After a long absence(due to my undying love of MLB) My week by week review of 1986 in Pro wrestling returns! Forgive the small font size of the opening sentence! I have not done this in a long while! HA!
Memphis TV 3/15-86 The highlights of this show were two great promo's! One by Jerry Lawler on tape, explaining that due to prior commitments he could not be in the studio for today's show. He promised to beat Dundee and Landell to a bloody pulp in his upcoming tag bouts with them and his partner Dutch Mantell. As payback for what that twosome had done to the Jarett's last week on tv! On of the best and most memorable angles in Memphis history!
Dundee/Landell did a great rebuttal promo saying that the week prior a returning Lawler had had something on his hand and had attempted to take Dundee's eye out! The duo had photo proof of Dundee's eye being swollen shut and a nasty huge purple lump under the eye. They threatened to beat up Lawler, his family, Jarrett's family and promoter Eddie Marlin and his family run them all out of town and take over the company! This was great! The interview was also on tape as the Late(that makes me sad) great Lance Russell refused to interview them, because he did not wanna hear it!
A couple notable in-ring things Dundee/Landell won a squash match as Job guy Jim Jamesion took one of the best old school country ass kick-ins I have ever seen! By the end he was Bleeding from the mouth and looked unconscious! In other action from the Mid-South Coliseum Abdul Kadaffi defeated Rick Casey to win the International Heavyweight Title! Casey got his head trapped between the top and middle rope and was pinned shortly after that! They said he had hurt his neck and was going to be out several months! Is that the end of Casey in Memphis? Time will tell! Also Mantell, The Fantastics and the Mod Squad all won squash matches!
UWF tv 3-15-86 Show begins with several big announcements. Bill Watts says that Dick Slater(who was the holder of both the TV Championship and the North American title at the time(must pay out of his own pocket for a new tv title medal(instead of a belt) by next week or he would be stripped of both titles! This was the last week of Mid-South Wrestling as the next week it would be renamed the UWF(Universal Wrestling Federation) They hyped the coming name change. Also the Jim Crockett SR. Memorial Cup Coming in late April to the Superdome in New Orleans!
Biggest in-ring action of the show took place between "Hacksaw" Jim Duggan & "Mad Dog" Buzz Sawyer. Duggan. After A Duggan squash, Sawyer came to ringside got on the house mic and challenged Duggan to a match. Duggan of course accepted. We go to break when we return the bout is in progress. Duggan quickly pins Sawyer clean as a sheet to win the match. Duggan leaves as he does Sawyer again grabs the house mic and I guess insults Duggan's Girlfriend and challenges Duggan to a "Dog Collar" bout. (I said I guess due to the fact that the house mic audio was awful!) So two ref's come out to hook up the dog collar's. While both refs work on "Hacksaw" Sawyer takes off his collar and hooks it the top rope!(I know what they were trying was to make Buzz look conniving and devious, but it just made the ref's look stupid! Two of them missed this shit!) Anyway they don't notice and Duggan grabs a headlock, Sawyer shoots him off into the ropes and Duggan gets yanked off his feet by the chain! Sawyer laughing like a loon, knocks both ref's down and proceeds to whip a prone Duggan in his back/ribs with the chain! Wrestlers hit the ring from the back and Sawyer escapes smiling and giggling! The best part of this was Sawyer seemed legit bonkers(he probably was at this point in his career)! The only other big thing happened to close the show as the NZ Sheepherders were in a match, The Mid-South tag champs Ted Dibiase and Steve Williams came to ringside waving a US Flag! After the match the two teams got into a brawl and the heels were driven from the ring! On next weeks show we will see a tv tile bout and a World tag title match to celebrate the name change!
NWA National Heavyweight Title Match. Champion Dusty Rhodes vs Tully Blanchard This was a tremendous bout! We join the bout in progress as Dusty is working on Blanchard's ankle. Flair is at ringside doing commentary with Tony & David. Rhodes follows Tully into a corner Where Blanchard crouches down and kicks the "Dream" in his ankle. Dusty falls to the mat like a shot and rolls outside writhing in agony. Tully continues his assault on the floor. Blanchard then rolls him back in the ring and works on the ankle for several minutes. Including the use of a spinning toe hold into a figure four! Rhodes manages to reverse this and Tully breaks the hold. But, then as Dusty goes for a slam his ankle gives way. Then Blanchard hits his signature slingshot suplex, which Rhodes kicks out of at 2(HUGE POP for the kickout! Nobody kicked out of that move at the time it was way over!) Rhodes puts Tully in the sleeper hold. At this point Blanchard's Manager JJ Dillon jumps up on the apron. Dusty releases Blanchard and puts the sleeper on Dillon. JJ reaches in his pocket and flings a pair of brass knucks backwards into the ring for Tully. Dusty lets go of JJ and turns around back to Tully.Who swings wildly. Rhodes ducks backdropping Blanchard over the top rope to the floor! Flair gets up from the table and puts the Knucks back on Tully's hand. Dusty comes over and when he attempts to back suplex him back into the ring, Tully punches "Dream" in the forehead Dusty crumples in a heap and Blanchard coves him to become the new National Heavyweight Champion! After the match Flair and Blanchard are celebrating, BabyDoll(Rhodes valet) runs into the ring and starts slapping Flair! JJ comes up behind her and throws her down to the mat by her hair. Tully and JJ then hold her down while Flair Climbs the top rope to apparently come down on her! The faces run in and save the day just in time and the heels take their leave! The heat for this was something that must be seen to be believed! INCREDIBLE!!!
NWA TBS Saturday Night Show 3/15/86! The only big angle happened when Baby Doll came out during a Arn/Tully/JJ promo and challenged Dillon to a fight in the ring. JJ in very comic over the top fashion takes of his jacket, tie. watch and rolls up his sleeves. He and the Horsemen go up to the ring and get on the apron. As they do this America's team(Rhodes and Magnum TA) jump them from behind (like I dunno they were the "Heels" or something)! They throw them in the ring and the brawl begins! During this Arn takes a belly-to-belly from Magnum. While he is laid out Ta holds onto his foot and Rhodes comes off the second rope with a big stomp on AA's ankle! The heels after being hammered collect themselves and beat a beaten hasty retreat back to the dressing room! Before the end of the show the Horsemen reappear and say that Rhodes and TA didn't get the job done! that the horsemen were still here with all the gold!
The only really good match on the show was AA vs great worker/job guy Mike Jackson! The highlight of the match was early on Jackson forces Arn to the outside for a rest and a large section of the front row(mostly kids) get up and chant in unison "YOU GOT WHAT YOU DESERVE" over and over! Of course AA went on to win but it was a fun moment!
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