I Spend My Days in the Mid-South Shadows, I Spend My Nights in the Sun. It's Hard to Tell if this Old Uphill Battle is Windin' Down or Just Begun

Dick Murdoch v Ted DiBiase (12/29/85)

One of the greatest boons of the NWA on Demand service was getting this in full. When the original DVDVR Mid-South set was put together we only had 11 minutes of it, missing the first five. It's been nearly 15 years since I last watched this so I don't remember a thing about it now. I know I liked it, but then obviously I would like it, I just don't remember WHY. I'm sure if I could speak to 2009 me he'd want to know if those opening five minutes really were as good as the rest of it. And well, 2023 me would have some good news for him because this was tremendous. It's DiBiase's return from injury after Murdoch jumped him on TV the previous month (after this), and of course he's out for blood. Murdoch goes after him as soon as DiBiase's coming through the ropes and DiBiase hits his amazing powerslam while Murdoch is still in his ring jacket. Which is a pretty great way to start a match. Honestly though, this might be one of the all-time Captain Redneck performances. He lived right in that sweet spot between vicious and craven, forcing the issue when he could but backpedalling and begging off when it looked like DiBiase would build up some steam. The punches looking great was a given, but some of the stomps were ungodly, some of the kicks to the head while DiBiase was on all fours, some of the elbow drops right across the throat, some amazing kneedrops to the neck while DiBiase was crumpled over the ropes. It was the neck that really tied all of this together as well. Murdoch had given DiBiase a brainbuster on concrete during the original angle and DiBiase sold that neck from the beginning here, or at least from the instant Murdoch took a pop at it, which was as good as the beginning. Murdoch really snaps DiBiase into the turnbuckles and Ted takes these crazy whiplash bumps and no wonder his neck was a shambles by like 1991. DiBiase's blood-drenched comeback is great, opening up Murdoch with a fist drop from hell and setting up the finishing run. Murdoch is sensational backing up and bleeding, knowing he's poked the bear but having nowhere to run, getting beaten from corner to corner, bumping on his face with keister in the air. The finishing run felt like a proper finishing run as well. They didn't just take it home after the comeback; they let DiBiase milk the revenge for a spell, then he went for another fist drop and missed, and from there they just kept building drama with DiBiase back behind the 8 ball. Murdoch drops him throat-first over the barricade, then smashes him in the neck repeatedly with the edge of a chair. These were some of the nastiest shots like it I've ever seen and you could even hear the smack off them, just ridiculously brutal stuff. When he hit calf branding off the top it looked like DiBiase was for being paralyzed. I thought the finish was great as well. Earlier in the match DiBiase went to load up the glove, but he never got to do anything with it before Murdoch was able to swarm him. After Murdoch hit calf branding I guess DiBiase knew he needed to play his trump card, so he loaded it up again, then slipped out the back of a brainbuster and rocked Murdoch's jaw. After the bell the Masked Superstar comes out and he and Murdoch try to put DiBiase back in the hospital, so we can all sleep well in the knowledge that this is not merely a one and done feud. 

Mid-South Project