Andrew Lutzke
More from the Death Valley Driver message board’s Mid-South compilation!
Terry Taylor vs “Exotic” Adrian Street (12/7/1984)
Street prances around the ring as flamingly as possible. He then makes kissing motions toward the ref, prances some more and taps the ref on the butt. He and Taylor struggle for a wristlock when things finally formally begin. Street hops in circles before rolling out of Taylor’s grip.
The Exotic one displays his mean streak as he cranks Taylor in a hammerlock while utilizing a crossface. Street continues his control by focusing on Taylor’s arm. Meanwhile the announcer is plugging the post-Christmas house show with Kamala, Kerry Von Erich and Billy Jack Haynes coming in to take part in a two-ring battle royal. Sounds good to me!
Street continues wearing away at Taylor using nerve holds and gouging his fingers into Taylor’s face. Miss Linda runs a little interference and Street is able to keep control with a chinlock. Taylor escapes and finally fires up. He unloads with punches and fist drops. Taylor finishes things at about the 12-minute mark with his patented flying forearm. The meat of the match was some of the most vicious looking rest holds you’ll ever see. You can judge that as smart wrestling, or dull workrate depending on your feelings on “selling” and realism.
North American champion Brad Armstrong vs. Ted Dibiase (1/16/1985)
The determined challenger is all over Armstrong to start, with elbows and punches wounding the champ. Armstrong repels Dibiase and Teddy takes a brief time out on the floor. Armstrong continues his control back in the ring, using a side headlock to keep his opponent at bay. Dibiase attempts to use Armstrong’s tights to score a cradle, but the ref catches him in the act.
Dibiase uses a back suplex to down Armstrong. Dibiase then clamps on a side headlock for a bit before Armstrong drives him into the turnbuckles. Things break down into a slugfest which ends poorly for Dibiase. Dibiase is dazed with a kneelift and trapped in a sleeper. Dibiase dives himself into the ropes, driving the champ’s throat into the ropes. Dibiase follows up on his sudden advantage by slamming Armstrong’s knee into the ringpost. A figure-four puts Brad in a bad way and he submits at about the 9-minute mark. Armstrong was solid yet vanilla as usual. I liked seeing the figure-four being treated as a real threat of a move, especially after Brad’s leg was attacked.
Kevin Von Erich vs. “Gentleman” Chris Adams (1/18/1985)
This is a WCCW feud that is being dragged over to Mid-South. The TV for each promotion cross pollinated in certain areas. Von Erich throws his realistic strikes, probably stiffer than anyone would really care to know. They head to the floor where Adams is cracked into the edge of the mat. Adams produces a chair and the men fight for it back in the ring. Adams wins the tug of war, but Von Erich kicks it in his face before Adams can use it. The claw is locked on and I thought this thing might be over fast but Adams crawls to safety on the cement floor.
Adams goads Von Erich into chasing him and Kevin walks right into a superkick. Von Erich is battered with punches, but misses a charge and falls to the floor.
Adams and Von Erich tussle in the ring for a bit before Adams again sneaks out to the floor. Kevin protests the cowardly strategy to the ref, and ends up eating a superkick to the back of his head, earning Adams the surprise win at the 9-minute mark. They were building to an Adams vs. Kerry Von Erich match at the Superdome, so Kevin took one for the team here to build to bigger and better rematches. A good hate filled fight here though.
The Rock and Roll Express and Jose Lothario vs. Chavo and Hector Guerrero and Buddy Landel (1/18/1985)
Hector stalls a bit, asking for a handshake and avoiding contact. Morton controls Hector by working on his arm, with Lothario tagging and abusing Hector’s wrist, then trapping him in a headscissors. Chavo saves his brother by executing a run in.
The babyfaces use their fists to rattle all 3 heels and a regroup is in order. Gibson ends up trying his luck, but he ends up in the wrong corner and finds himself at a 3 on 1 disadvantage. Gibson manages to roll himself out of the corner and tags in Morton. Ricky falls into a bad place almost right away as the heels take turns laying a beatdown to the spunky young babyface.
The heels attempt to do some major damage to Morton on the cement floor, but Lothario rushes over with a chair to save his friend. The beating continues back in the ring until Landel misses a charge and crashes into the turnbuckle. This allows Morton to tag in Gibson, but things break down into a 6-way brawl right away.
The Express deliver a double dropkick to Landel, as Lothario keeps the Guerreros at bay. This gives Gibson the chance to score the pin at about the 12-minute mark. Morton did his role well, but the Guerreros cheating and stooging was so much fun in the last multi man match I reviewed for this series that I was hoping for more of the same from them here.
The Rock and Roll Express vs. Dennis Condrey and Bobby Eaton (1/21/1985)
Eaton and Morton spend the first several minutes feeling one another out. Eaton is then hip tossed to the mat. He and Condrey complain that there was a tights pulling involved. The Rock and Rollers make quick tags to keep the heels troubled and confused.
Condrey makes his way in via tag but he has no more luck than Eaton did. All 4 men start to brawl. The Midnights are flung towards one another and Eaton ends up backdropped by his partner.
The heels are driven to the floor, but after regrouping they quickly dump Morton to the cement and post his face into the steel. Morton spends the next several minutes finding out how many compromising positions the heel tandem can bend him in before his body gives out. The Midnights cheat (as they should), drawing Gibson into the fray. While the ref is busy with him, the heels double up on Morton, with Cornette aiding where he can.
Morton gets a few moments to shine and fight, but he largely gets trapped in the wrong corner for a nearly inhuman amount of suffering. Gibson is finally tagged in, but the fans glee ends fast as the ref takes a bump. It ends up not mattering as Gibson climbs to the top rope and splashes Condrey, who had just suplexed Morton. That aerial attack earns the win for the Rock and Roll Express after 16 minutes of action.
I believe the finish may have been botched, as Gibson started to climb the ropes, stopped, then Condrey hit the suplex and laid on his back for an awkward few seconds before Gibson could hit the splash. The timing was off.The match was as solid as you’d expect from these four men. Morton got his butt kicked, the heels cheated and good won at the end.
More to come soon!
