Mid-South Wrestlefest ’85

Date: July 28, 1985

Location: State Fair Arena, Oklahoma City, OK

The Setup

We have a big outdoor show here, headlined by not only a Mid South title match, but NWA champion, Ric Flair, and Dusty Rhodes were brought in to work their match for the NWA title.  With Jake vs. DiBiase underneath, this is a stacked show. 

The Business

The crowd was reported at about 12,000 people, a very healthy number for Mid South.  

The Results

Al Perez def. Mark Ragin in 5:55. There was a whole lot of amateur wrestling. It looked good, but it had only one gear, and that gear was slow. Perez won with a German suplex. *1/4 

One Man Gang def. Wendell Cooley in 4:48. It’s funny watching strapping ass Wendell Cooley play “little man”. They fucked up the finish when Gang dropped Cooley on a crossbody where he was supposed to slam him. Gang won with a splash anyway. It was decent before that sequence made the crowd groan. *1/2 

The Barbarian def. Brickhouse Brown in 4:50. The Barbarian was John Nord, and this went how you would expect, much as I love Brick. Nord won a pretty one-sided match with a cobra clutch. *1/4

The Fantastics def. Eddie Gilbert & Jerry Gray in 12:36. The crowd was off the charts for the Fantastics. Watching them work the arm with constant double teams and just great crowd work was awesome. Gray and Gilbert were also great here, playing bumping heels and doubling Fulton a lot for the heat. Rogers came in for a solid hot tag and won with a sunset flip on Gray. Maybe I liked this more than most, but oh well. ***3/4

Jake Roberts def. Ted DiBiase in 13:12. If I told you the psychology was incredible, would you believe me? The DDT was so over in this territory, and Jake teased it numerous times in the match, and the crowd kept popping every time it looked like Jake would finally hit it. DiBiase got a ton of heat beating on Jake. The finish saw DiBiase set up to use the loaded black glove, but Jake caught him and finally hit the DDT for the win. This was a lot of fun. ***

Butch Reed def. Dutch Mantell in 10:01. Much like the last, another well-worked match between two vets. Mantel tried winning with the ass end of his whip, but Butch kicked out for a believable near fall. Butch won with an awesome press slam. ***

Jim Duggan, Bill Watts & Dick Murdoch def. Skandor Akbar, Kamala & Kareem Muhammad in 9:27. This was mostly a wild brawl with the babyfaces fighting for ‘Murica in the Midwest. Kamala sold a lot for a monster. There was some stalling early because they didn’t have much to do with this crowd, but the work was good overall. Watts won for his team with a bodyslam on Kamala. He was pushed hard in this match. **1/2

NWA World Heavyweight Title: Ric Flair (C) vs. Dusty Rhodes ended in a Double DQ at 15:20. This was a very typical Flair/Rhodes match – good with a horrible finish. They certainly had their spots they would hit in these matches, and they checked all the boxes except juice. There was a ref bump, and he saw Dusty backdrop Flair out of the ring, and the ref DQ’d Dusty when he got to his feet. **3/4 

Mid-South North American Heavyweight Title: Wahoo McDaniel def. The Champion by DQ in 4:44. The Champion is Randy Culley (Moondog Spot) under a hood. Their work was solid, but this didn’t get much time and ended when Eddie Gilbert broke up a pin attempt by missing an elbow and getting DQ’d. *1/2 

The Verdict 

Thumbs in the middle. The finishes to both big title matches left a lot to be desired to give this a thumbs up. They found a good rhythm after a few of the earlier, quicker matches, but the big-match endings brought it back down again.