Tracking the Territories 1984- Volume Three

by Liam Byrne

  Both men collide in the middle of the ring and Taylor ends up falling to ringside, almost into the waiting arms of Williams. In a pretty poorly executed spot, Williams awkwardly throws Taylor headfirst into the ringpost, busting the champion wide open. Kruschev tries to take advantage with a slam and a piledriver, only for Taylor to get a foot on the rope to break the pinfall. A choke gets him another two count, but Taylor manages to roll-up Kruschev after another leapfrog. Williams is up on the apron, with the kickout at two sending Taylor with a forearm into the amateur wrestler to knock him back down. This has the crowd fired up and Taylor takes advantage of the confusion, leaping over a shoulderblock in the corner and rolling it into a pinning predicament for the three count.

  In a move that would surprise no-one, Williams decides to clobber Taylor around the head with the medal and walk out, rather than hand it over like he initially promised. The match was slow to get going, but with the outside involvement of Williams leading to an increasing intensity in Kruschev’s attempts to get the pin and the crowd’s involvement ratcheting up, it was a good television match with continued development of Williams as a heel.

  Jim Cornette (sans tennis racket) and Hercules Hernandez are out next which means that the Midnight Express are up, with their opponents being Josh Stroud and Mike Jackson. Stroud almost steals a very early victory with a crossbody on Eaton, before tagging to Jackson. Jackson initially outwrestles Eaton, taking him down with a hiptoss, a flying headscissors and a dropkick. A second dropkick sees Jackson miss and hit the mat hard, allowing a Boston crab/elbowdrop combination as Condrey is brought into the match. According to Watts the younger on commentary, the Midnight Express had defeated the Rock and Roll Express in a Loser Leaves Town match earlier in the month, thus allowing their return to Memphis that we have seen.

  Jackson manages to fight his way over to his corner, with Stroud landing a few punches before Condrey cuts him off with a punch of his own and a bodyslam. They showed off a new finisher shortly afterwards: the Double Goozle, with Condrey in the schoolboy position and Eaton hitting a clothesline to earn the Express a dominant win.

  Cornette is pulling double manager duty this week as Hercules Hernandez meets Rick McCord in the next contest. An elbow to the back and slam instantly has Hernandez in control, and he follows it up with a high knee and a falling elbow to a grounded McCord. Hernandez managed to catch a crossbody by McCord and drops him on the top rope throat first, which is used as a setup for the Cobra Clutch/Shininomake and the easy victory. Again, the short squash is the best place for Hernandez right now.

  Hans Schroeder and Bob Owens are the sacrificial lambs to the team of The Junkyard Dog and Jim Duggan as the two biggest faces outside of Magnum TA continue to team following the previous weeks’ shenanigans. It is Schroeder who gets worked over first, both men targeting the arm with punches, kicks and armlocks. A handful of hair allows Schroeder to bring the Dog to the ropes, but he just eats a punch to the face for his trouble. Duggan lands a clothesline, a jumping knee and an elbowdrop, before sending Schroeder hard into the corner.

  Surprisingly, a Dog headbutt doesn’t finish the contest, whilst an Owens illegal knee from the apron allows the jobbers some offense. Schroeder goes straight into a bear hug, yet a headbutt and a crawl through the legs allows Dog to make the tag. Owens does get a tag into the match, but it is a brief appearance to get put down with the Thump for the Duggan and Dog victory.

  Following their montage music video, The Pretty Young Things are out to take on Randy Barber and Pat Rose, with Pierce on commentary in particular referencing their gyrations as they came down to ringside that the fans seem to enjoy. Austin and Rose begin the contest, with Austin instantly landing a slam and tagging in Ware for a double back elbow. The PYT are using quick tags from the start with neither man using more than a move at a time as Austin lands a high knee and Ware a flying tackle. Barber gets a tag, only to catch an Austin dropkick and a Ware powerslam for a one count. The finish doesn’t take much longer to come – a dropdown by Austin sees Barber run straight into a second rope dropkick by Ware that almost turns the move straight into a pinfall. Nothing special, though some easy shine for the most popular face team in the territory at the moment.

  After another airing of the Fantastics montage that was shown the previous week, Pierce is with Cornette and Hernandez to finish off the show talking about a potential Mid-South Tag Team Title match between the Midnight Express and the team of Jim Duggan and the Junkyard Dog. Cornette says that the likelihood of the match happening is somewhere in the middle, depending on whether Grizzly Smith can pay them the right sort of money to take on two men who bring weapons down to the ringside like Duggan and Dogg have been known to do. Pierce has just long enough to say that he hopes they do sign if before they head to the credits.

  A decent, if unspectacular episode of Mid-South, with the focus mainly being on putting over some established talents and the implementation of the ‘no weapons’ rule. Taylor and Kruschev was the undoubted highlight, but nothing in the ring, or on the mic, was particularly offensive.

  AWA All Star Wrestling 28.7.84

  Mark Lowrance is in the ring as we head to Minnesota for another episode of AWA Wrestling. The first introduction is for Rick Renslow; the second for Mr. USA, Tony Atlas. After a stalemate on the first collar and elbow tie up, the second one sees a shove send Renslow to the canvas. A third lock-up has Renslow slap on a top wristlock, only for Atlas to easily throw him off. They go back for a fourth time, just so Atlas could break a go behind attempt. The two men trade full nelsons as Atlas breaks the hold and locks on one of his own. After a rope breaks forces the referee to separate the two men, Atlas shimmies his way out of a side headlock and applies his own one moments later. Renslow is unable to send Atlas into the ropes due to Atlas’ strength, so a rope break is needed to force the stop.

  Atlas hits an odd one footed dropkick after a dropdown and leapfrog highlight his athleticism before taking the contest to the canvas with a side headlock. Renslow does manage to work his way back to his feet, whilst also nailing Atlas with two forearms after a side headlock of his own. This just annoys Atlas, who drops Renslow with a headbutt before hitting his press slam/splash finishing combination for a three. For someone who feels like they should be really dynamic on offense during squash matches, Atlas is really dull.

  Lowrance does a shill for the merchandise before inviting in Blackjack Lanza to talk about his feud with Sheik Adnan Al-Kaissie, especially focusing on how Al-Kaissie treats people that he is finished with like Jerry Blackwell. The actual match that Lanza is due to have is with Ted Oates, so the finishing words out of his mouth query why Oates hasn’t been man enough to put his Central States Title on the line considering he is the champion.

  We get another squash from Georgia Championship Wrestling to hype the imminent arrival of the Road Warriors, this time against Pat Rose and Tony David. Rose does actually manage to rock Animal briefly with some punches in the middle of the match, but it is your typical Warriors squash as the jobbers get thrown around the ring with reckless abandon. It is Rose who eats the majority of the offense: Animal hits a back elbow and a splash, Hawk keeps him down with a choke. Quick tags keep the fresh man in, with Animal finally using an Irish whip to send Rose into the corner to tag David, who gets charged before he can even step through the ropes. A press slam and a clothesline end the one-sided squash.

  Paul Ellering joins Lowrance to speak about the Road Warriors upcoming match for the AWA World Tag Team Titles against Baron Von Raschke and the Crusher, with him promising they will take on all comers when they win the belt. Mid-promo, Hawk and Animal lumber into frame as it is clear they have finally touched down in the territory. Hawk’s neck is so big that his flexing causes the collar around his neck to fly off as Ellering continues to extol the virtues of his team. We get mostly generic toughman words from both Hawk and Animal, with Animal in particular talking about being from Chicago and how that makes him tougher than anyone in the ar
ea.

  A two out of three falls tag match follows as we get a second opportunity to see Curt Hennig and Steve Olsonoski in action as they take on Jake Milliman and Mike Richards. I wasn’t overly enamoured with them last time, but we’ll see how things go as Olsonoski and Milliman take a while to lock up, with the initial exchanges mainly focusing on Milliman making it clear that he feels Olsonoski used a handful of hair and of tights to outwrestle him. This brings Hennig in early, with Milliman throwing somewhat of a tantrum as he gets caught in the face corner with nowhere to go. Two shoulderblocks have Hennig seemingly in control, only for both men to subsequently miss elbowdrops. A brief armbar on Milliman is followed by a brief armbar on Richards, who gets caught in the corner for multiple knees to the arm by both Hennig and Olsonoski.

  With Milliman back in the ring after a tag, two forearms have Olsonoski ‘seeing stars’ according to the commentary, as does a really awful looking DDT. Milliman again misses a driving elbow, allowing Olsonoski to take him into the corner with a backbreaker. The faces seem to tease going for a finish, but decide against it, with Olsonoski instead hitting a back body drop and a dropkick. They do finally decide to use their back body drop/second rope dropkick combination, which is enough to take the first fall.

  After a commercial break, we head into the second fall as Milliman is trying to buy some time following his losing of the first fall. A quick exchange of dropdowns and leapfrogs see Hennig land a dropkick before the faces return to attacking the arm. Milliman is particularly loud with his screams of pain, but he does manage to take Hennig down with a flying forearm, tagging out to Richards who pretty much instantly loses the advantage when a bodyslam attempt is blocked. Olsonoski lands a snapmare and a back breaker for two, with a kneelift getting another nearfall.

  A double back elbow also has Richards needing to kick out of a pin, meaning we have a similar issue to last time in which the jobbers are kicking out of pinfalls too often for my liking. A double atomic drop leads to Olsonoski bringing Milliman into the ring for a double Irish whip that sees the jobber tandem collide mid-ring. Olsonoski grabs the second fall with a sunset flip into the ring after a Hennig punch to the stomach on Richards. A better showing for Hennig and Olsonoski, though the multitude of nearfalls still makes the team look weaker than they should. Milliman as comedy stooge for parts of it was also a strange choice.

  Double Verne Gagne follows as we initially get promotion for the Pro Wrestling Report newsletter before Gagne finds a window of time to talk about wrestling at the Olympics. However, he does also mention some upcoming shows, though with nothing much mentioned outside of Harley Race appearing and a midget match. It feels a little underwhelming.

  We also get double Steve O as we are sent to a match between Olsonoski and King Kong Bruiser Brody. As it is joined in progress, Olsonoski is down on the canvas and eats several stomps from Brody. Olsonoski does reverse an Irish whip into the corner, only to charge straight into a big boot. Brody throws Olsonoski to the outside and uses a chair, a move that is seemingly ignored by the referee. With the match returning to the ring, Olsonoski lands a few forearms in a row, but a telegraphed back body drop sees Brody lift Olsonoski into the air with a kick.

  The referee is struggling to keep Brody off of Olsonoski as he stomps away in the corner, whilst a bite from Brody earns further remonstrations. Olsonoski fires back once more with punches and this time a turnbuckle smash, but Brody is unfazed. Olsonoski misses a dropkick when Brody grabs onto the top rope, before getting thrown throat first onto the top rope. A slam and the King Kong Kneedrop puts Olsonoski away in what was effectively a squash. Whilst nothing special, watching Brody destroy people is definitely fun.

  Tony Atlas is with Lowrance and gives another interesting promo as he speaks about a feud he once had with Dick Murdoch, before turning his attention to challenging Ric Flair and whoever else has a belt and thinks they are big and bad. Atlas then suddenly remembers that Rick Martel holds the AWA World Title so throws out the challenge to him as well. He means well and is earnest enough, but Atlas is a mess on the mic.

  We have time for one more match as Rocky Stone takes on Mr. Saito, who is accompanied to the ring by Bobby Heenan, though Heenan is quick to remind Lowrance that he is ‘The Brain’. The first strike that Stone gets hit with, a chop across the chest, sends him through the ropes. Stone balls his fists towards Heenan but gets knocked back off of the apron by Saito. When the match is back in the ring, both men exchange strikes before a snapmare is followed by a missed kneedrop by Stone. Chops and kicks set up Saito to attempt a scorpion deathlock, though Stone is able to stop Saito from turning him initially. Stone eventually cannot halt Saito’s submission, the moment Stone is turned over leading to a Saito victory. Saito keeps the hold on for a few seconds after the bell, much to the chagrin of the commentary team.

  With time almost running out, we get Lowrance talking to the Fabulous Ones, a team who are clearly unhappy that the Road Warriors are getting a shot at the titles, not them. Before Steve Keirn can really get going, Bobby Heenan walks in to declare this Mr. Saito’s interview time. The Fabs jump Heenan, but this is all a ruse as Saito and Nick Bockwinkel attack. Stan Lane gets hit with an oriental helmet that busts him open, whilst Keirn is dropped on the floor with a spike piledriver. The show closes in a state of confusion as Lowrance tries to get Wally Karbo to give a statement about what just happened as a bunch of officials flood the scene. For a promotion that rarely explores this type of brutal attack, it is an effective way to finish the show.

  A decent enough effort by AWA this week, especially with the drama of the finishing segment. In ring, there is nothing to write home about, a situation really emphasised by how similar this show was to previous weeks, yet the end angle and the arrival of the Road Warriors make the next few episodes potentially intriguing viewing.

  CWA Championship Wrestling 28.7.84

  It is another Memphis show that isn’t available (to me, at least) in its entirety, which is a shame as the promotion’s last episode was red hot. We are dropped almost immediately into the aftermath of the Jerry Lawler versus Ric Rude contest from the Coliseum on the Monday, with the post-match whipping taking place as Lawler lost the match. Angel takes the strap and hits Lawler several times, though Lance Russell makes it clear that the King might prefer the lashes to come from Angel rather than Rude. Lawler is barely flinching as Angel hits him with all ten lashes, rather than the original plan to divvy them up between the heels. However, Rude takes it upon himself to lay into Lawler after the initial whipping finishes, leading to Dutch Mantell hitting the ring to run him off.

  Lawler is out with Russell to talk about the match, with the loss coming via disqualification as Lawler sought revenge on Rude landing two piledrivers behind the referee’s back with one of his own. Lawler chooses not to use the word ‘bitch’ to describe payback, but he promises to take the strap to Rude during their ‘Strap on a Pole’ match at the Coliseum on Monday. He does, however, refer to Angel as a ‘slut’ as he tells the fans that he will get her as well if she gets in his way.

  Rude, Angel and Jimmy Hart are out next and Rude wipes down Russell to deal with the tears that Lawler cried earlier in the show. Whilst lauding it over Lawler and the Memphis fans for his victory, Rude talks about how he is surprised that the King wants to use a belt to hold his trousers up, let alone in a match after the beating he got on Monday, with the only way Lawler would be able to get up the pole before him is if he was scared up there.

  We go back to the Coliseum to see the double champion Tommy Rich take on King Kong Bundy. The opening moments have Rich using his speed to keep out of the way of Bundy, though an attempted side headlock just sees Bundy throw him across the ring. These are edited highlights as we see Rich punch Bundy instead of go for a test of strength, cutting to Bundy throwing Rich over the top rope whilst Hart distracted the referee. Bundy manages to miss an elbowdrop with Hart once again on the apron to stop the referee counting the pinfall.

  An el
bowdrop that connects with Rich earns Bundy a two count, whilst a chinlock follows, with Bundy putting his weight on Rich. With the crowd behind him, Rich fires up and fights his way out of the chinlock, only to get a back elbow and a kneedrop for his troubles. Bundy misses a big splash and Rich goes for the pin, yet Hart is once more on the apron. Rich remonstrates with the referee which allows Bundy to land a punch to the face to turn the tide once more, with the challenger returning to the chinlock.

  Bundy misses yet another move, this time a charge into the corner, and Rich grabs a pinfall attempt after a dropkick. The referee never gets close to counting the fall as Hart is up once more. A chain is passed to Bundy as Rich jumps up into a sleeper hold and Bundy ends up nailing Rich and getting the three count. However, as the count is completed, the bell was already ringing as the referee at ringside calls for the disqualification. A match that was very, very Memphis with all the shenanigans, but the crowd loved it.

  Bundy and Hart are out with Russell next as the big man tells the fans that he won’t be wrestling as they couldn’t find any collection of men to take him on. He claims that he won the match and that he was robbed by politics and bribery, whilst Hart claims that Eddie Marlin is jealous of him which is why these decisions are made. Hart even claims that Lawler drives around with the referees, which is why him and the other fan favourites get the results they do. Hart threatens to buy the whole promotion and fire Marlin, with Bundy seemingly getting another shot at Rich on Monday as he finishes the promo by talking about getting the victory.

  After another cut, we have video footage of the Fabulous Ones taking on The Road Warriors at the Coliseum. As the match begins, Steve Keirn fights his way out of a Hawk press slam which leads to all four men ending up in the ring. The focus is initially on the Fabs in particular, as Stan Lane avoids an Animal fistdrop and lands a dropkick. Lane then lands a dropkick to Hawk later on in the contest, only to get dropped with a shoulderbreaker shortly afterwards. We get standard Memphis heeling with the referee missing a clear tag between the two Fabs, leading to Keirn pushing the referee out of the way and all four men brawling in the ring. With the referee taking another shove, he calls for the bell and throws the match out. Hard to tell from just the highlights, but it looked like a fun match.