Mid-South Wrestling (7.13.1985) Review

-Originally aired July 13, 1985.

-Your hosts are Jim Ross and Joel Watts.

MEDICAL UPDATE: Snowman has “a brain concussion” as a result of last week’s piledriver on the concrete floor. Just glad it’s not one of those lethal foot concussions I’ve heard so much about. We’ll have more updates about Snowman’s medical condition in the coming weeks.

SPOILER ALERT: No the hell we won’t. According to Cagematch, we’re not gonna see Snowman again. This promotion needs a war memorial engraved with names of guys who were going to be the new Junkyard Dog.

-Also, Butch Reed has returned to Mid-South Wrestling, so it took all of two months for him to learn that working for the AWA, in fact, sucks. To welcome Butch back to the area, we’re treated to an all-time classic, the Butch Reed music video from his initial face turn with breakdancing Erik Watts.

TV TITLE: DIRTY DUTCH MANTELL vs. TERRY TAYLOR
-Taylor and Mantell jockey for position, which is wrestling talk for “not much happens at first.” Taylor get a top wristlock, Mantell counters, Taylor turns it into a hammerlock. Dutch eventually needs to take a breather on the floor. Back in, they trade blows. Taylor connects with a forearm and goes for the figure four, but Dutch slips out to the floor again. Back in, Joel Watts declares this a “seesaw match, back and forth” and it’s instantly weird hearing any human being other than Vince McMahon say that.

-Referee accidentally catches a stray shot, and Dutch uses the opening to KO Taylor with the handle of Shoobaby. Gourdbuster gets three, and Mantell retains.

HACKSAW JIM DUGGAN vs. KAREEM MUHAMMAD THE ZAMBUI EXPRESS (with Skandar Akbar)
-If Duggan wins, he gets Skandar Akbar. They never really elaborate on what that means, if it’s a “five minutes” deal, or if Akbar must immediately wrestle him, or if he wins a dream date with Skandar Akbar, he just “gets Skandar Akbar.” Duggan says this match is part of his mission to rid Mid-South of terrorists, while Akbar pledges that even if Duggan wins, there are a thousand Kamalas all over the world, and he’ll just keep bringing them in.

-Duggan storms to the ring and hammers at Kareem, and it’s the first time that the big guy has really shown weakness since he got here. Clothesline knocks Kareem off his feet. Akbar trips Duggan to the floor and Kareem immediately capitalizes with a diving headbutt, but a second one misses. Kareem tries a corner charge but misses that too. Duggan tries his own corner charge but gets booted down. Kareem misses the diving headbutt again. Backdrop by Duggan(!), and a spear sends Kareem clear over the top rope and onto the floor. Duggan opts not to wait for an official decision and just kicks Akbar’s ass right then and there.

-Kareem recovers but Duggan is ready for him and just goes back to giving him the fight. Akbar waves Kamala down to the ring, and now it’s a 3-on-1 onslaught. Jobbers hit the ring and you know how that usually goes. Redshirts hit the floor and THEN the star babyfaces hit the ring.

TED DIBIASE & “Dr. Death” STEVE WILLIAMS (Tag Team Champions) vs. PVT. TERRY DANIELS & FRANKIE LANE
-Jake the Snake and Barbarian show up to revisit something that happened a month ago and was promptly forgotten about. They want ONE title shot, and the champs won’t give it to them. DiBiase says they’re not the one in charge of making matches, Grizzly Smith is, and Grizzly says they have to wrestle Daniels and Lane. So Jake parses the sentence and says “So if Daniels and Lane weren’t here, you WOULD wrestle us?” And with that, you can see what the next step is. Barbarian and Jake maul the jobbers in seconds while DiBiase and Williams watch, and with the two of them sufficiently injured, Jake asks if we can do a title match now?

-So Grizzly Smith walks to the ring, racking up more steps on his pedo-meter, and Jake pleads his case, and since Jake makes it through a complete sentence without spitting in Grizz’s face, he’s earned it, so Grizz says that if all four men agree to the match, he’ll sign off on it…at which point the champs decide that they don’t agree to it, and they leave

THE CHAMPION (North American Champion, with Eddie Gilbert) vs. WENDELL COOLEY
-Boots and an armbar by the Champion. JR announces that they’ve received a peculiar statement from The Champion, saying he’s going to hold a press conference next week. Slam and a knee by the Champion. Champion targets the arm, but Cooley fights back with the good arm. Cooley dodges a corner charge and heads to the second rope. Cooley slips off legit, and props to Joel Watts for just telling us straight up that Cooley slipped off instead of trying to cover for it. Piledriver by The Champion gets the win.

BRICKHOUSE BROWN & MARK RAGIN vs. RED RAIDER & PAUL BROWN
-Ragin’s new look: tiny bicycle shorts head up with rainbow suspenders. Go back to Michael Jackson, like now.

-Ragin with a takedown on Brown while JR notes that Brown and Ragin are teaming up a lot lately. Ragin is so curious to me, as it seemed like Mid-South really wanted to do something with him at first and then just IMMEDIATELY lost interest, and then Ragin never really got another shot anywhere else. AWFUL spot sees Brown whip…uh, Brown into the ropes and then duck down, and what they’re doing for is Paul Brown will run across his body criss-cross style and then Ragin will clothesline him down on the other side. You’ve seen tag teams do that before, right? So Paul hits the ropes, runs just ENOUGH over Brickhouse’s body, then comes to a complete stop as soon as he’s on the other side. Ragin, who was coiled and waiting, has to take a step forward and just gently yanks Brown’s body down to the mat. I think that was supposed to be the finish and the referee seems to actually get down and tell Paul Brown to kick out of this, because he doesn’t want to count the pin.

-So Brown and Ragin chop Paul Brown down. Brickhouse tries to whip Paul into the corner, but Paul genuinely resists and runs into the ropes instead, and Brickhouse is just DONE with this guy and heaves him to the corner. Dropkick by Ragin finishes. Oh man, I would NOT want to be Paul Brown in the locker room after this taping.

AL PEREZ vs. PAT ROSE
-German suplex for another quick three-count.

8.0

The final score: review Very Good

The 411

Good show all around, but a gold star to Paul Brown for making it one to remember.