[1985-10-11-Houston Wrestling] Ted DiBiase vs Bob Sweetan (Taped Fist)

[Superstar Sleeze]

Ted DiBiase vs Bob Sweetan - Mid-South 10/11/85 Taped Fist Match

 

I may have never seen a Hillbilly Jim match, but I have seen a Bob Sweetan match. Sweetan is one of the few US wrestlers I had never heard of before coming to PWO. It seems he wrestled primarily in the smaller territories like Southwest, Central States and WWC. This was probably his biggest break. It is not surprising to see why he did not make much further. I will say casting him as a babyface does seem counterproductive so perhaps if he was a heel I would have liked him more. This match came about because DiBiase was on one of his many tours of Japan so Sweetan stepped in to defend the tag titles with Doc, but lost them to the Miracle Dream Team of Al Perez and Wendell Cooley. Hey if I was Ted I'd be pissed too so DiBiase kicked Sweetan's ass and Sweetan turned babyface. This is the big blood feud match.

 

If I did straight up play by play of this, it would probably come off as a violent classic. It had a simple but effective layout. There was plenty of blood, chairs, metal, and hard right hands. There was a piledriver and a great finish, but I thought it came off cold and a lot of that was on Sweetan. If there was ever match to point DiBiase carrying someone this is it. He gave a really great performance both on top and then stooging and bumping for Sweetan, who was capable on offense, but no great shakes either. DiBiase kicked some ass during the heat and showed ass during the comeback. That's the way I heel should be. I thought he threw a good chair shot and plenty of great punches. Sweetan was fine at the comeback climaxing with his famous piledriver, but only getting two. When a face hits his finish and only gets two, that is a death kneel. DiBiase gets his loaded black glove and wallops Sweetan. This is a great match and a very entertaining one, but needs a better performance from Sweetan and just more hate. ****