Mid-South Wrestling (12.13.1984)

-Originally aired December 13, 1984.

-Your hosts are Good Old JR and Pretty Acceptable Young JW.

-So last week, Bill Watts promised that Mid-South would TRY to sign a North American Title match for this week’s show, with Ernie Ladd defending against one of the Hacksaws, either Duggan or Reed. However, Ernie Ladd was such an obstinate pain in the ass during the contract negotiations for the next week that Mid-South couldn’t get a title match signed for either Duggan or Reed. However, Mid-South delivers what they promise, and since they promised a North American Title match, Ernie Ladd will defend the belt against Brad Armstrong, the insinuation being that Armstrong really, really isn’t in the same league, but Ladd had to defend the belt against somebody.

-We go to the ring with Ted DiBiase and Buddy Landell. Buddy promises that he won’t hide from top competition, so to prove it, this week, he will defend his TV Title against the toughest competition Mid-South has to offer: Shawn Michaels. For anyone new to these recaps, Shawn is a lowly jobber and hasn’t been anything but since he got here, so it’s the same idea as Ladd’s title match: Landell is wrestling Shawn Michaels so he can avoid having to wrestle a REAL challenger.

-So now we get our Ted talk (GET IT?!) and he’s tired of the Rock & Roll Express whining about how they were cheated out of the Tag Team Titles, and hey, if you can only win matches by using a scaffold or having a manager hang over the ring in a cage, maybe you guys aren’t actually that good at wrestling! Ted says he doesn’t want to give them a rematch, but makes an offer. If they win a non-title match this week, they can have a rematch later.

NON-TITLE: “Nature Boy” BUDDY LANDELL (TV Champion) vs. SHAWN MICHAELS
-Buddy is caught off-guard when Boyd announces that the match is non-title and demands an explanation. Boyd tells him he’s not allowed to hand-pick challengers. Since Buddy just declared he would wrestle Shawn Michaels, they’ll have that match, but Mid-South never ever declared that Shawn Michaels was in contention for the TV Title, so it has to be non-title and Buddy will have to defend the TV Title against another opponent to be announced. And now we set up a legal gray area for later, as Boyd Pierce makes it EMPHATICALLY clear that this is a non-title match, but Buddy promises that Shawn can have the TV Title medallion if he actually wins.

-Shawn works the arm as JR vows that Shawn Michaels actually does have a bright future in the wrestling business. Shawn stays on the arm as Buddy struggles to get something going in this match. Landell rakes the eyes and slams Michaels down, and an elbow gets the win. Landell gets kind of a flukey win over the kid. Weird match as Shawn didn’t really look like that much of a star (he kept it basic and just worked the arm) and then Landell got three offensive moves and won. No near-falls or anything that would actually elevate Shawn.

NORTH AMERICAN TITLE: BIG ERNIE LADD (Champion) vs. BRAD ARMSTRONG
-The North American Title belt really is just one of the worst belts ever, as Ladd is a legit 6’9″ and the belt is almost touching his chest, and if Brad wins, the referee is going to hand him that belt and it’s just going to cause Brad to fall over like the Flintstones’ car after getting that giant rib set on it.

-Ladd chops and slams the scrappy underdog. Hiptoss by Ladd, and because of his height, it’s a great visual when Armstrong goes in the air for that. Standing front facelock by Ladd, but Armstrong makes the ropes for a break and surprises Ladd with a bodypress for a fast two. He heads to the second rope for another bodypress, but this time Ladd ducks and Armstrong crashes.

-Big boot by Ladd, but he goes for a splash instead of a legdrop and Armstrong raises the knees. Ladd goes into the tights and pulls out a rope, but Armstrong dropkicks Ladd into the referee, knocking out the ref and causing Ladd to drop the rope. Armstrong grabs the rope, and we go for the dramatic irony, as JR reminds us that this is EXACTLY how Ladd won the title himself. Armstrong strangles Ladd with the rope, then wraps his arm around Ladd’s neck so it looks like a sleeper. Ladd’s arm drops three times, and Armstrong is your NEWWWWWWWW North American Champion…not your Mid-South Champion, even though that’s the name of the promotion, which is the one thing about this territory that has never made sense to me. Good match, but I don’t think Armstrong is the guy Bill Watts is looking for.

DREAM MATCH: MAGNUM T.A. vs. KAMALA (with Friday and Skandar Akbar)
-Bull. Shit. Kamala returned last week, and you’re telling me that in the ensuing week, Mid-South got enough postcards delivered requesting this specific match to merit a Dream Match slot ahead of the other matches that fans have been requesting for a month?

-Kamala chops and chops at Magnum and applies his own unique contribution to submission wrestling, the Ugandan Purple Nurple. Kamala goes back to chopping, targeting the chest specifically, and the commentators observe that the untamed savage actually appears to be learning how to wrestle, as he’s targeting a body part and sticking with it.

-Kamala goes back to the Nurpilizer, but Magnum finally staggers the big man with a series of dropkicks. He crashes after trying one too many, and Kamala flattens him with a series of splashes. Magnum is motionless, but Kamala keeps splashing him until the referee finally just DQs him to end the match.

-Kamala, untamed, just keeps splashing Magnum anyway, so Butch Reed shows up to be the hero. The problem is Buddy Landell shows up, too, so Butch is immediately distracted and focuses on kicking Buddy’s ass instead, so Kamala goes right back to murdering TA. Ted DiBiase arrives with a taped fist and targets Reed, but he hits Landell, taking him out, and Reed slams DiBiase’s hand into the post, taking DiBiase out, and NOW he can focus on Kamala, at which point Akbar and Friday agree that Kamala can probably leave now. That was one HELL of a way to write Magnum TA out of the company, as Kamala just beat every ounce of star power out of the former champion.

TIM HORNER vs. DALE VEASEY
-Okay, just to sum up why I love this territory so much, we’re at the 50% mark of the show, and look at everything we’ve already done.

-Veasey tries to work the arm, but Horner trips him and goes to a side headlock. Veasey slams Horner down, and suddenly a fight breaks out. Horner whips Veasey into the ropes and Veasey does a bizarre spinning run into the ropes, and the “WTF?” silence from the commentators is noticeable. Russian legsweep by Horner gets the win.

TERRY TAYLOR vs. JACK VICTORY
-Taylor takes Victory to the mat and keeps him down there. And that’s pretty much all that happens until the five-arm gets the win for Taylor.

PRIVATE TERRY DANIELS OF THE COBRA CORPS vs. TERRY ELLIS
-Terry Daniels got a “push” in the WWF as the first recruit for Slaughter’s elite Cobra Corps, and what it pretty much meant was that he was still a jobber, but every time Slaughter started a new feud, it would be because The Foreigner beat up Terry Daniels. So with Slaughter getting fired from the WWF, it goes without saying that there really, REALLY wasn’t a spot for Daniels anymore, so Watts has snapped him up and claimed use of the Cobra Corps name just to really stick it to Vince McMahon. McMahon was rumored to mutter “Oh, okay” in between bites of his sandwich when he found out. Daniels wears the full Marine dress uniform for his intro, which will come to an end soon after being emphatically told by the Marines to knock that shit off.

-Dropkick and a hiptoss by Daniels. Elbow gets two. Daniels follows with a knee for another two. Daniels has this odd tentative approach to everything he does in the ring. Every move is followed by Daniels waiting around for Ellis to get up, and then going to the next move he wants to do, and then waiting for Ellis to get up again. Cobra clutch gets the submission.

NON-TITLE: TED DIBIASE & SHEIK HERCULES HERNANDEZ (with Skandar Akbar) vs. ROCK & ROLL EXPRESS
-Ted DiBiase comes in the ring with an ice pack and his arm in a sling, and sho ’nuff, his hand was injured earlier in the show by Butch Reed. So DiBiase announces that “Dr. Death” Steve Williams is taking his place in the match, and just because he’s a nice guy, he’ll adhere to the deal, and if the Express wins this match, they can still have the title shot.

-Express targets Hercules’ leg. Williams tags in and they employ the same strategy, but Herc takes a cheap shot from the apron and tags back in. Backbreaker by Herc. Williams tags back in but collides with Ricky on an attempted shoulderblock. DiBiase attempts some interference but gets knocked off the apron, and Ricky rolls up Hercules for the three-count to earn the rematch. Heels take none too kindly to that, so they close the show by mauling the Express and leaving them a bloody mess.

7.7

The final score: review Good

The 411

Even if there's a decision that I'm not quite on board with, like giving the Big (BIIIIG) Gold Belt to Brad Armstrong, there's always enough in this show to like.