The SmarK Rant for Memphis Wrestling – 11.11.78

The SmarK Rant for Memphis Wrestling – 11.11.78

Once again, THANK YOU to KrisPLettuce for the amazing Google Drive of awesomeness. Starting with these shows from as early as he’s got. Look him up on Twitter at @KrisPLettuce and for $12 you get access to EVERYTHING. ALL OF THE STUFF. Or just send to USWATexas@gmail.com via Paypal. Are you a wrestling nerd? You will not regret it. Plus then you can follow along with all the crazy reviewing tangents we’re going to be departing onto.

Taped from Memphis, TN

Your hosts are Dave Brown & Lance Russell

Wayne Ferris & Jimmy Valiant v. Danny Davis & Sammy Holt

Jimmy is more of the blond Handsome Jimmy gimmick rather than the later Boogie Woogie Man at this point. Jimmy beats on Danny Davis (the future Nightmare) and Ferris comes in and slams him for one, and Valiant gets his own slam and knees him on the throat, as babyfaces do. Ferris, the young blond-haired rookie sensation, misses an elbow, and the jobbers briefly work him over before Sammy misses a backdrop attempt and Valiant puts him away with the elbowdrop at 3:14. I’ve heard young Ferris might be related to Jerry Lawler somehow. Also yes, in 1978 we have a team of the future Boogie Woogie Man and Honky Tonk Man and we didn’t even realize what we almost had.

Jimmy Valiant stops by the desk and there’s rumors he’s getting into the music business now and soon he’s going to be doing some BOOGIE WOOGIE. Also he teamed up with Bob Seger for a sold out concert in Madison Square Garden, and we get a clip, although he warns the ladies to “be cool and don’t jump out of them pantyhose”. And indeed he comes out during some kind of concert and sings a song about how Handsome Jimmy is a rock n roller, and a little funky too. Not gonna lie, I thought he was singing “a little funky Jew” at first and I was like “Man the 70s were a different time”. I’m just gonna say, not the worst “wrestler singing about themselves” song I’ve ever heard. So Jerry Lawler & Bill Dundee come out to congratulate Jimmy on his new song and then move onto the next topic: Woman wrestler Heather Feather wants to wrestle men, so Lawler gave her a match with the wrestling bear and she lasted three minutes as promised. So now she can wrestle a man and they just need someone to sign the petition that they can take to the matchmakers and make it happen. Lance: “Good to see you two are down with the women’s lib.”

The Bounty Hunters comes out for their match, and manager Chuck Malone decides to be the first one to sign the petition, but then Lawler comes out and reveals that WHOOPS, he thought he left a petition, but it was actually a contract for a match with Heather Feather. This was played TREMENDOUSLY well and the raucous crowd reaction made it all the better.

The Bounty Hunters v. Jack Welch & Robert Gibson

Not familiar with the Bounty Hunters but of course Robert Gibson went on to much bigger fame some years later. The tape kind of loses tracking and we seem to be clipped ahead to Welch getting double-teamed by the Hunters, who are David and Jerry Novak, and look like every other generic 70s biker gimmick team. A quick check reveals that Gibson was the only one in the match who had any kind of career after this. The Hunters toss Welch to the floor and take the ref, allowing manager Chuck Malone to piledrive Welch on the concrete and it’s a countout at 3:01. The beatdown is on and Lawler & Dundee make the save and tease a brawl before chasing the heels away. Like, compare this stuff to the garbage that WWF was shoveling out on their TV in 1978 and it’s mind-blowing. They’ve got a hot crowd and big angles and crazy stuff happening.

Chuck Malone joins us again and he’s all perturbed about being forced to wrestle Heather Feather, so Lance tells him that he can always break the contract and get the heck out of the territory and no one will miss him. Oh my god I love Lance Russell. So Chuck decides he’s going wrestle “that gorilla” and when he leaves her all bloodied up and beaten, it’s Lance’s fault.

Jerry Lawler & Bill Dundee join Lance again, discussing their impending rematch with the Bounty Hunters after winning the Southern tag team titles at the Mid-South Coliseum this past Monday. So then Jimmy Valiant stops by and he wants a six-man tag with them as partners, but that’s gonna work for Lawler because they need to defend their belts. Valiant: “I think there’s some jealousy here, short man”. So Dundee gets annoyed and stomps around while Valiant claims to be the hottest thing to hit Mempho since Coca-Cola, and obviously Lawler and Dundee are jealous since Jimmy has arrived. Lawler: “You’re not in the main event, we’re the main event. You’re in a preliminary match, where the promoters put preliminary wrestlers”. Valiant accuses Lawler of more jealousy, jealous of his music career and his “old ladies”. So Lawler says he’s not jealous of a “big [homesexual]-looking weirdo with queer earrings” and things get even more heated as Lawler then accuses him of screwing up his young cousin Ferris’s mind and bleaching his hair blond so that he also looks like a homosexual of some kind. I’m assuming if it was 2023 he would also use the phrase “grooming” but it was very much implied here. And then it turns into a pull-apart brawl and everyone gets hauled off while Lance tries to calm the situation. Well the 70s were definitely a different time but HOLY COW what a segment this was!

Don Fargo & Bill Dromo v. Terry Sawyer & Tommy Gilbert

Dromo works a facelock on Gilbert, father of Eddie and Doug. We take a break and return with Dromo and Fargo slowly working on Gilbert, as this one is definitely more akin to the WWF-style of kicking and punching at the time. Meanwhile the match is more of a backdrop for Jerry Jarrett joining Dave Brown at the desk and announcing that Lawler and Dundee have been fined and reprimanded for their language, which is actually kind of nice to hear because Lawler would probably be facing hate speech charges if it aired today. So the heels continue double-teaming Gilbert, and Terry Sawyer decides not to tag into the match and let his partner handle things himself. So Tommy makes his own comeback and then goes over and pops his partner in the mouth as well, but Sawyer turns on him for good and Dromo drops an elbow for the pin at 7:47. And then Sawyer joins up with the heels’ manager at ringside, setting up a new feud.

Koko Ware v. Steve Brodie

Koko you know of course, and he apparently never ages because he looks exactly the same in his rookie year of 1978 as he did in 1988. They trade hammerlock attempts and Brodie takes him down with a toehold and they’re at a stalemate. Koko with a headlock and we’re clipped a bit to Koko hitting three dropkicks for the pin at 3:00.

Jerry Lawler joins us again and he apologizes for his previous words, but he doesn’t apologize to Valiant because he’s a jerk.

Jerry Lawler & Bill Dundee v. Pat & Mike Kelly

The match only goes a minute and the bell rings for the end of the show. The Kelly Twins unfortunately went onto their greatest fame when they were in the same car accident that killed Adrian Adonis. Pat died in the accident and Mike, the driver, barely survived and never wrestled again.

Anyway, this was AWESOME. Like, this could have been dropped into a television schedule 10 years later and fit right in. HOOK IT TO MY VEINS.