The SmarK Rant for Mid-South Wrestling – 06.26.82

The SmarK Rant for Mid-South Wrestling – 06.26.82

I’ve been legit excited to get to this one finally.

Taped from Shreveport, LA

Your hosts are Boyd Pierce & Bill Watts

BREAKING NEWS: Junkyard Dog has captured the North American title on June 21 in New Orleans! So tonight, Dog must vacate the Louisiana title, and then defend his newly won North American title against Ted Dibiase in a no DQ match, as promised. And, Bill notes, JYD was the best man at Dibiase’s wedding, so this might be a tough situation.

Junkyard Dog does a promo talking about how he’s going to defend his new title just as hard and often as he did the Louisiana title.

Ted Dibiase responds to the awkward situation he’s now in, forced to challenge his best friend for his newly won title in a match where he has to leave Mid-South if he loses. But, he notes, JYD doesn’t put food on his family’s table, and it’s only business.

Junkyard Dog is back again, and he knows that Dibiase is a fair man, and he understands business.

Bob Roop joins us next, and he’s the one who got ripped off! Apparently Dibiase got injured before his scheduled title match with Roop, and JYD stepped in and won the title, which Roop considers very unfair. So Roop challenges JYD next week for a rematch!

Steve Williams v. Jeff Sword

Sword was a pretty good hand who worked under a variety of territories. Sword gives Doc a cheapshot on the ropes and runs away while Bill talks about his son Micah winning a 12-and-under wrestling tournament with the help of a hold taught him by David and Mark Schultz as Bill drops another set of names who would become more famous later. Sword with a test of strength and Doc wins that, so Sword hides in the ropes again to break. Sword slugs away in the corner while Cowboy talks about how he was always a loner because then he didn’t have to worry about relying on others to feed his family. Oklahoma Stampede finishes at 3:10. Williams continues to look so awkward and stiff early in his career.

Big John Studd & Super Destroyer v. Ernie Kirkland & David Price

Did Watts buy the jobbers at Costco? Studd and Destroyer were billed as the International tag team champions, and Watts bitches about guys getting “chewed up by the threshing machine” of Mid-South and then going to Atlanta and becoming bigger stars. Much like Super Destroyer did once, apparently. So you see, wrestling promoters being tribal and weird about stuff was absolutely not a thing invented by today’s business. Destroyer slams Price around the ring and puts him on the top rope for the superplex. Over to Studd, who finishes with the body vice at 2:20. Super D was Scott “Hog” Irwin at this point, by the way.

North American title, No DQ: Junkyard Dog v. Ted Dibiase

So if Dibiase can’t win the title here, he leaves the territory. Bob Roop joins us for commentary here, and he assures Boyd that he won’t interfere because it’ll cost him $2500 and it’s LOW CLASS. Also he wants to make sure Dibiase doesn’t have any excuses when he has to leave Mid-South. They trade takedowns to start and Ted rolls up the Dog for two. Dog with a small package for two. They fight over a wristlock while Roop relates the history between Dibiase and JYD, like when JYD was blinded and Ted acted as a seeing eye dog for him. They continue tentatively locking up, and Dog holds off from dropping a fist on Dibiase, and then gets another chance to hit a big move on Ted and holds up again. Meanwhile Roop tries to use the transitive property of math on the situation, noting that if he can’t beat Dog, and Dibiase can’t beat him, then Dibiase can’t beat Dog. The math checks out! Dog teases the Thump and then just slams Dibiase for two instead. Dibiase with his own powerslam for two and he starts working on Dog’s leg with a spinning toehold until Dog kicks him out of the ring and Dibiase injures himself on the fall. So Dog goes out and helps Ted back in the ring…and Dibiase pulls out the loaded glove and knocks Dog out cold, pinning him at 5:20 to win the title! Roop: “I KNEW IT! HE’S BEEN PLANNING THAT FOR WEEKS!” Well we know that money is the most important thing to Ted Dibiase. And Dog sells it like death, just laying there unconscious to really put it over.

Meanwhile, we are joined by VINCE MCMAHON JR from MSG, as he sits down with Andre the Giant. Andre, who just got the cast off his foot, isn’t worried about Killer Khan. And then Vince throws it to a TV segment from Championship Wrestling, from when Andre still had the cast on his foot. Andre is confident that he’ll be back in four or five weeks, but Freddie Blassie storms out and declares that Andre is all through as a wrestler, so Andre nails him with his crutch. This brings out Killer Khan, who nails Andre in the leg with the crutch and manages to take out Vince with the shot as well, and Andre takes a bump to the floor. Back at MSG, Andre is PISSED and he’s gonna destroy Killer Khan. Man that feud made so much money. Also how bonkers is it that Watts was showing footage from the WWF on this show?

Killer Khan v. Joe Stark

Khan beats Stark down with kicks while Watts laments that Dog isn’t even entered in the tournament for the Louisana title and has lost two titles in one day. Flying knee finishes for Khan at 1:54.

Col. Buck Robley v. Billy “The Star Child” Starr

Robley has always been a blind spot with me, as I really only know him as a booker and never saw him work. He looks kind of like Skinner with an arm protector gimmick. Apparently he had a very creative mind, though. Robley takes Starr down and drops a knee on him, and then goes to a chinlock before hitting a back elbow for two. Sleeper finishes at 3:40. He seems like kind of an odd fit as a babyface here.

Ernie Ladd & Tom Jones v. One Man Gang & The Grappler

The Assassin wants to finish things right now, so he tells Ladd to go find a third person and make it a six-man. So Ladd finds Buck Robley and and they all brawl to the expiration of TV time.

Hell of an episode!