Barnett's Mid-South 2.1

No DQ Taped Fist Match for the North American Heavyweight Title: Ted DiBiase © vs. Hacksaw Duggan (3/8/85)

This is from Houston and Duggan is heavily taped up. DiBiase throws powder in Duggan’s face as soon as the bell rings and the brawl is on with DiBiase kicking the shit out of Duggan while he is blinded. DiBiase takes the battle to the floor and rams Duggan’s head into the ringpost a couple of times then plants him with a steel chair and Duggan has juiced. Duggan is gushing blood and DiBiase continues to beat his ass with punches and bites the wound. Duggan starts connecting wild haymakers but DiBiase takes him down and hits a few diving fistdrops on Duggan’s crimson mask of a face. DiBiase continues to pound Duggan but Duggan keeps trying to fight back so DiBiase rakes him in the eyes then goes back to biting. DiBiase is like a rabid dog here keeping the offense going on Duggan and not letting him even attempt to mount a comeback. Duggan would reverse a DiBiase suplex with one of his own and the fans chant his name enough for him to finally make his comeback and the blood in his eyes makes him even more nuts than normal. Duggan annihilates DiBiase with punches that he sells like death before slamming him and gets ready for the spear which he cleanly hits for a nearfall because of Akbar jumping on the apron to distract Carl Fergie. DiBiase would try to take advantage but we have a ref bump after a collision of heads, so Dr. Death comes out and brings DiBiase his loaded glove. DiBiase puts it on and jacks Duggan’s jaw for the win. Great brawl with Duggan’s blood flowing like water and a definite DVD pick.

Mid-South Tag Titles: The Rock n Roll Express (Robert Gibson & Ricky Morton) © vs. “Gorgeous” Gino Hernandez & “Dr. Death” Steve Williams (3/31/85)

This is from Tulsa. RnR dominate the early part of the match with Gino but Doc tags in and it changes as he just throws Morton around like a ragdoll until Morton sneaks in an O’Connor Roll then hits armdrags on both heels sending them to the floor. Doc would finally get Morton in their corner and tagged Gino in who completely took control hitting Morton with elbows and acted like the biggest cocksucker by going “WHOOOOOOO” after every one. Doc would tag in and the beating of Morton continued as Doc hit 3 straight backbreakers for a nearfall then followed up with a bearhug. Gino tagged in and continue the onslaught until he missed his patended diving back elbow off the top rope followed up by a clash of heads with Morton falling near his corner but Gino got the tag to Doc who ran over to cut Morton off. Doc kept the offense going but missed a running shoulderblock into the corner and Morton got the hot tag on Gibson who cleaned house like he always does. Of course we have a 4-way brawl with Morton getting an O’Connor Roll on Gino for the win. This was a fine match but I’m not sure if it is nomination material or not and I know Phil likes it.

Tuxedo Street Fight Loser Leaves Town Coal Miners Glove On A Pole Steel Cage Match: Hacksaw Duggan vs. Ted DiBiase (3/22/85)

We may not have the Superdome version but this will be just fine. Nothing like watching two guys dressed up as the figures on top of wedding cakes battle it out in a steel cage and I can just imagine whoever has to clean the suits afterwards’ face will look. DiBiase starts ripping off Duggan’s clothes first as Duggan is bleeding all over his white suit. They work this like their normal brawls pretty much only with a cage, pole, and suits being the differences. DiBiase tries to climb the pole first but Duggan throws him down. Duggan is bleeding buckets here trying to make a comeback but DiBiase piledrives him and goes for the pole again. DiBiase climbs up but Duggan pulls him off again and he takes a tremendous bump on his neck. Duggan now starts up his comeback and he starts tearing clothes off of DiBiase then throws him into the cage for good measure. Duggan climbs the pole and gets the glove but DiBiase pulls his powder and throws it in Duggan’s face then grabs the glove but misses his shot. Duggan hits an atomic drop but they knock heads as DiBiase bounces off the rope. DiBiase climbs up the ropes and misses a diving fistdrop and Duggan rips the glove off his hand looking like an animal he nails the bloody DiBiase with it. DiBiase took a hellacious bump off the glove and Duggan gets the win in a great all-action slugfest. Definite DVD nomination.

AWA World Heavyweight Title: Nick Bockwinkel © vs. “The American Dream” Dusty Rhodes (5/20/83)

DiBiase comes out before the match and challenges the winner for a title match. Bock brings his methodical style here and is a different opponent for Dusty at this time. Dusty is so great here doing his stuff and Boesch saying on commentary that Dusty has to stay fat to be effective was tremendous. Bock does what he does best here and that is bump like a motherfucker plus selling his ass off although he was really effective with his offense. Dusty’s selling before his comeback was so great and his violence party section was beyond awesome. Dusty started working towards the figure-four but after a ref bump, DiBiase came in and KOed Dusty with his “broken hand” and Bock made the cover for the win. Dusty blades the top of his head and the blood just pours out. This was really solid as Dusty was on fire here and it’s worth going on the block.

Chavo Guerrero vs. Mr. Olympia (6/24/83)

Chavo starts this out as a house of fire but Olympia would counter with some headbutts before taking it to the mat. Chavo would soon turn the tide after hitting a flying cross chop for a nearfall and then Chavo starts with some lucha style matwork which Olympia looks like he knows what to do. Chavo then goes to the punches and gets the advantage but misses a somersault senton and Olympia would take over with a reverse chinlock that he holds on to for quite awhile. Chavo would reverse it but Olympia jacked his jaw in response then continued his offensive barrage but Chavo would soon make his comeback with some great punches and started dragging Olympia around by the mask but Olympia would throw him into the corner to break that up. Olympia took control back but Chavo would hit a diving body block for a nearfall and then an inside cradle for another nearfall before throwing Olympia to the floor and hitting a pescado. The match would go back to the ring and Chavo kept pounding on Olympia in the corner until Jerry Usher broke it up, so Olympia would load up his boot and delivered a dropkick sending Chavo crashing and burning to the floor in an awesome bump. Olympia rolled Chavo back in the ring and tried to finish off Chavo with a sleeper but he fought his way back after Olympia missed a diving senton off the second rope. Chavo made a fiery comeback and used a nice German Suplex hold to win the match. Chavo went for the mask afterwards but Akbar stopped him then DiBiase ran in and Chavo cleaned house on everyone until DiBiase hit him in the back of the head with the loaded glove. Chavo would get his ass kicked some more until Wrestling II made the save. Great match with both men looking great especially Chavo and a definite nomination.

Texas Bullrope Match: Dusty Rhodes vs. Nick Bockwinkel (6/24/83)

Here is the big rematch and with Dusty’s specialty match. Bock got tied up and then tried to escape but Dusty brought him back in the hard way. Bock tried to use the rope to choke Dusty but he countered and used the bell across Bock’s head to break that up. Dusty just dominated Bock with the rope and the bell at this point rendering Bock a bloody mess basically using the rope as his tag team partner. Dusty then locked in the figure-four leglock but released it so he could beat on Bock some more with the bell. DiBiase then tried jump off the top rope on Dusty but missed and hit Bock leading to Dusty pinning him for the 3 count. Bundy then showed up and it was 3-on-1 until the faces made the save. This was a lot of fun but underwhelming to me as Dusty didn’t even blade till after the match. I’m on the fence as far as nomination goes.

Jake “The Snake” Roberts & “Dr. Death” Steve Williams vs. The Fantastics (Bobby Fulton & Tommy Rogers) (4/14/85)

It’s safe to say that OKC is Fantastics Country as the women are throwing themselves at them as they walk around the ring. Jake was so fucking great here as the cocksucker heel basically daring the Fants to attempt to punch him in the face after bodyslamming them. Fulton’s sell of the bodyslam alone is fantastic acting like he just got ran over by a car. Doc was great here as the stooging heel bumping and selling like a madman for the Fants. Fants looked great on offense and when it was time for Fulton to get his ass kicked he took a helluva beating. Fulton trying to get the hot tag was a great fight as Doc & Jake did their damndest to stop that especially Jake who hung on to Fulton’s tights and did an amateur takedown before tagging to Doc. Fulton hit a high kneelift worthy of Jake on Jake to begin the hot tag process and after Jake accidentally ran into Doc, Fulton made the tag. Rogers came in blazing hitting dropkicks on both men before turning into a 4-way brawl. Rogers had the O’Connor Roll on Doc but Jake came around and laid him out with the DDT to win the match. This was a fantastic fast paced match and a definite nomination.

JYD’s Crown on the line: Junkyard Dog vs. Nick Bockwinkel (6/11/82)

This is from Houston and if JYD wins he also gets 5 minutes against Bobby Heenan. The match starts with JYD using a lot of headbutts and punches and Bock getting to the floor as much as possible to stall and stooge around. JYD uses his raw power to dominate Bock but when JYD followed Bock to the floor, Bock ran him into the ringpost and gained the advantage. JYD is juicing now and Bock goes to work on the cut by banging his head into the turnbuckle but as he starts mounting a punching attack, JYD locks Bock into an inside cradle for a 3 count. JYD now gets 5 minutes with Heenan but Bock starts stomping JYD and Heeenan follows. JYD makes a quick comeback though and throws Heenan around for a bit until Bock comes back in for a 2-on-1 attack. Bruiser Brody then shows up and starts beating the hell out of Heenan as JYD takes care of Bock and they clear the ring. Brody & JYD embrace as the bloody JYD gets his crown. This was a fun match and post-match but not enough for a nomination.

Terry Taylor vs. “Hacksaw” Butch Reed (8/9/84)

Reed was supposed to face Iceman Parsons but Taylor took his spot instead and jumped Reed as soon as he hit the ring then took the battle to the floor. Taylor throws some great punches here and Reed is a great bumper but Reed would soon get the advantage back and he proceeded to stomp the shit out of Taylor. Reed then threw Taylor to the floor and then the ringside table before bringing it back to the ring where he continued his stomping. Reed would hit a nice piledriver for a nearfall and started laying the soupbones in this time really banging Taylor around. Taylor then made a fiery comeback and hit his five-arm which Reed did a flipjob on the sell. Taylor followed up with about 4 diving fistdrops and a couple of diving kneedrops before hitting Carl Fergie by accident. Reed tried for a press slam but Taylor countered in an O’Connor Roll when Dr. Death entered the ring with his football helmet for the DQ. Reed would then press slam Taylor and Doc used his spear causing Taylor to blade. Duggan would run in to make the save. This was a really solid match until the finish but still enough to make the block.