tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8124597483772325082024-02-18T20:38:22.161-05:00They Buried The Cowboy Under The Russian FlagAn examination of 1984 Mid-South Wrestling, through television shows and supplemental material.
(Yes, we know the Russian Flag angle was in 1986.)
Produced by the publisher of Odessa Steps Magazine.Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger14125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-812459748377232508.post-9893064819976157342015-09-08T14:43:00.000-04:002015-09-08T14:43:06.875-04:00ODESSA STEPS MAGAZINE ISSUE 5 IS LIVE<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">ODESSA STEPS MAGAZINE ISSUE 5 IS HERE! A LUCHA LIBRE EXTRAVAGANCIA! </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Odessa Steps Magazine is pleased to announce publication of issue five of the </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">magazine, with a spotlight on Lucha Libre. The issue will be publicly debuting with </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">magazine associates in Mexico for the CMLL 82nd Anniversary show. The new issue </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">contains the following: </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">· <span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Interviews with luchadors Rey Hechicero, and Marco Corleone and luchadora </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Zeuxis. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">· <span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>A detailed breakdown of the August 16 2015 Chilanga Mask. We ask: was it the </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Show of the Year in Mexico? </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">· <span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>A poignant look at the generation of luchadors from the 1980s nearing the </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">twilight of their careers, as personified by Atlantis in the Anniversary Show main </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">event. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">· <span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>A preview of the mascara contra mascara showdown between Atlantis and La </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Sombra </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">· <span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>A look at the ageless Negro Casas (reprint from 2014 with updates) </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">· <span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Examining the role of lucha libre in the Award-winning comic book Love and </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Rockets by Los Hernandez Bros </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">· <span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>A tribute to friend of lucha libre Eric Caiden, owner of Hollywood Book and Poster, </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">who passed away in May 2015. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">· <span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Cover by Mexican cartoonist Kcidis </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">· <span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Inside back cover by comic book artist Rhode Montijo </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">· <span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Photos courtesy of Black Terry Jr </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Odessa Steps Magazine issue 5 is a 20 page magazine, with color covers and </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">black & white interiors. The contents is (c) 2015 Odessa Steps Magazine. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">For ordering information, please email odessastepsmagazine at gmail dot com.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Thanks</span><br />
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-812459748377232508.post-28361898845140987432015-01-11T21:37:00.000-05:002015-01-12T12:39:29.951-05:00¡ Feliz Cumpleaños Negro Casas!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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In honor of Negro Casas' 55th birthday today (and his great match tonight at Arena Mexico vs Maximo), we are reprinting Doctor Lucha Steve Sims' article about the great luchador from the inaugural issue of RUSSIAN FLAG BURY (issue still for sale). We hope you remembered to vote for Casas in this year's Wrestling Observer Newsletter Awards, especially for Best Technical Wrestler, Best Brawler and Feud of the Year vs Rush.<br />
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Tonight's match vs Maximo (credit: luchablog)<br />
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http://youtu.be/CPuofYASREc<br />
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<b>AN ODE TO NEGRO CASAS</b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ascii-font-family: "Century Gothic"; mso-cyrillic-font-family: "Century Gothic"; mso-default-font-family: "Century Gothic"; mso-greek-font-family: "Century Gothic"; mso-latin-font-family: "Century Gothic"; mso-latinext-font-family: "Century Gothic"; mso-ligatures: none;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"> The day is Friday, August 2, 1996, I, born and raised in Atlanta, Georgia, am sitting at a bar in The Keio Plaza Hotel in Skinjuku-ku, To-kyo--to-, Japan, watching the 1996 Summer Olympics, the ones held in Atlanta, Georgia. I am waiting to leave on the JR Yellow Line for Ryokoku Kokugian – the Sumo Place. It is hot and sticky and rush hour trains with their incredible cramped-ness are to be avoided at all costs, so it’s best to leave early and avoid all that.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"> The television is showing highlights of Michael Johnson’s then-stunning time in winning the 200 metres gold medal. As I get up to leave, to my utter amazement, so does the only person in the bar at the time – my favorite wrestler of the moment, the Mexican luchador Negro Casas (Jose Casas Ruiz)!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"> Amazing coincidence you say? Not so fast, my friend. Casas and I are there for the same reason – The New Japan Pro Wrestling G-1 Climax Series, 5 consecutive nights of professional wrestling at the sacred Sumo Hall. The Series features two tournaments, one for New Japan’s current roster of heavyweight wrestlers to win their annual company singles tournament, the G-1, and a tournament with lighter-weight wrestlers from around the world (okay, Mexico and Japan) in which the winner wins the championships (and associated champion ship belt) of eight separate organizations or classifications. An octo-champion if you will.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"> Let me tell you, brother, nobody in Mid-South ever won EIGHT title belts after winning a title match, that match is for sure. Not Ted DiBiase at The Boys Club, not Junkyard Dog at the Superdome, nor Stagger Lee for that matter, not even Big Cat Ernie Ladd who was about two feel taller and about 150 pounds heavier than the Negro Casas in front of me that moment. No, Casas was after eight belts, and I, with my nickname of Dr. Lucha Jr., was there to cheer him on, traveling halfway around the world to do so.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"> Casas inspired that kind of awe and fanatical following, though on a much smaller scale, in his home country, and had for years. The son of a wrestler-turned-wrestling-maestro, Casas first wrestled as a teenager in tiny small shows as a fill-in or to gain experience and appears to have kicked off his official ring career just as he turned in 19 in January 1979. At the time, the heaviest wrestlers dominated the wrestling business in Mexico, and Casas would have been maybe 5”5” 135 pounds at his debut (35 years later, he’s really not much heavier than that today). But a sea change was coming to Mexican wrestling, as it was to Japan and alert to the US – the smaller and lighter wrestler with quicker action and more daredevil moves was over the next quarter-century to become more and more and more popular with audiences.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"> Casas was debuting in a late-1970’s Mexico in which boxing was the number-two sport behind soccer. Boxing carved up its action into weight classes (in 1979 far fewer than in 2014), and Mexicans held world titles and/or were competitive challengers in each of the classes from middleweight on down – and none at the heavier weights. Mexican sports and fight-sports fans accepted those lighter weight divisions and celebrated with national pride their champions. They came to love the greater offense and more action of the lighter-weight fights. When a wave of very talented lighter-weight wrestlers arrived on the scene from 1979 and on through about 1993 or 1994, the Mexican audience was ready to accept them or their talents.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"> Talent was what Casas had (and still does to this day, more on that in a moment). He knew the holds and the counter-holds of the veterans from his first official match, and he worked at a pace and did moves with a speed greater than any of his contemporaries. He debuted under his father’s watchful eye with Francisco Flores’s promotion out of the Mexico city of Naucalpan that promoted its cards and matches under the initials “UWA.” The UWA in January 1979 was full of slower, heavier wrestlers on top, many very talented workers in their field, but their matches were slow, ponderous even; to spice them up, foreign objects and heavy blood starting to become regular parts of the card. Casas’s speed and fluidity in his moves provided such a contrast and such a breath of fresh air.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"> On the underground walkway to the train in Tokyo,I introduced* myself in English and bad Spanish to Mr. Casas. Sr. Casas introduces himself back to me, warily as I recall it, in Spanish and bad English. I had introduced myself to hundreds of wrestlers before, from Freebirds to Von Erichs, from Midnight Rockers to Midnight Express, and announcers as well from Jim Ross to Alfonso Morales. With the exception of Ric Flair, none of them had I ever been nervous with. With Casas I was. Can’t tell you why. Maybe I saw him, like Flair, as bigger-than-life, and the others I didn’t? Bigger than life was funny, because as I stood next to him, I got a first-hand clue of the man behind the character. Dressed in shirt and tie (remember it was a typical boiling, humid August day in To-kyo-, where you take a shower, get dressed, walk outside, and by the time you get to the train 5 minutes later you’re drenched and feel like you need another shower, you know, like Memphis in the summer) with expensive-looking dress shoes and designer sunglasses, Casas presented himself as a yuppie businessman on his way to work, which I suppose he was. I tried a conversation, but it didn’t work. We sat next to each other on the train and I thumbed through a Shukan Puroresu magazine as he stared at the women on the train who were taking into their tiny mobile phones. I don’t know to this day was he just staring at the women for the usual reasons or was he as startled as I was in 1996 that someone would take their phone with them from home, on the train, and into work? He got off the train and to this day 18 years later I have not spoken with him since. Oh, about that * above, actually it was not the first time I had spoken with him. Re-introduced might be a better word there.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"> Casas was able to exhibit heart and ferocity as well, even with his smaller stature, and started to become a major drawing card. Not often used in the main event, not often used in major feuds, he nonetheless was selling tickets. He became the one the fans really came to see, the ones that they would nudge their son or wife or cousin or daughter or aunt or uncle or nephew or second cousin or great-nephew sitting there with them and say, “Negro Casas’s match is next!” “Here comes Negro Casas!” I know this to be true because I saw it and heard it for myself on three occasions. The third time was the August 1996 dates referenced above. The first time, well, that was the first time I actually met him.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"> That would have been Sunday, October 28, 1990, at the “El Toreo” bullring in Naucalpan, in front of a mostly full house. There were five matches on the card that day. The main event was a match for the UWA World Trios Titles. The third (middle) match had Negro Casas in it. I mean to tell you, all during the pre-show and the first two matches, you’d have thought The Mid-south Coliseum was just about to bring out from the back all the newly boiled hot dogs to the concession stands. People could not wait for what was about to come. They kept poking each other and saying, oh Negro Casas’s match is about to happen, or, here comes Negro Casas. Casa was a bad guy (rudo) in this match, but he got the most cheers and reaction of anyone on the entire card. He was subtle when he acted hurt, and he was sublime when he accomplished something positive during the match. He had most fun wrestling with Silver King and the two just went through their paces faster than anything I had ever seen before. He exuded evil charm and charisma far beyond what else I saw or experienced that day. Casas and his team lost that match.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"> I myself am a rabid lucha libre fan, but there is a man alive more rabid, more knowledgeable, more a fan, more alive, than anyone else I know. His name is Kurt Brown, and he has been following lucha libre in Southern California since the late 1960s. Lucha stars from Mexico have, since the 1940s, worked Los Angeles and environs as if it were just another Mexican marketplace for lucha libre. In the 1980s, after the old Eaton/LeBell promotion had loosened its stranglehold on the LA market, a lucha wave took over the Olympic Auditorium, a major main venue for wrestling in LA. The biggest lucha star ever, El Santo, had died in 1984 and his son, riding a wave of sympathy, was on a hot streak like you wouldn’t believe, selling out 7-10 shows a week most every week for 3 years, including major shows in Tijuana. When the lucha promotion ran the Olympic in LA, Negro Casa was picked to be the man to make the then-ATM for all lucha libre in Mexico, Hijo del Santo, look good. Both men worked their butt off, and eventually Casas and Santo had a match of mascara contra caballera that drew so many fans they box office had to turn people away – a match that during the early days of VHS tape trading became one of the most sought-after matches to see that a heard-core fan could find.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"> You should ask Kurt about that match sometime, via Facebook or Twitter, oh the stories he can tell. Casas made the match like he made the build-up. He was a bigger star after it was over than when it started, even though he lost the match and his hair. Kurt fell in love.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"> In 1989, New Japan Pro Wresting needed a new star for its youngest fans, and created a wrestling character based on a Saturday morning cartoon, Ju-shin “Thunder” Liger. Liger got over huge In that day, a common promotional tactic was to bring in famous talented foreigners and have the new start beat them cleanly to get over as bigger stars. I can’t even describe to you the reaction, the look, the yell, the earthquake-like-rattling that came from the condo in Walnut when Kurt Brown found out and then informed us all that Liger’s first foreign opponent would be Negro Casas. It was 1989 right around Christmas and no internet or the like back then, so none of us could wait to go to the local Japanese shopping plaza with its magazine store subsidiary and its video-tape subsidiary and see the match. It was memorable; indeed, Casa came out in a completely new costume, one that Antonio Peña has designed for Casas’s brother, Jorge Luis, who wrestled then and wrestles now under the battle name of El Felino. Just seeing that costume and highly unexpected matchup of what was considered the two best lighter-weight wrestlers in the world, that was enough to send Kurt and me and our ilk to the moon and back. The match itself, frankly, was not anything all that great, and Casas, while exhibiting all the charisma you would expect from an award-winning movie or theater actor, lost.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"> In fact, Casas lost in the tournament at the Sumo Hall as well. In the first round. Did not win a match. Turns out he did not have a match on the 2nd, but he lost his match on the 3rd.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"> Indeed, only once ever in my whole life have I ever attended a Negro Casas match live that he won. It was also the single best match I have ever seen in my life in person. Sunday, October 6, 1991. My travel companion Jody Boyns had just gone back to New England. Mid-South had gone from Tulsa to Atlanta to the grave. My trip would end in the morning. Casas defended the UWA World Middleweight Championship against Lyger (spelled that way in Mexico for phonetic reasons) in a three-fall bout that went about 23 minutes, as I recall, every one of them basically perfect. It was the first time Casas, in a singles title match, was ever in the main event at the El Toreo bullring for UWA, and the building sold out. Except for a brutal, brutal power bomb, the details of the match have faded in 23 years. I do recall vividly, however, trying to go see him in the wrestler’s underground cave / tunnel that led to El Toreo’s primitive locker room facilities. I got to the door and stopped. I was standing there with Xochitl Hamada. He was waiting for him, anxiously, as a girlfriend would. Then I remembered that she was married. Not to him. So I waited. Then I remembered he was married too. Not to her. So I left.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"> Negro Casas, now 54, wrestles to this day. He may well be right now today at that age the best professional wrestler in Mexico. Not a few hard-core lucha fans would concur. He would too.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"> He is still politically involved with work in the front office of his wrestling employer. He still trains younger wrestlers. He’s now married to what is either his second or third wife, a Panamanian woman who also wrestles. He hasn’t wrestled in the US much in the past 18 years, Japan either, they want younger flashier talent now. What was his story, what was his calling card, in the early 1980s – more offense, faster pace, more “high spots” – is the same story that will write him out in the next five years. In the era of video games, shorter attention spans, offense-increasing rules changes in most professional sports, and UFC, the style of work that succeeds in modern lucha libre is not the style of the classic old-school story-tellers like Negro Casas.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"> But when you need just the perfect person to get a new talent over, or get a new wrestling story told, or get a few extra fans in the seats, he’s till the man everyone goes to first.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"> As for me, now 56, I still watch him from afar, on TV, HD perhaps but still never the same as live. He’s got his eye on standing up to the new kid on the block, Rush, this generation’s version of lucha legend Perro Aguayo. Casas has one more main-event run left in him, I can sense it. Maybe I have one more trip left in me to see him. I know Spanish better than I did then, Maybe I’ll re-introduce myself.</span><span style="font-family: Century Gothic; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ascii-font-family: "Century Gothic"; mso-cyrillic-font-family: "Century Gothic"; mso-default-font-family: "Century Gothic"; mso-greek-font-family: "Century Gothic"; mso-latin-font-family: "Century Gothic"; mso-latinext-font-family: "Century Gothic"; mso-ligatures: none;"> </span><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic"; font-size: 10.0pt; font-style: italic; mso-ascii-font-family: "Century Gothic"; mso-cyrillic-font-family: "Century Gothic"; mso-default-font-family: "Century Gothic"; mso-greek-font-family: "Century Gothic"; mso-latin-font-family: "Century Gothic"; mso-latinext-font-family: "Century Gothic"; mso-ligatures: none;">Dr. Lucha Steve Sims writes about Lucha Libre for the Wrestling Observer Newsletter and Figure Four Weekly. He can be reached on twitter at @drluchajr.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-812459748377232508.post-4264169353490411422014-05-07T12:25:00.002-04:002014-05-07T12:25:15.851-04:00ordering infoIf you have heard about the new issue online and want ordering info:<br />
<br />
The Mid-South issue, featuring articles by Steve "Dr Lucha" Sims, Chris "Mookieghana" Harrington, Mike "Big Audio Nightmare" Sempervive, Matt D from the DVDVR and WKO boards and more, is only $5 including shipping/handling.<br />
<br />
The original Odessa Steps Magazine featuring interviews with Greg Rucka and Dave Meltzer, is also still available for $5 w s/h.<br />
<br />
Odessa Steps issue 4 with an interview w Jamie S Rich and cover by Joelle Jones, is only $3.<br />
<br />
For more information: email russianflagburial@gmail dot com or tweet us at @russianflagbury.<br />
<br />
Thanks.Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-812459748377232508.post-15143373558056805822014-04-26T14:13:00.000-04:002014-04-26T14:21:23.265-04:00[Magazine Exerpt] Matt's article on Dustin RhodesMatt wrote a great article on the career renaissance of Dustin Rhodes / Goldust. We ran part one in the magazine that debuted at the Mid-South Fan Fest. Here is an excerpt. If you want the whole thing, why not buy a copy of the magazine? It's only $5 including shipping and handling.<br />
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<u><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Reconstructed Dreams: the late
career resurgence of Dustin Rhodes</span></u><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">2013 WWE is not wanting for talent
or the opportunities to present it to the world. Seven-plus hours of television
a week, including a three-hour Raw where longer matches are almost a necessity,
means that good wrestlers have gotten the chance to shine, even sometimes
despite themselves. This has been a year of phenomenal tag team
matches, both standard and six-man, a year where Daniel Bryan has been pushed
on top, a year where Antonio Cesaro has been possibly the world's greatest
gatekeeper in NXT and a standout on the main roster and that the Shield, as a
unit, has shined each and every week. It's been a year of CM Punk giving
career performances in two of the biggest matches of his life and
Mark Henry and the Big Show working as big men as well as anyone the company
has ever had. It's been a year of John Cena being John Cena, freakishly
returning from injury and wrestling the matches that he's been wrestling
without half the credit he's deserved for years. It's almost unbelievable
then, that in the face of all the other talent on the roster, the standout
story of the back half of 2013 has been the unexpected return of a 44
year old veteran who had been cut from the company multiple times before and
who, in his last role for WWE wasn't even an on screen performer? <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Out of the ring, Dustin Runnels (who
for the sake of my own personal nostalgia, we are going to call Dustin Rhodes
or Goldust throughout the rest of this article) is an awkward presence at best.
His social media footprint is stilted and sometimes a little uncomfortable to
examine. His autobiography was highly anticipated but poorly received,
considered overly slight and disjointed. Moreover, it's been ten years since he
was featured in a meaningful way on WWE television, and even then it was while
saddled with an unfortunate Tourette Syndrome gimmick. His last run, in late
2010 and mainly against Ted Dibiase, Jr., while technically sound, hardly lit
up the world and his character, by it's very nature, is not a natural fit for
the PG era. Nevertheless, his return in 2013 has resonated with the crowd,
produced top-end matches, and elevated not just himself but his brother Cody as
well into prominent positions on the WWE roster.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Dustin's success can
be attributed to two major factors. First, he has developed, over the
last two decades plus, an emotional connection with many generations of fans.
This is arguably his fifth or even sixth major focused run in a prominent
United States pro wrestling organization, and there were a number of less major
runs scattered throughout that time period. Of the active roster, there is no
one with the same amount of US Wrestling Experience and you would have to
stretch hard (in the direction of William Regal or the Undertaker on the
extended roster) to find anyone with more experience in general. Second, due to
that experience and his natural athleticism and work ethic, he is able to work
a wrestling match as well as anyone in the company. He's able to connect with
live crowds young and old on a visceral level utilizing body language, a
combination of iconic moves (some not used regularly in the WWE for years) and
newer flashier ones, and a number of old tricks that have been developed
through decades of professional wrestlers honing their craft.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Dustin Rhodes stands out as unique
not due to his longevity but due to his multiple runs between
companies and in and out of the WWF/WWE. It allowed him to create an emotional
connection, and often very different emotional connections, with different
generations of fans and also to intersect with wrestling history and a variety
talent over the years. One can find detailed biographies (and of course his own
autobiography) detailing his career, so I'll just move in and out highlighting
this emotional connection and historical importance and provide a few matches
for context<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">He is, of course, a second
generation wrestler, and more than that, he is the son of one of the biggest
stars of the late territory era, Dusty Rhodes. Dustin, following in his
father's footsteps, got his start in 1988 during an ill-fated attempt to revive
the Graham territory in Florida, teaming with Kendall Windham. They even had a
cup of coffee in the NWA at this point:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">He then moved on to USWA Texas which
was Jarrett attempt to maximize the once wrestling-fan-fertile territory
that had been World Class. A decent amount of footage has emerged as of late
and while this isn't a great match, it's a good look at where he was heading as
a young wrestler:</span></div>
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<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=myvpPzMlDx0" target="_parent" title="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=myvpPzMlDx0"><span style="color: blue; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=myvpPzMlDx0</span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> <o:p></o:p></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Unsurprisingly, he was helped along
the way by his father, who had been the biggest star of the 70s and 80s in
Florida and would, for instance, later reward Matt Borne for helping Dustin in
Texas with a role as Big Josh in WCW. That was after he returned to power. In 1988,
he had been fired from his executive and booking role in what would become WCW
after the sale from Crockett to Turner. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-812459748377232508.post-21693386153563595592014-04-26T14:00:00.001-04:002014-04-26T14:00:28.669-04:00New Issue Out! and Mid-South Fan FestYes, the new issue is done. We finished it right before leaving for NOLA and the Mid-South Fan Fest.<br />
<br />
The convention was great. Thanks to Matt and all his staff for a great show. Thanks to all the Mid-South legends for their time and conversations.<br />
<br />
We hope to maybe have some content related to talent at the convention in a future issue and on the website. Our interview with Jim Cornette was not finished at press time, so we hope to have that in next issue, which may be debuting in the fall at a major comics convention. Details in the future.<br />
<br />
We are going to put up some content from the magazine up on the website. But not everything, as we would still like to try and sell some copies. Only $5 which includes postage and handling. Write to us as russianflagburial@gmail.com for more information.Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-812459748377232508.post-30778433660551590052014-02-07T14:55:00.001-05:002014-02-07T14:55:56.027-05:00New Content SoonJust an update...<br />
<br />
- The table fee has been paid for the Mid-South Fan Fest, so you can look forward to us being there, selling the Russian Flag Burial magazine, as well as past issues of Odessa Steps Magazine and maybe some other stuff.<br />
<br />
- We are in talks to have a contemporary wrestler at our table at the convention. If so, we will likely have an interview with them in the magazine debuting at the show.<br />
<br />
- We are working on lining up some more articles for the issue, including some Mid-South specific articles by some well-known internet wrestling personalities.<br />
<br />
- We are still putting the final deal together for the magazine cover. We hoped to have that done by now, but well, you know...<br />
<br />
- We attended National Pro Wrestling Day in Easton PA recently, which saw the rebirth of Chikara Pro Wrestling. While there, we talked to some people about potential magazine articles, as well as advertising the magazine in some high-profile wrestling-related locations.<br />
<br />
Thanks for reading. Another update soon. Check out the @russianflagbury twitter for news and blather until the next update.<br />
<br />
Mark Coale<br />
Editor/Publisher<br />
Odessa Steps Magazine/Russian Flag BurialUnknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-812459748377232508.post-45441532380664885622014-01-25T15:14:00.002-05:002014-01-25T15:17:05.662-05:00PRINT ISSUE COMING IN APRIL<div class="MsoNormal">
RUSSIAN FLAG BURIAL to debut at MID-SOUTH FAN FEST <o:p></o:p><br />
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Odessa Steps Magazine is proud to announce it will debut a
special branded issue spotlighting Mid-South Wrestling at the Mid-South Legends
Fan Fest being held in New Orleans during Wrestlemania weekend. The issue will be named after the Odessa Steps
Magazine sister site RUSSIAN FLAG BURIAL, which has been devoted to analyzing the
1984 Mid-South Wrestling television product.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Content is still pending at this time but is scheduled to
include:<o:p></o:p></div>
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<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;">
</span></span><!--[endif]-->An analysis of the 1984 Mid-South Wrestling
product, taken from the online content found at The Russian Flag Burial website
at <a href="http://www.russianflagburial.com/">www.russianflagburial.com</a>.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;">
</span></span><!--[endif]-->A statistical examination of Mid-South Wrestling
by Indeed Wrestling’s Chris Harrington<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;">
</span></span><!--[endif]-->Interviews with talent who worked the Mid-South
territory<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;">
</span></span><!--[endif]-->A career examination of Dustin Rhodes following
his career renaissance in 2013 as Goldust teaming with his brother Cody Rhodes.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;">
</span></span><!--[endif]-->An interview with comics creator Jill Thompson,
who has worked with Mick Foley and designed ring gear for WWE wrestler Daniel
Bryan<o:p></o:p></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;">
</span></span><!--[endif]-->An interview with Greg Klein, author of King of
New Orleans, about the Junkyard Dog’s era in Mid-South Wrestling<o:p></o:p></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;">
</span></span><!--[endif]-->Long form articles about various other popular culture
subjects from the worlds of film, sports, television and publishing<o:p></o:p><br />
<br /></div>
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Issue five of ODESSA STEPS MAGAZINE is scheduled to debut at
the Mid-South Legends Fan Fest, April 4, 2014, at the Sigur Center, Chalmette
LA (suburban New Orleans). The issjue
will supported by advertising in the wrestling internet media and the launch of
the Odessa Steps Magazine podcast (name pending) in February 2014. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Contact info: Mark Coale, editor/publisher, Odessa Steps
Magazine. <a href="mailto:odessastepsmagazine@gmail.com">odessastepsmagazine@gmail.com</a><o:p></o:p></div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-812459748377232508.post-1183782752095475172013-08-11T15:15:00.001-04:002013-08-11T15:15:05.020-04:00Jim Crockett Promotions documentaryIt should be a good few weeks to be an old school wrestling fan, with the WWE Mid-South DVD coming soon and the recent release of the Jim Crockett Promotions DVD, "The Good Old Days." <div><br></div><div>The Crockett DVD traces the history of the company from Jim Crockett Senior's founding the company through his death and the high and lows of the Jim Crockett Junior era, ending when the company being sold to Turner Broadcasting.</div><div><br></div><div>The participation of Jim Crockett Junior was an eleventh-hour addition to the documentary and his inclusion certainly elevates the credibility of the project, considering many of the key figures of the promotion were under WWE contract and not able to take part (Flair, Dusty and Steamboat to name three). </div><div><br></div><div>The breadth of people that are interviewed were a Who's Who of the late Crockett Junior era: David and Jackie Crockett, Tully Blanchard, J.J. Dillon, Ole Anderson, Jim Cornette, the Rock and Roll Express, Ivan Koloff, Paul Jones, Jimmy Valiant, Baby Doll, referee Tommy Young, Ron Garvin and more. Of course, as you watch, you do wonder what happened to some of the others who were not part of the documentary: Nikita Koloff, Tony Schiavone, the Road Warriors and Paul Ellering, Barry Darsow, Manny Fernandez, Greg Valentine, Roddy Piper and more. DId they not want to participate? Are they under WWE Legends contract? Could the filmmakers not make a deal with them? In a podcast interview, the director Michael Elliott said people were paid for their interviews. </div><div><br></div><div>Of course, the documentary is missing footage owned by WWE, which would include all the Mid-Atlantic and TBS television and pay-per-views. Fortunately, there is footage shot at house shows in Virginia shot by George Pantas from the late 1970s and early 1980s that is used as B-roll to play under voice over footage.</div><div><br></div><div>It is great to hear a number of the old-time veterans to tell stories, some well-told tales but some new stories. It's fun to hear J.J. Dillon to tell the story about the famous "make it good" angle when the Horsemen attacked Dusty Rhodes and explaining all the diegetic plot points that are usually missing from modern wrestling television shows. And would a Jim Crockett documentary be complete without clips of Ole Anderson curmudgeonly talking Vince McMahon and Ric Flair?</div><div><br></div><div>Most of all the wrestlers come off well, telling their stories. As someone who really had no great love of Paul Jones, the mid-1980s manager who was the only person to break Mr. Fuji's run as "worst manager" in the Wrestling Observer Awards, it is nice to see him as a down-to-earth guy sitting on a couch telling stories. It's also a little jarring to not only hear Ivan Koloff speaking without a Russian accent, but also him discussing how he found religion late in life. </div><div><br></div><div>The discussion of the end of Jim Crockett Promotions, simply titled "What Happened," is an interesting one, with some people wanting to blame Dusty for the company's downfall, while other seem to want to point the finger of Crockett's overwhelmed accountant. This is where the absence of a new interview Dusty really would have been welcome (the documentary used footage from a previous shoot interview for Dusty clips), giving him an opportunity to refute his critics. To his credit, Jim Crockett Junior said the buck stopped with him.</div><div><br></div><div>Any wrestling fan wishing to learn about the territory era of the business would be greatly served to pick up a copy of the DVD. The set is three discs: the first containing the documentary; the other two full of extended interviews and other features. The DVD can be ordered from Highspots.com.</div><div><br></div><div><br></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-812459748377232508.post-50436303451093387442013-03-13T21:15:00.002-04:002013-03-13T21:15:18.515-04:00Happy Anniversaryfrom today's Observer<br />
<br />
30 years ago - The Midnight Express of Dennis Condrey & Bobby Eaton
beat Mr. Wrestling II & Magnum T.A. in a loser gets 10 lashes match
to win the Mid South tag team titles when Wrestling II walked out on his
partnerUnknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-812459748377232508.post-33472754366579750012011-06-22T20:44:00.013-04:002011-06-22T21:14:20.215-04:00Episode # 2 RecapMid-South 1984 TV – Episode 2 (Mid-South 228) – Irish McNeil Boys Club, Shreveport, LA <p class="MsoNormal"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal">Hosts: Boyd Pierce and Bill Watts</p> <p class="MsoNormal">Ring Announcer: Jim Ross</p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal">Boyd is wearing a purple suit. Cowboy runs down the card, including welcoming back Buddy Landell and saying Masao Ito is a new “Japanese Manchurian star.” Bill throws it to a pre-taped interview he did with Jim Cornette.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDHkqYio1cinpdFrtoKdWMh5Kd_67vtTjfN-cgzXZn6Ad0CCMD3HJniL0cJvMY_qLfm7PS7N6khlUMe-JWMJpK3e4O_rjT1cwzm66dDkfiocTFuzbTakw55Le6x9lSdmOXnO1vUPR9U3o/s1600/vlcsnap-2011-06-22-20h42m03s250.png"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 180px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDHkqYio1cinpdFrtoKdWMh5Kd_67vtTjfN-cgzXZn6Ad0CCMD3HJniL0cJvMY_qLfm7PS7N6khlUMe-JWMJpK3e4O_rjT1cwzm66dDkfiocTFuzbTakw55Le6x9lSdmOXnO1vUPR9U3o/s320/vlcsnap-2011-06-22-20h42m03s250.png" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5621210572566166178" border="0" /></a></p><p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal">Pre-Tape: Watts runs down a list of more “manly” managers from the Mid-South past, including Skandar Akbar (a former North American champion), Gary Hart (who is a street guy from Chicago) and Rock Hunter (who managed the Assassins). Watts calls Cornette a “non-athlete” who is arrogant, audacious, flamboyant, rude and a Mama’s boy. Cornette has great smirking facial expressions during this list of insults. Cornette informs us that “people with money don’t have to sweat.” We see a clip of Cornette interrupting an interview Reiser Bowden did with the new tag team champions, Mr. Wrestling II and Magnum II. Cornette is upset the MX was not listed as a top contender. Cornette accuses II of turning Magnum from “a frustrated sex symbol” to a coward.<span style=""> </span>He then calls II and Magnum “chicken.” Magnum says Cornette “would be at home in a hen house and not as a rooster.” Back in the studio, Watts says they didn’t realize that being called chicken would be taken literally and describes the tar and feathering as something once done when the Ku Klux Klan ran roughshod over scared folks. Cornette says he’s heard rumors of that group. Is it coincidence that Cornette just happens to be wearing a white jacket? We then see the clip from last when when Cornette and the MX tar and feather Magnum and hit II with a slapstick. Watts sees the attack as very dishonorable, and real mean settle things face to face. Cornette says seeing Magnum tar and feathered is “the funniest thing I’ve seen in a week or two.” He also says he can match Watts multisyllabic term for multisyllabic term and “that is a masterpiece.” Watts says that is “a man in agony and turmoil.”<span style=""> </span>Watts with a great metaphor: “On a hot night, it only takes a small spark to ignite a whole forest fire and you may have lit something that you can’t put out.” We then see the post-incident interview from last week with II and Magnum. Cornette says the MX are going to play Smokey Bear with II and Magnum. Watts informs Cornette he has been fined $5000 for his actions, but Cornette says it’s just a phone call to Mother. After he leaves, Watts says Cornette is the kind of guy that makes your hands sweaty and that you just want to back hand. </p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNhSAYb7t_ivtOctRqrTEBVVwL6XS8sn4aWNLhr5BhoVIndM4xV9xhz7ztQrCo0d8xo0MN_dFJ123x6nANF0uerzG8pbIxo37qlV665jcDN_7mVNtlLcyy1H90yDmm1u-rMtxAs7gvhnc/s1600/vlcsnap-2011-06-22-20h43m31s240.png"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 180px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNhSAYb7t_ivtOctRqrTEBVVwL6XS8sn4aWNLhr5BhoVIndM4xV9xhz7ztQrCo0d8xo0MN_dFJ123x6nANF0uerzG8pbIxo37qlV665jcDN_7mVNtlLcyy1H90yDmm1u-rMtxAs7gvhnc/s320/vlcsnap-2011-06-22-20h43m31s240.png" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5621210844963748978" border="0" /></a></p><p class="MsoNormal">This was an 11-minute (with 3 clips) to start the show, exhibiting just how important Cornette and the MX will be in the near future for Mid-South.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal">Match 1: Nikolai Volkoff vs Terry Taylor. There is no sign of Volkoff, but Khrusher Darsow is in the ring to let us know that Volkoff hurt his shoulder training and that he will take the match vs. Taylor and “send that tan back to Florida.” Taylor gets jumped by Darsow before he can remove his jacket and the heel has heat to start the match. Watts again tells us that Darsow is more dangerous than Volkoff because he is a traitor to his country. Taylor takes control after a dropkick and then puts him in an abdominal stretch. As some fans walk through the crowd with a giant flag, Volkoff his the ring for the DQ. Volkoff has his hangman’s noose, and tries to hang Taylor. Taylor gets the advantage but then Darsow comes back in the ring for a two-on-one. They put the noose back on Taylor and then hang him over the top rope.<span style=""> </span>After a few minutes of peril, the save is made by Ric Rude and Brian Adias.<br /></p><p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghic5Y1SOhvPt6-W5bHH2lgAhQq8z9Xtzd6kutEFla-ke84UTEzCxnKbtA7JFHcKLbf0lk4h-wrN4ftW857rfFHjF8n4Zi4u6QG7-hpf4N_kgxJGf7O7goGaX2oIXgG16ECmaTwwZTXZw/s1600/vlcsnap-2011-06-22-20h49m53s220.png"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 180px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghic5Y1SOhvPt6-W5bHH2lgAhQq8z9Xtzd6kutEFla-ke84UTEzCxnKbtA7JFHcKLbf0lk4h-wrN4ftW857rfFHjF8n4Zi4u6QG7-hpf4N_kgxJGf7O7goGaX2oIXgG16ECmaTwwZTXZw/s320/vlcsnap-2011-06-22-20h49m53s220.png" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5621211220957183170" border="0" /></a></p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal">Match 2: MX vs Roger Bond and Mike Jackson – II (sports coat) and Magnum (leather jacket and gloves) are out with Boyd to do color commentary. Magnum is very fidgety. Boyd explains that they can say whatever they like, but if they leave the commentary booth to interfere, they will be fined $2500. Magnum says they are going to try and be professional. Cornette has a bag of feathers he is blowing toward II and Magnum. Cornette is taunting II and Magnum, saying the fine would be nothing for him. Bobby comes to the ring flapping like a chicken. Jackson (who might be the best job guy of the 1980s) starts out in control, but a knee to the guy by Dennis puts the MX on top. We see a wonderfully 80s inset of II and Magnum doing commentary as the MX whip up on Roger Bond. Bobby continues to make chicken gestures. Dennis hits a running powerslam on Bond, which probably did not make Watts too happy. II tells Magnum to watch their moves.<span style=""> </span>Bobby gets the pinfall on Bond after a flying clothesline. After the match, the MX gives Jackson a spike piledriver and attempt to repeat the tar and feather on Bond.<span style=""> </span>Magnum can’t take it and hits the ring, while II screams for him to stay back. The four men are brawling in the ring as we go to commercial.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi17iaiGjuCWYewpdZhgQYgnVv8igIC8WK1MeD4x_dZ-tFKiXYGFcm4FjE-8QHIjWDTk72DsI5xyxg5X2CC2YOtnL1CYo-KhPl5CoKwMu8maoKPWe8LfwwoZF90E-zZ8PnqTWamvsXvFMU/s1600/boydmagnumII.png"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 160px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi17iaiGjuCWYewpdZhgQYgnVv8igIC8WK1MeD4x_dZ-tFKiXYGFcm4FjE-8QHIjWDTk72DsI5xyxg5X2CC2YOtnL1CYo-KhPl5CoKwMu8maoKPWe8LfwwoZF90E-zZ8PnqTWamvsXvFMU/s320/boydmagnumII.png" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5621212356909603474" border="0" /></a></p><p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2gcJQ-d9AXAlcZM_9Vgv5NxmIsuLjb0wHjRq4RX_IiAgBUkDTCoCs7UpB7JUTlS9-90vdhBv1kzff5nNFVzIZWrELX3GOb0blj2iF-wdvO2dPXoUxXS4k-xrUJqV4rGp_TEV12xUOAzQ/s1600/vlcsnap-2011-06-22-20h56m37s13.png"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 180px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2gcJQ-d9AXAlcZM_9Vgv5NxmIsuLjb0wHjRq4RX_IiAgBUkDTCoCs7UpB7JUTlS9-90vdhBv1kzff5nNFVzIZWrELX3GOb0blj2iF-wdvO2dPXoUxXS4k-xrUJqV4rGp_TEV12xUOAzQ/s320/vlcsnap-2011-06-22-20h56m37s13.png" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5621213068908572930" border="0" /></a></p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal">Match 3: Nature Boy Buddy Landell vs Mike Starbuck - This is Buddy’s return to Mid-South, now with bleach-blond hair and Flair/Rogers gimmick. Watts mentions his change in attitude, from reports he has gotten from around the country.<span style=""> </span>Watts continues to discuss how much he wants to slap Cornette. Watts says he’d rather be punched than slapped and matchmaker Grizzly Smith will not give the MX a title shot, as a reward for their action. Buddy does some amateur wrestling on Starbuck, as well as rubbing Starbuck’s face into the mat.<span style=""> </span>Starbuck tries a flying bodypress, but Buddy catches him and gives him an over-the-knee backbreaker. And then the corkscrew elbow for the win.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtHFSirOcZodvuhZl7np-HpPNfTT-N6BWPBS4nOfAdd2g407rDJhGQFGc5ySubB8aISshmRI1VJas00so-10H5yRL72mZh6tn2F_kRs3aqF_f6hb90YqLqEfcsbp6xLoHfG79qjrBajtI/s1600/vlcsnap-2011-06-22-21h00m09s113.png"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 180px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtHFSirOcZodvuhZl7np-HpPNfTT-N6BWPBS4nOfAdd2g407rDJhGQFGc5ySubB8aISshmRI1VJas00so-10H5yRL72mZh6tn2F_kRs3aqF_f6hb90YqLqEfcsbp6xLoHfG79qjrBajtI/s320/vlcsnap-2011-06-22-21h00m09s113.png" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5621213963739768466" border="0" /></a></p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal">Match 4: Brian Adias vs Mickey Henry – This is also a return to Mid-South for Adias, who we learned has toured the country since last here and is currently the Texas TV champion. Watts also announces in two weeks, we will see the details on the new Mid-South TV title tournament. Watts says that we will see Adias team with Hacksaw Duggan next week versus the Russians.<span style=""> </span>The big burly Henry has been in control most of the match so far. Adias changes the momentum with a dropkick. And then a very sloppy leapfrog and a botched victory roll. He then does a small package for the win.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghjw_OfcjZp5Br32-XqEewo91M-fdQQaxaeQaT5FwDmuRrbbTZFG43R8hrxp6X7cU9sdpF9EjRQ2fE1Hr-pkFYZBSWMThkLg5PbsAT1AqwdphP2vKAqIcZHgbWf5suDw6LM260I_B2Rz8/s1600/vlcsnap-2011-06-22-21h01m53s144.png"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 180px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghjw_OfcjZp5Br32-XqEewo91M-fdQQaxaeQaT5FwDmuRrbbTZFG43R8hrxp6X7cU9sdpF9EjRQ2fE1Hr-pkFYZBSWMThkLg5PbsAT1AqwdphP2vKAqIcZHgbWf5suDw6LM260I_B2Rz8/s320/vlcsnap-2011-06-22-21h01m53s144.png" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5621214402186463378" border="0" /></a></p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal">Match 5: Masao Ito vs Ric Rude – Ito is billed this week as “from Japan” and Rude is, of course, from Robbinsdale, MN. Watts says this is like Beauty and the Beast. Ito gets the quick win with his jumping throat kick.<br /></p><p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSYtoMo8VPH9V68cTQlR_H8lLhe1j9XS5Hu9eVDB8C5bCY9qXECaeA1mDYvBYZO4Eb7up1J4vNJJOmQrIexhrcmNQjalVmiPbZUKDI_2KNcPXysAIgMRg2iGUE9BeWp4eXknT41N-uxxs/s1600/vlcsnap-2011-06-22-21h04m01s183.png"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 180px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSYtoMo8VPH9V68cTQlR_H8lLhe1j9XS5Hu9eVDB8C5bCY9qXECaeA1mDYvBYZO4Eb7up1J4vNJJOmQrIexhrcmNQjalVmiPbZUKDI_2KNcPXysAIgMRg2iGUE9BeWp4eXknT41N-uxxs/s320/vlcsnap-2011-06-22-21h04m01s183.png" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5621215059508363314" border="0" /></a></p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal">Video: Rock and Roll Express – Joan Jett and the Blackhearts – “I love Rock and Roll” – The first music video introducing Ricky Morton and Robert Gibson. Notice this is a music video from Memphis, with the R-n-R facing off against people like the Moondogs and the Galaxians (Danny Davis and Ken Wayne).<br /></p><p class="MsoNormal"><iframe src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/1JduC54l7T8?rel=0" allowfullscreen="" width="480" frameborder="0" height="390"></iframe></p><p class="MsoNormal">This episode <a href="http://www.universalwrestling.com/mm5/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=UWA&Product_Code=MSWV054DVD&Category_Code=MSWDVD">(volume 54)</a> can be ordered on DVD from Universal Wrestling Archives</p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-812459748377232508.post-8288606102928197192011-06-02T21:45:00.004-04:002011-06-02T21:57:00.936-04:00Terry Taylor: Mid-South's Wyatt Earp<span style="font-style: italic;">[Editor's Note: Matt's first article for the site examines arguably Mid-South's biggest babyface in early 1984.]</span><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZ2BrRVtIgNj-MHWNj9ny9Hx_SwEQtytVIxmF5S6S2Bw-EbJtwRKfEN-_j2759ilWoF-s5Wfo3H0ZSi02VdcKnWtbhPf6Rsdx6OeCMwH3cFYThBZmfcw0bJWUCCCXwHC8Iiob-ad_prM4/s1600/vlcsnap-2011-06-02-21h54m59s125.png"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 180px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZ2BrRVtIgNj-MHWNj9ny9Hx_SwEQtytVIxmF5S6S2Bw-EbJtwRKfEN-_j2759ilWoF-s5Wfo3H0ZSi02VdcKnWtbhPf6Rsdx6OeCMwH3cFYThBZmfcw0bJWUCCCXwHC8Iiob-ad_prM4/s320/vlcsnap-2011-06-02-21h54m59s125.png" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5613806498340315762" border="0" /></a><br /><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:worddocument> <w:view>Normal</w:View> <w:zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:punctuationkerning/> <w:validateagainstschemas/> <w:saveifxmlinvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:ignoremixedcontent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> <w:alwaysshowplaceholdertext>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText> <w:compatibility> <w:breakwrappedtables/> <w:snaptogridincell/> <w:wraptextwithpunct/> <w:useasianbreakrules/> <w:dontgrowautofit/> </w:Compatibility> <w:browserlevel>MicrosoftInternetExplorer4</w:BrowserLevel> </w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:latentstyles deflockedstate="false" latentstylecount="156"> </w:LatentStyles> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 10]> <style> /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language:#0400; mso-fareast-language:#0400; mso-bidi-language:#0400;} </style> <![endif]--><br /><p class="MsoNormal" style="">Junkyard Dog, Jim Duggan, Jim Neidhart, Steve Williams, Mr. Wrestling II, Magnum TA. Add in a Lanny Poffo and George Weingeroff as featured enhancement talent, and that's your roster of Mid-South Babyfaces coming in to 1984. With the very arguable exception of Magnum, there's not much baby about those faces. For the most part, they fit the Wattsian mold, that same mold that Watts' "associate" (as Boyd Pierce would call him) Jim Ross would laud for the rest of his career: ex-football players, big, strong and bulky. </p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""> So then, who is the most featured babyface on Mid-South TV for the first few months of 1984?<br /><br />Terry Taylor.<br /><br />I know, it surprised me too. On paper, it simply shouldn't work. Oh, don't get me wrong. As 1984 begins, Ricky and Robert are about to come in and help further pop the territory but that's a tag team special attraction. Screaming girls and little kids. Taylor had to survive as a singles babyface in the midst of all of those "hosses," and both the fans, and our stalwart Mr. Watts were going to have to take him seriously, despite the fact he didn't fit the mold. That they were able to manage that with some real success is a unique combination of Watts' announcing, Bill Dundee's booking, and Taylor's ability to take advantage of the very contrast that put him at a disadvantage to begin with.<br /><br />Pushing Terry Taylor was not necessarily Bill Watts' brainchild or initial preference. It's important to establish that from the get go. Taylor came along in part of the talent exchange with Memphis, and along with him came Superstar Bill Dundee's booking skills. Jerry Lawler and Dundee have differing opinions about how much influence the diminutive Superstar had upon the book in Memphis over the years. Lawler indicates that they let him try it now and again but it was a minor thing and didn't really work out. Dundee claims that he and Lawler rotated systemically over the years in an almost equal distribution. Going to Mid-South gave him a chance to stretch his creative wings somewhat in an area where he didn't have to live in Lawler's shadow. Watts' shadow might have been just as giant, but the two men offered different and oddly complementary points of view. Watts was wrestling comfort food, traditional, paternal, hearty substance. Dundee was style and flash, and in this specific case he made a point to let the Cowboy know that all of his babyfaces were simply too damn ugly.<br /><br />So Taylor would get the nod, but it had to be in a way that Watts could buy into, that he could accept. Taylor, though a competent talent by this point of his career, having been schooled in the ring by quality heels in Memphis, Georgia, Knoxville, and Florida, did not have the flash or charisma of the Rock 'n Roll Express. Many of the usual Mid-South faces were mainly absent on Mid-South TV early in the year. Williams was off working in the USFL (much to Dave Meltzer's delight as he didn't think much of him as a talent in 1984). JYD and Duggan, for one reason or another, did not get much TV time early in 84. There was both the opportunity and the need to present a new babyface, but it had to be done correctly.<br /><br />They previewed his arrival in December 1983 with an interview with Watts and a music video set to the Eagles' "New Kid in Town," this sort of thing being one of the traditional Memphis promotional techniques Dundee brought with him, and then they thrust him right into the mix. Nikolai Volkoff had been Mid-South North American Heavyweight Champion in the middle of 1983 and since then had been joined up by Krusher Darsow, American traitor and Russian sympathizer. The two of them were no longer involved with the title, but they were still the top heel act in the company, with Watts unleashing jingoistic vitriol upon them and the Soviet Union as a whole, each and every week.<br /><br />Taylor debuted, making a bang immediately, interfering in the Russians business in his first week as a featured wrestler in-studio. The next week he went toe-to-toe with the much larger Volkoff in a challenge match, holding his own until Darsow came out and the two heels doubled-teamed Taylor. With that start, he would be booked directly against them as a defender of American values. What is interesting here is that he simply did not fit the traditional mold. He wasn't the heroic soldier like Sgt. Slaughter (who would very soon turn face in New York), or the flag-wielding superhero in Hulk Hogan. He wasn't a working class everyman like Dusty Rhodes. He wasn't an All-American golden boy like Kerry Von Erich and he certainly wasn't the tough, no nonsense cowboy Bill Watts. He wasn't a muscled up symbol of American power, but instead a symbol of the American spirit, one lone, good man doing the right thing despite overwhelming odds.<br /><br />Of course, the right thing was heavily skewed by the Wattsian ideal. Hearing it from the Cowboy, young Terrance was fighting a true evil. Taylor's reward for challenging Volkoff so blatantly was to get hung over the top rope. For revenge, he enlists those other dynamic babyfaces, Ricky and Robert and they triple-team Darsow and paint a pink stripe on his back. It's presented as the ultimate strike for democracy and American goodness, when it seems, on paper, almost as heelish as the Midnight Express tarring and feathering Magnum TA. Presentation is key in Mid-South. Where the Cowboy leads, the fanbase follows.<br /><br />Taylor presented as an underdog, yes, but one that would jump right into the fire whenever necessary in order to protect his country and defend his fellow man. It's a difficult thing, to get a fanbase so focused on a certain type to buy into a character so thoroughly. As with mostly everything else in Mid-South, it was Bill Watts that led the charge. As vehemently as he spoke out against the Russians every chance that he had, he praised the heroic attributes of Terry Taylor. Bill Watts was a paternal figure to his audience. He spoke as a stern, caring father might, a man who knew the world and knew what was right and just in it. He spoke of Terry Taylor in the same way he spoke of Erik and Joel Watts. He spoke of Terry Taylor as if he would be proud to call him "son."<br /><br />The ultimate representation of this ideal, the one that takes it all over the top is well into the year, right before the end of the TV Title tournament. Mr. Wrestling II had, through jealousy and the self-doubt that comes with aging, had abandoned his partner and protege, Magnum TA in the midst of a loser-gets-whipped match with the Midnight Express. After succumbing to superior numbers, Magnum stood ready to take the full brunt, all ten lashes. Unable to stand to see so valiant a man suffer for the craven tendencies of his fallen mentor, Taylor runs out and stands in Wrestling II's place, offering, nay, demanding to take five of the lashes himself in the name of fairness and brotherhood. For a moment, in the midst of all of this, you would almost believe that a Cowboy could cry... almost but not quite. In the span of five minutes, overlapping flawlessly with a completely independent angle in the mighty Mid-south Manner, Taylor was pushed over the top, his natural "baby"face qualities overcome by his toughness, by his call to do what right no matter the cost to himself and with no promise of gain or fortune.</p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="">They stressed not just Taylor’s moral qualities but his toughness and tenacity. He recovered from the hanging to fight on and claim revenge. He bounced back from a cruel and underhanded assault with a foreign object by Butch Reed in the semi-finals of the TV Title Tournament. Then, in the finals against Krusher, two weeks later, Reed interfered before the match, pile-driving Taylor upon the concrete outside the ring. Terry recovered, returning with a neck brace a few minutes later and even dominating the first part of the match before succumbing to a second pile-driver by Darsow. He may have lost in the finals, but he was protected by the booking the whole way through.<br /><br />I wasn’t part of the Mid-South target crowd, of course, but if I was, even if I was the grumpiest and orneriest portion of that crowd, I'd have a hard time not rooting for Taylor after all of this. He didn't get the molten reactions that the Rock 'n' Roll Express did, but I think what reaction he did get was more evenly dispersed and without nearly the backlash that one might expect. Through persistent booking, a hard-working, if traditional, style of technical babyface wrestling, and the Cowboy-fueled myth of the One Good Man, Watts, Dundee and Taylor won over a crowd that was conditioned to root for almost exactly the opposite, a testament for the power of good, smart pro wrestling if there ever was one.</p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-812459748377232508.post-63075933314934818562011-05-25T23:10:00.013-04:002011-05-26T00:18:17.494-04:00Episode # 1 RecapMid-South 1984 TV – Episode 1 (Mid-South 227) – 13 January 1984 (taped 4 January 1984) – Irish McNeil Boys Club, Shreveport, LA<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIEuSmNR7kx3vKaBnfrbMQreRCIZegV6-UZWas_7rVzRcW5j_0uZqbCNo7U-rccaC4ja2yIKY8yW1Th1OaHqJ72YP_bsjzwnfGlps6V4nHqkPGixO9P35nhjzoPWrSe2mWmWhjsDBcPkc/s1600/tarylorrussians.png"><br /></a><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyN2vXKR1zXbm_vTNVKsNpIYeoa2zGZ8RKhow1vHt0wv6-6t0m8vXrgeR7DA2mTpc4GzLhxGDQo3OFcFnXs6JBhk_DWDYC1c_25jcl10y_OZl-GaTt8JIVr47ZG4aRZUCOEN22EbcxdQA/s1600/ep1open.png"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 180px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyN2vXKR1zXbm_vTNVKsNpIYeoa2zGZ8RKhow1vHt0wv6-6t0m8vXrgeR7DA2mTpc4GzLhxGDQo3OFcFnXs6JBhk_DWDYC1c_25jcl10y_OZl-GaTt8JIVr47ZG4aRZUCOEN22EbcxdQA/s320/ep1open.png" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5610858245237649810" border="0" /></a><br /><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:worddocument> <w:view>Normal</w:View> <w:zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:punctuationkerning/> <w:validateagainstschemas/> <w:saveifxmlinvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:ignoremixedcontent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> <w:alwaysshowplaceholdertext>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText> <w:compatibility> <w:breakwrappedtables/> <w:snaptogridincell/> <w:wraptextwithpunct/> <w:useasianbreakrules/> <w:dontgrowautofit/> </w:Compatibility> <w:browserlevel>MicrosoftInternetExplorer4</w:BrowserLevel> </w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:latentstyles deflockedstate="false" latentstylecount="156"> </w:LatentStyles> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if !mso]><object classid="clsid:38481807-CA0E-42D2-BF39-B33AF135CC4D" id="ieooui"></object> <style> st1\:*{behavior:url(#ieooui) } </style> <![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 10]> <style> /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language:#0400; mso-fareast-language:#0400; mso-bidi-language:#0400;} </style> <![endif]--> <p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal">Hosts: <a href="http://www.jrsbarbbq.com">Jim Ross</a> and <a href="http://www.cowboybillwatts.com/">Bill Watts</a></p> <p class="MsoNormal">Ring Announcer: <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">Reiser</span> <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">Bowden</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal">Recap from Last Week: <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2">Darsow</span>/<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3">Volkoff</span> and Terry Taylor.<span style=""> </span>The Russians challenge Junkyard Dog (<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_4">JYD</span>) and Hacksaw Jim <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_5">Duggan</span>, but young Terry Taylor answers instead. An impromptu match develops between Taylor and <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_6">Volkoff</span> and Taylor scores the upset with a sunset flip out of the corner.<br /></p><p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIEuSmNR7kx3vKaBnfrbMQreRCIZegV6-UZWas_7rVzRcW5j_0uZqbCNo7U-rccaC4ja2yIKY8yW1Th1OaHqJ72YP_bsjzwnfGlps6V4nHqkPGixO9P35nhjzoPWrSe2mWmWhjsDBcPkc/s1600/tarylorrussians.png"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 180px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIEuSmNR7kx3vKaBnfrbMQreRCIZegV6-UZWas_7rVzRcW5j_0uZqbCNo7U-rccaC4ja2yIKY8yW1Th1OaHqJ72YP_bsjzwnfGlps6V4nHqkPGixO9P35nhjzoPWrSe2mWmWhjsDBcPkc/s320/tarylorrussians.png" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5610858712856729266" border="0" /></a></p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal">Match 1: Terry Taylor vs. Doug Vines. Taylor has just arrived in Mid-South, coming in the Watts/Jarrett trade. Doug Vines was a journeyman wrestler who held a number of regional titles, usually with partner Jeff Sword. The referee for the match is young Joel Watts. Taylor wins a quick squash with the flying forearm (which Jim Ross would later dub “the five arm.” <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_7">Volkoff</span> and <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_8">Darsow</span> hit the ring after the match, but <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_9">JYD</span> and <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_10">Duggan</span> (who Watts is still calling “Doo-Gan” at this point) arrive before the Russians can do any damage.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal">Match 2: <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_11">JYD</span> and <a href="http://www.hacksawjimduggan.net/">Hacksaw Jim <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_12">Duggan</span></a> vs. Jeff Sword and Larry Higgins – The <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_13">JYD</span> is the North American champion at the time of this match.<span style=""> </span>Watts and Ross spend a good time during this match discussing the progress made by Magnum TA since teaming with Mr. Wrestling II.<span style=""> </span>They also put over new referee “King Carl <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_14">Fergie</span>,” another arrival from Memphis. (<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_15">Fergie</span> is Jerry <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_16">Lawler</span>’s cousin.)<span style=""> </span><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_17">Duggan</span> gets the <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_18">pinfall</span> over Sword with the spear.<span style=""> </span>After the match, the Russians again hit the ring and there’s a brawl between the two teams.<span style=""> </span>The Russians flee after a few minutes, with the <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_19">babyfaces</span> leading the crowd in a “USA” chant.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal">Match 3: Non-<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_20">Title Tag Team Match</span> – Mr. Wrestling II and Magnum TA vs. Paul Garner and Don Rose (<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_21">chyron</span> says Don <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_22">Ralston</span>) -<span style=""> </span>Watts discusses how the champions won the titles in a cage match vs. Hacksaw Butch Reed and Jim “The Anvil” <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_23">Neidhart</span>.<span style=""> </span>Before the match starts, here comes Jim <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_24">Cornette</span>, carrying a bag of something.<span style=""> </span>He calls the champs “chickens” and “cowards.” <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_25">Condrey</span> and Eaton hit the ring and <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_26">Condrey</span> knocks out Mr. Wrestling II with a blackjack (slapstick). As <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_27">Condrey</span> and Eaton hold down Magnum, <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_28">Cornette</span> “tar and feathers” Magnum with a bag of feathers and a jar of syrup. They put the boots to Magnum until some of the lower-card faces (Steve Williams, Rick Rude, George <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_29">Weingroff</span>) hit the ring.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9pkHMDTzzaG671voMCTQ6RCtHw6X7Uac0HICvhmdd7v8mnKhijV1ePtc4XjRUYpnsFIezMWh75tduSUU43i9uA2G8mzmoiP9oCELJncoi28EupORtiJPErSbh534emqa3kjt_-ieExfk/s1600/mag_tar.png"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 180px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9pkHMDTzzaG671voMCTQ6RCtHw6X7Uac0HICvhmdd7v8mnKhijV1ePtc4XjRUYpnsFIezMWh75tduSUU43i9uA2G8mzmoiP9oCELJncoi28EupORtiJPErSbh534emqa3kjt_-ieExfk/s320/mag_tar.png" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5610859113802149362" border="0" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgi4g5s5dNuh9ZKLE90FB2vvTyynoS2QupnHKEHqGm71d9MUOB2hk-pJimjY0mgzg8j5UfRuk91CThNIgXzPJQHO-Ed9B5NOaN3oEPBhx8GN866q4yTKiMGINsDUBCiGq7sl3EJZq-qtMA/s1600/magfeather.png"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 180px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgi4g5s5dNuh9ZKLE90FB2vvTyynoS2QupnHKEHqGm71d9MUOB2hk-pJimjY0mgzg8j5UfRuk91CThNIgXzPJQHO-Ed9B5NOaN3oEPBhx8GN866q4yTKiMGINsDUBCiGq7sl3EJZq-qtMA/s320/magfeather.png" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5610859316629651714" border="0" /></a></p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal">Match 4: <a href="http://www.jimcornette.com">The Midnight Express</a> vs <a href="http://www.geniuslannypoffo.com/">Lanny <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_30">Poffo</span></a> and George <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_31">Weingroff</span> – <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_32">Cornette</span> says the crowd just saw “the Mid-South Chicken,” like the San Diego Chicken. <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_33">Cornette</span> parades around ringside making chicken flapping gestures. Even in 1984, <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_34">Condrey</span> is tying his <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_35">bandana</span> around his knee. Watts is putting over how he has never seen anything so dastardly in all his 20 years as what <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_36">Cornette</span> just did to Magnum, Even at the early stage of their partnership, <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_37">Condrey</span> and Eaton are already displaying the trademark quick tags. Watts is hammering home the “Mama’s Boy” nickname for <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_38">Cornette</span>. Eaton pins <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_39">Weingroff</span> after an elbow off the top rope while <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_40">Condrey</span> holds him up.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">Interview: Watts with Mr. Wrestling II and Magnum II. Mr. Wrestling II is still selling his head and Magnum is still covered in feathers. II threatens to pluck <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_41">Cornette</span> and The Midnights.<span style=""> </span>Magnum says this is the most degrading and humiliating thing ever done to him.<span style=""> </span>“Tactics like this should not be used on anyone on this Earth.”</p><p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfgW9CHVkAik2Y2m0EHwL6bjcbd-_EtXZtR2pYSUQ0J4TSFONrteR2C_0lrLb5BrqP7TQABH_U002PEiGax7Bjpg0Z5gBbjoeYufZNdqs3Mn6nww3QFP9sKmp3rCOEw8q4Cyt6ouNWLhU/s1600/magnumtar.png"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 180px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfgW9CHVkAik2Y2m0EHwL6bjcbd-_EtXZtR2pYSUQ0J4TSFONrteR2C_0lrLb5BrqP7TQABH_U002PEiGax7Bjpg0Z5gBbjoeYufZNdqs3Mn6nww3QFP9sKmp3rCOEw8q4Cyt6ouNWLhU/s320/magnumtar.png" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5610859520321848322" border="0" /></a></p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal">Match 5:<span style=""> </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_Neidhart">Jim “The Anvil” <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_42">Neidhart</span></a> vs Tom <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_43">Lenz</span> – The Anvil has a big bushy beard, but not his trademark pointed facial hair. He also is already doing his “Yeah Baby” yell.<span style=""> </span>Watts points out that Hacksaw Butch Reed is the one that turned on <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_44">Neidhart</span>, yet both are still heels. He also compares a tag team breaking up to a broken marriage. Watts mentions that <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_45">Neidhart</span> played for the Raiders and Cowboys when both were Super Bowl teams.<span style=""> </span><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_46">Neidhart</span> wins the match with a Samoan Drop.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCky8M0GneJP2PUH4Gj60VgaYbSML3nHGj6Z29GUl1PrHPNa_g_FfKFnQUyoEzCSTXPIB_hUaJyPzDtZPfxS8INgy0wtHMa_Aj2lIGXqDlwlS58EB8s2blkXpoS2gjSazOL2eU0XMtvcI/s1600/neidhart.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 180px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCky8M0GneJP2PUH4Gj60VgaYbSML3nHGj6Z29GUl1PrHPNa_g_FfKFnQUyoEzCSTXPIB_hUaJyPzDtZPfxS8INgy0wtHMa_Aj2lIGXqDlwlS58EB8s2blkXpoS2gjSazOL2eU0XMtvcI/s320/neidhart.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5610859987175342386" border="0" /></a></p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal">Match 6: Steve “Dr. Death” Williams vs <a href="http://www.barrydarsowwrestling.com/"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_47">Krusher</span> <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_48">Darsow</span> </a>– Funny to hear Dr. Death billed as being from Colorado, given his Oklahoma background. Doc is still wrestling in a singlet, oddly blue not <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_49">OU</span> red.<span style=""> </span>Watts mentions how much Dr. Death hates Russians. Doc trying a second rope splash seems like a bad idea.<span style=""> </span>Watts points out that a traitor is more dangerous and vicious than the enemy itself.<span style=""> </span><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_50">Darsow</span> works a long <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_51">chinlock</span>, allowing Watts to get on his patriotic/jingoistic soap box.<span style=""> </span>Both wrestlers are fairly green here, with some sloppy work. Doc uses football tackles to make his comeback.<span style=""> </span><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_52">Volkoff</span> makes his way to ringside, slipping a foreign object to <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_53">Darsow</span>.<span style=""> </span><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_54">Darsow</span> hits Doc with it while <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_55">Volkoff</span> distracts the referee and picks up a win over Dr. Death.</p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGKCOXmZg7xR5_2SnT9vUmc34ii3qWtLHMy72zGiLyDInAURs4a-rQEwe7PxZuMsbyfAGWQGa3GNgNQA12OOtSpWsVK82Tf09J8BXCpvUPcSmrUVU8wnp-DPKTIHGqRBxlxIN8CsIZ8v8/s1600/drdeath.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 180px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGKCOXmZg7xR5_2SnT9vUmc34ii3qWtLHMy72zGiLyDInAURs4a-rQEwe7PxZuMsbyfAGWQGa3GNgNQA12OOtSpWsVK82Tf09J8BXCpvUPcSmrUVU8wnp-DPKTIHGqRBxlxIN8CsIZ8v8/s320/drdeath.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5610859679988776002" border="0" /></a><p class="MsoNormal"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal">Match 7:<span style=""> </span>Hacksaw Butch Reed vs Rick Rood – Yes, that’s how Rude used to spell his name.<span style=""> </span>He also came to Mid-South in the Memphis trade.<span style=""> </span>Rude is young, not tan, not shaved and wearing trunks.<span style=""> </span>Watts makes reference to the NBA Referee’s strike, which allows cagey veterans to exploit the rules over the young players.<span style=""> </span>Watts refers to Rood as “double tough,” which would become a trademark Jim Ross phrase. Watts puts over Dr. Death, another of the young wrestlers on the roster, as possibly the best rookie in wrestling.<span style=""> </span>Watts gives Butch Reed’s college and NFL career credentials.<span style=""> </span>Watts mentions some of the new talent coming in to the territory, including Buddy <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_56">Landell</span> and the Rock and Roll Express.<span style=""> </span>Reed wins at the expiration of time with a delayed Gorilla Press on Rood.<br /></p><p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjK9OtzltdUhlcfHCdgOeEVglmAmSfDfTwKRex9L0UVR0zXdl8eo02V7rZsRBHH9NUraMga1LEg_db4V0bA-HwHZMurtMvOjnZ6SarhoZtZ9wVzVfyiRr5At4dWmdHZ80SApteAFW7LAvI/s1600/rude.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 180px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjK9OtzltdUhlcfHCdgOeEVglmAmSfDfTwKRex9L0UVR0zXdl8eo02V7rZsRBHH9NUraMga1LEg_db4V0bA-HwHZMurtMvOjnZ6SarhoZtZ9wVzVfyiRr5At4dWmdHZ80SApteAFW7LAvI/s320/rude.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5610859867314061410" border="0" /></a></p><p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal">This episode <a href="http://www.universalwrestling.com/mm5/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=UWA&Product_Code=MSWV054DVD&Category_Code=MSWDVD">(volume 54)</a> can be ordered on DVD from Universal Wrestling Archives.<br /></p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-812459748377232508.post-72297953469250437212011-05-03T00:05:00.001-04:002011-05-03T01:06:11.525-04:00On BackgroundBefore starting to look at 1984, we need to set the scene.<br /><br />By all accounts, Mid-South Wrestling in 1983 was becoming stale. To spice things up, in late 1983, Bill Watts and Memphis promoter Jerry Jarrett (father of Jeff Jarrett) agreed to a talent exchange. Going from Memphis to Mid-South were a number of people who were in the mid-card for Jarrett stuck behind others. Memphis already had Jimmy Hart (the number one manager in Memphis) and the Fabulous Ones, Steve Keirn and Stan Lane (the babyface heart throb tag team), so leaving town were Jim Cornette, the Midnight Express (Dennis Condrey and Bobby Eaton), Terry Taylor and the Rock-n-Roll Express (Ricky Morton and Robert Gibson). Maybe more importantly, "Superstar" Bill Dundee, Jerry Lawler's long-time partner/rival, went to Mid-South to become the new booker. The Memphis imports were working in the territory by Thanksgiving 1983, but didn't become a factor until the start of the new year. It is not difficult to see Dundee's fingerprints on the very first TV show in 1984 (but we'll get to that soon).<br /><br />On January 1, 1984, Mid-South's champions were:<br /><br /><ul><li>North American Title - Mid-South's top singles title was held by the Junkyard Dog, who won the belt from Hacksaw Butch Reed on 26 October 1983.</li><li>Tag Team Titles - Magnum TA and Mr. Wrestling II, who won the tag titles from Butch Reed and Jim Neidhart on 25 December 1983.</li></ul>And that's where we will start....Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-812459748377232508.post-929526187671505592011-05-03T00:01:00.002-04:002011-05-03T10:08:35.731-04:00Declaration of PrinciplesWhy?<br /><br />Other than why not, here are some reasons.<br /><br />To me, Mid-South/UWF was the best of the territorial areas in the modern age of wrestling. Like many people of the time not living in that part of the country, I had only read about the company and its workers in the pages of the so-called "Apter Mags." At least until 1986, when Cowboy Bill Watts began syndicating his television show(s) across the country, to try and compete with Vince McMahon's WWF and Jim Crockett's NWA/Mid-Atlantic promotions. It was a refreshing change of pace from the aforementioned companies. Sadly, partially due to the economic hardships of the oil industry, Watts would end up selling the UWF to Crockett in 1987.<br /><br />How?<br /><br />For people just discovering Mid-South/UWF wrestling (one of the few promotions whose tape library has not been bought by McMahon), the best way to watch the programs discussed here are by purchasing the DVDs straight from the source, <a href="http://universalwrestling.com/">Universal Wrestling Archives</a> , own by Bill Watts' former wife and run by the Watts family.<br /><br />We also recommend Jim Cornette's Midnight Express Scrapbook, for "you are there" information provided by the Louisville Lip himself.<br /><br />There's also a tip of the hat to the <a href="http://www.thehistoryofwwe.com/demolitionproject.htm">Demolition Project</a>, which is an inspiration for this endeavor, and, time and inclination willing, that project's co-creator Matt will be occasionally posting here as well, probably about his admiration for the work of Barry Darsow.<br /><br />Edit: Forgot to explain the title. Yes, Bill Watts being buried under the Russian (Soviet) flag was from the UWF era of 1986. But, it's my second-favorite angle of all time*, so there you go. We thought about using "The Last Stampede" or "Tuxedo Street Fight in a Cage," but neither measured up.<br /><br />* That would be the MX/MX TBS angle where Cornette bled all over his white jacket and Jim Ross gave us the epic call, "They don't even work here."Unknownnoreply@blogger.com