Tracking the Territories 1984- Volume Three

by Liam Byrne

  The ‘casualty report’ on Donovan comes first as we get footage of Khan taking on Kevin Von Erich and the wild brawl that ensued, as well as Khan’s kneedrop from the second turnbuckle that has put Donovan in hospital. Apparently, Donovan has had to undergo surgery and Chic is quick to thank the fans who have offered him all their support. The surgery involved putting a bolt through the knee and the prognosis is that Donovan could be out for six months to a year, though he promises that he will try and get back as soon as possible. Kevin’s comments focus on Khan’s desire to injure people rather than just beat them, with a guarantee to defeat Khan for Donovan.

  Buck Zum Hofe and Kelly Kiniski is another match that has come out of events from the previous week as Zum Hofe teamed with Chief Jules Strongbow to defeat Kiniski and Wild Bill Irwin. Kiniski rushes out of the blocks but is soon caught in a side headlock, before a trip and a dropkick allow Zum Hofe to bring down Kiniski to the canvas by the head. The two men battle over the side headlock, with an attempt by Kiniski to send Zum Hofe into the ropes thwarted before the two men trade atomic drops with Kiniski suffering significantly more from that exchange. The referee has to take evasive action to avoid getting hit as Zum Hofe lands on his feet following a monkey flip, with ‘Rock and Roll’ now working on the leg with a standing leglock.

  Kiniski has been on the back foot for the whole five minutes so far, but a shot to the stomach and a suplex earns him a two count. He holds onto a backbreaker for an extra few seconds to gain another two count, before compounding Zum Hofe’s misery with an abdominal stretch. Zum Hofe fights his way free, but Kiniski pounces with a kick to the back and a powerslam to maintain control.

  Kiniski’s decision to throw Zum Hofe out of the ring is booed by the fans and he keeps his opponent there with a big right hand and a neck snap on the top rope that sees Zum Hofe take a hard back bump on the floor. Looking for something to fire him up, Zum Hofe turns on his boombox (which somehow comes out over the PA system) and begins to wail on Kiniski, but just as it is looking like he is building towards the finish, the bell rings as the time limit has expired. A decent match, though it would have been better if Kiniski had more time on offense to build heat. The boombox gimmick is…interesting, though there are much weirder out there so I can’t really complain.

  After weeks of beating weak opponents on television, Gino Hernandez is up against Iceman King Parsons, with Hernandez brandishing the American Heavyweight Title much to the dismay of the fans at ringside. Hernandez takes his time to engage and when he does, Parsons has him down on the canvas with a hammerlock. As the two men battle over a top wristlock, Mercer mentions that Skandor Akbar is working a deal for a new partner for the Missing Link which will shock the world. A kneebreaker stops Parsons who had been having the better of the initial grappling, with Hernandez telling the fans to shut up as he works the knee with a leglock.

  Parsons whacks his leg across the champion’s face to break the hold but is visibly limping as he gets back to his feet. Hernandez’s attempts to go back to the leg almost backfire as Parsons wraps him in a small package for a nearfall. Hernandez grapevines the legs to keep Parsons on the mat, whilst tripping his opponent to the mat the second Parsons manages to get back to his feet. The injury once again plays against Hernandez as his attempts to push the pace see him walk straight into some punches from Parsons, with one almost sending him crashing into the referee. As it looks like Parsons has the champion in trouble, Hernandez grabs a handful of tights to send him to the apron for some brief respite.

  It is indeed brief as Parsons hits him with a big headbutt as he re-enters the ring, as well as a double stomp on the forehead. Neither man is able to keep control for long, with Parsons taking Hernandez down with a kneelift before juking and jiving into a bolo punch that sees Hernandez put his foot on the rope to break the pin. The finish seems to be improvised as a crossbody by Parsons that is supposed to end up with Hernandez on top ends up in the ropes. Instead, we then see a Parsons sunset flip reversed with a handful of tights for good measure to give Hernandez the win. A good match that I was worried might go to the time limit as well, but Hernandez stealing the victory is the right decision by far.

  Main event time as the Missing Link takes on Kerry Von Erich with the Link attempting to jump Kerry before he even manages to take off his jacket. However, he has no luck whatsoever as Kerry just shrugs off his attack and hits him with several strikes of his own. The Link sends Kerry into the turnbuckle to gain some traction, only to miss a diving headbutt off of the second turnbuckle and get sent to ringside with a Kerry dropkick. The Link smashes his head with a chair in frustration, almost dropping it on one of the camera men in the process. As the match returns to the ring, the Link hits one more headbutt, though Kerry is straight back with a tornado punch that forces Akbar to interfere by breaking the pinfall for a disqualification. Bell to bell, the match was less than three minutes and a waste of time.

  The Link throws a chair at Kerry which he impressively catches out of midair and then uses on the Link as the wildman tries to jump him from behind. Before he leaves, the Link breaks a wooden chair with his head, whilst it almost feels that they are killing time. I half expect the new wrestler that Akbar has signed to make an appearance, but no. That is your main event. What a complete letdown.

  To close, we are given the details to write to if we want a copy of ‘Requiem to a Champion’, a book written in tribute to David Von Erich and a book that was mentioned earlier in the show.

  A decent show with a poor main event. Luckily, Hernandez versus Parsons was a really good match to make up for a Kerry versus Link match that did nothing in terms of in-ring action or in terms of storylines.

  WWF Championship Wrestling 14.7.84

  Vince McMahon and Gene Okerlund are with us once more as McMahon begins to run down the card for this week. ‘Gentleman’ Jerry Valiant will take on Ivan Putski in a match that doesn’t exactly scream excitement, whilst the Wild Samoans are taking on Lanny Kean and Rene Goulet. The Iron Sheik is also due to be involved on the show and we get a special edition of Piper’s Pit. I’ve seen better potential cards, but we’ll see.

  The Wild Samoans are effectively in the process of turning face, but the fans don’t seem sure as to how to respond to them, giving them a mixed reaction. There is no Captain Lou Albano in the Samoans’ corner initially as McMahon debates whether there is some friction between the two parties, only for Albano to slink down part way through the contest. As he watches on, Kean and Goulet are actually teaming up on Sika with some success, leading to Albano walking out. With Albano leaving, the tide turns on a Sika back body drop on Kean, with Kean then taking a hard bump off of a chop to the head from an Irish whip. Realising how much trouble his team is in, Goulet refuses to tag in when Kean reaches his hand out in the midst of a nerve hold. A Samoan drop by Sika ends this one-sided contest, most notable for the seeming break-up of the Albano/Samoans relationship.

  Someone the fans are fully behind is Ivan Putski as he runs down to the ring to take on Jerry Valiant. Valiant raises concerns about how oiled up Putski is, which leads to the referee rubbing down Putski’s pecs to check in an interesting spot. Valiant is a classic heel, using a punch behind the referee’s back and grabbing the hair to manipulate Putski. A brief spurt of offense from Putski sees the Polish Power run straight into a boot from Valiant, but Putski quickly powers out of the resulting headlock. Putski wins a test of strength and stamps on Valiant’s hands, before using his arm strength to break a Valiant full nelson. Valiant wrenches on a nerve hold after hitting Putski in the stomach to halt his momentum, with several chops on the blindside of the referee aimed straight at the throat. Suddenly, Putski unloads with some punches, reverses an Irish whip into the corner and hits the Polish hammer for the win. Some fun heeling 101 work by Valiant, but Putski’s inability to do anything outside of strength spots always drags down his contests.

  The Iron Sheik is up next and might have his hands more full than usual as he meets Billy
Travis, a jobber who usually at least makes his matches somewhat competitive. We get the usual ‘USA’ chants as Freddie Blassie claims the Iron Sheik is number one, but it is Travis who has some early offense with a side headlock and a dropkick. The Iron Sheik uses an atomic drop to break the headlock, only to miss an elbowdrop that allows Travis to go back to the hold. Travis then messes up what is supposed to be a kick to the face as the Sheik goes for a back body drop, even ending up tied briefly in the ropes. The Sheik covers it pretty well by swarming Travis with strikes and stomps.

  The fans begin to chant for Slaughter as the Sheik lands a body slam and several blatant choke holds. For no reason whatsoever, Sheik throws Travis to the outside and hits him with a wooden chair to the head. Strangely, the referee chooses not to disqualify the Iron Sheik, not even after a second chair shot to the back. Travis is out of it, with the Sheik picking up the victory after a belly to back suplex and the Camel Clutch. A match clearly not helped by the Iron Sheik doing something that was outside the accepted narrative of the contest, forcing the referee to turn a blind eye.

  WWF update this week focuses on Big John Studd, with footage shown of Studd in the middle of a handicap match. One of the jobbers he faces gets hit with a clothesline and an elbowdrop, kicking out just after the three count. McMahon mentions Big John Studd meeting Hulk Hogan, yet talks in generalities about it being a battle of the titans and how they’ll meet once again down the line.

  We head straight into a segment with Roddy Piper as he bemoans Cyndi Lauper’s choice of wrestler and coach. A training montage of Lauper cheering on Wendi Richter as she trains in the gym. I’ve said it before, but it is the amount of effort Lauper puts into each and every segment she is involved in that really helps put this storyline over the top. Richter and Lauper finish the segment by saying ‘Lou’s going down and so is Schmoolah’.

  We join a match in progress after the Lauper segment, with Dick Murdoch taking on S.D. Jones, with Jones having the better of the initial exchanges though Murdoch believes it is due to handfuls of hair rather than technical skill. Murdoch’s stalling tactics allow him to catch Jones off guard with a strike to the stomach and he uses his rugged offense of strikes and elbows to take control. Three elbows to the head have little effect on Jones though, and he leaves Murdoch on the canvas with a leaping headbutt. Jones tries to drive Murdoch into the top turnbuckle several times, only to catch a back elbow to the face which shifts the momentum.

  Murdoch jaws with the fans as he continues to use his punches to work over Jones. However, Murdoch is struggling to keep Jones under control and the fan favourite actually gains a two count after a punch combination. Both men end up on their knees trading punches, whilst a punch as they are getting back to their feet sends Jones through the middle rope. Murdoch pulls him into the ring and reverses an Irish whip to land a back elbow. Jones is in the corner and gets dumped with the Cattle Branding, but Jones amazingly kicks out. The match goes to ringside and Murdoch gets sent into the post as Jones shrugs off a headlock. The ref is counting though and rolls under the bottom rope to beat the ten count. A rugged and fun brawl, though why Jones needs to be protected in this manner is beyond me.

  The best match on the show was one that didn’t even feature in the opening segments rundown of the card, whilst what was mentioned by McMahon and Okerlund was dross. Considering the WWF has upped its game in recent months in terms of offering better quality wrestling on television, this was a let-down.

  It is worth noting that this is the last taping that would take place in Allentown, Pennsylvania. To be fair, it still definitely carried a sense of the smoky bingo halls about it, so spending some time elsewhere may help add to the WWF’s aesthetic at the time; something that was a huge positive to their overall production compared to many other territories.

  Mid-South Wrestling 19.7.84

  We open this week with Jim Ross and Joel Watts at the commentary booth and it isn’t long before Watts is stumbling over the matches for the show. We are promised the Pretty Young Things against The Midnight Express, a tag match involving the team of the Junkyard Dog and Hacksaw Jim Duggan against Butch Reed and Buddy Landell, as well as the Fantastics, though we only get the full card after Ross fills in the gaps.

  Ross throws over to the ring where Bill Watts is with Magnum TA as they celebrate TA’s reign as North American Champion. After spending some time talking up TA’s exploits as soon as he became champion when it came to stepping up to the challenge, Watts gives him a new North American Title which is apparently twenty seven pounds of silver and gold. It does look very shiny. Watts asks TA about who his biggest challenge has been so far, which allows TA a chance to throw out his desire to gain revenge over Butch Reed who had beaten him twice on television in the past. This brings out Ernie Ladd who is outraged that TA appears to be overlooking him, especially as one of the men who trained Reed. With Ladd ranting and raving as the referees pull him away, we head to our first commercial break.

  First up in the ring this week is Hercules Hernandez as he takes on Josh Stroud. Hernandez still has Jim Cornette in his corner and Cornette talks about how, as a historian of wrestling, he has helped add some new offensive manoeuvres to Hernandez’s repertoire. There is nothing fancy about the opening with Hercules landing several punches, an elbowdrop and a stomp. Cornette’s words ring true as Hercules locks on a Cobra clutch which, whilst poorly executed, is a laughably treated like some move that no-one has seen before by Ross and Watts. Stroud is out like a light and Hercules picks up the win in a match that was short enough to hide Hernandez’s faults at this time. Cornette officially proclaims the move an ancient Oriental technique called the Shininomake in a brief post-match interview with Ross.

  Following a music montage showcasing the Pretty Young Things to the television audience, it is the PYT in the ring next as they meet the Midnight Express for the second time in their brief Mid-South run. Their last encounter also saw the unmasking of Mr Wrestling II to be revealed as Hercules Hernandez, who remains down at ringside. Ware and Condrey begin the match for their respective teams with some basic feeling out until a hammerlock grounds Condrey and allows Ware to tag out. Eaton is quickly tagged in only to be taken over with an Austin armdrag as he ups the pace. The PYT land a double dropkick as the opening exchanges are clearly going their way.

  Condrey receives similar treatment with the PYT utilising quick tags to keep the fresh man in and relying primarily on armdrags and hiptosses. Eaton ends up back in the ring but uses a blind tag back out for the Express to finally take control, Condrey nailing Austin in the back with a knee. The Express are in charge for a very short period of time as Austin reverses an Irish whip and makes the tag to Ware. This signals all hell break loose as the four men are all in the ring at once. Ware goes to use the ropes for a roll-up on Eaton, only to get drilled with a racket shot by Cornette. That is enough for the Midnight Express to even things up with the Pretty Young Things at one apiece. Perhaps a shorter match than I might have expected, but the four men are good value in television action for sure. We can also assume that this probably isn’t the end of this feud.

  What Joel Watts is good at doing is putting together music videos, with the next one celebrating the Television Champion, Terry Taylor, with Rod Stewart’s ‘If You Want My Body’ playing in the background. It isn’t a million miles away from what we saw for Magnum TA, with a lot of Taylor in the ring, chatting with the ladies and posing in various states of undress. No motorbikes though.

  This is all a prelude to a match against Pat Rose. Ross spends the first moments of the match talking about how apt the musical choice was for the video in a very awkward fashion. It is the fast moving Taylor who takes Rose down to the mat early with a hiptoss and an armdrag into an armbar. A monkeyflip sends Rose out of the corner with Taylor slapping on an armbar once again. Rose goes to the eyes and lands a slam, but he misses an elbowdrop and that is all Taylor needs. The fan favourite hits a back elbow and a flying forearm to put Rose away with eas
e.

  A big match on paper is up next as Hacksaw Butch Reed and Buddy Landell take on Hacksaw Jim Duggan and Buddy Landell. The match begins before the bell can even ring as Landell and Reed try and jump their opponents as they step into the ring. This gets them nowhere as stereo Irish whips see the heel team collide mid-ring and end up at ringside. This allows the match to begin more conventionally, though Reed and Landell milk the effects of the collision to allow them to take more time to recover. Landell even tags out before engaging with Duggan, choosing instead to make it a battle of the Hacksaws. Duggan doesn’t let him get away so easily, landing a hiptoss on Reed before aiming a punch at Landell on the apron.

  Jim Cornette and Hercules Hernandez are out scouting the contest as Reed bails out of the ring to avoid a Duggan football tackle. Indeed, it is Reed who is still having to face the bulk of the face offense as Dog enters and rocks him with several big headbutts. Landell attempts to save his partner, getting hit with a headbutt and a clothesline for his troubles. An odd spot follows where Reed technically drops down twice as Duggan hits the ropes, but Duggan suddenly stops and Ross has to sell it as Reed being too tired to even get up. However, he then manages to tag to Landell after a missed Duggan kneedrop which somewhat negates that comment. The heels begin to use quick tags, especially as it allows Landell to get in with a weakened opponent. Apropos of nothing, the Junkyard Dog just gets into the ring and all four begin to brawl. As Duggan hits the ropes, Cornette pulls it down in plain view of the referee and causes the disqualification.

  Whilst the action is still going on in the ring, Cornette and Hernandez put the boots to Duggan until Sonny King comes out of nowhere with a running and jumping headbutt straight to the chest of Hernandez! This allows Duggan to chase Cornette around the ring and backstage, with Duggan running into a Midnight Express ambush that is about as useful as a chocolate fireguard, Duggan just using a double noggin knocker to burst straight through.