GSR

Jerry Lawler says that they’re all looking forward to Evansville, IN this Wednesday night. Firstly a good friend of theirs, T-Bone Baxter, is making his debut in the opening match, and then at the end of the night they’ve got a six-man stretcher match against John Tatum, Eddie Gilbert and the Dirty White Boy. Jarrett says that the only way the match ends is when someone gets carted off on a stretcher and it won’t be him, it won’t be Bill Dundee and it won’t be Jerry Lawler.

Jerry Lawler is sporting a PWI T-Shirt! He says that every time there is a problem in Dallas, TX, Skandor Akhbar is at the root of it, and that includes his suspension. He checked into things and found out that Akhbar lodged the original complaint and was the one who went to the USWA officials and cried long and hard until he made them feel like they had to suspend him. He’s the one who said it would set a bad example across the country, that other organizations and offices would look down on the USWA unless they took immediate action against him. He tells Akhbar that whenever the suspension he’s his own personal problem, and he usually takes care of his problems! Sweet Daddy Falcone had to be carried out of the Sportatorium last time he wrestled Jarrett and himself. He’s still on crutches and they don’t know if he’ll ever wrestle again. That was part of their problem, and Skandor Akhbar is the rest of it! When his suspension is over he’s going to deal with him and he’s going to hurt him like he’s never been hurt before. He’s sure the people of Dallas will have heard a lot of people say that over the years, but when he says he’s going to hurt him, when he says he’s going to put him out, you can take it to the bank! I think I believe him too. Real good promo from ‘The King’ here. In the Sportatorium, and Skandor Akhbar and Gary Young head down the aisle and over to Craig Johnson. He says that Akhbar has done everything he could to make Jerry ‘The King’ Lawler’s suspension stick, but the General says a few weeks ago Jerry Lawler came in here and said how he was going to get rid of Devastation Inc. in one night, everything that he had built for years. Whether the people like it or not though, he is still number one! Johnson has a contract for this Friday to pit Jeff Jarrett against Gary Young in a ‘hair vs hair’ match. Akhbar and Young find the prospect of Jeff Jarrett running about without a stitch of hair on his head rather amusing. They claim he’s always been jealous of Gary Young because he’s the gorgeous one, he’s the handsome one and he’s the one with all the ladies while Jeff Jarrett is just a sissy! As Young is cutting a promo on him he comes out to join them. Jarrett says that Akhbar likes business dealings and he was sat in the back listening to what Jerry Lawler had to say. He got him into this and he’s going to get him out of it. He thought about the stipulations and has a proposition for him. He’ll keep his hair at stake, and if he loses the match he’ll get in the ring and let them shave his head, but because if Gary Young lost his hair it would be an improvement, if he wins, he wants Jerry Lawler’s suspension lifted. He knows it will have to be run by the USWA officials and while Akhbar and Young go off to confer, Jarrett signs the contract with that stipulation in line. Johnson hands Young the contract to sign but he says he’ll get back to them and he and Akhbar head off to the back.

Jim Ross is joined by Ric Flair, and Ross says that on September 5th in Asheville, NC, live on TBS, it’s Clash of the Champions XII ‘Fall Brawl’. Ric Flair will be facing Lex Luger and the United States title will be on the line, but he believes that isn’t the Nature Boy’s prime motivation. Flair says that his prime motivation is to prove to the non-believers that Ric Flair has not lost a step. When you dominated a sport for ten years like he has and you get beat, there is always going to be somebody that said ‘I told you so’. On September 5th at Clash of the Champions, a 10 million strong viewing audience are going to see first-hand that Ric Flair is still the greatest wrestler alive today. As they won’t sign a match between himself and Sting, he’s going after the next best thing, that’s his friend Lex Luger, the United States champion. Considering Flair vs Luger is hardly a new match, or one that hasn’t been seen countless times in the past, this is a great hype job from Flair in getting you to want to see it again. I think Lawler is the best promo of the year for 1990 (and really don’t see that changing), but there are probably half a dozen others who could easily be number two, of which Flair is one.

Sting and Lex Luger are with Jim Ross. Sting says that the Horsemen tried to put him out of wrestling five months ago and now they’re resorting to jumping people like Lex Luger in parking lots. The Total Package has broken his silence and now he’s getting ticked off, letting it all hang out and that’s and that’s bad for the Horsemen. Luger says that you have to draw the line somewhere in competitive sports. The Horsemen crossed that line and if they want to jump people in parking lots, if they want to hurt people, if they want to throw the rule book out, well Sting and he can do the same damn thing. People are going to get hurt and Lex Luger is going to return their message with a great big answer.

The Dirty White Boy says that there are a lot of people coming out whining, crying and making excuses. Why don’t they just accept the fact that they got beat up? Be a man about it. If he loses he’s man enough to admit he lost, he’ll just get them another day down the road. Now they (Jerry Lawler and Bill Dundee) want to face them in a cage, and that’s fine with him because last time he was in a steel cage he almost had to go to the police station for manslaughter! It doesn’t matter who they get to step in that cage, it could be 50 fans from out of the crowd, he’ll stomp each and every one of them! All they’ve got to do is have enough intestinal fortitude to step in that cage, listen to that door being locked, and then they’ll know they’re locked in there with the Dirty White Boy and ‘Hot Stuff’ himself. Eddie Gilbert tells Dave Brown that it’s a very serious day, and he hopes he has a better suit than the one he’s wearing because the following morning after their cage match he’s going to be attending three funerals! They came out saying how long they’ve been around here, well they’ve been around here too long! He’s been waiting for this match since was a little child and has assembled an army better than King Hussain of Iraq. He wants to step in there with them face to face and when they look across the cage they’re going to be looking at Margaret Thatcher, Mikael Gorbachev and George Bush. He’s going to take them down, there will be blood flowing like wine and it’s all going to be theirs! Great intense stuff from Tony Anthony here which is where I think he really excels.

The Dirty White Boy and Girl are over to join Dave Brown. Tony Anthony is excited as this week, for the first time ever, it’s a ‘back alley street fight’ in a cage, between Tessa and the Dirty White Girl. Dave says how he noticed the Dirty White Boy had a towel there for safety sake last week, but he claims it was just so he could cover the White Girl’s eyes up so that she didn’t have to look at that old, lard ass beast, Tessa! Kim tells Tessa that they’re in a cage this week and she knows that she’s never been around one or never seen one in her life. She has, and she’s seen the Dirty White Boy with blood gushing out of his head, all wild eyed, trying to put another man through that cage, and that’s what she’s going to try to do to her. It’s beyond the point of snatching hair and ripping clothes off, now she’s coming to hurt her. When it’s all over Tessa will be stretchered off and taken to a local hospital and she will be declared the winner. Anthony wonders if that bleach blonde bimbo heard that, when out jogs Tessa who makes a beeline straight for the White Girl. ‘The Superstar’ and the White Boy have to hold their respective women back before Anthony carries Kim off. Tessa says that the White Girl can call her all the names she wants to, but every time that she’s gotten the better of her, someone has interfered. This week they are in a cage and there isn’t going to be any help for her. Tessa then says that she is prettier than the Dirty White Girl, ‘bigger’ than her and smarter than her, at which point Kim is back out and the women have to again be held back by their men. I’ve got a copy of the ‘Back Alley Street Brawl’ on the ‘Leather, Lace and Canvas’ commercial video release, so thought I’d put it on as we didn’t get any clips of the match on TV. It looks more like Tessa is ready to walk the streets in her outfit (so much for wearing what you would wear to the arena for the match!), while the Dirty White Girl is at least dressed more conservatively. The match, to no surprise, was bad, consisting of rolling around on the floor, slapping each other and trying to rips the opponent’s clothes off. Tessa loses her vest top (leaving in her bra), Kim loses her jacket (ditto) and then Kim loses her shorts to leave her stripped to her underwear. The Mid-South Coliseum get a few seconds glimpse of her in her lingerie before the Dirty White Boy is in with a towel to cover her modesty. In regards to the interview I thought Tessa was real good again, while the White Girl appeared to stumble a bit over her promo. She was also cutting it to the wrong camera at first, and whilst the White Boy tried to carefully direct her and point it out, she carried on regardless. For her though, and with my low expectations, it was good.

Dave Brown says that Cowabunga has made quite the impression since he arrived in the area, and he made quite the impression just now on Jeff Gaylord. Cowabunga says ‘that was bogus dude!’, Ben Jordan is an up and coming wrestler and that was no way to treat him. Jeff Gaylord is a bogus wrestler and not a totally radical, awesome, bodacious wrestler like Cowabunga, Jerry Lawler or the rest of the guys. He’s going to beat him up turtle style and send him back to the sewers! Cowabunga is here to stay and the karate turtle will run rampant on Jeff Gaylord and Downtown Bruno. I still don’t know what to make of this. Cowabunga seemed pretty blown up cutting his promo, while it sounded like the crowd were laughing at him at times too.

It's a long time since I watched any of this, but from what I remember Jamie Noble was the standout (and his stuff with Shannon Moore is what sticks out more than anything). Jodie Fleisch vs Jonny Storm would be something you may be interested in, just to compare it to the other matches they were having against each other on their US tour (such as in CZW, ROH and Corino's PWF). After seeing the match listings for January 2000 there is plenty of stuff in a similar vain to the WCW Saturday Night matches from that period.

Brother Love’s guest this week is a man who lacks vision and who was a little short sighted when he signed his Summerslam contract; a man who didn’t read the fine print when it said ‘cage’ match. If there was ever a man, or should he say animal who needs to be caged, it’s his guest, the WWF Champion, the Ultimate Warrior. The Warrior snatches Love’s glasses and snaps them, then grabs him by his lapels. He tells Love that he knows nothing about vision, but it’s because of the visions that his Warriors have, that he’s been able to continue taking steps forward in fulfilling the duties that they’ve laid out for him. He walked into the ‘Ultimate Challenge’ as a challenger but left the WWF Champion, and he will enter the cage at Summerslam as leave as the Ultimate World Wrestling Federation Champion. Not too keen on the black face paint that the Warrior was sporting here as it makes him look dirty. Comprehensible, coherent promo for a change as well from him.

The Dream’s music plays and Gorilla Monsoon comments on how the crowd have got to their feet for him, but Heenan says it’s not because they like him, it’s because they want to count the dots! Okerlund introduces Dusty Rhodes and Sapphire, and ‘The Brain’ notices that Sapphire is wearing a necklace and bracelet, while Gorilla mentions how she’s been getting a lot of gifts recently. He then jokes that obviously some store is missing its merchandise! Okerlund says that at Summerslam Dusty Rhodes will be facing Randy Savage, while Sapphire will be taking on Sensational Sherri. Gene comments on Sapphire’s jewellery and wonders what’s next? She then pulls out a brochure for a round the world trip, and while she doesn’t know who her benefactor is, she likes it! The Dream doesn’t know who’s been giving Sapphire those presents, but he knows that Sherri has got a whipping coming at Summerslam! When he was growing up in Austin, TX they didn’t have Kings and Queens, all they had was people who worked in ditches for a living, and money meant nothing because they had satisfaction, and without satisfaction you can’t get by. He tells Randy Savage that he is looking for satisfaction, he’s got to have satisfaction, he wants satisfaction and he’s going to get satisfaction at Summerslam. The talking is over! So this is the starts of the Dibiase/Rhodes storyline and could they really not work out where all of Sapphire’s lavish presents were coming from? Never really understood what he would want with her anyway, unless it’s just a way to screw with the Dream. Anyway Sapphire is a new contender for worst promo of the year. Dusty has so much charisma that he sucks you into his promos, even with something like this match which has long since ran its cause.

The winner of this match will be the official number two contender for the USWA Unified title. Dundee attacks Gilbert as soon as he gets in the ring and this one is off before the referee even has a chance to ring the bell. ‘The Superstar’ has the early advantage until he misses a dropkick after whipping Gilbert into the ropes and ‘Hot Stuff’ held on. Dave Brown was great on commentary here explaining the nuances of what’s going on in the ring and the characteristics of the wrestlers (especially Gilbert). Dundee escapes a chinlock but can’t capitalise on things, before a nice sunset flip out of nowhere by him for a two count. Gilbert with a wristlock and he utilizes a bit of hair pulling to keep ‘The Superstar’ in the hold. Brown says how the referee is checking with Gilbert “as he strongly suspects hair pulling…which is a pretty safe assumption!” Dundee gets to his feet again and is finally able to escape. He whips ‘Hot Stuff’ into the turnbuckles and charges knee first at him, however Gilbert moves and his knee goes straight into the top turnbuckle. Figure Four but Dundee is able to get to the ropes to break the hold. Gilbert misses a kneedrop off the second rope and ‘The Superstar’ starts peppering him with punches. Reverse crossbody from Dundee and Tony Anthony is out and in for the save giving Dundee the win via technical loss to ‘Hot Stuff’. He starts putting the boots to him and the two of them double team him until Jerry Lawler and his baseball bats make the save. They’re beating on them with the bats when Bundy the Gorilla enters the ring and nails Lawler with a clothesline. A kick to Dundee and he starts laying into them both before taking off the gorilla’s head to reveal JOHN TATUM!!! The heels then uses the bats to bust open ‘The King’ and ‘The Superstar’, while the likes of Ken Raper and Freezer Thompson have no luck in trying to put a stop to this. In the melee Tatum clocks the referee and finally Eddie Marlin is out which appears to be the signal for them to get out of there. They make a stop at the announcer’s desk and Tatum says just like he told them, they might not know when, and they might not know where, but they’re going to pay for what they did to him and that was just a small down payment on what’s to come. No-one makes a monkey out of ‘Hollywood’ John Tatum. As they’re leaving they get a camera man to follow them, and we see the ‘real’ Bundy the Gorilla tied up and gagged in the hall. A decent match and with it being in the studio, and with these two involved, I was expecting some sort of outside interference, although it arrived later than expected. Excellent surprise angle with Tatum being in the gorilla suit, but it’s another beat down that went on too long. I also have a slight issue with the amount of baseball bat shots that they were dishing out and it felt like overkill. Just have one or two and then go back to punching and kicking them. Dave Brown was tremendous throughout all of this and a nice touch at the end when we find out what happened to the original Bundy.

Tony Anthony, Eddie Gilbert and the Dirty White Girl are out for an interview with Dave Brown. The Dirty White Boy says that If Jerry Lawler and Bill Dundee want a stretcher match that’s fine, because it means that after they’ve beaten them to a pulp they can be put on a stretcher and taken right out of there. Gilbert says that if George Bush had any sense at all he’d get on his phone, call the studio and ask ‘Hot Stuff’ Eddie Gilbert to put together a plane to save Kuwait from Iraq! Sam Lowe did what he did for him out of loyalty and out of friendship…oh, and that coffee was cold! He is his friend! This week it’s a stretcher match and it only ends when one man is carried out of there on a stretcher. He knows that he is Jerry Lawler and Bill Dundee’s idol and that they look up to him, but he wants the Dirty White Girl to make him a promise and that when Tessa leaves the ring he wants to see her bare naked. The White Girl tells Tessa Ray that she didn’t get the name the Dirty White Girl by sipping tea with old women, she got it by taking care of bimbos like her! She’s got her street fighting clothes for the ‘back alley street brawl’ and doesn’t care if it takes chairs, baseball bats, shoes or whatever, she’s going to take Tessa’s dog face, put it in the mat and kick her in that fat butt one more time and plans on walking out the winner! Don’t know what has gotten into the Dirty White Girl, but one of the best promos I’ve heard from her.

Jerry Lawler and Bill Dundee have got their baseball bats and are with Dave Brown. ‘The King’ says that over the past few weeks every time he and ‘The Superstar’ come out with a win, something happens so that they don’t end up getting the satisfaction. Somehow they have always turned the tables on them at the end and this week was no different. He doesn’t know how he did it, whether he paid him money or promised to get him into the wrestling profession, but Eddie Gilbert got to Sam Lowe. He’s known Sam for years, he’s taken his pictures thousands of times and now all of a sudden he’s hitting him over the head with a camera at the end of the match? That cost them the match but it’s not going to happen again. Eddie Gilbert and the Dirty White Boy can plot all they want, but he doesn’t care who they have sat in the audience or bring down to ringside with them, because ‘The Superstar’, himself and their two baseball bats are going to spoil all their plans. This week it’s a stretcher match and the match continues until someone is carried out of there on a stretcher. They don’t have to worry about Tessa and the Dirty White Girl this week either, because before this match they are going to finish their business in a ‘back alley street brawl’. That means that they’re going to walk into the ring full clothed, they’re going to go at it like they want to, and the only way it will end is when someone is stripped of their clothes. Tessa isn’t with them, but Dundee tells the Dirty White Girl to pay attention as they’ve got some words from her. Tessa says that the reason she’s not with Jerry Lawler and Bill Dundee is all down to the Dirty White Girl. She said that the next time she saw her there was going to be a stripping, but Eddie Marlin said that he was having no stripping on his TV show. At the ‘back alley street brawl’ it’s just going to be the two of them, no Dirty White Boy, no Tom Burton and no Bill Dundee. When she gets in that ring she’s going to scratch the White Girl’s eyes out, rip her hair out and rip her dress right off! She promises all her fans that the Dirty White Girl’s dress is coming off, and she will see what it’s like to walk back from the ring humiliated. Back in the studio and Jerry Lawler tells Eddie Gilbert to bring Sam Lowe with him as he wants to finish what they started on last week and let him taste a little bit of his baseball bat! I was looking forward to seeing highlights of the tag match from the Mid-South Coliseum, but sadly none made the Yearbook. I’ve got Trent Warren’s run of the Evansville feed of Memphis TV and did check the relevant episode of that, but nothing on there either. Guessing it was either not taped, or for some reason they just chose not to air it. Dundee was surprisingly quiet, but when your partner is Jerry Lawler there’s not really much need for you to do any talking, just leave it to ‘The King’. Tessa’s improvement on the mic continues and she was solid here, first promo I can remember her cutting by herself without ‘The Superstar’ by her side.

Brother Love’s guests are the WWF tag team champions, Demolition. Vince McMahon is not happy that three men hold the gold, it’s supposed to be two as that’s what ‘tag teams’ are all about! Love says that it was absolutely lovely the way they treated the Hart Foundation the last time they were on his show (and they replay that footage). He says how at Summerslam its two out of three falls, but only two members of Demolition are going to be allowed at ringside. Ax says the punishment for the Hart Foundation, or as they like to call them, the ‘Crybaby’ Foundation is going to continue. They ask for all these stipulations, favours, this and that, but they make excuses. ‘Brother’ Crush says the Hart Foundation may think all their problems are solved, but one stipulation still remains in favour of the ‘new’ Demolition, and that’s the unknown factor. Smash explains that the Hart Foundation don’t know which two they’re going to wrestle, but they do! Love says after they get through with them there is another tag team waiting in the wings; they try and paint their faces, they try and wear spikes, but they’re nothing but an impostor of Demolition, the Legion of Doom. Ax says that he’s heard they want a piece of them, and after they destroy and demolish the Hart Foundation at Summerslam, they’re next on their list. Crush warns them that they better be careful what they wish for because it might come true and their wish will be their worst nightmare. Ax then says how they’re going to have a victory celebration after Summerslam and they’re going to dedicate the victory to their good friend, Brother Love. It’s a shame that Ax didn’t stick around because he would’ve made a much better spokesman/manager for the team than Fuji ended up being. I liked him doing the talking here, but not sure when Demolition and Brother Love became best buddies.

If you need matchlistings for these HWA discs let me know as I already have them and will send them your way.

Drill Sgt. Slaughter is unloading some rounds, and says how for weeks he’s been watching that pinko commie Nikolai Volkoff walk to the ring while all these maggots stand as he waves the red, white and blue. It makes him sick! Nikolai Volkoff preaches peace, but he says peace is for pansies! He’s declaring war on peace, declaring war on Nikolai Volkoff, and declaring war on any maggot fans that support him (whilst pointing his gun at the camera!). Vince McMahon can’t believe he’d point that weapon, although Jesse Ventura, as a veteran, says that he agrees with Slaughter totally! Nikolai Volkoff is in the ring with various members of the Boy Scout troops from the Mid-America council. ‘Eagle Scout’ Ryan Davey is here to make a special presentation, while Jesse Ventura refers to them as ‘goody two shoes’ who even have proper haircuts! Davey, on behalf of the Mid-America Council for Boy Scouts of America, presents Nikolai with a medal of honour for his contributions to World Peace, Strength and Unity. He pins the medal on the big man and it looks like it’s bought a tear to his eye. They all pledge allegiance with Jesse mocking how Volkoff didn’t even know the words. Vince says that he’s not a naturalized citizen yet, but Ventura says how he agrees with Andrew ‘Dice’ Clay, and if you can’t speak the language ‘get out!’ Not sure what Nikolai has done to bring about world peace! They’re going at it hard to make him a sympathetic ‘American’ ready although Slaughter is clearly going to squash him. Guess the idea is that they can make the Sarge a bigger heel by running through a peace promoting ‘American’ in his first feud, as opposed to a Jimmy Snuka, Tito Santana type.

Highlights from the Texas Death tag match at Mid-South Coliseum and from the clips it looks like it was an excellent match. Lawler is concealing two baseball bats under his robe and as soon as they get in the ring he throws one to Dundee and they attack Gilbert and the Dirty White Boys. ‘The King’ whips Tony Anthony into the ropes and as he’s rebounding off them back towards him, swings the bat straight into his mid-section. He then drives the bat down into him to get the first fall in under 30 seconds. Great DDT/bombs away knee drop to the head combination from Lawler and ‘The Superstar’. Piledriver on the Dirty White Boy, but Eddie Gilbert is in there to break up the pin. Gilbert chokes ‘The King’ with a cable from ringside and that gives the heels their first advantage in the match. Fist drop off the top by ‘Hot Stuff’ on Lawler for another fall. The two of them are both busted open and ‘The King’ jumps to try and tag in Dundee but is caught in mid-air by Gilbert and driven back. An awesome moment when ‘Hot Stuff’ is unloading on Lawler and ‘The King’ goes to pull down the strap but then realises it’s already down, and just fires back on him anyway! Tag to Dundee who goes wild on his opponents and all four of them are in the ring. ‘The Superstar’ gets a pin on Anthony, but Gilbert immediately nails him with a piledriver. Neither man is able to beat the ten count, and Jerry Calhoun announces that there has to be a winner, so first man to his feet wins. Both are still down on the canvas and their respective corners are cheering them and encouraging them to get to their feet. When the Dirty White Boy grabs the ropes to help him up, Lawler starts shaking them, and the distraction is enough to allow Dundee to get to his feet and his team be declared the winner. Really liked this finish especially when Lawler started shaking the ropes. Jerry Calhoun uncuffs Tessa and she’s off on her way round to the Dirty White Girl to try and get some pay back. They uncuff her from the turnbuckles, ‘The Superstar’, shoves her into the ring and they re-cuff her to the top rope. Tessa briefly pulls her dress down to expose the White Girl’s bra, before Tony Anthony grabs her to stop her from stripping his wife anymore. Lawler and Dundee are down at this point and Gilbert uncuffs Kim and drags Tessa over to handcuff her to the tope rope. Dundee does his best to try and prevent it, but to no avail. Tom Burton has been freed from his handcuffs at this point so it’s three on two to the heels, with the Dirty White Girl doing a very poor job of trying to rip off Tessa’s blouse. Anthony grabs the baseball bats from ringside and goes to clobber Lawler but he moves and hits Burton instead. The action continues and the White Boys somehow get hold of the bats (the camera was focused on Tessa and the White Girl) and beat on Lawler and Dundee until a suited Jeff Jarrett runs in to make the save. Back in the studio and Lawler is out and on his way to the announcing desk carrying two baseball bats with him. He says that there is a big return match this week and wishes that Bill Dundee and Tessa were here with him to talk about it, however they’re in Dallas again, but have sent in a video. Taped Bill Dundee and Tessa promo. ‘The Superstar’ isn’t going to deny that Tony Anthony, Eddie Gilbert and the Dirty White Girl are tough, because they are, and it took them about half an hour to beat them up last time they were in the ring with them. Every time they were whipping them though Tom Burton would be in there to help them out. This week he’s not going to be an issue, as he’ll be shackled to the turnbuckles by his feet, and then Tessa is going to be handcuffed to his one arm, and the Dirty White Girl to the other. He won’t be going anywhere! It’s a Texas Death match bunkhouse rules, and that means all four of them will be in the ring at the same time. One of them is not going to answer the bell, and when that happens Tessa is finally going to get her hands on the Dirty White Girl. Tessa says that Tom Burton has always been the factor that has prevented her from doing what she wants to the Dirty White Girl. This week when Bill Dundee and Jerry Lawler beat the Dirty White Boys (sic), she’s going to rip every stitch of clothing off her like should’ve happened a long time ago, and there is nothing Tom Burton can do about it. Back to the studio and Jerry Lawler again goes over the stipulations for Monday night, and as he is explaining them the backstage curtains open and a hesitant Eddie Gilbert and the Dirty White Boys watch on. Lawler invites them out, but Gilbert tells him that they know Bill Dundee is probably back there somewhere and they aren’t falling for that again. He finishes off running down the rules for the Texas Death bunkhouse match (that all four men will be in the ring, that it can’t be stopped for blood or broken bones and the only way it can be stopped is when someone can’t answer the bell) and promises everyone that when Eddie Gilbert or Tony Anthony can’t answer the bell, everyone will get to see what type of woman the Dirty White Girl really is. Lawler heads to the back (stopping to have his photo taken by Sam Lowe as he leaves) and Gilbert and the Dirty White Boys tentatively make their way over to Dave Brown, finally convinced that Bill Dundee isn’t there and that ‘The King’ isn’t going to attack them with those bats. Gilbert checks that Dundee isn’t stood behind the announcer’s desk (because he’s small!) and then calls over cameraman Sam Lowe. He says that he sees him every week at the matches taking pictures and noticed that he was just taking some of Jerry Lawler. Gilbert threatens him and tells him that he doesn’t want his face, Tony Anthony’s, Tom Burton’s or the Dirty White Girl’s on the same roll of film as Jerry Lawler’s. To prevent it from happening he then steals Lowe’s camera, and when he tries to get it back Anthony throws coffee in his face and shoves him down. Gilbert says that it’s time to get back to business and he gave up a six figure salary to return to the USWA. The reason he is back is so that Jerry Lawler can pass the torch to himself, just like Jackie Fargo did to him. He wishes Fargo was here today, first so that he can punch him in the mouth, and second so that he can tell Jerry Lawler that it is ‘Hot Stuff’ Eddie Gilbert’s day! He starts to go over the stipulations for the match on Monday, but Tom Burton is a bit concerned about having to be handcuffed to these two girls who don’t like each other. Tony Anthony tells him not to worry, pulls out a scantily clad photo of the Dirty White Girl and tells him ‘look who he’s going to be handcuffed too, and if the blonde bimbo gets in the way, give her a head butt!’ He holds the photo up to the camera and tells everyone to take a look at what a real woman looks like (the Dirty White Girl is in her underwear here, although) and jokes how horrifying it would be to see Tessa in something like this! He and Eddie Gilbert are going to get mean and nasty on Monday. They’re going to bust Jerry Lawler and Bill Dundee’s skulls whether they like it or not and are walking out the winners!

Nikolai is wearing his ‘medal of honour’, and Hacksaw just wants to take this opportunity to tell him that he’s proud of him, he’s proud of everyone at home and he’s proud of that Boy Scout troop for supporting him. Volkoff says that he’s the happiest man in the world (and he looks it to be fair!), and wants to thank the Boy Scout troop for presenting him with this medal as it’s the best present he’s ever received in his life! Drill Sgt. Slaughter is out on ‘manoeuvres’, but this vignette is done to make it seem like Vince McMahon is interviewing him. When Vince asks him about the ‘medal of freedom’ that the Boy Scouts gave Nikolai Volkoff, he says that Boy Scouts are little pukes, but it doesn’t matter if you’re a big puke or a little puke, if you’re a supporter of Nikolai Volkoff, you’re all pukes! As far as declarations go, the only declaration he ever knew was a declaration of war and that’s what he’s going to declare at Summerslam. He’s going to be there with a ‘real American’, Brother Love, not some pinko commie, and when they stand in the middle of the ring he demands everyone gives them their undivided attention and gives them respect. Slaughter and Love at Summerslam is something that had completely slipped my mind.

Looks like I’m in the minority with this one! Al Hayes and Gene Okerlund are in the ‘jungle’. I’m not sure if they are meant to be playing someone or themselves, but Hayes calls Gene ‘Jim’ for the duration of these. This was meant to be funny, but bar ‘Jim’s’ pratfall it was anything but. Of course with this being a ‘Wild Kingdom’ special we bump into some WWF superstars along the way who have tenuous links to the jungle, such as Koko B. Ware, Jake Roberts, Jimmy Snuka and Slick and Akeem. Dreadful!

This has just finished downloading so will probably make a start on it sometime over the weekend. My current project is working through stuff on the 90s Yearbook's that interests me, but I do hope to chime in with some discussion in the threads at some point. I especially want to have a look at some of the obscurer WCW stuff and MPPW/MCW matches that I've had on DVD for years but never actually got around to watching.

I've a backlog of podcasts but was listening to this earlier this morning. No idea if he'll read this, but I wanted to give some props to Allan as I really enjoyed his segment on the UK Championship Tournament. On the opposite end of the scale I thought Hugh was pretty bad though. Kinda expecting more from someone who co-hosts his own podcast.

Sting and Junkyard Dog are with Jim Ross in front of the live crowd, and before Ross can even finish his questions he’s cut off by Sting. He says that the Horsemen have definitely turned it up a notch, but if you think the Dog, himself, Paul Orndorff and Lex Luger cannot turn it up, you’ve got another thing coming. They’ve had it with the Horsemen and are going to put an end to them once and for all. The Dog is about to speak when they’re interrupted by Tommy Rich who says that ‘they’ got Luger, but he doesn’t know who ‘they’ is as he couldn’t make much sense of things. We then see Luger hopping over the guard rail into the ring with his clothes all torn (although it looks more like Brutus Beefcake has taken his shears to them!). Sting, JYD and Rich all head to the ring to try and find out what happened, while Ross says that Lex is screaming about the Horsemen and he thinks it is them who attacked him.

Gary Michael Capetta introduces the mysterious ‘Pearl’, whose origins are unknown. He’s head to toe in black bar some white gloves and some white on his mask. As the bell rings he does some sort of pre-match oriental ceremony, leading Jim Ross and Bob Caudle to speculate that he must be an oriental! Nice back heel trip from The Pearl, followed by some lame karate kicks and a very poor handspring elbow. A kind of power drive elbow, a not so snap suplex and the Japanese heel’s staple, the nerve hold. A couple of arm drags from Cazana and The Pearl steps outside the ring for a breather. A delayed face first piledriver from The Pearl and when Cazana whips him into the ropes, he rolls under his leapfrog and immediately nails him with a thrust kick to the throat. Throat slash, moonsault and The Pearl gets the win. So The Pearl is Ranger Ross and no surprise that this gimmick was done after one appearance. Not terrible, but not good either. I presume they were trying to fool the crowd into thinking it was Muta (handspring elbow, powerdrive elbow, throat slash, moonsault), but the execution was nowhere near as crisp as Muta and it was clear it wasn’t him. I wouldn’t have let Cazana have any of this match myself. It would’ve been a dominant squash for The Pearl in his debut, but as the gimmick was one and done, that’s a moot point anyway.

Ric Flair and Sid Vicious are Jim Cornette’s guests on the Louisville Slugger, and he says that fans have just seen the tape of what happened to Lex Luger so they can decide for themselves. A lot of tumours have been flying around saying the Horsemen attacked him, but there’s no eye witnesses, there’s no proof and Lex Luger isn’t talking. Everybody will therefore have to agree that the Horsemen obviously had nothing to do with this situation! Sid tells Sting that it must just be fate, when you mess with the Horsemen, something bad is going to happen to you. Like it happened to Lex Luger, it may happen to him! Flair says that everyone knows that if you play with fire you get burned, so somewhere along the line Lex Luger must’ve made someone ill. Luger is the U.S. champion, a big man in the business, and he and Sting side by side figure that they rule the wrestling world. Wrong! What happened to Luger could happen to Sting tomorrow, nobody’s fault, it just happens in life. It’s the world of hard knocks, the big boys survive and the little boys fall by the wayside. Cornette then says that it’s terrible the crime problem in this country these days!

Rayo is grooming his horse before going for a ride on him. I’m not a big lucha fan so don’t know if this is his regular garb or not? I do like the hat he’s wearing mind!