The SmarK Rant for Memphis Wrestling – 05.17.86

The SmarK Rant for Memphis Wrestling – 05.17.86

Taped from Memphis TN

Your host is Dave Brown, going solo this week. The theme for this week is that there’s a “World Cup Tag team tournament” coming up in the Mid-South Coliseum / Evansville, with the winning team going to Japan to represent Memphis at some point in the future. Of course that never happened.

Billy Travis, Jeff Jarrett & Uncle Elmer v. The Masked Patriot, Keith Eric & Blue Demon

For those of you wondering what Elmer was doing after he left the WWF, here you go. Interesting that he didn’t go back to Plowboy Frazier like he usually was in Memphis. Skinny young Jeff Jarrett controls the heels with armdrags and it’s over to Elmer, who hits Patriot with an avalanche in the corner and pins him with a legdrop at 1:16.

Rip Rogers stops by the desk to visit Dave, and introduces Baron Von Brauner as his new tag team partner, all the way from Germany. He looks more like a Minnesota Russian. This was kind of a disaster of an interview as Rip stumbled over his words and Von Brauner looked like he had no idea where to stand or what to do with himself.

Rip Rogers & Baron Von Brauner v. Frank Morrell & David Haskins

No idea who Von Brauner is, but he’s obviously referencing the famous tag team of the same name. I can’t find any information on him. The heels double-team Haskins and the Baron beats on him with forearms and goes to a bearhug. He goes up with a kneedrop to the back and takes Haskins to the floor for more clubbing forearms out there and a shot to the post. Back in the ring, the Baron goes to another bearhug and Rip chokes Haskins out. Baron with a slam for two but he picks Haskins up. He hits Haskins with a suplex and finishes with the IRON CLAW at 4:30, so you can see which German Baron he was trying to imitate, I guess. Obviously this guy didn’t last long, but he was at least competent enough as a basic evil German heel, I guess.

The Mod Squad joins us, and JD Costello points out that Basher’s face is severely burned on one side thanks to Jerry Lawler shooting fire all over the place. So now they’re literally gonna fight fire with fire and the Mods have a gas can and a pack of matches so they can burn Jerry alive the next time they see him.

The Mod Squad v. Jim Jamison & Don Donovan

Was their manager named Will Williams? Basher puts Jamison down with a clothesline and Spike comes in with his own clothesline. Spike drops him on the top rope and they switch off and puts the boots to him. To the floor and they double-team him out there and then haul him in and toss him out again while JD notes that Basher is having a lot of pain from his burn and keeps forgetting his manners. Over to Donovan and Spike quickly powerslams and pins him at 3:45.

Jos LeDuc & Dutch Mantel v. Tony Falk & Abdul Gadaffi

Brown points out that Falk is still winless, either in singles or tag matches. Dutch and LeDuc work on Gadaffi’s arm to start, and it’s over to Falk. He doesn’t fare any better and Dutch goes to a facelock before taking him down with a suplex and chinlock. Back to Gadaffi, who accidentally clotheslines Falk, and Dutch suplexes Falk and pins him at 3:34.

Eddie Marlin joins Dave to talk about issues with refereeing, and they’re looking for new referees to come to the territory and not be terrible. So Frank Morrell interrupts and he’s getting old and tired as a wrestler and he wants to be a referee and keep the peace in the area.

The Hunters v. Jerry Garman & Benny Trailer

The Hunters are new to the territory, although Dave notes they came from the Southeast and Georgia. They’re bald and have furry boots so we know they’re RUGGED. They smash Trailer and chase him out of the ring, and it’s over to Garman, who takes more generic punches and kicks from the Hunters. Apparently they don’t even have names, although one of them is clearly Dale Veasey from Crockett. They finish Garman with a bearhug at 3:04. I imagine they were just brought in for the week to do a job in the upcoming tag team tournament and then left again.

Uncle Elmer joins Dave and he’s here to stay, or so he claims. Or until the WWF starts sending cease and desist letters and makes them change the name.

Memphis Vice v. Pat Tanaka & Paul Diamond

So Frank Morrell is already a referee after applying for the job earlier in the show, and he’s about law and order and makes sure Lou Winston gives Diamond a clean break in the corner. So Jerry Bryant comes in and yanks Diamond’s hair, and Morrell pulls Bryant’s hair in response. Diamond comes back with a powerslam on Bryant and it’s over to Tanaka, who goes to work on the arm. Back to Winston, but they double-team him with a double elbow and keep working on his arm as well. But then Diamond gets caught in the heel corner and worked over until he fights out and brings Tanaka back in again. It’s BREAKING LOOSE IN TULSA and Bryan takes Tanaka down and pins him with his feet on the ropes at 5:00. But then Morrell changes his mind and reveres the decision, awarding the match to Tanaka & Diamond because of the cheating. Well he already sucks as a referee.

Jerry Lawler v. Buddy Landel

Morrell is the referee again, and they trade shoves into the corner off the lockup while Morrell yaps at Bill Dundee at ringside. Buddy takes him down with a hairpull while Dundee continues his running commentary at ringside, and then Lawler goes his own hairpulling behind the ref’s back while Dundee has the ref distracted. Lawler spends a couple of minutes doing a headlock and yanking on the hair over and over as the crowd goes crazy for him, but Buddy slugs out of it and the ref is bumped. So Dundee runs into the ring, but Morrell clotheslines him and calls for the DQ at 4:57. It will surprise no one to learn that the tag team tournament ended with Lawler & Austin Idol beating Bill & Budro in the finals. The match here was literally 5 minutes of Lawler working a headlock on Buddy to giant heat.

Another fun week in Memphis as we continue on with 86.