Mid-South Wrestling: Week of 9/6-9/12 1982
Our coverage of 1982 continues with a look at the week ending September 12th: JYD takes some time off, a look at the current titleholders in the territory, the Grappler returns, Robley wants Akbar & more!
For new readers, this post and this post will help you understand the SPOT rating and what it means.
Here's a look at the talent roster along with their SPOT ratings for the week.
The first number to the right of each wrestler's name is their SPOT rating for this week and the second number is their rating for the previous week. Babyfaces are in blue on the left-hand side, heels in orange on the right. They are listed in descending order; wrestlers at the top were mostly in main events while wrestlers at the bottom were mostly in preliminary matches.
I have data for the following house shows this week:
Monday - New Orleans, LA
Tuesday - Baton Rouge, LA
Wednesday - Jackson, MS
Thursday - Biloxi, MS
Friday - Shreveport, LA
(New Orleans data comes from cagematch.net)
Notes/Analysis: Junkyard Dog main-evented New Orleans in a non-title dog collar match against North American champ Ted DiBiase. JYD won the match, but was not booked the rest of the week. Not sure if there was an injury angle on TV or they just gave him a little time off to rest, but DiBiase spends most of the rest of the week facing Mr. Wrestling II. They faced off in title bouts in Baton Rouge, Jackson and Biloxi. In Shreveport, DiBiase teamed with Hacksaw Duggan to face Buck Robley & Dick Murdoch in the main event.
Also in Shreveport, Iron Mike Sharpe fought Killer Khan for the Louisiana state title. Title histories show that Sharpe won the title from Khan on the August 18th TV taping in Shreveport. As mentioned previously, Khan was the Mississippi state champ at this time. The other championship recognized in the territory was the Mid-South Tag Team titles held by JYD & Mr. Olympia. However, with JYD feuding with DiBiase, those titles were not defended much at this time. Olympia was booked in five singles bouts this week, facing Duggan twice and also facing One Man Gang, Tony Anthony and Billy Starr once apiece.
After leaving the territory in mid-July for a New Japan tour, The Grappler (Lynn Denton) returned this week. He was booked against Jesse Barr in Shreveport. He had actually spent a couple of weeks in Southwest once the Japan tour ended, then came back here. Ernie Ladd also returned for one shot in Baton Rouge against Duggan. Ladd was nearing the end of a twenty-plus year career as a wrestler. He would have a brief stint in Florida later in the year, then take much of 1983 off before going to Crockett for a big run the first half of 1984, then coming back here for his final in-ring run.
The other major feud making its way through the house shows was that of Buck Robley and Scandor Akbar. Akbar was managing One Man Gang and Killer Khan, and this week Robley teamed up with Iron Mike Sharpe to face Akbar's men on three separate occasions (Baton Rouge, Jackson and Biloxi). In each match, the stipulation was that if Robley's team won he would get five minutes with Akbar. I don't have results from those matches, but New Orleans had a Robley-Gang singles bout with the same stipulation. Buck won that bout and then went on to beat Akbar by DQ in their five-minute match.
Frequent matches:
Junkyard Dog vs Ted DiBiase
Mr Wrestling II vs Ted DiBiase
Buck Robley & Iron Mike Sharpe vs Killer Khan & One Man Gang
Hacksaw Duggan vs Mr Olympia
Frequent tag team combinations:
Killer Khan & One Man Gang
Buck Robley & Iron Mike Sharpe
For new readers, this post and this post will help you understand the SPOT rating and what it means.
Here's a look at the talent roster along with their SPOT ratings for the week.
I have data for the following house shows this week:
Monday - New Orleans, LA
Tuesday - Baton Rouge, LA
Wednesday - Jackson, MS
Thursday - Biloxi, MS
Friday - Shreveport, LA
(New Orleans data comes from cagematch.net)
Notes/Analysis: Junkyard Dog main-evented New Orleans in a non-title dog collar match against North American champ Ted DiBiase. JYD won the match, but was not booked the rest of the week. Not sure if there was an injury angle on TV or they just gave him a little time off to rest, but DiBiase spends most of the rest of the week facing Mr. Wrestling II. They faced off in title bouts in Baton Rouge, Jackson and Biloxi. In Shreveport, DiBiase teamed with Hacksaw Duggan to face Buck Robley & Dick Murdoch in the main event.
Also in Shreveport, Iron Mike Sharpe fought Killer Khan for the Louisiana state title. Title histories show that Sharpe won the title from Khan on the August 18th TV taping in Shreveport. As mentioned previously, Khan was the Mississippi state champ at this time. The other championship recognized in the territory was the Mid-South Tag Team titles held by JYD & Mr. Olympia. However, with JYD feuding with DiBiase, those titles were not defended much at this time. Olympia was booked in five singles bouts this week, facing Duggan twice and also facing One Man Gang, Tony Anthony and Billy Starr once apiece.
After leaving the territory in mid-July for a New Japan tour, The Grappler (Lynn Denton) returned this week. He was booked against Jesse Barr in Shreveport. He had actually spent a couple of weeks in Southwest once the Japan tour ended, then came back here. Ernie Ladd also returned for one shot in Baton Rouge against Duggan. Ladd was nearing the end of a twenty-plus year career as a wrestler. He would have a brief stint in Florida later in the year, then take much of 1983 off before going to Crockett for a big run the first half of 1984, then coming back here for his final in-ring run.
The other major feud making its way through the house shows was that of Buck Robley and Scandor Akbar. Akbar was managing One Man Gang and Killer Khan, and this week Robley teamed up with Iron Mike Sharpe to face Akbar's men on three separate occasions (Baton Rouge, Jackson and Biloxi). In each match, the stipulation was that if Robley's team won he would get five minutes with Akbar. I don't have results from those matches, but New Orleans had a Robley-Gang singles bout with the same stipulation. Buck won that bout and then went on to beat Akbar by DQ in their five-minute match.
Frequent matches:
Junkyard Dog vs Ted DiBiase
Mr Wrestling II vs Ted DiBiase
Buck Robley & Iron Mike Sharpe vs Killer Khan & One Man Gang
Hacksaw Duggan vs Mr Olympia
Frequent tag team combinations:
Killer Khan & One Man Gang
Buck Robley & Iron Mike Sharpe
