wrestling / Video Reviews
Mid-South Wrestling (6.25.1983) Review
Image Credit: WWE/Peacock
Loading...-Originally aired June 25, 1983.
-Your hosts are Boyd Pierce and Bill Watts, and Bill Watts explains some controversy surrounding the Tag Team Titles. Okay, so…deep breath…Ted DiBiase and Mr. Olympia are technically the Tag Team Champs. DiBiase is claiming that his hand is injured, so he struck a deal to have Boris Zhurkov replace him in the team until his hand is healed. We were supposed to have a title match with Johnny Rich and Hacksaw Duggan going for the belts, but now DiBiase has stepped up and said that he doesn’t want Zhurkov in the match because of his poor showing in a match against Rich and Duggan a few weeks ago. And also, DiBiase is not medically cleared, so he won’t be returning to the ring either. But II and Olympia are so insulted by that that they’re demanding a non-title match against Duggan and Rich. So there.
-We head off to WCCW for a segment! Bill Mercer is at a forest with Skandar Akbar, along with Mongol and Friday. Akbar explains that he has Kamala live in this forest near his own beautiful mansion because it’s Kamala’s natural environment and he doesn’t want the big man to suffer culture shock. He sends Friday to get Kamala only after the cameraman pledges not to use a bright light for the segment. Kamala walks out and he’s just instantly frightened by the sight of a microphone, so he chops Mercer down and walks off. Really funny, abrupt ending, as they built and built Kamala’s arrival and then he did that and the segment just STOPS.
HACKSAW BUTCH REED vs. JOE STARK
-Reed gets on the mike before the match starts and says that everyone calls the Dog a “living legend,” but living legends belong in libraries! So you can pull them off the shelf! And read them! The way Reed keeps building on that thought is fantastic. (“And then you can check them out! And then return them in exactly two weeks! Or else you will incur a small fine, Reeser Bowden!”)
-Surprisingly, this doesn’t really lead to any kind of an angle, and Reed just finishes his thought and hammers down on Stark. Suplex by Reed, and he demands to know where the Dog is! Press slam finishes.
-We go back to the Olympia/Zhurkov vs. Duggan/Rich match from a few weeks ago, where the champs pro temp screw up their attempted chicanery and Duggan & Rich take the victory.
NON-TITLE: MR. OLYMPIA & BORIS ZHURKOV (Tag Team Champions, with Skandar Akbar) vs. HACKSAW DUGGAN & JOHNNY RICH
-So again, this was supposed to be a title match, but DiBiase, the rightful co-holder of the title, refused to allow the belts to go on the line because of how the last match went.
-Duggan pummels Zhukov with lefts and rights. Rich tags in and they have an UGLY sequence, with Zhukov tripping on a criss-cross and running into a Watts-style dropkick. Olympia tags in, dressed like Mr. Wrestling I for some reason, and slams Rich for a one-count. Duggan trips Olympia from the floor and Rich goes for a pin, and the heels are shocked to see Duggan use a tactic like that. Chaos breaks out with all four guys, and the referee gets bumped to the floor.
-With all four guys brawling, DiBiase runs in with his hand in a plaster cast and knocks out Johnny Rich. Duggan winds up to take a shot at Duggan, but Duggan grabs his arm and slams it against a turnbuckle, which gives us a FANTASTIC visual with the cast shattering and flying all over the ring like popcorn, and it turns out DiBiase is wearing his loaded black glove under the plaster. Akbar heads in there, and with an unconscious partner, Duggan gets overwhelmed by the 4-on-1 attack. A herd of jobbers head to the ring to try to make the save, but Akbar’s boys fight them off. And then Duggan makes his own save and cleans house, and Rich revives and crawls into the ring to pin Zhurkov to score another win. God almighty I love the finishes in this company.
-We flash back to a Bundy/Wrestling II match from a few weeks ago, ending with Bundy piledriving II on the floor. Last week, Bundy does likewise to Tito Santana.
MR. WRESTLING II (National Champion) vs. ARN ANDERSON
-So after having his neck injured on a bare floor, II just shakes it off and wins a title in Georgia like it was nothing. Oh, and Bill Watts, a god of kayfabe, explains that former Mid-South jobber Marty Lunde’s real name is Arn Anderson, but Uncle Ole sent him to Mid-South to get his feet wet in wrestling, and Arn was using a different name until Ole felt he was ready.
-II goes for the knee early on but Arn ducks it. II applies a side headlock. Arn punches out but gets slammed down. Arn comes to life and applies a chinlock. Slam and a knee by Arn gets a two-count. And then Arn makes the always deadly mistake of going for the mask. Back suplex by II, and the kneelift finishes for II, easy peasy.
NORTH AMERICAN TITLE: JUNKYARD DOG (Champion) vs. BOB ROOP
-Roommate walked in as this match started and honest to god thought that JYD was wearing red tights with TRUMP across the ass.
-Roop starts targeting the arm, and we haven’t seen Roop in a while so Watts recaps some of his greatest hit angles. And suddenly he mentions something that I don’t think he ever brought up before. Roop apparently beat Paul Orndorff in a loser-leaves-town cage match at a house show a while back and that’s why Orndorff totally disappeared from the area.
-Roop is all over the arm, but he goes for a piledriver and JYD backdrops out and THUMP OUTTA NOWHERE for three. Odd match, with Roop controlling 95% of it and then just eating a Thump at the end.
MIL MASCARAS vs. SUPER DESTROYER
-Destroyer misses a corner charge and Mascaras finishes with a bodypress in about one minute. Good lord.
TIM HORNER vs. TONY ZANE
-They go to the mat as Bill Watts explains the difference between DIVING off the top rope and JUMPING off the top rope. Diving is legal, and Mascaras’ bodypress is technically a diving motion and not a jumping motion. Watts must be booking for the NFL now. Kneedrop by Horner finishes.
