Pro Wrestling Chronicle

Match # 74: The Fantastics vs. Bill Dundee & Dutch Mantell (9/22/85)

It’s Bill Dundee and Dirty Dutch’s turn to bring Memphis heelin’ to Mid South. I look forward to them slapping around the silly ambiguously gay duo of The Fantasics. Well, not Tommy Rogers. The other one.

Pretty boys take forever to get inside the ring, so when they do Dutch and Dundee give them a beating. Fans kicked to the outside again. This time they don’t kiss the ladies.

We begin for real this time. Fans are hot for the faces, boo the heels. Very vocal. Solid tight work early. Technical stuff with arm ringers. That’s Bobby Fulton and Bill Dundee. Dutch and Rogers aren’t as pretty to watch, mostly because Dutch isn’t a finesse guy. That’s okay. Still good heel/face interactions without unnecessary bumps. Rodgers with the advantage.

Dundee takes a punch over the top rope. He really hammed it up. Two minutes later he redeems himself with a flat back bump off a punch that looks like he was KO’ed the minute it landed, and then manages to get his foot on the rope. Then there’s the matter of him spinning around flailing for a tag and missing on his 10th rotating with a dive. Classic stuff. Faces in control.

The Fans offense, though over a the time, could be really dull punch kick stuff with so good looking arm arms/arm drags. I think what annoys me most is how proud of themselves they are, and how embarrassing there butt shaking dances were. I thought Mid South was all about red neck good ‘ol boys? Why didn’t any of them try to kill the Fantastics… or boo them?

Dundee, with small help from Dutch Mantell here, put on the grew Memphis dog and pony show. Dundee has a foreign object in his trunks, gets it past the ref with fancy moves after selling a non-blow, hits Tommy Rogers, distracts again, and Dutch takes a falling knee to the back of the face’s head.

Heels getting the heat on Rogers. They work on his throat and the segment is typical in a good way. Dutch looks better here, but the heel team is all Dundee. He’s the personality and the force in the ring. He’s the clever heel. Mantell almost loses Rogers during a hope spot. He recovers with some stiff stuff, I guess to show anger at Rogers. Speaking of which, Roger’s selling is really good. That and the heel work upped this a full star from an average rating.

Usually I’d go into great detail, but suffice to say the heel tricks and cheating, Roger’s hope spots, and the heel tags/cut offs, make this a match I’d recommend to everyone.

Fulton finally in as the house of fire. He’s just a punch/kick (no, just punch)kinda guy in this match. Rogers stuff looks a lot better.

The tease the heel win finish with a ref bump (Fulton into the ref). Heel Mantell from the second rope jumps at a downed Fulton with Dundee holding him down. Fulton pulls away and Mantell foot stomps Dundee. Fulton pins Dundee. Fans win.

The stip seems to be a whipping match, and Dundee sure makes this entertaining as hell. Dundee would have had a place in sports entertainment, most likely in the mid card, as he’s not terribly tall.

Match was a bit amusing but below average until the heel heat came. Picked up a lot from there and the fans loved it. Good viewing experience, though it won’t finish in my top 50. 3 ¼ and 6.5/10.

Match Discussion Here