DOTT - MIDSOUTH (the Watts Way)

[ajcrible]

Love the Murdoch promo. The "hop on your camel and ride it back to Baghdad" line is so time-period appropriate. I remember Jerry Blackwell using very similar lines with Sheik Adnan (I believe) in the AWA.

[BHK1978]

<blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-username="ajcrible" data-cite="ajcrible" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="24735" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div>Love the Murdoch promo. The "hop on your camel and ride it back to Baghdad" line is so time-period appropriate. I remember Jerry Blackwell using very similar lines with Sheik Adnan (I believe) in the AWA.</div></blockquote><p> </p><p> Yeah I was watching some old AWA shows on ESPN Classic and Jerry Blackwell did say something like that to the Sheik. I think he even called him a camel jockey, which would probably never get on television today.</p>

[foolinc]

Yeah I was watching some old AWA shows on ESPN Classic and Jerry Blackwell did say something like that to the Sheik. I think he even called him a camel jockey, which would probably never get on television today.

 

You mean besides ESPN?

 

Oh yeah and in honor of our tie in the rookie of the month awards...

 

http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a288/foolinc/RotM.png

[Oldschool]

You mean besides ESPN?

 

Oh yeah and in honor of our tie in the rookie of the month awards...

 

http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a288/foolinc/RotM.png

 

 

Congrats to both of you for Rookie of the month... You both should be proud of the number of votes you both recieved...

[foolinc]

Congrats to both of you for Rookie of the month... You both should be proud of the number of votes you both recieved...

 

Are you making fun of me??? ;)

[olympia]

<blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-username="foolinc" data-cite="foolinc" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="24735" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div>You mean besides ESPN? <img alt=":p" data-src="//content.invisioncic.com/g322608/emoticons/tongue.png.ceb643b2956793497cef30b0e944be28.png" src="<___base_url___>/applications/core/interface/js/spacer.png" /><p> </p><p> Oh yeah and in honor of our tie in the rookie of the month awards...</p><p> </p><p> </p><div style="text-align:center;"><span>http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a288/foolinc/RotM.png</span></div><p></p><p></p></div></blockquote><p> </p><p> nice banner!! thanks</p><p> I think it was cool only having a few nominees so the votes were more concentrated.</p><p> I'm driving across country for my Christmas vacation, so any updates will sporadic for the rest of the year.</p>

[BHK1978]

<blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-username="olympia" data-cite="olympia" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="24735" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div>nice banner!! thanks<p> I think it was cool only having a few nominees so the votes were more concentrated.</p><p> I'm driving across country for my Christmas vacation, so any updates will sporadic for the rest of the year.</p></div></blockquote><p> </p><p> I forgot to come in here and congratulate you on winning ROTM! Good job!</p><p> </p><p> And that is cool that you are driving across the country, that is something that I have always wanted to do. I have never been to the midwest in my life so that is one goal in my life to see Chicago and St. Louis. I have always wanted to go to a Cubs game.</p>

[Moderndaywarrior]

Since is Olympia is "on vacation" for a little,figured I'd post some Mid-South stuff up to discuss during the break and help keep the thread going:

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QcMLozb0vFU&feature=related

 

Ernie ladd & The Wild Samons vs. Andre/Dusty/JYD

 

This is actually the start of one of the big tag team programs of 1982 in MSW: follow the links on the side for parts 2 and 3 to see the finish and Ladd's interview afterward.

 

At this point Ladd could still go and The Samoans were near their peak; JYD is at his physical best,Dusty was just gearing up for his epic war against Sullivan in Florida then the Horsemen in Mid Atlantic,and Andre still had much of his mobility and agility.

 

Interesting to see a much different style of match here along with some classic Bill Watts uniquely straightforward way of making sense of the action in a way that puts the right people over,the finish has to be seen to be believed.

[olympia]

thanks for keeping the thread afloat. Ladd was awesome - I so wish he hadn't left so early in my legacy to run PPW as their head booker. But we won't hold our people back. Nice to see him get a promotion like that.

 

vacation is nice too (Cubs game in Chicago is on my list for next year too). One night this week, I'll try to find time to run the next house card as we get closer to the August Big One.

[Moderndaywarrior]

stupid internet and it's double posting.....nothing to see here,move along

[Moderndaywarrior]

thanks for keeping the thread afloat. Ladd was awesome - I so wish he hadn't left so early in my legacy to run PPW as their head booker. But we won't hold our people back. Nice to see him get a promotion like that.

 

vacation is nice too (Cubs game in Chicago is on my list for next year too). One night this week, I'll try to find time to run the next house card as we get closer to the August Big One.

 

No problem man,just trying to help ease the well deserved downtime .

 

Here's a little look about a man we hope to see in the ring again, Mr.Wrestling II:

 

Mr.Wrestling II interview during his big program with Masked Supertsar,as a bonus we get an interview with Masked Superstar(a.k.a. Demolition Ax), who was another fantastic,but nowadays forgotten, talent:

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WNgi2ZIFkrs

 

And here's Wrestling II wrestling Mr.Saito from the same time frame...Saito was a very good in ring talent and II can wrestle as well,this match is IMO,very well worked.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DssXWZ9G9yA&feature=related

[Moderndaywarrior]

A guy who made his mark lately,Mr.Olympia,taking on Tim Horner in a match we could see on Olympia's next card:

 

 

This was part of a bigger angle...Olympia was a face and teaming with JYD,along the line he lost a "losers leaves" match and JYD started teaming with Mr.Wrestling II; eventually Olympia returns and Mr.Wrestling II,in the locker room,found his famous white mask had been defaced, eventually the culprit is revaled to be Mr.Olympia, who was jealous of Mr.Wrestling II;I believe the angle ends with Mr.Olympia joining DiBiase's Rat Pack,dur the commentary you hear Bill Watts talking about Jim Duggan not liking Akbar and his association with DiBiase;this is the start of the Jim Duggan face turn and feud with The Rat Pack.

 

Mr.Olympia really controls the ring here and you already see the potential of Horner with his selling,and being able to get a face pop out of the crowd.

 

Mr.Olympia on the mic:

 

 

Mr.Olympia is in the middle section;sadly today he probably be derided for his voice being "too southern" then given the gimmick of an incestuous redneck or the like

 

On the same video we can see the promo skills of SECW's top group,The Stud Stable:

Ron Fuller(aka "The Tennesee Stud",hence the stable name,later he worked as a manager in WCW as a Col.Tom Parker type character managing Bunkhouse Buck and Dick Slater)

Lord Humongous(not sure who it is,but this is definitely not Sid Vicious/Psycho Sid,it may be Jeff Van Kamp)

Arn Anderson(no explanation needed lol)

Jimmy Golden(WCW's Bunkhouse Buck)

The Assassin(a very good interview and wrestler in his own right,this is Assassin#2 from the The Assassins tag team of the 60's/70's, he also worked as The Flame)

 

There's also kind of a neat promo in there putting over the cage;all in all it's actually an interesting package to put the action at the big monthly show;I wish they still put this kind of care and attention into the promos today,actually putting THE MATCH over instead of themselves,then throwing out a catchphrase.

[tristram]

Thanks for that MDW. It really does bring it alive... for me in particular, as we didn't get anything like this down under. Anything with Arn Anderson in a promo is great, he's one of my all time favourites. The thing I always found with Arn Anderson was how economical it all was. Everything he did, whether it be a short brief promo, a longer promo, a slow broadway match or a quick spot, had purpose. There was nothing wasted. You got value for money because you knew every second he was out there that he was advancing his character and the relevant story.

 

I loved the cage match segment. Keeping it real, and making you understand the 'gimmick' of the match. Sometimes I see cage matches and I wonder why they're cage matches because it makes little to no sense these days. But that segment really sells the drama.

 

As far as I'm concerned, the Mr Olympia segment is very good. Southern drawl or not. I don't really worry about whether a wrestler has an accent, to me, thats an add on personality that you can sell and use. A good promo to me is one that has intent, has a purpose, and that does. The delivery is good, accent or not. Dusty Rhodes had lisps, he sssspluttered in some of his words, but the guy was absolutely brilliant because you felt like when he spoke, and the words that he used, that you could live vicariously through him.

[Moderndaywarrior]

Thanks for that MDW. It really does bring it alive... for me in particular, as we didn't get anything like this down under. Anything with Arn Anderson in a promo is great, he's one of my all time favourites. The thing I always found with Arn Anderson was how economical it all was. Everything he did, whether it be a short brief promo, a longer promo, a slow broadway match or a quick spot, had purpose. There was nothing wasted. You got value for money because you knew every second he was out there that he was advancing his character and the relevant story.

 

I loved the cage match segment. Keeping it real, and making you understand the 'gimmick' of the match. Sometimes I see cage matches and I wonder why they're cage matches because it makes little to no sense these days. But that segment really sells the drama.

 

As far as I'm concerned, the Mr Olympia segment is very good. Southern drawl or not. I don't really worry about whether a wrestler has an accent, to me, thats an add on personality that you can sell and use. A good promo to me is one that has intent, has a purpose, and that does. The delivery is good, accent or not. Dusty Rhodes had lisps, he sssspluttered in some of his words, but the guy was absolutely brilliant because you felt like when he spoke, and the words that he used, that you could live vicariously through him.

 

Arn was definitely "all business" kind of wrestlers,no wasted motion or messing around;I like the way he is able to get across that he is a tough,angry man in a believable way,you can see he's upset but he doesn't go into theatrics,proving that less can indeed be more.In a way,he was good with Ole,since Ole had a kind of similiar style,no over the top yelling or theatrics,but you definitely knew someone was about to get beat up;that really helped make them as a team.

 

You don't see segments like that cage match segment any more,and I think that is a shame.Now you have all these matches with cages,matches with tables, matches with ladders, matches with fire and everything else but they are just kind of there for being there,they don't take the time to explain WHY a certain kind of match is special,WHY it's such a big deal that wrestler A and Wrestler B had to take it to this level to find out who is better,WHY you should want to see it....it's the little touches like that which makes for the kind of compelling storytelling to draw the fan in and make it something more then "two guys in their underwear fake fighting".It becomes a special,almost epic experience the fans will always remember and keeps them coming back for more.

 

Right now they never educate the fan to anything,which makes them expect everything and then some.....heck even today many wrestling fans from Tennessee will STILL tell you the Piledriver is a dangerous and illegal hold, a good 15-20 years after the heyday of Memphis Wrestling had come and gone,you can STILL get heat in places around there at indy shows just by setting a guy up for a Piledriver....now that's saying something.

 

I agree with you when it comes to promos as well,they should have purpose and relevance to what is going on, and Olympia really nails it.These more "old school" promos to me are often better because of that;the main focus of the promo was putting over the match and storyline, giving the fan a reason why they want to see this wrestler take on that wrestler....that sort of logic and attention to detail is another piece of the storytelling puzzle that helps make it "real",if you look at the famous Lawler/Funk Empty Arena match,they have seriously believing that this is very real very scary stuff,not some scripted thing...as opposed to now where most guys just come out and yap about themselves then throw out what ever one liner will sell some merchandise,you might as well just show a commercial.....the few times they try to put a match or feud over,it's done so poorly that you couldn't care more or less,it's obviously fake.........yet Dusty,or Flair, or Lawler could come out and within 3 minutes having you caring about the outcome of some ludicrously outlandish,could never happen in real life situation....wrestling needs to learn to start doing that again.

 

Just for fun, here's some of a fairly new guy to MSW,Phil Hickerson...teaming with The Spoiler(Frank Morrell,he was also The French Angel) against "The New Fabulous Ones"(yes it's as dumb as it sounds and it promptly tanked)

Tommy Rich and Eddie Gilbert:

 

 

Hickerson does the kind of old school brawling he does best here;he has the classic "bully" kind of look that heels sometime had back then....essentially being reminiscent of the kind of jerk fans may see every day who they'd like to see get a good butt kicking.For a bigger guy hia moves are actually pretty smooth and he can make someone look good.

[Guest cmdrsam]

Call me crazy but I actually liked the New Fabs. Seen them face PYT with Koko B Ware/ Norvel Austin at a house show in my old school when I lived in TN. If I remember correctly when they started to fued, Rich/ Gilbert, Abdullah The Butcher came in for one show on TV. Rich "Payed" him to be his tag team partner then after the match Adullah turned on Rich. But sometimes I dont remember to well. To many chair shots me thinks.

 

 

 

By the way sir been a closet reader of this work. KUTGW.

[Moderndaywarrior]

Call me crazy but I actually liked the New Fabs. Seen them face PYT with Koko B Ware/ Norvel Austin at a house show in my old school when I lived in TN. If I remember correctly when they started to fued, Rich/ Gilbert, Abdullah The Butcher came in for one show on TV. Rich "Payed" him to be his tag team partner then after the match Adullah turned on Rich. But sometimes I dont remember to well. To many chair shots me thinks.

 

 

 

By the way sir been a closet reader of this work. KUTGW.

 

There's no denying Rich and Gilbert were good,the problem was their gimmick was essentially "The most popular tag team of all time couldn't be here, watch these two guys instead".....there was just no following Lane & Keirn.

 

What you said sort of sounds right....Tommy did the "pay Abdullah to be his partner then Abby turns on him" story in Georgia so it wouldn't suprise me if they didn't "recycle" it in Memphis.

[Save_Us.Necro]

Please, all I ask, is for a PY Chu Hi cameo SOMEWHERE in this (and i know its a WCCW/USWA gimmick but its honestly my fav Hickerson thing)

 

As an throwback mark, I LOVE this dynasty man. Please keep it up

[olympia]

return to action

 

Mid-South Wrestling returns after a short break - and resumes it tour, going into the wild frontier of the Midwest (138 people attend even though we were projecting around 200 - maybe we need better advance ads next time)

 

Chavo Guerrero defeats Tiger Conway in dark match. 12:12, D rating

 

 

Video to hype the Magnum vs Olympia storyline - E rating

(that's not going to help sell any tickets for the Big One)

 

Music Video of the Rat Pack - Dibiase & Borne: C-

finally, something to get the crowd here in Missouri interested in what is going on.

 

Iron Sheik and Volkolff team to defeat the up and coming team of Terry Taylor and Bobby Fulton. Fulton submits to Camel Clutch at 9:59. Of all the people in the match, it was the Iron Sheik who improves his performance skills (D+ rating. I had at first planned to use Iron Anvil in this match, but decided this historic team might do a better job, and could move into title contention quicker).

 

After the match, Iron Sheik rails about how he will destroy Butch Reed:

"That phoney rodeo driver, phooey, I will humble him at Super Dome Show. He will find out that riding bull is much easier than facing Iran's #1 wrestler. I come here to Mid-South to win titles. And when I defeat this hacksaw Reed, then he will be forced to give me shot at tagteam titles with a partner of my choosing. (fans boo this announcement., D- rating)

 

Main Event: Matt Borne vs Tron

both men were visibly tired by the end in a decent match. Borne gets the win at 35:29 and proves to be able to stand alone without the help of the Rat Pack. He said he's been in the shadows of Ted Dibiase for too long and was happy to have a breakout win like this. Both men were visibly tired at the end of the match. (D rating)

 

D rated show - will help boost our sagging popularity here in the Midwest.

 

a giant TV show is up next and then the August Blow-out

on tv we will see Dick Murdoch defend the North American title against Butch Reed

Grudge Match between Ted Dibiase and JYD

Kamala vs TRON

Rat Pack members Duggan and Borne team to face Dr. Death Steve Williams and TV Champ Magnum TA

 

it should be a far better show than the midwest tour event we just witnessed!

 

Two SUPER SHOWS to report on:

 

Cadilliac Cup in GCW -the O-Dome. 10,000 attend, .51 buy rate on closed circuit

Ronnie Garvin defeats Bullet Bob Armstrong, Ole Anderson defeats Joe Lightfoot, RW Animal over Rick McGraw, Paul Orndorff over Bruno Sammartino Jr

2nd round: Ole Anderson beat Ron Garvin, Orndorff over Animal,

Finals: Ole Anderson over Paul Orndorff to win the new car. B- match and card

 

AWA End of Month PPV, draws 5,000 and .51 buy rate B rated show

Nick Bockwinkle defeats Hulk Hogan (B+) to retain AWA title. Sheiks defeat Hennings, High Flyers over Regal & Saito to retain tag belts.Wahoo over Mad Dog Vachon, and Dick the Bruiser beats Crusher in opener

[Moderndaywarrior]

Pretty good showactually,the problem was more noone there knows your roster yet; it goes to demonstrate just how much "weight" wrestler overness is given in your product....Tron, who usually sports C's or B's could only eeek out a D.....in fact the only guys to get a real reaction were DiBiase and Borne;you can bet that's from having higher overness in the Mid West due to the national exposure they have received in the past via WTBS.

[Nobby_McDonald]

Good to see it back.

[olympia]

Pretty good showactually,the problem was more noone there knows your roster yet; it goes to demonstrate just how much "weight" wrestler overness is given in your product....Tron, who usually sports C's or B's could only eeek out a D.....in fact the only guys to get a real reaction were DiBiase and Borne;you can bet that's from having higher overness in the Mid West due to the national exposure they have received in the past via WTBS.

 

so true. and so frustrating at times -- I'm ok with the lower rated shows in the frontiers. It gives a chance for guys to learn the craft away from the bright lights while creating some inroads there. If I took in the A team, it would still be a C rated show (if lucky) and blow the bankroll in the process. These stupid regional wars are killing me (I'd understand a little more if those promotions actually visited the area, but WWC never leaves PR, but Colon turns in B rated shows every time out now.

 

Thanks for the video clips of Hickerson and Mr. Olympia. great stuff.

NOW, somehow, I need to find a way for Hickerson to reprise his PY Chu Hi role for Necro. Hmmmmm - couple ideas come to mind. I'll see if either will work into my long range plans for big Phil.

[BHK1978]

Mr.Wrestling II interview during his big program with Masked Supertsar,as a bonus we get an interview with Masked Superstar(a.k.a. Demolition Ax), who was another fantastic,but nowadays forgotten, talent:

 

Funny I never knew that he was the Masked Superstar. I saw him as Bolo the Mongol but that was it. Did he ever wrestle under his real name?

[Moderndaywarrior]

Funny I never knew that he was the Masked Superstar. I saw him as Bolo the Mongol but that was it. Did he ever wrestle under his real name?

 

As far as I know,he never worked under his real name:He started as Bolo Mongol,became Masked Superstar,then one of the 50 million "Machines" when they did that gimmick (Giant Machine,Hulk Machine,Steele Machine,etc.he was Super Machine),then for the rest of his career Demolition Ax.

[olympia]

Funny I never knew that he was the Masked Superstar. I saw him as Bolo the Mongol but that was it. Did he ever wrestle under his real name?

 

I don't think he ever wrestled under his real name either. He was a high school teacher and wrestled under a mask (The Medic) at the start of his career. He was trained by Geeto Mongol, so became Bolo Mongol and teamed with him.

 

In Mid-Atlantic, he lost a loser leave town match (thinking it was Wahoo McDaniel that got credit although he actually lost 3 different ones to 3 different guys in 3 different cities. Things were so much less complicated back then before the internet and national cable tv. lol)

 

http://www.midatlanticgateway.com/Almanac/history/1976_q3.htm

 

http://www.midatlanticgateway.com/Resource_Center/smoke_filled_rooms/bourne11_andersons_mongols.htm

 

I saw him a few years ago at an indy match in Wilkesboro NC against Greg Valentine. (as Demolition AX). One of the best parts of the show was when a guy who was actually from that small town and went to High School there came out. Everyone got excited to see their hometown hero going for the tag team titles. "Vladimir Koloff" was introduced as being formerly from the Soviet Union but now making his home in "Wlkes By Gawd County" - classic moment (I was wondering all night how they would address the home town "Russian")

[olympia]

Mid-South TV - August 1983

 

3,197 attend! Largest crowd ever for us here in Mid-South and what a show we have in store the fans!

 

Dark match

Duggan & Borne vs Dr Death & Magnum.

Duggan came out of the match looking real good while Borne was off his game/ Mr. Olympia distracts Magnum allowing Duggan to nail him with the 3-point stance charge and pin him. (C rated match)

 

massive brawl into the parking lot afterward as Magnum takes after Mr. Olympia. Things get crazy in the lot as an angry Magnum throws Mr. Olympia thru a car window!! This feud will come to a head at the Big One on Sunday! D

 

Jim Ross interviews Dr. Death Steve Williams about his upcoming match against Phil Hickerson. Doc says he's taking precautions since he knows that Ted Dibiase and The Rat pack will close at hand when he meets Hickerson at the Big One. D-

 

TV show goes live with:

Ted Dibiase delivers a stunning promo - The Rat Pack is coming after OUR belts. JYD and Butch Reed stole our titles and they seem to be too scared to give us a rematch. Tonight, I get the Junkyard Dummy in the ring all by himself. After I destroy him, he will no choice but to just hand over the belts by forfeit.

B-

 

Kamala vs TRON: Skandar Akbar is doing everything he can to injure TRON and run him out of Mid-South so today he sends his monster Kamala to do the trick. No chemistry between these two, and it shows as they struggle to work together (mix-match of styles doesn't help any either). Kamala makes it a short match with a 4:45 Ugandan Splash (C-)

 

Ted Dibiase vs JYD:

these two didn't click either (ouch!) But despite that, they are professionals and still delivered a solid match for the tv fans and large crowd on hand. Dibiase was not able to deliver on the beating or victory he promised as they battle on the floor and loose track of the ref's count. Result will go down as a DCOR at 13:02 (B-)

 

video plays to hype up the JYD vs Murdoch match at the Big One for the North American Title C+

 

Dick Murdoch vs Butch Reed - North American title is on the line:

JYD joins Ross and Watts to provide his insights on the match - and I'm sure get an up close scouting report on the champion - maybe even provide some moral support for his partner. EXCELLENT MATCH!!!! It was back and forth - Reed showed his skills off in a big way and dazzled the fans. His stock is sure to rise after this match, win or lose! Reed powerslams Murdoch and looks to have the match won, but Tricky Dick is able to get a foot on the rope at the last second. Reed wants to celebrate thinking he has won the title, but referee Jerry Usher is telling him the match continues. He turns around too late as Murdoch trips him up - DIck puts his feet on the ropes for extra leverage as Usher counts to 3. Murdoch is the winner at 25:03 (his 4th title defense). solid B match!!!

 

Murdoch celebrates after the match as JYD is trying to point out that Murdoch used the ropes for leverage. Usher points to his eyes "I didn't see it" Murdoch laughs and tells JYD to mind his own business. "You'll have your chance at the Super Dome on Sunday!"

B-

 

C+ rating. That's crazy!! On the main show, we had 4 segments of B- or better and 2 in the C range. I felt robbed when I saw the final grade, and no notes to explain why it would be lower.

 

We get another .02 rating, cut our losses to -$1500 for the television production (bigger crowd helps in that regard)

 

End of month August Blow-out will be the next card I have - sometime after Christmas (probably when I get home from my road trip)