One Year in Memphis – March 15, 1986

Reviews, Shows, TV Shows

RESULTS FROM SUNDAY NIGHT’S SHOW AT THE MID-SOUTH COLISEUM (courtesy of www.memphiswrestlinghistory.com)

Jerry Lawler/Dutch Mantell over Bill Dundee/Buddy Landel by ref stoppage

Fantastics over MOD Squad by DQ

Abdul Gadaffi over Billy Travis

Jos Leduc over Thunderbolt Hamilton

Dirty Rhodes over Tony Falk

Frank Morrell over Pat Rose

The show opened with Lance Russell and Dave Brown welcoming us yet again. Brown ran down the card – letting us know that Paul Diamond and Michael Lee would be debuting today. Also we’d see Dutch Mantell, Bill Dundee and Buddy Landel tagging, the MOD Squad , and the Fantastics. Russell added that Jos LeDuc would have a few words and they’d run a tape of the International heavyweight match.

After a commercial break, we had Diamond and Lee set to face Benny Traylor and the Masked Patriot. Diamond took quick advantage and soon had Traylor on the ropes. He tagged Lee in, who took Traylor down with a fireman’s carry and worked into an armbar.

Lee continued working the arm until the Patriot tagged in. The Patriot didn’t fare any better than his partner as he soon found himself in an armbar. Lee tagged Diamond back in, and a body slam followed by a leg drop got a two count. A Russian legsweep wound up getting Diamond the win at around 2:00.

Russell then introduced the Rick Casey-Abdullah Gadaffi International Heavyweight title match and we joined the match in progress. Gadaffi overpowered Casey and sent him to the mat. A Casey dropkick sent Gadaffi not just to the mat, but to the floor.

We clipped to see Gadaffi hammering on Casey, only for Casey to get the advantage with a backdrop.

After another clip, Casey took Gadaffi down and locked in an armbar. Unfortunately for Casey, Gadaffi caught Casey in a bear hug and dropped him over the top rope. Gadaffi then dropped a second rope elbow that had Casey fighting for his life.

Casey was finally able to reverse a slam on Gadaffi and then missed the Libyan’s elbow drops. As Gadaffi begged off, Casey started throwing right hands before slamming him into the turnbuckles. Casey was now in firm control of the match. Casey was picking Gadaffi up only for Gadaffi to rake his eyes and then whip him into the ropes, causing Casey to get caught head-first between the ropes.

Gadaffi brought him back in, dropped a couple of elbows, and covered for the win and the championship.

We headed back to the studio where Russell informed us that Casey’s neck had been damaged and would be out of action for some time. He then introduced an interview from Billy Travis and Frank Morrell to discuss Travis‘s upcoming International Heavyweight title match.

Morrell discussed how working with Travis had helped improve both of their win-loss records, and then talked about how Travis had his shot at the International Heavyweight belt. Morrell said that Gadaffi had only gotten lucky, and he knew that although Billy couldn’t yet defeat a Jerry Lawler or a Bill Dundee, he knew that Billy could defeat Gadaffi.

Billy took the microphone and said that he knew that he could be Gadaffi, because his time had arrived.

We came back from a commercial to see Lance Russell backstage to talk about Wednesday night’s show. He introduced the Fantastics to talk about their match with the MOD Squad.

Fulton reaffirmed that the Fantastics would not be losing the belts Wednesday night and they were even more fired up because Costello had been knocking the fans.

Mantell then joined Russell to talk about his match. He reminded the fans of what Landel and Dundee had done to Jerry and Jeff Jarrett the week before and then promised that he and Lawler would be sending Landel and Dundee to the hospital. He added that they wouldn’t have a wrestling match – they’d have a fight.

After another break we had Keith Erich squaring off against Dutch Mantell. Mantell quickly took Erich down with an arm drag and began dominating Erich. Erich didn’t even get one offensive move in before Mantell took him down with an armbar that earned a couple of two counts. Mantell slammed him and got another two count.

Mantell whipped Erich into the ropes and caught him with a clothesline before slamming him down and dropping an elbow for the win at 2:06.

Russell then sent us to an interview with Jerry Lawler. Lawler said that he’d wished that he’d been able to be there that morning, but he had prior bookings that kept him away. Lawler then spoke directly to Dundee and Landel. Lawler pointed out the sellout crowd at the Mid-South for the match and said that he wasn’t through with them yet.

Lawler again discussed how horrible their actions had been in attacking Jeff Jarrett the week before as video aired of the assault. He then brought up their attack on Jerry Jarrett. He brought up how they’d humiliated Jerry by keeping him from helping his son.

Lawler told Landel and Dundee that Jerry Jarrett had friends, and he was one of them. Lawler then promised to take Dundee apart, and added that he hadn’t finished with Dundee the week prior. Lawler closed by promising that he’d run Dundee out for good, and added that Dundee hadn’t seen anything yet.

We came back to get the full rundown on the card from Lance Russell.

After that quick rundown, we headed back to the studio to see Dundee and Landel preparing to take on Jim Jameson and David Haskins.

Dundee started against Jameson and immediately started throwing fists that sent Jameson to the mat. Dundee banged Jameson’s head off Landel’s knee and tagged the Nature Boy in. Landel continued dominating and when Jameson tagged Haskins in Landel continued to keep his momentum as he quickly tagged Dundee back in. Dundee savaged Haskins by using choke holds and raking his face. Landel came in and put Haskins down with a dropkick, then brought Dundee back in to continue the beat down.

Landel and Dundee kept making quick tags and kept Haskins away from his corner until they were ready, then they permitted Jameson to come back in and simply resumed beating him down as well.

Dundee finally whipped Jameson across the ring and power slammed him before bringing Landel back in. Landel locked Jameson (who now had a bloody lip) in a headlock and trash talked Lawler. Dundee finally ended the punishment by placing one foot on the unconscious Jameson’s chest.

Dundee and Landel pitched both opponents before dragging Jameson over to the commentary table and showing him off to the irate Russell. Dundee and Landel kept showing off as they started back to the back and referee Jerry Calhoun helped Jameson to his feet. Dundee dropped Jameson with another punch and we headed to commercial.

We came back to see Pat Rose and Tony Falk preparing to square off against the Fantastics. Russell pointed out that Tony Falk had told him that today would be the day that he won his first match as Rogers and Rose started the match.

Rose gained a momentary advantage before Rogers put him down on the mat. Rose quickly tagged Falk in and that proved to be a bad move as the Fantastics tagged Fulton back in and they began taking Falk apart with no difficulty.

Rogers and Fulton kept Falk in their corner and kept making quick tags. Finally a dropkick got Falk close enough to tag Rose back in. Rose cinched up Rogers in a headlock that earned him a one count. Rose shoulder blocked Rogers down twice but the third time Rogers caught him with a hiptoss and Rose tagged out.

Fulton tagged in and got Falk in an arm wringer, then put him down with a shoulder block and a hiptoss. Another tag saw Fulton put Falk down with a clothesline and then Rogers pin him after a second rope elbow drop at 3:21.

We then went to a new video for the Jerry Lawler videotape – this time with Lawler himself talking about it (and specifically pointing out the infamous Tupelo concession stand brawl as well as his battles with Andy Kaufman and Terry Funk). Lawler also added that his match against Eddie Gilbert that had run Jimmy Hart out of the territory was included.

We came back to the arena to hear Russell and Brown discussing the actions of Bill Dundee and Buddy Landel once more before we headed to commercial.

After the commercials, Lance Russell was once more backstage to talk about Wednesday night’s show. Russell pointed out that he refused to interview Landel and Dundee.

We went to a tape where Landel and Dundee were talking about Lawler’s actions as well as being upset that Russell refused to interview him. Dundee brought up that Lawler had hit him with something the week before that had damaged his eye. Dundee promised to take out Lawler and then take over the company.

Landel added that he didn’t care what they had to do – whether it be attacking Jerry Jarrett’s kid, wife, or mother-in-law – they were going to own the company.

We came back to the studio to see the MOD Squad coming out for the main event where they were tagging against Thunderbolt Hamilton and David Johnson.

Thunderbolt started against Spike. Thunderbolt got off to a hot start as he managed to put both MOD Squad members with dropkicks before locking Spike in an armbar. For his part, Costello headed to commentary to complain.

Thunderbolt continued to hold an advantage on Spike, keeping the big man from overpowering him.

Hamilton tagged in Johnson and Spike seized the opportunity to start hammering him down. Basher tagged in and choked Johnson with the top rope before bringing Spike back in as Costello headed back to commentary to run down Hamilton and Johnson.

Johnson tried to fight back, but Spike and Basher kept him cut off in their corner. When Johnson started for a tag, Basher threw a shot at Thunderbolt and then got Johnson back to their corner, where he tagged Spike back in.

Spike sent Johnson across the ring and caught him with a clothesline, then bounced Johnson’s head off Basher’s knee. Basher put Johnson down then they tagged and Basher dropped Spike onto Johnson, which earned a two count before Spike pulled him up.

Finally Basher tagged and picked Johnson up before Spike came off the second rope with a clothesline for the win.

We came back to see a video of Jos LeDuc. Once again, LeDuc stood in the center of the ring with his hands locked. Each arm had five men fighting to pull his hands apart. At the end of fifteen seconds, LeDuc kept his hands locked against the power of ten men. We then replayed the video of LeDuc from the previous week to close out the show.

FULL CARD FOR WEDNESDAY NIGHT’S SHOW AT THE EVANSVILLE COLISEUM

Dutch Mantell/Jerry Lawler vs. Bill Dundee/Buddy Landel

Southern Tag Team titles
Fantastics © vs. the MOD Squad

International Heavyweight title
Abdul Gadaffi © vs. Billy Travis

Jos LeDuc vs. Paul Diamond

Pat Rose vs. Frank Morrell