wrestling / Video Reviews
Mid-South Power Pro Wrestling (1.26.1986) Review
Image Credit: WWE
Loading...-Originally aired January 26, 1986.
-Your host is Jim Ross.
-We revisit Dick Murdoch’s pledge to hold both the North American Title and the TV Title, no matter what the stinking “rules” say!
HACKSAW BUTCH REED vs. BUZZ SAWYER
-From Oklahoma City. Again, Butch Reed checked out at the beginning of the month, so I have a feeling I know how this is going to turn out.
-Buzz Sawyer demands a dog collar match and accuses Butch of being too much of a coward to accept it. Reed says he’ll accept it if Grizzly Smith sanctions it AND makes it no-disqualification. Grizzly agrees to both men’s terms, so this is now a no-DQ dog collar match.
-Reed gets slack with the chain first and clocks Sawyer with it. He strangles Sawyer with the chain and to his credit, the legit batshit crazy and legendarily bad employee Sawyer is selling his ass off for Reed, screaming and sounding like he’s afraid for his life with every bump he takes.
-Sawyer is bleeding all over the ring and Reed is trying to finish him off, but Sawyer finally pops him in the schnozz and throws him out to the concrete.
-Back in the ring, Sawyer misses an elbow, and Reed comes back with SOUPBONES! Reed whips Sawyer with the chain, but Sawyer just takes the chain off and attaches his end to the bottom rope. He then bulldogs Reed, and the motion of the bulldog causes Reed’s neck to snap back and he collapses to the mat, with Sawyer getting the pin. And Reed has only himself to blame because “take off your collar” is a clear case for a DQ in a dog collar match, and whose idea was it for the match to be no-DQ? Good brawling here.
TV TITLE TOURNAMENT FINALS: JAKE “The Snake” ROBERTS vs. DICK SLATER (North American Champion, with Dark Journey)
-From last week’s Mid-South Wrestling. Slater attacks from behind and throws Jake out to the concrete. Dick tries to finish quickly with a handful of tights, or pants, or pajamas, or whatever the hell Jake wears, for a two-count. Neckbreaker by Slater gets two.
-Jake wakes up and gets an atomic drop out of nowhere. Slater fights back and goes for a suplex, but Jake deadweights, keeps his feet on the mat, and DDTs Slater for the three-count to capture the TV Title, and the crowd goes nuts. I will say, I appreciate that they have better audio on the crowd in the new venue. You only got a little bit of it in Irish McNeil.
“Mad Dog” BUZZ SAWYER vs. STEVE DOLL
-From last week’s Mid-South Wrestling. This has got to be some kind of record for longevity for Sawyer post-Georgia. Powerslam off the top rope gets an easy victory, but he gets greedy and keeps beating up this poor youngster until Butch Reed makes the save. They stare each other down until Dick Murdoch shows up and knocks Reed out to the floor, and in a rather familiar incident, he gives Reed a brainbuster on the floor and takes off. And I knew this day was coming, but guess what? That’s actually it for Butch Reed in Mid-South…
TERRY TAYLOR vs. HUMUNGOUS (with Terry Taylor)
-Definitely a theme to this show: From last week’s Mid-South Wrestling. Tough to do a show like this when you don’t have like 25 televised house shows a month to draw from.
-Hmm, this match has a “one of these guys is finishing up” odor to it.
-Taylor tries a lock-up, doesn’t work. Tries a right hand, hurt himself on the helmet. Humungous chokes him out. Taylor tries an elbow to the head, but he hurts himself again. Humungous drops the leg and tries to finish, but Taylor pokes him in the eyes. Humperdink tries to interfere, but Humungous knocks his manager off the apron, and the five-arm puts Humungous away cleanly before we can get some kind of anatomy lesson to explain why a punch and an elbow can’t penetrate a hockey mask, but a forearm can.
TED DIBIASE vs. GUSTAVO MENDOZA
-Yup! From last week’s Mid-South Wrestling. One nice detail here: DiBiase still has the suspicious glove. I always like it when guys turn face but they still have just a SMIDGE of heel to them.
-Hiptoss and a dropkick by DiBiase…am I dreaming or did DiBiase absolutely never throw a dropkick in the WWF?
-Side headlock by DiBiase while the commentators announce that the Fabulous Ones are on their way to Mid-South, and Joel hints that he’s made a music video, which is probably going to include some shot of them taking an extremely manly bubble bath together and it didn’t occur to anyone in 1986 how it would look.
-Figure four applied by DiBiase, but Murdoch hits the ring for the DQ. DiBiase is up for a fight, but Murdoch’s good friend The Masked Superstar arrives, but DiBiase has a good friend too, and here’s Steve Williams. We have a brawl but we are DESPERATELY OUT OF TIME, by which I mean we cut away from the brawl to watch the music video, which turns out to be pretty good.
