CWA at the Mid-South Coliseum 3/3/85: LONG LIVE THE KING!!!!

[thecommish]

Continental Wrestling Association
Monday, February 24, 1985
Mid-South Coliseum, Memphis, TN 

1) Billy Joe Travis pinned The Canadian Spoiler at 10:56 when he connected with a dropkick off the second rope. 

2) The Mongolian Stomper (w/ Stomper Jr.) pinned Porkchop Cash (w/ the Dream Machine) when he drilled Cash with a big boot to the chest. Dream Machine tried to attack Stomper Jr. during the match, but the youngster impressed the crowd by fighting Dream off.  

3) Sweet Sensation (Stan Lane & Shawn Michaels) defeated The Good Ol’ Boys (Tommy Gilbert and Phil Hickerson) at 13:04 when Stan Lane connected with the super kick on Tommy Gilbert. Gilbert became distracted when The Nightmares came through the crowd and took two seats right in the front row near Phil Hickerson’s corner. The Good Ol’ Boys attacked The Nightmares after the match and fought with them around ringside, until Sweet Sensation intervened and helped run off Gilbert and Hickerson. 

4) Rick Rude pinned Stomper Jr. at 8:45 with the Rude Awakening neck-breaker. Another strong showing from Stomper Jr. tonight, but he still couldn't manage to overcome the size and experience edge of Rick Rude. The big news here is that clearly Rick Rude will not be in the tag match later on... or will he?
 
*Rick Rude passed “Wildfire” Tommy Rich on his way to the dressing room, while Big Bubba and Jimmy Hart waited in the ring. Rich and Rude had words, and as Wildfire walked past him, Rude attacked from behind with a double sedge. Rude then threw Rich head-first into the barricade and connected with the Rude Awakening neck-breaker! Jimmy Hart was gleeful as Rude threw the prone and bleeding Tommy Rich into the ring! 

5) Big Bubba Rogers (w/ Jimmy Hart) pinned ”Wildfire” Tommy Rich at 10:24 with the Bubba Slam. Rich fought back valiantly and gave Bubba the most competition of any match in his short career. However, the blood loss came into play and not even a former World Champion could kick out of a ring-shaking Bubba Slam. 

INTERMISSION 

Southern Tag Team Champions The Rock n’ Roll Express were out after the intermission, and soon Jimmy Hart with Big Bubba Rogers arrived to announce his mystery team. Hart revealed that as a signing bonus to the new client of First Family syndicate Hot Stuff International – the team challenging tonight will be:

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”HOTSTUFF” EDDIE GILBERT & RICK STEINER!!!!!! 

6) Hot Stuff International (Eddie Gilbert & Rick Steiner) (w/ Jimmy Hart and Big Bubba Rogers) defeated Southern Tag Team Champions The Rock n’ Roll Express (Ricky Morton & Robert Gibson) at 20:04 when Eddie Gilbert connected with the Hot Shot on Robert Gibson. Eddie Gilbert carried a vast majority of the ring-work here against his old enemies The Rock n’ Roll Express, but Steiner came in for some big power moves. Morton and Gibson scored several near falls on Gilbert, but the turning point came when Steiner illegally entered the ring and drilled Gibson with what he calls a Steinerline. Gibson was dazed and confused as he got up, allowing Eddie Gilbert to capitalize with his signature move. Steiner speared Ricky Morton as he entered the ring, allowing Eddie Gilbert to gain the pin-fall, the Southern Tag Team Titles and some major revenge in his long vendetta against the Rock n’ Roll Express! Jimmy Hart celebrated with Eddie Gilbert and rookie sensation Rick Steiner with the belts on the floor after the match. 

7) Southern Heavyweight Champion One Man Gang fought Dutch Mantell to a double disqualification at 15:00 when both men shoved the referee as they brawled. Dutch is a lot smaller than One Man Gang, but he is scrappy as hell and it showed as he raked, scratched and bit his way into contention in this match. The two men brawled all around the ringside area after the match and fought up the aisle and back to the dressing room, until several wrestlers and officials broke it up. 

The Devil’s Triangle were out in full force before our main event, and clearly the Southern Heavyweight Champion One Man Gang is planning to stay at ringside with Miss Linda for this highly anticipated bout. The lights in the Mid South Coliseum dim as the iconic music begins playing… 

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JERRY “THE KING” LAWLER & “Superstar” BILL DUNDEE – REUNITED!!!!! 

8) Main Event: Jake “The Snake” Roberts & Adrian Street vs. Jerry “The King” Lawler & “Superstar” Bill Dundee: 

The atmosphere here in the Mid South Coliseum is electric as The King and The Superstar step into the ring as partners for the first time in several years. Lawler is making his comeback tonight, having not been in a wrestling ring since before Christmas. Even Jake Roberts and Adrian Street seem aware of the gravity of this situation as Lawler receives a King’s welcome from his faithful Memphis fans. All four men meet in the center of the ring now – they are jaw-jacking here as referee Jerry Calhoun goes over the instructions. Lawler clearly wants to start with The Snake, but Roberts backs away and gets to his corner. The King is now challenging Street to start it off with him, but The Exotic One thinks better of it and lands a cheap shot on Bill Dundee. Dundee fires back and now this match is under way! 

Dundee is unloading on the Exotic Adrian Street with rights and lefts, getting this crowd going in the process. The Superstar shoots Street off the ropes and propels him with a high-angle back-drop. Street scurries to the ropes and complains about his back as Miss Linda rushes over to massage it. Jerry Calhoun is now ordering Dundee to stand back, and Street uses the distracting to tackle the Superstar. Street is raking the eyes here. He rolls to his corner and tags in the CWA Heavyweight Champion Jake “The Snake” Roberts. Roberts is in and he immediately drills Dundee with his patented knee lift and applies a side-headlock. Lawler is now rallying the fans to chant for Dundee, and it compels the Superstar to fight back to his feet and level Roberts with a series of elbow drops to the stomach. 

The Superstar finally shoots Roberts off to break the hold and wallops him, just as Adrian Street grabs Jerry Calhoun and begins arguing with him. Dundee now slides to his corner and tags in Jerry “The King” Lawler as the live audience explodes! Lawler vs. The Snake – it’s finally happening! Hold on, Street has just re-directed Calhoun – the referee didn’t see the tag and is ordering Lawler out and Dundee back in! Lawler is furious here and so are the people as Roberts pulls himself back up with a sly smile on his face. Dundee steps back into the ring, but Roberts is right there to deck him kick to the gut. The Snake pulls Dundee in and levels him with a short-arm clothesline. 

Roberts is now signalling for the DDT and he lifts Dundee up and pulls him in once again. Dundee shoves him off and as Jake spins around, the Superstar levels him with a clothesline! Down goes The Snake! And now Dundee is to his knees and dives into the CORNER – HOT TAG TO THE KING!!!!! Now that one was legal as The King steps into the ring – and Roberts scurries backwards and tags Adrian Street back in. The Exotic One does not look too thrilled as The King steps into the ring and he puts up his dukes. Street reluctantly enters the ring and he puts his hands up – motioning for The King to take it easy. Adrian Street is trying to talk his way out of what comes next – and The King is hearing him out!  Street is pleading with Lawler now and The King smiles and looks around at the fans, who are booing Street.

Adrian Street tries to use the distraction again to pounce – BUT GETS A HUGE RIGHT HAND FROM THE KING AS THE FANS EXPLODE WITH CHEERS!!!! Jerry Lawler is back and he is unloading on Adrian Street with rights and lefts! Lawler scoops Street up and connects with an atomic drop! Street is wobbly here as The King scoops him up and holds him in the air for a delayed back suplex! Street is rolling around in pain at this point as The King grabs him by his long white locks of hair! The King hurls Street right into Roberts – and Calhoun signals that it counts as a tag! 

Jerry Lawler is motioning for Jake Roberts to get in the ring now. The Snake doesn’t want to – and he resists, but he is ordered by Jerry Calhoun to enter the ring. Jake slowly steps into the rind and methodically starts walking in circles around the ring, with Lawler following. The Snake seems more concerned with the King, and misses when Dundee grabs him from out on the apron. Lawler pounces – and HE DRILLS THE SNAKE! RIGHT HANDS AS DUNDEE HOLDS ROBERTS!!! Jerry Calhoun orders Dundee to let go and he does as Lawler goes to town on The Snake. Lawler slams Roberts in the center of the ring and now goes up to the second rope. The King flies off with a knee drop – BUT ROBERTS MOVES OUT OF THE WAY!!!! 

The Snake got out of the way and now rolls over to his corner and tags Street back in to a huge amount of jeers! Street – again annoyed – steps back into the ring and sprints across the ring to stomp on Lawler’s neck. Street now begins clawing the eyes. Street is vicious here as he claws at The King’s eyes, trying to drawn blood. Lawler fights him away, but Street collars him and begins trying to choke the life out of him. Lawler shoves him away again. Street now rakes the eyes, but Lawler shoves him down to the canvas with a tud this time! THE STRAP COMES DOWN!!! Jerry Lawler has pulled down the strap and the people are on their feet. 

The King drills Street with a right hand, pulls him up and suplexes him to the canvas. Hold on – One Man Gang is on the apron now and he is yelling at The King! Not for long because here comes Dutch Mantell with Shoo Baby!! He runs behind The Gang and whips him across the back! Down goes One Man Gang! Street is back up now and he charges at The King, but Lawler scoops him up and slams him hard right in the center of the ring! Lawler now climbs all the way up to the top rope. He points at Roberts and leaps off – FLYING FIST DROP CONNECTS!!!! Lawler covers!!! Bill Dundee is in to hold off Roberts, who doesn’t make a move in his corner! Jerry Calhoun counts ONE… TWO…. THREE!!!!



JERRY "THE KING LAWLER AND "SUPERSTAR" BILL DUNDEE WIN!!!!

THE KING WINS HIS COMEBACK MATCH!!!!! One Man Gang and Jake “The Snake” Roberts pull Adrian Street out of the ring, as Roberts shouts that this isn’t over!!! Lawler nods that Jake is right! Tonight, fans, The King is on top of the mountain and he is back here in CWA!!! Lawler, Dundee and Mantell celebrate in the ring to close out the biggest Mid-South Coliseum show of the year thus far.

[Captain Charisma]

Great night of action at MSC. Love Gilbert and Steiner as tag champs and can't wait to see more out of them and the RnR's. Huge win for Bubba, and I'm STOKED about the prospects of Rude vs. Rich, that should be great. What a huge main event. Kingfish looked great in his return and would have blown the roof of MSC with the strap drop and flying fist drop. Dutch, Dundee, and Lawler, on the same page? Seems too good to last for an extended period of time, but it is certainly hot right now. Great main event, Memphis is burning white hot.

[doctorfate]

Great return by the King. Having Gilbert and Steiner winning those belts this early on could lead to lots of good rivalry with Ricky and Robert. Rude and Wildfire=green. Enjoying the Stomper story line. Wonder what Sweet Sensation will undertake, now.

Great stuff.

[jp1985]

Nice to see Billy Joe Travis get a look in the opener and not job out or anything. He has potential and momentum after the Eddie Gilbert stuff, and throw him a partner and you have a match that can garner some interest against Gilbert & Steiner.

Tag team division still going strong. Stomper and Cash would have been a slug fest, and hopefully we get some more of those 2. Nice work with the Sweet Sensation tag. They get to go over, while the appearance of The Nitemares keeps the Good Ol' Boys strong enough in defeat to get some interest in seeing them go at it. Not that a match that low on the card needs backing, especially with your current main event stuff selling all the tickets probably, but it never hurts round out the card.

Surprised to see Rich take another loss. At least there was the Rude attack beforehand which saves some face, but the guy could use a win coming out of the One Man Gang and into this. Interested to see what you have lined up for Bubba as he has big time potential if pushed as a dominant type for a draw with Lawler, and a win over Rich would seem to indicate there are plans.

Good time to give Gilbert & Steiner the belts. There is an argument that could be made that a slow play could have been better and longer lasting, but I always feel in Memphis, that does not work the same and with the weeklies needing to draw, you gotta do all you can in the now vs think about 6 months from now. Sucks to be the RnRs with their week reign, but who is kidding who, they will eventually get the belts back at some point as long as they are here lol. Like I said at the start, might not be good to do now as this program can run a while, but throw Travis a partner and at minimum, you have a good TV main event.

Liked that Dutch hung in there. Noticing the Rocky vid for Lawler, every feud for Gang right now has a bit of that going with it. A smaller guy, an inevitable underdog, and they have to hang in there to get the job done against the odds. That said, there is a reason the Rocky theme is used in conjunction with Lawler!

Lawler looks like a million bucks in there. Handled perfectly, giving the fans a taste of what is to come, and giving Lawler the win over Adrian Street. No DDT, and that is how it should have been handled week 1. This is a feud that can easily carry you a couple months yet, throw in some eventual teases of dissension with Dundee and I would even give it 3. Looking forward to seeing how this gets followed up on.

[thecommish]

Just to mention, CWA took the week off after the super show, with highlights airing on Championship Wrestling.

Lawler, The Snake and Hot Stuff International will all be in the studio for Championship Wrestling this Sarurday!

[Captain Charisma]

Mar 6, 2014 22:33:14 GMT jp1985 said:

Nice to see Billy Joe Travis get a look in the opener and not job out or anything. He has potential and momentum after the Eddie Gilbert stuff, and throw him a partner and you have a match that can garner some interest against Gilbert & Steiner.



I was thinking about this a bit, and that is some pretty genius stuff. The work Gilbert put in with Travis, and him maintaining respectability since then, really do make he and a partner viable for a shot or two at the First Family. Who that partner is will go a long way because Travis is still young, but the beast that is Memphis/MSC booking requires sub contenders like that if Eddie and Steiner hold the titles for any length, which is also no guarantee in Memphis. But to buy a week or two of time in the middle of title feud with the RnR's, a 2 TV and 1 or 2 MSC swing against Travis and someone is alone worth the investment put into Travis thus far. That being said, Billy Joe can keep on learning and there be just enough done on TV that we don't forget his history with Eddie and it stay in Commish's back pocket for now. 

The undercard here more than holds its own with what has been an all time classic King rivalry. Just great work on a consistent basis Justin.
Peace
Jeff