wrestling / TV Reports
Mid-South Wrestling (10.19.1985) Review
Image Credit: WWE
Loading...-Originally aired October 19, 1985.
-Your hosts are Jim Ross and Joel Watts. Audible “Freebirds” chant from the fans at the outset for some reason.
-First, we have some unaired footage from last week’s taping. Buzz Sawyer picked a fight with Jim Duggan, whipping his logging chain repeatedly while Jim Duggan tries to storm in the ring. Referees hold him back, and even Jake Roberts shows up to try to convince Duggan that it’s a bad idea to go in there unarmed.
FANTASTIC BOBBY FULTON vs. DUTCH MANTEL
-Fulton gets a Cena-level reception, with the men booing him out of the building while the ladies line up for kisses.
-Dutch works the arm and taunts Fulton with slaps. Fulton breaks free and puts up his dukes. Mantel works the arm and gives Fulton a wedgie for good measure, with commentary casually saying that Bobby likely “feels the effects” of that strategy. Axehandles by Mantel, and he sends Fulton out to the floor. Fulton mounts a comeback, but Dutch blocks a corner charge and rolls him up with his legs on the ropes. Referee Tommy Gilbert catches him and won’t count the pin. Mantel gets mad enough to shove Gilbert for that, and Fulton turns right around and rolls Mantel, with his legs on the ropes, and Gilbert counts three! Not much of a match, but a fun finish.
TV TITLE: HACKSAW BUTCH REED (Champion) vs. EL CORSARIO
-Reed overpowers Corsario and works the arm & shoulder. Luckily, Bill Watts isn’t on commentary this week, so my TV won’t catch fire from his sizzling hot takes about Puerto Rico.
-Corsario catches Reed out of nowhere with a hard kick. Slam and a chop by Corsario are totally undermined by the visible stains on Corsario’s ass and crotch, if anyone out there needs to be told why wrestlers should wear tights instead of gray sweatpants.
-More chops by Corsario. Reed blocks a kick and dropkicks Corsario down. Series of SOUPBONES by Reed. Press slam by Reed, and the crowd goes…the same. Tackle off the second ropes gets a very lukewarm reception from the crowd. There’s definitely an air of “the moment passed” with Reed here.
HUMUNGOUS & NIGHTMARE (with Oliver Humperdink) vs. NICK PATRICK & STEVE CONSTANCE
-Jobbers work Nightmare’s arm while the commentators tease that Humperdink is promising to “unleash a new side of Humungous.” They suspect it has something to do with the weird new mask he’s wearing now, and right on cue, Humungous headbutts Constance and renders him an instant bloody mess. Humungous locks on the Shoney’s New Muffins and gets the submission in short order.
“Hot Stuff” EDDIE GILBERT vs. MIKE NICHOLS
-I think I’ve exhausted all the really viable Mike Nichols movie title puns that are worth the effort, although this encounter with Hot Stuff is likely to give him Heartburn, amiright. Half-nelson and a chinlock by Eddie. Then he heels it up by slapping Nichols around, and the Hot Shot gets three.
“Mad Dog” BUZZ SAWYER vs. DON TURNER
-Buzz Sawyer cuts a promo running down all the bridges that he’s burned in the past year, saying he slapped the Junkyard Dog and Hulk Hogan, then decided to quit because they weren’t competition, so it wasn’t fun. And then he went to Atlanta, beat everybody up, and quit. Luckily, he’s working for a promoter with whom he sees eye-to-eye on the issue of giving quarter, so he’s here in Mid-South now. He tries to goad Turner into putting on the dog collar and making this a spontaneous chain match, but when Turner hesitates, Sawyer just slaps him down and headbutts him. Dropkick and a powerslam finish.
FANTASTIC TOMMY ROGERS vs. “Mr. Unpredictable” DICK SLATER (with Dark Journey)
-Rogers works the arm. Slater takes it to the mat, but Rogers wriggles free. It turns into a slap fight until Slater just gets fed up and heaves him through the ropes and into the barricade. Slater tries a Russian legsweep to finish but Rogers kicks out, and Slater throws him out to the barricade again. Rogers comes back to life and hiptosses Slater, but Slater dodges a corner charge and rams him into the turnbuckle. Good Night Irene locked on by Slater…and Tommy Rogers goes right to sleep to give Slater a clean win. Not what I was expecting. Good match while it lasted though.
-Post-match, the referee demands that Rogers be awakened before Slater leaves. Commentary gets weird as they point out that Dark Journey is circling the body and she’s wearing spiked heels, so they build it up and build it up, and then Slater just wakes him up and leaves.
TAG TEAM TITLE: AL PEREZ & WILDCAT WENDELL COOLEY vs. TED DIBIASE & “Dr. Death” STEVE WILLIAMS
-DiBiase is absolutely livid that Mid-South booked this match LAST for the TV taping, because the champs can just run for five minutes and get an easy draw. Perez and Cooley come out swinging, surprising the challengers. DiBiase and Williams go into panic mode and start double-teaming early to take control.
-DiBiase slams Cooley down and drops a fist right on Cooley. who’s already bleeding somehow. DiBiase goes for a backdrop, but Cooley turns it into a backslide. DiBiase blocks the attempted hot tag and gets the doctor in there. Doctor gives him a thorough physical, by which I mean ass-kicking. DiBiase hits a piledriver, but he only gets two. Doctor comes back in but Cooley just won’t give up. Corner charge misses and Cooley finally makes the hot tag. Perez takes on both challengers alone. It turns into a pier sixer, and the champions have firm command of the match as the bell sounds for TV time. So DiBiase gets screwed out of a title AGAIN!
