RESULTS FROM SUNDAY NIGHT’S SHOW AT THE MID-SOUTH COLISEUM (courtesy of www.memphiswrestlinghistory.com)
MOD Squad over Dutch Mantell/Jerry Lawler
Bill Dundee over Billy Travis
Jos LeDuc over Buddy Landel by DQ
Paul Diamond over Rip Rogers
Jeff Jarrett/Pat Tanaka over Tony Falk/Pat Rose
Frank Morrell over Abdul Gadaffi
Memphis Vice over David Haskins/Tojo Yamamoto
Lance Russell and Dave Brown welcomed us to the show. Brown announced that today we’d be seeing the MOD Squad defending the tag team titles and Billy Travis would defend the international title. Russell mentioned that Paul Diamond and Pat Tanaka would be challenging for the tag team belts while Rip Rogers would have a shot at Travis’s title. Russell also said that Lawler had lost the Southern Heavyweight title to Bill Dundee.
After a quick commercial we came back to see Russell and Brown rerunning the footage from last week where Dutch Mantell had “acquired†four hundred and forty-five dollars of JD Costello’s money. After that ran, we saw the footage of the MOD Squad and JD Costello attacking Mantell during the main event.
We then came back to Russell at the interview set, where he again mentioned Lawler’s loss of the title. He mentioned that referee Jesse Allen had been suspended due to controversy during the match, then he called JD Costello out to join him.
Costello reminded Russell that he’d asked him not to re-run the footage of his fight with Mantell. Costello then threw out his original plans for the Dynasty, and then added that he was trying to sign Buddy Landel and Bill Dundee. Costello brought up then that he’d aided Dundee and Landel by throwing fire at Jos LeDuc to save Landel and Dundee. He then said that he’d offered them three year deals with the Dynasty, only for Landel and Dundee to throw him out of their dressing room.
Costello’s next move was to announce that he planned to sign Jerry Lawler to the Dynasty. Costello brought up Lawler’s history with managers Jimmy Hart and Sam Bass, and announced that he would be offering Lawler a deal with the Dynasty that day. Costello opened his briefcase and showed $100,000 in cash that he planned to use as a signing bonus for Lawler. Costello called Lawler out to talk with him.
Lawler came out and headed to the interview set. Lawler got Costello to show him the money again. After Lawler inspected the cash, Costello told Lawler that he needed a manager to help him regain the title.
Lawler’s response was that he knew that Costello was working with Dundee. Lawler continued by saying that he knew that Costello would work to keep him far away from Dundee and the title. The King said that the money didn’t impress him and turned Costello down.
Lawler then told Costello that while he might compare to Jimmy Hart, he should leave Sam Bass out of this. Lawler ran down Hart and talked about how he’d brought Jimmy Hart into wrestling. Lawler said that Costello was a leech and a wimp.
Lawler then talked about the late Sam Bass. Lawler called Bass his best friend and talked about Bass’s history in the wrestling business. Costello slapped Lawler in the face and took off.
Costello made it into the ring before Lawler caught him and tore his pants off, exposing Costello’s panties, garters, and stockings. Lawler and the crowd just stared while Costello ran to the back.
After a commercial, we headed backstage with Lance Russell to talk about Wednesday night’s matches. Jos LeDuc joined Russell to talk about his match with Buddy Landel. LeDuc said that Landel had tried a lot of things to put him out, but none of them had worked. Billy Travis then came in to say that Dundee was underestimating him and he’d be keeping his title.
Russell then sent us to a video of Landel and Dundee. Dundee promised that he’d take care of Travis quickly. Landel then said that Jos LeDuc didn’t have anybody to hide behind anymore, and he’d take LeDuc out.
We came back to the arena to see Lawler taking on Abdul Gadaffi. Lawler ducked all of Gadaffi’s offense until Gadaffi finally managed to slam him. Gadaffi started cranking on Lawler’s arm, only for a Lawler right hand to break the hold.
The two locked up again and Lawler got into the ropes. He then threw a couple of punches at Gadaffi before Tony Falk climbed onto the apron to interfere. Lawler cracked their heads together and then the MOD Squad and Costello came out to attack Lawler. Costello passed something to Spike, who used it to throw a fireball at Lawler as the beat down continued. That brought Dutch Mantell out to run off the Dynasty. Eddie Marlin came out to help Lawler backstage. Russell sent us to commercial while promising to get an update on Lawler.
We then headed backstage again for more on Wednesday night.
We returned to the arena for the MOD Squad to head to the ring to defend their belts against Paul Diamond and Pat Tanaka. Spike and Diamond started off, and Spike soon trapped Diamond in a headlock before Diamond could escape it. Diamond then caught Spike coming off the ropes with a body press for a one count.
Diamond arm dragged Spike over and began cranking on his arm while Costello headed to commentary to brag. Basher tagged in and got taken down by Diamond before he brought Pat Tanaka in.
Basher began beating Tanaka down, only for Tanaka to start throwing chops. Basher soon wound up chopped down to the mat. Basher tagged out to bring Spike back in.
Spike locked up and Tanaka cranked on his arm before bringing Diamond in, who came off the ropes with an axe handle. Costello bragged again about throwing fire while Basher caught Diamond coming off the ropes.
Basher slammed Diamond down and dropped a leg, then whipped him across the ring and put him down with a back elbow for a two count.
Spike came back in and took Diamond down with a clothesline before dropping an elbow. Diamond rolled Spike up for a two count.
Basher tagged in for a quick double team and then began bouncing Diamond’s head off the turnbuckles. The MOD Squad made another quick tag and Spike kept up the offense. The Squad kept tagging while keeping Diamond isolated.
On commentary, Russell returned and denounced Costello’s actions. As Diamond kept trying to make it to his corner, Russell got into a verbal altercation with Costello. We then cut back to the “dressing room†(actually the TV 5 news set) where Lawler was getting checked out after getting burned.
In the ring, Basher was continuing to keep Diamond isolated until Diamond hit a back drop and started crawling for his corner. Tanaka got the hot tag as Russell returned to the back. Tanaka fought both Squad members off and covered only for Costello to nail Tanaka with the MOD Squad rulebook. Basher covered and got the win at 7:24.
The video returned to the back while Russell returned and updated on Lawler’s condition, saying that there had already been blistering on Lawler’s side.
After another commercial, Eddie Marlin and Dutch Mantell joined Russell. Marlin advised that Phil Hickerson would be taking Lawler’s place in the matches because they were worried that the burn could get infected. Mantell added that Costello needed to get thrown out of wrestling.
Lawler then came out to tell Marlin that he refused to sit out. Lawler promised Costello that their feud wasn’t over as Lawler hinted that he’d be bringing some fire of his own.
We then headed to the ring, where Billy Travis was set to defend the International title against Rip Rogers. The bell rang and the two tied up. Rogers backed Travis into the rope and threw knees into his stomach. Rogers took Travis down, stomped him, and bounced his head off the turnbuckle. Rogers continued manhandling Travis with the champion not able to launch any sort of offense.
Finally Travis escaped an Irish whip and came off the ropes to put Rogers down for a one count. An irritated Rogers threw Travis out between the ropes and followed him out. Rogers hit an atomic drop on Travis before returning to the ring. Travis went over the ropes and put Rogers down with a sunset flip for a one count.
Rogers headed back on the offense, taking Travis down and then choking him. Travis then reversed a body slam into a small package for another unsuccessful pinfall attempt.
Rogers left the ring only for Travis to follow and chase him back into the ring. A dropkick put Rogers down for two before his foot got into the ropes. Rogers reversed an Irish whip and sent Travis into the ref.
Rogers then grabbed the referee’s belt, wrapped it around his fist, and cracked Travis before starting to hang him with it. The referee called for the DQ as Travis fought out and went after him with the belt.
We then headed backstage with Russell again, where JD Costello and the MOD Squad were waiting. Costello promised that Lawler and Mantell couldn’t defeat the MOD Squad. Costello added that nobody embarrassed him the way that Lawler and Mantell had. Costello also promised to set Lawler on fire once more.
Russell added that they weren’t the only ones to deal with fire, but Costello was undeterred. Russell promised that Lawler wouldn’t forget about Costello just because he was outside the ring.
We came back to find Dundee and Landel with Russell at the interview set. Dundee said that Costello didn’t have enough class for them. The interview suddenly stopped and we saw Dutch Mantell and the MOD Squad brawling in a back hallway. We saw other wrestlers trying to break things up. Lawler got involved before the others were able to break things up.
Landel and Dundee returned to the interview by saying that they could have handled all four of them by themselves. Dundee said that he’d be taking Travis’s title and Landel reiterated they’d have nothing to do with Costello before we took our final break.
Russell and Brown quickly said goodbye to close us out.
FULL CARD FOR WEDNESDAY NIGHT’S SHOW AT THE EVANSVILLE COLISEUM
Jerry Lawler/Dutch Mantell vs. MOD Squad
International Heavyweight title match
Billy Travis © vs. Bill Dundee
Jos LeDuc vs. Buddy Landel
Rip Rogers vs. Paul Diamond
Pat Rose/Tony Falk vs. Jeff Jarrett/Pat Tanaka
Frank Morrell vs. Abdul Gadaffi
Tojo Yamamoto vs. the Undertaker
