The SmarK Rant for Memphis Wrestling – 01.22.83

The SmarK Rant for Memphis Wrestling – 01.22.83

The 86 Memphis stuff is hitting a bit of a lull for me lately, so I’m gonna jump back in time and line up with the rest of the territory reviews back in January 1983 for fun.

Your hosts are Lance Russell & Dave Brown

We start with a music video about the Fabulous Ones to Billy Squier’s “Keep Me Satisfied”, featuring a LOT of strutting.

The Fabulous Ones v. The Invader & Pat Hutchinson

So the Fabs are obviously fans of Squier because they also use “Everybody Wants You” as their entrance song here. Which is kind of a depressing self-own because it sounds like a rocking song about getting chicks but it’s actually a pretty sad story about lonely rock stars who self-medicate with groupies and booze because they can’t handle fame. Stan takes the Invader down and shakes his ass for the fans before going to an armbar. Keirn with a slam for two and he forces Invader to tag out to Hutchinson for fun. And Keirn takes him down and spanks him a little bit for fun. Stan comes in and uses the Florida Man Karate on Hutchinson, and they hit him with nice High Low to finish at 3:43. Hard to overstate just how gigantic the Fabs were in Memphis.

Meanwhile, Lance lets us know we’re watching the Louisville tapes here, as we get an incredibly hyperactive promo from Jimmy Hart and his men Bobby Eaton and Sabu in advance of a tag match against Jerry Lawler & Koko Ware. Hart was incredible here.

Previously on the show, Jimmy Hart shows off his new Mid-America title that Bobby Eaton won for him, but Sweet Brown Sugar has had enough of being disrespected by his manager and fights back, prompting Jimmy to slap him around because he doesn’t want excuses, he wants RESULTS. So later in the show, Sugar accidentally hits Bobby Eaton with a missile dropkick during a tag match, allowing Terry Taylor to score an upset win. So Hart gets involved again and puts Sweet Brown Sugar in his place again. Later in the show, Jimmy orders him to apologize and shine Jimmy’s boots, and he’s not even being metaphorical. So Sugar doesn’t answer and he’s FIRED. And then later on, the new team of Bobby Eaton & Sabu are brutalizing Jerry Lawler and then move onto Eddie Marlin, but the newly liberated Sweet Brown Sugar makes the save and lays them all out with dropkicks.

Bobby Eaton & Sabu v. Aaron Holt & ? McCoy

No first name on McCoy but I’m sure it doesn’t matter. He’s a doctor, not an enhancement talent! Sabu is not the more famous one, of course, but rather the guy previously known as Coco Samoa in Mid-South. I always thought that Cornette dubbed him “Beautiful Bobby Eaton” but actually he had that name here, before the birth of the Midnight Express. The heels double-team Holt while Jimmy Hart rants on commentary in a manner that I would say is coked up if we didn’t know that Jimmy is just naturally in a state of hysteria 24/7 and probably won’t ever age. UPDATE: It’s WILLIE McCoy. Now I can sleep. They just destroy McCoy and Sabu pins him with a legdrop at 4:00.

Jerry Lawler & Koko Ware v. The Masked Marauders

I’m not 100% clear on the transition from Sweet Brown Sugar to Koko Ware as far as the storyline. I guess because he was already Koko and Jimmy Hart dubbed him “Sweet Brown Sugar” as a heel and then took the name back when Koko got fired from the First Family? I’m also guessing that in real life it was because Skip Young was the bigger star and had the name first and didn’t want confusion. Lawler goes for a Marauder’s mask and can’t get it, but annoys him enough that he bails and tags in the other Marauder. Koko hits that guy with the dropkick, and then the faces hit them both with double dropkicks for the pin at 3:45. Fun squash.

Adrian Street & Apocalypse v. Ira Reese & King Cobra

Another notable young manager here, as Jimmy Cornette manages the heels. Apocalypse is Mike Boyette playing a masked ninja of some sort, and Cobra hits him with a running forearm right away for two and takes him down with an armbar. So it’s over to Street, who puts the boots to Cobra in the corner to take over. Back to the terrifying ninja in pajama pants, who goes to a neck vice and beats on him with chops to the throat and goes to a Boston crab. Cobra powers out and brings Reese in, but Apocalypse puts him down with more vaguely defined martial arts and they hit Reese with a double slam and a suplex from Street that gets two. So it looks like Apocalypse isn’t actually masked, but rather he’s wearing a faceless mask and facepaint, making him look like he’s wearing some kind of bonnet. They finish Reese with a faceplant at 5:30. Holy crap was Boyette terrible here. Cornette looked like a college kid hanging out at ringside during a break.

Terry Taylor & Bill Dundee v. The Angel & Jesse Barr

Taylor was coming off his Mid-Atlantic run as a “rookie” sensation and won the Southern title pretty quickly into his Memphis run. Angel is good old Frank Morrell, man of a 1000 gimmicks in Memphis. Dundee and Taylor frustrate the heels to start and Dundee outwrestles Barr in the ropes, but Jesse takes him down and works the arm. Interesting that Jesse was playing a squeaky clean underneath babyface in Mid-South at this point and exploring his heel side in Memphis at the same time. Taylor comes in and Barr cuts him off with a kneelift and takes him down with a hairpull, so it’s back to Dundee. Barr hits him with a knee to the gut and a kneelift to take over. Angel comes in and continues to work the mid-section and slams Dundee, but Bill fights him off and Barr has to come in and save the tag. Dundee gets the tag anyway and Taylor runs wild, but Barr runs them together and gets two on Terry. Barr with a bearhug and they hit Taylor with a double backdrop and then Angel gets another backdrop for two. But then they try to run the faces together and Taylor hits Angel with a crossbody and pins him at 7:30. Decent little match as Barr was showing way more fire and personality here than he was in Mid-South.

And after another rundown of the upcoming Louisville card, where Lance makes it sound like Wrestlemania, we head back to the studio and wrap things up.

Lots to unpack on this one! Sadly the real atomic bomb doesn’t hit the territory until the very end of the year, but this is pretty fun as it is.