The Name on the Marquee: Mid-South Wrestling (12.5.1981)

-All right, I promised I would get to this…

-I’m actually starting my reviews just slightly before the earliest episode uploaded by WWE Network, so I’ll get that out of the way and then move onto the Network content. And now off to the Irish McNeil Boy’s Club we go!

-Originally aired December 5, 1981.

-This is episode #MS-117, according to the slate graphic.

-Your hosts are Boyd Pierce & Bob Roop. For the uninitiated, Boyd Pierce is a milquetoast older man who dresses like Craig Sager. And Mid-South has quite a revolving door of people sitting in for color from week to week. This week, it’s Bob Roop, a pompous ass who’s happy to lend his expert knowledge.

BOB ROOP vs. BUDDY LANDELL
-This is a “pre-taped match” obviously. Funny to see Landell at the very start of his career. Jet black hair, but even as a jobber, he has some pizzazz to his wardrobe.

-Series of lock-ups go nowhere, as “superior athlete” Roop can’t get any hold applied on Landell, so finally he just belts Landell across the chops and suplexes him. High knee by Roop and he goes for a one-handed pin, but then decides that Buddy is still too alive for his tastes and does a shoulderbreaker to finish. I like Roop’s look here, as he’s decked out in super-patriotic stars & stripes tights, but he’s such a douchebag that he still gets heat.

PAUL ORNDORFF vs. TONY CHARLES
-Orndorff’s not even wonderful yet, so this is really early in his career. Charles is “the man of a thousand holds” according to Pierce. Orndorff attempts a monkeyflip but Charles grabs his foot on the way down for a nice counter to work the leg. Roop does some fun down-talking on commentary (“for those who don’t know what that means”) and Boyd invites us to write in for the Dream Match contest. Write in with literally any match you want to see on Mid-South Wrestling, and on January 6, Mid-South will go through the postcards and look for requests for the same matches, and the most requested match will be booked for television. You can request any wrestlers currently in Mid-South, and “Andre the Giant and Dusty Rhodes are available too.”

-Orndorff misses a corner charge and Charles begins targeting his arm. Orndorff stops it by propelling him out to the floor, but Charles does a spot I’ve always liked, slingshotting back into the ring and hitting a dropkick as he enters. They criss-cross and Charles convincingly stumbles over Orndorff and tumbles out to the concrete, and Orndorff suplexes him back in for the three-count. That was an example of move #734, counting the lights.

TED DIBIASE (North American Champion) vs. ED WISKOWSKI
-Bob Roop reminds us that he HAS to stay at the commentary table, otherwise he’d go right to the ring and slap Ted DiBiase. Wiskowski, who bought his tights at the same sale Bob Roop went to, goes to a side headlock while Roop sings his praises as a “heady wrestler.” I hear those kinds of wrestlers are chock full of heady goodness. DiBiase escapes with a forearm to the stomach (“a foul,” according to Roop) but Wiskowski goes back to the side headlock. DiBiase drops a knee, which Roop considers illegal due to the bony surface of DiBiase’s leg giving it extra potency, and DiBiase works the arm.

-Wiskowski comes back with a cradle suplex. DiBiase kicks back and lights into Wiskowski with punches and forearms, and Roop goes on a great Jesse Ventura tangant about fans cheering for DiBiase in the wake of all these closed fists. Powerslam looks to finish, but DiBiase goes for a stepover instead. Wiskowski goes t the second rope with a bodypress, but DiBiase rolls through and pins Wiskowski. I love the Mid-South squashes so far. Everybody gets a little bit of a shine, which makes the match more interesting and it makes the stars look even bigger for being able to defeat guys who look like actual competitors.

MISSISSIPPI TITLE: BOB ORTON JR. (Champion) vs. JIM GARVIN
-Young Mr. Garvin still hasn’t quite learned all the secrets of immaculate hair care at this stage of his career. They trade arm stuff and Garvin begins tossing him around the ring, keeping him on the mat with a side headlock. Orton takes over as Pierce has completely checked out on commentary and his just letting Roop go full twatwaffle with his analysis of the bout. Garvin goes for a bulldog, but Orton turns it into a back suplex and follows with a forearm off the second rope. Piledriver by Orton gets three to retain. This was okay, the real takeaway from it is Roop should have had more of a career on commentary.

JUNKYARD DOG vs TERRY ORNDORFF
-Paul’s younger brother has promised to leave Mid-South if he loses. Before the bout, he whips out his “lucky mask” and decides to wear it for this match. JYD comes to the ring and says he’s no full and he’s not wrestling this match until the referee inspects the match. Referee does a thorough inspection but can’t find anything. So wild seeing how ripped the Dog is at the height of his career.

-They slug it out and Orndorff whips JYD into the turnbuckle. JYD fights back with headbutts . JYD tangles Orndorff in the ropes and starts to pull the mask off, but the referee makes him back off as Paul Orndorff comes to the ring and passes a weapon to his brother. JYD gets into a brawl with Paul and goes for the pin, with the referee inexplicably counting the pin, but thankfully Paul counts out before the stupidest possible finish can happen. JYD turns around and headbutts Terry Orndorff, but now he knocks himself out, and as he’s tumbling backward, he accidentally knocks the referee out of the ring for good measure.

-But wait, there’s more. Terry Orndorff disappears under the ring and a few seconds later, Bob Orton comes out the other side wearing Orndorff’s mask. JYD recognizes Orton and throws him over the top rope to get rid of the illegal man, but the referee revives and all he sees is JYD throwing a masked man over the top rope, so he assumes it’s Orndorff and DQ’s JYD. Whew, did you get all that?

IRON SHEIK (with General Skandar Akbar) vs. KING COBRA
-Cobra apparently got a fluke win over Sheik last week, so Sheik takes no chances, attacking him from behind and just hammering him mercilessly. Cobra fights back with a headbutt and whiffs on an attempted flying headscissors, which kind of takes the wind out of the crowd. Series of dropkicks sends Sheik out to the floor. Funny spot as Cobra tries to slam Sheik back into the ring but the pointy boots get hooked on the top rope. Sheik starts throwing questionable kicks, and a kneedrop gets three.

BRIAN BLAIR & FRANK MONTE vs. JERRY NOVAK & THE MAN KNOWN ONLY AS THE MONK
-The Monk ends up on the mat as Bob Roop tells us about how the figure four will soon be obsolete because he and Paul Orndorff discovered a counter for it during a workout session, and they’ll reveal it publicly soon and destroy Ted DiBiase’s career with what they now know.

-Blair and Novak criss-cross and Blair elbows him down for two. Monte, who’s so full of juice they should have called him Del Monte, throws elbows at The Monk for two. They continue fighting it out until we just plain run out of time, and the bell sounds to declare that “television time remaining” has indeed elapsed and we end the show without a winner. I like that a whole hell of a lot more than keeping the match going and then never ever mentioning it again or telling us the finish the following week.

6.0

The final score: review Average

The 411

This was the lowest of low-frills pro wrestling shows, as we went a full hour without a promo, a "last week we saw" clip...just straight up wrestling. I liked the wild booking in the JYD/Orndorff matches, and Bob Roop's commentary was the high point of the hour, which is fine because it lasted nearly the entire hour.