Mid-South Wrestling: Week of 1/28/80-2/3/80

For the week ending February 3rd, 1980: DiBiase wins the North American title, a "wonderful" newcomer, Watts takes a big step back & more!

Here's a look at the talent roster along with SPOT ratings and FEUD scores for the week.

In what is probably the ultimate sign that Bill Watts was confident in the abilities of his roster, he took himself off the road this week. In fact, aside from working one show in Florida in February, Watts doesn't appear to set foot in the ring again until August. He now has a roster of young, hungry and talented wrestlers, with crafty vets such as Buck Robley and Ernie Ladd there to guide them not only in the ring but likely behind the scenes as well.

Paul Orndorff returned here this week. His last stint in the territory was about 16 months earlier, though he made one Superdome appearance in July '79. Paul had been working in Knoxville on shows promoted by Jim Barnett that featured Georgia stars plus part of the crew that had been working in Knoxville for Ron Fuller (Fuller sold the Knoxville office to Barnett in November).

Ox Baker finished up his brief run in the territory. After working a handful of shows in East Texas, Ox then went to Mid-Atlantic. His run here was pretty much solely to build up Ted DiBiase and get him ready for a big run. That big run took a giant step this week, as DiBiase defeated Mike George on Friday in Shreveport to win the North American title.

JYD & Buck Robley continue to battle with The Freebirds (Hayes & Gordy) this week; their FEUD Score increases again this week to a 36. As a general rule of thumb, a score above 25 is considered a feud, while a score above 40 is considered a "major feud".  JYD also had a main event singles bout against Gordy this week in Houma.

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Known house show lineups for the week:

Tuesday - Baton Rouge, LA
-Louisiana state title: Ernie Ladd vs Iron Mike Sharpe
-Buck Robley & Junkyard Dog vs Michael Hayes & Terry Gordy
-Ben Alexander & Ricky Fields vs Bob Sweetan & Tank Patton
-Mike George vs Ted DiBiase
-Charlie Cook vs Frenchy Martin
-Bull Ramos vs Steve Hall

Thursday - Greenville, MS
-Iron Mike Sharpe & Junkyard Dog vs Michael Hayes & Terry Gordy
-Bob Sweetan vs Ted DiBiase
-Mike Bowyer vs Ricky Fields
-Ben Alexander vs Frenchy Martin
-Igor Putski vs Mike Blood

Friday - Shreveport, LA
-North American title: Mike George vs Ted DiBiase
-Special challenge match: Ernie Ladd vs Junkyard Dog
-Iron Mike Sharpe & King Cobra vs Michael Hayes & Terry Gordy
-Bob Sweetan vs Paul Orndorff
-Bull Ramos & Tank Patton vs Ricky Fields & Steve Hall
-Ben Alexander vs Frenchy Martin

Saturday - Greenwood, LA
-Buck Robley & Junkyard Dog vs Michael Hayes & Terry Gordy
-Mike George vs Ted DiBiase
-Frenchy Martin vs King Cobra
-Igor Putski vs Mike Bowyer

Saturday - Loranger, LA
-Iron Mike Sharpe vs Tank Patton
-Bull Ramos vs Paul Orndorff
-Mike Blood vs Ricky Fields
-Ben Alexander vs Chris Curtis

Sunday - Houma, LA
-Junkyard Dog vs Terry Gordy
-Bull Ramos & Tank Patton vs Paul Orndorff & Ted DiBiase
-Frenchy Martin vs Iron Mike Sharpe
-Mike Blood vs Ricky Fields
-Chris Curtis vs Mike Bowyer