wrestling / Video Reviews
Mid-South Wrestling (8.18.1984) Review
Image Credit: WWE/Peacock
Loading...-Originally aired August 18, 1984.
-Your hosts are Jim Ross and Bill Watts. Bill Watts doesn’t waste any time, leading off the show with the announcement that the Junkyard Dog has left Mid-South Wrestling. Watts laments that JYD no-showed house show matches against Butch Reed, and after five years of being a top star in Mid-South, it really says something that Butch Reed caused Dog to crack under the pressure, and he’s disappeared without fulfilling his obligation to wrestle Reed.
-Dr. Death has “The Dr. Death Award,” a football helmet that he’s tremendously proud of, and he dares any man to take it from him. That’s the surprise? I mean, I don’t know what I expected, but the surprise being show & tell with his favorite helmet is about three rungs down from “Surprise! I brought doughnuts for everyone!” which would have at least been a unique way of turning face again.
“Dr. Death” STEVE WILLIAMS vs. MIKE JACKSON
-Williams goes for a tackle early but Jackson evades and uses stick-and-move strategy. Doc gets a chance to elbow him down and takes over. Elbow and backdrop as Watts emphasizes that Mid-South has a reputation for having the toughest competition in the world, and while Butch Reed is up to that level of competition, it appears that JYD, who “has a lot of personal problems,” can’t handle it anymore.
-Good ending to this one sees Jackson go for a flying headscissors, but Williams just holds him in that position and Stampedes him for three.
HANDICAP MATCH: HACKSAW JIM DUGGAN vs. RANDY BARBER & DON SANDERS
-Duggan noggin-knocks the jobbers as Watts seems to plant a seed, as he makes note that Duggan has a football background just like Doc, and he’s probably up to the task of taking Doc’s helmet. Sanders gets rammed into the turnbuckle and runs away from Duggan, which gets an appreciative laugh from the crowd. Duggan lifts Barber and plants him on the top rope, then yanks him down straight onto his partner. Spear sends Barber to the floor, and a kneedrop puts Sanders out of his misery. Fun squash.
HERCULES HERNANDEZ (with Jim Cornette) vs. JOSH STROUD
-Slam and an elbow by Herc, and the sunny pneumatic gets the submission. But by god, Duggan’s in a fighting mood and he heads back out to kick Hercules’ ass. Cornette runs for help and brings back the Midnight Express and another can of ether. Herc and the MX hold Duggan down and Cornette smothers him, which makes me wonder if there was ever an angle where Tracy Smothers ever tried to cornette a guy. With Duggan unconscious, Cornette whips out some scissors. He manages to snip only a few locks before Sonny King and Terry Taylor clear the ring, and Bobby Eaton apparently gets busted open in the fracas.
-A Terry Taylor music video. Taylor’s stance on America: He’s for it.
TV TITLE: TERRY TAYLOR (Champion) vs. ART CREWS
-Crews takes control with a shoulderblock and a side headlock. Taylor fights back with an armdrag. Crews with a press slam and they battle for a cradle until they hit the ropes together. Five-arm by Taylor ends it.
-Back from commercial, there’s supposed to be a Midnight Express/Fantastics match next, but during the break, Jim Cornette tried to have the match called off because Eaton is injured. But Grizzly Smith instead gave Cornette two minutes to find a substitute. Cornette doesn’t want to use Hercules, because that just leaves Cornette open to a sneak attack while his bodyguard is preoccupied. So instead…
LOVERBOY DENNIS CONDREY & KRUSHER KRUSCHEV (with Jim Cornette & Hercules Hernandez) vs. THE FANTASTICS
-Fantastics work Condrey’s arm. Tommy Rogers has a gigantic bandage that looks like somebody just straight up stabbed him in the back. Krusher tags in and gets his arm worked until Condrey yanks hair from the apron to break the team’s momentum. Condrey clotheslines Fulton and follows with a backbreaker. Fulton wastes a chance to tag out and keeps taking a beating. Fulton finally manages to kick Condrey away and makes the hot tag to Rogers. REALLY quick finish, with Condrey backdropping Rogers right after Rogers has made a stealth tag, and when Condrey finishes the backdrop and still has his arms in the air, Fulton slips back in and rolls him up for three.
“Nature Boy” BUDDY LANDELL vs. BRICKHOUSE BROWN
-Landell takes credit for the Junkyard Dog quitting Mid-South, saying he has shellshock, and bringing Reed against Dog turned Dog into a scared rabbit. It was Landell’s idea and he demands credit for it. He goes on a long tangent about how he’s too damn brilliant to waste his time with NEW wrestlers like Brown, who probably has no idea what he’s doing.
-So Brown just immediately hands Landell his ass with dropkicks and a Russian legsweep for a three-count in under a minute, and Bill Watts’ Search for a New Black Guy is underway. Jim Cornette has talked about how Watts’ big mistake here was that, as much success as he had with Dog, he didn’t really GET what he had with Junkyard Dog. He saw Junkyard Dog as “my black superstar” when he really should have just seen him as “my superstar.” The right move at this point would be to just go all in with Jim Duggan, but instead, we’re going to see a parade of substitute Dogs for a while.
-Oh, also, Landell demands an immediate rematch with Brickhouse Brown, so Brickhouse heads back to the ring and kicks his ass again and gets another three-count.
