Mid-South Wrestling (8.3.1985) Review

-Originally aired August 3, 1985.

-Your hosts are Jim Ross and Joel Watts.

-BREAKING: Butch Reed is the new TV Champion, and ex-champ Dutch Mantell has demanded a rematch. Reed has accepted and we’ll have that later today.

-The final confrontation between Skandar Akbar and Bill Watts has been officially signed for the next big Superdome card, and we recap the TERRORISM that has ensconced itself in Mid-South. Skandar Akbar threw a fireball in Jim Duggan’s face three months ago. Bill Watts says the incident affected him because of his own firm beliefs in God, family, and country…and Jim Duggan, I guess. So Bill Watts announced three weeks later that he’d come out of retirement to avenge Jim Duggan, who asks no quarter and gives none.

-That leads to Akbar attempting to blind Hacksaw’s remaining eye, which leads to Bill Watts entering the ring and WALKING TALL, taking Akbar out with a chair and declaring himself “An American Supremacist.”

-And then bad stuff happened to Mike Graham, the son of Bill Watts’ best friend ever. And that’s all he can stand. No more. SOMEBODY has to go. So at the Superdome, they’re going to settle things in a Missing In Action match, meaning that if anyone leaves the ring and doesn’t come back, it’s considered a loss. This type of stipulation is also known as “a regular wrestling match.” If Duggan and Watts lose, they leave Mid-South for 90 days. If Kamala and Zambui lose, Akbar leaves altogether. Watts emphasizes that he and Duggan ask no quarter and give none.

-Dutch Mantell says that Ric Flair has offered him a substantial sum of money if Mantell can do him a personal favor and injure Butch Reed badly enough to get him out of NWA World Title contention.

TV TITLE: HACKSAW BUTCH REED (Champion) vs. DIRTY DUTCH MANTELL
-Mantell attacks with Shoobaby before the bell, because he never actually cared about the title, he just wants Flair’s money. He whips Reed repeatedly until Reed manages to grab the whip in mid-air. Tug of war with the whip goes Reed’s way, and he whips and whips and whips and whips Mantell. Bill Dundee comes to the ring for no particular reason, and Reed whips the hell out of him too. Wow, and apparently, that wasn’t enough for JR to declare that he’s walking tall? Jim’s standards are getting way too high now.

“Captain Redneck” DICK MURDOCH vs. CARL STILES
-But first! Here’s The Nightmare and Oliver Humperdink, who dare Murdoch to wrestle right now instead of waiting for the Superdome. Murdoch accepts, only to find out that Humperdink didn’t mean The Nightmare, he means the guy coming down the aisle, a mysterious newcomer whom Boyd Pierce immediately dubs “Humungous.”

“Captain Redneck” DICK MURDOCH vs. HUMUNGOUS
-So the character is 100% the look of the same-named character from Mad Max and you can tell the crowd is kind of expecting a masked jobber that Murdoch will mow down before facing the Nightmare at the really big event. Humungous heaves Murdoch across the ring and Murdoch is shocked. Murdoch tries an elbow but hurts his arm on the mask. Humungous chokes him out and headbutts him so hard that Murdoch falls out to the floor, busted open. Humungous heads out there and rams the wounded area right into the barricade, then press slams Murdoch through the ropes into the ring. Humungous locks on the shinni no maki and Murdoch passes out immediately. And in the blink of an eye, we have a terrifying new star.

JAKE “The Snake” ROBERTS & THE BARBARIAN vs. THE MONGOL & KEN GLOVER
-Jake stretches Glover. Barbarian tags in and slaps him around. Mongol tags in and this is the funniest jobber ever, he’s like if the Damien Demento gimmick had been created in Memphis; it’s exactly that same look but the guy is about 5 feet tall. Barbarian boots him down and then just calmly tags out, and Jake strolls in and DDTs him for the win.

TED DIBIASE vs. WENDELL COOLEY
-Cooley gets an early advantage before missing with a dropkick. DiBiase’s hair is much lighter now, as he’s gradually creeping toward his best-known look. Still clean-shaven though.

-Neckbreaker by DiBiase, then he chokes Cooley out. Powerslam by DiBiase, and the figure four is locked on. Cooley fights it and fights it, but when no escape is apparent, he finally surrenders.

AL PEREZ vs. JERRY GREY
-Perez works the arm with a hammerlock/wristlock combo. Grey drives elbows into the skull. Perez comes back with rights, and the German suplex finishes. Oooh, Perez had to work a bit instead of getting instant wins like he has been. Rumor has it Watts saw Perez standing at a payphone with empty pockets and got pissed because he caught Perez asking for quarter.

THE NIGHTMARE (North American Champion, with Oliver Humperdink & Humungous) vs. JIMMY BACKLUND
-Jimmy Backlund is Jimmy Del Ray before he discovered calories. He takes a hellllllllll of a backdrop from Nightmare early on. Nightmare, the reigning champion, keeps beating on Backlund while occasionally glancing and Humungous and wondering “Do I still have Vince’s number?” Mildly interesting note about this match: Tommy Gilbert is suddenly in this territory working as a referee.

-Press slam by Nightmare, and he stomps all over Backlund while the commentators admonish him for beating on the poor man instead of just putting him out of his misery. Nightmare finally gets tired of murdering Backlund and piledrives him to finish.

-At the close of the show, Jim Ross asks Bill Dundee for an explanation for his shenanigans, and Dundee says he doesn’t owe these people an explanation. He goes on a tangent about how he has the best entrance outfits in wrestling, even better than that K-Mart crap that the Fantastics wear. He challenges Bobby Fulton to a match next week and promises that if Fulton can beat him, he can have Dundee’s best pink jacket.

8.7

The final score: review Very Good

The 411

Some nice course corrections happening in the main event scene and some great action too.