Mid-South Wrestling (10.22.1983) Review

-Originally aired October 22, 1983.

-Your hosts are Boyd Pierce and Bill Watts.

-So this show opens in my favorite way possible, Boyd Pierce says he’s confused and Bill Watts jumps in, offering to explain what’s happening in the building. Bill Watts rewinds and explains Butch Reed’s entire convoluted scheme from last week, which culminated in Magnum TA winning the North American Title and Butch Reed & Jim Neidhart winning the Tag Team Title.

MIXED TAG MATCH: GEORGE WEINGROFF & LONE EAGLE vs. TOM STANTON & COWBOY LANG
-Advertised by Reeser Bowden as a “big man/little man tag match.” Boyd Pierce says that this match was signed in response to all of our letters. People in Mississippi and Louisiana pick some really interesting ways to deal with boredom.

-Stanton (big man) and Lone Eagle (little man) criss-cross and it’s a trap, with Weingroff sneaking in and backdropping Stanton. Lang complains about the shenanigans while Eagle pokes Stanton in the eyes. Lang gets fed up with arguing with ironically-named referee Pee-Wee Anderson and runs in to do something about it, but he accidentally trips his own partner.

-So the little men hit the ropes and Eagle runs to the corner and punches Stanton square in the nuts, then runs over and puts Lang in a full nelson. Stanton runs in to avenge his shattered balls and accidentally boots his own partner in the face.

-More shenanigans, with Eagle shoving Lang into the referee. Eagle slingshots Lang and all four men pile on top of each other, and the referee is so fed up with the tomfoolery that he counts it as a pin and gives the match to Weingroff and Eagle. Comedy matches work better when they’re quick, and this was a good example of that. This was fun.

LEAPING LANNY POFFO vs. ART CREWS
-Watts declares Poffo to be “double tough” as the men battle it out on the mat. Poffo escapes a hammerlock by flipping himself behind Crews and getting a sunset flip. Crews fights back with a hard forearm and a slam. He comes off the second rope, but Lanny raises the knees. Moonsault by Lanny gets the win. Lanny just feels so out-of-place in this territory.

NIKOLAI VOLKOFF vs. TONY TORRES
-Nikolai chokeslams Torres while Watts gets revved up about the damn Russians. Boots and knees by Volkoff. He just lifts Torres and throws him around the ring with one hand repeatedly, and a backbreaker finally puts Torres out of his misery. Less than a year later Nikolai was in the WWF and he never looked like this level of badass there.

HACKSAW BUTCH REED & JIM “The Anvil” NEIDHART (Tag Team Champions) vs. KING COBRA & MIKE REID
-Cobra gets Reed caught in a hammerlock right away and a leapfrog just goes so horribly wrong that you can almost hear Marv Albert’s voice and some old timey piano music in your mind as you watch this.

-Anvil tags in and turns an armbar by Cobra into an armdrag. He tags Reed back in as Watts lets us know that Mid-South is going back to the Superdome November 19, the Saturday before Thanksgiving. That show BOMBS, by the way, drawing less than 10,000 for the first time in the building’s history.

-Reid tags in and goes for a leapfrog, and while it’s successful, Anvil is crouching in wait behind Butch Reed, and when Mike Reid lands Anvil just tackles him, and a Samoan drop gets the win for the champions.

NORTH AMERICAN TITLE: MAGNUM T.A. (Champion) vs. KING KONG BUNDY
-Watts concedes that the referee MAY have affected Magnum’s big victory last week, so this is his first actual test. Bundy mows him down with a shoulderblock, but Magnum comes right back with a dropkick that sends Bundy out to the floor.

-Bundy heads back in and applies a hammerlock on Magnum Magnum fights it, but Bundy uses the hair to keep him on the mat. Magnum finally breaks it with forearms , but Bundy takes him right back down with a big foot. He slams Magnum into place, but a splash misses, and Magnum is a house of fire, with rapid punches. Bundy shakes it off and Irish whips Magnum into the referee, who tumbles out to the floor. Powerslam by Bundy gets a visual five-count but there’s no referee. Bundy goes over to revive the referee and get him back in the ring, but Magnum dropkicks him into the turnbuckle, and Bundy is knocked loopy enough that Magnum gets a three-count. The match was fine, but Magnum’s “accidental champion” booking doesn’t seem like a great idea.

-Worth noting that this is the last we’re ever going to see Bundy in Mid-South, as he did something to piss off Bill Watts and but GOOD; Jim Cornette’s story is that on one of his first nights with the company, he walked in on Ernie Ladd screaming at King Kong Bundy, “We bring you in here, we push you, we put you in the main events, and what did you do? You DUMB yourself out of a job!” And I’m not sure we’ve ever had clarification on what Bundy actually did, but it was enough to burn a bridge, apparently.

JUNKYARD DOG vs. MAX THE MISSING LINK
-Max lays into JYD to start. JYD throws shots to the ribs and goes for a bearhug, but Max hammers out quickly as we’re still dwelling on the mystery of who “Max” really is. JYD goes to the eyes and headbutts Link. Clothesline and a chinlock by the Dog. Russian legsweep by Dog, but a spot you don’t often see, as Dog does it wrong and drives his own head right into the mat and knocks himself senseless. Link tries to capitalize with a top rope headbutt, but Dog rolls out of the way and the Thump finishes clean. Match was fine, you can kind of see the fire juuuuuust starting to leave Dog at this point.

KRUSHER DARSOW vs. MIKE BOND
-Darsow throws Bond across the ring as the commentators marvel at the integrity of Darsow and you can see there’s a big payoff coming there. Knees and a slam by Darsow. Body vice gets the submission win for Darsow.

7.0

The final score: review Good

The 411

Last week's show was hard to follow, but this one was all right.