Mid-South Wrestling – December 29th, 1983

December 29, 1983

Bill Watts is your host.

This week , we have Mr. Wrestling II & Magnum TA vs. Butch Reed & Jim Neidhart in a mask vs. titles match and Krusher Darsow vs. Hacksaw Jim Duggan. Now, the TV show of these matches are shown in highlight form. However, when the UWF tape library was originally released they had volumes of house show matches that saw the two matches listed above shown in their entirety and they can be found on YouTube so the full length matches will be in my recap.

We see another training video with Mr. Wrestling II and Magnum TA. Mr. Wrestling says all of the training has lead to him teaching Magnum TA the power knee lift. We see Mr. Wrestling & Jim Ross holding a large potato bag as Magnum hits it with a few knee lifts until Mr. Wrestling gets pissed and shows him how its done.

Mid-South Tag Team Title No DQ Steel Cage Match: Mr. Wrestling II & Magnum TA vs. “Hacksaw” Butch Reed & Jim “The Anvil” Neidhart (c)

This match took place on Christmas night at the Municipal Auditorium in New Orleans. Mr. Wrestling II’s mask is also on the line. Carl Fergie is the special guest referee. Also, these house show matches do not have any commentary. Neidhart starts off the match by challenging Magnum to a test-of-strength. He brings Magnum to his knees but Magnum gets up and kicks Neidhart down as the crowd cheers. Reed tags in and rakes Magnum’s face but Magnum fights back and sends him up and over in the corner. Mr. Wrestling is in and takes Reed over with a side headlock then beats him down as Reed rolls outside and regroups with his partner. Reed heads back in and gets worked over by the challengers. The camera zooms in on Mr. Wrestling II standing on the apron then shows Magnum work a side headlock as Reed is doing everything he can to escape. Magnum decks Reed with a forearm smash after hitting an atomic drop then Neidhart tags back into the match. Neidhart and Magnum slug it out then Reed comes in for the save and gets beat down. Magnum runs over Reed a few times until Reed tosses him over the top rope and into the cage. Magnum is out on the floor and gets kicked in the head by Neidhart when he tries to stand himself up. Magnum finally gets up onto the apron where Neidhart attacks behind the ref’s back. Magnum gets thrown into the cage by both men and is again out on the floor. Mr. Wrestling checks on his protege and helps him to his feet. Reed brings Magnum back inside as the champs are in full control of the match. Magnum is busted open and trying to fight back but is again tossed outside. The champs then distract Mr. Wrestling II so they can attack Magnum on the floor. Magnum gets back inside then crawls underneath Neidhart’s legs and makes the tag as Mr. Wrestling II now goes mental on the champs. Mr. Wrestling keeps ramming Reed into the turnbuckle then sets up for the power knee lift but Neidhart trips him up. Reed chokes out Mr. Wrestling on the mat then hits a backbreaker for a nearfall. Neidhart tags in and beats down Mr. Wrestling II in the corner. Neidhart grabs a front facelock as the camera shows Magnum rallying his mentor as his face is covered in blood. Just a great visual and Magnum’s pissed off look was even better. The champs neutralize Mr. Wrestling in the corner. Mr. Wrestling tries to escape but Reed takes him down with a flying shoulder tackle. Reed then hits a pair of knee smashes and makes the cover but Neidhart yells at him stop. Reed hits a press slam then Neidhart waves off that pin attempt to as he wants back into the match. Reed tags his partner as Neidhart hits the Samoan Drop and covers but pulls up at two and tries to unmask Mr. Wrestling as Reed seems upset. Neidhart then holds up the mask and laughs but Mr. Wrestling was wearing a second mask underneath then crawls over to Magnum and makes the tag. Magnum heads in and runs wild then catches Neidhart with a belly-to-belly suplex and Mr. Wrestling prevents Reed from making the save as that gets the win and the crowd goes nuts (16:41) ****1/4. Magnum celebrates by picking up Mr. Wrestling for a hug as the new champs are ecstatic. Reed then flips out and leaves his partner behind.

Thoughts: All four men here were tremendous and this match had great heat. I also loved the story of Mr. Wrestling II outsmarting the greedy Neidhart. It also made the coach, Mr. Wrestling II, look even better in his role. Both Magnum & Mr. Wrestling II were awesome in this match and their celebration was a great moment. Also great was Reed being pissed off in defeat and walking out on Neidhart. On the TV show, Watts declared that this moment turned Magnum into a bonafide superstar. Do yourself a favor and check this match out on YouTube.

We are then shown interviews of both teams with Jack Curtis. Mr. Wrestling says that Magnum has lived up to all expectations and never gives up no matter what and kept on fighting. Mr. Wrestling then said he put on another mask as he felt his opponents would go to any extent to take it off. Magnum says his hard work paid off and calls this a great Christmas present. After that, we see Reed & Neidhart as Reed said they should have won and had Mr. Wrestling II beat but his partner was too worried about taking off Mr. Wrestling II’s mask. Reed then said he took Neidhart out of nowhere and made him something and that he is the boss who sacrificed his North American Title for him and has now sacrificed the Tag Team Titles. Reed then said they should call Neidhart “Ironhead” and that he does not know his place. Neidhart leaves as Reed points out his bad attitude then refers to himself as the boss. Reed was really good and he also did some product placement for Sunkist by having a can of that in front of him.

We go back to Reed as he keeps yelling until Neidhart comes back. Neidhart then attacks Reed from behind as the ex-champs are now done as a team. If you couldn’t tell from before that this team was done then this was to make sure of squash any doubts.

Krusher Darsow vs. “Hacksaw” Jim Duggan

Another match from the Christmas show in New Orleans. Duggan gets attacked while entering the ring but fights back and knocks Darsow outside. Darsow returns and they fight over a lockup before Darsow ducks his head and gets kicked in the face. Duggan knocks Darsow down again and hits a back drop before Darsow once again rolls outside. Darsow heads back in and Duggan catches him with a slam then drops an elbow. Duggan works a hammerlock on the mat for a bit. Duggan drops Darsow with a clothesline then goes back to working the arm on the mat. Duggan stays to work on the arm and slugs Darsow back down to maintain control. Darsow gets out then catches Duggan with in a bearhug. Darsow lands a few shots then uses another bearhug as he brings Duggan to his knees. Duggan raises his arm then gets up on his feet and starts biting his way out of the hold. Duggan drops Darsow with a back elbow smash but misses a knee drop as Darsow now kicks Duggan in the back. Darsow hits a slam then an elbow drop for two then applies a rear chinlock. The fans chant USA as Darsow hammers away. Darsow uses yet another bearhug then cuts off Duggan before he can escape. Darsow misses a charge in the corner as both men are down then they collide with each other and hit the mat again. They eventually get up and slug it out with Duggan winning that battle. Duggan fires away and yells at the ref before placing him on the top rope as he was using mounted punches on Darsow. The ref tries to stop Duggan again but he gets tossed outside then Nikolai Volkoff runs out and drags Duggan outside. Volkoff tries to hit Duggan with a foreign object but it gets blocked Duggan starts beating on Volkoff but Darsow makes the save from behind then nails Duggan with the object and crawls back inside. The ref also heads back in and Duggan ends up being counted out (17:42) **.

Thoughts: Slow-paced and Darsow was fairly useless and seemed blown up a few minutes in but it had a ton of heat and Duggan did a pretty good job keeping the crowd invested. The finish made sense as they needed more heat on the Russians to continue this heavily pushed feud.

Watts tells us that Duggan was fined $500 for throwing the referee out of the ring and that regardless of what happens, rules need to be enforced.

We get a video package on Jim Cornette and the Midnight Express. Watts says they are a team that Mr. Wrestling II & Magnum TA will have to worry about. It features clips from their Mid-South TV matches.

Now, we get another video package on Terry Taylor as Watts refers to him as the new kid in town. This is to hype up his debut next week. With the second straight week of a Taylor video package its clear he will be pushed strong right out of the gate.

Next, we get clips from a handicap elimination match from Oklahoma City, OK. We get a video package on Oklahoma first then see the match, which features Duggan & Steve Williams vs. Kamala, Missing Link, and Skandor Akbar. Jim Ross narrates the highlights. Duggan eliminates Link first then Kamala ends up disqualified for jumping off of the top rope. The fact they put over Duggan & Dr. Death teaming together combined with Watts telling us how much Dr. Death dislikes the Russians you can put it together that they will be teaming up in the near future.

Watts closes the show by warning us about the threat of Russia and Cornette spending his mother’s money to get what he wants. Watts then says Darsow is selfish and using Russia for his own personal gain.

Next week, comedian Jerry Clower will be here. Also, Kerry Von Erich and Terry Taylor.

Final Thoughts: The show more or less acted as a preview about what to expect in 1984. The highlights of the matches were fun and the use of video packages were heavily featured. Next week we will have a more traditional show with the holidays now over. And like I said, make sure to check out that tag match.