wrestling / Video Reviews
Memphis Wrestling (9.13.1980) Review
Image Credit: Memphis Wrestling
Loading...-Originally aired September 13, 1980.
-Your hosts are Lance Russell and Dave Brown.
TOMMY RICH (Southern Heavyweight Champion) vs. TONY BOYLES
-Tommy attacks while Boyles still has his jacket on, but Boyles fights back with a backdrop and an armdrag. Rich comes back with a back suplex, but Boyles kicks out at two and Rich throws a tantrum about the slow count. Side note: At this point, the WWF was strongly considering bringing Rich in for a main event run against Bob Backlund, as one of the Grand Wizard’s proteges. And Rich is great in the role of hot-headed cocky heel here. Elbow by Rich gets the win.
-Lance Russell runs down the card for Tuesday in the Louisville Gardens. Jerry Lawler will be in a tag team match, and Lawler explains that he still isn’t 100% medically cleared to wrestle, so it’s a tag team match, he’s going to wear a cast, and since he knows his opponents will complain about him wearing a heavy plaster cast, he’ll allow Killer Karl Krupp to wear a cast for the match too.
-Lance talks to Bill Dundee and Tojo Yamamoto next. They’ll be in a tag team match on Tuesday nights “for reasons that we’ll understand later in the hour.” One of these days Lance is going to interview a headless corpse with flies swarming around it and he’ll explain that we’ll understand why the body is missing a head if we keep watching.
-Tommy Rich cuts a pompous promo about how Jimmy Valiant always brags about being a champion and dating pretty ladies. Well Tommy Rich has the belt now, and Jimmy Valiant’s women are all ugly hogs anyway, so he’s got nothing.
TOM STANTON & FRANK SAVAGE vs. CARL FERGIE & DAVID MCGEE
-Stanton is a Georgia jobber and Savage is a WWF jobber, being packaged here as “a hot new tag team from New York City.”
-Fergie surprises Stanton with a flurry of offense, so he hustles out of there, and Savage gives Fergie a thumb to the throat. McGee tags in and as “the least experienced man in the ring” he’s subject to a beatdown. Hot tag to Fergie, who looks like he’s going to pull off a big upset on the new team, with both of them retreating in the corner.
-McGee tags in again, in a regrettable decision, and the heels finish with a less-impressive version of a decapitator.
-We go to post-match footage from the Mid-South Coliseum. Jimmy Hart is writhing in the ring and Jerry Lawler is writhing on the floor, and Lance Russell has to ask the fans to clear the area around the ring because they’ve all gathered around Jerry to check on him. It’s implied that Karl Krupp attacked Lawler during his match against Jimmy Hart, and Lawler leaves on a stretcher.
-Live in the studio, Jimmy Hart has an ice bag and his arm in a sling. Krupp dares Lawler to step in the ring against him under any circumstances, vowing to avenge what he did to Jimmy Hart in the ring.
-Next, Jerry Lawler is in the studio. Lawler is no fool, his leg isn’t fully healed. He’s safe wrestling Jimmy Hart, but admits he even aggravated his injury a little bit just wrestling Jimmy Hart. So he promises that he WILL wrestle Krupp…but not immediately.
LOU THESZ vs. DAVID OSWALD
-Wow…yes, really. Lou is 64 years old here.
-Thesz gets a nice takedown into a headscissors. Thesz allows Oswald to get back to his feet just to take him down and tie him up in a variation of a hammerlock. Thesz just does a succession of holds while the commentators concede that this match won’t be anything more than a learning experience for David Oswald. “But at least he can say he wrestled Lou Thesz.” And I have to think that’s true. If David Oswald has a photo of this match hanging on the wall of his house today, then I’m happy for him.
-Oswald goes to the eyes and pulls Thesz’s hair and the commentators are like “lol he’s gonna die now.” Lou keeps a cool head, and all he needs is a back suplex to get the three-count. Lance & Dave’s assessment: Lou was probably just going to drag the match out to get a nice workout and warm himself up for other matches in this area, but the moment Oswald went to the hair, Thesz decided “screw this guy” and pinned him instantly just to make a point to the cocky kid. Good exhibition by Thesz.
-Superstar Bill Dundee tries to cut a promo, but Bill Irwin steps in and complains that Dundee doesn’t deserve mic time because he’s never got a win over Irwin. He dares “Shorty” to get in the ring right now and earn his mic time, and…I mean, as long as there’s a ring over there, why not?
SUPERSTAR BILL DUNDEE vs. BILL IRWIN
-Dundee immediately shows up Irwin with a pair of takedowns and Irwin has to squirm to the ropes to escape.
-Irwin comes back with a backdrop and a knee for two. Stungun by Irwin. Dundee fights back with lefts and rights but can’t put the doctor away. Irwin fights back and if Vince McMahon was here, this would be the point where he declared this a “seesaw match-up back and forth.” Dundee gets frustrated and just starts pounding on Irwin like he’s Scut Farkus, but right as he’s about to go for the kill, Gypsy Joe runs in for a DQ, and it’s a 2-on-1 attack on Dundee after the bell. Tojo Yamamoto eventually gets around to coming to the rescue and clears the ring with a belt, way, way too late for it to make a difference.
NON-TITLE: EDDIE & TOMMY GILBERT (Southern Tag Team Champions) vs. SONNY KING & MIKE MERONY
-Merony was replaced by David McGee in the previous tag team match, so somebody missed this taping.
-King stalls and stalls and stalls to start. Dave Brown gets annoyed, calling the time until something happens (over a minute). Tommy armdrags Sonny to finally get the ball rolling. Everybody tags and the youngsters are pretty evenly matched. King tags back in and takes over on Eddie, ramming him into the turnbuckles and slamming him.
-Merony attacks Tommy Gilbert in the corner out of nowhere and the referee hurries over to break that up, distracting him long enough for King to throw Eddie out to the concrete. Back in, Eddie recovers and powerslams Merony for a three-count.
