The SmarK Rant for Mid-South Wrestling – 06.19.82

The SmarK Rant for Mid-South Wrestling – 06.19.82

Taped from Shreveport, LA

Your hosts are Boyd Pierce & Bob Roop, who is currently being chased by both Ted Dibiase and Junkyard Dog.

“Dr. Death” Steve Williams v. Mike Bond

Bond tries for a takedown and Doc powers him up and puts him on the top rope. Roop notes that he should have just tied up the guy and slapped him around a little bit. Bond goes for a facelock and Doc throws him off and takes him down with some armdrags. Roop notes that the promotion is protecting Williams by not letting him challenge for the title, because they’re afraid Roop would out-wrestle him. Might not be far from the truth. Williams backdrops Bond out of the corner, still looking really stiff and deliberate in all his movements, and he finishes with the Oklahoma Stampede at 2:50. It was like watching one of those Hasbro WWF figures that could only move at the waist try to wrestle a match.

Bob Roop doesn’t want to brag, but he knows how to chase guys out of the territory, which he did to Paul Orndorff. And then we take a look back at Roop screwing Dibiase out of the North American title with the help of One Man Gang. And then Bob admits, that, yeah, he screwed Ted out of the title, but now there’s nothing Mid-South can do about it.

Ted Dibiase joins us and he doesn’t want to brag, but he’s deserving of a rematch for the title next week, and if he can’t win the title then he’ll leave the territory with no hard feelings. Also, yeah, he’s wearing a glove to protect his injured hand, but he would never use it to cheat like Roop is insinuating. Yeah, the idea of Ted Dibiase using a loaded glove? PREPOSTEROUS!

Ted Dibiase v. Billy “The Star Child” Starr

Dibiase controls with armdrags and dropkicks to start and Starr bails to the floor while Roop concedes that Dibiase is no slouch and he’s a super-talented wrestler. Back in the ring, Ted takes him down and works the arm while Roop continues complaining about the glove on Dibiase’s injured hand, completely without any evidence of Dibiase using it as an illegal weapon. Dibiase with the powerslam to finish at 1:57. See, the glove didn’t even factor into the match, Roop’s just paranoid.

Killer Khan v. King Cobra

Khan immediately chokes Cobra down and puts the boots to him and then ties him up with armbars on the mat. Khan with a backbreaker and he pounds away on the back, as Roop compares it to a table with no legs. Isn’t that just a piece of wood? Khan with choking on the ropes, but Cobra makes a comeback. So Khan uses the dreaded Mongolian Chops to put him down and then drops him on the top rope to block a headscissors. Russian legsweep and the flying kneedrop finish at 4:14. Khan certainly had an aura at this point thanks to the Andre feud.

Louisiana title: Junkyard Dog v. The Grappler

Holy shit, Dog is CUT UP this week. Dog works a headlock and counters a slam for two before clubbing Grappler down with clubbing forearms for two. Grappler bails to the floor, and back in JYD slugs him down and cradles for two. Dog with a chinlock and Grappler bails to the floor again, but necks Dog on the way in and puts the boots to him for two. Backbreaker gets two. Suplex gets two. He ties Dog up in the ropes, but Dog escapes that and legsweeps him for two. The ref takes a MAN SIZED bump off a suplex, flailing all the way to the floor, so the Assassin runs in and loads up his mask. Dog takes him out, but makes the mistake of punching Assassin in the loaded mask and hurts his hand. Dog with the Thump on Grappler with no ref, but the ref revives as One Man Gang comes in, and the match is thrown out at 5:30. Luckily Ted Dibiase saves his good friend JYD from suffering the same leg injury at the hands of the Gang that he did! Thankfully Dog has a friend like Ted Dibiase who understands that friendship is more important than money. Or titles.

Jesse Barr v. Hangman Harris

So this is ironic because the current gimmick for Harris is essentially the same one that Barr reinvented himself with in the WWF as Jimmy Jack Funk. Harris beats him down with forearms and goes to a chinlock while Roop stresses that Dibiase will be packing his bags after suffering a defeat next week. Barr runs Harris into the corner to escape the chinlock and makes the comeback with a flying headscissors, but Harris beats him down with elbows. Barr tries a rana, but Harris drops him on the top rope and finishes with a neckbreaker at 4:00. That was a hell of a finish for 1982.

Ernie Ladd v. Randy Base

But no, for some reason Ladd is refusing to wrestle the match according to the ref, so Jesse Barr comes out again and takes the match himself after just losing to the Hangman. So Barr runs wild right away and takes Base down with armbars and works on that, but puts his head down and Base hits him with a knee to take over. Barr comes back with a forearm to knock Base loopy in a wacky spot, and a slam gets two. Small package gets two. A very nice belly to belly suplex finishes at 2:23. Not sure what’s up with babyface Ladd refusing to wrestle a jobber here.

The One Man Gang & The Assassin v. Tony Torres & Mike Hudspeth

So now the jobbers are MIA this time as the heels wait for them in the ring and everyone seems confused about the situation. So in need of opponents, the call is answered by Junkyard Dog & Ernie Ladd. But then Gang and Assassin run away, wanting no part of this. Dog tells Ladd that they’ve had issues, but this one time he’s done Ladd a favor and now they’re even again.

Back at the desk, Bob Roop is disgusted by anyone who would stoop to taking out the scheduled opponent and stealing their match. Ha, tremendous heel line there. And they wrap it up.

Next week: Bob Roop defends the North American title against Ted Dibase in a no-DQ rematch! And if Dibiase doesn’t win the title, he leaves Mid-South!

Pretty excited to get to the next one, so we’ll see you then.