The SmarK Rant for Mid-South Wrestling – 03.27.82

The SmarK Rant for Mid-South Wrestling – 03.27.82

Oddly enough, while the 85 Mid-South rants were rapidly declining in popularity, and no one was reading the 82 Mid-Atlantic rants despite the genius of Slaughter’s Privates, the 82 Mid-South rants have been proving to be quite popular. I don’t know why either.

Taped from Shreveport, LA

Your hosts are Boyd Pierce & Jim Ross…

WHAT THE ACTUAL…actually never mind, I’m kind of impressed that he managed to coordinate the jacket with the tie.

LAST WEEK: Ted Dibiase defends the North American title against Bob Roop, after Roop’s BFF Paul Orndorff fails to show up for his title shot. Sadly, the ref is bumped while Dibiase is in control, and One Man Gang hits the ring and takes out Dibiase, allowing Roop to screw him over and win the North American title. I didn’t notice last week how god-awful Roop’s version of a figure-four was. He somehow didn’t know to put the one leg OVER the other leg.

Meanwhile, Paul Orndorff points out that having Gang and Akbar screw over Dibiase was HIS plan, and Roop stole the plan from him! Roop had the nerve to use Orndorff’s muscle for his own benefit and now he’s gonna KICK ROOP’S BOOTY from one end of the ring to the other. Hopefully all these betrayals that Orndorff is experiencing won’t affect his future view of tag team partners moving forward.

Paul Orndorff v. Coco Samoa

Coco was a generic Samoan who was around for a while in the 80s but I don’t think has any connection to the Anoai family. Paul works a headlock and Samoa fights out of that, but Orndorff drops him with a hotshot and follows with elbows before going to a chinlock. I thought this was a babyface turn for Paul, but he’s still wrestling like a dick and his promo was pretty heelish, despite being aimed at fellow heel Bob Roop. Samoa makes a comeback, but Paul hits him with a clothesline out of the corner and powerslams him for the pin at 3:22. This was fine. 1 for 1.

Bob Roop v. Buddy Landell

BUT WAIT! Paul Orndorff tells Budro to get lost and attacks Roop himself while the referee frantically tells the announcers that “this is not no match!” and demands law and order. So Orndorff continues destroying Roop and chokes him out while fighting off jobbers who try to break up the fight, and finally Roop buys enough time to run away.

Iron Mike Sharpe v. Mike Boyer

Sharpe takes Boyer down with armdrags and works the arm, and Boyd points out that it “does his heart good” to see jerkwads like Orndorff and Roop fighting amongst themselves. Sharpe with a backdrop and he takes Boyer down for a cross armbreaker. Boyer fights out of that, but Sharpe switches to an armbar, and Boyer slugs out of that and goes to a chinlock. Sharpe beats on him with forearms and follows with a body vice to finish at 3:40. So weird to see Iron Mike squashing guys. 2 for 2.

The Wild Samoans v. Junkyard Dog & Killer Karl Kox

That’s quite the babyface combination. Kox immediately gets his face raked and tags out to JYD while claiming an eye injury, but then comes back in and beats Afa down for two. Dog with a chinlock and Kox gets a back elbow for two. The Samoans double-team Karl in the corner, but he fights them off and Dog comes in with a clothesline on Sika for two. But then Akbar gets involved and they use SAMOAN KARATE to trap Dog in the corner and double-team him. Finally Kox can take no more and comes in to save, but he’s not very effective and he gets beat up and tossed as well. Samoans with a double clothesline on Dog, but a second try results in the Dog clotheslining them both and hauling in Akbar for a beating. But then the ref gets thrown out and Kox hits them both with his shovel, leaving Dog on top of Afa for the pin at 4:54. Match had great heat but WOOF was this bad. Akbar took the best bump of the match while getting slammed by JYD. 2 for 3.

The One Man Gang v. Terry Gibbs

Gibbs tries to throw shoulderblocks and runs into a brick wall. He tries a bodypress and Gang catches him and slams him, then pounds on him with the clubbing forearms and splash to finish at 1:21. Gang was definitely still in need of seasoning. 2 for 4.

Mr. Olympia v. Tully Blanchard

Wait, according to Cagematch Tully was born in CALGARY?!? He’s been a secret Canadian all this time? Interestingly, both guys went on to have famous tag teams with Arn Anderson. Tully slugs away with forearms to start, but Olympia backdrops him out of the corner and goes to a headlock. Watching the first episode of Moon Knight made me think that there’s still potential for a gimmick like Mr. Olympia in wrestling, where someone is a heel with the mask and babyface without it (or vice versa) but has a disorder where he’s not aware that he has two identities. Blanchard dodges a charge and drops an elbow on him for two before going to a chinlock and mouthing off at the referee while doing that. Tully with a backbreaker for two while using the ropes, but the ref catches him and Olympia gets a small package for the pin at 6:00. 3 for 5

Jesse Barr v. Rick Ferrera

We’re nearing the end of the show so this will likely be the “we’re out of time” match of the week. Meanwhile, Jim Ross announces that he might not be around Mid-South to announce for a while because he’s got other stuff going on. I’m pretty sure we’ll hear from Jim Ross again. Ferrera puts Barr down with a shoulderblock and follows with an atomic drop for two, but Jesse gets a sunset flip for two. Small package gets two. Barr holds him on the mat with a facelock and turns it into a backslide for two. Ferrera takes him down and works the leg, but Barr flips him over for two and time expires on the show at 3:35. 3 for 6.

Another fun and interesting show from Bill Watts!