Mid-South Wrestling (1.22.1983) Review

-Originally aired January 22, 1983.

-Your hosts are Boyd Pierce and Paul Boesch. Boyd says that Stagger Lee was scheduled to wrestle this week, but as of the time that the tape started rolling, he’s not in the building yet. They’re moving his match further down the card, just in case, but right now, there’s no sign of Stagger Lee anywhere.

-Meanwhile, Bill Watts is at ringside with Junkyard Dog. His 90-day loser-leaves-town suspension is over, and JYD is back from an extended vacation in Singapore, he says, but he has no idea where Stagger Lee is. Bill Watts reasons that hey, it’s January, weather sucks, it probably messed up his flight into town.

JUNKYARD DOG & ERNIE LADD vs. HANGMAN HARRIS & THE ASSASSIN
-From the July 17, 1982 episode. DiBiase comes to the ring with a pen and a tablet to take detailed notes, and then probably write some column about it like a loser.

-Dog takes on Assassin and scares him out of the ring by going after the mask. Harris gets beaten on by both guys, but Assassin loads up his mask and sneaks in to knock out Dog. Dog ends up on the floor while Ernie Ladd tries to fight off both opponents. Referee gets bumped and we have bedlam and pandemonium. DiBiase attacks JYD with a chair, but Ernie Ladd knocks him out of the ring. Grappler runs to the ring wearing an Assassin mask. In the chaos, the referee recovers, JYD thumps the Grappler, and the referee counts the pin and gives the faces the win. That wasn’t even a match, it was like they started at the finish, but that was just a great finish, with all kinds of hell breaking loose and be not even being able to type it all up.

TIM HORNER & ART CREWS vs. MARTY LUNDE & TOM RENESTO, JR.
-Lunde honestly looks like the biggest star in the ring during the intros, as he’s walking with a swagger now and there’s a certain charisma that’s starting to emerge.

-Horner clowns him and sends him to the floor early on and Lunde looks frustrated that none of his attempts at offense are going anywhere. Everybody tags and Crews slams Renesto down. He applies an armbar and Renesto sticks his arm out for the tag, and Lunde is so annoyed by how this match is going so far that he just angrily shakes his head as he tags. Knee to the back by Lunde takes control and Team Lunesto double-teams Crews in the corner. A kneedrop by Lunde misses and he hastily tags back out.

-Horner tags in and Paul Boesch officially christens him “Lightning.” We don’t know if he’s White yet, though. All four men end up in the ring, and a Thesz press by Horner on Renesto gets the three-count. Not a bad showcase for the jobbers.

MR. WRESTLING II vs. TULLY BLANCHARD
-From Houston, and Paul’s introduction of the match indicates that there’s an angle coming.

-II applies a side headlock and snapmares Tully down with it. Tully fights out and sends him into the ropes, but II shoulderblocks him and applies the side headlock again. Tully gets out by shoving II into the referee and comes off the top rope with an elbow. Tully goes after the mask, and II just absolutely loses his shit and punches Tully a million times as the referee revives and tries to pull him off. II throws the referee across the ring and keeps beating on Tully, who’s opened up from all the punches. Referee tries to intervene one more time and now II throws the referee over the top rope. Atomic drop and a kneelift by II, and Tully smartly gets out of the ring since he already knows he’s won this. But II is so angry that he follows him out and keeps mauling him, and Boyd says that every wrestler should take this as a lesson. II practices good sportsmanship, but don’t you DARE touch his mask. More angle than match, but a good angle. Why a good angle? Becauuuuuse…

-Bill Watts is at ringside with Mr. Wrestling II, wearing a MUCH nicer suit this week, and they remind us that II has an issue with Kamala, the savage beast who is being conditioned to go after a person’s mask on sight, so now we know things will get bowling shoe-ugly when Kamala finally goes after II’s mask. And what’s this? Mr. Wrestling II shows us a threatening letter that he got in the mail. “You’re nothing without your knee.” Enclosed with it was a Mr. Wrestling II doll with the leg wrapped in bandages, and now II is really confused because he thought the mystery of who was sending the threatening letters had been resolved. If it’s not Skandar Akbar, who is it?

HACKSAW DUGGAN (Louisiana Champion) vs. BUDDY LANDELL
-Commentators have a brief discussion about the correct pronunciation of “Duggan” and Boyd says that because of the double-G, either pronunciation is correct. This would come as news to Duggan, who talked about the weirdness with his last name in Mid-South on a podcast a while back and made it EMPHATICALLY clear that his last name is pronounced Duggan, but until the day he jumps to the WWF, this company will call him Doogan.

-Doogan lifts Landell and spins him around, ramming him into the corners and then stungunning him. The spear finishes. I wish they’d stop using the word “spear” for Duggan’s version.

-Ted DiBiase marches to ringside to point out what bullshit it is that Stagger Lee has randomly “disappeared” on the day that Junkyard Dog has been reinstated. And from there, DiBiase runs down all the house shows where he removed Stagger Lee’s mask and wacky coincidences kept happening and prevented Mid-South officials from seeing Stagger Lee’s face.

KELLY KINISKI vs. TONY TORRES
-I really like the commitment to the overarching story for this week. We get TWO jobber-versus-jobber matches this week because Stagger Lee’s no-show has totally messed up the card.

-Kiniski throws forearms, but Torres fights back, armdragging him around. Armbar by Torres. Kiniski stops him with a knee to the stomach and a “backbreaker to the front of the body, which is equally effective and maybe more effective.” There is no way that this charisma vacuum could have been Gino Hernandez’s dad.

-Torres with elbows to the torso, but Kiniski fights back with a back suplex for three. This was eh.

RAT PACK vs. DON BASS & JOE STARK
-Waistlock by Borne to take control right away. Ted DiBiase gives Stark a knee and slams him for two. He tags in Bass, who had a pretty good run throughout the 70s as a tag team wrestler and I’m a little surprised to see him as a jobber here. Borne slams him and drops a knee to the face for two. Backbreaker by Borne, and a powerslam by DiBiase gets the win.

TONY ATLAS vs. TUG TAYLOR
-Taylor surprises everyone by attacking Atlas before the bell, which you just absolutely never see in this promotion. Chavo Guerrero, sitting in on commentary, says that Taylor’s career is pretty much going nowhere so he needs to pull off a shocking victory over a big star like Atlas to get some better bookings. And hey, who better to beat than a big star like Tony Atlas?

-So it doesn’t end well, as Atlas just clamps on a standing front facelock and wears him out. Taylor slaps free and tries to snapmare him, but Atlas just dead weights and doesn’t budge, so Taylor falls without him.

-And then this match turns WEIRD. Tony hiptosses Taylor, but Taylor just refuses to take the bump and lands on his feet. Atlas winds up for a big headbutt and Taylor just stands there. Atlas goes for a slam and Taylor absolutely plants his feet on the mat and wraps his arm around Tony’s neck for a facelock, refusing to play along. Atlas, however, is what is known in locker-room insider lingo as “an incredibly strong motherfucker” so he just hoists Taylor off the mat and gets the slam that he wants and covers him. The referee clearly counts three but Taylor actively fights it and rolls out, and it’s so noticeable that they can’t really end the match there.

-So now Tony sends Taylor into the ropes and tries to apply a sleeper, but Taylor lifts one arm, messing up Tony’s application so Tony just has him in a standing armlock. Tony yanks his own arm out and applies the sleeper, and Taylor raises his arm once…twice…three times…four times…five times…a SIXTH time, and Tony finally just releases the hold and the referee calls for the bell after he’s let go. What the HELL was that about?

-Boyd promises us that Stagger Lee will be here next week to face Ted DiBiase.

7.6

The final score: review Good

The 411

Wow, Paul Boesch was bearable on commentary, that alone makes it a keeper!