Mid South Wrestling 23/01/1982

Brian Blair vs Tom Renesto

Really enjoy Blair squash matches in Mid South. He always does at least one goofily fun thing. Here it’s a through-the-legs sunset flip to catch Renesto unawares. Dug the double sledge to the stomach to set up a nice kneelift, before the abdominal stretch pin gets the win.

The Wild Samoans vs Jesse Barr & Tommy Wright

The most fun thing about this is how utterly worthless Barr is as a tag partner. Wright starts and gets roundly beaten by the Samoans. Just a fun massacre. Barr tags in, takes one move, avoids a diving headbutt and leaps across the ring to tag out again. Wright fares no better and eats a Samoan drop to finish it.

Mike George vs Carlos Zapata

Very short squash, with George looking comfortable in control at all times. Not much to this, but my notes do say “lovely right hand”, so that’s a good sign. Side Russian legsweep gets the win.

Mr Olympia vs Bob Orton Jr

This is for Orton’s Mississippi title. You’d think this would mean it’s more competitive, but this is pretty short and Olympia pretty much controls things. Olympia keeps Orton on the floor with a headscissors, which they work a pretty fun sequence with. Orton hits a nice forearm after getting whipped into the corner, looked like a sudden instinct blow, but Olympia locks on a sleeper from nowhere to win.

Paul Orndorff & Bob Roop vs Ted DiBiase & Dick Murdoch

Too short tag bout, but what we get is really fun. Loved the opening team work by the faces, as a quick tag leaves Roop disorientated, DiBiase dropkicks him from behind right into a Murdoch slam. They continue the story of Orndorff having a counter for DiBiase’s figure four leglock, with DiBiase locking it in midring. The commentary discusses the possibility of Orndorff reversing it again, and true to form he does. Really convincing battle over it. DiBiase suffers for a bit, before turning it back on Orndorff by rolling it back around. Nice bit of continuity and it shows some development by DiBiase. The ending was some creative bullshit, in the best possible way. The ref gets bumped in a melee, and Bob Orton Jr comes in to help the heels. The faces fends them off and Murdoch hits a top rope brainbuster on Orton, covering him and getting a pin as the groggy ref doesn’t realise Orton isn’t part of the match. Novel way to keep the heels strong. Not a great night for Orton though.

Ed Wiskowski vs Terry Daniels

Daniels gets a little shine, using his speed advantage to get a roll up for two, but the larger Wiskowski controls hitting a driving knee from the second rope and a backbreaker for the three.

Bill Ash vs Frank Monte

They play out an odd sub-four minute time limit draw, as TV time elapses. Neither guy looks too concerned about winning as time ticks away, but they both work some fun work on each other’s arms. Like Ash ramming a kneedrop into a hammerlock. Felt like the start of a good ten minute bout.