wrestling / Video Reviews
Mid-South Wrestling (2.22.1986) Review
Image Credit: WWE
Loading...-Originally aired February 22, 1986.
-Your hosts are Jim Ross and Joel Watts. The Jim Crockett Sr. Memorial Cup Tag Team Tournament will be coming to the Superdome in the month of April. You’ll hear the words in that name arranged in approximately 437 different ways in the next two months. Meanwhile, Vince McMahon is preparing for Wrestlemania, if you’re wondering how Vince McMahon succeeded so much when it came to marketing.
THE SHEEPHERDERS vs. RICKY GIBSON & AL PEREZ
-Bill Watts doesn’t seem like the kind of guy to say “Creative has nothing for you,” but if there was a sentence that embodied the babyfaces…
-Perez starts with Butch. Butch targets the ribs. Luke slams him but misses a forearm. Gibson tags in and throws a dropkick, but the Butch interferes from the apron to cut off any house-cleanery. Double stomachbreaker finishes.
TAG TEAM TITLE: TED DIBIASE & “Dr. Death” STEVE WILLIAMS vs. DICK MURDOCH & MASKED SUPERSTAR
-DiBiase and Superstar start. Superstar misses an elbow and the faces go right to work on the arm. Murdoch hastily tags in, but Williams unloads with a series of tackles and clears the ring.
-Murdoch takes a three-point stance and goads Williams into a tackle battle. Williams goes for it, but when he charges, Murdoch just pops up and elbows him in the throat. Big “O.U.” chant from the crowd to motivate Doc, although it’s possible that some jester in the crowd let loose with a particularly witty bon mot and the crowd is actually saying, “Oh, you!”
-Williams punches Murdoch to get away from him and makes the hot tag, and DiBiase eagerly locks on the figure four like he’s been waiting for this moment. Williams knocks Superstar off the apron to prevent him from breaking the hold, but ANOTHER Masked Superstar shows up and breaks the hold for a DQ. The new Superstar loads his mask and takes out both babyfaces and the referee, and the champs are left in a heap.
KOKO B. WARE vs. SHAWN O’REILLY
-O’Reilly gets some early offense, but gets booted down on an attempted charge, and Koko finishes with the missile dropkick, as we’re doing the Magnum TA push with Koko going for wins as fast as possible.
KORSTIA KORCHENKO (with Eddie Gilbert) vs. PERRY JACKSON
-He’s carrying a Soviet flag, he has a strange haircut, and he wears fur, so he’s a Level-3 Foreigner.
-Slam by Korchenko, and a shoulderbreaker gets the win. The chyron, the ring announcer, and the commentators have pronounced his first name three different ways, so I like this guy’s prospects.
DAVID PETERSON & BRETT WAYNE SAWYER vs. ROB RICKSTEINER & MICHAEL SCOTT
-“Wrestler” seems like a bad fit for Michael Scott. I would have used him as a manager in one of the territories. So, like, a regional manager.
-In this clash of the up-and-comers the heels get the early advantage, but Sawyer lays out Ricksteiner with a GREAT dropkick and tags in Peterson. Peterson works the arm. Scott tags in and charges at Sawyer, but Sawyer just gets out of the way and Peterson surprises him with a Thesz press for three.
HACKSAW JIM DUGGAN vs. GUSTAVO MENDOZA
-Duggan beats down Mendoza and throws him over the top rope, and the reaction to that is fantastic because it’s pretty much the referee, the commentators, and the entire arena simultaneously going, “Uhhhhh, that’s a DQ, right?” so Duggan just hurries to the next spot before anybody has more time to think about that. Spear finishes, with Duggan doing the three-point stance, running into Mendoza but no longer doing the jump, so his finisher is now closer to what he did in the WWF.
-For another example of how the WWF won just by making their product feel superior, we get a house show promo from Terry Taylor. Apparently the handheld mic isn’t working or they forgot to bring it, so they just use the ambient sound microphone on the camera itself. And they do this promo as Terry Taylor stands next to the giant tin garage door at the entrance to the arena, so it’s just 40 solid seconds of echo and you can understand maybe half of what he said.
ROCK & ROLL EXPRESS vs. THE FABS
-Robert Gibson starts with Stan Lane. Lane gets slammed and Ricky tags in to make the girls scream. Dropkick sends Lane out to the floor. Everybody tags and Keirn gets caught in everybody’s side headlocks as Ricky & Robert just switch off on him. Hiptosses by Ricky send the Fabs to the floor to regroup.
-Gibson tags in and goes for a shoulderblock, but the Fabs resort to CHICANERY and Robert plays the face in peril for this match. Commentators tease TV time running out, but we actually get the hot tag before that happens, with Morton taking out Keirn with a flying forearm for two. The battle continues but the show does not, we are desperately OUTTA TIME!
