Episode 131 - Old Lady McDuffie

The One Man Gang runs Jim Duggan into the ringpost during the UWF Title Tournament in May 1986.

We are happy to welcome back Greg Klein (@jydbook) to the pod for another deep dive involving Mid-South Wrestling, only this time it’s the newly renamed Universal Wrestling Federation and the May 30, 1986 UWF Title Tournament held in the Sam Houston Coliseum in Houston, Texas.

We talk about how we found out about the results originally, watching the UWF TV show in Baltimore. Although Greg spend part of the year in Houston, he wasn’t there for this event.

The entire card and all the matches get discussed, even the ones where we don’t have film. We discuss some of the booking choices and match-ups and who we might have been wanting to back when it happened in 1986.

There’s lots of other stuff in this marathon episode, including other eras of Mid-South, when was the high point of the UWF and we talk about the one time World Class ran Houston. Also, anti-star rating filibustering, Morris Sigel’s Hall of Fame credentials, underrated wrestlers and so much more.

It’s always a great show when Greg is on. If you’re in upstate New York, check out the Cooperstown Christmas concert they are putting on as a fund-raiser to make the movie of the same name.

Episode 120 - May Day

My second favorite wrestling angle of all time. Eddie Gilbert buries Bill Watts.

Amazingly, it’s taken almost eight years of the podcast to discuss officially discuss the Russian Flag Burial angle. It’s my second favorite angle of all-time and I once named a blog after it.

I had to get a fellow Mid-South/UWF fan on the show, so I’m happy to welcome back Greg Klein (@jydbook) to discuss it. There’s a preamble before we get to the angle, discussing Watts’ use of Russian heels in Mid-South (Volkoff, the sympathizer Khrusher Khrushchev, etc), Gilbert’s place in Mid-South before he starts managing Kortisa Korchenko and the evolution of Mid-South Wrestling into the UWF. Right before we discuss the angle, we play the clip (it’s around five minutes long) and then discuss it (from memory, we were not watching it in real time): the set-up, the commentary, the blocking, the props and the immediate aftermath. Then we talk about the Watts vs Hot Stuff feud, how it was booked, the insertion of Dusty and some JCP talent on the shows in Houston and New Orleans and how abruptly the angle segues into Watts’ feud with the Freebirds.

There’s also random wrestling talk later in the show, including Nick Bockwinkel as a touring World Champion (as Greg discussed on his podcast), gimmick matches in Houston, going to house shows in Baltimore and some other chit-chat, including Mid-Atlantic beaches and tax-free shopping in Delaware. Greg also mentions his books, including a new one hopefully out at the end of the year.

This pod was done on the spur of the moment and I appreciate Greg squeezing in the time to do it with a few hours’ notice.