This is the reprise of the last match, with the rules of the Bigelow vs Lawler classic that started the set. Same basic pairings and same general feelings as the last match. I found the Bigelow/Rich pairing far more fascinating than anything Lawler/Idol put together. Bigelow really works hard to be a freight train in this match, while Rich does great to stooge before getting guttural for the heel control.

The whole match is brawling all over the place. Crazy, out of control, and nothing to horrible. Like I said, pretty much same as the last match. Bigelow/Rich settles in to the main course in the ring, while Idol/Lawler do a lot of ringside brawling. No real pin attempts for the first 8 minutes. Great stuff with all four in the ring as they tie up Idol in the ropes, and then post Rich by the balls. That gets a pin fall. Lawler/Bigelow stand there just daring Rich to get up like they’re kings. Crowd counts along and Rich stays down on the outside for the fall. Lawler/Big win in a sprint. The best 8 minute death match with a neat booking twist of one fall. 3 ½ and 7/10.

Match discussion Here

Two rings with all four men going at each other at the same time. I guess each “match” is in a separate ring. You can trade at any time to switch the match up, but you can only go 2-on-1 for sixty seconds before a DQ. A goofy gimmick, but not all together terrible.

Tommy Rich works his ass off to make this match decent. I’m not inspired by another wild Memphis main event level brawl, but Rich makes me pay more attention to it. He bumps all over for the inexperienced Bigelow and bleeds for both men. He also saves Idol from beatings a few times as the Lawler/Bigelow team dominate the first ten minutes. Rich is the MVP while Idol adds next to nothing for me. Lawler does his usual great punches. This match suits him. Generally a lot of nothing goes on, but the fans are sucked in by the stars.

The match really picks up for me when they transition to the heels controlling. Rich does a good boxing spot with Bam Bam, while Idol finds a board with a nail in it. No, you are not watching an episode of the Simpsons. They really beat up and bloody Lawler with a board and nail. Very dramatic stuff.

Bam Bam’s comeback when the try to post Lawler by the balls is awesome. He really had it early on and had he been nurtured correctly and made better personal decisions he would have been a legend. A fiery comeback leads to Lawler popping the strap – and a bunch of ball shots. Lord Humongous (Memphis version) is out to give Idol a weapon. Boy, the Hum. get up is really gay. Anyways, it’s a DQ finish as the heels put Lawler in a noose and Bigelow gets handcuffed to the ropes. Rich is the star here. The faces locker room comes in to clear the ring. 3 ¼ and 6.5/10.

Match Discussion Here

Lou Thesz on the mic at ringside with Lance Russell. Very cool for me as a fan who read the guys book and respect the history of wrestling. This is a rugged old school southern match up and even the lock ups are stiff. I’m a fan of Rich vs Rex right away.

Rich stays on Rex’s arm with wrist locks and hammer locks. He adds some strikes in there to control the bigger opponent. The commentary hear is really solid at getting over the match up differences between the two and what Rich will be doing. Rex takes over with his bullying style. Simple low impact stuff that looks really good. Nothing flashy.

They’ve got a new blue mat, I’m guessing to hide how dirty looking the white mat was.
Rex holds a chin lock on Rich for a bit, and the crowd does come back with Rich before Rex cuts him off. I get the sense this isn’t going to go much past second gear. Still, the announcing holds my attention in the dull parts.

It picks up with a slugfest Rich wins. He drop kicks, back body drops, and punches his way through Rex. Rich wins with the Thesz press in homage to Thesz at ringside. The camera cuts early from the pin, which was probably covering a mistake. Match was fine, but nothing really high level ballot-wise. 2 ¼ and 4/10.

Match Discussion Here

This match is joined in progress, but thankfully only about a minute or two are clipped. I’m a mark for head lock to pin and back combos, and that’s how this starts. It’s worked very light, but I mean that in a good way. No need to kill yourselves ever time you get out there. This has some art to it.

Rich is starting to look like Jack Victory out there. He’s getting heavy. Ito is (or is pretending to be) Asian, so naturally they’ve attached him to Tojo Yamamoto. He’s doing a karate/ku fu gimmick, which never captured me, and seems to work similar to a Samoan.

Ito beats down Rich and after a few minutes Rich comes back with punches that rile the crowd. Rich’s double knee to the head is great. Ito comes right back because he’s not selling any head shots. Lots of thrust shots to the throat. Judo-CHOP!

Rich has another come back with a flying elbow. They clipped it again because these guys are both and forth dripping sweat. The comeback is quelled again, but showing good flow the comeback comes sooner than later.

Boy, do the distraction spots in these matches look bad when Paul Morton is refing. People gave Tommy Gilbert hell on ther Mid South set, but this is just as bad. Yamamoto is there, but strangely enough he’s with Gilbert because we have to have Jimmy Hart manage EVERY heel on this set. Hart interferes twice but there’s a slow kick out near fall twice. Then Tojo gives Rich a fist full of something (salt), he uses it on Ito, and wins with a flying press. New International champ, for those keeping score. Better then I’d think match, but nothing to special. 2 ½ and 5/10.

Match Discussion Here

Not really a tag match so much as a fight with four men that can go anywhere. Somehow the rules are you have to rip off the other man’s clothes to win. Memphis could have a lot of gay undertones.
The match is a lot of brawling that goes everywhere. I feel like I’ve seen this before. More so I think I need to re-evaluate the Tupelo Concession Stand brawl and put this match in the low position I put that one in. Maybe move up the TCSB.

Decent to good brawling and some blood, but this doesn’t capture me, and Hickerson/Spoiler give off a jobber vibe to someone like me. The match proved the faces were tough and the final few minutes were pretty good. Gilbert does a cool piledriver to the outside, but then the finish is Rich with a loaded mask head butting a heel, which is just lame to me. Eight minute match which I guess I should be glad was kept short. 2 ¼ and 4/10.

Match Discussion Here

It’s Memphis and Falls Count Anywhere, so you know it starts with a brawl. Rich and Gilbert, as talented as they are, aren’t as fluid as the original Fabs. Gilbert comes off better then Rich though, as Rich never seemed to work on cardio, body, or be a natural athlete.

Rich/Gilbert makes the PYT look silly for a few minutes before Gilbert gets caught being other anxious and they work him over. Similar to their last match, but they brawl outside from time to time. In fact, the Falls Count Everywhere stip is almost irrelevant until after the heat and hot tag by the faces. Then it gets good.

They brawl out to the tunnel. Rich and Austin end up on a stage and Gilbert/Ware in the crowd. Great brawling and they knew how to play to the crowd here. Rich/Austin win the brawl but lose the match. The feud continues. I was bored or disinterested in much of this before that brawl, but part of that could be Lance Russell not announcing. Also, I don’t have much emotional connection to these two babyfaces, so that plays into my ranking. 2 ½ and 5/10.

Match Discussion Here

Gilbert and Rich are the (ill suited) new Fabulous Ones. Fab originator Jackie Fargo did an interview from his living room couch (no joke) explaining that Stan Lane and Steve Keirn wanted to go all over the place and not stay in Memphis, so he stripped them of the Fabs monitor. In their place he’s found two new young men to wear the top hats and kiss the girls at ringside. Enter Tommy “Wildfire” Rich and Eddie “Hot Stuff” Gilbert. Not my idea of perfect for the gimmick, but they are good workers.
Tonight’s test is the PYT of Norvell Austin and Koko Ware. Ware was last seen in an awesome team with Bobby Eaton, but now he’s got one of the original Midnights at his side in Austin. This one is straight from a spot show on what looks like two hand held cameras.

Rich and then Gilbert dominate the heels early with lock ups and hard punches/shoves exchanged. It’s built slowly so you can feel everything simmer until Gilbert gets into a punch ware with one of the heels (Austin I believe). Austin/Ware complain about the punches after having gotten the better of them early, which is always funny.

Lots of Fargo strutting as the babyfaces outsmart the heels early on. Acceptable stalling from the heels after every crowd pleasing moment. Arguments that end in hugs get them some heat.

Rich goes over the top rope off a missed punch and gets beaten down right in front of the candy guy. Bummer. The heels switch on and off on him, cheating a good bit, while the fans get whipped into a frenzy. Good heat for the match and really simple stuff to the ten minute mark. Nothing blow away in the simple department, but simple-good.

Hope spots and grounding Rich for the next few minutes until Gilbert gets the tag. He goes wild for a moment but gets outnumbered. Rich gets in and gets an awkwardly long and goofy looking pin for the victory. Okay match that didn’t have anything that wrong with it, but never really captured me. Went to the heat in unspectacular fashion and was to short for the opening it gave, but maybe I’m being too picky. 2 ¾ and 6/10.

Match Discussion Here

This is a World tag title match with Dundee and Rich back together challenging for the titles. Mantell is a longtime high card wrestler in Memphis who you’ll see a lot of in these diaries. He’s one of the hairier wrestlers you’ll see and is presently writing for TNA after booking in Puerto Rico. Austin Idol is an odd story for the simple fact he may have been a major player in wrestling outside of Memphis and the Gulf Coast had he not been afraid of flying after a plane crash he was in took the lives of several colleagues.

This is our first arena match on the set, but we still get the great Lance Russell commentary. Dundee does a great block of a hip toss early, and then switches without a tag to Tommy Rich.

Russell: “They’ll make two tags next time”.

It dawns on me that Rich was a great “southern style” or “Memphis” wrestler who just didn’t translate nationally. Of the four in the ring, probably only Idol would translate all through the territories and nationally. Rich was a decent medium-big man who could really talk. Also of note is the fact the ref is Tommy Marlin, most likely related to Eddie Marlin from the Memphis office.

Faces dominate the first six minutes until Idol pulls the rope down on Tommy Rich, who hits the concrete floor. Russell shines here on commentary saying that Idol claims he fell off the apron and had to grab the rope, all the while playing the skeptic. Heels really get heat for this and team on Rich for a minute of two.

Dundee is a good tag partner on the apron as he’s constantly active either cheerleading the crowd or trying to get a tag. If he’s not doing that he’s trying to get at the cheating heels or telling the ref everything he missed while the heels cheat.

Dundee gets a hot tag and goes right to that great sleeper which works so well because he’s shorter than everybody else. Dutch can really move and Idol is good at overselling. They are better than decent heels. Dutch quells a Dundee rally with a front face lock at the ten minute mark. Crowd really wants the tag.

Nothing about this match stands out as great for the style, but the timing and awareness is there. Basically, nothing is wrong so far.

Dundee stops a pin by pulling Mantell off him by his hair. That’s a new one. Dundee continues to fight back and gets the pin on a roll up of Mantell at 14 minutes. Crowd goes nuts for it. I liked it a lot, but I’m not sure I want to put it above the last match. 3 ¼ and 6.7/10.

Match Discussion Here

Tommy Rich would go on shortly from this time period to have a short NWA World Title reign and later have a notable feud with Jerry Lawler. I saw him for the first time a decade ago as a washed up chubby manager in ECW, but here he was in his prime. Dundee we’ve already seen in several matches; a mainstay in Memphis.

Jerry Lawler is with Lance Russell on commentary here. Winner of the match gets a shot at the Southern Heavyweight title, I’d guess being held by Lawler at the time. That’s the promotion’s big belt. And I’m already wrong, as Bill Irwin is the champ. Dundee and Rich are friends who were recently tag partners. Lawler talks logically about Dundee getting a title shot and Russell has his say. I miss that about wrestling.

Really competitive and high impact amateur style stuff as well as a lot of movement in the ring. Both men are moving well and this seems like an important match in the first two minutes. Hold exchanges favor nobody as its all equal, but getting more competitive. Rich is better then I thought, or Dundee is making him look awesome. I’d say Rich has talent.

Dundee gets reversed out of Boston crab. Rich grabs a knee lock but he’s pushed off. I love the exuberance with which Dundee applies and works the sleeper. He always knows the right time to take a shot at it too. For a babyface vs babyface match with top of the card guys, they’ve really worked this well. Only major flub is a Dundee monkey flip that almost breaks Rich’s neck. Rich comes back with a vicious back drop that seems like a recipt, but may have been worked inmto the finish. Dundee sells his groin, the ref checks on him, and Rich quicly rolls him up for a pin. Russell shames him post-match, but Rich says he’s making a name for himself all over. He’s come home to get his shot now, and “that boy was just playin’ possum”. Damn right! He then heels on Lawler while the King watches on. Calls him a sissy and pushes Lawler down. He’s on fire. Great match and heel interview after. 3 ¼ and 6/10.

Update: I went back and looked. Rich head buts Dundee in the ground as he takes him over for the back body drop. Really amazing now that I see how it was executed. Also, Lawler is “retired” at the moment with an injured foot. Therefore Rich shoving him down gets huge heat because Lawler can’t defend himself. Very good angle.

Match Discussion Here