Memphis Wrestling
September 6, 1980
Memphis, TN
WMC-5 TV Studio
(first aired 8/30/80)

The current Memphis wrestling champions are as follows:
AWA World Champion: Verne Gagne (7/18/1980)
CWA World Champion: Billy Robinson (8/11/1980)
AWA Southern Heavyweight Champion: Jimmy Valiant (8/25/1980)
AWA Southern Tag Team Champions: Tommy & Eddie Gilbert (8/25/1980)

Your hosts are Lance Russell and Dave Brown.

• Killer Karl Krupp (w/Jimmy Hart) vs. Tony Boyles
  

Makes you wonder what a Nazi heel could draw in 2017, amirite? Krupp is all kicks and jabbing Boyles in the throat with his thumb. The CLAWHOLD ends Boyles in 3:47.

Louisville Gardens promo. Tommy Rich will be facing Jimmy Valiant this Monday night. He brings in Jimmy Valiant who is quite excited. He’s been dancing with strippers. Jerry Lawler will be returning to Louisville this week and he’ll be wrestling Jimmy Hart. His leg isn’t all the way healed and he can’t beat any actual wrestler, but he can beat Jimmy Hart and he will beat Jimmy Hart this Monday night.

Back in the studio, Jimmy Hart comes out saying nobody wants to see Jerry Lawler around here anymore. Lance shoos him away.

• Dr. Bill Irwin vs. Rick Morton
  

This should be a good one. Cool to see Irwin before he ever made it to World Class. Irwin and Morton scramble on the mat to start with Morton getting the better of him. Morton plays around with a headlock. Once he’s out of the hold for good, Irwin catches him with a kick as he comes off the ropes. Irwin delivers a knee to the gut and slams Morton down for a stomp to the chest. He misses a running knee in the corner and Morton locks in the FIGURE-FOUR, but Irwin rolls into the ropes. Morton tries the hold again and again, but winds up getting kicked off into the ringpost as Irwin rolls him up with a handful of tights for the three-count. (4:59) Good little match there. *½

Lance Russell brings out Jerry Lawler over to the announce table. Russell pulls up a drawing of the King made by a kid (at least I hope) from Missouri. Next up, they show us some x-rays from Lawler’s leg. Things are looking up for this Lawler kid.

• Jimmy Valiant vs. Ken Wayne
  

Lawler sticks around for color commentary. Russell mentions this is the first TV appearance for Ken Wayne since his car accident. Valiant is full of personality today. Wayne shows us he can land on his feet out of a backdrop, but ultimately eats the back elbow and the RUNNING ELBOW DROP to give Valiant the victory in 3:30.

Backed by Killer Karl Krupp, Jimmy Hart comes out and berates Jerry Lawler – calling him a gimp and a failure. I thought this was where Lawler broke Hart’s jaw, but I suppose we haven’t made it there yet.

Louisville Gardens promo. Russell runs down the card. Billy Robinson defends the CWA world title against Lou Thesz, Jimmy Valiant faces Tommy Rich, and Jerry Lawler returns to face Jimmy Hart!

• Tommy & Eddie Gilbert vs. David Oswald & Manchurian #2 (w/Sputnik Monroe)
  

Dave Brown returns to the table. The other Manchurian is sick in the hospital and couldn’t be here today. We’ll see if this is a shoot or not. This was originally supposed to be a title match, but obviously that has been adjusted. Eddie takes Oswald to the mat to start. He picks things up with a backdrop and clamps on a headlock. When Oswald gets out, Eddie tags in his father Tommy. He slams Oswald all but good for two. Tag to the Manchurian #2, and it gets a little more competitive. Tommy still keeps the Manchurian #2 on the mat with a headscissors. Eddie gets a tag and works the arm. He slams out of an armbar and tags in Oswald who is virtually useless as the Gilberts keep him down. Tommy tries getting the pin with nelson holds. Back to the Manchurian #2, he gets the word from Sputnik Monroe and goes low on Tommy. He starts pounding the arm and seems to have things under control when he tags in Oswald. Once again, the guy is USELESS. Tommy tags in his son and Eddie drills Oswald with a dropkick. For a short time, Oswald does come out of a headlock and catches Eddie with a back elbow. He tags in the Manchurian #2. Eddie is getting knees to the gut a big rib buster by the out-of-towner, but then Eddie surprises him with a rollup and gets the pinfall. (8:21) I feel like it would have been an awesome match to see one of the Gilberts work face in peril against both Manchurians, but instead they just looked pretty strong limiting how intriguing the match was. Since nothing happens post-match, we can assume that the sick thing is a shoot. But you never really know. *½

• Superstar Bill Dundee & Tojo Yamamoto vs. Bub Smith & Chuck Malone
  

Bub Smith looks like he needs some “blow away”. Dundee and Malone start us off. Dundee controls with wristlocks and such. He gets Malone down on the mat and pats him on the fanny for a good time. Tag to Tojo, he gets backed into the ropes only to chop Malone into oblivion. In comes Bub, Tojo won’t sell any of those chops and comes back with chops of his own. Back to Malone, he wants nothing to do with Tojo. I like this Chuck Malone guy. Dundee tags in and just when things are looking good, Malone backs him into the wrong corner to be double-teamed. This continues until Dundee can break free and tag in Tojo. Once he’s got Malone hurting, Dundee tags in and destroys Malone with a dropkick. Good grief. Tag to Bub, Dundee SLAMS him and only gets one. A backdrop garners the same one-count, but a Tojo chop to Bub puts him down for the three-count. (7:14) Bub is a tub of flab, but I’d like to see more of this Malone fella. He has potential. Unfortunately, I don’t see any more results for him in all of wrestling after this match. That dropkick must have really ruined his CAREER. *

Louisville Gardens promo. He brings out Jimmy Hart to talk about Jerry Lawler. Hart says he’s been reading up on Harry Houdini lately and thinks he’s got Lawler figured out. They already mention the broken jaw angle so looks like we missed it, folks.

Lance Russell and Dave Brown wrap up the show for another week.

Until next time, so long for now.