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The Name on the Marquee: Mid-South Wrestling (12.30.1981)

July 15, 2018 | Posted by Adam Nedeff
Mid-South Wrestling Image Credit: WWE/Peacock
7.3
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The Name on the Marquee: Mid-South Wrestling (12.30.1981)  

-Originally something on December 30, 1981.

-Your host is Bill Watts. This week is a year-in-review special.

-1981 was the year of the Dog, and the best year of Ted DiBiase’s career.

-We go to Jackson, Mississippi on October 15, as the Wild Samoans defend the Tag Team Title against JYD and Mike George. Ernie Ladd, “fearsome wrestler and a known chess champion,” is managing the Samoans due to getting suspended from being an active wrestler earlier in the year due to shenanigans. Watts says that we’re joining this bout at about the 30-minute mark, which I’m calling “bullshit” on so loudly Watts should be able to hear me in 1981. Samoans end up losing the belts in exactly the same finish that would cost them the WWF Tag Team Titles two years later.

-Samoans got suspended a few weeks later for assaulting a referee, but the suspension ends after the new year.

-Next we go to JYD and Mike George battling the Orndorff brothers. Terry is forced to wear a mask as a result of losing a match a few weeks ago, but the Orndorffs found an advantage to it and Terry now loads his mask with weapons, and JYD is knocked silly by a noggin knocker. Ernie Ladd ambles on down to ringside to tend to Terry while Paul pounds away at JYD. They collide on a double shoulderblock and boh men tag. George attacks Terry but gets tripped by Ernie Ladd. Terry capitalizes with a piledriver and pins George right away for the win. Commentators suspect from the quality of the piledriver that the Orndorffs are collaborating with Bob Orton, Jr. I love how intricate this booking is!

-Next, we go to JYD and Mike George doing battle with what are supposed to be the Orndorff brothers in a rematch, but Terry “no-shows” and Paul, fearful that he’ll be suspended if he welches from a signed match, brings out Bob Roop has a sub. Pier sixer breaks out and Terry Orndorff comes to ringside in his yellow mask and attacks the Dog. He attempts a piledriver, but JYD backdrops out and rips the mask off to reveal it’s actually Bob Orton. Referee calls for the bell, and the brawl continues with Orton now involved as a fifth man. JYD gets a beatdown, and they stick the yellow mask on him as “the ultimate humiliation.” It’s a mask, dude. Ted DiBiase comes to the rescue and the heels take off.

-We flash back to Gary Hart introducing the world to Kabuki, a mercenary. If Dusty Rhodes even has a dream that he defeats Kabuki, he’d better look himself in the mirror the next morning and apologize for the false hope.

-We go to a promo from Dusty Rhodes, who clearly LOVED “Apocalypse Now” and has his face painted for war. And in case we don’t get the point, Dusty made it a point to write “War” in magic marker on his headband. Kabuki is only an errand boy for Gary Hart. It’s a killer promo, in fairness to the Dream. Kabuki has since lost the Louisiana title to JYD, which Bill Watts attributes to Kabuki being just plain worn out from all of his battles around the horn with Dusty Rhodes.

-We go back to Jackson on October 15th. This “year in review” seems pretty heavy on the past three months. Ted DiBiase is challenging Paul Orndorff for the North American Title, and we get an interesting shout-out from Bill Watts, who mentions that Eric Solie, son of Gordon, is the staffer who edits the house show highlights. Orndorff gets trapped in the unbreakable figure four until Ted DiBiase’s ex-partner Bob Roop runs in and assaults DiBiase, costing him the title. DiBiase went on to win the belt on November 1 with a figure four.

-Next, TV matches from the past month: Ted DiBiase defeats Ed Wiskowski, and Wiskowski avenges the loss a week later by beating Jim Garvin.

-We take a look at Orndorff’s discovery of the counter for the figure four.

-Bob ends the show with a weird soap opera-style signoff, asking lots of questions about WHAT WILL HAPPEN on next week’s episode?

7.3
The final score: review Good
The 411
Bill Watts and I have very different definitions of a year, but just for the crazily detailed angles and the good action in the highlights, it's worth watching.
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Mid-South Wrestling, Adam Nedeff