Fans of pro wrestling’s old territory era will be happy to learn that 6 new episodes of Mid-South Wrestling have been added to the Network.

The episodes added are:

12/12/1981 – North American champion Ted Dibiase vs. Paul Orndorff
12/30/1981 – Best Matches from 1981 hosted by Bill Watts
02/06/1982 – Wild Samoans vs. Junkyard Dog and Mike George for tag team championships
02/13/1982 – Junkyard Dog vs. Bob Roop for the Louisiana championship
04/17/1982 – Dick Murdoch vs. Bob Roop
04/24/1982 – Junkyard Dog, Dick Murdoch and Mr. Olympia vs. One Man Gang and the Wild Samoans

Mid-South Wrestling

Mid-South Wrestling ran from 1979-1986 and was owned by “Cowboy” Bill Watts. He purchased the territory from Leroy McGuirk when it had been known as Tri-state Wrestling. In 1986, Watts changed the name again to the Universal Wrestling Federation (UWF). Watts attempted to take the UWF national to compete with Vince McMahon and Jim Crockett. The attempt failed, and Watts sold the UWF to Crockett in 1987. WWE bought the promotion’s tape library in 2012.

On the heels of Jim Crockett Promotions era (1985-1988) NWA World Championship Wrestling episodes being uploaded to WWE Network last week, it looks like there’s a lot more to come. About 40 minutes after tonight’s episode of Monday Night Raw went off the air, the WWE Network Updates Twitter account started to catch uploads of episodes of Smoky Mountain Wrestling from 1994 and Mid-South Wrestling from 1984. Only a few episodes of each are up so far, but if other recent TV show uploads in “The Vault” are any indication, there’s more to come, with gaps being filled along the way.

Mid-South Wrestling was “Cowboy” Bill Watts’ promotion in Oklahoma, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Arkansas, which ran from 1979 to 1987. Having bought out former boss/business partner Leroy McGuirk, he soon brought in the Junkyard Dog and the territory caught fire. Their TV was considered by many to be the best of the era, with great wrestling, episodic storytelling, and an emphasis on credible booking.

Smoky Mountain Wrestling launched as a promotion in late 1991, with TV starting in 1992, before closing in November 1995. Jim Cornette ran the promotion with financing from record producer Rick Rubin (who was a huge fan of southern style wrestling), running shows primarily in east Tennessee and other parts of the old Southeastern Championship Wrestling/Continental territory. Like Mid-South, it was considered to have some of the best TV of the era, with Cornette booking the shows as something like a cross between Mid-South and the Memphis wrestling that he grew up on.

– WWE Hall Of Famer “The Million Dollar Man” Ted DiBiase Sr. has officially pulled out of his booking at the Mid South Wrestling fan fest, which is set to take place during WrestleMania weekend. The reason DiBiase canceled the booking is because WWE has booked him for their WrestleMania weekend festivities. A replacement for DiBiase at the Mid South fan fest is expected to be announced in the near future.

– Speaking of WrestleMania weekend cancellations, The Young Bucks have pulled out of their scheduled appearance in New Orleans during that weekend as well.

– The Philly.com website has a new story up regarding advice WWE Hall Of Famer “Stone Cold” Steve Austin gave NFL player DeSean Jackson when he was robbed of $250,000 in cash. You can check that story out online at Philly.com.

The following are highlights from some new Jim Ross website Q&A:

On working with Boyd Pierce and Mid-South attempting to go national: “Boyd was a funny guy who loved to make people laugh. A natural born showman. Mid South attempting to go national was our best hope of surviving in our economically depressed base area.”

On Kurt Angle ever returning to WWE: “Truly, never say never. Kurt in the WWE HOF makes sense….wrestling? Not so sold on that except perhaps a retirement match at WrestleMania.”

On working with TNA in the future: “No disrespect taken…Just not interested in working w/ any wrestling company at this time.”

On JR being rude to fans asking about his contract status: “I’d suggest I interact w/ fans as well as anyone in the business or at least I try. I certainly don’t feel that I’m better than any wrestling fan or anyone else. At the same time, my exact contractual status w/ any organization isn’t something I care to discuss. Bottom line, I’m no longer employed at WWE and look forward to the future engaging other entities. Will my existing work in WWE, WCW and Mud Soth continue to exist on WWE projects? I’d say most likely to that.”

Check out more JR Q&A on his official website at JRsBarBQ.com.

Update On Kurt Angle’s Future, Hulk Hogan/WWE Return Rumors + Early WMXXX News! [>>]

The following are highlights from a recent interview with legendary pro wrestling personality Jim Cornette:

On Mid-South being unique: “I had been a wrestling fan since I was nine years old. I had been around the wrestling business in Memphis for six years from the time I was fourteen as a photographer, part-time ring announcer and general all around gopher. I had been a manager for about fourteen months at the time that I got to go to Mid-South Wrestling and I was not prepared for the level of credibility that the company was run. I do a column for a magazine in the United Kingdom called “Fighting Spirit” and the level of credibility that pro wrestling had as a legitimate sport in the Mid-South Wrestling during the late 70’s and early 80’s was unmatched anywhere else. We didn’t just have the typical stereotypical “rasslin” fan, although we did in Oklahoma, Texas and in Louisiana but we had banker, attorney, and television executives. They wouldn’t say: “You put on a good show”, they would say: “You had a great match” or they would wish us luck and “hope you win the belts”. Bill Watts went to incredible lengths and down to minuet details to see that his matches, his matchmaking and his booking had logic, everything had reason and there were no loop holes left outside the ring. The guys were expected to hold up the credibility of wrestling to put their lives on the line and it was a military school for wrestling and if you were like some of the main event talent or that had been elsewhere that thought they knew everything, wanted to do their own thing and you can into Bill Watt’s rules, regulations, commandments and if you rebelled, you didn’t last long. But if you went in there with the thought that I’m going to learn from the guy who learned from the masters like Eddie Graham who was a genius in Florida and I’m going to see how booking is done, how television is produced, how bigger arenas are run every two weeks, twenty six times a year and sometimes more on a regular basis and all of these major markets in the area and if you went in like that, you got a degree in the college of wrestling knowledge and you got a degree that was unmatched. Here is the extent that Bill Watts went to keep the credibility to the wrestling business, his business and that he imparted to the guys. Junkyard Dog was blinded by the Freebirds and he came back to New Orleans with goggles on and he was sitting at ringside so the guys that he was in the corner of got revenge on the Freebirds for blinding him so he is allegedly blind at ringside and the big Superdome show was coming up that JYD and Michael Haynes drew thirty thousand people to see the Dog Collar Match and this was the big angle to set it up and the Freebirds dispatched the babyfaces in quick order and they were all down and it was the three Freebirds standing in the ring in New Orleans in the “Dogs House” downtown Municipal Auditorium where the people would chant “Who Dat” and that’s where the (New Orleans) Saints got it from. It wasn’t the other way around, they started it for JYD. “Who dat talking about beating that Dog. Who Dat!” The Freebirds are menacing the Junkyard Dog and they look at him sitting at ringside, vulnerable, blinded at ringside and they pointed at him and everyone in the crowd knew they were fixated to kill the blinded Junkyard Dog and a guy runs out of the crowd, over the guard rail and is right at Junkyard Dog’s shoulder and pulls out a handgun. He points it at the Freebirds and Junkyard Dog told me this story himself, and the fan says: “Don’t worry Dog, I got him!” and he levels the gun at the Freebirds and Dog is now faced with a quandary. He has to figure out if he blows the angle, shows he can see and saves the Freebirds from getting mowed down by this guy with a handgun or whether he sits there and sells the angle by being blinded and does nothing and to the extent that Watts stressed upon was to uphold the credibility of pro-wrestling as legitimate at all times was as such that he was conflicted as to what he should do and just then security tackled the guy and the Freebirds were not shot and they drew thirty thousand people at the Superdome but that was the atmosphere that the fans over all took the heroes and villains at face value and guys like JYD, the Rock N Roll Express, “Hacksaw” Duggan and there pictures were in wrestling fans homes next to Jesus and conversely heels like Ted DiBiase when he turned on JYD in New Orleans had to be taken out of the arena in the trunk of Grizzly Smith’s car to avoid a lynch mob. We used to be regularly walked out of the Lake Charles Civic Center by riot police with German Shepherd’s to disperse the hundreds of people that were waiting to lynch us and we were followed down the Interstate, Dennis Condrey was attacked at a convenience store. If I was traveling along, I never got out of my car. I went to fast food drive thru and made sure I had some gas. Mainstream wrestling and sports-entertainment has acquired a fan base. Since I’ve been off from wrestling for a year, I go to a lot of comic book conventions since I’ve been a lifelong comic book collector and a pop-culture nerd and nut and I just stayed away from wrestling but I took to a lot of people who are no longer active wrestling fans but they used to be and I found that the younger fans that like sports entertainment that if they go back and look at the older footage on YouTube or like the Mid-South wrestling DVD, they can get into that. But the old-time fans that like wrestling back in the 60’s, 70’s and 80’s, they generally have disdain for what wrestling has become because if you parody something long enough sooner or later people can’t take it seriously and to me, I look at sports-entertainment as a parody of professional wrestling where obviously John Wayne didn’t shoot all of those Indians in the movies but at the same time he didn’t dusted them off and shake their hand for taking a great bump of the horse unless on-screen. There is something to be said for the fact that everything is done for winking at the fans that stay on the internet and live off of the websites that know the inner workings and there is not enough done for the guy in Des Moines, Iowa that works at the Jiffy Lube who just wants to see a good wrestling show or goes to see a good fight and ultimately the UFC is the most successful wrestling promotion in the world because wrestling is not using the old tricks to hype up a fight so they will. They build the champion and the challenger up as the two baddest assholes on the planet and they are going to fight for a belt and for some money and we are going to see who wins that used to be wrestling, now its UFC and now wresting has become sports-entertainment where: “What’s going to happen in the soap opera?” The passion has been rung out of it and the emotion has been rung out of it. My climb to the top started in Louisiana as a manager and we figured out that the Midnight Express about a hundred people willing went to jail by taking a swing at me and often connecting in the presence of a police officer and those people were so mad at me and believed what the Midnight Express were doing and believed in our opponents and worshipped them as heroes therefore they veiled us as villains to the point where they were willing to go to jail just to get a crack at me and it was a different time but that’s what kept the people coming back. The emotion and the emotional investment to where in 1986, we were in Crockett Promotions we figured out that just in Charlotte, North Carolina alone sold over a hundred thousand tickets to see live wrestling events and grossed well over one million dollars in that city alone. You don’t get that repeat business and that wasn’t an unusual story in those days and now it’s a traveling show. It’s a network television and when we come to that town once a year, let’s sees how it unfolds in a wrestling ring but it doesn’t have the same feel and this Mid-South DVD and believe me folks, when you watch it, if anything it’s understated.”

On whether or not Mid-South Wrestling was the best territory: “Well, was the Rolling Stone or Led Zeppelin the greatest rock and roll band ever? That’s always subjective. For me and the Midnight Express at the time, it was because Bill Watts took young guys but inexperienced guys that had potential and he put them through this rigorous test both inside and outside the ring and made starts of them if they had what it took and you see can see all of the hall of famers from Junkyard Dog to Ted DiBiase, the Midnight Express, Rock N Roll Express, Hacksaw Duggan and on and on that was there first territory where they drew money and there I was at twenty two years old kid, main evening the Superdome in front of twenty five thousand people, I was shitting my pants but he can do that with guys. A bigger territory was the Carolina’s and obviously the New York territory known as the W.W.W.F was still a much bigger territory, you can make bigger money but if you were a young guy and had confidence in yourself and you can take a death march literally through that backwoods territory, those horrible roads and those angry fans, it was the place to go to get your degree in wrestling. Based off the year we spent there, we could write our own ticket and go anywhere we wanted and that’s how we ended up in Charlotte, the NWA and Jim Crockett promotions, national television and even more money but I made a hundred thousand dollars main eventing as the top heel team for Bill Watts for one year in 1984 at twenty two years old and that beats a poke in the eye with a shark stick as my mother used to say and that wasn’t a contract. That was based off of pay offs from the gate and the wrestlers, especially the ones who had been around had a saying: “You’ll make twice as much money working for Bill Watts as you will mostly anywhere else and half of much as you are to.” ”

On WWE’s attempt at continuing kayfabe: “Also, as my mother used to say, the horse has already left the barn cowboy. Unfortunately, so much is out about the wrestling business being exposed as predetermined or manipulated or a work or choreographed or I hate to even use the word, fake because there is nothing fake about what the guys do but actually boxing the same thing can be applied, they just taken care of their business better but we all know and anyone that’s smart and had any background that a number of major boxing matches have been manipulated. Wrestling business was first exposed by in the 1930’s but it was exposed by outsiders, sports writers, newspaper people because they were talk about how ignorant the fans were to believe this obvious work and in doing so they insulted the people in great numbers and when television came along it became greater numbers but wrestling in the 20th century drew major crowds so people would take those exposes from people outside the business that were also question their own intelligence and they would discard them. The wrestling business was never exposed by insiders, wrestlers, promoters and people who were actually been there and done that until the 80’s when Vince McMahon basically said: “We are going to open this thing up because its entertainment” then everyone fell in line to get exposure for themselves and then the internet came along and I know Chris Angel didn’t get run over by the steam roller, picked up by a spatula and turned back into a living, breathing human but I’m not sure how the fuck he did it. Now, I want to keep watching this shit because how are they doing this? But once it’s been told then it becomes: “Well, yep. I heard about it once and they did it.” ”

On his thoughts of any past Mid-South wrestlers going into the WWE Hall of Fame: “That’s a shock that the Firebirds aren’t in! I figured with Michael Hayes politicking for the last few years it would had happened by now. Nod body has called me. I have not been to complimentary to the WWE’s product and business practices over the last couple years mainly because we got sideways of their treatment towards Ohio Valley Wrestling back a number years ago but if you want to discuss of who deserves to be in the Hall of Fame, “Dr. Death” Steve Williams definitely deserving, unfortunately it has to be posthumously but still deserving. The Freebirds are deserving, the Midnight Express and Jim Cornett and if you’re in New Orleans, Louisiana had one of the two most famous matches in the history of New Orleans wrestling. The Midnight Express and the Rock N Roll Express were the greatest tag team rivalry of all time and drew more money than any other tag team rivalry probably in history and I did manage the WWF champion and WWF Tag Team champion at different points in time but my phone hasn’t rung and I haven’t lost sleep over it. I’ve mellowed over the last year that I’ve been out of wrestling because once again, Jerry Jarrett said once he quit the wrestling business a few years later: “I discovered I didn’t hate the wrestling business, I just hated the people that were involved in the wrestling business.” But I’ve mellowed a little bit, I lost weight, I’ve got in better shape and got in better mental health just from being away from all the stress and aggravation. I would never go back on the road full time and I really do not want to subject myself to that again but at the same time especially since none of us are getting younger and one of the reasons why I got into this health kick over the last year and got off the road because no one of us were getting younger and people were getting heart attacks. If the Midnight Express were getting honored, I would be right there with it. I don’t care if Satan or Saddaam Hussein is going to honor the Midnight Express they deserve it and I’ll be up there with them.”

On going back to Ring of Honor or TNA Wrestling: “Oh my God! If she called and asked me to take this place over, I would hang up quickly and take three Xanax. As one top star that shall remain nameless who worked for the WWE for many years and is now semi-retired, I’m not going to say you’re never going to see him in public again but he is not out there every week said: “If I go to TNA, it’s a cry to be euthanized”. To answer your question, with Ring of Honor, I’m with in spirit. I believe in the style of wrestling, I believe in those guys, I believe in the young guys who are getting a chance. I was the executive producer of television for three years. I oversaw the sale to Sinclair Broadcasting in the first year and a half on the air. I’m not going to knock people but let’s put it this way, they bought my concept but they didn’t execute my concept. I’m not talking creatively; I’m talking how the business can be structured and where the tapings can be and the entire concept of how it can work. Some were good reasons that it didn’t work, some were no reason at all and some were really stupid reasons but I got to the point where I said: “I’m working way to hard, I’m on the road a hundred plus nights a year for being over fifty years old, I’m in bad shape, I don’t see a light at the end of the tunnel and it’s time for me to bow out. I hope they succeed. I think those young guys and I like to see a promotion that treats wrestling credibility, as a sport and as an athletic endeavor which it definitely is. I would like to see them succeed but the last year of my life has been the most stress free and happiest of the last thirty. If Dixie (Carter) called, the first words out of her mouth better: “I apologize to you for lying to you and to your face and over the phone and about you when I departed the company.” Then I might listen to what she had to say but not to go on the road anywhere near close to full time and I don’t know why I’m saying that right now cause it might make her call me. Probably not. I told Dutch Mantel one time: “The people that have the money don’t know how and the people that know how don’t have the money.” That’s why wrestling is in the state that it’s in and unfortunately Dixie has listened to the wrong people and continues to and has been led to the prim roads path and I would feel sorry for her except that she lied to me in the last conversation that we had and I don’t like that very much. People that lie to me generally get banished or vanished to the planet Pluto in my mind.”

Check out the complete interview online at Facebook.com/bustedopenradio.

MASSIVE *SPOILERS* For The Upcoming WWE Battleground PPV — CLICK HERE!

The following are highlights from some recent online Q&A updates from the official website of WWE Hall Of Famer Jim Ross:

On his autobiography: “My book will be truthful. I don’t know who will publish it. Will it be salacious and tawdry? No.”

On his defining moment in wrestling: “I’m still looking to achieve a ‘defining ‘moment.’ When one looks back for too long, one takes their eye off the future.”

On if he voiced over matches for the Legends Of Mid-South Wrestling DVD: “Yes…I voiced over many of the matches the Tuesday after WM29.”

On if he’ll ever provide feedback on TNA and ROH in his blogs: “Sure…if I watch them regularly. ”

On if there’s a difference in running WrestleMania in football or baseball stadiums: “Football stadiums are more compatible. For WrestleMania the weather also has to be considered. WWE got lucky in New Jersey.”

On if JBL puts over Undertaker because he helped him when he was champion on SmackDown: “I’d say it has zero to do w/ the outcome of any match. Taker is one of the most respected men in the biz. Respect is earned.”

Check out more from JR’s Q&A online at JRsBarBQ.com.

Multiple Spoilers For Monday’s RAW + FULL Story On JR/WWE Situation [>>]

The following are highlights from a recent “Million Dollar Man” Ted DiBiase interview on Ring Rust Radio:

On the WWE Mid-South DVD release and his time with the organization: Well, I think the thing that will surprise some people is that, of course I haven’t seen it yet so I don’t know what matches they have of mine, but the better part of the early part of my career I was a babyface, or “good guy”, and, you know, WWE fans don’t remember me ever being a “good guy and, actually, I turned heel the first time when shooting an angle with Junkyard Dog. But I think one of the things that’s on the DVD is a match that Ric Flair and I had where I actually had been a heel for a very long time, and Bill Watts, in my opinion, his knowledge and psychology for the wrestling business are remarkable. I mean he turned me back babyface in one night. There was a scheduled match where somebody gets a shot at the World Heavyweight Champion and it ends up being me, and as this match is about to start, Dick Murdoch interrupts, and everyone knew that Dick Murdoch and me had a history where I was his protégé and he broke me into the business and brought me into Mid-South. So he comes up to me and says “hey kid, you know this is my time, this is not your time, you know.” And I said “your time? Your time is way past, pal. Hit the road.”

And of course he busted me open before the match starts, and so I go back into the dressing room and they tape me up and do the old spirit of ’76 thing where, I guess there isn’t going to be a World Title match tonight and then I come out to the ring and have this match and I’m bleeding and what really made it exceptional was I actually really hit myself pretty hard with the blade back when we were bleeding and the bandage actually came off and every time my heart would beat it would just shoot ha-ha. But anyway we get to the end of the match and, as a babyface; my finish was that I would do a Funk Spinning Toehold into a Figure Four Leg lock. And of course Flair’s finish has always been the Figure Four Leg lock as well so I go for this move and he kicks me off and I take this bump over the top rope to the floor and I get counted out but it’s like in the mind of the people it was the most valiant fight of my life and the whole thing with Murdoch turned me babyface and then Murdoch comes out and looks like he’s going to help me up off the floor and he picks me up and gives me a brainbuster on the floor on the outside, so it started another program. So it’s one of those matches where you just go “Oh my god, wow.”

On being in the new WWE 2K14 video game: Well, just have a good time. The amazing thing is, like you said, here I haven’t been in the ring physically to have a match in 20 years, and I’ll be 60 on my next birthday so I’m an over the hill guy, even though some of my contemporaries are trying to still go, and they’re almost 60 or older, but that’s another story. I’ll give you an example; it amazes me the marketing (for the game). I was in Scotland and I’m walking into their equivalent of a Walmart and I’m going to be there for a couple of weeks there’s going to be an Indy wrestling organization that I became good buddies with the owner, SWE, Scottish Wrestling Entertainment, and so this particular trip, this was a couple of years ago, and I was staying a couple of weeks so I went in to buy some things.

As I’m walking in, there’s a little boy and he’s got his grandmother by the hand and they’re walking out. And as they pass me I heard the little boy say to his grandmother, “that’s the Million Dollar Man”. I almost had a heart attack. I swung around wide eyed and with my jaw dropped open and I said “you know who I am?” You know, I don’t have blonde hair anymore, I’m 20 years older, I’m wearing glasses and about 30 pounds heavier and this kid recognizes me. He says yes, you’re the million dollar man. I said how do you know me? He said one word, video games. So it’s incredible the marketing and yes I’m thrilled I’m in the new game and, as the million dollar man says, everyone’s got a price and I’ll get a pretty nice royalty check. So, of course I’m always happy to know when they put me on a new game.

On managing Steve Austin and if he thought he’d become as big of a star as he did: No, I guess I’d say I don’t that anybody would say that they thought Steve Austin would become, in my opinion as a wrestling star, he’s the biggest guy we ever had. Now the Rock, of course the Rock went on to become an A list movie star and nobody’s going to deny that but in terms of worldwide recognition and popularity I don’t think anybody is going to top the Rock. But, as far as wrestling goes, yeah as a matter of fact the reason Vince put me with Steve basically because Vince, you know, he put me with several guys to more or less help groom them, give them advice and be with them what have you, and of course that rub also helps them because anyone that was put with me automatically was hated. I can remember some of the agents back at the time telling Steve he needed to spice up his TV matches and do more stuff and I told him no, don’t change anything. I said what you do is very believable, you go out there and wrestle and you’re not going to get over as fast as, say, some other guy, but the guys who get over real fast are the ones that die real fast, even though it’ll take you longer to get over you’re going to be over so solid you can do anything you want, and I think you’ll be one of the biggest stars we’ve ever had. I don’t think anybody realized it would be as big as it has been.

On being misused by WWE: Well, you know, I was a top heel in the company for a long time and whether I was moved over to a tag team with Mike Rotunda, you know, we were a top heel team. One of the things everybody asks me is it seems like you’ve been one of the all-time greatest heels but you were never the World Champion, whether it was NWA or WWE, and they say “don’t you regret that?” And I say well, you know I guess to be able to have the career that I had and to at one point say that I was the Heavyweight Champion of the World would be great, but here’s what you gotta understand. Wrestling is a business, it is show business and wrestling championships are props. Now, it’s true that, most of the time, the guy that’s wearing the World Heavyweight title is an extremely good wrestler, but again, the first Wrestlemania I had, Wrestlemania 4, initially the thought was that I would win that tournament somehow, underhandedly, you know, screw Hogan out of it, and have that run.

Of course at the end of that run with Hogan you would lose the belt and Hogan would be champion again and then a new heel comes in, it’s kind of like you go from the top to a simmering stage where you’re still there but you’re not the top guy, but it was presented to me this way, I think it was Pat Patterson, who said, “Ted, what’s going to give you more heat? What’s going to generate more heat and what’s going to generate more money? If we do what we would normally do, and been done a thousand times, and we go to this Wrestlemania and you underhandedly win the title and you have the run with Hogan and on and on you go. Or, you don’t win and somehow you get screwed out of it and then in your arrogance you declare to the world that you don’t need the WWE’s world championship belt you’ll create your own.” And I said that’s the ticket. For me to walk out every night with my own belt declaring myself champion, I mean, people would just absolutely loathe me and I’ve made more money with the Million dollar belt than I ever would have with the other one.

Check out the complete interview online at BlogTalkRadio.com.

WWE NEWS

-The Place To Be Nation website has added a featured article on the legacy of Mid-South Wrestling, where WWE Hall Of Famer Jim Ross, among others, got their start in the business on a major stage. You can check the article out online at PlaceToBeNation.com.

Speaking of Mid-South Wrestling, WWE officially released their new Mid-South Wrestling DVD set today.

-Following his WWE return on RAW on Monday night in Toronto, Dustin “Goldust” Rhodes will be returning to the ring this Friday, September 13th, for Real Warrior Entertainment in South Windsor, CT. For more information, visit Facebook.com.

WWE NEWS

The following are highlights from a new online blog by WWE Hall Of Famer Jim Ross:

On Legends Of Mid-South Wrestling DVD: “The Legends of Mid South Wrestling DVD produced excellently by WWE will be released in North America this Tuesday and soon thereafter in other parts of the world. I’m obviously biased because that’s where myself and many greats of the game got our start under the watchful and forceful eye of Cowboy Bill Watts and I think that fans are going to love this DVD release.”

“One of the DVD extras, the 40+ minute NWA Title bout featuring Ric Flair vs. Terry Taylor, is an absolute clinic for any wrestler to observe and from which to learn. Plus, many fans will see the amazingly physical side of Hacksaw Jim Duggan who was a stalwart and became a star in Mid South.”

On Batista’s future in WWE: “Reviews for my friend Dave Bautista’s work in the new film ‘Riddick’ have been stellar. Dave is a talented guy and has developed his personality amazingly well since we first signed him many years ago. That comes from hard work and focus of which ‘The Animal’ never had a shortage. Hopefully, if the timing is right, Batista will be able to make a cameo or two in WWE in the future as I’m sure that his fans would love to see him.”

On Monday’s RAW and the WWE mobile app: “I watched quite a bit of Monday Night RAW this week on the WWE app and enjoyed the content. Nice concept for the die hard fan who craves all the content that they can get plus the material in the commercial breaks on the APP tied storyline matters together nicely.”

On rumored WWE romances and the WWE Divas: “One can tell that sports entertainment is truly ‘evolving’ as it relates to pop culture, social media, etc as I have read recent online reports of various, ‘rumored’ WWE romances. One of the more unique dynamics within the business that I experienced was when the number of Divas on the roster grew quickly and the ladies became a regular part of the locker room environment. Interesting days indeed. Little did we know then how much the Divas would add to the presentation and how many doors those ladies would open for others.”

Check out the complete blog online at JRsBarBQ.com.

Batista vs. ??? Very Likely For WrestleMania XXX! [FIND OUT WHO HERE >>]

The following are interview highlights with wrestling legend “Hacksaw” Jim Duggan:

On which current WWE Superstars he feels has the ‘It Factor’ right now: “I think everybody likes Dolph Ziggler, you know I seen him back in the Spirit Squad days. You see that kid, he’s got the blonde hair and a lot of white teeth, good body, good-looking young guy. He’s the kind of guy, a marquee player that WWE looks for, like John Cena, Hulk Hogan, somebody of that nature. I think Ziggler fits that bill. Kind of an unknown hero is McGuillicutty (Curtis Axel). I think Curt’s boy, third generation wrestler, he’s got a lot to show.

On second and third generation WWE Superstars: “I think guys that grow up in the business are just a little more polished than guys like myself who came into wrestling blind. I had no idea what to expect. I think, like Jake the Snake Roberts, Ted Dibiase, your second generation wrestlers, we see even more in Cody Rhodes and Ted Junior, that they grew up in the business and have a better understanding of the show.”

On the upcoming Mid-South DVD and the territory days: “Mid-South was a great wrestling territory, as you know many of the WWF stars came out of Mid-South. It was a great training area, not only did you learn how to do your work in the ring, but you learned how to do your interviews.”

“A lot more guys were making a living wrestling and it was a great time in the business. Of course, the WWE, WWF days was better for a few unique guys but for overall wrestlers, it was good in the territory days.”

Check out the complete interview online at ChaddukesWrestlingShow.com.

WWE SummerSlam 2013 Results

WWE Hall Of Famer Jim Ross has once again updated the Q&A section of his official website. Below are highlights:

On Goldberg’s new DVD and a match between he and The Undertaker: “The compliation Goldberg DVD will do good. I’ve not seen it but likely will check it out. Goldberg vs. Taker in their heyday would have been nice. Who wins would have depended on where and when it was but I’d lean toward Taker.”

On whether or not JR will ever start his own podcast: “Likely not. Too much work. :) Not enough money.”

On Bray Wyatt’s in-ring ability: “Many of us have seen him wrestle a great deal in NXT. He’s a keeper.”

On his favorite Mid-South Wrestling angles: “Had many favorites and am looking forward to the Mid South DVD WWE is releasing on Sept 10. Ted [DiBiase] and [Junkyard] Dog were hard to beat.”

On one-legged wrestler Zach Gowen’s WWE run: “He had great heart and passion.”

On Dean Ambrose’s potential when The Shield eventually breaks up: “The goal is always for any entity to have more sizzle and potential when they split and become single stars. Ambrose will be interesting to follow along with Rolins and Reigns.”

On if he feels the U.S. and Intercontinental Titles should be unified: “I don’t see the value in doing so. It’s not hard to make them both mean more.”

Check out more Jim Ross Q&A at his official website, JRsBarBQ.com.

The Shield To Break Up After SummerSlam? Future Wyatt Family Plans! [>>]

– WWE announced this week that it finally closed on the purchase of the Mid South tape library from the family of Bill Watts. After a basic agreement was reached back in June, the deal was finalized in the past two weeks. One sticking point that delayed the closing was that the Watts family wanted to to continue selling DVDs of the Mid South footage.

– Chris Jericho is expected to return to WWE down the road, when he has an extended break from touring/recording with his band, Fozzy. Jericho’s return earlier this year was when he didn’t have anything going on with music. His original deal was for six months but it was extended when Fozzy’s album release was delayed.

WWE is only interested in using Jericho if he can commit to them exclusively for extended periods and it was WWE that ended their most recent negotiations with Jericho.

Jericho recently stated that he won’t be at WrestleMania 29, as Fozzy will touring Australia in February and March.

* UNDERTAKER Not Wrestling At WM29 & When LESNAR Is Returning

(Source: Wrestling Observer Newsletter)

After months of negotiating, WWE has finally completed its deal to acquire the tape library of Mid-South Wrestling from the family of Bill Watts.

WWE will be getting 1,200 hours of Mid-South footage from the late 1970s to the 1980s. The footage was purchased from Bill Watt’s ex-wife Ene, who got the footage in her divorce settlement with Watts.

WWE Hall of Famer Jim Ross spoke to the Miami Herald about the deal:

“If fans are able to somewhere down the road buy volumes where they can see X number of weeks of television or by the year where there’s X number of episodes on a multi-disc set, they’re going to see how it was like reading an action adventure book. One chapter led to the next chapter led to the next with a crescendo and then a payoff, and then the book continues.”

He continued, “I think the episodic nature of it will be very entertaining, and then the other thing is there are a lot of guys who really established their body of work in that company that went on to do some really great things later in their careers on a higher level [nationally and internationally]. Seeing a young Ted DiBiase [in Mid-South], Ric Flair as the traveling NWA champion, guys like the Junkyard Dog and Butch Reed who was a great antagonist and a great protagonist — probably under-rated, by and large — and there were so many guys who came through there like the Steiner brothers and Magnum T.A. Guys like that, people will get to see their formative years, and to me it’s always fun as a fan because you can see glimpses of greatness, but you can also see a little bit of green, varying levels. So there’s inexperience, too, and it’s unique to see how they evolved.”

* RYBACK vs. CM PUNK: WHO Should Win? Discuss It Here