- Scott Williams 

The Rat Pack takes the cheese -- Mid-South tag champions Ted DiBiase and Matt Borne

The Louisiana State Fair was in town on Oct. 27, 1982, the day Ted DiBiase and Matt Borne's Mid-South tag title reign began, but there was nothing fair about their win.

That particular episode of Mid-South Wrestling opened with Bill Watts welcoming Houston promoter Paul Boesch to the Mid-South fold (Boesch had just stopped promoting with Southwest Wrestling and was making his first appearance on Mid-South TV).  Watts was also welcoming a group of kids to the fair, along with a gorilla, who was apparently a mascot of the state fair.

The air was celebratory, and would be commemorated by a special match -- a no-disqualification match between Junkyard Dog & the masked Mr. Olympia defending the Mid-South tag titles against Ted DiBiase and Hacksaw Duggan, in which the loser of the fall would have to leave Mid-South for 90 days.  After a pair of wild melees ending in questionable DQ finishes, Mid-South had apparently decided this match would settle the issue between the two teams.

However, Watts announced that the scheduled match had been changed. Borne would be substituting for Duggan, who DiBiase said was mysteriously out of pocket.  Ever the subtle soul, Watts speculated that with Duggan's wild personality, he could well be incarcerated somewhere. As for Borne, DiBiase had flown him in, and Watts wondered if that meant DiBiase was lacking confidence and was willing to sacrifice Borne, who "doesn't wrestle here anyway."

DiBiase still wore the North American title he had won by turning on his former friend JYD and nailing him with the dreaded loaded glove. If DiBiase was the one to be pinned, as it would have been hard for him to honor the requirement of defending the title once every 30 days while sitting out a 90-day departure.

The match began with a flurry, as JYD and Olympia pummeled their heinous foes out of the ring. In the match, DiBiase could not match strength with JYD and found himself on the wrong end of more than one exchange.  Tags were frequent and the match went back and forth until DiBiase and Borne got Olympia in trouble. Finally, Olympia made the tag and the crowd exploded. JYD cleaned house, got the object out of DiBiase's glove and began cleaning house before the Rat Pack's nefarious plot was revealed.

The state fair gorilla jumped onto the apron and tore off his mask to reveal Jmi Duggan! Duggan speared JYD, DiBiase got his object back and nailed the Dog with the once-more loaded glove. He got the pin, and the crowd went silent, stunned by the outcome. Watts was despondent.  After, the Rat Pack celebrated that the JYD era was over. The trio was now loaded with gold, with DiBiase also holding the North American title and Duggan holding the Louisiana state title. They had a right to be pleased, but probably should have known better than to write off JYD so quickly.

Soon after, DiBiase was scheduled to wrestle S. Lee, when a skinny young man unfurled a banner saying "S. Lee is Stagger Lee." DiBiase demanded, "Big deal! Who is Stagger Lee?"  More...