Mid-South Wrestling TV 1985

[Superstar Sleeze]

I was thinking what would be the best use of my limited time with the Network I think it to binge as much 1985 Mid-South as possible. I feel like such a fool for taking the Network for granted for so long. 

6-Jan-1985

One thing I didnt notice (surprisingly mind you) until I watched some random Mid-Atlantic episodes was that there were NO promos at all on this show. It was all matches and Watts was narrating the stories for the viewers. It was an interesting style. Was Mid-South always like this? Was it typical? Or was this an atypical show?

R'n'R Express regain the tag belts from DiBiase & Dr. Death a the end of 1984. Skandor Abar basically manages all the heels. The main heels are Kamala, Ted DiBiase, Dr. Death, Hercules, and Buddy Landell. I love the music video to get the RNRs over. They look so cool. We need more packages where babyfaces are just filmed doing cool things that people do in modern pro wrestling. 

Iceman Parsons is someone has only seen very little of. Good athletic babyface. I liked the second rope lariat finish. Watts tells us that Parsons has left Dallas to come here so that he can continue his feud with Akbar who has fled to Mid-South. I love that touch. 

The Guerreros are here and they being programmed with the RNRs. Great heels. They beat up Horner & Shawn Michaels in short order. It is pretty amazing that Horner looks like the prospect and Michaels looks like the dweeb. Michaels easily could have been the jobber whose name you can never remember based on his look here. The Guerreros are so crisp. 

The wrestling on this TV show is very similar to Crockett. It is 80s workrate heavy. It is slam, bang action. Perpetual motion pro wrestling. Everything is fundamental. It does not look overly cooperative which I like. I like that it is overwrought or over-chereographed. However it is not perfect. I think they could give time for things to breathe more. Let the wrestlers react. It is not very sticky wrestling like it does not stick with you. I thought the Guerreros finish a forward roll while the other traps the opponent was not as cool as they thought it was. Chavo looked fantastic here. 

TV Champion Buddy Landell vs Terry Taylor - This is the big angle of the show as there is a title switch. A very Watts/Graham finish in the sense that the devil is in the details and it is very tight. The ref has to duck to get out of the way an opponent running the ropes who hurdles the ref. The first time Taylor does it; Akbar trips Taylor. The ref admonishes Akbar and then counts for two. They repeat the spot with Landell doing the running and Iceman Parsons trips and this leads to the title change. Both times the ref couldnt see the trip because he was too busy trying not to get run over. A good finish that should be stolen. The work before was solid. I liked the hiptoss directly into a lateral press for two and how Landell sold it. That was one of the few times someone really reacted to something on the show. Buddy took over promptly smashing Taylor's face into the turnbuckle. Solid heat segment. Good match. ***1/4

Ted DiBiase/Dr. Death vs Hacksaw Duggan & Terry Daniels - Duggan is a fucking star! He is just dripping with charisma and he seems like a way bigger deal than anyone else on this show. Great Duggan performance. DiBiase bumps & feeds like a champ for Duggan and he is a strong #2 to Duggan's #1. Doc is fine here, Watts says his football helmet is banned. Another angle. Daniels is there as the fall guy and gets punked out with the Black Glove. Duggan looks like a rockstar. On commentary, it is noted that Butch Reed has turned face and his own man does not need Akbar. 

North American Champion Brad Armstrong vs Hercules - Brad Armstrong is kind of a bottom of the barrel North American Champion, no? He feels more like a TV Champion-level dude that should be mixing it up with Taylor & Landell while Duggan, Reed and DiBiase work on top of the card. What's up with BA as champion? Admittedly, I may have only seen one or two Herc matches before this. He seemed ok. Nothing stood out about him. How I feel about Brad Armstrong is how most people feel about Terry Taylor. BA was a fine mechanic, but he was NOT a cant miss prospect. Parsons/Akbar feud continues as they get involved and trigger a schmozz finish. Herc had a Cobra Clutch applied looked like is finish and the ref got bumped as BA was flailing. Nothing spectacular from BA.

Quick Kamala and Jake The Snake squashes close out the show. Interested to see who Jake gets paired with. Kamala is with Iceman.

Iceman was pushed pretty hard on this show as the new babyface in town, figuring into both title match finishes and winning his own match. Taylor vs Landell was match of the night. Duggan was the Star of the Show in my opinion. Looking forward to more.