One Year in Memphis – July 12, 1986

Reviews, Shows, TV Shows

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

Fire/Flame/Bam Bam Bigelow over Austin Idol/Giant Hillbilly/Jerry Lawler

International Heavyweight title
Bill Dundee retained over Jerry Lawler

Nightmares over the MOD Squad

Akio Sato/Tarzan Goto over Jeff Jarrett/Pat Tanaka

Jos LeDuc/Despina Montagas over Paul Diamond/Debbie Combs

JT Southern over Keith Roberson

Bruise Brothers over Memphis Vice by DQ

Tracy Smothers over Gypsy Joe

Lance Russell and Dave Brown welcomed us to the show. However, before Dave could run down the day’s events, Bill Dundee made his way out to commentary. Dundee announced that he’d be joining Russell and Brown on commentary. Russell protested by saying that the show was short this week.

Brown soldiered on by announcing that today we’d see Jeff Jarrett, Akio Sato and Tarzan Goto, Bam Bam Bigelow, the Nightmares, and an 8 man match featuring the MOD Squad, Fire, and Flame. Russell then sent us to commercial as Dundee blew the camera a kiss.

We came back to see Pat Tanaka and Jeff Jarrett facing Keith Roberson and Keith Erich. Tanaka and Roberson started as they jockeyed for control of the match. A chop from Tanaka sent Roberson to the mat and Dundee headed back to commentary.

In the ring Tanaka ducked a clothesline and hit a chop and head butt as Dundee grabbed a mic at the commentary table. Jeff Jarrett tagged in and hit an axe handle from the second rope before Erich tagged in. On commentary, Dundee took credit for Jarrett’s decision to get into wrestling.

Jarrett hip tossed Erich and followed with a dropkick, causing Erich to beg off. Jarrett grabbed Erich’s arm and started cranking. Erich reversed the arm wringer only for Jarrett to take him down and lock in an armbar before tagging Tanaka back in. Tanaka hit a suplex for the win at 2:38.

Tanaka and Jarrett joined Russell at the interview set. Russell brought up how Jarrett and Tojo had won the International Tag Team titles only for Tojo to walk out. Jarrett replied to Russell’s questions by saying that he didn’t know what had happened to cause Tojo to leave.

Russell added that Sato and Goto had started double-teaming Jarrett. Jarrett said that Tanaka had saved him from the beating before saying that he’d not been able to get in touch with Tojo all week. Tanaka then urged Jarrett to go after Tojo as Dundee heckled him from commentary. Jarrett promised he’d get back at Tojo before we went to commercial.

We came back to find Russell backstage to run down Wednesday night’s show. He brought in Larry Sharpe and Bigelow to talk about Bigelow’s match against the Giant Hillbilly. Sharpe bashed the Hillbilly before saying that Lawler would be leaving town.

JD Costello then joined Russell for a word about his match. Costello promised to take out Thomas Marlin before we headed back to the studio.

Tojo Yamamoto stood with Sato and Goto at the interview set for a word with Lance Russell. Tojo explained that he was Goto’s cousin. He said that he’d never believed that Jarrett could defeat Sato and Goto. Tojo said that he couldn’t fight his countrymen but Eddie Marlin had booked the match anyway. When Russell pressed Tojo as to why he’d left, Tojo said it was none of Russell’s business. Tojo added that he would serve as their advisor. The interview closed with Dundee coming over to shake all three men’s hands.

Sato and Goto then headed to the ring to face Jerry Garmon and Benny Traylor. Goto started the match by taking full control of Traylor. He threw him into the corner and Sato tagged in to continue the beating. Sato slammed Traylor and kicked him before following up with a punch. He bounced Traylor’s head off Goto’s knee and Goto tagged in. Goto hit a backdrop and brought Sato back in as Tojo cheered them on from ringside. Sato and Goto got an easy win at 1:31.

We came back to Russell backstage to give a quick rundown of the upcoming show.

We returned to the studio to see Bam Bam Bigelow getting set to face Jim Jameson and Mike Murphy. Bigelow hit a cartwheel to miss a double clothesline and then took firm control of the match by dropkicking both opponents down. Bigelow pitched Murphy and slammed Jameson down before dropping a leg on him. Bigelow moved Jameson into position before climbing the ropes. He hit a splash from the top rope to draw the DQ as Dundee rooted Bigelow on. Bigelow pitched Jameson and threw Murphy back into the ring. Bigelow slammed him and headed back up top. Bigelow hit another splash and left the studio.

The Nightmares then headed to the ring to face Rough and Ready. Wayne started against Rough. Rough backed Wayne into a corner and landed a punch before Wayne fired back. He tagged Davis in. Davis hit a back elbow on Rough and then suplexed him. Davis dropped an elbow and Wayne came back in.

Wayne dropped an elbow and got forced into the opposite corner, where Ready tagged in. Davis tagged back in and, with the referee distracted, hit a piledriver. Wayne followed up with a leg drop and the Nightmares got the win.

We came back to find Costello and the MOD Squad at the interview set with Russell. Costello discussed the previous week’s match when the Squad had attacked Lawler and the Hillbilly during a title match, resulting in the Nightmares’ disqualification. Costello called the Nightmares makeup wearing sissies and suddenly the Nightmares attacked. They took down the Squad before chasing Costello through the ring and out of the studio.

Wayne took over the interview where he promised to take care of Costello for his actions.

That brought in the Bruise Brothers, David Haskins, and Mr. Liberty to face the MOD Squad, Fire, and Flame.

Porkchop Cash started against Spike and got an early advantage. As Costello joined the fun at commentary Fire and Mad Dog tagged in. Mad Dog slammed Fire and Basher tagged in. Across the ring, Mr. Liberty tagged in.

Liberty and Basher traded arm wringers and Basher brought in Flame. As Dundee mocked Liberty, the masked man hit a hip toss on Flame. Fire tagged in and attacked Liberty from behind. Liberty leapfrogged Fire and tagged Porkchop back in to face Spike. Cash tagged in Haskins and Basher tagged in for a quick double team before tagging Fire in. As a brawl broke out, Flame threw a fireball at Haskins and covered for the win at 3:05.

We headed backstage again for hype for Wednesday night’s show. The Giant Hillbilly joined Russell to talk about Larry Sharpe. The Hillbilly said he wasn’t worried about Sharpe in the least. JT Southern then joined Russell for an introduction. Southern talked about how Austin Idol had brought him in to help take care of Fire and Flame.

Russell then brought Bill Dundee in to talk about the Loser Leaves Town match. Dundee said that he’d decided it was time to stop throwing money to the lawyers and he and Lawler would take care of business themselves. Dundee pointed out that the new contract had no loopholes to allow a return for the loser. Dundee said he didn’t need any help to beat Lawler. Dundee closed by calling himself the new King of Memphis before we went to a music video of Dundee set to the song “Wild Boys.” After the video, Dundee again reminded the fans of how Lawler had been “unfairly” brought back. Dundee added the stipulation that there would be no wrestlers anywhere around ringside. As Dundee left the interview we went to another video of Dundee – this one set to “Bad to the Bone.”

Russell then sat down with Jerry Lawler. Lawler talked about his past battles with Dundee and said that he believed that Dundee wanted nothing else than to run Lawler out of town. Lawler brought up that Dundee was the one to start the legal battles and he was the one that had drawn up this deal. Lawler also mentioned that the loser would have to leave the area for at least six months. We then went to a Lawler music video that was set to “Tough Enough.”

We returned to the interview where Russell pointed out the fact that Dundee had more victories than Lawler in their battles. He added that Lawler had traditionally been the one to win the really big matches. Lawler promised the fans that he was going to do everything he could to win the match. Russell closed by hyping the match as one of the greatest matches in wrestling history.

We then went to a video of Lawler set to “Glory Days.” We saw scenes of Lawler packing to go on the road interspersed with clips of his matches against wrestlers like Hulk Hogan, Nick Bockwinkel, the Iron Sheik, and Jimmy Hart. Lawler went on to arrive at the Mid-South Coliseum and got dressed backstage. He picked up his crown and started through the hallways, finally emerging in the arena itself. The camera followed as he went to the ring and posed.

We returned to the studio for a quick rundown of the day’s events as Dundee gave his two cents on the matches. Russell then closed the show by saying goodbye for the week.

FULL CARD FOR WEDNESDAY NIGHT’S SHOW AT THE EVANSVILLE COLISEUM
Loser Leaves Town
Bill Dundee vs. Jerry Lawler

$10,000 Two Ring Battle Royal

Boxing/Wrestling match
JT Southern/Thomas Marlin vs. Fire and Flame

Bam Bam Bigelow vs. Giant Hillbilly

Nightmares vs. MOD Squad

Akio Sato/Tarzan Goto vs. Jeff Jarrett/Pat Tanaka

Jos LeDuc/Despina Montagas vs. Paul Diamond/Debbie Combs

Bruise Brothers vs. Gypsy Joe/Golden Terror

Tracy Smothers vs. Ron Sexton