The SmarK Rant for Memphis Wrestling – 01.11.86
Taped from Memphis, TN
Your hosts are Dave Brown & Lance Russell
We get some audio difficulties to start, as the sound is muted for the intro and you hear someone going “Are they hot goods or something?” and then someone else tells him to shut up. Well that sounds sketchy.
Rick Casey v. Benny Trailer
Casey works the arm to start and takes Benny down with a back suplex and back to the armbar on the mat. Casey with a top wristlock and he takes Trailer down and goes back to the arm again, but Trailer gets a cheapshot in the corner. So Casey gets all fired up, as much as he ever shows emotion, and finishes with the bulldog at 3:03.
Meanwhile, we learn that the tag team titles have been vacated there’s a one night tournament in Evansville on Wednesday. I bet they do the same one night tournament and crown the same champions in a bunch of other cities as well. Without even checking I bet it comes down to Fantastics v. Sheepherders. So I checked and yes, that’s the case, although the Sheepherders are not the normal ones at this point, it’s Jonathan Boyd and someone named Bigfoot, who I presume would be Rip Morgan.
Koko Ware joins Lance and he’s got some kind of Mid-American title that I’ve never heard of before, and he’s going to defend against Buddy Landell coming up at some point.
And then Lance brings up the news that they had been putting off for the first ten minutes: Jerry Lawler has lost the loser leaves town match to Bill Dundee and he’s gone from the show. But first we take a special musical look at the King, as he fronts a rock band tribute to himself and sings about how he’s the world’s greatest wrestler. Apparently you can get the music video if you buy that Jerry Lawler tape for $29.95 (plus shipping and handling). Yeah I’m gonna have to review that on YouTube now.
Buddy Landel v. David Haskins
It’s the debut of ol’ Budro in Memphis, kicking off a pretty notable run for him. Haskins quickly gets some offense on Buddy, so Buddy beats on him with chops in the corner and puts the boots to him before tossing him to the floor and beating on him with chops some more out there. Back in, he cranks on the armbar, but Haskins makes the comeback, so Landel beats him down in the corner and then dedicates a standing dropkick to Lance. “Thanks a lot” Lance deadpans. Buddy goes back to the armbar and then slams him and finishes with the corkscrew elbow and figure-four at 3:43. David Haskins had a long career as Davey Rich later on as an enhancement guy for WCW. Afterwards, Landel joins Lance and he notes that every time he wins a title the promoters tell him that he has to prove himself all over again. For perspective, he had recently been NWA National champion and getting a pretty big push for Crockett, winning the title from Terry Taylor in a high profile match at Starrcade 85 a couple of months before. And then he got fired for failing a drug test and “lost” the belt to Dusty Rhodes in a match that didn’t actually happen. So now he’s in Memphis, where you can do whatever drugs you want.
Speaking of which…
The Blade Runners v. David Johnson & Jim Jameson
No fancy facepaint or gear for our bodybuilding friends yet. Steve Borden slams Johnson and manages to screw up an elbowdrop, and then Jim Hellwig says “Hold my beer” and comes in with a clothesline and half-assed big boot where he can barely get his leg into the air to deliver it. Another clothesline and he’s so stiff that he can barely move his arm, and they hit double press slams for the pin at 1:20. This was one of the most aggressively awful squashes you will ever see in your life. The fact that they both got as good as they did is a goddamn miracle.
Steve Keirn joins Lance, looking to get revenge on Bill Dundee on behalf of Jerry Lawler. Any time, any place, any stipulations.
The Fantastics v. Tony Falk & Dutch Mantel
Tony Falk is now wearing a Ric Flair robe after helping to send Jerry Lawler out of the territory, and Dutch clarifies that if they win a tag team match, then Falk’s losing streak is over. Fantastics are using ZZ Top’s “Tush” as their thirsty theme song of the week. I mean, it’s not exactly a song that’s open to multiple interpretations. Dutch has things in control and slugs down Fulton, but he decides to tag in Falk and the Fantastics immediately double-team him and Rogers puts him down with a dropkick. Falk tries to work the arm and Rogers takes him down and reverses to his own armbar. The Fans switch off on the arm while Dutch yells for the tag, but Falk keeps trying to get it done himself and fails. Finally he brings in Dutch, who cheats and rakes the eyes on Rogers before putting himself with a back elbow. Then he’s like “OK, here’s your chance!” and brings in Falk, but Rogers immediately makes a comeback on him and Falk has to run away again. The Fantastics double-team Falk’s arm some more and Fulton splashes the arm and then goes out to celebrate with the front row while Rogers works Falk over by himself. So Falk goes back to Dutch again but this time he also gets double-teamed, until hitting a cheap knee to the gut and dropping an elbow on Fulton. This time he decides not to tag Falk in and beats on Fulton himself with a snap suplex for two. “That’s how you do it!” he notes to Falk. So Tony gets all inspired and comes back in with a clothesline on Fulton for one and a neckbreaker for two. But then Fulton puts him down with a kneelift and makes the hot tag to Rogers, at which point Dutch pulls down the top rope and takes Rogers to the floor. He goes to beat on Tommy with a chair, but Rick Casey makes the save, and Tommy heads back into the ring with a sunset flip on Tony Falk to finish at 7:11 and end his dreams of winning a match. A tremendously entertaining tag match with a fun story.
Bill Dundee joins us for his celebration after beating Jerry Lawler, with all the heels joining him. So if you needed the sight of Jim Hellwig with a party hat and blowing on a noisemaker, this is where you get it. Next up for Bill: He’s going to win the World title from Ric Flair. So this would be the start of the famous Bill & Budro Show era of the territory and I’m here for it.
Bill Dundee v. Jerry Garmon
Bill destroys Garmon and finishes with a powerslam at 0:58. But then a guy named Big Red Reese hits the ring and attacks, laying out Dundee with an elbow. He wasn’t around much after this.
Tony Falk v. Rick Casey
Falk is so upset at not breaking his losing streak earlier in the show that he issues an open challenge here, and Casey answers. Lance thinks this probably won’t help Falk’s cause. Falk manages to cheat for a bit and controls with a kneedrop for one, but Casey casually reverses a hiptoss in mid-air and bulldogs him and pins him at 1:40.
That bulldog was so slick that Lance and Dave replay it after the break because they wanted to watch it, and then they recap the show and wrap it up for the week.
The Fantastics match was great for what was basically a TV squash and this is one of my favorite shows to review. It just makes me happy.