[1992-08-22-USWA-TV] Interview: J.T. Southern / Interview: Bill Dundee / Interview: Tommy Rich

[Loss]

Talk about it here.

[Loss]

A triple shot of interviews in the Memphis studio. JT Southern's guitar playing is in competition with Toyota's screaming for the Nails On A Chalkboard award. For the Dundee/Rich interviews, we get a clip of Rich turning on Dundee at the end of an 8-man at Mid South Coliseum (which features quite a bit of SMW talent, for the record). You can do the most by-the-numbers heel turn possible, but Rich and Dundee are such pros that it still seems special. Not to mention that the idea of Tommy Rich in a golf tournament cracks me up.

[Tim Evans]

What was that title JT had? The International title? And Rich was great here.

[shoe]

Tommy rich shooting 6n under par might be the biggest exaggeration in the history of wrestling.

[Kevin Ridge]

Tommy drops Steve Avery with the likes of Michael Jordan. So 1992. Rich turned heel pretty fast.

[WingedEagle]

JT Southern looks like one of the Nelson boys. Clips of Tommy Rich turning heel on Ricky Morton with a chain letting the Gilberts beat the RNR. Then Tommy Rich walks out on Dundee during a tag team battle royal. Promo from Dundee, then Rich from ATL talking about winners and joining the Memphis Mafia. Tommy Rich is good at this whole "wrestler on TV" thing.

[PeteF3]

JT Southern has the "Continental" title, which he's not going to defend, he owns. After mocking Van Hammer for months, Southern is now acting exactly like him. Did we ever get a JT vs. Billy Travis feud?

 

Clips of the Gilberts, Buddy Landell, and Brian Christopher against the Rock 'n Roll Express, Bill Dundee, and Tommy Rich. Rich levels Morton with a chain (and then collapses into a corner like he's out) to allow the New Memphis Mafia to pick up a win. Rich disingenuously feigns innocence afterward. Rich then leaves Dundee to the Dogs--literally--in a tag team battle royal, and eliminates himself to give the Moondogs a win.

 

Rich sends in a pre-taped promo, having shot a -6 to win a PGA Pro-Am tournament! Michael Jordan, Steve Avery, and Tom Glavine are WINNERS, and they convinced him not to hang out with Memphis losers anymore. Rich acting like he completely fooled the babyfaces with the chain is pretty funny.

[garretta]

I'm not sure what to make of JT Southern, and I don't think anyone else does either. He was treated like a babyface here, but he sounded awfully heelish when he was talking about the Continental title (whatever that is) being his personal property. His guitar playing also bordered on the obnoxious, although Dave appeared to laugh it off. I hope we get to see where this situation goes in the weeks ahead.

 

The Rich/Dundee stuff is a nice bit of something different for a territory that's been all about Lawler, Jeff, and the Moondogs (with a small side dish of Eddie Gilbert) for this entire year. I liked the idea of Tommy turning because he believes that the people of Memphis are losers, although I'd have liked him to talk about his time in the York Foundation a bit, especially since it was his former teammate Morton whom he hit with the chain. I think it would have impressed wrestling fans a bit more than talking about some PGA celebrity tournament that I have a hard time believing he was even in, let alone won.

 

Dundee, of course, cares for none of that; he just wants to beat Tommy's brains out. I got a kick out of him spoiling Tommy's Indians-Braves analogy by talking about how the Indians had won the night before while the Braves lost (which was also a neat way to sneak a Lawler mention in).

 

By the way, what rare air Brian was in during that eight-man, in there with at least six certifiable Memphis stars (Doug's the one I'm leaving out, though I won't deny he's had his impact too). By the way, how did Landell join up with the Gilberts?

[ajtroma]

JT Southern had a couple of runs in Memphis during the 80s. This appearance here is, I think, the very last anyone ever saw of him ever again. He wasn't very respected by his peers either. The last time I saw Doug Gilbert he was selling Memphis Mafia group pix (The Gilberts, Landell, Rich and Christopher) from this era. From a distance, Landell looked like JT in the picture. I offhandedly said that to Doug who responded "oh shit, Buddy'd get hot over that one".

[dawho5]

The Tommy Rich promo was super hard to believe.  But it's Memphis so I give it a pass.  Loved Dundee's promo.