Mid-South Wrestling (3.3.1984) Review

-New logo in the opening titles! They ain’t taking the new competition lying down.

-Originally aired March 3, 1984.

-Your hosts are Boyd Pierce and Bill Watts.

-We go to ringside, where Jim Ross wants to chat with Magnum TA. Magnum feels he owes something to his coach, so he declares that he’s stepping back from his shot at the North American Title and letting Mr. Wrestling II have the match. II, now in full-blown “back in my day” mode, is offended by the notion of Magnum “giving” him anything, and he tells TA to get his ass in the ring for a match right now, just to make a point about who is the best. Magnum takes a slap to the face as II repeatedly tells him to get in there for a one-on-one match, and TA is distraught by his coach’s treatment, but still refuses to wrestle him out of respect and leaves.

-Bill Watts is so disgusted that he heads to ringside himself to ask II what’s climbed up his ass the past few weeks and just tells him point-blank that he thinks TA could win the match. II blows it off and says he also wants a match with the Midnight Express ASAP.

MIDNIGHT EXPRESS (with Jim Cornette) vs. JOHN KING & JOE SAVOLDI
-Cornette grabs the mic and cuts a promo on Bill Watts because of all the shit-talking he does on commentary.

-And then along comes Mr. Wrestling II, who tells Savoldi to go the hell back to the locker room and announces that he’s wrestling this match with a jobber as his partner just to drive home the fact that he could beat the Midnights no matter who is partner is.

-So II takes on both of the Midnight Express, and II has been such an insufferable dick for the past few weeks that the crowd is cheering for the Express! King tags in, which is a huge mistake on II’s part. Hart attack by the Express, and Condrey powerslams him off the second rope to get the win. II is so damn mad that he stays in the ring to fight both opponents to get his dignity back, but Cornette whacks him with the tennis racket, and II collapses to the mat. It’s the first time he’s used the tennis racket, and Watts is instantly suspicious of how badly it hurt II because a shot from a tennis racket shouldn’t hurt THAT much, unless…Cornette has something else in there!

-But Magnum TA shows up to rescue is coach, and Watts is stunned and seemingly also kind of disgusted by HOW loyal TA is to this douchebag. Krusher Darsow hits the ring and knocks TA out cold, leaving the Midnight Express to continue attacking II until Terry Taylor’s Rescue Rangers emerge from the jobber dressing room to clear the ring. This is just a magnificent angle all the way through. II is in the wrong, but you can see it from all sides, and I kind of like the detail that even other babyfaces think it’s weird that Magnum is THIS loyal. It’s a character flaw for him, essentially.

-We go to Houston, where Paul Boesch has a microphone, so please god, let this be a short segment. He’s here with Nikolai Volkoff & Krusher Darsow, who have a major announcement. Because Krusher Darsow is such a great wrestler, and because he’s shown such loyalty to the Soviet flag, Nikolai has granted his protege the right to go by a new name, and Krusher Darsow will now call himself Krusher Khrushchev. As a gift, Nikolai presents Krusher with a shiny red shovel, because Nikita Khrushchev once promised that Russia would bury America. Everyone make a note of this, I feel like there’s a lot of confusion out there about the Khruschchev character being “a fake Russian” because fans lost the thread of the character. Krusher Darsow and Krusher Khruschchev were 100% the same character in story continuity; he was never really supposed to be a Russian.

TV TITLE TOURNAMENT, FIRST ROUND: MAGNUM T.A. vs. KRUSHER KHRUSHCHEV
-TA hits the ring with his head all bandaged up because of the sneak attack, but he’s still dazed, so Krusher keeps targeting the head wound and TA can only take so much. Elbow by Krusher gets II and Watts is surprised that TA is hanging on as long as he is. They collide on a shoulderblock and Krusher seems to have injured himself, so it looks like they may actually be on a level field.

-II shows back up to watch his student. Krusher lifts TA in a body vice, and suddenly II calls the referee over and they have a long argument, with II showing that he brought a white towel to ringside. So TA, in the vice, manages to stretch his feet onto the turnbuckles and then bounce himself out of the hold, lands on his feet, backdrops Krusher, and lays on top of him for a pin, but what makes this an awesome finish is that he does all of that SO fast that II and the referee haven’t even noticed that he’s out of the hold, so II throws in the towel, and the referee just gives the signal for the bell and stops the match, giving the win to Krusher! Oh my god, that is FANTASTIC! I swear, this show needs to be studied just for the finishes, the past two and a half years of this show have a zillion different finishes that I’ve never seen anywhere else.

-Watts goes to ringside to scold II for throwing in the towel at such a stupid time, and II insists that he saved his pupil’s career.

-We go to Houston for the closing moments of a football helmet on a pole match between Jim Neidhart and Butch Reed. Neidhart is wearing the helmet and looks like he’s going in for the kill with a tackle, but Reed blinds him with powder, puts on the helmet, and headbutts Neidhart into a bloody pulp. A spear with the helmet just kills the Anvil good and dead, and Reed gets the win. Reed isn’t content to win and just keeps beating on Neidhart repeatedly with the helmet, and Neidhart is a gory mess from the assault, but Terry Taylor is so disgusted by it that he hits the ring just to provide some protection to Neidhart, and Reed is like “Okay” and just beats the hell out of Taylor too. Watts plants a seed here, saying that Taylor doesn’t have any personal connection to Reed or Neidhart, but he just has a soft spot for guys who get into bad situations like this and he keeps coming forward whenever he sees someone who needs help.

HACKSAW BUTCH REED & “Nature Boy” BUDDY LANDELL vs. JASON WALKER & MIKE JACKSON
-Armdrags by Jackson give him an early advantage over Landell, but Reed quickly tags in and just pounds him down. Walker tags in and gets beaten down, and a big elbow from Landell gets the easy win.

-We flash back to last week, when Terry Taylor and the Rock & Roll Express painted Krusher red.

TERRY TAYLOR vs. JERRY GRAY
-Hiptoss and a fireman’s carry by Taylor as Watts lets us know that Taylor often wears a suit in public. Five-arm by Taylor gets the win, and Boyd Pierce warns the girls tuning in and they aren’t done swooning yet.

ROCK & ROLL EXPRESS vs. RANDY BARBER & STEVE BRINSON
-Watts addresses mail from fans complaining about how small the Express is, and Watts makes two points: #1, the NCAA champion years ago was a short person, and #2, they wrestle tag team matches, so when they do a move like a double dropkick, that’s four hundred pounds of force walloping a guy all at once. Barber takes a 400-pound dropkick to the face to finish quickly.

-We finish the hour with a music video introducing us to the newest tag team sensation from Memphis: The Bruise Brothers! They dress like the Blues Brothers, they shoot craps, they shoot pool, and they beat the hell out of Terry Taylor to make their living. We get a cameo from Jimmy Hart as they get together to count all the money they collected from their borderline illegal deeds.

9.1

The final score: review Amazing

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