Mid-South Wrestling

[Scarlet-Left]

I absolutely adore the loaded mask gimmick! Terry Gordy beating the snot out of Rip Oliver would be so satisfying to watch, especially when topped with a chaotic multi-man brawl!

[kevinmcfl]

 

              

October 28, 1986

 

Wrestling News

Last night in the Rapides Parish Coliseum in Alexandria, Louisiana, Jake “The Snake” Roberts defeated Hacksaw Butch Reed to become the NWA North American Champion for the second time.  Robert’s manager, Sheik Adnan Al Kassie and his bodyguard Hercules Ayala got involved numerous times and referee, Carl Fergie failed to keep control.  It appeared Reed was going to successfully defend his title after he connected with a top-rope shoulder smash but the Sheik jumped up on the apron and Carl Fergie stopped his 3-count to reprimand the Arabian manager.  While Fergie dealt with the Sheik, Hercules Ayala came off the top rope and hit Hacksaw with a briefcase so hard, he was knocked out cold.  Fergie turned around just as Ayala exited the ring and made what many fans called a fast 3 count.

After the match, Butch Reed was angry but said he had no time to hang his head as he was off to Atlanta to wrestle at Halloween Havoc where he was going to do his best to bring the NWA World Title back to Mid-South Wrestling.

Sheik Adnan Al Kassie and Jake Roberts were less than humble and claimed that Jake Roberts would have won the title a long time ago if it weren’t for that incompetent Jos Leduc.  Like Butch Reed, Jake Roberts is also off to wrestle at Halloween Havoc where he will attempt to become a double champion.

Other Mid-South Wrestlers heading to Halloween Havoc include “Gorgeous” Jimmy Garvin, Freebird Michael Hayes, “Captain Redneck” Dick Murdoch and “Soul Man” Rocky Johnson.

[Autistic Dragon]

Love the newspaper article gimmick. Roberts is riding high headed into Halloween Havoc. Can Reed recover in time?

[spaldoni]

Nice touch with the newspaper headline. 

It took literally everything to put Reed down. I liked Reed's reaction as he knows he needs to focus on the NWA world title tournament. 

[GeneJackson95]

Creative way to stay caught up, I like it!

Big win for Jake the Snake@

[kevinmcfl]

 Week 44, 1986

Highlights from the show on Superstation 17:

-Show starts with a video montage from Halloween Havoc and the audience is shown that we have new NWA World Tag Team Champions as Ole & Arn Anderson defeat Ted Dibiase & Dr. Death and that the new NWA World Champion is Hacksaw Butch Reed who survived the one night 16-man tournament to win the vacated title.

- NWA President, Cowboy Bill Watts, comes on to not only congratulate the new champions but he announces this week in the Sam Houston Coliseum, Ted Dibiase and Dr. Death will get their rematch against the Andersons and that there will be a 3-man elimination match to determine who will get a crack at Hacksaw Butch Reed the following week at the Lakefront Arena in New Orleans.  The 3 men be the NWA North American Champion, Jake “the Snake” Roberts, Bad News Allen,  and Dick Murdoch.

-Watts also goes on to explain that the NWA has completed its investigation into the whole bounty thing involving Precious and Scott Casey and that it has been determined that Precious did indeed place a $25,000 bounty in the career of Scott Casey and that Precious has been suspended for 30 days.  It has also been determined that Tojo Yamamota, Rip Oliver and Kendo Nagasaski attempted to collect that bounty and have been fined the sum of $1,000 each and have been suspended for 10 days. 

-The Rock n Roll RPM’s continued to push the buttons of the fans as they boasted about how they are the best Rock n Roll Tag Team in all of wrestling today and that soon they will be champions. 

-Ernie Ladd came on the air and paid his $3,000 fine ALL in Pennies and said that while “The Big Dum President Watts doesn’t get it, maybe he could learn something from one that did and now he has 3000 chances to look at Abraham Lincoln and learn. 

-Hacksaw Butch Reed gives a very humble interview about what it means to be the first ever black NWA champion! 

 

Sam Houston Coliseum:  Houston, TX

November 7, 1986

Ricky Gibson defeats The Cuban Assassin with the cross-body block

 

The Rock n Roll RPM’s defeat Johnny Mantell & Cajun Joey Jackson with a double dropkick on Jackson.  Interesting thing here was that the RPM’s seemed to be having words with Ricky Gibson as he was leaving, and they were coming.

 

Koko Ware defeats Iron Mike Sharpe with a top rope diving elbow

 

The Mighty Yankee defeats Rufus Jones with help from the Masked Yankee

 

Superstar Challenge   

Challengers get not only the titles but $50,000 of Sheik Adnan Al Kassie’s money if they win the Mid-South Tag Team Titles:

The Masked Superstars defeat The Patriots (U.S. Steel & Todd Champion) when the Superstars hit the back-breaker/elbow drop combo on Champion.  The interesting thing here was that Todd Champion started the match well and seemed to want to be the hero and never tagged in U.S. Steel.  Steel was fuming when the match was over but the two left together.    

 

Mid-South Title Match

Rocky Johnson © defeats Bad LeRoy Brown by DQ with Ernie Ladd as the ref caught Brown connecting with a punch while having three rolls of pennies in his hand. 

 

Texas Street Fight Match

The Freebirds (Michael Hayes & Jimmy Garvin) vs Terry Gordy & Scott Casey with Sunshine is a brawl from beginning to end.  We see Sunshine do here best to get Jimmy Garvin to lose his focus and it even looked like at one point she blew him a kiss.  The problem for the babyfaces here was that inexperienced ref, Carl Fergie seemed to be in over his head and lost focus numerous times.  The worst was as he was trying to untangle Michael Hayes from the ropes, Buddy Roberts came off the top rope with a chair shot to the neck of Casey. Gordy tried to go after Buddy for a moment, but this only gave Fast Count Fergie the chance to make the quick 1-2-3 for the heels.

 

NWA World Tag Team Title Match

The Andersons © defeat Ted Dibiase & Dr. Death Steve Williams in a wild, physical bout.  The end saw Ted Dibiase doing a great job of playing the face in peril and eventually fighting his way out.  As he went to make the tag, Arn Anderson, who was not in the ring at the time, saw Dibiase making his move and he sprinted around the ring and pulled Dr. Death off the apron just as Dibiase lunged from the tag.  Ole tossed Dibiase back into their corner, tagged in Arn who connected with the Spine Buster and that was all she wrote.  Dibiase seemed confused after the match at what happened to Dr. Death on the tag attempt.

 

Main Event: 3-Man Elimination Match:  Winner gets an NWA Title Shot Next Week

Jake “The Snake” Roberts” with Sheik Adnan Al Kassie

vs Bad News Allen with Ernie Ladd

vs Dick Murdoch

The problem here is that Roberts and Bad News make some sort of deal to defeat Dick Murdoch first and they make quick tags to each other and refuse to tag in when Murdoch asks for help.  Murdoch starts off fine but eventually the numbers game gets to him and he is in a lot of trouble but he keeps finding someway to kick out.  The two managers are getting more and more frustrated.  Snake tossed Murdoch out of the ring where Hercules Ayala attempts to clobber him with the Million Dollar Briefcase.

The crowd erupts as Hacksaw Butch Reed rushed the ring and grabs the briefcase and clobbers Ayala with it.  Murdoch seems inspired by Reed and he is back in the ring like a house a fire.  All 3 men are brawling in the ring…

You here Butch Reed yell, “Look Out” and Murdoch ducks just in time as Bad News clobbers Jake “The Snake” and he is out cold.  The problem was that the ref saw it and calls for the DQ on Bad News Allen.  Again, Ladd is screaming that Reed just hit someone with a briefcase and nothing happened, but it doesn’t matter… Bad News is out.

Murdoch now simple covers Roberts who is out cold and he is the winner.  Reed jumps in the ring and congratulates his buddy and they take the house mic and promise to give it their all to beat the crap out of each other next week in New Orleans and may the better man win!

 

 

 

[Autistic Dragon]

Nice recap of Halloween Havoc. 

Watts puts in work to start the show. Congratulating the new champions, announcing 2 massive matches for Houston & resolving the bounty situation.

I wish I could've heard Reed's promo on being the first black World Champion.

Rock n Roll RPM's are turning into serious heat magnets. It's only natural they start something with Robert's brother.

The Patriots lack of cohesion cost them the titles & 50k.

I like the thing with Ladd & the pennies.

Fast Count Fergie strikes again!

The Andersons retain after some quick thinking by Double A. Hope DiBiase & Williams can regroup.

Murdoch wins what is essentially a 2-1 handicap match to get a shot at the man who helped him win it. I hope the sportsmanship displayed in the promo carries over to the match.

[spaldoni]

Precious found out that Watts always gets to the bottom of things. 

RPMs continue to get the heat. 

LOL! Classic Ladd paying his fine in pennies. This cracked me up. 

What can I say, Butch Reed is the man! 

I'm still enjoying the Yankees gimmicks. 

Champion pays the price of trying to go at it alone. 

Man, Ladd must of cleaned the bank out of their pennies. 

It took a chair shot and a fast count by Fergie to put Casey down but the Freebirds get the W.

Andersons retain. I have a feeling there's going to be some friction between Dibiase and Williams. 

Didn't see that ending coming as Reed helps Murdoch get the title shot. Even though they're both fan favorites, Reed and Murdoch will give the fans a fight. 

[rainmakerrtv]

Reed and Murdoch is a pair I sure would never have wanted to meet in a dark alley. Amazing main event and can't wait to see the title match.

[Blehschmidt]

I am super happy you guys decided to put the title on Butch. He is a guy who I never thought much of as a kid cause I only ever saw his "Natural" run. Going back and seeing what I missed as an adult has turned me into a huge Reed fan. His arc in this game has absolutely made him worthy of this honor, and I hope he has a good, long run on top.

Watts comes down hard with the suspensions, but Ernie Ladd looks to send quite the message with his payment!

The RPM's messing with a Gibson is very interesting!

Carl Fergie has an ass beating coming from somebody, and I am looking forward to it.

The Anderson's show why they are the top name in tag team wrestling, and it looks like we might see some issues between Doc and Dibiase

Quite a cluster in the main event! Dicky Murdoch pulls out the win and now we have friend vs friend for the NWA Title. We'll see how long that lasts!!

[GeneJackson95]

Good job recapping bringing fans up to speed.

Watts gains credibility as NWA President by handing out fines and suspensions while Ladd keeps his heat by paying his fine in pennies, brilliant!

I'm excited about the potential of Butch Reed as champ, like Blehschmidt I too first saw Reed as "The Natural" and wasn't impressed, I liked him better as a part of Doom but he was past his prime  but in later years getting to see his early Mid South work and some of his stuff other territories I gained a whole new respect for his ability.

RPMs are getting more and more heat everytime they appear and the interaction with Ricky Gibson is an interesting aside.

Koko Ware has a ton of potential here in this era.

Todd Champions ego costs his team....I bet Big Fred was mad enough to bust through a wall after this....

Carl Fergie strikes again! I bet he's "on the take" as the Brain used to say...either way the Birds win again!

I agree it looks like Doc and Dibiase are headed towards some problems here.

After some twists and turns and was assumed to be sure defeat, Dirty Dick gets the win and if I was Butch I would count on his "buddy" to fight fair next week. 

[Scarlet-Left]

This was a great follow-up to Halloween Havoc. The Andersons are not a threat anyone can take lightly but I hope Ted DiBiase and Steve Williams can work their butts off and get those titles back! I'm really excited to see how Butch Reed handles his first defence as champion!

[kevinmcfl]

STARRCADE PREVIEW SHOW

Shown on Superstation 17

November 20, 2021

-NWA President Bill Watts comes out to hype the next NWA big event will be Starrcade which will be held Thanksgiving night as the NWA will return to the Omni in Atlanta, Georgia.  Watts goes on to say that this show was to showcase the top talent from all three territories, Mid-South, Mid-Atlantic and Continental but Les Thatcher, the head of Continental Championship Wrestling has decided at the last moment to not take part in the big night.  You can tell Watts is fuming over this as he goes on to explain that the NWA Board of Directors is meeting right now to decide if Continental Championship Wrestling will be sanctioned for their actions. 

-Bill Watts turns the show over to Jim Ross who previews each of the big matches on the card.

 

Chris Benoit vs Steve Wright

JR Foley has quickly become one of the most despised men in MACW. Determined to make the territory the newest front of the anti-American crusade that had already been felt from Seattle to Shreveport. Key to this new campaign has been Canadian prodigy Chris Benoit. While some were surprised by this alliance considering Foley's legendary feud with the family responsible for Benoit's training, the Harts it quickly became clear why Foley was willing to overlook the connection. Benoit's blend of technical ability & sheer ferocity has made him a noted contender in the Jr Heavyweight division. Foley saw a opportunity to expand his army with the arrival of Steve Wright in early November & actually arranged a match with Benoit to demonstrate the kind of talent Wright could be associating with. While Benoit certainly seemed to have earned Wright's respect Foley decidedly hadn't. With Wright going onto stand opposite from The Commonwealth in multi-man matches since Foley seems to have taken the hint and has arranged a rematch between Wright & Benoit at Starrcade. Not with the intention to recruit but to punish.

 

NWA JR. Heavyweight Title Match:  Eric Embry © vs Brad Armstrong

While there are many quality JR Heavyweights in the NWA, there is no denying that Armstrong and Embry are the top two.  The interesting thing here is that Brad Armstrong is the only member of the Continental Championship Wrestling roster who is still participating at Starrcade.  It will be interesting to hear what Les Thatcher has to say about this and if he is welcomed back to CCW after Thanksgiving night.

 

Grudge Match:  Freebird Jimmy Garvin vs Scott Casey with Sunshine

Ever sense Casey arrived in Mid-South sporting Garvin’s former girlfriend, Sunshine, as his valet, there has been a lot of tension surrounding all involved.  Garvin’s current valet, Precious, has been suspended for the month of November for placing a $25,000 bounty in the career of Scott Casey.  While this bounty was eventually stolen by former Freebird Terry Gordy, Scott Casey was forced to have eyes in the back of his head as attackers were coming out of the woodwork trying to collect the money.  Since Precious was suspended, Sunshine has been coming out to Garvin’s matches and distracting him in a rather “sexy” way and Garvin has been on a bit of a losing streak.  What will happen at Starrcade is anyone’s guess.

 

NWA WORLD TAG TEAM TITLE MATCH:

Ole & Arn Anderson vs The Patriots (U.S. Steel & Todd Champion)

This was to be a Triple Threat Match with Continental sending in JYD and Mr. Olympia but with the current circumstances with CCW, that will not be the case and we will have a regular tag team match.  While the Andersons are the clear favorites here, the Patriots took advantage of some wild circumstances last week in New Orleans in a 4-Corner Match to earn this title shot and the vow to take full advantage of it.  In New Orleans, The Patriots shocked everyone as the defeated The Freebirds, The Masked Superstars and Ted Dibiase and Dr. Death to get the title match at Starrcade.  Jim Ross took us to the video tape of this match:

The Masked Superstars and the former champs (Dibiase and Dr. Death) were battling it out on the floor as Jimmy Garvin and Buddy Roberts were putting a beating on U.S. Steel.  Suddenly, Garvin’s former girlfriend saunters down in a rather sexy dree and gets the eye of Garvin who is without his valet, Precious, who is currently suspended.  Sunshine hops up on the apron and

WHAM…. Garvin turned right onto a big spear by U.S. Stee who quickly covered Garvin for the win.

Fuming at what just happened, Michael Hayes hightails it after Sunshine who is in full run mode up the aisle. 

UH OH…. From behind the curtain comes Terry “Bam Bam” Gordy who has been waiting months to get his hands on Michael Hayes.

WHAM…. WHAM…. WHAM!  Gordy is all over Michael Hayes!

We now have brawling all over the arena and it takes a lot of people to get order restored. 

Jim Ross:  Sometimes unexpected things happen and now it is up to the Patriots to take advantage of their opportunity. Speaking of opportunities, Terry Gordy really must have enjoyed his chance to get some measure of retribution on the man who nearly blinded him earlier this year.   

 

Captain Redneck Dick Murdoch & Mid-South Champion, “Soul Man”Rocky Johnson vs

 Bad News Allen &LeRoy Brown with Ernie Ladd

Whoever Loses Must Leave the NWA & if Rocky Johnson Loses, the winner gets his Mid-South Title

Ernie Ladd has been after Rocky Johnson ever since Johnson took the Mid-South title from Bad News Allen and with each unsuccessful attempt, he has found new ways to blame Bill Watts and his incompetent referees.  Ladd often resorted to getting involved himself or have his other goon help out.  Each time Johnson found himself on the wrong side of the number’s game, Captain Redneck came to the rescue.  Watts tired of the constant bad mouthing by Ladd agreed to give Ladd one more chance but Ladd had to willing to have one of his men “go away” of the attempt was unsuccessful.  So here we are, A Loser -Leave Town Tag Team Match for the Mid-South Title.

 

BUNKHOUSE BRAWL

The Posse (Dick Slater, Black Bart, Bobby Jagers & Dirty Rhodes) vs

Brutha's in Arms (Shaska Whatley, Tiger Conway Jr, Norvell Austin & Savanah Jack)

When MACW returned from hiatus one man who clearly had plans for the new era was Shaska Whatley. His initial plans seemed to include a partnership with Roosevelt "SD" Jones & "Bad" Leroy Brown. While Brown would part ways with MACW not long after arriving Whatley was undeterred. On November 25th Whatley would console Jones after a loss to Bobby Jagers. Jones would return the favor later that night interfering in Whatley's match against Black Bart leading to a assault that would be broken up by Jagers, his Hangmen partner Dirty Rhodes, and Dick Slater. That night marked the birth of both the Posse & the Brutha's. Whatley would add to his ranks over the next of months with Norvell Austin & (after the departure of Jones) his AWA World Tag Team Championship partner, Tiger Conway Jr. After a number of multiman matches & various gimmicks between the two sides MACW officials have decided to book a Bunkhouse Brawl in hopes of ending this conflict once and for all! 

 

Mid-South Tag Team Title Match:

The Masked Superstars © vs Ted Dibiase & Dr. Death

Sheik Adnan Kassie must give Dibiase & Dr. Death $5000 if the win

No denying this are the top two teams in Mid-South Wrestling and there is also no don’t that they have a strong dislike for each other.  It will be interesting to see what happens here as the Sheik has constantly used his “guardian” of the Million Dollar Briefcase, Hercules Ayala, to get involved in matched while Dibiase has seemed to be unbeatable against Sheik’s men

 

United States Title Match:

The Russian Nightmare Nikita Koloff vs Terry “Bam Bam” Gordy

Nikita Koloff has issued a challenge to any American to step in the ring with him and he didn’t need to say anymore to get Terry Gordy involved.  No doubt about it, this will be a clash of the Superpowers at Starrcade!

 WARGAMES:

Kevin Sullivan’s Spectral Hand (Kevin Sullivan, Missing Link, Warlord, The Barbarian &The Great Kabuki)

Vs

Luger’s Legion (Wahoo McDaniel, Lex Luger, Dan Spivey, & The Renegade Warriors (Mark & Chris Youngblood)

2 rings surrounded by 1 cage. 2 men will face off for 5 minutes after which teams will take turns sending in a new man every 2 minutes. Once all 10 men are in the cage, we enter the "match beyond" which can only be won by submission or surrender.  Explaining the type of match and those involved is enough said!  WOW!

 

NWA World Title Match:

Hacksaw Butch Reed © vs Tully Blanchard with Baby Doll

Rumor has it that Bill Watts wanted a title rematch from last week in New Orleans between Reed and Dick Murdoch.  He saw this two put on an awesome show in their 30-minute draw but he also saw something he never saw before in a babyface vs babyface match.  He saw the crowd divided down the middle and as into the match as anything he has witnessed recently.  The white fans were behind Murdoch will the black fans were rooting for Hacksaw.  With the crowd split down the middle it didn’t matter that Reed and Murdoch shook hands before and after the match, Watts saw major dollar signs down the road!  So instead of it being Reed vs Gavin, It will be Reed vs Tully Blanchard with Baby Doll.  No matter what happens, this one is going to be electric

[Blehschmidt]

Starrcade is a stacked card!

Gordy vs Nikita is a match I would have loved to have seen in real life!

Hoping Reed doesn't turn over the NWA Title this quickly after winning it, but seeing a Tully run on top with Flair lurking in the background would be an interesting twist!

[GeneJackson95]

Solid card for Starrcade (aside from the World Tag Title Match lol)

Gordy vs. Nikita should be worth the ticket price alone!

Dibiase/Gordy vs. The Superstars should be exciting as well.

Tully is a perfect first big time challenge for Butch Reed, he should come out looking like a million bucks.

[spaldoni]

This is awesome! It's the perfect Starrcade for this era. 

Every match is must see. Nikita vs. Gordy is the ultimate hard hitting match up. WarGames will be off the charts. Bunkhouse match. Loser leaves town match. Money on the line. Title bouts. Everything you could ask for. 

I'm going to keep a close eye on the Reed/Tully world title match. I've just got a funny feeling about this one. 

Can't wait!