The SmarK Rant for Mid-South Wrestling – 12.06.84

The SmarK Rant for Mid-South Wrestling – 12.06.84

Originally written 07.23.26

I’ve got one in the archives that the WWE Network put up back in the day, which was supposedly December 1, but it’s clearly from later on. So we’ll probably run into it later on.

Taped from Shreveport, LA

Your hosts are Boyd Pierce & Cowboy Bill Watts and Boyd is EXCITED!

BREAKING NEWS: We have NEW Mid-South tag team champions, but you’re gonna have to wait to hear who they are. So there. I could spoil it early but I don’t want Cowboy Bill to come to my house and mess me up.

BREAKING NEWS: OK so Bill is just gonna go ahead and reveal the answer right away. So we take you back to December 3 in New Orleans, as the Rock N Roll Express defend against Ted Dibiase and Sheik Hercules, and it’s BREAKING LOOSE IN TULSA with Dibiase bumping to the floor. So Ricky goes after Akbar while Robert pins Hercules with the ref distracted. But Buddy Landel slips Dibiase his loaded glove, and he drops the loaded fist on Robert and pins him to win the tag team titles! Man, from tag team champions to Dibiase trying to sell his partner into slavery just 4 years later. Wrestling can be a harsh business.

Meanwhile, the new champions do their promo via Akbar, and he warns Butch Reed that $10,000 is still owed for that Rolex that got wrecked a couple of weeks back. Dibiase was such an awesome slimy heel at this point.

The Rock N Roll Express v. Terry Ellis & Randy Barber

The Express hits Ellis with a double backdrop while Bill talks about how they ran the Midnight Express out of the territory, and they pin him at 1:00.

Mid South TV Title: Superstar Bill Dundee v. Buddy Landel

THE BILL AND BUDRO SHOW EXPLODES! So this was advertised last week as Dundee v. Adrian Street again, but it appears that last week’s show was Street’s last appearance on TV and he put over Terry Taylor in Loser Leaves Town matches on the house circuit to end his run. Bill takes him down while Cowboy notes that Buddy is a loud mouthed jerk who lies constantly and takes credit for anything around him that he thinks is good. Reminds me of someone else. Dundee misses a charge and Budro works the arm and backdrops him for two and then whips him into the corner and puts the boots to him. Buddy with a backbreaker for two. They collide and Dundee bumps to the floor off that, so Buddy rams him into the railing and Cowboy notes that there’s technically no rule disallowing it. Dundee is busted open and Buddy hits him with the corkscrew elbow in the ring and pins him to win the title at 4:00! Buddy was getting hot and I’m not surprised they put a title on him at this point.

North American title: Ernie Ladd v. Hacksaw Butch Reed

Buddy Landel immediately runs down to give Ladd some insight on Reed, but Butch rams them together and puts Ladd in a front facelock. Buddy trips him up from outside, but Reed slugs away and backdrops him. Ladd finally bumps the ref in desperation, so Reed tosses Buddy onto Ladd, at which point Kamala makes his return and attacks Reed, hitting him with splashes to draw the DQ at 2:30. And Kamala starts wrecking jobbers who are running in to help, chopping them down while Cowboy sells it like he’s Godzilla rampaging across Tokyo.

The ALAMO BUSTERS v. Mike Jackson & Jimmy Powell

Man the Guerreros v. Rock N Roll Express from this time would have ruled. I think that comes in 1985. Jackson works the arm on Chavo while Cowboy sermonizes about extreme poverty in Mexico and how the Guerreros actually come from a higher class there and have never experienced it. Guerreros with a double elbow on Jackson and Chavo blocks a sunset flip and slugs him down. Jackson fights back on him and it’s over to Powell, and the Guerreros are done selling at that point. Hector with a slingshot splash and he wraps up the guy in a rear choke on the mat, and Chavo comes in with a swanton onto his exposed belly and pins him at 3:00. That’s a cool finish.

Magnum TA v. Steve Williams

Williams takes TA down and tries to ride him, but TA escapes that and gets his own takedown. TA works the arm with a wristlock and Doc powers out of that, but he misses a blind charge and TA goes back to the arm again and cranks on that. Doc takes him down with a hairpull and runs him into the turnbuckle to escape before going to a bearhug and following with a backbreaker. Back to the bearhug, but he misses a charge and Magnum makes a comeback with a dropkick and slugs away in the corner, getting so worked up that he tosses the ref aside. But that allows Doc to grab his football helmet and waffle TA for the DQ at 5:00. Man poor Magnum is just taking a beating on his way to Crockett.

Brad Armstrong v. Jack Victory

Brad makes his debut after a big run in Georgia. He takes Victory down and goes for the arm to start and Bill notes that he respects Brad because he knows that without pain there is no gain. And then he goes onto a rant about Madison Square Garden and how he went there to watch the competition and he was impressed by the fans there chanting BORING for the boring matches because the matches were so boring. Victory fights out of the armbar, but Brad catches him in a sleeper and sends him to Dream Street at 3:00.

Ted Dibiase & Sheik Hercules v. Terry Taylor & Tim Horner

Hercules works a headlock on Terry as Watts once again promises the TV debut of Private Terry Daniels, even though he’s promised that for like two weeks in a row now. The faces double-team Hercules in the corner and work the arm while Cowboy tells a story about how Taylor got so sick that his father (a doctor, which is a shoot) told him to retire. But he came back! I know Taylor got into a car accident at some point and had a big chunk of his intestines removed as a result of the seat belt damaging him, but I’m not sure if that’s what Bill is referring to. Horner comes in and runs wild for a bit, but Sheik Hercules suplexes him to cut him off and then pops him up into a faceplant to take over. Herc with a knee to the gut and Dibiase comes in with a kneedrop, as the champs double-team Horner in the corner. Herc uses a running gutbuster and stomps Tim down, but he tries another faceplant and Horner reverses to a sunset flip for two. Hot tag Terry and he slugs away on the heels, but collides with Herc for a double down. Back to Horner, but Butch Reed runs down and destroys Akbar on the floor, running him into the post and slamming him on the floor as Akbar gleefully sells it like death. But Dibiase loads up the ISOTONER OF DEATH and knocks out Horner for the pin at 5:30. Akbar with his shirt all torn open on the floor is hilarious, just selling the hell out of the beating from Reed. And that’s all we’ve got time for this week!

This era is great and sadly I’ve only got a couple of weeks left to review before I run into the 1985 stuff I already did. I will definitely enjoy it while I can, and this was a hell of a show.