wrestling / Video Reviews
Mid-South Wrestling (5.28.1983) Review
Image Credit: WWE/Peacock
Loading...-Originally aired May 28, 1983.
-Your hosts are Boyd Pierce in his wood suit and Bill Watts.
-We go to a “press conference” with Reeser Bowden at ringside with Skandar Akbar, along with his men, Mr. Olympia, Ted DiBiase, and some new bald guy. Skandar Akbar introduces his newest charge, up-and-coming Russian heavyweight Boris Zurkhov. Not sure what the TV taping schedule was for this episode, but a look at Cagematch indicates that this could literally be Jim Nelson’s first time in the role, as less than two weeks earlier, he was still Private Jim Nelson for Mid-Atlantic. Of note is that Nelson apparently left that territory without dropping a title, because his last documented match with them was a successful defense of the, uh, prestigious Canadian Television Title. So apparently there was an NWA Canadian Television Title.
-DiBiase shows the cast on his hand and says that he was attacked in a parking lot by Hacksaw Jim Duggan, which prevents him from being able to defend the Tag Team Titles in the next 30 days. DiBiase announces that to prevent Mid-South Wrestling from screwing them out of the gold, Skandar Akbar’s attorneys have worked it out so that Zurkhov can take DiBiase’s place in title matches for the next month, and that they in fact do have at least one title match scheduled in two weeks.
MR. OLYMPIA & BORIS ZURKHOV (Tag Team Champions, with Skandar Akbar & Ted DiBiase) vs. JOHNNY RICH & TIM HORNER
-Rich comes out swinging on Boris, and Boris is so surprised by the early offense that he tags out. Rich shoulderblocks Olympia and brings him down to the mat with a side headlock. Olympia slips free and the champs look frustrated.
-Horner comes in and throws Olympia around, but Olympia counters a backdrop with a kick and now the champs finally get something going. Boris heads in and screws that up, getting caught in a bodypress for one. Rich tags back in and Olympia backdrops him. Elbow gets one. Boris heads back in and they both crash on some attempted offense. HOT TAG to Tim Horner and all four men end up in the ring. Thesz press by Horner on Olympia looks to finish, but Olympia’s not the legal man and Zhukov attacks from behind for the three-count. Torn because I like competitive matches but I’m not sure this was the time to do it. The jobbers looked like a million bucks and Boris already looks like just some guy because of it.
HACKSAW JIM DUGGAN vs. TONY ZANE
-Zane tries attacking as Duggan steps through the ropes and he pays for it. Duggan unloads on him with punches and clubbing forearms. Odd choices of words from Watts, who mentions that among Duggan’s reasons for disliking Akbar is his close relationship with “the Iron Sheik from Atlanta.” Zane takes a big bump from a clothesline, and the spear finishes.
JUNKYARD DOG & DICK MURDOCH vs…OH, HOLD ON A MINUTE…
-So this is supposed to be JYD and Murdoch facing Yoshi Yatsu & Black Ninja, but JYD is in the ring all alone. And “for some reason,” Dick Murdoch didn’t show up for this match. I think I can guess, but anyway, Reeser Bowden announces that they’re going to put JYD’s new partner to a fan vote. Johnny Rich comes to the ring for the first vote. This is funny, as a few fans are already a mile ahead of this and telling other fans to hold their applause until whoever the last guy is.
-Tag team partner #2 is a professional wrestler whose interests include bowling and Monopoly. He says his favorite feeling is running a lady’s hair through his fingers. Let’s give a nice Dating Game welcome to Tom Jones.
-Tag team partner #3 is Tito Santana, a new guy and not a jobber, so the crowd is intrigued immediately.
-Butch Reed is next and outdated wrestling logic deems him the obvious choice.
-But then Jim Duggan walks out last and the crowd goes nuts, and so of course Bowden declares him the obvious winner.
HACKSAW JIM DUGGAN & JUNKYARD DOG vs. YOSHI YATSU & BLACK NINJA
-Duggan and JYD attack as the Japanese team enters and they clear the ring immediately. Ninja steps in and tries to get things going but gets knocked around. Yoshi tags in and gets knocked loopy by a headbutt. JYD gives Duggan the honors, and Duggan pins Yatsu clean as a sheet in a virtual squash. Watts notes that JYD and Murdoch were supposed to have a Tag Team Title match in two weeks, but I guess it has to be Hacksaw and JYD now.
TITO SANTANA vs. RIP ROGERS
-Interestingly, there’s no pretense about Tito, as Watts calls him “A Mexican American” and he’s billed from Mission, Texas. Bill Watts lays out a feud right away, saying that El Gran Markus used a racial slur to refer to Tito, the slur in particular being a Spanish term for one who enters a body of water for the purpose of going into another country. Markus says that Tito and Chavo are both, uh, that words. Bodypress by Tito as Bill Watts voices his disapproval of Markus by saying that Markus doesn’t understand that what makes America great is that immigrants keeping coming to America and bringing their own heritages and traditions with them, which turns the country into a wonderful “chef’s salad of different cultures.” BILL FUCKING WATTS JUST SAID THAT.
-Tito dropkicks Rogers. Flying forearm follows, and Tito finishes with…holy crap, a Fuller leglock! Nice!
KING KONG BUNDY vs. TOM JONES
-Bundy hammers on Bundy as Watts notes that Bundy has challenged JYD for the North American Title, but has curiously formally declined Skandar Akbar’s services as a manager. Watts also announces that Bundy has inserted language into all of his contracts for his title matches against JYD that the match must go to a five-count. No three-counts.
-Bulldog by Bundy, which is a surprising move to see from him. Avalanche, and I absolutely cannot get used to calling the powerslam an avalanche, gets five. It’s not unusual for Bundy to get the win.
-Butch Reed storms into the ring before they’ve finished scraping Jones off the mat and demands the mic because he has something to say. You don’t become a star by sitting in the background while fans vote and decide you can’t wrestle. The only way for him to become a star is to beat the best. Bundy just beat Tom Jones with no effort, but dammit, he needs to get out here because Butch Reed wants a piece of him!
-So Bundy heads back to the ring and the referee runs in and calls for the bell to start the match. I love this. We don’t need a commissioner, we don’t need stipulations, we don’t need a contract signing. Reed wanted a match. Bundy agreed to the match. DONE. We have a match.
-So it looks like Reed will regret this because Bundy catches him coming off the ropes with a bearhug and rams him into the corner. Bundy drops a knee on him for two. Bundy keeps hammering him and gets two more. Reed dazes him with a series of forearms and dropkicks. Flying tackle sends Bundy tumbling out to the floor. Bundy grabs a chair, but Reed grabs it away from him and cracks Bundy three times with it, but it only gets two. Flying tackle off the top by Reed lays Bundy out, but he puts so much into it that he tumbles out of the ring, so Reed and Bundy are both equally dazed at this point. They get back to their feet and Bundy hammers Reed down, and hits the splash…for the five-count…and the win. Clean as a sheet.
-What the HELL? Watts is trying to put this over as a huge moral victory for Reed because he proved he could hang with Bundy, but the fans already totally bought into Reed as a star, and you could just hear the air being let out of the crowd when Bundy got the win. They aren’t even angry at Bundy, there’s no heel heat at all. They’re just surprised and confused by how the match turned out.
SUPER DESTROYER vs. TERRY ALLEN
-Hey, it’s that guy! So they’re kind of going for the element of surprise here, as Watts treats Allen as just some jobber to start, and then Allen shocks everybody by just kicking the shit out of Destroyer with dropkicks and hiptosses. Super D goes to the floor to collect his bearings and heads back in. Destroyer backdrops him as Watts casually mentions that Allen goes by the name “Magnum TA” in Florida and that he was brought in because he impressed Grizzly Smith with some good shows he had in matches on WTBS.
-Slams and hiptosses by Allen, and the atomic drop finishes clean as a sheet, and Watts plays it up as a major upset.
EL GRAN MARKUS vs. ART CREWS
-Markus looks like Mr. Wrestling II refused to come to a taping, so Watts yelled “Then get me his non-union Mexican equivalent!” Markus goes after the throat and snapmares Crews. Crews throws some weak shots. Crews hangs in there as TV time starts to run out. They slug it out and Crews throws chops. A dropkick misses and Markus drops a series of elbows to pull out the win right before TV time expires.
