So I watched two Mid South tapes this weekend ...

[Loss]

I wanted to make this separate from "What Are You Watching", because it really encompasses a more broad scope of discussion. I'll probably go back there and comment on specific matches later, but right now, I want to focus on the booking and presentation.

 

The whole time I'm watching, I'm realizing this is truly what pro wrestling should be. Top guys are great workers who are big guys and look like they could murder anyone who crossed their path. It was amazing how even guys like Kamala and Duggan, who to my knowledge haven't really been all that good anywhere else, worked hard and bumped hard here. I guess Watts putting the fear of God in most of his talent paid dividends.

 

Watts had a tendency to push himself, but he never presented himself as being above the active talent. He was there to get them over. When he got tired of Eddie Gilbert & Korchenko's anti-American talk, he punched Gilbert in the mouth and started training at home. He mentioned how he knew he would hold up his end because he had Doc and DiBiase on his side, and he stressed their importance repeatedly. The focus of his promo wasn't one of threatening the heels, or downplaying them, but rather attacking their points of view and actions and vowing to enlist all the help he'd need to overcome them. The week after he and the other top babyfaces finally set out to shut them up, Eddie Gilbert came out and admitted that he endorsed those comments for money, and that after reflecting on it for a week, he realized that no amount of money can justify him being associated with someone who is so anti-American. He said he would no longer be associated with Korchenko, but said he would remain with The Blade Runners. He then presented Watts with the Russian flag the two had been carrying and said he could do with it as he wished. Eddie was actually really convincing here and the audience bought it -- this wasn't a predictable swerve. Korchenko, along with Ivan & Nikita Koloff, then attacked Watts from behind before Gilbert joined in and together, they buried Watts under a Russian flag to FUCKING NUCLEAR heat. Other babyfaces are trying to make the save, but the Blade Runners have barricaded the entrance and they're single-handedly holding off most of the top talent. It was a brilliant way to set up a future money match, get Sting and Warrior over as killers and also cement Eddie Gilbert's status as the biggest troublemaker in the promotion. Later in the show, Watts came back out with an ace bandage on his head and a baseball bat, trying to kill everything that moved.

 

Everything had a logical reason for happening. Ted DiBiase had a tour of Japan and was leaving the company briefly, but he and Doc were tag champs. DiBiase went through the Mid South offices and worked the necessary paperwork to get Bob Sweetan to be able to replace him. When he came back, Doc and Sweetan had lost the tag titles and DiBiase attempted to blame Sweetan, and the two ambushed him. They tossed Sweetan out of the ring and DiBiase was in the ring finishing up his promo addressing other subjects when Sweetan turned the tide at ringside and came in and started trading blows with DiBiase. Doc threw a chair in the ring for DiBiase to use, but Sweetan intercepted and fought both of the heels off himself with the chair. No one looked weak, the storyline was advanced, and all the points were hit concisely and clearly.

 

I also noticed that no one ever really did anything that was out of character. Eddie Gilbert invited one of the announcers to lunch with him, because he wanted to discuss his future plans with Korchenko. The setting was cool, even though it was a burger joint, and Gilbert was sure to point out that he would have treated the interviewer to a nicer lunch, but that Nightmare loved hamburgers. He's sitting there acting like a maniac just devouring food, but pairing a guy like that with someone who could talk and get heat only made sense. It was nice to see interviews take place that not only explained the cameraman's presence, but made sense with the character. Dick Slater also did an interview outside on a bridge in Tulsa, shortly after he won the North American heavyweight title while he was already the TV champ. He was being told he'd have to vacate the TV title since one man couldn't fulfill the obligation of both belts, so he basically said "fuck that!" and threw the TV title into the river, saying if he couldn't have it, no one could, calling the belt retired.

 

Dick Slater was a new guy being brought in to great fanfare and was given a valet and a contract signing in the top floor of the Peachtree Hotel immediately. The Freebirds were given their own "Badstreet" music video and personalized entrance music. The Road Warriors had their own original song and music video as well.

 

I think the debut of the Freebirds was my favorite of all. Hayes, Gordy and Roberts had a strong reputation at the time, and were huge stars in every territory they wrestled. They actually showed them arriving in limo to the Mid South offices, where they signed a multi-million dollar deal with all (15 pages) of their demands being met. This made the 'Birds look like stars right out of the gate, and they immediately were big players because they were treated as such from day one.

 

The undercard was stacked. They had guys like Koko B. Ware who did things that involved audience participation, and all the babyfaces were great at actually making the fans feel like they mattered. Ware had a theme song by the ever-awesome The Time and would dance with random women in the audience on his way to the ring. He also did the bird flying thing with his arms (think Angels In The Outfield) and the crowd participated back in unison. His matches had terrific heat because he knew how to involve them before the match started. They also had The Fantastics, who were a fucking awesome team and could work with just about anyone. They had terrific brawls with the Sheepherders, hot Southern tags with the Midnights and Dirty White Boys, and they weren't the only tag teams doing good stuff here. The Fabs faced Chavo & Hector Guerrero in an awesome Mexican Death match with tremendous heat, and NWA teams like the MX, Rock & Rolls and Ivan & Nikita Koloff would come in for spot shows to good hype. The tag belts were also belts the top singles stars showed interest in, which gave them meaning.

 

Ric Flair was probably used better here than he was used for most of his duration in Crockett, or at least he was treated with more respect. Terry Taylor was the North American champ, which made him the #1 contender for the NWA World title. Flair was at ringside scouting Taylor and decided to suckerpunch him after the match and put him in the figure four. Taylor ended up reversing the move on his own, shocking Flair to a point where he offered Gilbert and his protege The Nightmare $10,000 a piece if they could get the belt off of him so he'd no longer be the top contender. He ended up helping them win, and Flair and Taylor would still end up having a match at the Superdome a short time later. Compare this to Flair getting stripped down to his underwear or having competitive matches with jobbers on TBS, and the difference is clear ... and nice.

 

Jim Ross is fucking awesome as the announcer here. They don't sacrifice his credibility by constantly involving him in angles, and the wrestlers don't talk down to him or make fun of his appearance like you often see happen in modern WWE. Much of the footage I viewed here sees him call the action alone, but he became even better when he was paired with Michael Hayes, and the two played off of each other brilliantly. Watts really knew how to use Hayes, by the way. His strengths were that he could talk, so he was primarily someone who ran his mouth and got himself to trouble or stayed at the broadcast booth, working mainly gimmicked or tag matches. Hayes wasn't necessarily a lousy worker, but he wasn't at the level of fellow Freebird Terry Gordy, and Watts did a great job playing to both of their strengths through the booking.

 

Knowing the role Dark Journey would eventually have in the downfall of the territory, it was surreal seeing her here. Her video to Madonna's "Dress You Up" is superb 80s cheese. Hayes and her have some hilarious interplay, as Hayes flashes his wedding ring in front of her and asks her if she wants to "take a quick walk down Badstreet", emphasizing that he understands frustrated women. She slaps him in the face for his troubles and Hayes immediately insists that she's playing hard to get. Ross's response? "She's playing hard to get, all right!"

 

All in all, it was great watching all of this stuff and sort of rekindling the torrid love affair I've had with pro wrestling for many years. The focus is often on the matches and not the extracurriculars, which is cool and all, but watching great booking enhance great wrestling reminded me of the elements that were in place when I became a fan in the first place. I think anyone looking to seek out Mid South footage and not being interested in the angles and presentation wouldn't be getting the full picture, and they'd be missing out on a vital (and very fun) part of the puzzle.

 

[Guest Some Guy]

I've seen a little bit of Mid-South and from what I've seen and heard from Watts in interviews it was good and for the most part he knew what he was talking about.

 

He felt that the commentator, whether it be Ross or Solie or whoever should be the host and treated as such. Since Johnny Carson's guests didn't insult or attack him, then Ross' guests shouldn't either. Come to think of it nobody really fucked with the annoucers in WWF too much until Russo started booking them to fuck with Ross in his imature attempt to undermine JR.

 

I thought Watts did a pretty damn good job with what he had in WCW. He pushed the right guys for the most part (Vader, Sting, Steamboat, DOc, Gordy, Rude, the Steiners, and he was the one who got Flair back, despite not being there when Flair showed up), he brought realism to the product, and built up the idea that WCW was for the tough guys and not just WWF-Lite. The reason I'm talking about Watts in WCW is because I've way more of it, most of the Mid-SOuth stuff I've seen was on Watts' RF Shoot.