wrestling / Video Reviews
Mid-South Power Pro Wrestling (12.29.1985) Review
Image Credit: WWE/Peacock
Loading...-Necessity sends me elsewhere to get my fix of Mid-South Wrestling now that I’ve exhausted the WWE supply. After a one-week gap, we land here, at the company’s B-show.
-Originally aired December 29, 1985.
-Your host is Jim Ross, hosting it in a tiny quiet studio.
-We open the show with a personality profile narrated by Joel Watts, recapping Dick Murdoch’s career in 1985. He returned to the territory, won the North American Title, and demanded an NWA World Title shot against Ric Flair. Hacksaw Jim Duggan and Hacksaw Butch Reed also wanted title shots, but Ric Flair announced he would only ever defend against the North American Title when he returned to the territory. So Butch Reed signed a title match and won the North American Title, and then Ric Flair was forced to give title shots to absolutely everyone in Mid-South except Murdoch. So Murdoch rendered Ted DiBiase a bloody disgusting mess and cost him his shot at the NWA World Title, and then gave him a brainbuster on the floor. Did you get all that? Yes you did, because this was a fantastic, concise recap of a storyline that got a bit complicated. Bravo, Joel.
-The Sheepherders are on their way to Mid-South, and JR is concerned because they’ve been suspended from numerous wrestling promotions around the world due to their violent conduct. And with that, we get a Sheepherders music video, set to “We Will Rock You,” with lots of footage that appears to be from Southwest Championship Wrestling. And it’s really basic; just a series of cuts to different clips from squash matches, and it calls attention to how good Joel was at this stuff when he was the one assembling the highlight reels.
-We get a house show promo touting action at U.N.O. on January 3, and it’s interesting because this thing is structured 100% like a later WWF Event Center promo, with Jim Ross cutting a customized report laying out the card in the specific venue, and then going to pre-recorded comments that are generic enough that they could be plugged in to promote any house show.
TV TITLE: TERRY TAYLOR (Champion) vs. KRUSHER KRUSCHEV
-We’re flashing back to July 28, 1984 for this match. The story here is that Dr. Death has possession of the TV Title medal and he’s refusing to give it up.
-Dr. Death stays at ringside to watch. Krusher backs Taylor into the corner and won’t let up, and he’s shocked when Taylor just rears back and belts him in the mouth. Krusher applies a top wristlock and gets some added leverage with a handful of hair. Taylor gets free and turns it into a hammerlock. Bodypress by Taylor gets two. Krusher with punches, and a shoulderblock knocks Taylor out to the floor.
-Williams rams Taylor into the post under the guise of “helping him back in the ring,” and Taylor is bleeding. Piledriver by Kruschev gets two. But Taylor is just damn mad at this point, popping Williams right in the eye and then rolling up Kruschev to end the match immediately and retain the title. And we cut it off there without seeing the post-match antics, with Williams knocking Taylor out cold to complete his heel turn. But a good battle anyway.
MASKED SUPERSTAR (with Sheik Adnan El-Kaissie & Mr. Saito) vs. TOM ZENK
-And we head over to the AWA. The Masked Superstar is on his way to Mid-South for an extended visit so we’re getting this match to get acquainted with him. The chyron at the bottom of the screen says that this match is “Courtesy of Pro Wrestling USA,” and I had no idea that show was still going by this point.
-Superstar slams Zenk and follows with an elbow to the throat. He throws Zenk to the floor and snaps his neck, as we’re clearly in a different stage of Zenk’s career than I was expecting. Back in, the neckbreaker gets three for the Superstar, as Zenk got absolutely obliterated.
-We get another promo for the upcoming house show. Jake “The Snake” Roberts & Butch Reed will team up to face “the new tag team of Dick Slater and Humungous.”
“Captain Redneck” DICK MURDOCH vs. KIM DUC (with Skandar Akbar)
-Another one where we’re flashing way back. This match is from 1982, and it’s a weird choice because Murdoch is solidly a babyface at this stage in his career, but in December 1985, he’s the hottest heel in the territory.
Story here is that Kim Duc is not actually an active competitor in Mid-South, he’s here solely as a “bounty hunter” for Skandar Akbar. WWF fans will recognize him instantly; it’s Tiger Chung Lee.
-Side headlock by Murdoch. Duc tries working the arm and uses a handful of hair to get Murdoch down on the mat. And Duc makes himself quite comfortable down on that mat. Murdoch finally gets free, but Duc chops him and chops him repeatedly. Murdoch comes back to life and Akbar runs over to Murdoch’s backpack and grabs his trenching tool. He takes a swing at Murdoch, but hits Duc instead. Murdoch gets his hands on the trenching tool and knocks Duc out cold in full view of the ref, but the ref condones it (karma prevails, I guess) and counts the three.
NORTH AMERICAN TITLE: BRAD ARMSTRONG (with the drum from a washing machine hanging over his shoulder) vs. TED DIBIASE (with Skandar Akbar)
-And here’s the flip side of the same problem, we’re flashing back to peak-heel Ted DiBiase.
-DiBiase is here to WIN and unloads a ton of offensive strikes right away. Brad ducks an elbow and dropkicks DiBiase. Kneelift gets two. Armstrong applies a side headlock and DiBiase turns it into an attempted roll-up for two. Armstrong sticks to the side headlock until DiBiase makes it back to his feet and back suplexes him. DiBiase chokes Armstrong and clamps on a chinlock.
-Armstrong fights to his feet and rams DiBiase into the corner. Armstrong has his second wind and applies a sleeper on DiBiase. DiBiase dives to a corner and rams Brad into a turnbuckle to break the hold. DiBiase goes to the floor and posts the leg over and over again. Back in, DiBiase goes for the kill with a figure four, and Armstrong submits! The building actually goes silent from the surprise when the bell sounds because when have you seen a title change by submission in this territory? DiBiase is the new champ after a pretty good match. I can understand why promoters liked Brad so much, but he just wasn’t the guy, no matter how much they tried.
-And we close the show with a Terry Taylor music video.
