wrestling / Video Reviews
Mid-South Wrestling (11.9.1985) Review
Image Credit: WWE/Peacock
Loading...-Originally aired November 9, 1985.
-Your hosts are Boyd Pierce and Bill Watts. This week: Ric Flair will wrestle in an exhibition bout, in preparation for defending the NWA World Title right here on television next week. FINALLY! I’ve been wondering when we were getting to this angle and it was later than I expected it to be.
-We get an update on the situation involving Hacksaw Jim Duggan’s girlfriend, who is still unnamed in week #3 of this angle. Jim Ross talks to Dick Slater & Buzz Sawyer, who call the fine a huge ripoff and continue to deny responsibility. We watch the whole incident in slow motion, and JR, Zapruder film-style, breaks down two different points in the video that clearly prove that they knew who they were assaulting.
THE BRUISE BROTHERS vs. STEVE CONSTANCE & SHAWN O’REILLY
-WWECock has replaced the Cosby Show theme knockoff with a “Sweet Home Chicago” knockoff. Constance gets his arm worked over while Watts confuses me by putting him over as an up-and-coming babyface that the fans like. Then he shouldn’t be in this match. Jobbers bungle a spot and Mad Dog Boyd calls it a week with a splash.
-Bill Watts welcomes Ric Flair to the building. Mid-South Wrestling only has top competition, and associating themselves with the NWA is the one extra step they needed to be a great promotion. Ric Flair acknowledges that no, he TECHNICALLY doesn’t have the right to say that he’ll wrestle only the North American Champion and no other contenders from Mid-South, but as NWA Champion, he has President Bob Geigel in his back pocket, so it’s just a formality. He stands by his decree. Watts announces that no matter what Flair thinks, Mid-South has submitted three names to the NWA for possible challengers to Flair’s title on TV next week, and the NWA has selected one. Ric cuts Watts off and says not to say who the challenger is YET because he already knows who it is, it’s not the North American Champion, and he’s talking to Bob Geigel soon to switch the card around in accordance with his demands.
-We flashback to last week, when Butch Reed, the face, warned Dark Journey that black men are more willing to slap women than white men. He’s the face. Butch Reed is the face in this angle.
“Hot Stuff” EDDIE GILBERT & THE NIGHTMARE (with Oliver Humperdink) vs. NICK PATRICK & TOMMY WRIGHT
-So months after the rift that led to Humperdink managing Nightmare, Humperdink has now signed Eddie Gilbert himself, and they sort of pave over it clumsily with Humperdink explaining “Well, he’s a good wrestler so we’ll get along now.” So Gilbert and Nightmare are now together, which to me, seems to be the promotion crying out “Okay, we get it, Nightmare needs Gilbert to be over.”
-We go to house show action from Tulsa, where Jake hits the DDT on Humungous, and Humungous does a zombie sit-up, shocking the entire building.
-And then Jake hits the ring and says he has a secret weapon in his sack and refers to the weapon as “he.” But he won’t show the weapon YET.
-And then we finally start the match. Gilbert works the arm. Wright fights back and hits a bodypress for one. He gets Gilbert in a side headlock, but Gilbert manages to make a tag behind the back, and Nightmare surprises him with a clothesline. Commentary amounts to Boyd & Bill calling to attention to how little it makes sense that these two would agree to be a tag team because Eddie got so screwed over in the deal. Patrick tags in and immediately falls victim to a hot shot for three.
HACKSAW BUTCH REED (North American Champion & TV Champion) vs. RICKY STARR
-Bill Watts announces that Reed has chosen to surrender the TV Title to concentrate on North American Title commitments, so we’re getting ANOTHER TV Title tournament. It’s the most unwanted title in all of wrestling. Flying tackle gets the win.
HUMUNGOUS (with Oliver Humperdink) vs. PERRY JACKSON
-Mid-South Wrestling, declares Bill Watts, will NOT regulate what Humungous is wearing on his head, because Watts considers it a chess-like element of professional wrestling: you have to figure out a strategy that will beat it. I just hope for Cooley & Perez’s sake that nobody ever figures out a strategy for sneakers and leather pants. Shinni Come Lately gets the submission.
JAKE “The Snake” ROBERTS vs. EL CORSARIO
-Jake opens the bag and whips out a hockey mask. Corsario misses a corner charge, and Jake hits the DDT for a victory that didn’t require the hockey mask.
NON-TITLE: RIC FLAIR (NWA World Champion) vs. AL PEREZ
-But instead of Al Perez and his pants, Butch Reed shows up and offers Ric Flair a match against the North American Champion, just like he demanded, right here and right now. Well, okay then.
NON-TITLE: RIC FLAIR (NWA World Champion) vs. HACKSAW BUTCH REED (North American Champion and TV Champion)
-So Reed unleashes a flurry of rights. Flair chops back and goes for a suplex, but Reed lands on his feet and rolls Flair up for a one-count. Sleeper by Reed, but Flair manages to break it. Suplex by Reed gets two as Watts frantically gives us warnings about TV time running out. Backslide by Reed gets two. And a football tackle by Reed is the missing ingredient, as he finally connects with that and gets a three over the champion, nice and clean.
-Dick Slater charges into the ring immediately afterward. Flair and Slater hit a spike piledriver on Reed, injuring him. Watts lays out a weird theory that Flair intentionally threw the match so that Slater would have an opening to attack from behind and collect the bounty, but since that’s completely stupid, I’ll respectfully disagree.
