1982 Mid-South TV!

So it looks like pretty much every episode of Mid-South Wrestling from 1982 through to the end of 1985 is up on the Network now (minus the small handful of episodes that I think have always been missing even from the bootlegger lists). When the hell did that happen? I knew '85 had been there for a while, but I figured it was only a smattering of episodes from '82-'83. That early 80s Irish McNeil Boys Club period of Mid-South has some WILD nostalgia buzz for me. It's not "this takes me back to the days of my youth when Freddos were still 10p and I wasn't yet decrepit" nostalgia. I hadn't arrived on this earth early enough to watch Mid-South Wrestling on TV. That's the sort of nostalgia I get from something like 1994 WWF, where I'll listen to Todd Pettengill talk his nonsense about whatever and get all fuzzy about recording episodes of All-American Wrestling (hosted by Gorilla Monsoon and Johnny Polo) and The Simpsons on Sky 1. Truly nostalgia for the simpler times. 

With early 80s Mid-South it's a different sort of nostalgia. I never properly watched any Mid-South until the DVDVR 80s set came out, but it wound up becoming one of my all-time favourite promotions and was probably the most fun I've had with wrestling since the late 90s watching RAW every week. Those early Bob Roop and Mr. Olympia matches might as well have happened in a different world than the one later inhabited by the Rock 'n' Roll Express and the Fantastics. The crowds of the former were full of old women and middle-aged men in trucker hats stopping off on a 400 mile round trip, while those of the latter were packed to the brim with screaming kids and teenagers, an altogether different sort of assemblage. That '84-'86 period is maybe my favourite run of any promotion ever, but there's something almost comforting about the earlier stuff in that big hangar-looking studio, maybe because it was my gateway to what would eventually be the stuff I loved more than anything. So I dived back in and let myself be embraced by the warm bosom of Mid-South. 

Andre the Giant, Dusty Rhodes & The Junkyard Dog v Ernie Ladd & The Wild Samoans (Mid-South, 1/16/82)

This is one of those matches where "could be a main event anywhere in the WORLD!" might actually apply (or at least anywhere in the country). Obviously Andre is mostly responsible for that, but Dusty is hardly small time and I think folks still underrate how huge the JYD was in Mid-South. It got about six minutes and Andre was involved for most of it, which is probably what you want. He makes everyone look small, including Ladd who I think was legitimately about the same size. At one point one of the Samoans tries to choke Andre from the apron and Andre just piggybacks him into the ring like it's merely a hefty child he's carrying. I know Andre was still mobile at this point but seeing him hit a splash off the middle rope was pretty wild. JYD also conked Afa with a headbutt and came out no worse for wear, so if you were wondering who sat higher in the carny pro-wrestling pantheon of indestructible heads then it is NOT the Samoans. 

Bob Orton Jr. v Mr. Olympia (Mid-South, 1/23/82)

Here's a story about Bob Orton. About ten years ago my friend and I were getting tanked up one weekday afternoon, really living the early-20s dream. Someone had the idea of sticking on one of those Smackdown! games that the youths play. So we went and did a Royal Rumble, getting progressively more rubber with each participant. I don't remember who I went for this Royal Rumble but my friend was Randy Orton. In Royal Rumble mode, once your wrester gets eliminated you can choose to go the next entrant and play as them instead, that way you're not sitting there like a dickhead watching the AI wrestle each other, which is a good thing because those rumbles could take forever. Whoever I went originally got eliminated and I eventually wound up going, you guessed it, Bob Orton Jr. My friend and I decided to team up, but then I stabbed him - my own son - in the back and eliminate him. My friend, flabbergasted, then shouted "Bob Orton, ma da!" which for the non-Scottish people means "Bob Orton, my father!" In our exceedingly pished up state we both found this hilarious and the term Bob Orton ma da has been a staple ever since, often to express exasperation or shock. For example: "They're going into ANOTHER lockdown! Bob Orton ma da!" I've even used it as a username for several things over the years. So there you go, a true window into the cracked and degenerated mind of a genius. Anyhow, Olympia was a bit of a revelation from the early 80s footage on the DVDVR set, culminating with that awesome Chavo Guerrero match. This is one of his very first appearances in the Mid-South area and he was already a really fun babyface. He had some nice headscissor work and I liked how Orton would stooge around in between, including an airplane spin to free himself before falling flat on his arse, partly out of dizziness, partly because that headscissor had taken its toll. Orton would continually try to slink out the ring and Olympia would stay on him, and by the time he hooked in that sleeper hold you knew it was lights out for Orton. And to that, I say, Bob Orton ma da!