The SmarK Rant for Memphis Wrestling – 04.26.86

The SmarK Rant for Memphis Wrestling – 04.26.86

Randomly back to Memphis this week as we tour the territories.

Your hosts are Lance Russell & Dave Brown

Billy Travis v. The Masked Patriot

The Patriot is of course not the more famous version from a decade later. Travis is the International champion but this is a non-title match. They trade hammerlocks and Travis takes him down and Patriot hides in the ropes a couiple of times to escape. Billy takes him down with a chinlock and hits him with a back elbow before going to an armbar. Patriot gets some offense and Travis just cuts him off cold and actually knocks the mask off the guy with what look like really stiff shots, and the un-Masked Patriot walks out at 3:23 and gets counted out. What the heck happened with THAT finish?

Rip Rogers joins Lance, making his debut in Memphis, and he’s tired of all the people in the area trying to be pretty boys with great hair instead of being great wrestlers. Also he complains about not getting a rematch with Billy Travis for the International title, although Lance points out that he got his shot and lost. So Rip points out that wrestling is based on POLITICS and not talent, because otherwise he’d be World champion.

Rip Rogers v. Jim Jamison

Rip promises 90 seconds for the win here. He runs Jamison into the turnbuckles and drops an elbow on him, and then tosses him to the floor and demands to know where the real competition, like Jerry Lawler, is hiding. Back in the ring, Rip drops forearms on him and puts him into a Boston crab for the submission at 2:20, which is almost a minute past his self-imposed deadline.

Lance Russell runs down the action coming up in Evansville, including Bill & Budro teaming up with Tony Falk to take on Jerry Lawler, Jeff Jarrett & Jos LeDuc. That’s quite the six-man team on the babyface side. Jeff was literally a month into the business at this point, for those who have forgotten, working as a referee as a teenager until Bill & Buddy attacked him and turned him into a wrestler out of revenge. Also I must have missed a babyface turn for LeDuc because he was a vicious heel last I saw.

Meanwhile, Bill & Budro send in a tape where they complain about Jerry Lawler ducking them by rigging a fan-voting contest to determine his challenger, which resulted in Lawler facing Tony Falk instead of Buddy at the Mid-South Coliseum. So we get clips of Lawler facing Falk, which Bill interprets as Lawler being a bogus cowardly champion who is afraid to face Bill Dundee because he doesn’t want to lose another loser-leaves-town match. So we get another clip of Lawler’s cowardice, which is Lawler making the save when they were “heroically” beating the crap out of Jeff Jarrett & Jos LeDuc. Hilarious gaslighting bullshit from these guys that made no sense but was delivered with confidence.

Jerry Lawler joins us back at the studio, and he reveals that the TV editor was visited by Bill & Budro and forced him to edit together a story to make Lawler look like a coward. So Jerry explains that yeah, he denied Dundee a title rematch because Dundee made him wait for four months last time, so instead he let the fans vote for who should get a title match. And the fans voted for Tony Falk fair and square, despite the claims of Buddy Landel. So Lawler has his own footage of the match with Falk, as Tony cheats like crazy with nothing to lose, but Lawler makes the comeback and beats him down in the corner until Bill & Budro run in for the DQ and beat Lawler down. So Jos LeDuc and Jeff Jarrett are doing a match later in the evening, but Tony Falk runs in for the DQ and then get into a brawl with Bill & Budro, which is where Lawler makes the save. So Lawler again promises that Bill Dundee will never get another shot at the Southern title because he’s a LIAR.

The Mod Squad v. David Haskins & Frank Morell

Tony Falk is with the Mod Squad and makes the sad announcement that JD Costello’s mother has passed away, so he’s out of action for a while, as he settles the estate. So Falk is their manager for the moment. Morell actually gets some shots on the Squad to start and rubs Spike’s face on the mat, and Haskins comes in and works the arm. But then he misses the dropkick and the Mod Squad takes over, so Morell just comes in and rams them together. But Tony Falk takes the ref and Basher uses a chain on Morell, busting him open. Why the hell is Morell doing a bladejob on the morning TV show? The Squad keeps beating him down, and then Falk just comes in and piledrives Haskins and it’s a DQ at 3:35. And they do a pretty gory beatdown on Morell, pounding on the cut with the chain to bust him open even more until the babyfaces hit the ring and make the save.

Tony Falk and his other charge, Abdul Gaddafi, have some words for Dutch Mantel, but Billy Travis storms in for a sneak attack and it goes badly for him, as the heels destroy him 2-on-1, as you’d expected. And now Travis is also busted open and this time Dutch makes the save and chases them off. So is Tony Falk the heel manager for the territory now? I’m assuming JD Costello’s mother dying was covering for him leaving for whatever reason.

Dutch Mantell v. The Undertaker

No. Not him. Just a masked bloke who was half of a masked team called The Undertakers, but has now gone solo. Dutch is already threatening to unmask Undertaker to keep up with Travis and his unmasking of the Patriot earlier, and he beats Undertaker down and goes to work on the arm. Undertaker bails to the floor to escape Dutch’s unmasking attempt. Back in, Dutch goes for the mask again and the ref even tells him to knock it off. Undertaker pounds on him in the corner to take over, but Dutch comes back with an elbow and drops an elbow for the pin at 2:41.

Back to the Evansville hype interviews, as a very very young Jeff Jarrett does one of his first promos, and then Jos LeDuc does an unhinged promo that kind of reminds me of Kevin Owens with his delivery.

Jeff Jarrett & Jos LeDuc v. Pat Rose & Abdul Gaddafi

LeDuc beats on Gaddafi in the corner as they have the 1986 verison of a MEAT match, and Gaddafi brings Rose in instead. Jos grabs a headlock and then hauls Rose to the corner and smashes him with forearms, and then pulls a dropkick! Jeff Jarrett comes in for the first time on TV I’ve seen, weighing all of 150 pounds, and takes Rose down with armdrags and works the arm. But then Gaddafi gets a cheapshot from the apron and comes in to choke Jarrett down and drops an elbow for one. Rose comes in with a back elbow for two, but Gaddafi misses an elbow and it’s hot tag Jos LeDuc. Now there’s a sentence I don’t type very often. And then Tony Falk runs in for the DQ at 6:20 as he’s just ALL OVER this episode. That’s a big push for a guy who still doesn’t have a win yet. Match was fine, just a way to get JJ some reps and work as a face in peril for a few minutes.

And Lance & Dave wrap things up for another week.

I don’t know what’s up with pushing Tony Falk as the main heel of the promotion all of a sudden but Bill & Budro are still great!