It just dawned on me that in the last year the Mid South/UWF management figured out how to curtain off and maximize the arena in Tulsa to look good on TV. Good job. Tulsa has a real hot crowd most of the time too. The Cowboy Bill Watts brings out Terry Taylor, and Jim Ross acts surprised and happy. Not sure of the angle, but Watts is wearing a Doc t-shirt. Freebird’s music hits. Guess I’m not supposed to know Doc’s coming out if I were in 1986.

Hayes rules. He holds back Gordy, and they portray Gordy on commentary as always ready to fight. Hayes makes a stop at Ross’ announce position to yell about Watts having a bat. Watts’ goads them on the mic and Gordy wants at him again. Hayes still won’t go. Watts’comes at them with the bat, Roberts comes out and the heels run into the ring for safety. Lots of faces out (including a miget JYD rip off), and Hacksaw counts three Freebird. Takes him a moment, but he decides to be the third face. So we begin with the heels feeding the faces in a classic Watts’ “brawl and walk tall”. Great opening angle.

This match is the epitome of what is right and good about Mid South Wrestling under Watts. He and his fellow white meat babyfaces bounce the heels around. The heels bump like crazy for the less talented but super charismatic faces. The crowds is insanely hot. We even see comedy spots from the heels as no one wants to tag Gordy and get in. The guys feed off the corwd energy and go hard with their strikes, but they still make it look good and aren’t unprofessional. Best of all the lay out is classic as the faces run wild and each one “walks tall” while all the faces sell – Hayes the least as he’s seen as the ultimate prize – but tough Buddy Roberts turns the tide, and then big Gordy goes to work. Hayes adds the taunting. The heels tag quick and run interference and it works like clockwork. A well orchestrated show.

One of the most brilliant moments is the Buddy Roberts with Terry Taylor in a rear chin lock in the center. Neither is moving. The hold is synched nice, but they’re just resting. Meanwhile the faces are concerned and trying to wave on and rally Taylor, the heels are running back and forth on the apron taunting the faces and especially the crowd, and the crowd is going crazy chanting for Taylor or giving Hayes and Gordy boos. The art of the work!

After some scary good hope spots and cut offs Cowboy Bill Watts gets the hot tag, makes a run on all the heels, and nails Hayes, before being choked to death by the heels. They repeat the whole cycle with Watts and it is truly a “heat segment”. Awesome milking of Watts crawling and he makes the hot tag to Duggan, but Ref Fergie didn’t see it. Unfortunately here it breaks down a bit, where I felt they shouls have milked and gone back for another Hacksaw hot tag. All men in the ring. Taylor takes a great bump over the top rope. Fergie calls for the bell. Shit, that sucks! Watts turns the tables and clears the ring of all the heels. The 50 year old man clears the ring of Gordy, the UWF champion and resident giant tough guy. Selfish ass Watts. Faces get the “Born in the USA” pose for the crowd stuff in.

So close to being top ten. I’m not even sure this score will be on the proper scale since many of the old scores will be adjusted, but this was a good finish away from being very high. As it is, it’s still a favorite. 4 ½ and 8.6/10.

This match was set up by the last match we saw, with Cowboy Bill Watt’s coming out of retirement. Seems like the show was promoted as “The boys are back in town”, which cause mean the good guys with Watts are making the comeback on the heels, or it could have been the UWF expanding using the Freebirds as the centerpiece as heels. I’m not sure, but the Freebirds did come out to the Thin Lizzy song of the same name.

The Cowboy “Walks Tall” as the heels feed for him early, which is a pretty good story because he really wants at Michael Hayes. One thing I hate, which is not exclusive to this match, is that I always felt Gordy bumped to much just because he was an athletic big man. It makes him seem to “normal” for me after a while, when he was actually a very talented big guy in a sea slightly smaller big guys. He bumps for Duggan and Watts here. It looks great visually, but I’d rather the story be Buddy bumps and tags in the muscle of the group, stand off as the faces try anything but can’t quite get over on Gordy, but they really want Hayes. Or even have Hayes come in, get knocked on his ass, and quickly tag Gordy in. They’d have to go about taking out Gordy differently because he’s a tough SOB. Oh well.

The very live crowd for this match that reminds me of the best NWA 80s crowds, or some late 90s Nitro and RAW crowds. It hinders the fun of development of the match when Jim Ross is constantly telling me that they’re going off the air in a moment or that there’s a minute left in a match that just started. I know why it was done in the moment, I just wish back then they did commentary for the house shows matches like this that weren’t a TV time concept match.

Heels get the advantage on Taylor. Maybe my ethics are off but Hayes punches Taylor right in the face and Ross calls it “a cheap shot”. What? I dig the team work and style the heels employ. Quick tags. Ross brings up that Duggan and Gordy use to team. I like the references to personal histories. I still however, hate the Gordy stomp/Bam Bam dance. It’s as lame as the Fantastics butt dance.

Christ Terry Taylor was a screw up at times. He doesn’t duck or run through Roberts’ leapfrog quickly enough, and when Roberts comes down on him he back body drops him horribly and lands on the guys face. Just before that I was going to point out the lack of real passion and fire Taylor had. His excitement and urgency is all pretend, just like his character. He doesn’t believe in what he’s doing, which is a shame, because he seems to get it very well on a cerebral level. Of Rick Rude, Curt Hennig, Ted Dibiase, and Terry Taylor, Taylor was the least of that WWF late 80s class in terms of believability.

Crowd gets a pay off when they do a double crawling hot tag to Hayes and then Watts. Everyone in the ring. Ref bump. Watts beats up Hayes and pins him via Eddie Gilbert in a ref shirt. But when Gilbert points to Watts as the winner he gets decked. I’m guessing Gilbert was a heel and this was post the Russian angle. Terry Gordy takes out Watts w/ a chair and the Agreadic Spike. Duggan saves. More brawling on the outside. Ends up with the heels in the ring and no official finish. Very NWO vs WCW from a decade later. Except here Watts rolls in and clears the ring.

But WAIT! This was and is an elimination match. The TV is gone but this is the raw tape. Okay, so now hopefully I’m gonna get what I want. Now I feel pretty good about this so far. Grizzley Smith claims Hayes is eliminated, but Watts is also via DQ. Alright. Let’s keep going.

Gordy vs Duggan now. There’s a miscommunication here as Duggan is use to just dominating and not selling. Gordy figures it out and bumps like crazy for him. This annoys me to no end. I’ll watch hundreds of John Cena matches before I watch another Hacksaw Duggan match post this process. Ugh!

So Duggan and Taylor against Gordy and Roberts. Well, at least I have a rooting interest. Heels gain control on Taylor and actually do a spot the faces did in the first fall. Crowd chants for Taylor but I’m not a fan of him selling personally. Buddy Roberts struggles with Taylor on a worked level, but Gordy does alright. One hope spot and Gordy tags out. A moment later it’s Buddy having trouble with trouble, so Gordy comes in and smashes Taylor with his lariat while he has Roberts in a roll up. Crowd goes from huge pop to boos and disbelief. Roberts pins Taylor so it.s 2-on-1. Good heel psychology and tags (MNX-like work), and Taylor got better towards the end. Ref also doing well at being distracted and the movement was there. Match is very good at this point.

Roberts sells the tired beaten up but triumphant heel well. Gordy is just a badass. The chants go up for the super faced of the UWF, a determined Duggan. The table is set, and then…

This finish SUCKS! The heels feed Duggan, who plays his usual superman role. After thirty seconds they get the better of him two on one. They go to throw him out of the ring but he throws them over the top rope. I, for once, remember that it’s old school rules and think Duggan is getting DQed. Nope. The music hits instantly, that f’n overbearing “Born in the USA” they played for every babyface that makes Watts look just as much an ass as Ronny Reagan for not actually getting the point, and Duggan somehow wins. I guess it was battle royal rules too. Whatever. Heel tease dissension.

Don’t get me wrong, the match was very good at times and never horrible, but Duggan and Taylor really bother me for style, presentation, and limitations. Still, if the glass is half full the Freebirds did a hell of a job, even if the finish blew in my opinion. 3 ½ and 6.8/10.

Match Discussion Here

Well now this match looks a lot better on the marquee. Slater is challenging for the belt because Duggan somehow acquired it, but apparently Duggan never beat Slater for it. Sounds good.

Slater gets beat up and bails out a lot early. Duggan always played the crowd well, and even if I never loved his work he was at least athletic. A few minutes in Duggan misses a splash in the corner and hits the buckle. Slater goes to work on his arm. Duggan isn’t as good at selling as Slater is at aggressive well thought out offense. You should see Duggan smell up a fall back on a side Russian leg sweep.

They clipped the match, but it may have only been a few seconds. I’m not crying in this case. Slater cuts off a comeback really well, and it has the desired emotional effect. Some brutality on the outside is kept smart and not overdone. It really slows down though and I begin daydreaming then coming out of it, realizing I’m not missing anything.

Duggan’s punch and buckle slam comeback isn’t to inspiring, but Slater fights back enough that eventually the people pop. Slater headbutts his balls after begging off. I really am starting to enjoy this Slater. He does a lot to make the psychology work towards the end.

Duggan wins clean with a spear. Slater saved it from being a nothing lead babyface match. Man did Duggan kill off heels. Why was he booked like that? Was it that he couldn’t do much? Watts was right to book him strong, but like this? I can’t get into it. Match was okay. 2 ¾ and 6/10.

Match Discussion Here

Match # 114: Gustavo Mendoza vs. Brett Wayne Sawyer (5/9/86)

Mendoza is a goofy Cuban/Castro gimmick guy. No idea about who babyface Brett Sawyer is, other than I can assume he’s the face given Bill Watts’ political leanings. Yep, they’ll be plenty of nonsense political views in my wrestling.

Brett Sawyer is Buzz Sawyer’s little brother according to Paul Boesch. Who knows, but I doubt it.

I’m shocked at the mat skills here. These guys don’t look and feel main event, or even semi-main event level, but they have their wrestling and presence down pat. A long technical wrestling and mat based match with a lot of wearing down strategy and almost no striking. Very unique. The Babyface Sawyer was on offense most of the time for the first 8 minutes or so, but it’s an odd choice that didn’t kill the flow. The crowd isn’t overly excited, but they are following it.

Sawyer wore down Mendoza’s arm and then knee while he complained about hair pulling. Mendoza comes back with a suplex. Sawyer comes back with strikes on the knee as mini-hope spots and Mendoza sells appropriately. At times he does need reminding though. I loved his neck breaker, and he moves well for a guy who’s not in great shape. Some of the pin spots with the heel in control aren’t done well or are very contrived, but they are all well meant and not flubs. It can be argued they never leave first or second gear, but I can’t imagine this was more then third on the card so it couldn’t steal to much heat.

Mendoza dives down with an elbow at the 15 minute mark, cutting off about the 4th hope spot. Sawyer comes back with a knee lift and later a suplex. Great drop kicks and a cross body by the babyface, who moves very well. He wins the match in about sixteen minutes.

A very strong mat based lower card match. Something a bit different without main event angles and expectations. Outperformed it’s expectation. Also probably one of the better matches of both careers. 3 stars and 6.1/10.

Match Discussion Here

Just in the first minute you see the level of greatness you’re dealing with here. With the exception of Bill Eadie (Sorry Masked Superstar), who isn’t horrible either, this is a solid main event level gathering of five stars and a decent friend. Buzz Sawyer starts out acting all crazy, charging Hacksaw, and then bumping for all the face teams great punches. Crazy to see Dibiase and Williams teaming with Jim Duggan. I wonder what the make up angle was after Dibiase/Williams went face. I’d kill to see that TV episode.

Buzz crawls to and tags Murdoch who tells Hacksaw to back off. Murdoch really wants a hand shake, and they milk the audience for reaction to that. Dibiase gets in to offer his hand to his former rival, and asks for a tag. they’re doing nothing and I love it just for the subtext.

Duggan, the village idiot, of course milks it too long. almost four minutes later (legit) we actually have a short shake with no tricks and then go into a lock up. Duggan takes the wind out of my sails momentarily. Sawyer tries to grab Hacksaw on the ropes but Murdoch talks him out of it and keeps it fair. You can tell it’s all building up to some heeling, but I love the dynamic of the crazy heel being calmed by the evil psychological mastermind heel. Murdoch is just wrestling psychology brilliance in an aging man, as per his usual.

Murdoch uses nice realistic leverage to stand up Duggan against the ropes while in a headlock. Duggan breaks clean and Murdoch doesn’t take or give a shot. He just pats Duggan on the chest. Duggan does something great here. He immediately looks to Dibiase as if to say, “you would never have done something so noble” or “he doesn’t seem to be as evil as you guys”. It’s also bothering Buzz Sawyer.
Another collar-and-elbow tie up. They move off each other, Murdoch looks to his corner with a smile, and tries to punch Duggan. But the smart babyface that he is, he blocks the shot and give Murdoch one good punch. The only bump (a big one off the punch) in over five minutes. Real smart opening.

Murdoch goes to plan B: he sends in Sawyer, who acts crazy but ends up bumping for Dibiase. Murdoch breaks up a pin and Dibiase runs in to brawl with his arch-nemesis. All six men brawl in the ring. Faces clear out the heels, and now it’s time for healing between a proactive Dibiase/Williams unit and Duggan. High-fives and handshakes all around.

A frustrated Murdoch gets in for act two. He’s trying to hide an object. Duggan hits him and takes it, then uses it before throwing it to Dibiase. Better than it reads. Dibiase in and Murdoch bumps for him.
Superstar in and he actually bumps better then Murdoch for this stretch. Doc in for shoulderblocks and headlocks. Doc makes it look great, especially when Sawyer comes in to work with him. Sawyer is so good selling for Dr. Death that Dibiase comes in to try out Sawyer. This also rules.

Dibiase loses momentum when a well placed Murdoch breaks up a pin attempt with heavy boots. Masked Superstar joins in. Superstar really does look fine here on offense. He holds it together and does what the role demands. Murdoch comes in to decimate his rival similar to Stan Hanson. Brutal stuff.

Sawyer gets in and pulls out a perfect suplex. Dibiase as face in peril is good stuff. False tags and short hope spots. All the good stuff combined with heel cheating, a ref in bad positions, and cutting off the ring.

Murdoch decides to end the match once it breaks down again with the faces beating on the heels. He cracks Dibiase with a chair, which prompts Duggan to clear house with chair shots all around. Even Doc is still nervous, as he asks Duggan for a time out to check on the fallen Dibiase. DQ win for the faces, and it furthers Murdoch vs Dibiase.

This match played like a great RAW main event from the late 90s glory period. It was just a step off, but comparable to the great five on five the WWF presented on RAW in early February of 2000 from Dallas. Really want to reward the thought and not kill it for the break down and DQ finish. It was a solid character driven outing. 3 ¾ stars and 7.8/10.

Match Discussion Here

The first of a block of three matches involving Dirty Dick Slater, the heel with Dark Journey as his manager. I’ve said before I’m reminded of Tracy Smothers when watching him (Smothers came after Slater, but I saw Smothers first because of my age). I’d also said Bob Orton Jr., and I was happy to hear Orton Jr. and Slater for a time formed a tag team. That’s a heel team I wouldn’t mind seeing.

Slater is up against the super face of the territory, the local favorite Hacksaw Jim Duggan. Duggan has added “Ho” to the act now, which makes me roll my eyes, but to each him own. Slater hides behind Dark Journey, his female manager, as Hacksaw gets in the ring.

Slater teases leaving early after Duggan roughs him up and dominates him. Fans get on his case, and Duggan only encourages them. Duggan really had a lot of energy and presence in Mid South that got lost on the national scale. He was used a lot better and more effectively in Mid South.

Entertaining spots early as Duggan keeps Slater locked up in a head lock. Fans actually get into Slater not being able to push the big man off. When the ref goes to check around the back of the two for a hair pull Duggan will sneak in a clinched punch, then deny it as the fans cheer him on. Any reversal Slater makes out of this Duggan shuts down with a clothesline. Gotta mention Slater sells the beating like he’s finally getting his, and I can be up and down on Slater’s selling.

I have no idea what Hacksaw was doing sitting on the round after a missed elbow, but Slater turns in around with a head butt. We get choking right away, and five minutes in Slater has Hacksaw on the floor. He gets back in so the fans can cheer for Hacksaw get back in the ring. Slater cuts off whatever he could get then and grounds him with a sleeper/head lock. The story becomes Hacksaw trying to get out, getting close, then not. Slater has is foot on the rope for leverage and you can hear a female fan screaming about it.

Hacksaw with a brute of a comeback . His motions are perfect for hot comebacks and Slater sells well. Better than average match so far.

Hacksaw with a big shoulder block (do they still call it a spear?) and both men down. Crowd builds again. Hacksaw ties up Slater in the ropes. As an aside, why did Duggan and Reed both need the same background, nick name, and big move? Was one for the white fans and one for the black fans, since there seemed to be a big racial divide in the promotions fan base?

I should mention that Hacksaw brought down what I believe is his wife at the beginning, though you would have forgot a second later. This becomes relevant when Dark Journey tries to give Slater an object while he’s tied up, and while she does succeed, Hacksaw’s wife takes her out of the equation after that. Slater tries to hit Hacksaw, but Hacksaw blocks it. Camera work here ruins the finish, because you can’t see it well, but Hacksaw takes the knux and decides to hit Slater. He kills him with a shot and gets the pin. Stupid Hacksaw (the dumbest babyface I’ve seen on the set, along with Butch Reed) then allows his hand to be raised by the ref. The ref sees the knux, the decision is reversed, and the crowd boos the woozy Slater. Slater wins.

I’m so glad I didn’t live during this era. I would have given up on Duggan and Reed like I did Hogan as a child. Mid South really did do a lot of promotion to hillbillies and yokels. All the good ones were heels the fans legit hated. I’d love to see a Bruce Mitchell and his pals try to pull off the heel fan thing in this territory like they did in the Mid Atlantic. They would have been stabbed in the belly at their first show.
Match was pretty decent. It was the meat and potatoes brawling babyface taking that wuss heel out when he didn’t cheat, but it was well told. Hacksaw has his moments, and I think Slater has a good deal going in Mid South. Better than average match. 3 stars and 6/10.

Match Discussion Here

This is a blood feud that surprised me not only for its intensity and also my own interest in it. Dog collar matches are big risk-big reward in terms of quality, so let’s hope they continue to impress. I’m usually not gung ho about either of them, but I’m coming in with an open mind.

It just dawned on me that the ring announcer is Brother Love, so as Bruce Pritchard does the announcements I laugh at his voice. Buzz looks ready, and he gets heat. Both are good things for atmosphere. Pritchard announces if Buzz Sawyer loses, he leaves town. Hacksaw comes stomping in.
Odd to see the heel in mid-ring with the collar already on, with the face taking his time. Usually they play it with the heel afraid to commit. An interesting choice. Sawyer not afraid might be a cool depiction.

Early Duggan dominates. He beats “Mad Dog from the mount, with the chain, and even when Sawyer tries to run and ask for a time out (short lived). Considering their mutual styles, the dog collar match actually works in their favor. They’re ungraceful stiff brawlers.

Duggan takes him outside and send him to the rails. He beats Sawyer boxing, picking him apart. First pin is a two count for Duggan.

Once we get our reversal Duggan blades soon after from chain and barricade shots. Sawyer isn’t as intense as I’d like him (or maintained it I should say), but Duggan’s blade job does bring a sense of drama. Crowd gets behind Duggan as he sells. It’s just a bit slow with Sawyer on offense.

5 minutes in Duggan hulks up on Sawyer, who sells a barrage of shots poorly but one perfectly. Go figure. Now Sawyer is bleeding with Duggan the bloody-faced aggressor. Sawyer bails again but he’s dragged back in and held up for heavy fists. Cool choke spot with Duggan pulling Sawyer against the rope.

Sawyers first attempt to get a chair is fruitless, but the second time he’s thrown outside he grabs it. He’s pulled up to the apron and smashes Duggan with the chair. That’s it. One shot by the heel. No DQ. That’s actually a good finish if you watch the match more than once, which I did. The chair is deadly. It’s only legal here. The babyface beat Sawyer to death, he kept trying to quit, and only with chair use did he escape. Puts a lot of heat into a return match.

I didn’t think this was as inspired as I’d hoped, but it wasn’t horrible. I might be in the minority of thinking the one or two dog collar matches I’ve seen this decade were better, but I think it’s true. Anyways, this was a strong effort around the last match they had in terms of cumulative score. 3 ¼ and 6.4/10.
Match Discussion Here

Alright, I took a break of a day before this one. After all the greatness on this disk we get two guys I’m not a huge fan of work wise. Sure, Duggan was in my tentative # 1 match, but that was an anomaly. I don’t assume Sawyer will be showing up in any lost classics, but I wanted to go into a house show match with a clear head. So here we go with the perennial babyface of Mid South, versus a grumpy tough guy in Buzz Sawyer.

Starts out in the ring with Buzz trying to jump Duggan. Duggan is Superman, of course, so that doesn’t fly. He wins the punch battle and they go to the outside where he brawls around with Sawyer, beating him up with sloppy offense and selling. If it wasn’t over with the fans, I’d fast forward it right now. Sawyer is busted open bad though, and the crowd is hot.

Duggan likes calling Sawyer a “Son of a bitch” and doing his goofy hands –on-hips pose. Whatever. Duggan throwing Sawyer into the steel barricades was great, but what else is there. Though both move and work very oddly. Some might like it, but it’s not my cup of tea. Back in the ring for a beating, and back out. At some point I’d assume Sawyer cheats to get a short heel advantage for heat.

Yep, Sawyer double eye gouges and nails Duggan with the ball shot. Sawyer gets more intense (the bllod helps) by sending Hacksaw outside and then over the rail. This would be a good but not great Tommy Dreamer match in ECW (the 90s version), but you can argue if weapons would enhance or detract. Sawyer’s offense is as irrelevant as Duggan’s, but he does try to drop a table on his head.
Duggan is bleeding a bit when he gets back in, or it at least looks like he is. Just a ringside camera shot for this one. Duggan with a comeback that wasn’t much, but when they face off and Duggan stomps they pop. Short lived as this is just Duggan clubbing and Buzz eye gouging. It does have a very tough guy feel to it and the crowd is lively, as noted. That’s probably why it’s on here.

Ten minutes in. Duggan was such a puffy looking big man. His spear move looked cool though. Buzz sells it by getting knocked out of the ring and then starts to leave. Count out win for Duggan in 12 minutes. Buzz then comes back to jump Duggan, but Duggan makes a comeback from that too. Christ, they just keep smacking at that horrible sounding bell at ringside. Guess I should be factoring in this as part of my score (post match)but I just want it to be over. Lots of workers out to break them up, but they still go at it. More bell ringing!! Great brawl though. Great shot of Sawyer in the hallway after they get him out of the ring. Hacksaw stomps in the ring, and you get a sense this isn’t over. He’s headed out of the ring.

Here’s why this is o the set. They go at it in the locker room/hallway too after the short intense juice match with the hot babyface backing the brawler down. Buzz isn’t dead, Duggan didn’t get his pinfall, and this has slowly grown on me. I’m especially moved by Duggan’s cursing and a bloody Buzz on the floor screaming “Duggan!” emotionally. You can feel the hate, and if I saw this when I was younger I’d still be talking about it today.

You know, I’d have crapped on this for not being my cup of tea if I didn’t just realize I need to be fair and judge this not only by the old ECW standards (still have the love), but put aside my newer cups of tea that made me love long Flair matches. This, as a brawl for its time, is awesome, and it was unique and strong for its time. Also, other brawl stuff on here was lame to me (always involving Duggan or Watts), but this did resonate as it went on. So for those things, and trying to give a nod to something I often dismiss these days, the brawl gets good marks. It’s not a transcendent moment for this style, like Raven vs Dreamer ECW June 1997 or CZW vs ROH April and July of 2006, but it’s on the next rung down. 3 ½ and 6.8/10.

Match Discussion Here

As if this set wasn’t white trashy and overtly misguidedly nationalistic to begin with, the next match opens with Captain America and Captain Redneck on a monster truck at what looks like a state fair. Jim Duggan and Dick Murdoch are being driven to the ring in a monster truck with American flags on it saluting to people. Duggan really looks like he admires/looks up to Murdoch on this set, which is cool cause I know Murdoch had a big name in the territory, but just as important, he turns before the end of the year.

Oh look, Bill Watts joins them as they get to the ring. He’s in the match. The set is complete. Perhaps Watts will skip the match and give us all a position paper on foreign relations. Looking at the opponents, he already is. I’d guess a crazy America versus evil Foreigners brawl, but I’ll reset my head and start with an open mind.
This match is outside and the crowd is pretty rowdy. Shirts off and everything.
Skandor Akbar fakes injury, but has the North American champ as his substitute. Unfortunately, at this time it’s still The Nightmare. Watts gets on mic and says some of his own nonsense, before getting in a quick attack on Akbar. The faces clear the ring.

Grizzley Smith, match maker for Mid South, is out and in the ring. He forces Akbar to wrestle because he signed a contract. Very cool because the tease had people mad Watts wasn’t gonna get him, and now he does. Faces rule the ring for the first few minutes as heels stall or can’t get in. It’s not my thing at all (monster heels who never win or wrestle well and generic good ol boy faces), but fans love this stuff. It was perfect for it’s era.

Lots of USA chanting every time the faces punch/kick to clear ring.

Now the great Mid South refs restore order. Murdoch and Kareem to start. That breaks down quick. This is all Watts “walking Tall stuff”, with Duggan and Murdoch too. At least Murdoch is awesome when he’s in, especially when he starts selling for the heels. Good detail work heeling injures, pain, and getting the crowd to care. Heels, once in control, do tag well and cut off the ring. Suddenly Kamala is Dennis Condrey in a Freebird style six man team. Okay, Sure.

They continue to get the heat on Murdoch, and his hope spots do elicit the right responses., but then the faces get bored and cheat. They skip the Murdoch hot tag and just rush in. The heels to get Watts for a minute or two, but he ends up slamming Kamala and winning.

Fans of the era will enjoy the nostalgia, or maybe just like the depictions. I don’t. Worthless match for my tastes. Already saw Watts in the MNX match and Hacksaw in to many of these “monster of the week” things, plus Murdoch is wasted here. 2 stars and 3/10.

Match Discussion Here

Muhammad, who I’ll be calling Kareem from this point forward, is just a fat black guy in US Army camo colors. It’s Mark Henry if he stopped his lifting training or greatly reduced it. Kamala is typical Ugandan Giant Kamala, complete with spear and tribal mask. They are the heels, and with Murdoch and Hacksaw representing Middle America, you can just imagine the racial undertones here. You don’t even have to imagine it if you wanna turn your sound up and catch isolated comments from the crowd.

Speaking of the crowd, any old timer who likes to talk about every night being sold out must have been working in a territory that only played high school gyms. This is about the twelfth time on this set they’ve been in a larger college basketball sized arena (not a gym, but a place seating ten thousand and over). There are anywhere from hundreds to thousands of empty seats in all camera shots. At least Vince McMahon showed Watts how to take wrestling out of smokey VFWs, right?

Heels brawl the faces to the floor with bad punches and slaps. Hacksaw has one hell of a shiner on his eye. He has the crowd going, but I’m not sure why as they get sent back trying to get in the ring a second time. I guess Hacksaw was that big a figure people get into a punch struggle for control of the ring.

Third time is a charm and a crowd pleaser for Duggan and Murdoch. Hacksaw does his stomp and Murdoch does a really silly gig. Think the Mick Foley dance, but not so much done for laughs.

The faces then beat up the heels completely and knock them out of the ring a second time before Hacksaw Duggan gets his hands on Skandor Akbar. People love that because he’s the lead heel manager. I guess this is like the big faces in any promotion beating up monster heels, but it’s the exact reason I never took Kamala seriously as a kid. They wanted me to think this guy was a monster going up against The Undertaker on a major PPV, yet he never beat anyone or made anyone fear him. It’s the same reason I don’t take Umaga seriously. He hasn’t dominated anyone in well over a year, and all he’s got is the monster heel stuff to go on. So I’m not so into the hardcore brawl and the heels selling, but it gets points for being over and well done.

Umaga comes off the top rope to save Akbar. Murdoch saves Hacksaw the trouble for a while but the heels overwhelm him too. Akbar head butts (or uses his stick) on Hacksaw, who sells outside the ring.
Big punch/elbow comeback from the stomping Hacksaw. I know he’s the big face and they all love him, I just don’t care. Only in the big stip match did I ever find him relevant. This is just a heated brawl for the time period.

Two wrestlers jump the rail, though I’m not clear yet who they are. Umaga gets sent into one and they both bump. It’s Dibiase and Williams. Guess that feud just NEVER ends, even after a perfect ending. The faces pinball all the heels around to the fans delight. Apathetic is my name.

DQ win for Hacksaw/Murdoch. A cool clip more than a match to vote on. Won’t finish in my top 100 but it was need top see as a moment in the history of the promotion. Crowd was really happy and that’s the overall point. Murdoch was a legend to these people and gave the already over Hacksaw the rub and a nice memory. 2 ½ and 5/10.
Match Discussion Here