Mid-South Wrestling 13/02/1982

Wild Samoans vs Rick Ferrera & Bill Ash

Enjoyable squash. Liked Afa holding Ash in the air by his jaw, looked really painful. Ferrera tags in, hitting a big flurry of punches, but immediately eats a Samoan Drop for the three.

Paul Orndorff vs Bryan Blair

Enjoyed this, really well worked competitive match, with Orndorff just being a bit too high in the pecking order for Blair to deal with. Orndorff is surprisingly sporting in this bout, even extending a handshake to Blair. Some decent matwork to start, loved the manoeuvring to escape a hammerlock into an armbar. Blair keeps up with Orndorff, which seems to frustrate him, as he gets annoyed when both men are tangled in the ropes. Both go over the top rope, with Blair seemingly catching his face on the bottom rope, and Orndorff hits a driving knee from the top to get the win.

Junkyard Dog vs Bob Roop

JYD is making a title defence here, and they build this up nicely by highlighting how the previous two weeks have seen title changes. Decent competitive stuff before the end sees some enjoyable hoopla. Roop has a fun spot where he rams JYD’s head into the corner from a full Nelson and he later hits a lovely jumping knee. JYD’s diving headbutt looks spot on too. They go to commercial with Roop on the floor, with his foot tangled in the bottom rope, and I liked that we came back to find the match over, but with the ending recorded. Adds a nice touch of realism. This is where the stuff’n’nonsense comes in, and it’s a lot of fun. First Orndorff comes out, accidentally hits Roop, and JYD hits the Thump on Roop. Orndorff tries to break the pin, but JYD gets up and slams Orndorff onto Roop. Next Bob Orton comes out, only for JYD to press slam him onto Orndorff on the floor. While the ref is looking at those two, JYD nails a big forearm to finally pick up the win.

Ted DiBiase & Mr Olympia vs Ed Wiskowski & Bob Orton

This is the first of the standby matches. Heels never really feel like they’re in this one, even when they get to work heat on DiBiase. Orton stooges about in the early going, swinging and missing with wild punches and flailing madly whilst held in a wristlock. Fun spot with Wiskowski slamming DiBiase to break a wristlock, but DiBiase holds on to send Wiskowski back to the mat. The heat is worked on DiBiase, it’s brief and includes a false tag, before Olympia dropkicks DiBiase onto Wiskowski during a slam attempt. We get a melee as Orton accidentally hits his partner, Olympia locks a sleeper onto Wiskowski and DiBiase picks up the pieces for the win. Enjoyed all this.

Ron Cheatham vs Frank Monte

Final standby match with a few minutes to go. Nothing much to this, though the matwork is quite decent. Liked Monte’s driving knees with a hammerlock held, and he at least tries a few quick pins as the time ticks away for a draw.

Mid-South Wrestling 06/02/1982

Bob Orton Jr vs Ken Woodby

Woodby is pale, portly and auburn haired; a less intimidating grappler you couldn’t hope to meet. Orton controls him on the mat, working the arm to keep him grounded. Orton then hits a back breaker, a leaping second rope forearm and a piledriver in quick succession to win.

Ted DiBiase vs Ron Cheatham

Flavourless squash, as DiBiase controls Cheatham rather easily and hits powerslam and the figure four to win. Meh.

The Wild Samoans vs Junkyard Dog & Mike George

This takes two attempts to happen, as the first sees a fun angle with Ernie Ladd furious that Skandor Akbar has taken managerial control of the Samoans, his charges. He goes on the assault, beating all three men down, until an unnamed One Man Gang comes in a beats him down, hitting a (shitty) top rope splash on his legs to injure him.

Twenty minutes later, after Akbar demands the Samoans be allowed their scheduled match, we get it…and it’s a bit nothing. It’s for the tag titles, held by Dog and George, but it’s too short for much to happen. What it does do is show how useful Akbar will be for the Samoans. After a ref bump, a chair gets brought into the ring and, whilst JYD is able to use the chair to deflect an attempted fireball by Akbar, it gets left in the ring and the Samoans take advantage, hitting a Samoan Drop on George onto the chair to claim the tag belts. I hoped for a better match, but the whole deal was fun.

Bob Roop vs Frank Monte

Short, but with bits to enjoy. Liked Roop showing hid power to muscle Monte through a hip toss after it looked like they’d blown it, and I enjoyed Monte slipping out of a second attempt to hit a flying headscissors, which he then held on the mat. Good ending too, as a clubbing blow to the back of the head by Roop sends Monte into the corner and Roop hits a shoulderbreaker for the win. Good stuff.

Paul Orndorff vs Mr Olympia

Really good stuff here. They work a nice even pace, with some lovely punches thrown by both, before Orndorff takes control by rebounding from the corner with a second rope clothesline. Nice driving knees into the side of Olympia’s face. Orndorff starts getting frustrated as Olympia kicks out of some big moves, with a powerslam and driven elbows only getting two. Olympia reverses a piledriver, hits an enzuigiri and locks in a sleeper that, even though Orndorff tries his best to fight it, gets the victory. Good sprint.

Ed Wiskowski vs Brian Blair

They get the “TV time limit” death spot here, but both guys wrestle like they want to win instead of killing time. This is speed vs power, with Blair showing his skill early by reversing a Wiskowski suplex into a small package for two. From there, Wiskowski keeps hurling Blair into the ropes, first catching him with a stungun, then with two slingshots. Blair kicks out of an O’Connor roll, sending Wiskowski headfirst into the bottom turnbuckle, giving him the comeback until time runs out. Fine enough.

Mid-South Wrestling 30/01/1982

Dick Murdoch vs Tom Renesto

Fun little squash, with a few nifty little touches by Murdoch. Liked him just grinding his knee in place after hitting a kneedrop to the arm. Murdoch hits a short range punch to the face in a submission hold, hits a flying headscissors and a brainbuster to win.

Wild Samoans vs Frank Monte & Terry Daniels

Blink and you’ll miss it, as the Samoans attack at the bell, sending Monte out of the ring and blitzing Daniels with a Samoan Drop and a top rope headbutt to win

Brian Blair vs Carlos Zapata

Unremarkable squash, though Blair looked decent throughout. Liked him going through a range of pin attempts early to try a quick win. Blair stops a brief Zapata rally with some nice body shots and a back suplex, before going into the abdominal stretch pin to win.

Paul Orndorff & Bob Orton Jr vs Junkyard Dog & Mike George

Really enjoyable sprint of a tag match, no resting from either side. I liked how both teams used quick tags, trying to get out of the ring at the first sign of any danger. Liked little bits like JYD stopping an attacking run with a diving headbutt to a standing Orndorff to get to tag out. Orton hits a great driving kneedrop to the face of George from the top rope, but the end sees Orndorff hold JYD in a full nelson, Orton try a top rope axe handle, only for JYD to lean forward, powering Orndorff into the way of the Orton blow. This leaves Orndorff unable to break the pin as JYD hits the Thump to pick up the win.

Mr Olympia vs Ed Wiskowski

Decent bout for Olympia’s Mississipi heavyweight title. Liked the start with Olympia working a load of headlocks to keep Wiskowski down. Wiskowski works over the kidneys and ribs of Olympia, hitting a set of nice kneedrops to the torso, and locking on an abdominal stretch to maintain the focus. The end sees Olympia whip on a sleeper hold from nowhere to win.

Rick Ferrera vs Bill Ash

This is a “thrown together” main event after an angle before, where Paul Orndorff claims he’s been allowed to officiate a title match between Bob Roop and Ted DiBiase. DiBiase doesn’t fall for this obvious ruse and we end up with a brawl. This replacement match runs barely 2 minutes to the end of the show, and is utterly unremarkable in that time.

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.

Mid-South Wrestling 16/01/1982

Bryan Blair vs The Monk

Fun stuff with Blair just working smoothly around the Monk, looking for ways to take him over to the mat. Monk gets a little shine, nice suplex, but Blair takes him down with an Abdominal Stretch pin for the win.

Ernie Ladd & the Wild Samoans vs Dusty Rhodes, Andre the Giant & Junkyard Dog

My opinion on this hasn’t changed since reviewing it for the True Giants DVD:

This is a really quick sprint, but it’s a load of fun. It’s not pretty, but they work a high tempo and keep the tags quick enough to maintain that pace. Loved the heels trying to isolate Andre in their corner, only for him to free himself, dragging Ladd and one of the Samoans with him as he gets to his own corner. The heels find it hard to gain any traction, until Ladd breaks an Andre pin with a legdrop, and

the Samoans slam Andre. Things quickly break down and Andre is able to hit a 2^nd rope splash on Ladd for the win.

Mr Olympia vs Carlos Zapata

Olympia just works circles around Zapata, moving quickly and with pace. Loved the match winning sleeper, Olympia just hooks Zapata viciously around the neck and Zapata makes these amazing facials as he dozes off.

Ed Wiskowski vs Tommy Wright

Wiskowski is a fun beast here, dominating the bout after stomping Wright on the mat following a roll-up, and Wright is never able to fully recover. Wiskowski is nicely stiff, with fun little touches like holding Wright by the hair in order to punch him in the face. Love the splash to the back as Wright is sat up, and a backbreaker gets the easy win.

Dick Murdoch vs Bob Roop

This is really neat, loved the start with Murdoch anticipating a Roop cheapshot, and sidestepping, causing Roop to amusingly spin past him. Roop does a lot of work on Dick’s wrist, adding just enough little touches and bits of digit manipulation to keep it interesting. In places it verges on just holding Murdoch by the wrist, then Roop will just add a little something at the right time to mix it up. Murdoch fires back, but Paul Orndorff interferes on the outside, tripping Dick’s leg on the brainbuster attempt, causing Roop to fall on top for two. Murdoch leaps over a trip attempt when running the ropes, but Orndorff interferes to draw the DQ. Fun stuff.

The Wild Samoans vs Frank Monte & Jesse Barr

Ernie Ladd paid off the original opponents for Monte and Barr to let the Samoans replace them, and this is a massacre. Lots of stiff looking headbutts from the Samoans, both standing and diving, whilst an attempted crossbody by Barr is met with a stiff elbow to the face. Samoan Drop ends the beating.

Mike George vs Bob Orton Jr

Surprisingly brief – only four minutes long – but a lot of fun. Both men throw some meaty looking blows, and I loved the stiff looking elbows thrown by Orton. The end is pretty nifty, as George powers Orton into the turnbuckles and fluidly grabs him in a side Russian leg sweep for the win. Wish this was 3-4 times longer.