Mid-South Wrestling (9.7.1985) Review

-Originally aired September 7, 1985.

-Your hosts are Jim Ross and Joel Watts. Not present: Commentator of the Year Boyd Pierce.

-Breaking: Terry Taylor has left the Mid-South area because he wants a shot at Ric Flair’s World Title, and he feels he’ll have more chances at title shots if he’s in Flair’s own backyard in the “NWA Area.” They wish Terry well and assure fans that they’ll try to bring Taylor back for future Mid-South shows. Or Terry will just get drowned by locker room politics and crawl back in ’86.

-We have new Tag Team Champs, Wendell Cooley and Al Perez, and Skandar Akbar has wasted no time getting a title match signed, with One Man Gang and Kareem Muhammad challenging for the gold. Al and Wendell promise to be people’s champions and fighting champions, and they’re ready to prove that their big win wasn’t a fluke.

TAG TEAM TITLE: AL PEREZ & WENDELL COOLEY (Champions) vs. KAREEM MUHAMMAD & ONE MAN GANG (with Skandar Akbar)
-Perez armdrags Kareem across the ring twice as soon as the bell sounds and everyone is shocked at how instantly Kareem got dominated in there. Gang tags in and misses an elbow, but he successfully resists the follow-through armdrag and Perez takes that as a sign to proceed with caution.

-Everybody tags and Kareem gets dropkicked down by Cooley. Kareem gets a takedown. Gang tags in and like many a Wendy’s customer, Wendell is quickly overcome by the double-beef. Slam by Gang, but a big splash misses. Perez is a house of fire and takes on both opponents, but he loses his focus beating up on Gang too much and Kareem sneaks up to sandwich him. Figuratively, which is lucky for Perez.

-Kareem holds Perez in place for a second-rope splash by Gang, but Cooley slips in and jerks his partner by the legs, which causes Kareem to lose his grip and fall on his face while Gang is in mid-air, and with no time to course-correct, Gang splashes his own partner. Cooley drags Perez on top of the injured Kareem, and the ref counts three for a successful title defense by the underdogs. Decent big vs. little action. Skandar blames Gang for the mistake and Kareem attacks his partner after the bell, but Gang grabs his chain and his ready to fight, and the crowd is completely on board for a One Man Gang face turn. Akbar changes his tune when he sees the chain and he manages to stop the impending brawl, but Gang is pissed off as we wrap up the segment.

JAKE “The Snake” ROBERTS vs. THE NIGHTMARE (with Oliver Humperdink)
-The slide down the ladder continues for the former champ.

-Nightmare misses a corner charge and Jake goes for the DDT right away. Nightmare hurries to the floor to avoid it. Back in, Nightmare takes control while Joel spells out the need to build momentum for a finishing hold to work sometimes, and Jake simply doesn’t have the momentum yet.

-Humungous is at ringside to supervise as Nightmare applies a bearhug. Jake unties the laces on the mask until Nightmare releases the hold, which is a clever way to handle that hold. Jake throws punches, but Nightmare blinds him to stop that. Nightmare sends him into the ropes and takes a knee to the face. Nightmare loads up the mask and headbutts Jake thrice, knocking Jake out…

-And here’s Eddie Gilbert, as this story finally goes somewhere. Eddie tattles on Nightmare for having the loaded mask, but Nightmare uses the distraction to ditch the weapon. But it also gives Jake a chance to rest, so when Nightmare tries to finish off Jake without the weapon, Jake just DDTs him and gets the three-count…and UNMASKS Nightmare, outing him as Moondog Rex and throwing him to the floor while Eddie Gilbert goes after Humperdink. Humungous heads into the ring, but here’s Barbarian to even the sides, but PLOT TWIST, Barbarian turns on Jake, and Humungous and Barbarian team up to maul Jake and leave him for dead while Eddie Gilbert gets laid out on the floor.

-We get a music video for Humungous, showing him walking through a metal shop. This would be the most badass thing ever, except for two problems. If you shoot a music video with your new badass monster heel walking through a metal shop…
#1, do it at night, not at 10:30 a.m. on a Tuesday with all of the exits open.
#2, send all of the employees either home or to a place other than where the music video is being filmed. Humungous loses all his mystique when Charlie and Gus are in plain sight in the background.

HUMUNGOUS (with Oliver Humperdink) vs. MIKE THORN
-Humungous’ mask is now stained with Jake’s blood, which is a badass effect. Chops and chokes by Humungous. Shinni no make finishes with ease.

DIRTY DUTCH MANTELL & SUPERSTAR BILL DUNDEE vs. JIMMY BACKLUND & MARK RAGIN
-It’s been a year since Ragin debuted and they still haven’t told us if he’s related to the President.

-Dundee takes Ragin down in a side headlock. Everybody tags and Dutch gets a back suplex on Backlund. Dundee gets a front facelock on Backlund, then tags Mantell back in. Repeated elbows by Dutch, and Dundee heads back in, booting Backlund and tagging Dutch back in to finish this with an MX.

“Hot Stuff” EDDIE GILBERT vs. EL CORSARIO (with Skandar Akbar)
-Corsario asks to do another board-breaking demonstration before the bell. He does an Ed Norton-style extended preparation for it, and takes forever setting it up and setting it up and setting it up, and then the payoff is he just spins around and chops Gilbert in the throat!

-Gilbert sells the hell out of it by drooling blood. Corsario applies a deadly nerve hold and won’t release it. Jobber patrol gets attacked for their efforts, but the Fantastics show up and Corsario gets out of town.

THE FANTASTICS vs. “Dr. Death” STEVE WILLIAMS & BRUISER BOB SWEETAN
-Heels try a pre-bell attack, but the Fantastics whip them into each other and clear the ring with dropkicks.

-Fulton takes down Williams with a side headlock. Bill Dundee comes to ringside to cheerlead and lend some helpful distraction, and it works, as Williams takes over and rams Fulton into the corners before slamming him down for two. Elbow misses, but Sweetan blocks the hot tag. Fulton manages to reverse an Irish whip and turn it into a flying headscissors while making a hot tag. All four men end up in the ring, and the referee gets bumped.

-Everybody but Williams gets knocked out of the ring. Rogers picks a fight with Dundee, so Dundee tries to attack him in the ring right as the referee revives. Dundee gets knocked out to the floor, but Williams uses the distraction to load his arm brace and he knocks Rogers cold for the pin. Kind of a mess, but a hot angle made it worthwhile.

7.6

The final score: review Good

The 411

Another fun and wild week!