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Butch Reed vs Buzz Sawyer - Mid-South 12/31/85 Dog Collar Match Think about the roster Mid-South had at this time on the heel side you had Dick Slater, Dick Murdoch and Buzz Sawyer, which is pretty great. Then get a load of the babyface side: Hacksaw Jim Duggan, Ted DiBiase, Butch Reed and Jake Roberts. That is bonkers deep. Reed is looking for revenge on Sawyer. Sawyer wants a Dog Collar match and Reed is like you are playing right into my hand, sucka. Reed gets his No DQ match. I watched this six months ago and thought it was every bit as good as the Duggan Dog Collar match and still think so. It is just violence and hatred personified. I really like how such small mistakes can have such devastating consequences in a match like this. For instance, by missing one punch at the beginning, Sawyer gets his ass beat for the next five minutes and is bleeding like a stuck pig. Reed is great at hollering and really playing up how he much he enjoy beating Sawyer up. I loved the chain pressed against the cut. The same thing applied to Reed when he missed a fist drop now Sawyer could take over on him and really do a number on him and bust him open. It was a total war of attrition. I loved that Dog Bark Sawyer did. One of his chain whips sounded brutal on Reed's head. It was scary and crazy. Both men are exhausted and Reed bowls him over, but cant stand himself. Sawyer and rips off his Dog Collar and ties Reed to the bottom rope. Reed comes out of his funk and realizes his plight, but it is too late the Mad Dog sneak attacks. Then in one of the most brutal finishes of all time Sawyer goes to bulldog Reed, but because he is tied to the bottom rope he is yanked back violently to the ground. OUCH! 1-2-3, Buzz Sawyer wins. Slater and Sawyer look to double team Reed, but Duggan saves only to be clothesline brutally by the chain right before his North American heavyweight title match with Dicky Slater. Awesome, awesome violent spectacle. Sawyer was totally out of control and Reed was awesome as the avenging babyface. What an insane finish! Easy top 10 Mid-South match of all time. ****1/2 -
Mid-South Tag Team Champions Butch Reed & Jim Neidhart vs Mr. Wrestling II & Magnum TA - Mid-South 12/25/83 Steel Cage Mid-South is probably the territory I know the least about in terms of the American Power 6 of the 1980s (WWF, Crockett, AWA, WCCW, Mempho, and Mid-South). I have understood that is generally considered one of the best booked territories and has among the best episodic TV ever produced in pro wrestling all under the helm of Bill Watts. Of course, this presents a problem watching a "Best Of" comp without much context, but hey that's what Kayfabe Memories is for. In 1983, it seems Mid-South had transitioned to having Butch Reed be the co-lead heel of the territory. While DiBiase and Duggan were having a blood feud that carried the territory in terms of sheer hatred. Reed and the ever-popular Junkyard Dog feuded over the North American Championship. Magnum TA was plucked from relative obscurity (Florida mid-card scene, I believe) and was immediately pushed as Duggan's tag partner and tag champion, but with the need to focus Duggan (co-lead face) elsewhere veteran Mr. Wrestling II and all his booty-shaking glory was introduced as TA's mentor. The angle that led to this tag match was two-fold. Mags & Duggan lost the tag titles to Reed & Neidhart (Neidhart was a heel du jour) and they ran a hot TV angle as an off shoot of the JYD and Reed feud. Reed was supposed to defend the title against the Dog, but balked and instead gave the title shot to the young up and comer, Magnum TA, which he thinks would easy pickins. However, when JYD was made special guest ref, it became anything but that and Magnum TA became the North American Champion! A meteoric rise for the newcomer! Due to some technicalities, the title change was reversed and now Magnum TA who had tasted the gold only to have it ripped away from him wanted to prove he could do it again against the arrogant asshole, Butch Reed. Instead of coming after his North American Title, he was going to share his glory with mentor, Mr. Wrestling II. Butch Reed is really fucking good. I have heard it bandied around that he is the greatest black wrestler of all time and having watched a Flair match, I knew he was good, but seeing him here makes me excited to see more Butch Reed. He was a fantastic big bumper for the faces in the beginning. He did a nice Flair Flip and bumped huge for Mr. Wrestling II's famous kneelift. A couple things about presentation in this match, in my smattering of Mid-South watching, it seems most of the footage we have is shot from one hard camera in the corner and sans commentary. I ain't complaining as long as we get to see the action, I'm cool. The steel cage does not rest on the apron, but actually goes to the floor thus there is an area to powder and it makes taking cage bumps a little more difficult. Neidhart tries to slow TA down with an eyerake, but does not consolidate the advantage and TA overwhelms the heels. Reed finally stymies Mags by throwing him into the cage, which I said before is complicated as he goes over the top rope into the cage and then falls the floor in a nasty bump. Mags blades and the heels are content to send him into the cage, The camera zooms in and I think this is going to be the opposite of WCW where they zoom in on the blood, but instead we get a long close up of Mr. Wrestling II. TA uses shoulderblocks and rolls around to avoid Neidhart and tags out to II. II is a great hot tag and as a knee lift mark I think we are going to get along well. Neidhart trips him up. Pretty good heat segment ensues with some impressive power spots from the heels like a Neidhart Samoan Drop and Reed flying shoulderblock. II shows some good underneath fire. The heels get cocky and keep pulling up II. The Anvil goes after the mask and he yanks it off! He is very proud of himself, but II was wearing another mask. Reed is frantic trying to get Neidhart to turn around. II, unphased, tags in Mags, who unloads on the heels. Belly to Belly on the Anvil, cover, II leaps over the cover to hit Reed with a kneelift. WOW! Great finish. There were some parts where they were kind of out of sync and it seems Magnum's strong suit at this time is selling. It is ok because II makes up for it in spades with great offensive fire. Neidhart was a perfectly servicable heel and Reed was badass. I love the cage spots and thought the finish was fantastic. Still needed some more heat or a more interesting hook to take it to an all-time classic level, still a great match! ****
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Some stuff has been written about the racial politics of this feud before that I won’t get into again, but it’s definitely evident and interesting to follow. Slater goads Reed into putting the North American title on the line, with the stipulation that if Reed wins, he gets the services of Dark Journey for 90 days. This is a terrific TV match. Slater didn’t make much of an impression with me the first time around on the Mid South set, but this match was solid. I loved Slater’s elbow cutoff when Butch put his head down for the back body drop when Slater came off the ropes. They cut a hard pace in this one. Slater ends up winning after pulling the tights, but Tommy Gilbert saw it and ordered the match to continue, which is a great way to increase the stakes. Slater ends up hitting Reed with Journey’s loaded boot after a ref bump to get the win. Really fun match. ***
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I was sure there was a Butch Reed thread, but I can't find it. If there is one, apologies. Anyway, you can discuss Reed generally here. But it only just occurred to me: whatever happened to him after WCW? How come Reed never got another big run anywhere? USWA in 92. Then ... nothing in 93? Then ... Global in 94? Then, that's it? Really? What happened to him?
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The Buddy Landell vs Butch Reed shoe shine match wasn't much,Now the post match was tremendous fun and made me pop.I think the date on this is 12/7/84. -
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I'll figure dates out later and will probably do a lot of editing as I go. Ric Flair vs Butch Reed (TV, Non Title, Mid South) - This had a great set up with Butch goading Flair into attacking him to set up the non-title match. Flair had hired Slater ($50K) to take Reed out and had hurt Reed's knee but that doesn't come into play here. It did in the next match. Flair's great in this, which is sub-ten minutes without a real opening stretch. He's very aggressive with his heel tactics. One thing he does better than anyone is shoot them out so He kicks out the double stomp. Reed's very good selling on the outside.quickly. The fastest draw in the west when it comes to eyepokes or the cheap knee. Flubbed backslide towards the end but it wasn't the finish so it's ok. The fans are viscerally into this. Reed wins with a shoulder block, but gets ambushed by Slater and spike pile-driven after the match. Watts wonders if Flair didn't sacrifice the fall so Slater could ambush. Very effective TV match to set up a live show. Ric Flair vs Butch Reed (WHC, Mid South, New Orleans, JIP) - What I saw was after the fact with Joel Watts and JR announcing to set up the no DQ match. I liked how Flair did the belly to back reversal out of a sleeper in the TV match and out of a headlock here. Variation like that is important to me. He brought back the knee drop instead of the double stomp too. I didn't get enough here to get a great sense of the match but it felt more like a Flair match and less like the TV one. Attacking the leg, figure four, reversal, but really the sense of Reed powering it over. Well done ref bump with Reed chasing Flair back in the ring and Flair trying to ambush him with a flying knee. Phantom backslide fall. Reed sent flair over the top and Fergie saw it. Reed suplexed Flair back in and pinned him (Second ref). Fans had the moment but then it was Dusty finished. It was okay since it set up the no DQ match the next week. Good from what i saw. Ric Flair vs Butch Reed (WHC, No DQ) - This is the last 15 mins of a supposedly hour long match. The No DQ is only evident here in over the top rope tosses and one transition crotching by Flair. It's hard to get a sense of what happened before this, which is a shame. There may be a full version out there. I have no idea. Reed's jabs are great. Flair takes over with said crotching and he's really vicious. Obvious disdain in his stomping and what not. He does some legwork and puts on the Figure Four. I'm not a big fan of Reed's struggle here, though Flair's great in it. The turn over happens sort of undramatically. Flair breaks the hold, sells huge, goes for it again, and gett rolled up. Then he stops selling. It was a little annoying since it was all to set up the spot. Reed's selling after this, but it kind of sort of looks to me like he's blown up. Flair even has to maneuver him into a spot or two towards the end. Reed takes back over with a nicely filmed post reversal on the outside. Flair takes it awesomely which is really evident the camerawork is so close. Reed doesn't show me as much as I was hoping here. There's a moment where Flair comes back in forcibly and I wish that was the off the top rope toss because that would have been fresh. It's not. That happens a minute or two later on Flair trying to do a top rope move. There's an overwrought ref bump to set up the big shoulder block off the top (a normal version pinned Flair in the non title match) which Flair kicks out of the delayed count WAY too early on. Anyway, they meander to the draw, without that really palatable moment that he MIGHT win at the last moment. He does get the press slam in at the end but times it poorly. This was disappointing to me. Ric Flair/Dick Slater vs Butch Reed/Jake Roberts (TV) - Towards the end of Flair's run in the territory. Dark Journey on the outside. Flair uses her to assist in his Figure Four, which is great since he wasn't used to working with her. Slater's really good in this, cutting off the ring during tags and distracting to allow Flair to take over. It's mostly Flair and Reed with Reed playing FIP. We miss the transition and come back from commercial with Flair on top over Reed with Dark Journey jawing at him. It's a joy to watch Roberts punching Flair, stomping around in a circle, and it's a super heated DDT tease. Flair's excellent at fighting back while getting overpowered during this Jake was great cheerleading outside of the ring due to his weird thin body shape and all but I don't get why he wasn't the FIP here. It all broke down in the end and he won it with a roll up. I liked the team of Flair and Slater. Shame we don't have more of them together.
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