Mid-South Wrestling (2.11.1984) Review

-Originally aired February 11, 1984.

-Your hosts…well, this is a change of pace…your hosts are Boyd Pierce and Junkyard Dog. Boyd’s been in working retirement for the past three years and generally just leaves Bill Watts to carry the show, so this is going to be interesting.

-We open with a Magnum TA music video. He signs autographs, he poses for sexy photos, he goes to nightclubs, he poses for sexy photos, he hits belly-to-belly suplexes, and he makes out sloppily with two chicks at a bar. Jim Cornette talked about the Mid-South music videos years later and mused that in hindsight, they accidentally carried a lot of gay undertones, and…he’s not wrong. There’s a lengthy close-up of just Magnum’s chest as he flexes his pecs for what feels like 2 and a half minutes.

MIDNIGHT EXPRESS (with Jim Cornette) vs. TOMMY HEGGIE & BRIAN ADIDAS
-Adidas gives a good showing, coming back from early double-teaming and dropkicking Eaton repeatedly. Cornette is wearing a yachting cap and just looks extra-irritating with that.

-Adidas gets overwhelmed quickly, with the Express tagging quickly and keeping a fresh man in there. Adidas manages to punch Eaton away long enough to escape and tag out. Eaton comes off the second rope with a flying elbow on Heggie. Express workshops a new move, with Eaton powerslamming Heggie off the second rope, and the Midnight Massacre gets three.

TV TITLE TOURNAMENT, FIRST ROUND: LEAPING LANNY POFFO vs. MASAO ITO
-I don’t like Lanny’s chances here. Good showing to start though, with an armdrag and a side headlock. Ito targets the ribs and atomic drops Lanny straight down on one leg to break the hold. Lanny’s injured now, and Ito stays on the leg. Poffo hangs in there and makes a comeback on one leg, and that’s when Ito decides he’s done with this and starts taking shots to the throat to set up for the end. Poffo throws kicks (“for America!” proclaims Boyd) and manages to do a slingshot splash on a bad leg for two.

-“Go Lanny go!” chant goes up as Ito starts choking Lanny over the second rope, and Lanny’s sell of being choked looks like something out of Looney Tunes. Poffo fights back with chokes of his own. They collide on a double shoulderblock, but Ito shakes it off while Lanny collapses. Superkick by Ito finishes, but Lanny gave it a good fight. Not a bad match, with Lanny hanging in there with comeback after comeback.

MR. WRESTLING II vs. LARRY SANTANA
-This is scheduled “for TV time remaining,” which Boyd explains thusly: All of the TV Title tournament matches are no-time-limit matches so that the board of directors won’t have to listen to guys whining about how they would have won if it wasn’t for the time limit. So everything after the tournament matches each week is a standby match. It’s nice of them to explain that but when have you ever seen a match on this show come close to sniffing any kind of time limit? I don’t think I’ve ever seen a match longer than six minutes on this show.

-Anyway, quick match. II finishes with the kneelift when the Midnight Express shows up for a surprise assault. They go for the mask and JYD decides to risk the $2500 fine and leaves the commentary table to help his friend. Magnum finally shows up too, and they run the Midnights off.

-JR talks to JYD. He’s willing to eat the fine because he needs to make a point to the Midnight Express, because next time, it might be HIM getting tarred and feathered, and he’s letting the Express know that he’s not putting up with their bullshit. PLOT TWIST: Nikolai Volkoff and Krusher Darsow suddenly show up for a fight. JYD overpowers Volkoff, and when Darsow tries to get involved, Terry Taylor shows up to stop him. And then Masao Ito hits the ring and applies the throat claw on JYD. Jobber Joe Savoldi hits the ring to try to break it up, but Buddy Landell follows him to ringside because they have a match scheduled, and Buddy just rams Savoldi into the post to give himself an edge for later. HA! Locker room pretty much empties out and finally all the damn foreigners leave, and JYD is out cold.

KRUSHER DARSOW & NIKOLAI VOLKOFF vs. GEORGE WEINGROFF & JOHN KING
-Weingroff dropkicks Darsow and follows with a nice-looking amateur takedown as Jim Ross steps in to replace JYD on commentary. Meanwhile. Volkoff tags in and stomps a damn dirty communist mudhole in Weingroff and then just flings him onto the top rope for a stungun. King tags in as Boyd announces that the Landell/Savoldi match has been cancelled because Savoldi is in no condition to wrestle now. Crap, we’re going to have to watch that Rock & Roll Express video again to fill the time, aren’t we? Darsow tags back in and puts King in a body vice to get the submission.

JIM “The Anvil” NEIDHART vs. JERRY GRAY
-Anvil fires a series of rapid fire kicks into Gray and tosses him across the ring. Anvil is bleeding hardway somehow as he backdrops Gray and headbutts him. Samoan drop ends it.

TERRY TAYLOR vs. TOM LENTZ
-Taylor takes down Lentz and works the arm as JR brags that they’ve had to install more seats in Irish McNeil’s Boys Club because the demand to see TV tapings is so big. And I don’t think he’s bluffing because it appears to be literally standing room only from the crowd shots. Five-arm by Taylor gets the win.

7.2

The final score: review Good

The 411

Ran out of gas toward the end but still an excellent show.