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Mid-South Wrestling Fanfest A 'Total Dream Day' For Fans, Legends

Posted: Mar 13th 2014 By: CMBurnham

Matt Riviera was flipping through the channels when he was 12 years old and stopped on a World Championship Wrestling program. He saw toughness. He saw colorful characters. He immediately fell in love with the business.

His passion for wrestling only grew from there. By 15, Riviera was taking pictures and working on programs for local events in Arkansas and at 17, he promoted his first show.

Riviera, now 30, has been running Traditional Championship Wrestling for the past several years, and his programming reaches more than 50 million homes in HD. He?s also living the dream as a professional wrestler, heading the Empire faction.

His latest project is the first ever Mid-South Legends Fanfest during WrestleMania week in April. The Fanfest will take place at the Sigur Center in Chalmette on Friday, April 4, and it?s an all-day affair, starting at 9 a.m. Riviera said he noticed in his time in the business that many other old territories had fanfests but there hadn?t been one for Mid-South, which ran shows in Louisiana, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Mississippi and parts of Texas from 1979 to 1986.

?I said, ?If nobody else is going do it, I will,?? Riviera said. ?I really wanted to not only give fans of Mid-South wrestling something to remember but the legends as well. And give the fans and the legends an opportunity to come together and appreciate each other for the great success that territory had. It will be a total dream day for fans and legends.?

Events include Q&A sessions with the Rock-N-Roll Express and ?Cowboy? Bill Watts, both hosted by Jim Cornette; autograph sessions with the above, plus the Midnight Express, Mr. Wrestling II, Kamala and others; and a wrestling show, called ?Battle Lines,? at 7:30 p.m.

?Mid-South wrestling was the No. 1 territory back in the territorial days of professional wrestling,? Riviera said. ?It was in my opinion and many others, the best. From an in-ring talent standpoint, from a fan-following standpoint, from a business standpoint, Bill Watts? Mid-South wrestling was it. They had the best athletes, most realistic storylines and unbelievable attendance records they set at the Superdome.?

Riviera said getting Watts to join the Fanfest was imperative. Watts, who played college football at Oklahoma and started wrestling in 1964, was the owner of Mid-South wrestling. He was a star in Leroy McGuirk?s Championship wrestling in the 1970s, where he wrestled many times in New Orleans, before buying McGuirk out and starting Mid-South.

?New Orleans is where a lot of fabulous things happened,? said Watts, who also fought Bruno Sammartino in Madison Square Garden and Dusty Rhodes in Tampa, Fla., when he was a top-level performer. ?The fans were just great there. A lot of great memories of Chalmette. Getting to come back there and be a part of this, we?re really pumped about it. It?s a lot of fun interacting with the fans.?

Drawing Battle Lines

The wrestling show April 4 will feature performers from several organizations. There is a JYD Memorial Cup Battle Royal as well as appearances by Elijah Burke, Chris Adonis and Mickie James. Riviera will team with Tim Storm and Greg Anthony to take on Tommy Dreamer, Americos and Scott Phoenix.

Riviera said the Sigur Center, which has been renovated since Hurricane Katrina, was the perfect place for FanFest because it used to house regular Mid-South shows in the 80s. He said the building is impressive and hopes Battle Lines turns into a memorable show.

?We all have a serious point to prove that weekend because we want to absolutely blow all the other shows away and have without question the best pure wrestling show and the best overall show of the entire weekend,? Riviera said. ?And that means a lot to myself and all the people involved with it.?

There are Platinum VIP and Gold VIP packages available for the fanfest. Or fans can purchase tickets just to the Battle Lines show for $15 or $30. For more information, visit midsouthlegends.com.

Bill Dundee, who started wrestling in 1964 and had battles with Jerry Lawler and Jackie Fargo in Memphis, will take on King Shane Williams at Battle Lines. Dundee, 70, said it was fun to work as a booker for Watts in the Mid-South days.

?I?m looking forward to the whole thing,? Dundee said. ?I haven?t seen some of them people in a long time. I certainly haven?t seen Bill Watts. So looking forward to seeing him. And I?m looking forward to the show that night. Shane Williams is just a kid. To me, Jerry Lawler is the King. We?ll just see how much of a king Shane Williams is.?

Another feature bout on the card is the Rock-N-Roll Express, Ricky Morton and Robert Gibson, against Genetic Perfection. Dundee said Morton and Gibson were lock rock stars in the 80s ? ?the young ladies thought they were cute? ? and Riviera said the two ?haven?t lost a step.?

Riviera, who lives in Russellville, Ark., will be enjoying every bit of the festivities, especially getting to meet Mr. Wrestling II for the first time. It?s all part of the obsession that started when he was surfing channels as a 12 year old and continued with him taping every wrestling event that came on TV.

?The first match I saw on TV was Bunkhouse Buck and Dick Slater, who was managed by Colonel Robert Parker,? he said. ?Slater had these over-the-top facial expressions, and he did a couple moves I remember well like a swinging neckbreaker. Parker?s entire gimmick, I just thought it was great stuff. And in that match, I saw the legit toughness of the guys in the ring come across. I thought this is pretty entertaining. I?m going to keep watching.?