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Mid-South Wrestling (9.24.1983) Review

July 22, 2020 | Posted by Adam Nedeff
Mid-South Wrestling 9-24-1983 Image Credit: WWE/Peacock
8.2
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Mid-South Wrestling (9.24.1983) Review  

-Originally aired September 24, 1983.

-Your hosts are Boyd Pierce (wearing what appear to be sweaters that were recut and turned into a suit) and Bill Watts.

JUNKYARD DOG vs. ONE MAN GANG (with Skandar Akbar)

-Dog chases Akbar around, allowing Gang to launch a surprise attack, and he gets Dog down for a two-count in the first 30 seconds, which means something in Mid-South. Chinlock by the Gang. Dog comes to life with punches and elbows, then applies his own chinlock, and the fans start the “Who dat?” chant.

-Dog fights free with punches and a big headbutt that takes Gang right off his feet. Russian legsweep by the Dog, but Gang has the presence of mind to reach out for the ropes. Gang gets rammed into the turnbuckles and JYD snapmares him. I tell you, Gang is bumping like a rag doll for JYD. This is imrpessive.

-Nikolai Volkoff comes to ringside to watch, and Dog gets distracted enough that Gang applies an iron claw to his EYES, which could easily be a finisher, but here it’s just a thing that he does. Gang slams Dog into position and goes to the top rope, but the big splash misses and this crowd sounds absolutely relieved. Unfortunately he rolls toward Akbar. Akbar tries to interfere, but JYD just reaches over and punches him, then gets up and hits the Thump on One Man Gang. Man, Watts was not afraid to give away stuff on TV at all.

-Akbar runs in to break the pin, getting his man DQed, but then Boris Zhukov hits the ring and makes it a three-on-one attack. And then Krusher Darsow hits the ring at Akbar’s beckoning and Dawsow heads in…and attacks GANG! Akbar is shocked, and Darsow just beats the hell out of him and rips his clothes off for good measure, and Akbar and his men get away from there. JYD offers a handshake in friendship, and he has a new BFF, which will end badly for him. The curious thing: Volkoff is still just standing there, totally motionless, and just watched the whole thing without any reaction or emotion at all, and nobody knows why.

BORIS ZURKHOV vs. GEORGE WEINGROFF

-Volkoff is still just standing there watching the show as Weingroff takes control with armdrags and an amateur takedown. Boris fights back and Watts goes on a rant about the Soviet Union and formally declares that he is in favor of America. Hot take, Bill.

-Weingroff boots Boris and sunset flips him for one. Boris gives him a boot and follows with a neckbreaker–a Red Awakening, you could call it–but Weingroff avoids a move from the top rope, then applies an abdominal stretch and rolls backward to make it a pinning combination for three. Weingroff wins it! And now Volkoff goes into the ring, totally annoyed that his countryman lost, and when Boris tries to speak in his own defense, Volkoff just absolutely beats the piss out of him, including two backbreakers, and Boris crawls out of the ring while the crowd gives Nikolai a standing ovation. I feel like this is going somewhere…

-And it seems JR is wondering the same thing. JR asks why Nikolai attacked his countryman, and Nikolai outs Boris as an American wrestler who was just faking being Russian! And that’s why Boris lost, he says, because Russia has the strongest military in the world, AND the strongest wrestlers. It’s a total burial of Boris, and indeed that’s the last we’ll ever see of him in the promotion. I feel like Boris rubbed somebody the wrong way, because evil Russian in the early 1980s was an easy main event gimmick, and he was always just a jobber disguised as a star, AND they expose him in his last match.

MAX THE MISSING LINK & KING KONG BUNDY vs. DENNY ALBERTS & JERRY CALDWELL

-Link slams Alberts hard, and Alberts gets the hell out of there and tags in Caldwell. Caldwell dodges a corner charge, and Max tags in Bundy. Caldwell attempts artful dodging, but Bundy finally just grabs him and chops him. He lifts Caldwell into a bearhug and rams him into the corner. Diving headbutt into the lower back by Link is enough for a three-count.

-So JR is really confused because JYD defeated Darsow clean as a sheet last week, and now Darsow heads into the ring and helps JYD. Darsow reaches into the pocket and shows off the $500 Akbar offered him before the show to come in and attack JYD. Well…Darsow was raised to believe in fairness, and since JYD beat him fairly, he doesn’t hold any ill will about the loss. And since offering guys bribes to orchestrate 4-on-1 assaults is very UNFAIR, he’s decided he doesn’t like Akbar or Akbar’s men. Darsow has also decided that he wants to do the right thing, because he believes that if he does the right thing, eventually, good things will come to him in Mid-South Wrestling. He hands JR the money and asks him to return it to Akbar because he doesn’t need the money badly enough to stoop to anything. Bill Watts decides he likes the cut of this fellow’s jib.

JIM “The Anvil” NEIDHART vs. RON ELLIS

-Slam and a shoulderblock by Neidhart, and Neidhart has a football background so Watts is just horny as hell on commentary. Samoan drop by Neidhart gets three.

NON-TITLE: HACKSAW BUTCH REED (North American Champion) vs. HACKSAW JIM DUGGAN

-Watts gleefully announces that Grizzly Smith booked this match as a surprise for the fans and they intentionally didn’t advertise it. Lock-ups go nowhere as suddenly Magnum TA and George Weingroff show up at ringside. Reed is totally distracted by their presence and Duggan takes advantage with a forearm.

-Johnny Rich shows up, and now so does JYD. Duggan connects with a kneelift and Reed rolls out of the ring for a rest, but now everybody gathers and rolls him back inside, Lumberjack-style. Krusher Darsow heads to the ring, and he throws Reed back in when he goes out for a second time. Reed rolls out for a breather for the third time and Reed fights back this time, but JYD ducks a punch and then just levels Reed with a solid right of his own.

-Reed has better luck throwing punches at Duggan back in the ring. He chokes Duggan over the top rope and goes for the clothesline from the second rope, but Duggan ducks, Reed crashes, and Duggan connects with the spear for the three-count. Reed is dazed and totally furious about getting beaten in a surprise match with all of his enemies surround the ring.

MAGNUM T.A. vs. TOM STANTON

-Backdrop and a forearm by TA. Stanton boots him down but goes to the second rope and crashes. Belly to belly ends it.

MIXED TAG MATCH: DEBBIE COMBS & JOHNNY RICH vs. DONNA DAY & ART CREWS

-The ladies start with hair mares and Watts says he pities the women for working this hard on hair care for a sport that isn’t friendly to the hair at all. The men tag in and Donna slaps Rich before hiding behind her partner. Men barely stay in the ring at all and just tag the women back in. Combs puts Day in a neck vice and drags her over to the corner. Rich winds up and teases slapping her, but then just gives her a huge open mouth kiss, and the crowd goes nuts for it. And no social justice warrioring here, in terms of pro wrestling justice, she deserved that. Everybody ends up in the ring and the finish goes wrong, as Combs wants a surfboard, but she loses her grip and has to switch to a camel clutch to get the submission.

8.2
The final score: review Very Good
The 411
Mid-South is pretty much turning into my desert island wrestling promotion at this point. Another great week from a show that delivered over and over again.
legend

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Mid-South Wrestling, Adam Nedeff