The SmarK Rant for Mid-South Wrestling – 12.18.82

The SmarK Rant for Mid-South Wrestling – 12.18.82

So with a little over a month left in the WWE Network’s existence, I’m betting that all the Mid-South stuff won’t be moving over, so we gotta wrap up 1982 before then. Luckily there’s only a couple of episodes left.

Taped from Shreveport, LA

Your hosts are Boyd Pierce & Cowboy Bill Watts. This week, Bill has been given a mysterious mannequin head by Mr. Wrestling II, where someone has put a mask of his with a blood stain and a note threatening him again. Bill is disgusted by these kind of backdoor shenanigans, when it’s supposed to be a MAN’S business.

Chavo Guerrero v. Marty Lunde

Chavo takes Marty down, but Lunde slams him, so Chavo hits a flying forearm off a pair of leapfrogs for two. Chavo with the surfboard, but Marty hits him in the abs with a headbutt and drops a leg to take over. Lunde slugs away in the corner but goes up and misses a fistdrop, allowing Chavo to make the comeback with a dropkick and a hip attack. Marty bails to the floor and Chavo hits him with a pescado here in 1982, and then goes up with a missile dropkick and a somersault senton to finish at 3:20. Chavo was doing the equivalent of Ricochet stuff here and this was pretty awesome for a TV squash. You can see Watts letting Lunde have more and more offense as he goes along early in his career.

Kamala v. Lester Parks

So Skandor Akbar has paid the jobber a bonus to wear a mask here in this match, as a way to motivate Kamala to destroy anyone and everyone who wears masks in Mid-South. Mostly Stagger Lee, but also Mr. Wrestling and Mr. Olympia if need be. Also Kamala has the last mask he stole on the spear as a trophy. So Kamala beats Parks down with chops and a back elbow, and then hits the big splash a few times and pins him at 1:15. Then he gets his bonus of tearing off the mask and adding it to his spear. I’d be nervous if I was Friday. That’s a great simple storyline to build him up as a challenger for Stagger Lee.

Ted Dibiase & Matt Borne v. Stagger Lee & Mr. Wrestling II

Big brawl to start as Stagger clears the ring, as he’s now down to long tights and a mask instead of the full bodysuit he started out with. Stagger beats on Dibiase and Wrestling II comes in and backdrops him, causing the heels to retreat again. Back in the ring, Stagger hits Dibiase with a headbutt from the apron and Dibiase takes a great bump off that and finally gives up and lets Borne try. Wrestling II immediately hits him with a kneelift and the babyfaces work him over in the corner, with Stagger hitting a clothesline for two. Stagger with a series of backbreakers on Borne, but the heels finally manage to hit a cheapshot on II and Dibiase takes over with a kneedrop. But he dives over and makes the hot tag to Stagger Lee, who hits Dibiase with a clothesline for a double down. Borne tries to come off the top but gets caught by the ref, so Dibiase goes after the mask and the ref pulls him off and tries to stop him. But now that allows Borne to come off the top again, and this time Stagger Lee nails him on the way down and pins him at 6:00. This was tremendous.

Louisiana title: Hacksaw Jim Duggan v. Tony Atlas

They cut promos on each other before the match, as Tony promises to deliver every punch to Duggan’s face on behalf of his friend JYD. So Duggan demands an arm wrestling rematch before he’ll begin wrestling properly, and Atlas is fine with that. So Atlas flashes him several times and they slug it out, allowing Duggan to pound him down and drop elbows on him to take over. Atlas fires back and Duggan is swinging at air desperately like he’s Mike Tyson, until Atlas puts him on the floor with a headbutt. Duggan is trying to collect his wits according to Watts, but it’s only a one hour show so that’s not a great idea. But then Borne and Dibiase run in and Atlas kicks their asses, bumping the ref in process. But this allows Duggan to put a loaded mask on, hit Atlas with the running headbutt, and pin him to retain at 3:14. Bill disgustedly calls them THE RAT PACK, which I believe was the origin of that name.

Gino Hernandez v. Mr. Olympia

Goddamn this is a banger episode. They fight for a lockup while we sadly switch to Paul Boesch on commentary again. They trade hammerlocks and Olympia wins that battle and takes him down with a leglock. Gino makes the ropes and asks for a test of strength, so Olympia walks the ropes and takes him down with an armdrag off that. Gino hides in the ropes again and takes over with a series of elbows before putting the boots to him in the corner. Olympia fights back, so Gino tosses him twice and Olympia takes a pretty big bump off those but then slugs back in the ring. Gino hides in the ropes again, so Olympia slugs away on him anyway, but he misses a blind charge and posts himself, as Gino gets two. Olympia with a small package for two. They collide for a double down and Olympia gets a backslide for two and a bodypress for two. Olympia with the sleeper, but Gino runs him into the turnbuckle and Olympia takes another bump to the floor off that. Back in the ring with a suplex and Gino goes up with his shitty elbow off the middle rope to finish at 7:29. Better than usual for Gino at this point.

Iron Mike Sharpe & Tim Horner v. John & Rick Davidson

Sharpe hits both brothers with armdrags and cranks on Rick with a headlock. Horner continues with that on John, and then brings in Sharpe for a donnybrook and Mike actually throws a dropkick and pins a Davidson at 2:18.

Kelly Kiniski v. Buddy Landel

Buddy takes him down with armdrags, still in his dark haired babyface phase, and works a hammerlock on the mat. Kelly rolls him up, but Buddy slams him to take over again and they trade headlocks on the mat. Kelly cradles for two, but Buddy comes back with a gutwrench for two. They do a nice exchange of cradles for two and trade headlocks again with time running out, and Buddy dropkicks him for two. Kelly with a sunset flip for two, but time expires at 5:00.

NEXT WEEK: Ted Dibiase & Matt Borne defend the tag team title against Stagger Lee & Mr. Wrestling II in a loser leaves town match!