wrestling / Video Reviews
The Name on the Marquee: Mid-South Wrestling (7.3.1982)
Image Credit: WWE
Loading...-Originally aired July 3, 1982.
-Your hosts are Boyd Pierce and Bill Watts. Watts is funny, marveling at how crazy incidents just always seem to happen RIGHT when Mid-South is getting ready to do a big event at the Superdome, and it’s probably because the pressure causes the wrestlers to act out.
JESSE BARR & IRON MIKE SHARPE vs. JEFF SWORD & DOUG VINES
-Sword and Vines are wearing black hooded robes, apparently planning to win this match by giving themselves +5 dexterity and +7 constitution. I’m guessing they really have those to try to get their Devil’s Duo persona off the ground, but Watts wasn’t feeling it. Jesse Barr works the arm and Sword & Vines try a bit of cheating that I’ve never seen before, as they’re just SLIGHTLY too far apart for a tag, but they both make the motions with their arms to try to trick the referee into thinking they tagged.
-Vines works the shoulder and the jobbers switch off in quick succession to work over Barr, which impresses Bill Watts. Barr reverses a suplex and tags in Iron Mike, who finishes this one with the body vice.
-We go back a few weeks ago, when Ted DiBiase cut a promo responding to Bob Roop’s accusations of cheating, insisting that he would NEVER use his glove as a weapon to get a victory. And then he won the North American Title from his best friend, Junkyard Dog, by doing exactly that.
-Ted DiBiase’s magnificent retort: He didn’t use his glove as a weapon…and even if he did, it was a no-DQ match.
TED DIBIASE (North American Champion) vs. TOM JONES
-DiBiase gets about a 50/50 reaction, owing to the show pre-taping and DiBiase being so subtle with the cheating on the last episode that a number of fans didn’t really GET how he won the match.
-DiBiase armdrags Jones and applies an armbar, but Jones dodges a dropkick and slams him for two. Jones goes to a headlock, and DiBiase gets aggressive, ramming Jones against the ropes and just going off on him with rapid fire punches. Jones punches back and knocks DiBiase silly with headbutts, but DiBiase digs into his tights again, loads up the glove, knocks Jones out, and finishes him with a piledriver. DiBiase shoots the crowd a nasty look after the bell and NOW they take the hint.
JUNKYARD DOG (Louisiana Champion) vs. BOB ROOP
-So apparently because JYD lost the North American Title so fast, Mid-South is letting him keep the Louisiana Title that he announced he was surrendering last week. JYD is in a horrible mood and just kicks the shit out of Roop with punches and headbutts, and the Thump finishes in no time, as Roop just got NOTHING here and JYD has murder on his mind.
MISSISSIPPI TITLE: MR. OLYMPIA (Champion) vs. THE GRAPPLER
-Side headlock from Olympia, and he just flies all over the ring while holding onto it to disorient The Grappler before taking him down to the mat with it. Olympia hits the ropes and charges, but Grappler catches him in a press and faceplants him. Grappler stays on him and starts going for the mask, and Olympia gets fired up and fires back. Note from Bill Watts: in the official rules of wrestling, “masks are the same as hair,” so it’s illegal to pull on it. Grappler loads the boot, but Olympia dodges it and applies a sleeper. Grappler starts to fight out, so Olympia just lets go of him, which causes Grappler to crash into the corner, and Olympia simply rolls him up, gets the pin, and retains the title, nice and clean. Good little match.
ERNIE LADD vs. KILLER KHAN (with Skandar Akbar)
-Ladd connects with a hard chop that makes the crowd go “ooooo.” Khan fights back with kicks and gouging. Ladd decides to get down and dirty and chokes out Khan. Boot to the face wipes out Khan AND the referee, which brings Akbar onto the apron with a chair, and he holds in place for Khan to whip Ladd into, but you guessed it, Ladd reverses the Irish whip and Khan crashes. Ladd gives Akbar an ass-kicking until Khan recovers, gets his hands on the chair, and takes Ladd out with it, and a knee off the second rope gets the win for Khan. Match was short and fine. (I imagine Ladd couldn’t deliver “long and fine” at this stage anyway.)
BUCK ROBLEY vs. HANGMAN HARRIS
-Robley works the leg and they stick with straight mat wrestling until Harris has had enough and starts targeting the arm. And the finish of this is incredibly obnoxious, as Robley is wearing an Iron Mike-style forearm brace and he loads it with something and knocks Harris out with it to get the three-count, which Watts praises as some sort of brilliant strategy by Robley. “He’s been known to do what he has to do!” The first 20 minutes of the show this week was “DiBiase’s a bastard” and there’s zero difference here!
HACKSAW JIM DUGGAN vs. FRANK MONTE
-For shiggles we finish the hour with a squash match from Southwest Championship Wrestling in San Antonio. Shoulderbreaker by Duggan gets two. He switches to a neck vice. Monte gets free and goes to the second rope for a bodypress, but Duggan catches him and just runs from corner to corner, ramming Monte into each one, and giving him a backbreaker to end it.
