wrestling / Video Reviews
Mid-South Wrestling (3.12.1983) Review
Image Credit: WWE/Peacock
Loading...-Originally aired March 12, 1983.
-Your hosts are Boyd Pierce and Bill Watts.
-We go to Houston to watch the closing moments of Mr. Wrestling II vs. Iron Sheik. Watts says that II treated Sheik “like one of the hostages” but the match is actually a bit more even than that, with Sheik knocking him around and ramming him into the turnbuckle as we get the 10 minute announcement from the timekeeper. II fights him off with a knee and shows signs of getting riled up. Sheik goes for a somersault splash but misses, and the knee from II finishes. Well, bigger things would come for Sheik later in 1983.
BLACK NINJA vs. RON ELLIS
-It’s still the substitute ring announcer, and it’s hilarious, as he announces the nickname “Black Ninja” but then clearly sees the name “Kendo Nagasaki” on his card and decides “Nah.” So he’s just Black Ninja this week.
-Chops by Kendo, who continues to look more like a cartoon character than anybody the fans should actually fear. Nerve hold as Bill Watts hastily clarifies that Kendo has cut his hair that way on purpose. Superkick finishes. Right at the end, we see Skandar Akbar drifting to ringside, but we don’t know if he’s managing Kendo or just scouting him.
-And now we’re joined by Hacksaw Duggan, who sits in to rewatch some of his segments from the past few months. First, his embarrassing surprise loss to Chavo Guerrero, and Duggan complains that Chavo is milking that one big win of his career for all it’s wroth to try to look like a big star. Duggan says that the match proves that Chavo didn’t really win the match, the stupid ring post won the match!
-Duggan then asks us to cue up the tape of his match with Tony Atlas from back in December, when Atlas showed him up an an arm wrestling match and Duggan reacts with the expected beatdown. The Rat Pack shows up to provide some distraction and Duggan puts on a loaded mask and uses it to KO Atlas with a spear. On commentary, Duggan completely unironically plays it up as a clean victory to prove that he’s the top wrestler in Mid-South. Great segment. Duggan was just an awesome jock heel.
-Bill Watts shows up, looking really disturbed because a suitcase just suddenly appeared in the building, totally filled with defaced Mr. Wrestling II masks.
NON-TITLE: RAT PACK (Tag Team Champions) vs. TIGER CONWAY JR. & MR. WRESTLING II
-Series of hiptosses by Conway on both opponents as Watts says that the arena is buzzing because a locker room altercation spilled out onto the arena floor during the commercial break, and shockingly, it was between Mr. Wrestling II and Mr. Olympia. Nobody knows why, except a few people heard Olympia yell “He’s crazy!”
-Front facelock by Olympia, but Borne punches free and tags out. Conway goes to the arm and DiBiase has trouble with it. Meanwhile, Watts gives us a heads-up that AWA Champion Nick Bockwinkel is on his way to Mid-South.
-II tags in, and he’s so full of adrenaline that he just fights both opponents. Rat Pack retreats to the floor for a few minutes. Conway tags back in and Borne tries to wring his arm. Conway fights it off and knocks DiBiase off the apron a few times while lighting into Borne. DiBiase demands to tag in to avenge that and Conway backdrops him. Rat Pack continues having a terrible week as Conway rams DiBiase into the corner, but he misses a charge and Borne tags in.
-Borne and Conway collide and everybody tags. II beats on DiBiase, but DiBiase goes to the eyes. They collide on a shoulderblock and both men are out of it. Referee gets distracted by an argument with Tiger Conway, and Matt Borne sneaks up to the top rope for Bombs Away. Borne and Conway end up in a brawl that spills to the floor while DiBiase rolls over to pin II…but II kicks out! DiBiase starts to load his glove but the referee actually catches it for once and won’t let him load it. Referee gets knocked out while II throws a knee. Borne brings a chair into the ring, but Conway knocks Borne into his own chair, knocking him out, then Conway revives the referee and II gets the pin. DID YOU GET ALL THAT? Bonkers finish, but the match was weird because the champions really did just get mauled for the most part.
-Back from commercial, Bill Watts is with Mr. Wrestling II and Tiger Conway Jr., and surprisingly, director Oral Link had the tape machines rolling during the previous commercial break. But first, they go through the contents of the suitcase, and it’s filled with multiple threatening letters, including one scribbled all over a towel, plus multiple sets of II-style masks and tights, all defaced. II says he saw the suitcase lying open on the floor of the dressing room and he confronted Mr. Olympia about it…
-So we go to Oral Link’s footage, where Olympia emerges from the dressing room, backing away from II, who is holding the suitcase and screaming at him. The argument makes its way near the ring. The suitcase gets dropped on the floor and pops open, and Olympia instinctively gathers everything and re-packs the suitcase, and II gives him a kneelift. All the faces run out to break it up, and the crowd is buzzing over this.
-Back to the commentary table, Watts plays devil’s advocate, making a case for why Olympia might be innocent, and he urges everyone to just keep a cool head and deal with it later.
MR. OLYMPIA vs. MARTY LUNDE
-Olympia is all pissed off, aggressively beating on Lunde with closed fists and trying to pin him right away. Backdrop and a sleeper finish easily for Olympia. And then surprisingly, Olympia heelishly stomps on Lunde’s back after getting his hand raised.
-So now Bill Watts heads to ringside to talk to Mr. Olympia. He confirms that this is Olympia’s suitcase, but Olympia insists that somebody loaded it with this crap because he had other things in it. Watts concedes that there’s no personal belongings in the suitcase, so it does appear POSSIBLE that somebody totally emptied out the suitcase and repacked it, which tells us absolutely nothing because Olympia could have just repacked his own suitcase. Tune in next week for Mid-South: SVU and see if Bill Watts can get to the bottom of this.
TIM HORNER & ART CREWS vs. RON KESSLER & GENE KINISKI
-Boyd Pierce puts over Kiniski as an up and coming star as Horner and Crews take turns kicking his ass. Horner slams him and drops a leg for two. Crews tags in right as the bell sounds for TV time.
