I recently sat down to watch the December 12th 1981 edition of Mid-South Pro Wrestling, the earliest episode available on the WWE Network. Ernie Ladd, arguably one of the greatest BAME wrestlers of all time, was on guest commentary for the show, bringing a good dose of personality to the colour commentator role.
The opening match was between The Monk and Bryan Blair. This was by far the worst match of the night. Saturated with chain wrestling, the match started and ended slowly. It was a masterclass in how not to open a show. The match was further hindered by The Monk’s sluggishness. He routinely hit the ropes at walking pace, removing any ounce of believability from the bout. Bryan Blair eventually got a pinfall victory, in what was a short and incredibly boring match. Not a great way to start the show.
The following contest was much more impressive, pitting King Cobra against Tom Renesto Jnr. The pick-up in pace compared to the previous match was immediately noticeable. King Cobra took control early on in the bout, and really looked both talented and more than capable. Renesto Jnr managed to get some offense of his own in throughout the match, but it was few and far between and it was clear that King Cobra was on course for victory, which eventually came courtesy of a jumping headbutt to Renesto Jnr. All in all, this match was much better, despite the arguably weak finish, and washed away the bad taste that was left in my mouth after the previous bout.
Next up was ‘The Polish Prince’ Ed Wiskowski against Jim Garvin. The start of the bout was very centred around Wiskowski having future Fabulous Freebird, Garvin, in a headlock. Garvin eventually escaped, reversing it into a hammerlock. He continued to work Wiskowski’s left arm for the rest of the match, pummelling it with various kicks and wrenches. Overall, the match was very 50/50, between two equally matched opponents. The contest ended with the dodgiest looking slam I have ever seen, with Wiskowski seemingly lifting Garvin up for a bodyslam, changing his mind halfway through the move, and then proceeding to drop Garvin chest first onto his knee. The Polish Prince got the pinfall following this. The bout was simply ok, in my opinion. It featured a lot of strikes and submission holds but managed to retain some semblance of entertainment.
A tag contest followed, with the team of Jerry Novak and Aaron Holt facing much-loved hero of Mid-South, Junkyard Dog, and Mike George. George and Novak started for their respective teams, each launching aggressive looking blows to their opponent’s upper body and head. It didn’t take long for all four men to join in, however, as Holt and JYD stormed the ring to attack one another. JYD and George eventually isolate Holt, hitting him with a double team manoeuvre, followed up by a powerslam courtesy of JYD to end the match. This match was over pretty much as soon as it began and was the source of a lot of confusion for me. I’m not sure if I missed a tag, but it looked like neither JYD or Holt were the legal man for their teams at the time of the pinfall, but nonetheless, the bell had been rung.
A super-speedy squash match came after, pitting perennial heel, The Iron Sheik, against Buddy Ryan. Sheik was a classic dominant heel in this contest, a role hit fits perfectly. He battered Ryan around the ring and went for two pinfalls, only to break both them up himself to allow himself to continue punishing Ryan. Sheik hit Ryan with a nasty looking German Suplex to get the pin. There really isn’t a lot to say about this one. It was there to simply get heat for Sheik and make him look as tough as possible, which it was successful in doing.
Another tag match was next, this time a mixed tag pitting Rick Ferrara and midget wrestler, Diamond Lil against Welshman and British Wresting legend, Tony Charles and midget wrestler, Barbie Doll. Wow this was an uncomfortable one to watch. It just felt like Mid-South lost track of what they were doing and decided that they were going to regress into some sort of carnival wrestling show. The two females put on a good match, which was unfortunately damaged by the crowd not taking the bout seriously, a real shame in my opinion. The two men eventually got in the ring. Both Charles and Ferrara looked decent, but it was clear before they even got into the ring that they were not the focus of this contest. Eventually, the two female were back in the ring for the finish, with Barbie Doll getting the pin to win it for herself and Charles. Saying that it was an awkward match to sit through would be a big understatement. The roars of laughter when the two women were in the ring was really a shame as they both held their own very well. Mid-South discredited themselves in this match, with a blatant attempt to make it into some sort of P.T. Barnum-era freak show.
Then it was the main event, with Ted DiBiase squaring up against Paul Orndorff. It felt very strange seeing DiBiase prior to his ‘Million Dollar Man’ gimmick, and working as a face, but he did a good job of it and had me rooting for him pretty much from the get-go. The bout was an example of how every wrestling match should look to a crowd. It was aggressive and looked legitimate. Both men showed their talent and managed to have a very mixed match in terms of offense, without making it look structured or worked. The finish saw DiBiase lock Orndorff in a good Figure Four Leglock, only for Orndorff to reverse the hold. DiBiase showed a lot of spirit and refused to tap out, with the clock eventually running down and the match ending in a draw. Despite the finish making both competitors, particularly DiBiase, look strong as anything, it was still poor in my opinion. I finished the show feeling like I had been cheated, not in a way that makes me want to watch the next episode, but in a way that left me feeling disappointed. The poor finish was a negative, but the match itself had a lot of upside, with it looking like a real fight, it was how wrestling should still be.
Overall, I enjoyed the show, and will be reviewing more of Mid-South in the future. But it was far from perfect. The opening match was comically bad and frankly embarrassing to watch, the mixed tag match left me feeling uncomfortable and queasy, and finish to the main event was disappointing. There were a lot of good parts and a lot of bad parts, and for that reason, I can only give it a 6.5 out of 10.
British Wrestling Tribune 