wrestling / Video Reviews
Mid-South Wrestling (5.4.1985) Review
Image Credit: WWE/Peacock
Loading...-Originally aired May 4, 1985.
-Your hosts are Jim Ross and Joel Watts.
TV TITLE TOURNAMENT SEMI-FINAL: BRAD ARMSTRONG vs. JAKE “The Snake” ROBERTS
-They slug it out to start and Armstrong connects with a bodypress for a quick two-count. Jake collects his bearings, heads back in, and has some luck with forearms, but a corner charge misses and Jake appears to injure his shoulder. Brad notices and goes right to work with an armbar.
-Jake escapes, but Armstrong slams him down for a two-count, then clamps on a hammerlock, staying laser-focused on the arm. Jake gets fed up and tries blind aggression, throwing a hard punch and a knee to get out of the hold. Brad punches back, so Jake tries the ol’ thumb in the eye. Brad shakes it off and goes to a sleeper. Jake does the Bret counter for it, kinda, and gets a two-count.
-Inverted atomic drop by Jake, and he drives the knee into the balls so hard that Armstrong is coughing up babies. DDT by Jake gets the three-count. Quite literally a tainted victory for Jake Roberts.
BRICKHOUSE BROWN vs. TOMMY PRICHARD
-Brickhouse does a Steamboat-like succession of armdrags before dropkicking Prichard out to the floor. Rights and forearms by Brickhouse. Airplane spin by Brickhouse, and a headbutt from the second rope knocks Prichard cold, and Brown gets the three-count. So a week after his cryptic pledge to “work smarter, not harder,” Prichard gets squashed like a grape and pinned with ease.
STEVE CASEY vs. EDCAR “Boo” THOMAS (with Steve Williams)
-So Thomas and Williams are together again, but Thomas still has the stench of “We don’t know what to do with this guy” all over him.
-Casey applies a standing side headlock. Williams tries a trip from the floor. Casey catches him and they jaw on the apron. Edcar tries to sneak up on Casey but runs the ropes WAY too hard and nearly launches himself straight down to the floor. Casey has to go over and help Thomas back into the ring, legit, while Williams gets up on the apron for what’s pretty obviously going to be the finish, and sure enough, Thomas gets whipped into Williams, who crashes on the floor, and then Casey bodypresses Thomas for three. Thomas and Williams have a shouting match after the bell. In fairness, this isn’t completely Thomas’ fault. It feels like they were expecting him to be the next Dr. Death right out of the chute and they tried to push him to that level, and it’s clear that he’s just not ready for that spot and now they’re kind of stuck with him. Honestly, a Terry Daniels-like role where he was aligned with a bigger star while he spent a few years being a jobber and learning his craft might have been better for him.
-Williams is so irate about having Thomas fail against a lowly ENGLISHMAN that he challenges Casey to a match himself.
DUTCH MANTELL vs. PRIVATE TERRY DANIELS
-Oh! Speaking of…
-Dutch goes to the eyes and catches Daniels with a knee. Side suplex by Mantell as Steve Casey strolls over to the commentary table and indicates that he has something to say after this match is over. Stungun and the MX (gourdbuster) give Dutch the win.
-So now we’re ready for Steve Casey’s statement, and Casey simply accepts Doc’s challenge.
EDDIE GILBERT & THE NIGHTMARE vs. RICHARD DYE & PAUL BROWN
-Gilbert isn’t dressed to wrestle and doesn’t even bother getting into the ring, staying at the commentary table because, let’s face it, Nightmare doesn’t really need him in there.
-Nightmare chops Dye so hard that he falls out of the ring, and Gilbert goes on a tirade about how Mid-South supposedly has the best competition in the world and yet, Terry Taylor, Jim Duggan, and the Rock & Rolls are just sitting in the locker room while these two losers get forced into a match against the Nightmare. Powerslam by the Nightmare. Piledrivers on both opponents are enough to end it for the Nightmare. He piledrives the referee post-match, horrifying the crowd, and even Eddie Gilbert admits that he went a LITTLE too far there and hustles into the ring to stop his man before he kills again.
STEVE CASEY vs. “Dr. Death” STEVE WILLIAMS
-Williams attacks with his sinister arm brace right away, but Casey fires a right hand and armdrags Williams around the ring. Dropkick sends Doc to the floor. Back in, Casey monkey flips him for two while JR notes that Dr. Death has “never overloaded his posterior with his mouth.” Yes, if I recall, Clerks II advised against that.
-Williams fights back with a belly-to-belly. Hard kick by Doc. Williams whips Casey into the corner and goes for a shoulder tackle, but Casey moves and dropkicks Williams hard. Backdrop by Williams, and a pair of legdrops by Doc gets two. Doc goes to the second rope and tries a splash to finish, but Casey moves, and Doc is reeling. Casey goes for the kill, but Doc grabs the ropes to block a monkey flip, then does something suspicious with his arm brace and knocks Casey out cold. Stampede gets the three-count. That was a pretty great bit of business for a quick TV match.
TERRY TAYLOR & SUPERSTAR BILL DUNDEE vs. DIRTY WHITE BOYS
*****breaking news*****
-Bill Watts interrupts the match with a special bulletin. Last weekend in Jackson, Mississippi, Skandar Akbar threw a fireball in Hacksaw Jim Duggan’s face. Duggan was rushed by helicopter to a local hospital for emergency surgery to try to save his eyes. Remember, this isn’t that fake-ass Hollywood bullshit wrestling from Titan Sports. Somebody threw a fireball. Nothing about that is stupid.
-We now rejoin our TV main event in progress. Dirty White Boys are having an off-night. In a rare reversal of fortune, the faces do the “hold one guy so the partner can hit” spot, and Len Denton ducks, causing Dundee to give Taylor a right hand, and the crowd loses their shit because they’ve never seen that happen before.
-Dirty Whites take over with double-teaming, but Dundee makes the hot tag. Five-arm connects, and a figure four by Taylor gets a quick submission from Anthony.
