wrestling / Video Reviews
Mid-South Wrestling (2.25.1984) Review
Image Credit: WWE/Peacock
Loading...-Originally aired February 25, 1984.
-Your hosts are Boyd Pierce and Jim Ross and Boyd’s suit alone accounts for the 9 that this episode will get at the bottom. He looks like he’s wearing beaded seat covers.
-We get the Magnum TA music video from last week. He’s such a stud that my chest hair sprouted its own mustache as I was watching this.
-And now, a historic moment, possibly the first in-the-ring contract signing in wrestling history. JR is seated at the table with Junkyard Dog, Magnum TA, and matchmaker Grizzly Smith, with Mr. Wrestling II standing behind Magnum and glowering about the whole thing. Grizzly says so many promoters are placing bids that they’re just signing a contract with no location specified, and both men will agree to wrestle at whatever venue gets the winning bid.
-Both men are total sportsmen and continue to pledge no funny business, may the best man win. JR asks Mr. Wrestling II if he’s changed his tune since his comments last week, and II’s blunt “Nope” gets a laugh from the crowd. II doesn’t mince words, saying that JYD refuses to wrestle him because at least if JYD loses to someone like King Kong Bundy or Nikolai Volkoff, he can cut a promo afterward about getting cheated and he would get the benefit of the doubt. JYD offers to sign a second contract while he’s at it. Magnum finally decides to say something for himself, but II cuts him off mid-sentence with a slap to the face, and the crowd reaction is INCREDIBLE–they let out a huge scream and just instantly rise to their feet, begging TA to turn on his coach and beat his ass.
-II walks away in disgust and TA’s sell of it is perfect, as he plays WANTING to cry but trying to be manly and holding it in. TA admits that he has loyalty to his coach because, yeah, II really has helped him boost his career, and he declares that the title shot isn’t worth losing that relationship, so he tears up the contract without signing it and leaves.
MIDNIGHT EXPRESS (with Jim Cornette) vs. JOE SAVOLDI & GEORGE WEINGROFF
-Cornette cuts a promo running down Bill Watts for not even being here this week, which carries some extra edge because we’ve established that he’s out of town for a funeral, so again, Cornette just has no respect for ANYBODY.
-Dennis Condrey punches Weingroff but settles for just taking Savoldi to the mat. JR, thoroughly agitated, concedes that Cornette is a great manager even though he just annoys everybody. Wild hammerlock/bodypress combo by the Express as I would call this match the point where they’re fully formed. Everything they do has continuity and they’re comfortable with all of their double-teaming; Condrey with a powerslam off the second rope for the win.
NIKOLAI VOLKOFF vs. STEVE BRINSON
-Volkoff doesn’t waste time and finishes quickly with the press backbreaker.
MIXED TAG: PRINCESS VICTORY & LEAPING LANNY POFFO vs. WENDI RICHTER & “Nature Boy” BODDY LANDELL
-These women would end up in the WWF in a matter of months and their careers would go in very different directions, with Wendi becoming the queen of the rock & wrestling connection and Victoria having her career ended very abruptly with a neck injury during a match in September.
-Victoria armdrags Richter around and works the arm. The men tag in and Poffo flings Landell sky high on a backdrop. Landell fights back with boots & forearms. Ladies are back in and there’s a slick bit of chicanery from the heels, where Landell just happens to turn his back on the apron to jaw with the fans, so when Richter Irish whips Victoria, Victoria crashes into the point of Landell’s elbow.
-Victoria makes a comeback and tries to finish with a bulldog, but Victoria misses Richter making the tag behind her back, and when the referee turns to Lanny Poffo to call him into the ring, Buddy just wallops Victoria with a forearm to the jaw and knocks her out. Landell insists it was an accident, and referee Carl Fergie actually takes his word for it and allows Wendi to get the pin.
TV TITLE TOURNAMENT, FIRST ROUND: JIM “The Anvil” NEIDHART vs. HACKSAW BUTCH REED
-The ex-partners hate each other so much and they’re already fighting when we fade in. Anvil gets the edge and just beats on Reed’s “knob” (ill-advised slang for his head) as JR points out that this is a legit main event match, and Mid-South Wrestling is giving it away for free on TV, and that makes this the best wrestling show on TV.
-Reed comes back with fists and stomps, and I believe Neidhart might also be temporarily blinded by wayward drips from Reed’s ill-advised jehri curl experiment, so Reed has every advantage right now. Reed comes off the second rope with a tackle, but Neidhart lands too close to the ropes and manages to stick a leg out to avoid the three-count. Reed sends him into the ropes and Anvil just wallops him with a forearm. Samoan drop by Anvil, but it’s close to the ropes so now Reed gets a leg out to survive.
-Double shoulderblock wipes out both guys for a well-earned breather at this point. Reed gets into the tights and whips out some brass knuckles as he gets back to his feet, and he knocks Anvil out cold to get the three-count and advance.
ROCK & ROLL EXPRESS vs. TOM LENTZ & JERRY GRAY
-Morton makes easy work of Gray. Lentz tags in and JR is shocked at how easily Morton drags him around the ring because Lentz just towers over him. Gray tags back in and the double dropkick finishes.
KRUSHER DARSOW vs. MIKE JACKSON
-Darsow press slams Jackson and stun guns him as Terry Taylor & the Rock & Roll Express suddenly show up at the commentary table to say that if Krusher Darsow wants to be red…so be it. So all three of them ambush Darsow in the ring, with Jackson cheerfully accepting the DQ loss and helping hold Darsow down while Taylor whips out a brush and covers him in red paint.
