The Name on the Marquee: Mid-South Wrestling (5.8.1982)

-Originally aired May 8, 1981.

-Your hosts are Boyd Pierce and Ted DiBiase. DiBiase says his injured leg is feeling better.

-We re-visit Murdoch/Duggan from last week. It just proves you can be a star in the NFL but that doesn’t mean you can be a star in the wrestling ring! Duggan has a long way to go.

“Captain Redneck” DICK MURDOCH vs. LARRY HIGGENS
-Murdoch enters to the Marine Hymn now. He takes Higgens down in a waistlock and uses a nice headlock combo to get a series of two-counts. An elbow, dubbed “big Bertha” by Mr. DiBiase, gets three.

BOB ROOP (North American Champion) vs. BUDDY LANDELL
-Roop gets Landell on the mat and they trade holds. Pierce and DiBiase have no chemistry on commentary and we’re getting these really long stretches of total silence from them throughout the match. Roop works the arm and dedicates the hold to DiBiase. Landell turns an attempted backdrop into a sunset flip for two. He slams Roop a few times and drops an elbow for two. He tries for a roll-up off the ropes, but catches his throat on the top rope, and Roop connects with a high knee for the win. Not bad.

MR. OLYMPIA (Mississippi Champion) vs. KELLY WAYNE
-Wayne looks like Peter Doherty but with a much better hair care regimen. Slam sends Wayne out to the floor as I’m noticing Boyd’s weird passive attitude toward Ted DiBiase. He never acknowledges anything DiBiase says. DiBiase will say something and Boyd will just move on to a completely unrelated thought without saying “That’s right, Ted,” or something. The show is playing out like DiBiase is a ghost who doesn’t know he’s dead yet or something. Olympia drops some rapid fire elbows and clamps on a sleeper to get the victory.

ERNIE LADD & IRON MIKE SHARPE vs. ONE MAN GANG & THE ASSASSIN (with Skandar Akbar)
-Hellzapoppin’ right away and the heels retreat. They head back in and the brawl just continues. Ernie knocks Gang out to the floor with one hard chop while Sharpe applies a bearhug on the Assassin. Ladd tags in and gives him a boot to the face. Ladd lifts Assassin in the air and chokes him out in a damn impressive show of strength. Assassin tags Gang in and Ladd puts Gang in a bearhug. Referee gets distracted while Assassin breaks the hold. Ladd discovers he can’t snapmare Gang so he rams him in the corner instead. Ladd just keeps hammering him and Gang falls on the mat.

-Gang gets out of there and now Assassin takes an ass-kicking and I am genuinely impressed by the bumps Assassin is taking. A four-man brawl breaks out and the heels tease reinjuring Ladd’s leg, and DiBiase can’t bring himself to stay idly by at the commentary table so he runs in to break it up, getting Ladd disqualified but saving his leg. There was some GOOD chemistry on display in this match and I was surprised at how entertaining it was.

-After the commercial, Boyd is all alone at the commentary table, and Bob Roop comes storming over in a rage and demands Ted DiBiase be fined $2500 for abandoning the commentary table BECAUSE THAT WAS THE FINE THAT DUSTY RHODES WAS CHARGED FOR THE SAME OFFENSE! Continuity baby! Don’t you love it?! Anyway, Bob Roop offers his services as commentator for the remainder of the TV hour and Pierce says he’s welcome to stay as long as he calls the matches instead of using commentary as a tool for self-promotion.

LOUISIANA TITLE: JUNKYARD DOG (Champion) vs. BOB SWEETAN
-JYD hiptosses and slams Sweetan, and Sweetan slides out to the floor for a break. Punches and headbutts by the Dog. Front facelock by Sweetan neutralizes JYD and gets him on the mat. Dog fights back and sends him to the floor and they fight it out on the apron. Sweetan heads to the top rope, but JYD catches him coming off and Thumps him to get the win out of nowhere. Okay, on the one hand, cool, a clean finish to retain a title in a feature bout. On the other, this just screamed “angle” and it ended when it felt like it was building to something.

RICK FERRARA vs. RON CHEATHAM
-Ferrara gets Cheatham down on the mat for a side headlock. CHeatham fights out and dropkicks Ferrara. Boyd and Bob Roop talk about how lucky we are to have a standby match of this caliber, because Mid-South Wrestling standby matches are better than the main events on other wrestling promotions’ TV shows. They say stuff like this ALL THE TIME on Mid-South, who was Bill Watts firing shots at in 1982? Ferrara cradles Cheatham for three out of nowhere. Nothing special here.

-Boyd declares that he’s pretty well sick of Roop at this point so he’s going to the locker room to get Ted DiBiase to come back for the final match.

-Ted DiBiase apologizes for the infraction and agrees to pay the fine, but he admits that seeing the guys who injured him try to injure Ernie Ladd hit too close to home.

THE GRAPPLER & HACKSAW JIM DUGGAN vs. COCO SAMOA & JESSE BARR
-So Duggan is suddenly on his own after being managed by Skandar Akbar last week.

-Grappler gets monkeyflipped by Samoa to start off. Barr works his arm over, but Duggan tags in and just starts laying a beatdown. All four men brawl in the ring right as TV time runs out, which means Duggan’s second match is a draw. Damn, Duggan’s off to a slow start so far.

5.8

The final score: review Not So Good

The 411

Mediocre week this go-around, as everything beyond the tag team match just kind of laid there.