Mid-South Wrestling (9.21.1985) Review

-Originally aired September 21, 1985.

-Your hosts are Jim Ross and Joel Watts.

-I just want to take a second to point out we are 41 days into Bill Watts’ 90-day suspension and the Midnight Rider hasn’t done anything but send in “coming soon” videos.

AL PEREZ & WILDCAT WENDELL COOLEY (Tag Team Champions) vs. THE NIGHTMARE & JERRY GREY
-I’m frankly amazed that Nightmare is still here, and this is a FALL for him, as he’s gone in the space of three weeks from North American Champion to “Jerry Grey’s partner” against the up-and-coming pretty boys. There’s nothing ambiguous about that spot.

-Perez throws a hard right, then connects with a dropkick for two. Cooley works the arm and goes for a victory roll, but Nightmare just takes a bow and causes Cooley to land full-force on the top turnbuckle. Grey tags in and drops the leg for two. Nightmare stunguns Cooley, then Grey heads back in and locks on a chinlock as this team is firmly establishing which one is the Ricky and which one is the Robert.

-Cooley deflects a backdrop with a big kick and makes the hot tag. German suplex on Nightmare looks to finish, but Grey breaks the tag. Nightmare goes for a piledriver, but the champs counter that and dropkick him out to the floor, and with Grey alone in the ring, a bulldog is enough for the champs to get the pin. Pretty good match!

TV TITLE: HACKSAW BUTCH REED (Champion) vs. PAUL BROWN
-Reed works the arm while the commentators spell out Reed’s motivation, hes full of piss and vinegar now that Ric Flair has asserted that he will only wrestle a North American Champion, so now that it’s Reed’s only path to the World Title, he’s extra-motivated to roll up a bunch of wins and get himself to the North American Title. Press slam and a second-rope clothesline get the win. He’s building momentum for his championship opportunity!

HUMUNGOUS & BARBARIAN (with Oliver Humperdink) vs. STEVE CONSTANCE & TIM ASHLEY
-The team that’s bigger than the Road Warriors attack Road-Warrior-style to clear Ashley from the ring. Slam/second-rope elbow combo by Humungous & Barbarian, who badly need some kind of collective name. Barbarian gives Constance a full-blown Ahmed wedgie as Jake the Snake suddenly hits the ring to attack his ex-buddy, but Humungous and Barbarian combined are too much for him, and the Snake is a bloody mess. Jake the Snake finally, finally, finally after what feels like an eternity comes to his rescue with a chair, but the damage has been more than done.

BRUISER BOB SWEETAN vs. KEN GLOVER
-Come on, we’re done with this guy, aren’t we?

-Back suplex by Sweetan. Glover tries to ring the arm, but Sweetan just ties him in a front facelock. Glover throws forearms but gets booted down, and a big knee by Sweetan gets the win.

NORTH AMERICAN TITLE: “Captain Redneck” DICK MURDOCH vs. “Dr. Death” STEVE WILLIAMS (with Bob Sweetan)
-Butch Reed rolls in to announce that he’s going to wrestle the winner of the match, and he’s not even asking, he’s telling. Reed stays to watch the match, but Murdoch doesn’t seem happy about that. I’ve heard that about him.

-Murdoch gets a takedown on Williams and works the arm. Williams gets free and flips the script, working Murdoch’s arm. Murdoch gets back to his feet and wants to turn this into a fight. Elbows and a slam by Murdoch get a two-count. Williams fights back and drops the leg for his own two-count. Murdoch grabs a hold of Doc and clamps on a front facelock. This is an odd match for these two guys and for this promotion’s TV, as they’re keeping it very slow and hold-based.

-Doc gets to his feet and rams Murdoch into the corner, but Murdoch won’t release the hold even in that much pain, so Doc is still stuck in the front facelock. Doc keeps ramming him and ramming him and ramming him until it FINALLY breaks, and he gives Murdoch a forearm for two.

-Chinlock by Williams. Murdoch gets the break with the corner ram, but Doc reverses an Irish whip and slams him. Murdoch ducks a tackle and Williams launches himself out of the ring with the momentum. Sweetan helps Doc back in and picks a fight with Reed, ramming him into the post right as the referee gets bumped by an errant airplane spin.

-Murdoch goes for a brainbuster but Sweetan chops him to break it. Reed dives in and punches him out to the floor. Williams attacks Reed from behind, but they collide head-to-head on a clothesline. Williams tumbles out to the floor and Reed lands on top of Murdoch’s prone body, long enough to get a visual three-count. I swear to god, I thought we were going to get a WCW finish where the wrong man won a match that he wasn’t it.

-Reed is still in the ring with Murdoch. Murdoch just fights EVERYBODY, including Reed, and everybody is shocked that Murdoch attacked Reed. Williams and Sweetan assault Murdoch, drawing the DQ, and a bunch of babyfaces hurry to ringside to chase them off. The faces all check on Murdoch, but Reed recovers and demands satisfaction, so Reed and Murdoch brawl while the other faces desperately try to calm them down. Hot ending to a pretty plain match.

EL CORSARIO (with Skandar Akbar) vs. JIMMY BACKLUND
-Corsario chops Backlund. Powerslam by Corsario, and a superkick knocks Backlund right out for three.

SUPERSTAR BILL DUNDEE & DIRTY DUTCH MANTELL vs. KARL STILES & PAT ROSE
-But first, here’s Eddie Gilbert to tell us that when he was a kid in Memphis, he idolized Superstar Bill Dundee, and he has a gift for Dundee. It’s the pink suit that he lost to Bobby Fulton, and Gilbert felt that Dundee was entitled to that suit because nobody ever truly beat him for it. He also mentions that “he took care of the little guy” that got a pin over Dundee, and both commentators voice concern about that.

-Heels work over Stiles. Rose tags in and gives Dundee some hard shots to the mouth. Dutch tags in and works the arm. Dundee tags back in and immediately creates a diversion, so the referee isn’t looking while Dundee jumps off the top rope illegally, and the impact from the top gets the win when the referee turns back around.

-And we close the show with that weird music video where a bunch of women make The Fantastics look like idiots.

7.7

The final score: review Good

The 411

The North American Title love triangle is a pretty good angle, and I know it's about to get better.