Here’s the second part of my flashback to July 1984
Next card up is July 23, 1984
The first thing that I notice on this card is that the attendance was right at 8,500. That’s a successful card (in the eyes of the promotion.) While not a sellout, it’s still a great payday.Next up, Lawler was deep into his feud with “Ravishing” Rick Rude. While Rude wasn’t a great scientific wrestler at this point, he was very good at getting the fans to hate him. This can carry you a long way, (back in the day). Rude eventually went on to the both the WWF & WCW and had a great career before injuries cut it short. Rick was another one of those guys who life was cut way to short. Rude ended up winning by DQ on this night and as per the pre-match stipulations, the loser, Lawler, was the recipient of 10 belt lashes.
Next on the card was one of the last appearances of the Road Warriors in Memphis , (for the Jarrett Promotion). The LOD and the Fabulous Ones (Steve Keirn & Stan Lane ) fought to a double dq in their match. I was a huge mark for both the Warriors and the Fabs. Even so, I always pulled for Hawk & Animal, whoever they fought.
In the No DQ match, the Rock N Roll Express defeated Randy Savage & Lanny Poffo. This feud was continuing to deliver on excitement and intensity. If you hadn’t noticed, this card had some really excellent tag teams on it.
Eddie Gilbert & “Dirty” Dutch Mantell failed in their bid to win the Southern tag titles from Phil Hickerson & the Spoiler (Frank Morrell). Eddie and Dutch were a very short lived tag team (I think it was a one week and out thing).
In the Southern heavyweight title match, the champ, Tommy Rich, went to a “No Contest” with King Kong Bundy.
All in all, it was a very solid Memphis card. Lawler getting the 10 lashes sure helped make the fans hate Rude even more. King Kong Bundy was building steam in his feud with Tommy Rich. The writing was on the wall that Bundy was moving up the heel ladder in Memphis . The Roadies were always a welcome addition to the Memphis cards. The Fabs were always “over” in Memphis . They were like Lawler in that they could do no wrong. In this feud with Savage & Poffo, Ricky Morton and Robert Gibson showed the Memphis fans they were tough enough to fight with the big boys (just like the Fabs did in their feuds with the Moondogs, Sheepherders, Assassins, etc).
And finally, the last card of the month was held on July 30, 1984
Lawler gets some revenge for the previous week’s belt lashes by defeating Rick Rude in a “belt-on-a-pole” match.
In the Southern tag title match, the Fabulous Ones (Steve Keirn & Stan Lane ) won by dq over the champs, Phil Hickerson & the Spoiler. The fans were hugely disappointed that their Fabs didn’t get the belts back this week. It had became the “norm” in Memphis for Jerry Lawler to have the Southern title. In a very short time, it became the norm for the Fabs to have the Southern tag titles. It’s a testament to how over they were in the territory. The emergence of the Fabs allowed Jerry Jarrett to run 2 cities a night in the circuit. One city would have Lawler in the main event and another would have the Fabs in the main event. It also shows how Jarrett could trade one of the most popular tag teams in the history of wrestling to Bill Watts’ Mid-South promotion (when he traded away the Rock N Roll Express because he had the Fabs.)
King King Bundy defeated Tommy Rich and won the Southern heavyweight title. This put Bundy on the top of the heap of Memphis heels. Within weeks, he would be teaming with Rick Rude, (against Lawler, Fabs, Road Warriors, etc). Speaking of Tommy Rich, he was just about to go into a huge feud with Eddie Gilbert (who was relegated to an opening match this week.)
Another match that you’d have to see to believe would have been the Tojo Yamamoto – Jimmy Hart bout. It would have been great comedy. I’m sure Tojo caught Hart at least once with one of his vicious chop. At that point I’m sure Hart’s “First Family” rushed the ring and attacked Tojo.
The Rock n Roll Express defeated Randy Savage & Lanny Poffo. This earned Ricky Morton the right to get 5 minutes in the ring with the Poffo’s dad (and wrestling manager), Angelo Poffo. This was pretty much the blow-off match for this feud. Within a few weeks, Jarrett turned Savage into a babyface and he was teaming with Lawler.
You got a solid card this week. There were tons of older Memphis stars (Lawler, Fabs, Rich, Tojo, Dutch, etc) and some of the newer ones.(RnR Xprs, Bundy, Rude, Savage, Gilbert, etc). The attendance was at 6,500 which is still decent.
As July 1984 ends, looking back on it was a great ride. I hope you enjoyed flashing back 24 years with me.
----Mark James is the author of “Memphis Wrestling History – Cards, Matches, Results, Newspaper Clippings” Vol 1 and "Vol 2: The Programs 1972 - 1976" James also is the webmaster to the BEST Memphis Wrestling site in the area – www.memphiswrestlinghistory.com - Click on his site and order his books!!
