I Never Stay in One Place Long, I'm just a Natural Born Rambler. My Mama was a Mid-South Dance Hall Girl and My Daddy was a Riverboat Gambler

The Fantastics v Bill Dundee & Dutch Mantell (10/4/85)

A very different encounter from the arena match, but a very fun one all the same. This was basically a bullwhip on a pole match and if nothing else it makes you appreciate how good Bill Dundee is in matches where the wrestlers are required to climb up and/or on top of shit. In fact everyone really milked the hell out of climbing that pole and securing the weapon they could freely use, but Dundee was the most creative about it and brought the most urgency. The match was only about seven minutes and that was probably the perfect length for it. They never beat about the bush in going for the prize - there was no slow build to it like there might be in a ladder match, no added psychology where you had someone working a leg to prevent the climb, the pole was the central focus and every few seconds you had someone trying to shimmy up it as quick as possible. They'd reach a point of diminishing returns before very long that way so a full blown sprint was the right choice. Not sure why Eddie Gilbert got involved at the end, but Dundee takes an amazing bump out the ring and over the barricade before Mantell puts a whippin' on someone. This is a crazy good match-up, shockingly enough. 

Ted DiBiase v Bob Sweetan (Taped Fist Match) (10/11/85)

Badass little brawl. It's about ten minutes and a really awesome DiBiase performance. All of his punches looked great and he hit four or five fist drops that were A+++. His bumping ruled as well, hurling himself out the ring and nearly wiping a cameraman, an awesome sort of half-flip bump after getting caught with a punch coming off the top, then bleeding an absolute gusher off a bump into the turnbuckle bolt. Sweetan is as gruff as anybody you'll ever see, but he was sympathetic in a tubby kid getting beat on by the football players way. Or tubby homeless man who sleeps in a bin getting beat on by the football players way. He took an unprotected chairshot to the head and got cut open but he never gave up the fight. In the end he might've come out on top had he a loaded glove of his own. 

Mid-South Project