HIDDEN GEM: Partial Mid-South House Show – November 11, 1985: I Get It

Mid-South House Show
Date: November 11, 1985
Location: Municipal Auditorium, New Orleans, Louisiana

This is part of a house show, which is certainly a lot more than you can get most of the time. Mid-South has an awesome reputation for some fired up crowds and while this is past their peak as a promotion, they still have quite a few stars and a rabid fan base so this could be good. I’m not sure what to expect here and the lack of commentary could make things confusing. Let’s get to it.

Bruise Brothers vs. El Corsario/Steve Williams

The Brothers are Mad Dog Boyd/Pork Chop Cash and Corsario is a 21 year old Savio Vega in a mask. It’s a brawl to start with the Brothers starting very fast and knocking Williams outside. Corsario is sent into the corner and a splash finishes him off at 49 seconds. Well that woke the fans up.

Lord Humongous vs. Jake Roberts

Humongous is a masked man (and not played by Sid Vicious this time) with Oliver Humperdink (Jake’s big annoyance at the moment) in his corner. Humongous shoves him into the corner to start and Jake isn’t sure what to do here. Jake hammers away but gets slammed down, only to avoid an elbow. The threat of mask removal sends Humongous bailing out to the floor and then they do the same thing again.

Back in again and Jake hammers away but a reversed whip lets Humongous hit a hard clothesline. Posing ensues and Jake gets caught in a bearhug to keep him in trouble. With that broken up, Humongous goes after Jake’s back with some knee drops and headbutts before cranking on both arms at once.

We hit the bearhug again but Humongous lets it go and misses a legdrop. Jake’s atomic drop gives us a double knockdown and a VERY big crowd reaction), followed by a hard running clothesline to drop Humongous. Humperdink breaks up the count though and the chase is on, allowing Humongous to grab a cobra clutch to knock Jake out at 10:50.

Rating: C. This felt like another step in a long story between Jake and Humperdink and that is going to work well enough. Humongous felt like a mercenary and he did well enough in the role, as he felt like a combination of a slasher movie monster and a decent power wrestler. Also, the ending was a good win for Humperdink over Jake, as there is something about seeing someone get choked out.

Post match Jake is out so Humperdink drops an elbow on him and counts his own three.

Tag Team Titles: Eddie Gilbert/Nightmare vs. Al Perez/Wendell Cooley

Gilbert and the Nightmare (Moondog Rex/the original Demolition Smash) are challenging and have Oliver Humperdink in their corner. Perez and Nightmare start off to limited avail so it’s time to stare at each other for a bit. Perez’s top wristlock doesn’t work either so the staredown is on again. This time they’re a little hesitant about a test of strength so it’s off to Gilbert to shoulder Perez down. A dropkick sets up an armbar on Gilbert though and Perez adds in some knees to the shoulder.

Cooley comes in for an armbar, an armdrag and another armbar (make your own Chris Jericho joke) before handing it back to Perez to stay on the arm. Perez and Cooley draw Nightmare in and change without a tag, much to the fans’ delight. It works so well that they do it again, followed by Cooley dropping a leg on the arm. An armdrag lets Perez come back in for a kneedrop onto the arm and the cranking continues. To mix it up a bit, Perez and Cooley crank on both arms at the same time.

Gilbert finally gets up and brings in Nightmare, who misses an elbow and gets sunset flipped for two. It’s already back to Gilbert, who misses a charge into the post to make the arm even worse. That means another armbar and then some hiptosses to both Gilbert and Nightmare. The villains finally get it together as Nightmare grabs Gilbert to avoid a dropkick, meaning it’s time to beat on Cooley. Gilbert’s arm is fine enough for some elbows and a stomach claw.

Nightmare grabs a reverse chinlock and it’s right back to Gilbert for a middle rope ax handle. Another chinlock, this time with a knee in the back, keeps Cooley in trouble and a clothesline cuts him down again. Gilberto chokes on the rope and Nightmare hits a belly to back suplex for two. Back up and the classic double collision evens things out all over again, proving that Cooley’s head is far harder than Nightmare’s.

The hot tag brings in Perez to clean house as everything breaks down, with Cooley being knocked to the floor. Perez immediately goes to check on him as Cooley is holding his head and not getting up. For some reason Perez throws him back in and Gilbert is right there with the strutting. Perez comes in to break up a double suplex but Gilbert hits a hot shot to finish Cooley for the titles at 25:59.

Rating: B-. This got a lot of time and wound up working rather well as they went with the formula, which a Mid-South crowd is always going to eat up. Perez and Cooley worked well enough for a face team (the matching tights always help) and Humperdink seems to be enough of an evil force to make a middle of the road team into more of a threat. Good match here, and it doesn’t feel anywhere close to almost half an hour.

North American Title: Butch Reed vs. Dick Slater

Slater, with Dark Journey, is challenging for the promotion’s top title. We’re joined in progress with Slater hitting a belly to back suplex and cranking on the leg. Reed fights up and slugs away but can’t follow up because of the knee. More slugging away puts Slater down but he’s right back up with a sleeper. Reed gets close to the rope so Slater slams him down before he can make it (that’s rather clever). The Figure Goes onto Reed’s bad leg until he manages to turn it over, as you might have expected.

The referee gets bumped, though Slater puts on a spinning toehold anyway. That’s reversed into a small package for no count but here’s another referee to count Slater’s cover on Reed, even with his feet on the ropes. Hold on though as some unnamed wrestler comes up to say what happened and it seems we’re continuing. Reed gives chase and hammers away back inside before taking Slater outside for a whip into the barricade. The referee throws it out in there somewhere, with Reed retaining via DQ at about 9:30 shown.

Rating: C+. It was certainly energetic while it lasted and Reed is someone who impresses me more and more every time I see him on his own. Reed was a heck of a power guy and he was showing a lot of fire and charisma here. I know he is best remembered as a tag guy with Ron Simmons in Doom but this was working well.

Jim Duggan vs. Buzz Sawyer

No DQ and Duggan jumps him before the bell to start. Sawyer is knocked to the floor in a hurry but comes back in to quickly lose a slugout (Who brawls with Duggan?). This time he is knocked outside, where Duggan hammers away even more. Duggan sends him face first (and hard) into the barricade, then swears at Sawyer and does it again.

Sawyer is busted open (shocking) and Duggan hammers away in the corner. The time out request is denied and Duggan throws him over the top but Sawyer comes back in with a low blow. A ram into the barricade sends Duggan over and Sawyer sends him into the steel a second time. Duggan avoids having a table dropped on him but gets sent into the barricade for a third time in a row.

Back in and Duggan swears some more before blasting Sawyer with a clothesline. Sawyer hits his own clothesline though and they’re both down for a needed breather. Duggan returns the low blow and a three point shoulder puts Sawyer out on the floor….where he takes the countout at 11:48, because now we have countouts.

Rating: B. This was a red hot brawl and a great example of everything that Duggan could do in this place. Duggan is best known as being the goofy patriot and that worked out well, but he was AWESOME as the bar fighting brawler, which he got to showcase far better in Mid-South. Sawyer was kind of a horrible human but he could do this kind of thing very well. Heck of a match and I could have gone for a lot more.

Post match Sawyer charges back in to choke away but a piledriver is countered with a backdrop. The bell ringer loses his mind as the brawl continues, drawing out a bunch of other wrestlers to pull them apart. They’re finally separated but Sawyer smacks Duggan in the face to set it off again. The wrestlers get them apart and we see Sawyer having to be held in the back.

Cue Duggan and the brawl starts again backstage, with Duggan swearing rather loudly and Sawyer screaming at him but not being able to stand. This was a GREAT angle and I want to see these two tear each other apart. That’s where Mid-South shined and it was on full display here.

Overall Rating: B-. The main event helped a lot and while it would have been a good bit better with the rest of the show included, this was another fun show and makes me wonder how great Mid-South could have been had they not fallen apart due to circumstances outside of their control. This had a great mixture of styles and an awesome main event on top of everything else. Good stuff here and it makes me want to see a lot more from Mid-South, especially in their better days.

 

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and head over to my Amazon author page with 30 different cheap wrestling books at:

http://www.amazon.com/Thomas-Hall/e/B00E6282W6

AND

Remember to check out Wrestlingrumors.net for all of your wrestling headline needs.




UWF Championship Wrestling – October 25, 1986: Fantastic(s) Is Right

Universal Wrestling Federation Championship Wrestling
Date: October 25, 1986
Location: Tulsa Convention Center, Tulsa, Oklahoma
Commentators: Jim Ross, Terry Taylor

It’s the second of two shows I’m looking at from this promotion in this era and that is kind of appealing. The first show was from about four months later so I’m not sure what to expect from this one. The promotion tends to be a pretty entertaining one so hopefully that continues to be the case here. Let’s get to it.

We open with a clip from last week with Devastation Inc. (Skandor Akbar’s group) in a brawl with a bunch of wrestlers.

JR and Terry Taylor welcome us to the show and run down the card, including three title matches and a bunch of recaps.

TV Title: Ken Massey vs. Buddy Jack Roberts

Roberts is defending and JR makes it clear that Massey isn’t very good. Feeling out process to start until Roberts takes him down and ties up the leg. The middle rope elbow misses but Roberts is right back with a neckbreaker into a bulldog to retain at 2:36. Just a squash.

Commentary talks about Savannah Jack being thrown out of Devastation Inc. and we see him being fired last week. This might have been over Jack being African American so the beatdown was on but Jack cleared the ring of Skandor Akbar, One Man Gang and Leroy Brown.

Akbar says he isn’t letting this go and promises to make Jack shine his shoes after everything is over. He doesn’t like these Americans with their backbones.

We look at Terry Taylor and Ted DiBiase beating the Freebirds in a country whipping (street fight) match last week. The Freebirds mauled them after the match, even stealing DiBiase’s famous loaded black glove to knock DiBiase out. JR is in full on Attitude Era mode here with the shouting and emotion and it’s rather awesome.

DiBiase, with a bandage on his head, is of these Freebirds busting him open over and over. Now they stole his glove and he is getting it back. So the good guy is mad that the villains stole his loaded glove. That’s an odd line of thinking.

The Fantastics are ready to defend their Tag Team Titles against anyone, including John Tatum and Jack Victory.

Jeff Raitz/Joe Savoldi vs. One Man Gang/Leroy Brown

Skandor Akbar is with the Gang and Brown. Savoldi can’t circle around the huge Gang, who pounds him into the corner without much effort. Brown comes in for the choke to Savoldi and some pounding to Raitz. Gang and Brown drop back to back elbows for the easy win at 2:00.

Michael Hayes has replaced Terry Taylor, much to JR’s annoyance.

We go to a video with JR talking to Bill Apter of Pro Wrestling Illustrated. The magazine is hosting a tournament starting on Halloween night for a cup and $50,000, so a bunch of wrestlers are already trying to get in.

Here’s the UWF Top Ten:

10. Chris Adams

9. Missing Link

8. Chavo Guerrero

7. Michael Hayes

6. Terry Taylor

5. Jim Duggan

4. One Man Gang

3. Ted DiBiase

2. Steve Williams

1. Buddy Roberts

And the UWF Champion is Terry Gordy.

Iceman King Parsons vs. Gustavo Mendoza

Hayes says the UWF is a very organized organization. Parsons hammers away to start and hits Mendoza in the head a few times, setting up a running knee. The hip attack sets up a splash to finish Mendoza at 1:35. Well that was quick.

Chris Adams isn’t happy with his situation involving the World Title. He’s coming for Terry Gordy and doesn’t care where he has to go to get it.

Tag Team Titles: Fantastics vs. John Tatum/Jack Victory

Tatum and Victory, with Missy Hyatt, are challenging. It takes the Fantastics a long time to get to the ring as they are rather popular with the fans. Bobby Fulton armdrags Victory to start and then does the same to Tatum, who complains about a hair pull. No one else seemed to notice it so Fulton monkey flips and dropkicks him. A double dropkick puts Tatum on the floor and a double backdrop does the same to Victory as the champs start fast.

Tommy Rogers comes in to slug away at Tatum and it’s back to Fulton, who gets caught in an armbar. That earns Tatum a headscissors and the champs clear the ring as we take a break. Back with Fulton being sent into the post, allowing Victory to drop him onto the barricade. Victory posts him again and it’s time to work on the arm.

Something close to a low blow has Fulton in more trouble and Tatum cuts the ring off to block the hot tag attempt. Fulton manages a knee lift though and there’s the hot tag to Rogers to clean house. Everything breaks down as Eddie Gilbert has come down with flowers for Missy. Tatum is distracted by Missy leaving ringside and gets rolled up to retain the titles at 12:50.

Rating: C+. The Fantastics are my favorite NWA/non-WWF 80s tag team so it’s fun to see these guys getting some time in a hot match. The angle was what mattered here though as Missy has someone new and the Fantastics just happened to be there. Tatum and Victory were fine for a heel team and I was thinking the titles might change hands here so well done with setting everything up.

Missy goes to leave with Gilbert but throws him back inside for the big beatdown. Gilbert’s friends Sting and Rick Steiner come in for the save and beat down Tatum and Victory. Missy even gets in a shot with the loaded Gucci bag (I love wrestling) to bust Tatum open (the slow motion replay makes it look even better). Tatum and Victory would win the titles before the month was over.

And now, with a little over a minute to go, it’s time for the UWF Title match with Jim Duggan challenging Terry Gordy. The credits roll over the entrances and we’re promised the outcome next week. See how much better that is than having everything wrapped up to end the show?

Overall Rating: C+. Good show here and I could go for some more of this stuff. I know the company was on its very last legs here but you could see what Bill Watts could do with the right resources. The energy was there and you could tell that it was set up to make fans watch next week, which is kind of the point. The ending alone made me curious about where things were going, which you just do not see today. Very efficient use of an hour, and it was an absolute breeze to watch.

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and head over to my Amazon author page with 30 different cheap wrestling books at:

http://www.amazon.com/Thomas-Hall/e/B00E6282W6

AND

Remember to check out Wrestlingrumors.net for all of your wrestling headline needs.




UWF Championship Wrestling – March 7, 1987: Ted DiBiase As A Plucky Young Good Guy

UWF Championship Wrestling
Date: March 7, 1987
Location: Tulsa Convention Center, Tulsa, Oklahoma
Commentators: Jim Ross, Bill Watts

This is still Mid-South, but under another name and several years later than I’ve been looking at. Crockett would buy out Watts the following month but the company would survive until the end of the year when it was basically written off while the top talent (namely Sting and a few others) would be incorporated into the NWA). Let’s get to it.

We open with a clip from last week with Michael Hayes and Sunshine putting Dark Journey in a small cage.

Watts talks about his sons being engaged or something. Also his son Erik is going to play college football.

Ken Massey vs. Sam Houston

Houston controls with a headlock and Massey hooks an armbar. Houston wakes up and the reverse bulldog ends this quick.

Wild Bill Irwin/Eli vs. Ted DiBiase/Iceman King Parsons

Irwin and Eli are part of Devastation Inc and they disagree with DiBiase coming out to Born in the USA. DiBiase promises to take the UWF Title off of One Man Gang and leave Akbar bloodied. Parsons might have joined Devastation Inc. but Parsons tells DiBiase to chill. Eli jumps DiBiase and Parsons just lets him do it. Parsons walks off so it’s a handicap match. Steve Cox comes out to be DiBiase’s partner as he’s getting beaten down two on one.

Wild Bill Irwin/Eli vs. Ted DiBiase/Steve Cox

DiBiase is in trouble as Irwin pounds away on him. Irwin misses a charge and DiBiase makes the diving tag to Steve Cox. Everything breaks down and Devastation Inc. is knocked to the floor, making them walk out for a countout.

Eddie Gilbert and Sting have a tag title shot tonight but Eddie says they should be given the titles because the titles were stolen in the first place. Missy Hyatt runs her mouth and good night her voice was annoying. Sting says they’ve been used and abused. It’s so weird seeing him as a heel.

Here’s a video on the Dallas Times-Herald that has been promoting the company. There are free posters in the paper every Sunday with the final one being the Freebirds. That’s kind of cool.

JR talks to King Parsons who goes on a big rant about how it’s DiBiase’s problem and it was his fault. Parsons speaks a lot of jive. This is about Chris Adams and a tournament that Parsons walked out on apparently. They were in the tag title tournament finals and Parsons walked out. They had feuded for about ten years and this is something about Adams being a legit convict. There’s someone named Savannah Jack who Parsons calls an Uncle Tom. He has a jailbird shirt for Adams too. Parsons has a very annoying voice. He has a bag of Oreos too.

Bobby Perez vs. Buddy Jack Roberts

After Bobby’s intro we see the UWF Top Ten. Roberts pounds him into the corner and puts Perez’s face into all the buckles. A few knee drops set up a legdrop and Perez is sent to the outside. A bulldog ends this.

Dark Journey wants to be in the small cage (the Penalty Box) with Sunshine. Hayes and Roberts come out to hold Dark Journey so that Sunshine can put something from a jar onto Journey. Missing Link and Chavo Guerrero run out for the save. Journey gets the jar but Missy runs in to hit Dark Journey. Missy gets the jar and leaves with Sting and Gilbert.

Kenny Johnson vs. Steve Cox

Cox is Steve Williams’ protege and a former football player so JR snaps off a bunch of stats and names that most people don’t care about. Cox hits a powerslam and side Russian legsweep for the quick pin to stay undefeated.

Dark Journey is with Chavo and Missing Link. This is clearly earlier on as Journey is in a totally different outfit and accepts the penalty box match. They talk about the cream but don’t know what it is.

Tag Titles: Eddie Gilbert/Sting vs. Terry Taylor/Chris Adams

Taylor and Adams are defending. Sting is in street clothes for some reason. Gilbert says Sting has torn his bicep so a guy named Mike Boyette is replacing him for one night. Eddie and Taylor start us off and here’s King Parsons for no apparent reason. The match starts and he jumps on the mic to say hang on a second. He calls out Adams as a jailbird and a sucker, which draws Adams out of the ring. Ok so now back to the match.

It’s Gilbert vs. Taylor still and now off to Adams who throws Gilbert around. Boyette comes in as does Taylor and the heels take over on him. Neckbreaker gets two for Gilbert as does a suplex. Taylor manages to tag as does Gilbert and we’re out of time. The credits roll but Adams hits a quick superkick to retain. I’m not rating it due to the length that we actually saw, since most of the match was the Parsons thing.

Overall Rating: C. It’s not a bad show but I certainly prefer the earlier ones. The world champion didn’t appear for some reason and while the stories here make sense, they’re nothing incredibly interesting. You have DiBiase as a top guy but he’d be gone soon. The company probably wouldn’t have died anytime soon though, as it was at least entertaining. I’ve never gotten the appeal of Eddie Gilbert though.

Remember to like me on Facebook at:

http://www.facebook.com/pages/kbwrestlingreviewscom/117930294974885?sk=wall




WWF Championship Wrestling – September 24, 1983 – Eddie Gilbert Can’t Catch A Break

WWF Championship Wrestling
Date: September 24, 1983
Location: Agricultural Hall, Allentown, Pennsylvania
Commentators: Vince McMahon, Pat Patterson

Another random show for me to do while I wait on a Raw to download. This is from before Hogan debuted again but he was coming quickly. Other than that there isn’t much to say here. My best guess would be a lot of squashes with maybe a slightly more competitive feature match. Let’s get to it.

I’m finding two dates on this. The video I have is labeled August 27, 1983 but every other date I can find says September 24, 1983. We’ll go with the second.

We open with a list of everyone on the athletic commission for tonight’s show.

Butcher Vachon vs. Jimmy Snuka

Butcher is a big name but he’s well past his prime at this point. Snuka slams him down and the Splash ends this in about 45 seconds.

Tito Santana vs. John Callahan

Santana dominates to start as Vince says there’s no challenge here. He takes John to the mat with a long headlock but Callahan rams him into the buckle a few times. Middle rope forearm ends this. I wouldn’t expect a lot of ratings on this show.

Tiger Chung Lee/Mr. Fuji vs. Tony Garea/Bob Clement

Garea and Lee start things off as Garea controls with a dropkick and armdrag. Sunset flip gets one. Fuji gets in a shot to the back of Garea so the evil foreigners can take over on the nicer foreigners. Back to Lee to face the tagged in Clement. Both are tall and in white so this isn’t easy to differentiate. Fuji and his red come in to chop Clement down and it’s back to Lee. Lee hits an enziguri for the pin. Basically a squash.

Rating: D+. Not much to see here as most of the match was spent talking about how the Japanese team would be trouble for the Wild Samoans, the reigning tag champions. I don’t know if they ever had a long feud or anything but the Soul Patrol (Atlas and Johnson) would win the titles in November.

Sgt. Slaughter says he’s ready for Mil Mascaras in Los Angeles. Mascaras tries to put his head in the jar to eat pickles and wears a mask because he stabs himself in the head when trying to use a fork.

Tito says he’s ready for Muraco, who attacked him when he was a guest referee. He says a lot in Spanish and I think he says he’s ready for him and he’ll win in Los Angeles.

Mike Sharpe says that Tony Atlas is skinny.

Muraco, the IC Champion (and about a month from having Snuka dive off a cage onto him) talks about how Tito wanted to become a Mexican hero right when Muraco had Snuka where he wanted him.

Masked Superstar vs. Eddie Gilbert

Masked Superstar is a new top heel and is Ax under a mask. Eddie gets in some offense to start but walks into a HHH knee to the face to take him down. Gilbert is a very small guy but he hammers away, only to walk into the kind of clothesline that Bret would use in the Hart Attack. A swinging neckbreaker puts Gilbert down and a second one gets the pin quick.

Post match he takes Gilbert to the floor and gives him another neckbreaker on the concrete. Dr. George Zahorian (now look HIM up if you want to see a name erased from WWF history) comes out to check on him.

Time for Buddy Rogers’ Corner, which is an interview segment. The guest is Sgt. Slaughter who isn’t worried about Eddie Gilbert at all. He’d love to see Bob Backlund in the same position.

Sgt. Slaughter vs. Dick Tessier

Gilbert is still being attended to. Cobra Clutch and we’re done in about a minute.

Post match Slaughter looks at Gilbert as he’s being taken away. Apparently Gilbert credits Backlund with his comeback. Backlund is out here too. He’s taken out on a stretcher into an ambulance. This takes about ten minutes to get through. The fans boo because this takes so long.

Don Kernodle/Bob Bradley vs. Tony Atlas/Rocky Johnson

Apparently the Soul Patrol is a new team here. Johnson starts with Bradley and throws him around with ease. A sunset flip ends this quickly again.

Overall Rating: C-. The injury angle was at least big and it furthered Slaughter vs. Backlund but it took a lot of the steam out of the show. The matches were all squashes and that’s ok, but it does kind of slow things right to a halt. They had one match during the time when Gilbert was carried out, so why not have more? Eh it’s 1983 so TV wasn’t exactly down to a science yet. Not terrible but fairly dull.

Remember to like me on Facebook at:

www.facebook.com/pages/kbwrestlingreviewscom/117930294974885?sk=wall




Continental Wrestling Federation TV – October 1, 1988 – Not What I Was Planning

Continental Wrestling Federation TV
Date: October 1, 1988
Location: Boutwell Auditorium, Birmingham, Alabama
Commentators: Charlie Platt, Joe Petecino

Ok so when I found four shows labeled CWF, I thought it was Championship Wrestling From Florida, not Continental. Continental is a pretty much forgotten company which ran in the southeast, namely around Alabama, Tennesee and the Gulf Coast with some shots in north Florida as well. It was owned by the Fuller Family, which is more known as Colonel Robert Parker’s family. This isn’t a well known company because it was surrounded by bigger companies, but let’s take a look at it anyway. I have four consecutive episodes of their TV show (which aired on the Financial News Network for some reason) so let’s get to it.

We open with the United States Junior Heavyweight Champion Nightmare Ken Wayne, saying he’ll defend his title today on television. The records I can find say he won it on this day so one of these dates is wrong. He mentions a big show in Birmingham, which I believe is part of the Road to Birmingham tournament, which was their Wrestlemania style show I think. It was nothing compared to what it was supposed to be, due to a ton of political stuff going on.

Wayne’s partner, Nightmare Danny Davis (OVW owner) says he wants the title. They would trade it like four times each.

A voiceover runs down the card and the hosts welcome us to the show. Something happened last week but it’s not mentioned. Eddie Gilbert, a big deal in the indies around this time and I believe the booker here, has something to say. As best I can tell, this is the Road to Birmingham show, which is taking place in Birmingham. Either that or it’s in two days. Some guy comes out and I don’t think that’s Gilbert. He talks about the upcoming show where they’ll crown the CWF world and tag champions.

Some other guy (no one is named here) comes out and says that he and his Wild Samoans will win the tag titles. If they lose though, they’re out of the territory.

We get an ad for the Road to Birmingham show which will have the tournament final for the first ever CWF Championship. From what I can find, this would be the same title in a company called Southeast Championship Wrestling, but when they closed and the CWF replaced it, the title was retired and it’s being resurrected here. If that sounds confusing, you’re not alone. This territory stuff and who has the lineage of what titles can make nuclear physics look like reading Clifford the Big Red Dog.

Lord Humongous/Shane Douglas vs. Ricky Siegler/Deuce Mason

Humongous is Sid Vicious in a Jason mask. He and Shane are already tag champions so the match with the Samoans is just a title vs. leave town match. The other two guys (I think the first name is right. It’s either that or Buck Seger) are jobbers I think. Sid busts out a dropkick and it wasn’t half bad. Ok that time they DEFINITELY said Bucky. We’ll stick with what I have though. Sid destroys Bucky/Ricky/whatever his name is and we hear that Sid’s name is Hugo. He press slams Shane onto Siegler to end it. This barely lasted a minute.

Shane says they’ll win on Monday. I’d assume this was taped in advance which would explain the date issue. They would keep the titles.

More house show ads.

US Junior Heavyweight Title: Ken Wayne vs. Danny Davis

Wayne is champion and they’re partners here. From what I understand, there’s going to be a hair vs. hair match on Monday (Road to Birmingham). Nelson Royal, the world Junior Heavyweight Champion comes in to shake their hands. He doesn’t seem to like Davis at all. Royal gets in on commentary. He says he’s here to scout. Davis controls to start and takes him down to the mat, working on the arm.

Wayne nips up a few times but Davis sends him to the floor and the crowd likes him. Royal talks about going to Yugoslavia for some reason. Something different about this show is that they have cameras on all four sides so you have to keep an eye on the CWF letters on the mat to tell where things are facing. Wayne fires a punch to take over as he’s the heel here. I think they’re still partners but I’m not sure.

You can tell this is from the 80s as no one uses anything bigger than a middle rope elbow, which gets two for Wayne. Davis fights back and they collide. Royal offers a distraction as Wayne pulls out a chain. Davis has one of his own though and pops Wayne with it for the pin and the title. NICE.

Rating: D+. Boring match, but the ending was awesome with some great thinking. The idea of having them know each other so well and them being former partners is great as Davis knew what was coming and blasted Wayne with it instead. I was bored during the match but the end helped things out a lot here. I really liked that ending and it’s given me some hope for the rest of the show.

Davis, in a pre-taped promo, says he’ll win. He’s also putting up his car against Eddie Gilbert’s $25,000 backing Wayne. I’d hope they’re not partners anymore because this is a pretty hateful promo.

Wayne counters by saying that they have a long history and Davis was the one that turned his back on Wayne, not the other way around. Not as good as Davis’ interview.

Eddie Gilbert apparently has been having more medical tests and isn’t well. Gilbert talks about being injured a few years ago in a car wreck and being brought in because people believed in him. A few weeks ago he reinjured himself and he’s not sure what his future has in store for him. One of the commentators isn’t sure what’s going on here because Gilbert has been a very evil man lately. He lists off the stuff Gilbert has done lately and now he’s injured.

Gilbert says he wouldn’t believe himself. To prove himself though, he gives a check for $25,000 to the other announcer to give to whoever needs it most. That’s the money he and Dangerously (Heyman) put up in the hair vs. hair match. If he doesn’t win the title on Monday, he’ll quit wrestling. This would be a way for him to leave the company due to management issues. He was supposed to win the title but that didn’t happen.

More house show ads. It’s an indy thing.

Dr. Tom Pritchard vs. Jerry Stubbs

No idea what he’s a doctor of but I don’t think it’s Thuganomics. Stubbs is a former partner I think and the announcers say if you saw the TV show last week, you know what happened. Commentary is a failure here I guess. Pritchard speeds things up and takes over on the arm. After a brief beatdown by Stubbs, Pritchard takes over and signals for his finisher (whatever that is) but the Dangerous Alliance runs in for the DQ. Some blonde guy runs out with a steel bar for the save. Oh it’s Austin Idol. You 80s fans will know that name. Pritchard would win the tournament on Monday.

The Dangerous Alliance (Dirty White Boy, Ken Wayne and Nightmare Freddy, a masked guy) says that Dirty White Boy (that really is his name) will win the title and Wayne will get his title back. As far as Gilbert, Dangerously doesn’t want to talk Paul E. Dangerously and Eddie Gilbert. He wants to talk Paul Heyman and Thomas Edward Gilbert. That money is his life savings including money he got from his father. He invested it in a stud named Eddie Gilbert but instead of winning the race (he’s using a Kentucky Derby analogy) he broke his leg. You put a horse with a broken leg out of its misery with a bullet to the head.

Cue Jerry Stubbs from the previous match who wants to be in the Alliance. Dangerously says that if Stubbs can do a few things to prove himself, he can be in. Stubbs says that’s cool.

Doug Furnace vs. Dutch Mantel

Yes Furnace is spelled that way on the graphics. Stubbs jumps him and beats him down with…..a coat rack? Seriously? A COAT RACK??? WHY WAS THERE A COAT RACK READILY AVAILABLE??? Mantel makes the save. Due to the beating Furnace is out so we get a replacement.

Dutch Mantel vs. Pat Rose

Rose is a familiar name but I’m not sure who he is. Mantel is kind of a cowboy but not really. He wins with a quick gordbuster.

Austin Idol hypes the Road to Birmingham.

Dangerously does the same.

Missy’s Manor, an interview segment, ends this. The guests are a team called the Party Patrol who are back after leaving for awhile. They talk about Eddie Gilbert for a bit and say they don’t care about the money. They’re happy to be back and that’s about it.

Dirty White Boy vs. ???

The bell rings with less than a minute left in the video. He destroys the unnamed jobber and gets the pin off something we don’t see due to looking at the announcers. The credits were rolling before the three count.

Overall Rating: C-. It’s hard to complain about this because I have no idea what’s going on here. They hyped up the Road to Birmingham show every single chance they could get and it worked pretty well. Nothing to see here for the most part but I’ve seen worse. The wrestling isn’t exactly the focal point of things, but it wasn’t that bad. We’ll see if the next week was any better.

Remember to like me on Facebook at:

http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100002882482782&ref=tn_tnmn