a really good, qualified opponent.
-Flair agrees and suggests the little short guy with the dark hair, Dundee or whatever his name is. Lawler suggests that, hey, HE was supposed to have a match against a rookie himself, so he’s already dressed to wrestle. Why not Flair vs. Lawler on TV? Lawler would consider it an HONOR. Just a ten-minute non-title match.
-Flair agrees…
-…But…but just one more thing. Lawler was just thinkin’…Since nobody in Memphis is on Flair’s level, and since the match only has a ten-minute time limit anyway, let’s put the World Title on the line for ten minutes, since Flair’s going to win anyway? Lawler’s not going to be able to pin him in only ten minutes, so it’s no risk and it makes the TV show more fun. How about it? World Title match, ten-minute time limit. Flair thinks it over, laughs Lawler off, and tells him it’s a deal, so get in the ring.
NWA WORLD TITLE, 10-MINUTE TIME LIMIT: RIC FLAIR (Champion) vs. JERRY “The King” LAWLER
-One more thing–Lawler’s reputation will be ruined if he submits, so Flair heads over to the commentary table and makes it clear that Lawler is allowed to leave the ring any time he wants, no hard feelings.
-Mat wrestling for a bit, jockeying for position. They trade hammerlocks and windmills, with Lawler getting Flair on the mat to a round of applause. They duel for a top wristlock, but Lawler just breaks it entirely and clamps on a side headlock. Flair runs the ropes but Lawler blocks whatever he was going to do and hiptosses him, and Flair is getting visibly angry.
-Flair gives Lawler a hard knee to the gut and chops him down, just unloading a bunch of frustration on King at this point. Knee drop by Flair gets a two-count, and the crowd applauds for the kick-out because they’re so amped for Lawler’s big shot. Flair goes for a suplex, but Lawler wriggles out, lands on his feet, and clamps on a sleeper. Flair lunges toward the ropes and causes Lawler to lose his grip and tumble out of the ring and onto the concrete.
-Two-minute warning as Flair successfully does the suplex this time for two. Elbow gets another two. A kick and a chop for two more. Another suplex as we get a 30-second warning. Flair finally applies the figure-four, but Lawler survives the 30 seconds, and the bell sounds for the time limit draw, just as Lawler expected.
-But Flair is so damn mad that the time limit expired right as Lawler was about to submit that Naitch demands some satisfaction. He wants five more minutes, just to put Lawler away.
-So the match resumes. Lawler shows signs of hulking up as Flair continues punching and chopping, but THE STRAP COMES DOWN and Lawler just tears into Flair with fists, feet, and an Irish whip, taken Flair-style, of course. And Flair hurries to the floor, grabs the title belt, and gets the hell out of the ring, taking the loss by count-out! So I guess we know who’s signing that contract now. As just a match it was fine, but the story–the promo and the way the match progressed–was an all-time classic.
-Eddie Marlin comes back out because all of a sudden, Flair is changing the rules on them and saying that it’s not REALLY a World Title match because it wasn’t put in writing. Ric Flair returns to the studio, now with Jimmy Hart following him. Since Jimmy Hart is the only honest man in Memphis, he’s using Hart to conduct all of his business dealings in Memphis. Also, Flair vows that he will NEVER defend his title against Jerry Lawler because a studio full of country bumpkins tried to con him, and Flair’s not going to allow it, woo. Flair cuts a check for $10,000 and hands it to Hart, saying it’s a reward for anyone that can knock the King out of wrestling.
-Dutch Mantell comes out and demands that Bill Dundee get out here for a chat. Dutch wants to know why he has to wrestle guys when he’s clearly the number one contender for Bill’s Mid-America belt. They have an argument, with Dutch saying that he helped Bill win that belt so he’s pretty much co-holder anyway. And he’s tired of wrestling opening matches because he deserves a belt and a main event spot! So Bill agrees to a title defense if he can go get Eddie Marlin to come out here and draw up a contract, but before he can, Dutch takes a cheap shot and we have a brawl on the floor that has to be broken up.
-Dutch is so mad that he just hurries into the ring and beats the hell out of the jobber in there and pins him right as the referee makes it in there to start the match.
TERRY TAYLOR & BOBBY FULTON vs. CARL FERGIE & SWEET BROWN SUGAR (with Jimmy Hart)
-It’s already a pier sixer when we return from commercial, and the referee absolutely cannot call it to order. Jimmy Hart runs in the ring and starts hitting Taylor and Fulton with his cane, and honestly, I think the only reason he’s doing that is for a time cue, because they never really had enough time to do this match.