Unanswered Rewatch: 1986 Mid-South Wrestlng

    I've been rewatching YouTube videos when I have downtime at home and the office and usually I'm watching old football games as I can mute the television and watch as I speak with someone on the phone or on video chat.

However, I sometimes rewatch entire years or seasons at once and I'm working on 1986 in the promotion owned by Bill Watts that started the year as Mid-South Wrestling and changed its name to the Universal Wrestling Federation as the year progressed in an attempt to establish itself as a national promotion.

I first noticed the UWF on Baltimore television in August 1986, and I am currently watching May, so up to that point, it's either a new episode to me or I saw it so long ago that I remember very little about seeing the episode.

For the purposes of this, I am going to ask questions that I do not have the answer and should I ever receive those answers- I will edit this and give credit to whoever gives the answer.

On one program, the old (not the one that would be turned over to the company when the UWF title becomes the top title in the federation) North American championship belt was offered in a contest with one clue given over four shows to make a guess on the trivia question with the winner winning the belt.

I've seen two of these four episodes, so I'm sure they eventually announce the winner, but does that person still own that belt? And if not, who does?

The big Russian character Korstia Korchenko managed by "Hot Stuff" Eddie Gilbert was being given a huge push on television and even had interaction with Cowboy Bill Watts but disappeared suddenly and quickly shortly after that.

Why was this cut off and was there an incident with Korchenko and someone else in the territory?

I didn't recognize Korchenko, so did he have a previous gimmick in another area? And where did Korchenko wrestle after leaving Mid-South?

Then-North American champion Dick Slater, also held the Mid-South TV title, which was against the promotion rules, and a vignette was shown with Slater and valet Dark Journey dumping the TV medal ( yes, medal) into the Mississippi River.

It was an excuse to replace the medal with a traditional title belt (I didn't care for the medal but credit them for trying something different) but the question is did anyone ever look for or find the medal at the bottom of the river?

Am I the only person who thinks the Fantastics were better than the Rock N Roll Express?

Granted, they never drew the same money as the RnR but some of that was good fortune in getting to an area first, their matches hold up a little better and I firmly believe that the late Tommy Rogers of the Fantastics ranks with the most underrated stars of the age.

The commentary of Bill Watts is so on point and more like a true sports analyst rather than the often cartoonish aspect that so many wrestling color commentators portray.

While Watts does an excellent job in getting the points across that he wants, I'm not sure that it would play as well today.

Take, for example, his feelings on Russia and yes, he is trying to make the Russian Korchenko the heel in this case but he paints such a broad brush covering all Russians as being cheats and horrible people (you had to know the times) that I'm not sure that his commentary would wear well in the current climate.

Another topic that both Watts and Jim Ross mentioned on two different shows was how Michael Hayes was the "Charles Manson-like" cult leader of the Fabulous Freebirds and once mentioned that Terry Gordy was under the spell of Hayes.

While I've never heard of anything beyond pointing out that Hayes was the leader of the team, I wonder if it had ever been discussed to have Hayes as a cult leader with Gordy and Buddy Roberts doing his bidding?

It's more likely that it was a talking point to establish Michael Hayes as the leader and mouthpiece of the group but it's interesting to think about.

I have watched into May at this point, so I may do a second post on this topic after I have finished the year.  

Looking at the Mid-South DVD

 I purchased one of the WWE's DVD releases, mainly because I still have a love for the old product and enjoy taking a trip down memory lane or in some cases, seeing things that I missed on the first time around.

Growing up here without cable until I was 16 meant only the WWF was a product that I was able to enjoy watching, but my brother and I kept track of the other territories around through the magazines that we faithfully purchased and told us all about what was happening in them.
The magazines were about three months behind in what was in them as the events, but in the non-internet, no mainstream coverage era, they were pretty much all you had to go by as news, and the coverage treated wrestling as a legitimate sport, which sounds ludicrous I know, but made them more of a fun read.

My brother and I spent most of our allowances on the magazines (I bought tons of boxing magazines too) and I remember well a tag team "Match" with Shane and me as "Jesse Ventura & Adrian Adonis" against two friends of mine as "the Samoans", at a time before either Ventura or Adonis had arrived in the local territory.
Without those magazines, we would have no idea who those two gentlemen were!

However, of all the various territories, the one that seemed most legitimate and mysterious was the Mid-South territory comprised of Mississippi, Arkansas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, and East Texas.
Georgia was the territory we missed out on (no cable), Mid Atlantic seemed to have the best wrestlers (A future post might deal with a rainy vacation that Shane and I spent in Chincoteague VA), Memphis was the wildest gimmicks and Florida had some of the top wrestlers in the game, but Mid South was a different breed.
The company didn't get the attention of others by the magazines, but it seemed to have a more realistic feel, which years later I would find out was by design by owner "Cowboy" Bill Watts.
Watts wanted his fans to think his product was real and he stressed that on his show.

I still recall a 1986 day when either Shane or I (I don't remember which) discovered the Mid South (by then renamed UWF) program on WBFF out of Baltimore on at the same time as the WWF program and immediately being struck even then as so much more gritty and realistic than the more cartoony product of the more mainstream company.
Super memories of that day and the future show that we were able to watch.

YouTube has made many of the clips viewable, but I still wanted the DVD made possible by the WWE purchasing the Mid South library from Bill Watts' ex-wife.
Cleaned up tapes and the always interesting documentaries made this a must purchase.
It was worthwhile, but with a few glitches that I would have changed.

The one thing that I would change by far was this-Original theme music taken away and replaced by generic filler music.
It stands out clearly that this is dubbed in as the fans are piped in and anyone speaking has a lower and dull sound until the music is over.
It just is not the same seeing the Midnight Express without the "Chase" theme or the Fabulous Freebirds without "Freebird" or the Michael Hayes sung "Badstreet USA".
It is visible to the fan and the product suffers for it.
Jim Cornette has said in the past that Vince McMahon hates paying for music rights after watching this, that strikes quite true.

The documentary was done differently from past issues as the documentary was broken up through the three discs instead of the previous releases that would have a documentary on one disc and matches on the other.
I kinda liked it the old way, but it was not terrible in the manner that they did it.

However, the documentary was very well done as they talked to about everyone that you could think of from Mid South. Ted DiBiase, Jake Roberts, Terry Taylor, Michael Hayes, Jim Ross to name just a few, and of course, the mind behind it all-Bill Watts.
WWE even used some old footage of interviews from the now-deceased Steve "Dr. Death" Williams and Freebird Buddy Roberts for their thoughts on the territory along with Jim Cornette from days when he was on good terms with the company.

The matches chosen were very well chosen with several great matches and angles with a Ric Flair title defense against Terry Taylor, a few Midnight Express-Rock N Roll Express matches, and a Terry Gordy vs Steve Williams match among many terrific selections, but my favorite was one that I had only seen on YouTube as Ric Flair took on fellow baddie Ted DiBiase, who was turned "good guy" in one night due to the interference of Dick Murdoch, who always reminded me of my late grandfather "Dukes" for some reason.
It was as good as expected.

The set has some flaws and I would hope that a future second release might correct those, but overall, Mid South Wrestling is well worth your time and if you love 80's "rasslin'" from a more solid angle, give it a shot, I think you'll enjoy it.