Mid-South Wrestling – January 28th, 1982

January 28, 1982

Your hosts are Boyd Pierce & Bill Watts

Tonight, Junkyard Dog & Mike George will face off against Paul Orndorff & Bob Orton Jr. Plus, Ted DiBiase vs. Bob Roop and Mr. Olympia defending the Mississippi Heavyweight Title against Ed Wiskowski.

Tom Renesto vs. Dick Murdoch

Murdoch works the arm as Watts hypes the rest of tonight’s show. Murdoch then busts out a flying headscissors and a dropkick before getting the win with a brainbuster (2:52).

Thoughts: I forgot how agile Murdoch was for his size. He looked really good here. Most of this was Watts hyping the show as Murdoch did not have much going on yet.

Skandor Akbar tells us how people like the Junkyard Dog and Ted DiBiase are rotten and a disgrace while saying he is upset over the fact the Iron Sheik was called back to Iran by the Ayatollah himself. This is supposed to build intrigue as to what happened with Sheik but so far its not catching on.

Wild Samoans w/ Ernie Ladd vs. Frank Monte & Terry Daniels

The Samoans immediately attack their opponents to start. They dump Monte outside and beat on Daniels as Sika puts him away with a diving headbutt after Afa hit a Samoan Drop (1:20).

Thoughts: Quick match to keep the Samoans looking like a formidable threat. This was a complete squash.

Carlos Zapata vs. Brian Blair

Blair gets the best of Zapata to start as he shows off his agility and amateur wrestling background. He works a front facelock for a bit but Zapata breaks the hold then rakes the back and chokes Blair on the top rope. Blair fights back and hits a suplex before putting Zapata away with a cradle from the abdominal stretch position (3:34).

Thoughts: Boring match as the crowd still does not care about Blair.

Paul Orndorff & Bob Orton vs. Junkyard Dog & Mike George

These teams immediately start brawling as JYD & George clear the ring. The match settles down as JYD and Orndroff are in the ring. Orndorff fires away in the corner but JYD reverses an Irish whip then hits Orndorff with a jumping headbutt as Orndorff rolls outside. Orton tags as JYD headbutts him before making the tag. George sends Orton into the corner then hammers away. He uses a double noggin-knocker before tagging JYD, who beats on Orton. JYD ducks his head and Orton kicks him in the face then makes the tag as Orndorff starts hammering away. JYD fights back with headbutts then tags out as Orndorff and George slug it out. George wins that but also ducks his head and kicked in the face as a result. The heels stay in control on George as they end up getting a few nearfalls. George fights back and makes the tag as JYD runs wild. The match breaks down until JYD and George collide. JYD gets hit with a double slam then Orton drives a knee into George’s face. Orndorff holds up JYD as Orton comes off of the top but JYD moves out of the way then manages to catch Orton with a powerslam for the win (6:10) **1/2.

Thoughts: Fun match. The ending put JYD over strong but all four guys came out of this looking good.

Mississippi Heavyweight Championship Match:Ed Wiskowski vs. Mr. Olympia (c)

Olympia takes control to start as Watts talks about his left leg, which is completely bruised from the knee down. He works a side headlock as Watts puts over the tag match we just saw before doing the same to Mr. Olympia. Wiskowski sends Olympia into the corner with a back suplex as he continues to work over the back of Mr. Olympia. Olympia breaks up an abdominal stretch with a hip toss. He then rolls through a crossbody for a two count. He follows with a dropkick but misses a second attempt as Wiskowski puts on a Boston Crab. Olympia escapes from a backbreaker then shortly after that puts on a sleeper and gets the win (5:16) *.

Thoughts: Wiskowski was a slug and these two struggled working together, especially near the end. The crowd was silent for this match too.

We see the ending of the Orndorff vs. DiBiase North American Title match from the 1/7/82 show, where the stipulations was that the title could change hands by disqualification. Orndorff won the match after a run-in by Bob Roop when the referee was down but Orndorff then hit DiBiase with the belt as the referee ended up reversing the decision as Orndorff lost by disqualification as DiBiase ended up getting back the title. Seemed like a wild match.

Before the Roop vs. DiBiase match, Orndorff runs out and accuses the referees and matchmakers of favoring DiBiase and that he was just sanctioned by Mid-South to referee the match, telling the other referee to go back and listen on the phone. DiBiase tells Orndorff he does not believe him and refuses to wrestle. DiBiase tries to leave as Orndorff pulls him back then they start brawling. Roop joins as its 2 vs. 1 on DiBiase until Murdoch runs out. Roop & Orndorff beat on Murdoch until DiBiase comes to it and makes the save as the heels runaway. The match never ends up taking place. I really liked this segment, with Orndorff doing everything he can to mess with DiBiase then when it fails he uses a sneak attack.

Billy Ash vs. Rick Ferrara

Watts lets us know that he was told no one was actually on the phone and that Orndorff was never officially sanctioned to be a referee. Ferrara and Ash go back-and-forth as Watts puts over the Orndorff vs. DiBiase feud before saying Grizzly Smith has made JYD & Mike George vs. Wild Samoans for the Mid-South Tag Team Titles will take place next week. Ferrara works a side headlock as Pierce hypes next week’s show as we are out of time (2:04).

Thoughts: A boring standby match only used to put over the Orndorff/DiBiase feud and to hype next week’s show.

Final Thoughts: The show was decent this week. The DiBiase/Orndorff stuff was great and the tag match with JYD was a lot of fun. The rest of the show was forgettable but what was good really stood out.

Sunday: WWF Superstars of Wrestling 10/22/88

Monday: WWF Wrestling Challenge 10/23/88

Tuesday: WWF Superstars of Wrestling 10/29/88

Wednesday: EVOLVE 64 7/16/16

Thursday: Shoot Interview with Eddie Gilbert

Friday: WWF Saturday Night’s Main Event 10/29/88

Saturday: Mid-South Wrestling 2/4/82