The SmarK Rant for Memphis Wrestling – 02.24.79
Have I mentioned lately how I love this stuff?
Taped from Memphis, TN
Your host is Lance Russell, running solo this week.
Buzz Sawyer v. Jimmy Golden
Both guys were early in their careers and drastically different wrestlers than they ended up. Golden had some fame in Alabama later on but is best remembered as Bunkhouse Buck these days. They trade headlocks on the mat to start and they criss-cross, but Buzz can’t take advantage and Golden works the arm. Sawyer slams out of that and takes him down for two, but Golden gets a half-crab and Buzz powers out of that. Golden with a standing dropkick for two. Sawyer with a sunset flip for two, but Golden flips him over for two. Golden with a backdrop suplex for the pin at 2:49. I continue to be amazed at the accuracy of the timekeeping on this show. A fine little TV opener.
Afterwards, Golden joins Lance at the desk and puts over the tenacity of Buzz Sawyer, and Lance takes us back to a match between Golden and Rip Smith in Dothan AL. Smith was apparently a former football player transitioning into wrestling but I don’t think anything came of him.
Back from the break, Lance sits down with Eddie Marlin and talks about the upcoming house show circuit and all the big stars and title matches we’ll be seeing if we’re lucky enough to be living in Tupelo, Jonesboro or Louisville. Tempting but I’m gonna have to pass.
Tommy Gilbert & Roger Howell v. Don Carson & Dennis Condrey
Carson and Condrey were the tag team champs, although I don’t think they had a catchy name. As noted last week, Carson is sporting a loaded black facloner’s glove, and Condrey is cosplaying David Coverdale from 1985. The babyfaces double-team Condrey to start and Howell gets a slam for two, setting up a back elbow from Tommy. But then Condrey cuts them off with a backdrop suplex on Howell, and Carson goes to work. Howell fights back on Condrey and Tommy Gilbert gets his babyface comeback with a sunset flip out of the corner for two. Kneelift gets two and it’s BREAKING LOOSE IN TULSA, but Carson hits Howell with the black glove and Condrey pins him at 3:42. “You winners, Carson, Condrey and friend” notes Lance.
Back at the desk, Carson calls the glove his “cousin” and we go to footage of a tag title match against Robert Fuller and Bill Dundee. Dundee gets a hot tag and they double-team Condrey, but Carson hits him with the glove behind the ref’s back and the champs retain.
Back from the break, and Robert Fuller and Bill Dundee join us, and they promise that THIS time, they’re getting the glove away from Carson and they’re winning the tag team title.
Robert Fuller & Bill Dundee v. The Destroyer & Danny Davis
Fuller and Dundee double-team Davis and keep him in the babyface corner, but Davis fights off Dundee and brings the Destroyer in. Sadly he doesn’t live up to his name and Dundee finishes him off with a sleeper at 1:48. Although Fuller was doing an abdominal stretch on Davis at the same time, and Lance seems to think that they were the legal men and thus that was the finish.
Meanwhile, at the Mid-South Coliseum, the Mongolian Stomper destroys Tommy Gilbert, but then the crowd is TOO LOUD and Stomper’s sensitive ears are hurt and Tommy gets to make his babyface comeback while Stomper sells the pain. The sensitive ears gimmick is an amazing bit of business that someone needs to steal again.
The Mongolian Stomper v. Burrhead Jones
I’d ask what a “Burrhead” is supposed to be, but I’m afraid it’s some old timey racist trope and if so I’d rather not even know. Stomper just destroys poor Burrhead and tosses him for a beating out there, and then back in for a double chop to the throat and a big stomp to the head for two. Big boot and he finishes with a cobra sleeper at 2:02. Burrhead, a true pro, does a blade job and then goes into convulsions while the referees try to revive him. Back at the desk, Gorgeous George Jr throws out the challenge to Bob Armstrong for Monday night at the Coliseum. Interesting how much crossover between the Memphis crew and the Alabama crew they had at this point. Obviously the Fullers and Jarretts had a lot of crossover in their personal lives, but I’m not 100% sure when the relationship went south and the Fullers went off to Alabama for good.
Robert Fuller & Bill Dundee sit down and discuss the upcoming Triple Chance Battle Royale where a two-ring battle royale gives you two winners and they have to team up and face the tag team champions. Apparently they did one recently and the winners were Robert Fuller and Toru Tanaka, and they actually won the tag team titles, but then Tanaka turned on Fuller and refused to defend the tag team titles with him.
Back at the Coliseum, Jimmy Golden faces Toru Tanaka for the Southern title as a replacement for Bob Armstrong due to bad weather. We join it with Golden making a comeback, but the ref is bumped (Ricky Morton’s father Paul Morton, by the way) and Tanaka gets a foreign object and uses it to choke Golden out. And the ref catches him and calls for the DQ!
Jerry Lawler joins us after judging a beauty contest at a nursing home. That’s like Kryptonite for Superman. He thinks that Toru Tanaka is not a legitimate Southern champion and gives a complex series of conspiracy theories as to why, and the upshot is that he’s going to win the title and be the legitimate champion.
Mike Stallings v. Rick Miller
This is the “expiration of time” match and it’s just two fellas having a match for a couple of minutes. Stallings finishes with a powerslam at 4:02 to wrap the show.
God this is such an easy and fun show to watch. I wish I could travel back in time and be at a Mid-South Coliseum show on a Monday night in the early 80s.