Back on April 3rd I finished up my Memphis Diaries participation with my final ballot. You can find my ballot here, or by searching Memphis Diaries on the site. Well a day or two ago the good people over at the Death Valley Driver Message Board released the final voting, so now for the first [...]
Friday, April 3, 2009
Final 80s Memphis Ballot 1. Jerry Lawler vs. Bill Dundee (Loser Leaves Town) (6/6/83) [EWY-6] 2. Jerry Lawler vs. Dutch Mantell (Barbed Wire Match) (3/29/82) [BLUESKIES-8] 3. Jerry Lawler vs. Bill Dundee (No DQ, Loser Leaves Town) (12/30/85) [EYETIGER-10] 4. Jerry Lawler vs. Dutch Mantell (No DQ) (3/22/82) [BLUESKIES-6] 5. Koko Ware vs. Ric Flair [...]
Thursday, April 2, 2009
Disk 9 Rankings 1. Jerry Lawler vs. Dutch Mantell (5/29/88) [TROUB-1] 2. Jerry Lawler vs. Kerry Von Erich (6/27/88) [TROUB-2] 3. Dutch Mantell vs. Jeff Jarrett (Orchestra Match) (Late 1988) [TROUB-6] 4. Jerry Lawler vs. Kerry Von Erich (9/17/88) [TROUB-4] 5. Shogun & Samurai vs. Mason Dixon Connection (3/25/89) [TROUB-9] 6. Dutch Mantell vs. Jeff [...]
Wednesday, April 1, 2009
Match # 124: Jerry Lawler, Jeff Jarrett & Freddy vs. Dutch Mantell, Master of Pain & Ronnie Gossett (7/10/89) This match was shot on an old camcorder from the hard camera perspective out with the fans. Really crappy footage for following so many men, but I’ll forgive it because it has the Memphis Freddy gimmick [...]
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
Match # 123: Shogun & Samurai vs. Mason Dixon Connection (3/25/89) I think one of the Japanese participants is a young Hashimoto. Never seen much Hash, so this is interesting. I would have liked this match a lot more if I was emotionally attatched to any of these guys, or maybe if I had followed [...]
Monday, March 30, 2009
Match # 122: Robert Fuller & Jimmy Golden vs. Jed Grundy & Scott Steiner (2/18/89) This is a CWA tag title match from the studio show. Dave Brown and Lance Russell on commentary. Grundy is just a fat hillbilly in overalls who plays babyface big man. The heels make it easy for him to look [...]
Sunday, March 29, 2009
Match # 121: Dutch Mantell vs. Jeff Jarrett (1/28/89) Memphis has gotten a little low rent at this point. The studio show has a banner on the ring apron for a local car dealership. I always liked the small town feel of Memphis, but the local corporate sponsorship just has me bummed. Oh well, let’s [...]
Thursday, March 26, 2009
Match # 120: Dutch Mantell vs. Jeff Jarrett (Orchestra Match) (Late 1988) Wrestling is performance art at its core. This takes that to another level as they perform thing match on a stage with a symphony orchestra in front of a crowd. The wrestling is decent to solid. Nothing to fancy. The fundamentals are there, [...]
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
Match # 119: Bill Dundee, Jeff Jarrett & Jimmy Valiant vs. Robert Fuller, Jimmy Golden & Tommy Rich (9/17/88) This doesn’t give me cause to write much. It was an okay match. Classic southern booking and lay out. Nothing wrong with that. Also nothing really to write home about. These AWA tapings in Memphis without [...]
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
Match # 118: Jerry Lawler vs. Kerry Von Erich (9/17/88) Another in a long line of late 80s match-ups between these two. This is a feud I loved as a child, and this one is for both the belts. Von Erich’s World Class title & Lawler’s AWA title are on the line.
Friday, March 20, 2009
Match # 117: Bill Dundee & Brickhouse Brown vs. Jimmy Golden & Robert Fuller (9/18/88) A very by the numbers heel/face tag match here. It suffers having the AWA announcers after all that time hearing Lance Russell tell the stories. It’s odd seeing the AWA present Memphis wrestling, as this is from the AWA on [...]
Friday, March 20, 2009
Match # 116: Jerry Lawler vs. Kerry Von Erich (6/27/88) This one takes me back to childhood in the late 80s watching World Class on ESPN. My mother would yell at me if she caught me watching, so I turned it low every weekday afternoon, sit right up close on the TV, and be transported [...]
Thursday, March 19, 2009
Match # 115: Jerry Lawler vs. Dutch Mantell (5/29/88) This was a clever little match. Not great, but decent, and definitely worth inclusion on this set. These two are master workers for their style, and they know how to play to a Memphis crowd.
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
Ballot After 8 Disks 1. Jerry Lawler vs. Bill Dundee (Loser Leaves Town) (6/6/83) [EWY-6] 2. Jerry Lawler vs. Dutch Mantell (Barbed Wire Match) (3/29/82) [BLUESKIES-8] 3. Jerry Lawler vs. Bill Dundee (No DQ, Loser Leaves Town) (12/30/85) [EYETIGER-10] 4. Jerry Lawler vs. Dutch Mantell (No DQ) (3/22/82) [BLUESKIES-6] 5. Koko Ware vs. Ric Flair [...]
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
Disk 8 Rankings 1. Jerry Lawler vs. Bam Bam Bigelow (Texas Death) (9/7/86) [MEMPTENN-1] 2. Nick Bockwinkel vs. Jeff Jarrett (5/4/87) [MEMPTENN-5] 3. Jerry Lawler & Bam Bam Bigelow vs. Austin Idol & Tommy Rich (Texas Death Match) (3/23/87) [MEMPTENN-3] 4. Jerry Lawler vs. Austin Idol (Hair vs. Hair, Steel Cage Match) (4/27/87) [MEMPTENN-4] 5. [...]
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
Match # 114: Jerry Lawler vs. Curt Hennig (Title vs. Retirement) (5/9/88) They built this up for a while as Lawler’s last shot at his quest to become the world champion. They even had voting to pick a ref (with Larry The Ax Hennig), and local area legend Jackie Fargo winning. This is for the [...]
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
Match # 113: Eddie Marlin vs. Tommy Gilbert (Cowboy Boot Match) (4/4/88) Broadway Danny Wolf is one of the new announcers they’re showing on Memphis TV the last few matches. I mention him as he’s doing an interview with a rapidly aging Eddie Marlin. The guy is such an uninspired geek it pains me to [...]
Sunday, March 15, 2009
Match # 112: Jerry Lawler vs. Eddie Gilbert (No DQ) (3/28/88) Joined in progress from the Mid South Coliseum. Crowd is hot, but you can see they are way down. There are seats and sections everywhere with no people in them. Memphis was slowly dying as an arena attraction at this point.
Sunday, March 15, 2009
Match # 111: Jeff Jarrett, Tracy Smothers, & Billy Travis vs. Badd Company & King Carl Fergie (8/29/87) Could this be the same Carl Fergie that was a ref in Mid South? I have no idea. I can tell you this studio match doesn’t have Lance Russell announcing, so hopefully Dave Brown steps up his [...]
Friday, March 13, 2009
Match # 110: Nick Bockwinkel vs. Jeff Jarrett (5/4/87) This match will most likely illustrate the divide between my ballot and many of the other respectable voters in the Internet wrestling community. While many people loved and/or praised the previous match (Idol vs Lawler), I was far more engrossed and drawn in to this match. [...]
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
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