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Mid-South Memories Edition 1

Posted: Aug 4th 2009 By: mikeiles

Hello, rassling fans, and welcome to the 1st exciting edition of Mid-South Memories.

OK, so I?m not ?your host, Boyd Pierce,? (heck, I don?t even own a silver-glitter suit and tie) but I am someone who started watching Mid-South Wrestling more than a quarter-century ago, and I?ve had the honor of knowing ?Cowboy? Bill Watts, the Oklahoma Stampeder himself, for about five years.

When the good people here at www.universalwrestling.com, home of the only authorized videos of Mid-South Wrestling and related shows, asked me to share some of my memories of the circuit, I didn?t know where to begin.

I know, from decades of being around other wrestling fans that each of us truly believes that the best wrestling ever was the wrestling that fan grew up on.

With me, the difference is, the wrestling I grew up on ? Mid-South Wrestling (later known as the UWF) ? really was the best wrestling program there ever was. Much of that was because of the awesome array of talent on the roster, at any given time. Not only did many of the truly greatest performers of the 1980s ? Ted DiBiase, Dick Murdoch, Paul Orndorff, Terry Gordy ? call Mid-South home at one point or another, but the greatest and most influential tag teams of any era ? The Rock & Roll Express, The Freebirds, The Samoans, The Road Warriors and The Midnight Express ? made their bones in the area (check below for some videos that feature these awesome performers). Mid-South also boasted some truly underrated performers, men who rarely showed up on the ?best worker? lists of ?experts,? but who were as tough and exciting as anyone in the wrestling business, during their peaks. In 1984 and 1985, a wild period for wrestling, with a variety of styles drawing fans around the world, the best brawls in wrestling were between Hacksaws Duggan and Reed, or between either man and Hercules Hernandez. Fans who only saw these three in the WWF, later in the 1980s, never saw their most exciting matches. Hernandez also featured in a tag team with Steve ?Dr. Death? Williams, a phenomenal athlete whose in-ring improvement in 1984 and 1985 was one of the high points of the wrestling world. Today, longtime fans remember fondly the Expresses and the Road Warriors, but Hercules and Dr. Death were as good a tag team as any two wrestlers in the world, in 1984. See below for a sample listing of shows that spotlight these amazing pro wrestlers.

Thankfully, www.universalwrestling.com has made available to the public live-arena matches between these stars. (Hercules and Doc had an awesome match against the Rock & Roll Express, featured on ?House Show Vol. 4 DVD,? available at: Click Here for: House Show Volume 004 DVD ? the disc also contains a couple of great brawls, with Jim Duggan taking on Hercules and Dr. Death in two wild singles matches). Now, we can actually see the never-before-aired showdowns that the TV shows were building.

But as great as it was, the in-ring talent was not all that made Mid-South Wrestling so memorable. Mid-South mastermind ?Cowboy? Bill Watts presented his wrestling with logic, a sense of storytelling continuity and excitement that no other wrestling company could match.

In Mid-South?s heyday, the weekly television show was essentially an hour-long infomercial, designed to lure fans into the arenas, where they would pay to see the outcomes of the matches between the feuding stars. Every regional circuit in North America used this approach, but most also used a simple formula ? Star Number One demolishes Weekly Preliminary Guy Number One in a TV match, followed by Star Number Two similarly destroying another preliminary wrestler (also called jobbers, or job guys). Then Stars One and Two would give TV interviews, describing how they were going to tear each other apart, when they battled at the arena in your town.

Bill Watts, once the region?s Number-one heavyweight pro wrestling attraction, took a different approach. Vince McMahon knew that his WWF (or WWWF, if you go back farther) did not need to draw a huge percentage of the population to his live shows, in order for the shows to be profitable, because McMahon was promoting the cities in the northern portion of the East Coast, where some of the United States? most populous cities sat. Bill Watts was promoting much smaller towns in Oklahoma, Arkansas, Mississippi and Louisiana, and he decided early on that the best way to get bigger portions of those towns to attend live events was to excite them with the TV shows. Thus, on Mid-South, you?d get the stars battling each other, instead of never meeting on TV. Sure, Mid-South also had its preliminary wrestlers, but no other show offered as many marquee matches on TV as Mid-South, and the action (and the presentation thereof) created such excitement that the arena shows did very well, even in towns a fraction of the size of New York City.

Bill Watts emphasized genuine athletic ability, internal logic and characters with whom people could identify. He also steered the ship that gave us some of the most memorable matches and moments in the history of wrestling on television.

In the spirit of that Mid-South excitement, starting in about two weeks, I?m going to run down my own ?Top 10;? ten of my favorite Mid-South moments for you. First, a few ground rules/disclaimers:

(1) These are strictly moments that stick out fondly in my memory; they are not necessarily the ones that drew the biggest live attendance levels, although some definitely led to spikes in business.

(2) The timeframe from which I chose these moments spans from late 1981 to the end of 1985. The reason being, the shows currently listed for sale here begin with ?Mid South Wrestling Volume 001 DVD,? which contains episodes from late 1981. Shows shot prior to that were recorded on a different type of tape, which requires different equipment to transfer onto a current home-video format. Older programs could become available, but are not available now. As such, rather than reminisce about things you can?t see, I picked moments from videos that are currently available. Unfortunately, this means things like the 1980 blinding of Junkyard Dog by the Freebirds aren?t yet available, but don?t worry ? the timeframe we have still yielded PLENTY of great moments.

In two weeks from the date of this posting, we?ll begin my list of Top 10 Mid-South moments. In the meantime, I?d love to know what your favorite moments were. If you have a favorite you?d like to share, or if you read my list and think, ?This guy?s nuts! I can?t believe he left out when Adrian Street kissed Terry Taylor,? please e-mail me at: loadedglove@universalwrestling.com Please put ?MID-SOUTH MEMORIES? in the subject line, and include your name and city of residence in the e-mail; I?m happy to discuss with and hear from real fans, but I feel silly addressing a (presumably) grown-up person as something like ?DoctorDeathRulz69.?

Until then, as Boyd Pierce might say, so long, everybody, from the Mid-South rassling television network. And once you?re done shopping for the videos here that contain your own favorite moments, if you?d like to catch up with the Mid-South maestro himself, please email him at: cowboybillwatts@universalwrestling.com

Scott E. Williams is a longtime wrestling fan and journalist who has written four books about professional wrestling, including co-authoring (with Bill Watts) ?The Cowboy and the Cross,? the life story of ?Cowboy? Bill Watts. Send any Mid-South questions or comments to: loadedglove@universalwrestling.com

Some highlights of the top stars:

* To see the culmination of the original Ted DiBiase-Hacksaw Duggan feud, witness their wild-and-woolly ?Loser Leaves? match from September 1983, on ?Mid-South Wrestling Vol. 45?

Click Here for: Mid South Wrestling Volume 045 DVD

* For the classic 1982 split of longtime villainous allies Paul Orndorff and Bob Roop, pick up ?Mid-South Wrestling Vol. 9?

Click Here for: Mid South Wrestling Volume 009 DVD

* Witness a wild tag match, with Ted DiBiase and Steve ?Dr. Death? Williams against Hacksaw Duggan and Terry ?Bam Bam? Gordy, at ?Power Pro Wrestling Vol. 17?

Click Here for: Power Pro Wrestling Volume 017 DVD

* One of the greatest rivalries in wrestling was the Rock & Roll Express vs. The Midnight Express, and you can catch one of their classic matches on ?House Show Volume 14?

Click Here for: House Show Volume 014 DVD

* Two of Mid-South/the UWF?s most dominant teams collided in 1986, when The Freebirds battled Ted DiBiase & Steve ?Dr. Death? Williams, on ?UWF Volume 3?

Click Here for: Universal Wrestling Federation Volume 003 DVD

* See the Samoans turn on their own manager (Ernie Ladd) and challenge for the tag titles with new manager Skandor Akbar, at ?Mid-South Volume 5?

Click Here for: Mid South Wrestling Volume 005 DVD

* The Road Warriors, perhaps the hottest team in the country, found out what tough is all about when they battled three of Mid-South?s top teams in one of the first-ever four-way tag-team matches, with the last team remaining, winning it all. This unpredictable match is on ?Power Pro Wrestling Volume 18?

Click Here for: Power Pro Wrestling Volume 018 DVD

* The Midnight Express, with Jim Cornette, debuted in Mid-South on ?Mid-South Wrestling Volume 53?

Click Here for: Mid South Wrestling Volume 053 DVD

* One of Mid-South?s most brutal feuds was Junkyard Dog versus ?Hacksaw? Butch Reed, and the two powerhouses collided on ?Mid-South Volume 49?

Click Here for: Mid South Wrestling Volume 049 DVD

* Hercules Hernandez battles ?Hacksaw? Jim Duggan with manager Jim Cornette?s hair at stake on ?Mid-South Wrestling Volume 71 DVD?

Click Here for: Mid South Wrestling Volume 071 DVD

Tags: MSW, Boyd Pierce, Bill Watts, UWF, Ted DiBiase, Dick Murdoch, Paul Orndorff, Terry Gordy, Rock-N-Roll Express, Fabulous Freebirds, Wild Samoans, Midnight Express, Jim Duggan, Butch Reed, Hercules Hernandez, Steve Williams, WWF, Junkyard Dog, Adrian Street