Mid-South Wrestling (9.1.1984) Review

-Originally aired September 1, 1984.

-Your hosts are Joel Watts and Dad. Bill Watts announces that as a result of the $10,000 fine levied against them, the PYTs have quit Mid-South Wrestling, and there has to be more to it than that, because they were definitely building to something with the Midnight Express.

-Bill Watts mentions that actor Jeff McKay is a huge fan of Mid-South Wrestling and watches it every time he visits his parents in Tulsa. This leads to a brief skit featuring Jeff McKay, Hacksaw Jim Duggan, and awkwardly, Junkyard Dog, in which Dog and Duggan want to watch McKay’s shows, but McKay would rather watch Mid-South Wrestling.

-So, elephant in the room, since JYD was in that video, Bill Watts feels the need to address some stuff, and he recaps JYD’s entire career, as he came into the territory for a few months and couldn’t make it beyond jobber. So he went away, learned and trained, came back, and became a mega-star. Then he walked out on Mid-South with NO notice, screwing the fans over because they had already bought tickets to the shows that JYD had given local promos. JYD apparently feels he outgrew the Mid-South fans and he doesn’t even have the courtesy to make a statement and explain himself. It goes beyond Bill Watts being a businessman and burying the guy because he’s left. Bill Watts is genuinely PISSED and it comes through every time he mentions Dog. On the flip side, years later, Bill Watts did a shoot interview where he admitted that he regretted things ending on such bad terms, because they legit never spoke again, and he never did thank Dog for all the money he made.

JOHNNY MANTELL vs. BIG, BAD BOB OWENS
-We haven’t seen a montage of Mantell lifting weights in his underwear, so he’s probably not going to get much of a push. Owens throws forearms as Watts explains that Mantell came to Mid-South because it’s known for the toughest wrestling competition in America, and as proof of that, JYD cracked under the pressure because he couldn’t handle it anymore. Mantell finishes quickly with a Russian legsweep. I’m kind of amazed Watts didn’t try to rebrand that move as “the freedom legsweep” or something.

-Jim Cornette and Krusher Kruschev are in the ring. Cornette is now wearing a mask, and Jim Ross tries to ask him why, but Cornette sidesteps it and boasts that the PYTs have been run out of Mid-South Wrestling because they didn’t have $10,000 to their name. Cornette says he’s mourning for the Rock & Roll Express, the Bruise Brothers, and the PYTs, who are all gone from Mid-South because they couldn’t handle the Midnight Express. But he refuses to explain WHY he’s wearing a mask, except to say that it’s emblematic of the company screwing him over yet again. With that said, Cornette and Krusher have challenged Jim Duggan to a hair vs. flag match for later in the hour, and Cornette is offering Krusher $10,000 if he wins.

MIDNIGHT EXPRESS (Tag Team Champions, with Jim Cornette & Hercules Hernandez) vs. RICK MCCORD & ART CREWS
-McCord gets the early edge, but the Midnights hit a double goozle quickly for the win.

EXOTIC ADRIAN STREET (with Miss Linda) vs. TERRY ELLIS
-First time in the territory, and if you can believe it, my first time actually seeing Street in the ring. Seeing him use Linda as a staircase into the ring is a great heel touch. Street works the leg while Watts goes into Street’s background, including the movie Quest for Fire. Another quick squash in a series of them, with Street getting a crucifix right away.

-Jim Ross interviews Street, who says he came here because he heard Mid-South was the best wrestling competition in the USA, and as an anthropology experts, he was curious to see Neanderthal savages up close, and this place is full of beer-swilling tobacco-chewing slobs who probably DON’T EVEN DRINK TEA!

-Steve Williams is here with his helmet. It still hasn’t been taken from him, and he demands that somebody get in the ring with him to try to take the Dr. Death Trophy.

“Nature Boy” BUDDY LANDELL vs. ROBERT CHRISTY
-Christy is a big Oh Lawd He Comin’-built guy, and Landell just mocks him and prepares for an easy win before Christy shocks him with an armdrag right out of the chute. Landell goes right to work with a slam and a front facelock, holding onto him for dear life because he’s already been embarassed by the guy. Running forearm by Landell gets three.

BRICKHOUSE BROWN vs. ERNIE LADD (with Buddy Landell)
-Brown, Ladd, and the referee all get into an argument about Ladd’s taped first. Brown has read the book on Ladd, so he turns his back right away and then just decks Ladd when he tries a sneak attack, but Brown backdrops him and Ladd can’t even deal with that. Ladd tries to hide in the corner, but Brickhouse stomps the mudhole and walks it dry. Ladd goes into his tights for something, but before he can make contact, Brickhouse headbutts him and follows with a dropkick, and Landell hits the panic button and runs in for a DQ. Yay short! They gang up on Brickhouse until Sonny King comes to the rescue.

HAIR vs. FLAG: HACKSAW JIM DUGGAN vs. KRUSHER KRUSCHEV
-Duggan reiterates that his hair is a symbol of FREEDOM. Shoulderblock and a clothesline by Duggan. He goes for a spear from the second rope and crashes. Krusher capitalizes, stomping and choking like a sumbitch. Duggan gets his second wind and backdrops Krusher, and the spear gets three, easy-peasy for Duggan. Not great, as it was too short to build to anything and it ended out of nowhere. Duggan and Krusher get into a tug of war over the Soviet flag, but Duggan finally gets his hands in it and rips it up.

-And the show ends with Jim Duggan doing the most babyface thing you can do in 1984, gathering the crowd in a circle to not only burn the Russian flag in a trash can, but actually toasting a marshmallow on it too.

7.0

The final score: review Good

The 411

Can't speak highly of match quality for the week, but damn, at least it was eventful.