Mid-South Wrestling
Date: November 2, 1984
Location: Irish McNeil Boys Club, Shreveport, Louisiana
Commentators: Joel Watts, Jim Ross

I took a look at the first one and had a good time so let’s do the second. This is the week after the previous show and it’s fun to get some fallout. The big stories coming out of last week are the destruction of Jim Duggan and Ricky Morton, which won’t end well. There is also a new North American Champion in the form of Ernie Ladd and that feels secondary. Let’s get to it.

Here are last week’s results if you need a recap.

This is billed as presented in the most complete form possible, which makes me think there are some music issues.

Opening sequence.

Ernie Ladd is at the commentary desk (and refers to Jim Ross as “Mr. TV Announcer”, a trademark of his) and says that Magnum TA might be younger and faster, but Ladd is older and smarter and won the title fair and square. We look at the title change, which involved Ladd choking with some tape. Back in the arena, Ladd talks about how he’s the champion because he’s that smart. Ross runs down the rest of the card, with Ladd glaring at him.

We look back at Jim Duggan’s bloody promo from last week. The more I look at him, the more impressive he is, as he looked like he got hit by a bus and bounced along the road. He blames Ted DiBiase and swears revenge before being taken away.

Steve Williams vs. Gary Cortinelli

Cortinelli is better known as the Italian Stallion. Williams runs him over to start and shouts for Duggan while pulling Cortinelli up. The bearhug goes on and Cortinelli fights out, even managing a hiptoss. Williams isn’t having that and finishes with the Oklahoma Stampede at 1:50.

Hercules Hernandez vs. Thomas Ivy

Hernandez has the masked (due to baldness) Jim Cornette in his corner and doing his entrance. Said entrance also includes a request for Skandor Akbar to handle some negotiations. On the other hand, Ivy looks like he took third in a Mr. T. lookalike contest. Ivy works on the arm to start and Hernandez kicks him down without much trouble. The big clothesline sets up a chinlock on Ivy as Cornette approves. That’s switched into a cobra clutch and Ivy is out at 2:03.

Earlier today, Skandor Akbar and Buddy Landel were in the ring, with Akbar wanting results from Landel, which he apparently promised. Landel says some people call Akbar’s money “blood money” but he wants some more of it. Akbar pulls out a gold watch and that see to be payment enough, though he wants results next week. With Landel happy, Akbar offers threats about Ted DiBiase being back. Just as Jim Duggan about it.

Buddy Landel/Butch Reed vs. Steve Brinson/Mike Jackson

Jackson grabs a headlock takeover to take Landel down before doing it again with a running shoulder. Back up and Landel grabs a rather high hiptoss but gets kicked down, allowing Brinson to come in for a headlock. Jackson comes back in for a headlock of his own but Reed gets in a knee from the apron. Landel stomps away and grabs a backdrop, followed by Reed’s middle rope fist to the head. It’s already back to Landel, who misses a knee drop but Brinson gets suplexed. The gorilla press drops Brinson and Landel begs to come back in so the corkscrew elbow can finish at 4:16.

Rating: C. Landel is someone who was around in a lot of these promotions back in the day and it’s easy to see why. When he was on, he was rather worth having around, especially if you needed Dollar Store Ric Flair. His stuff with Akbar should be interesting soon enough, especially when we find out…whatever it is that he’s doing.

Ted DiBiase vs. Master G.

Master G. is the future George Wells (well also current and past it’s his real name) and I’m guessing the edit is to his music. Skandor Akbar and Butch Reed are here with DiBiase as he and G. back each other into the corners. G. fights back and hits a big backdrop to send DiBiase outside. Back in and DiBiase goes for a piledriver but gets knocked away, only for DiBiase to go after the leg. The Figure Four is blocked though and DiBiase is kicked out to the floor. Reed offers a distraction though and DiBiase gets in the loaded punch, allowing the Figure Four to finish G. at 4:28.

Rating: C+. DiBiase and that black glove are always worth something, as it was built up for a long time and became established as a big deal. It’s good to have him back, as he instantly feels like one of the biggest stars on the show. As for G….uh yeah he’s certainly a person who is here too. He was fine enough as a warm body here, but I didn’t get much out of the four or so minutes we got from him here.

Post match DiBiase won’t let go and it’s a DQ instead. Magnum TA, Bill Dundee and Brickhouse Brown run in for the save.

Magnum TA vs. Missing Link

Skandor Akbar is here with Link, who does right to the eyes to start. Magnum knocks him outside so Link rams his own head into the steps. Back in and Magnum strikes away but gets caught with a headbutt. Link’s middle rope headbutt has Magnum in more trouble but he fights back, with Akbar getting on the apron. Link runs into him by mistake and Magnum grabs the belly to belly for the pin at 2:02. Well that was fast.

TV Title: Adrian Street vs. Bill Dundee

Street, with Miss Linda, is defending. Dundee takes him down by the legs to start and there’s the catapult into the corner, with Street being more than over the top in the crash. Street rolls away to get out of a wristlock and chops away in the corner. Some shots to the face let Street take him down again and an elbow to the jaw gets two.

Back up and Dundee gets in a hard shot to the face before sending Street crashing out to the floor. A shot to the throat takes Dundee down again but he fires off the right hands to the face. An airplane spin has the referee knocked outside so Linda comes in to count. Dundee gets distracted and Linda sprays him with perfume, allowing Street to hit a running forearm for the pin at 4:15.

Rating: B-. Street, with Linda, is another act that makes me want to see more and more every time he’s in the ring. He wasn’t exactly doing something ground breaking, but he did it so well and had the ability to back it up in the ring. This was a fun main event, as Dundee was trying to figure

Commentary previews next week’s show.

Roll credits.

Overall Rating: B-. This was more about the fallout from last week and that worked well, with Williams getting to do something and TA getting some heat back. DiBiase continues to feel like one of the biggest stars around here and that went well with Ladd’s rather good promo to start the show. I could absolutely go for more from Mid-South as it definitely lives up to the hype.

Results
Steve Williams b. Gary Cortinelli – Oklahoma Stampede
Hercules Hernandez b. Thomas Ivy – Cobra clutch
Buddy Landel/Butch Reed b. Steve Brinson/Mike Jackson – Corkscrew elbow to Brinson
Master G. b. Ted DiBiase via DQ when DiBiase would not release the Figure Four
Magnum TA b. Missing Link – Belly to belly suplex
Adrian Street b. Bill Dundee – Running forearm

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Mid-South Wrestling
Date: October 27, 1984
Location: Irish McNeil Boys Club, Shreveport, Louisiana
Commentators: Bill Watts, Boyd Pierce

Sure why not. The Vault has released some of these shows and Mid-South is a bit of a dark spot for me, especially in its heyday. While I know a good bit of its history, I haven’t actually seen a lot of it and that needs to change. We might as well check out what is available so let’s get to it.

Opening sequence. Oh sweet goodness how 80s can you get?

Commentary runs down the card and announces that Terry Taylor is going to be out of action for about a month due to an injury. Watts moves on to Jim Cornette and his tennis racket, which is just part of the wild violence around here. The promotion is going to get rid of just about everything that could, you know, KILL PEOPLE, but they’re going to let a lot of the rest go. Well that’s intense.

Steve Williams has a football helmet and is ready to face Jim Duggan (or Doogan as Watts always called him) in a football helmet match. Williams goes on a rant about how he’s going to bury Duggan in the dirt.

Duggan has his helmet on too and it’s giving him flashbacks to his gridiron days. It’s time to fight Williams again.

Skandor Akbar (as interviewed by a rather young looking Jim Ross) is looking for great weapons for his army and he has found an incredibly underrated wrestler in Buddy Landel. It’s time for Landel to deliver whatever Akbar has paid him to do which is….not specified.

Missing Link vs. Mike Jackson

Jackson is around 35 here and about ten years into what is (thus far) a fifty plus year career in the ring. Link goes nuts by ramming his own head into the corner a few times but Jackson is up with a dropkick that misses by about a foot (even Watts calls out that they didn’t connect). A headbutt puts Jackson down and another sends him out to the floor. Back in and a World’s Strongest Slam into a middle rope elbow to the back finishes Jackson at 1:23.

Jim Duggan vs. Steve Williams

This is a football helmet match…and there is no Duggan. Instead here is Ted DiBiase (returning after an absence and looking bizarre with no facial hair) with Duggan’s SMU helmet to say Duggan won’t be wrestling tonight. Apparently Duggan jumped him from behind and tried to hit him with the helmet. DiBiase avoided it though and knocked him out with one punch. Ross doesn’t seem to buy it as DiBiase’s clothes aren’t even messed up. Commentary isn’t sure about this either but there’s no match at the moment.

During the break, Duggan was found and is described as “in bad shape”.

We get an interview from last week with a masked Jim Cornette (due to getting his head shaved) saying that he was ready to take out a member of the Rock N Roll Express. His mother has sent in a check for $25,000 and all it will cost them is a Tag Team Title shot. The Rock N Roll Express can even name the stipulation so if they’re not scared, sign on the dotted line and get paid.

Butch Reed vs. Brickhouse Brown

Brown snaps off some armdrags but gets taken down with a headlock takeover. A headscissors works a bit better for Brown and it’s Watts’ chance to complain about the WWF, which was a common subject for him. Reed wins a test of strength but Brown spins out (that was snazzy) into an armbar, which has Reed fuming.

One heck of a clothesline out of the corner drops Brown and the legdrop connects as well. A neckbreaker drops Brown again but Reed pulls him up and two and sends him outside. Brown starts going after the knee and follows with a backdrop, only to miss a missile dropkick. Reed’s gorilla press and legdrop finish at 6:22.

Rating: C+. Brown had a good look and it’s easy to see why he would get more than a few chances. At the same time though, Reed felt like a star and had the look to go with it, which is why he was such a star for so long. This was a fun match and Brown got to show off a bit, which has me wanting to see more of him.

Jim Duggan has crawled into the arena and he is a bloody mess. He talks about how he went down to get his bag out of his car and three or four guys jumped him. Someone hit him with a slapjack though and he went down. The only face he saw was Ted DiBiase, who beat him with the slap jack. He said he’d be here though and stand up for everything (technically he’s not standing at the moment but close enough) but he can’t keep going and has to be helped out. Heck of a promo from Duggan here, who was a totally different star outside of the WWF. He looked like he was near death here and it was rather outstanding.

Post break, Watts praises Duggan for getting through all of that. Duggan is going to the hospital.

North American Title: Magnum TA vs. Ernie Ladd

Magnum is defending. Ladd runs him over with the size and power to start but gets knocked out to the floor. Magnum is back in with a front facelock but a forearm cuts that off rather quickly. Back up and Magnum strikes away and hits a backdrop (eventually), followed by a middle rope dropkick. The referee gets bumped though and Magnum’s elbow drop gets a delayed two.

Another shot knocks the referee outside and Ladd chokes Magnum down with some tape as another referee comes out to check on the first one. The second referee comes in and Ladd picks Magnum up but falls backwards to give Magnum two. Watts explains that Ladd is trying to fool the referee into thinking that Magnum is still fighting (if that’s what they were going for, that’s brilliant) and Ladd finishes with a double legdrop at 5:29.

Rating: B-. The more I see of Ladd, the more I wish I could see even more. He knew how to be a big man in wrestling, which is a hard thing to make work. The good thing is that we should be seeing something else from him going forward as you know, he won the title and all that such. The faking out the referee at the end was great and added a layer of realism that you don’t often see. It’s not a great match but I liked it well enough.

Here are the Rock N Roll Express to answer Jim Cornette’s challenge. Ricky Morton is sick of Cornette interfering and busts out a straitjacket, which is how they’re going to cut Cornette off in the title match. For some reason Morton puts Robert Gibson in the straitjacket and ties it up (oh dear) and, because Morton has apparently never watched wrestling, or had a functioning brain before, here is the Midnight Express to jump them.

The huge beatdown ensues with Cornette getting in some shots of his own and….yeah the Rock N Roll deserved all of that. How stupid can you…oh yeah it’s Morton. A bunch of good guys make the save. That was another level of stupid from Morton, who might not have been the brightest guy in the world but….how can you be this dumb?

Ted DiBiase vs. Johnny Mantell

DiBiase (with Skandor Akbar) starts fast and hammers away, including a running shot in the corner. Mantell fights back and strikes away, including a monkey flip out of the corner but a second is blocked. The falling fish (with the black glove) sets up the Figure Four to make Mantell give up at 1:28.

Post match DiBiase says he’s ready for Master G. next week. G. has some kind of special hold but DiBiase has the Figure Four.

Watts is distraught at what has happened this week and recaps the show.

Roll credits.

Overall Rating: B. There’s a reason that classic Mid-South is nothing short of beloved and you could see it here. I pretty much jumped into this cold and felt like I got every story that was going on with nothing leaving me unsure or confused. The action was good, but the point here is the whole atmosphere, as it feels like an exciting show with people moving around and getting into issues. That Duggan promo was a heck of a sight and I want to see where this is going. This lived up to the expectations and I’ll absolutely take that.

Results
Missing Link b. Mike Jackson – Middle rope elbow to the back
Butch Reed b. Brickhouse Brown – Legdrop
Ernie Ladd b. Magnum TA – Double legdrop
Ted DiBiase b. Johnny Mantell – Figure Four

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Monday Night Raw
Date: December 18, 1995
Location: Bob Carpenter Center, Newark, Delaware
Commentators: Vince McMahon, Jerry Lawler

We’re FINALLY past the nightmare that was the December taping cycle and In Your House V. Bret Hart retained the WWF World Title (shocking I know) and Undertaker beat Mabel in the casket match (shocking again) and that’s about it for anything of note from that pay per view. Tonight we have Razor Ramon vs. Yokozuna for Razor’s Intercontinental Title. Let’s get to it.

We open with a recap of last night, including Diesel and Undertaker staring each other down to plant seeds for Wrestlemania.

Opening sequence.

Jeff Jarrett vs. Fatu

This is Jarrett’s return after a long absence. Fatu dances a lot and makes a difference by atomic dropping Jarrett out to the floor. Back in and a shot to the head has no effect on Fatu but Jeff sends him throat first into the ropes for the running crotch attack to the back of the head. Jarrett rams him into the steps and actually has some success as we go to a break. Jeff slowly beats on Fatu but dives into a punch to the ribs. Fatu hits a powerslam and corner clothesline for two until he crashes down and holds his shoulder. It’s time for the Figure Four but Ahmed Johnson comes in to jump Jarrett for the DQ.

Rating: D. It’s not a good sign when Jeff Jarrett’s big return match is put in the perfect kind of spot for him and the match wound up being this bad. Jarrett just isn’t interesting in the ring and he’s not interesting on the mic either. Other than that he’s just fine though. That ending seemed to be improvised though as Fatu looked hurt off the crash landing.

Ahmed beats Jarrett up and helps Fatu to the back.

Gorilla Monsoon says Diesel can get over Undertaker being named #1 contender. As for the Royal Rumble, Jeff Jarrett won’t be in the Rumble itself because he’ll be facing Ahmed Johnson.

The graphic for Razor vs. Yokozuna is really weird as Razor is in the middle and Yokozuna is off to the side with most of his left arm cut off.

Goldust wants to sleep with Razor Ramon.

We see a clip from last night with Diesel getting in Undertaker’s face about Undertaker being #1 contender.

Buddy Landel vs. Bob Holly

Landel is a Ric Flair knockoff/ripoff/tribute character and even had Flair’s 1992 theme music here. Holly armdrags him down to start but Landel takes it back to 1985 with every Flair move you can think of, even down to his mannerisms. Buddy keeps it on the mat and starts working on the leg before getting two off a backdrop. We FINALLY get to the comeback with Holly hitting right hands and a clothesline but he misses a dropkick, allowing Buddy to drop a jumping elbow for the pin.

Rating: F. I sat through almost seven minutes of these two boring the fans to death and the best I can get is an ELBOW DROP? They had no idea what to do to counter Nitro at this point and if the best they can do is back to back old school Tennessee style matches like they’ve spent the first half of this show airing, they deserve to get squashed.

To make it even better, it’s the Brother Love Show with Ted DiBiase. The topic tonight: DiBiase having his answer to Santa Claus with Xanta Klaus, who lives at the South Pole and steals presents from kids. Now he’s going to steal victory after victory (oh dear) because 1996 is going to be the year of the Million Dollar Team and the Million Dollar Champion.

Raw Bowl ad. Did they really think this was some brilliant idea?

Intercontinental Title: Razor Ramon vs. Yokozuna

Razor is defending and here’s Goldust to watch from ringside. The champ quickly knocks Yokozuna out to the floor to start and we look at Goldust during the lull. Back in and Razor hammers away with everything he’s got before having to avoid a sitdown splash. Yokozuna takes him down with ease and grabs the nerve hold because he already needs a break.

Razor gets up because it’s just a fat man nerve hold and hits some clotheslines. Back from a break with Razor having to fight out of another nerve hold. Razor fights up, stops a charge in the corner and hits the middle rope bulldog……as Undertaker comes out with a casket. Yokozuna panics and runs away because THESE TWO HAVE TO FEUD FOREVER.

Rating: D. Match of the night here until the horrible ending. Was anyone asking for another casket match between Undertaker and Yokozuna? Like, wasn’t the Undertaker’s spirit rising out of the casket and then Chuck Norris enough for us? Thankfully this didn’t go anywhere of note and Undertaker would move on to the main event and then his much better feuds in 1996.

Razor is actually flattered that Goldust likes him but he’s just into women.

And to wrap it up, Tell Me A Lie, a video tribute to Shawn Michaels who might never return.

Overall Rating: F. That might be the worst episode of Raw that I’ve ever seen. The first half of the show is spent on Jeff Jarrett and Buddy Landel, neither of whom could keep the fans awake let alone interested. After that we have an Intercontinental Title match with Razor bouncing off Yokozuna before Undertaker comes out for really not much of a reason.

I mean, there was the face crushing last month but Undertaker is getting a title shot at the Royal Rumble and is pretty clearly about to fight Diesel soon after that. Why do I need to see him with Yokozuna? Absolutely horrible show here with almost no effort, nothing interesting, and now I have Tell Me A Lie stuck in my head. Thanks Raw, for irritating me this badly.

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Landel was an interesting case as he was a self proclaimed Ric Flair tribute wrestler, down to the same look (plus about 50lbs), style, robes and finishing move.  However, he had a lot of drug issues over the years which stopped his pushes several times.  He was talented enough to be a solid midcard guy though and had some solid matches and runs back in the 80s.

Early word says that it was a car accident which Landel came home from, but was later found unresponsive.