Memphis Wrestling
July 12, 1980
Memphis, TN
WMC-5 TV Studio
(first aired on 7/5/80)

The current Memphis wrestling champions are as follows:
AWA World Champion: Nick Bockwinkel (11/8/1975)
CWA World Champion: Billy Robinson (4/28/1980)
AWA Southern Heavyweight Champion: Paul Ellering (4/7/1980)
AWA Southern Tag Team Champions: Ken Lucas & Ricky Morton (6/9/1980)

Your hosts are Lance Russell and Dave Brown. Can’t tell if the video quality is bad or if the lights have been dimmed in the studio.

• El Mongol (w/Jimmy Hart) vs. Carl Fergie
  

So El Mongol is from Mongolia by way of Tijuana, I suppose. If that were true, I believe his name should actually be El Mongolo. Jimmy Hart has added to his First Family since we last visited Memphis. He now has El Mongol and Killer Karl Krupp. El Mongol complains about hair pulling as Fergie controls with hiptosses and such. Fergie grabs an armbar and switches over to a headlock, but El Mongol pulls the hair and chops him up against the ropes. El Mongol is all about chops to the throat as well. He applies a nerve hold to put Fergie on the mat. When Fergie stands up, Mongol thumbs in the throat and chokes the stew out of him according to Dave Brown. A backdrop to Fergie gets two. Fergie knocks Mongol off the top rope and hammers him down in the corner. As Fergie continues his comeback, El Mongol throws him over the top rope for the DQ. (6:02) Memphis had been treating Fergie pretty well since he arrived on the scene including southern heavyweight title matches with Ellering on some spot shows. This was a fine finish though to heat things up between these two guys as they will be feuding throughout the circuit.

Louisville Gardens promo. There will be a “strap on a pole chicken wire” match between Jimmy Valiant and Superstar Bill Dundee against Killer Karl Krupp and Paul Ellering. Dundee stops by to let us know ALL HELL will break loose. Valiant comes over as well. WOO MERCY. People are gonna get WHUPPED.

Memphis legend Sputnik Monroe is now working as a manager and he’s got some words for Jerry Jarrett on what sounds like a bad payoff. He’s a diamond ring and a Cadillac man with expensive habits. Sounds like he’s got somebody backing him to fight Jarrett and Tojo Yamamoto now. Anyways, classic promo here from Sputnik. Russell tells us that Sputnik has been hired by the Manchurians to handle Jarrett and Tojo.

We hear the other side of the story from Jerry Jarrett and Tojo Yamamoto. He says they brought in Sputnik Monroe to help out in their match against the Blonde Bombers and Danny Davis. Sputnik did exactly what he was supposed to do by keeping Danny Davis out of the match. He and Tojo split the gate: $500 each. The tape goes crazy and we never hear how much Sputnik was paid. Tojo gets on the mic and tells Sputnik got paid more than he was worth. If Sputnik wants Tojo and his protégé Jerry Jarrett, he needs to come meet them in the ring.

• Jerry Bryant vs. David Oswald
  

Russell points out that Oswald has been bending the rules as of late. Bryant tries to dictate the pace with armbars and headlocks throughout the match. Oswald won’t give clean breaks though. He really likes that back elbow. In fact once Bryant ducks a back elbow, Oswald gets caught with a clothesline and he’s pinned at 5:31.

Lance Russell takes us back to the Mid-South Coliseum from June 30 where Jimmy Valiant and Superstar Bill Dundee defeated Paul Ellering and Killer Karl Krupp. They show us the finish where Dundee pins Ellering. Next up, they take us to Rupp Arena in Lexington KY where Dundee gets a southern heavyweight title match. While he doesn’t win the title here due to interference from Killer Karl Krupp, Dundee finally does regain the title on July 7 in Memphis. Of course, this is the Louisville broadcast and the people there have no idea this has happened since the show is always a week behind Memphis.

Louisville Gardens promo. He runs down the card for the following Tuesday night.

• Killer Karl Krupp (w/Jimmy Hart) vs. Joe Stark
  

Killer Karl Krupp is our resident German Nazi. We’ve seen this old-timer before in Detroit and World Class as late as 1983. Much like El Mongol, these gimmicks feel very dated even in 1980 as the world gets bigger and bigger. The generation watching has never known a time without TV and I think that has quite an impact on these xenophobic gimmicks. Speaking of gimmicks, I read somewhere on the internet that there’s a guy in Mexico working heel doing a Trump supporter gimmick. Hilarious. Not that really I’m a Trump supporter, but there’s got to be someone out there who thinks this guy is doing a Nazi gimmick. The poor guy is just trying to get people talking. Anyways, Krupp destroys this ham-and-egger and pins him after a kick to the gut as he comes off the ropes in 2:19.

• Paul Ellering (w/Jimmy Hart) vs. David McGee
  

This is the last time we will see Ellering as champion. I have enjoyed him quite a bit. McGee doesn’t seem to realize when he’s beat. Ellering sends him into the ropes a bunch and catches him with various shots to the gut. He applies a BEARHUG and when McGee won’t submit, Ellering bends him down to the mat for the three-count at 2:39.

• Ken Lucas & Rick Morton vs. Bub Smith & Wayne Hall
  

In case you don’t pay attention to who the champions are, Lucas and Morton are the AWA southern tag champs. Nothing but holds as the champs have absolutely no trouble with these two lard buckets. Lucas slams Wayne Hall and it looked like Morton was going to do something fancier than leaping inside the ring, but he just covers Hall for the pin at 8:28.

Louisville Gardens promo. Since we’ve heard from Dundee and Valiant, we now hear from Killer Karl Krupp and Paul Ellering with Jimmy Hart in the background. ALL HELL WILL BREAK LOOSE~!

Until next time, so long for now.