by Liam Byrne
WWF Championship Wrestling 11.8.84
It is Vince McMahon with Tony Garea once again as they run down the card for this week’s episode of Championship Wrestling. I don’t really buy Garea as the best choice for this role, though arguably his stiffness and ill at ease vocal delivery makes McMahon look better be default. We appear to have moved from Ontario to the Mid-Hudson Civic Center, New York, which Vince promises is filled, perhaps mostly due to Ivan Putski. The tag team champions, Dick Murdoch and Adrian Adonis, are also scheduled alongside matches involving the Iron Sheik and Rocky Johnson.
It is the Iron Sheik who is up first, with his opponent the perennial jobber that is Jose Luis Rivera. Sheik’s value at this time was that he could still get a huge amount of heat, no matter who he was against. With the crowd on his back, the Sheik jumps Rivera in the corner, using both his cloak and headscarf to choke his opponent. After a back body drop, the Sheik takes a moment to show off his physique before brutalising Rivera with a gutbuster. This assault on the stomach area continues with a knee and a headbutt off of an Irish whip. The Sheik’s desire to rile up the fans gathers pace as he throws Rivera outside and mounts the turnbuckle before some mid-ring shadow boxing. By the time Rivera gets back in the ring, the Sheik is back on him like a rabid animal, using the rope to choke and hit a vertical splash.
Surprisingly, Rivera does turn the tide for a brief moment, using a leapfrog to get into position for several punches and a body slam. However, the Sheik telegraphs a back body drop and boots Rivera in the throat. A vicious back suplex sets up for the Camel Clutch and the Iron Sheik is the decisive winner. You know what you are getting with the Sheik, so it is never going to be mind blowing action, yet it is going to be heated. Rivera takes a ride over the top rope as the Iron Sheik heads back to the top turnbuckle to celebrate his victory.
After Roddy Piper shills for a match at the Meadowlands with Jimmy Snuka which is typical Piper as he shouts and hollers about Snuka having guts rather than brains, Rocky Johnson takes on Charlie Fulton. As McMahon and Garea comment on Johnson’s physique, Johnson and Fulton lock up twice before Fulton hits a shoulderblock in the corner. However, this just riles Johnson, who reverses an Irish whip, hits a back body drop out of the corner and two armdrags to send Fulton to the ringside.
With the match returning to the ring, Fulton uses an arm wringer, only to get kicked off and sent back outside with another armdrag. A nifty backwards roll by Johnson turns a test of strength into a top wristlock. Fulton manages to push him off into a criss cross, but gets caught with another armdrag to take the match back to the canvas. Both men return to their feet and end up in the ropes, but no clean break by Fulton just sparks another fire in Johnson, who uses a dropdown and a leapfrog to set up for a monkey flip…before one more armdrag has Fulton on the mat again. Another unclean break sets up for a forward roll, backward flip and dropkick combination that is somewhat convoluted, but is thankfully the set-up for the sunset flip. Johnson’s athleticism is exciting, no doubt, for a fan during this time period, but a lot of it feels very contrived and makes no real sense. The repetitive arm dragging didn’t help much either.
With Georgia Championship Wrestling falling by the wayside, we get the surprise debut on WWF television of the Spoiler in a generic shill for upcoming events. It is pretty non-descript and someone who was often presented as a good speaker in GCW feels a little exposed here. He does challenge Andre the Giant, which is at least interesting. The Spoiler also delivers a similar theme of promo to that which Piper used earlier – questioning the brains of the Giant.
Jeff Lang and S.D. Jones are the opponents for the current WWF World Tag Team Champions, Adrian Adonis and Dick Murdoch. Jones and Adonis begin the match for their tag teams, though Adonis takes his time to engage as he spends time jawing with his tag team partner. An Adonis shoulder block drops Jones, but it sparks a multitude of armdrags that sees both Adonis and Murdoch flee to the ringside after a series of seven or eight of the moves in a row. S.D may be a guy who loses pretty much all of the time, but the crowd do get really behind him as they are now. Murdoch takes his chances with Jones next, hitting him with an elbow but missing a second one in the corner that allows Jones to land a jumping headbutt on both of the tag champions; naturally, Adonis takes a huge bump over the top to sell the power of the move.
Jones isn’t finished yet as he sends Murdoch to the canvas with a series of three punches, but an illegal punch in a side headlock allows the champions to finally take control. Adonis hits a kneedrop for a two count, but he makes the mistake of trying to use a turnbuckle smash. Seeing that it isn’t working, Adonis rakes the eyes, but Jones then reverses the resulting whip to send Adonis hard into the ringpost. This sees a tag made to Lang and the fortunes of the face team fall dramatically. A trip by Murdoch allows multiple elbowdrops by both men, with a back elbow off of an Irish whip enough of a set-up for the back suplex/top rope clothesline combination. A fun squash as you saw a jobber that the crowd loved to get behind take it to two big heels who love to bump, only to eventually lose.
Following another promo that sees Rocky Johnson talk about training with Hulk Hogan and the standards of competition in the WWF, we join McMahon for WWF Update. The focus this week is on Andre the Giant hanging out with Susan Anton, an actress and singer, at an awards show, with footage then shown of him making his way down to the ring prior to the match. These segments are often pretty pointless, though you could argue this is all about showing how important WWF wrestlers are to be out and about with name celebrities.
Considering Roddy Piper has promised us a Pit with the new Women’s Champion before, it is a bit of shame to have B. Brian Blair be the guest this week. What starts as a fairly straight forward interview is sparked into life as Blair talks about a desire, when young, to compete in the Olympics. This allows Piper to gain some cheap heat by bashing the US athletes for only winning when Russia isn’t there, whilst Blair retorts about no athletes picking up medals in skirts. Piper goes nuts at this point, but before he can get to the point of his rant, Blair calls him a jerk and walks out. Just a holdover really until we get further action with Wendi Richter and The Fabulous Moolah, clearly.
Ivan Putski is up next and he is taking on Ron Shaw. Similar to Johnson’s match earlier, Garea and McMahon spend a lot of time drooling over Putski’s physique. There is a lot of posturing to begin, with Putski even doing some quick pointing between himself and Shaw to change the fans’ reaction on a dime. Whilst not much is happening in the ring, we do get a random debut – Brutus Beefcake struts to ringside, unnamed but somewhat addressed by both men in the ring. The match grounds to a halt until Putski uses a side headlock to work over Shaw briefly before an Irish whip and Polish Hammer finishes the match with ease. A nothing match outside of Beefcake’s onscreen debut.
With this being the last match on the card, we do get a WWF Review segment to close which begins by focusing on the Spoiler’s destruction of a jobber. The main spots the Spoiler used in Georgia are all along for the ride, with rope walking and the claw highlighted. Another name that has also found their way into the promotion after a five year absence is Nikolai Volkoff, as we see him pin S.D. Jones after the gorilla press into a backbreaker. Post-Review, the last shill with Mean Gene Okerlund sees Tito Santana build up to an Intercontinental Title defense against Greg Valentine by giving pretty much the whole promo in Spanish, though he does finish by thanking the Los Angeles fans for being behind him.
An odd show in many ways in so much as this would have gone down well with many fans during this time period. The Iron Sheik was hated; Putski was loved; the crowd could really enjoy cheering or booing these guys. Watching back now, the action was terrible (and many probably knew that as well), but you can’t argue when McMahon occasionally relies on the popular guys that aren’t exactly the most exciting to carry a show that felt very much like it was treading water.
Mid-South Wrestling 16.8.84
It is Jim Ross and Bill Watts at the commentar
y table this week as Ross announces a huge tag team match – The Fantastics versus The Midnight Express. More importantly, this is a show taped shortly after the Junkyard Dog left for the WWF, with Watts addressing it at the top of the show. He believes that Butch Reed put so much pressure on Dog that he felt like he needed to leave, with the focus on how badly Dog has treated the fans by not fulfilling his commitments. With the WWF stealing the Dog away at such a key time for the promotion, I doubt this is the last we will hear on the situation. To many, this was also one of the most significant talents for WWF to poach; the Junkyard Dog was the biggest star in the territory. It wasn’t as crippling as it could have been due to Mid-South having a lot of other talent, but the WWF wasn’t pulling its punches during its expansion.
One of the men that Watts would look to rely on in the wake of Dog’s departure was Steve Williams, who is in the ring with Boyd Pierce. Having had the Television Title taken away from him, considering he never won it, Williams pulls a football helmet out of the bag and calls it the Dr. Death Helmet, awarding it to the toughest guy in wrestling: himself. He challenges anyone to come and take it from him.
Mike Jackson just so happens to be the man to get the first shot at taking the American football helmet from Williams. Jackson tries to use pace to keep away from Williams, although this almost causes a collision as an up-and-over in the corner is mistimed due to Williams going for a three point stance rather than following up instantly. Luckily, Jackson manages to avoid Williams, before landing a snapmare and a kneedrop. Williams is angry and Jackson flees to ringside to avoid the bigger man. Another awkward looking move sees Jackson slingshot over into a dropkick for which Williams is out of position.
A back elbow and a slam has Williams in control, though a back body drop is stilted. Williams at least throws a decent punch as he works over Jackson, but his opponent telegraphs a back body drop attempt and hits a back elbow to the head. Jackson scoots through Williams legs twice and dropkicks him twice, but an attempt at a flying headscissors is turned into a running powerslam for the three count. A sloppy match that only serves to remind us how green Williams is at this point.
The Junkyard Dog’s regular tag team partner, Jim Duggan, is up next in a handicap match against Randy Barber and Don Sanders. The subtext here feels like Watts trying to suggest that Duggan doesn’t need the Dog, especially as the opening moments of the match has him fighting off both men. Watts on commentary shills big for Duggan, talking about how he seems to be getting bigger, stronger and fitter. Sanders is taken down with a back elbow, a slam and a big jumping kneedrop, yet Duggan looks like he pulls his opponent up at two.
A hiptoss sends Sanders halfway across the ring, leading to him rushing to the corner to make the tag. Barber gets placed up on the top turnbuckle by Duggan, who then sends Barber into Sanders as if he sensed his opponent coming up behind. A spear tackle sends Barber to the outside, whilst a clothesline and a kneedrop earns Duggan the victory.
The arrival of Hercules Hernandez also means the arrival of Jim Cornette, as he promotes his bodyguard as having a ‘$10,000 punch’. Josh Stroud is the victim for Hernandez this week, with Hernandez taking over instantly with strikes before landing a big bodyslam and elbowdrop. That is all that is needed to allow him to slap on the shininomake and force the referee to stop the contest. A complete destruction by Hernandez. However, his night is not over as Duggan hits the ring and although Watts is complaining about this being the sort of action Mid-South has been trying to cut out, Duggan strikes Hernandez and the two men end up brawling on the canvas.
The Midnight Express are summoned by Cornette, though Duggan does do an admirable job of fighting them off until an ether soaked rag is used to put Duggan to sleep. Cornette tries to use this moment to cut some of Duggan’s hair, but a returning Sonny King and Terry Taylor hit the ring to run off the heel triumvirate. Eaton in particular eats a big collision with the ring post by the hands of Taylor. Call me cynical, but the return of King does seem to fit rather nicely with the absence of the Dog, as if Watts immediately is trying to position King as his main black face of note.
Before a match with Art Crews, we get a re-showing of the Terry Taylor music montage that presents him as a fair bit more wholesome than some of the other wrestlers on the Mid-South roster. Crews is pretty much a journeyman and Taylor spends the opening exchanges showcasing his superior grappling ability. A side headlock, shoulderblock and side headlock takedown highlight that Crews brings more to the ring than your average television opponent, yet Taylor wrestles control back with a hiptoss and an armdrag. Taylor lands a monkeyflip out of the corner before returning to an armlock via an armdrag. Crews has a second chance to take the fight to Taylor, landing some punches on what should have been a clean break and hitting a very impactful bodyslam.
The two men roll around in a small package in a spot that sounded better perhaps in theory than what it looked like, whilst Crews’ advantage ends with a charge into Taylor’s boot in the corner. A jumping back elbow drops Crews, with Taylor ducking a clothesline, nailing a leapfrog and hitting the flying forearm seconds later for the win. A competitive squash that was all the better for the peril – however brief – that Crews put Taylor under.
After returning from a commercial break, we are informed that Cornette tried to get the Midnight Express versus The Fantastics match cancelled due to an injury to Bobby Eaton, though Grizzly Smith told him that he would need to find a replacement. The first suggestion was Hercules Hernandez, but Cornette apparently said he didn’t want to be out there without his bodyguard. Therefore, we get the odd sight of Cornette welcoming Dennis Condrey and Krusher Kruschev to the ring as the Midnight Express. Their opponents are the Fantastics, with Condrey and Rogers starting the contest for their respective teams. Quick tags by the Fantastics have Condrey stuck in the face corner at least initially. Even after a tag to Kruschev, the quick tags of the Fantastics are keeping them in control, only for a Condrey handful of hair after an Irish whip sends Rogers hard into the canvas.
Condrey hits a hard clothesline and a kneedrop on Rogers for a two count, before Kruschev continues the onslaught with an Irish whip and a boot to the stomach. Fulton is angry and enters the ring, though this just allows some more illegal double teaming behind the referee’s back. Fulton almost steals the match with a sunset flip for two, but the heel team are keeping Fulton away from Rogers effectively, with a Condrey gutwrench suplex getting another nearfall. It is a missed charge into the corner by Kruschev that teases a Fulton tag, but the Russian sympathiser manages to halt the attempt and cut the ring in half once more. Condrey drops Fulton across the top rope throat first, but he goes early on a back body drop attempt and is met with an elbow to the back of the head.
Rogers is in and he is the proverbial house on fire as he lands dropkicks on both men. Weirdly, Fulton is tagged back in almost immediately, but this is to head straight into the finish as Condrey is unaware of the switch. The Midnight Express member hits a back body drop on Rogers, only to get rolled up by Fulton for the three count as Kruschev’s attempts to save his team are halted with a dropkick. It felt that the finishing stretch could have gone longer, but it was a good match with the temporary Express working over Fulton well in the extended heat section.
Brickhouse Brown, fresh from showing up in CWF as a Breakdancer, is back on Mid-South’s turf as he is due to face Buddy Landell, yet Landell takes the microphone during the introductions to not only run down the quality of Brown but to also suggest the JYD had shellshock and was running scared. The match with Brown is on no matter what Landell thinks of the calibre of competition he has to face, but Landell isn’t smug for long as a sneak attack backfires as Brown lands a kick, several punches and a beautiful dropkick, followed by a second. A Russian legsweep leads to a pinfall and that is it! Brown has pinned Landell and Landell is irate in the middle of the ring. It appears like Landell wants more of Brown and Brown obliges, hitting him with two more dropkicks, the Russian legsweep and a ropey lookin
g missile dropkick for a second victory in an impromptu match. Perhaps we are again seeing seeds planted for a replacement face for the Junkyard Dog?
The closing moments are given over to a video promoting the arrival of Adrian Street into the Mid-South territory, which has Street prancing around and singing ‘I’m in Love with Me’. Watts promises Street’s debut in two weeks, whilst next week will see The Midnight Express take on the PYT Express alongside a Sonny King match.
It is easy to look at this show with hindsight and see it as Watts not only decrying the importance of the Dog to his promotion, but also him looking almost instantly to replace his prominent black good guy on the card, yet that is exactly how it feels. Brown is put over hugely against Landell; King returns to help run off the Midnight Express. Watts will never come close to replacing the Dog in the long run – I look forward to seeing him try though. A good show all round.
CWA Championship Wrestling 18.8.84
We are with Lance Russell and Dave Brown once more as it is Brown who runs down the card this week. King Kong Bundy has himself a different partner today as he teams with Kurt Von Hess, whilst we will also see Dutch Mantell. The expiration of time match has Brown talking about two ‘upset’ teams, teams who won matches on Championship Wrestling against the odds – The Nightmares versus the New Generation. The chyron before the commercial also teases something that I already know to be special – a Tag Team of the Year Award.
It is Kurt Von Hess and King Kong Bundy out there first as Jimmy Hart tells Russell that he is rebuilding the First Family. Notably, Jim Neidhart seems to be working Florida at the moment so an additional body is useful for Hart. Their opponents are Jim Jamison and Randy Johnson, with Hess and Jamison beginning the match for their respective opponents. Several punches, a snapmare and a legdrop have Jamison in big trouble from the get go as Hess is not messing around. A back elbow and an elbowdrop signal the arrival of Bundy who continues the onslaught before pitching Jamison into the corner. Johnson is in, but nothing changes as Bundy pummels him with ease. Hess returns to action and lands a neckbreaker, yet chooses to pull Johnson up after an elbowdrop rather than gain the three count. This is all to allow Bundy to drop the big splash for the five count and a comprehensive, no thrills victory for the heel duo.
