This starts a match by match review of DVDVR's 80s project. I missed out on getting the Other Japan set consisting of all non-NJPW or AJPW matches. This is the Mid-South set consisting of matches from that territory in LA, MS, and TX.
Roop and George start off this mamouth set is certainly a fitting intro to the Mid-south region in the 80's. Roop was an accomplished amateur wrestler, which included a silver medal in the 1968 Olympiad. Roop was well traveled in the southern wrestling circuit and had already won the Louisiana heavyweight championship in July of 81, though his reign only lasted until October. Mike George, on the other hand, had won numerous titles and was currently one half of the Mid-South Tag champions along with the Junkyard Dog. Ted DiBiase is helping out on commentary, as he will apparently be defending his North American Heavyweight Title (the top title in Mid-South) against Bob Roop in the near future. Bob Roop has stars and stripes on his singlet, while Mike George has plain black trunks. Now if we apply the Cheap Seats rule for wrestling attire, which states that the man with the flashier attire wins the match, Roop should be your winner. Bell rings and both guy work the waist lock looking for an advantage. George ends up with the advantage in the form of a side headlock, which he cranks down repeatedly on. Roop uses some forearm shots to his advantage to reverse into a full nelson. Roop proceeds to do one of the most innovative things I have seen in a full nelson, by attempting to ram George's head into the top turnbuckle while in still maintaining the full nelson. I hope that I am not overstating the move but it was the first time I had seen such a move. In fact, I thought "You can do that from a full nelson? Thats awesome!". Roop only gets one attempt at it when the nelson gets reversed and Mike George proceeds to batter Roop's head in with the same maneuver. They have a standoff and Roop retakes the full nelson advantage. Roop scales to the second rope (top rope is illegal and I wouldn't think it would be apart of Roop's gameplan anyhow) George is up with his fist cocked, so Roop thinks better for propelling himself in George's general direction and drops down. Mike George gets the better of an exchange of punches and lands an atomic drop. No pin attempt but George lets Roop up and back to the headlockery we go. Roop breaks out some heeldom by raking George's eyes along the top rope, then tops himself by raking George's eyes over the bottom rope as well. Roop counters a suplex attempt with a rake of the eyes. George battles from his knees with punches and pulls out his own heel tactics to give Roop a taste of his own medicine. George with a backdrop and a russian legsweep for two. George attempts another legsweep from russia however Roop is samrt and holds onto the top rope. This has little effect on George as he gains the advantage and hits his big move the shoulderbreaker and then attempts a rollup however once again Roop holds onto the ropes with a grip of iron. Roop can still not gain the advantage as George dropkicks Roop for two. Roop's kickout sends George to the floor on regaining entry to the squared circle Roop makes a sad attempt at a flying headscissors and both competitors end up on the apron. George charges at Roop who move and allows George's shoulder to violently ram the ring post. George's right arm is out of commission so he punches with the left as best he can. Roop sends George into the corner shoulder first then high knee's the same injured shoulder for the pin at 7:51.
Sure, it was a quick simple TV match and it will not rank high on my final list but it did some things very well. It quickly establishes the Mid-South no nonsense style of pro wrestling. Pro Wrestling is REAL in the eyes of promoter Bill Watts and this is exactly what we have here. Roop taking advantage of George's unfortunate mishap of hurting his shoulder. Most of this match was both competitors attempting to locate a weakness and when Roop identified the shoulder injury, he attacked it like a shark to a wounded dolphin. It is everything I like in wrestling and maybe why I like the Andersons and Benoit (in ring) so much. This however was only shown in the final minute and while it should be included on a Best of set it is only an average match and will only warrent a **1/2 rating.
