GSR

Quick political commercial for Kathryn Swisher who ‘The King’ is backing in the upcoming election. The advert is filmed in a wrestling ring and Swisher and an unnamed male are both wearing Judo gi’s. Swisher twice ‘throws’ her opponent to the floor, although it’s blatant that her opponent throws himself!

Jerry Lawler vs Eddie Gilbert in a number one contender’s match for the USWA Unified title. Not much of a match but I found this fun. Gilbert picks up some rope from ringside, which the crowd tell the referee about, and he then hides and conceals it whilst the ref searches him trying to find it. He chokes Lawler with the rope behind the referee’s back, but when he whips him into the turnbuckles and charges at him, ‘The King’ moves and Gilbert goes shoulder first into the ring post. He decks ‘Hot Stuff’ and starts to choke him, when out from the back comes the Dirty White Boys who jump Lawler. The Dirty White Girl hands something to Gilbert, which turns out to be fire. He goes to throw the fire at Lawler, but he ducks and it hits Tom Burton instead. Lawler makes his escape while Burton writhes in pain on the arena floor before being helped to the back by his team mates and Downtown Bruno (who had turned up from somewhere). Michael St. John says how Eddie Gilbert just burned Tom Burton but he’s in denial and says that he didn’t, it was Jerry Lawler’s fire! Jerry Lawler burned Tom Burton, he didn’t do that! He tells Lawler to bring his fire for the Texas Death match because he’s going to bring his, the Dirty White Boy is going to bring his chair and the Dirty White Girl is going to tear Tessa’ clothes off.

A few choice highlights from the tag match at Mid-South Coliseum where he valets were handcuffed to the turnbuckles. Referee Jerry Calhoun somehow gets bumped, but we miss it as the camera is focusing on Eddie Gilbert and Jerry Lawler fighting at ringside. Dundee covers the Dirty White Boy and a groggy Jerry Calhoun counts the three. As soon as he’s made the count Tom Burton is out, nails Dundee in the back of the head and then puts the White Boy on top of him. A still groggy Calhoun crawls over, calls for the bell, and seeing the Dirty White Boy on top, raises his hand. Lawler tries to explain what’s happened, that the White Boys had switched the position, and then encourages the crowd to tell Calhoun this too. Anthony denies this, but Calhoun eventually reverses his decision and declares Lawler and Dundee the winners. They unlock Tessa, but as she makes her way to the White Girl Tony Anthony grabs her, drags her back around to the turnbuckle and handcuffs her back to the ring post. Tom Burton is back out, and while he and Gilbert are handling Lawler and Dundee, Anthony goes and uncuffs the Dirty White Girl. She heads for Tessa, and with the White Boy’s help, starts tearing her clothes off. This all happens in the opposite corner to where the camera is so you don’t see much at all, but just about catch Tessa in her bra. Presuming it was designed to be that way. Jeff Jarrett and Billy Joe Travis finally make the save and the heels get out of there. Back in the studio and no Dave Brown this week as it’s Michael St. John at the announcer’s desk. He says what happened was a travesty and wants to get Jerry Lawler out so they can talk about what we just saw. As he’s making his way around ringside to St. John, three black lads are over friendly, wanting to shake his hand and give him a hug. When he reaches the announcing desk ‘The King’ jokes that he thinks he’s just been mugged! Lawler says that it did get out of hand Monday night, but that was down to the stipulation. The girls had promised to rips each other’s clothes off, rip each other’s hair our and that’s what they expected to see. The problem was that they won the match and the wrong girl got uncuffed. They want to get that settled this week, and while Bill Dundee and Tessa are not here today as they’re in Dallas, he’s got some videotape comments from them. Before we get to hear the comments, Eddie Gilbert, the Dirty White Boys and the Dirty White Girl are out to confront Lawler as Michael St. John tries to keep the order. Gilbert tells Lawler that he used to think he was smart, but after what happened last time he hasn’t bought anyone with him and is on his own? He says how Texas is the safest place to be for Dundee and tells Lawler that they’re going to beat his brains out. The crowd start making a bit of noise, and it’s Bill Dundee who throws a baseball bat to ‘The King’. They take out the White Boys and Gilbert with the baseball bats whilst Tessa and the Dirty White Girl get it on in the ring. Tony Anthony is eventually able to get Kim out of the ring and the four of them retreat to the back. Lawler says that he’s not the idiot that they take him for and he knew full well that they’d try to do what they did last week, but this time he’s got Tessa and ‘The Superstar’ with him. They’re ready for them, and the added stipulation for this week’s match is not only are Tessa and the Dirty White Girl going to be handcuffed, but so is Tom Burton. After they get through with Eddie Gilbert and the Dirty White Boy they’re going to uncuff Tessa, and then she’s going to do a number on the White Girl too. Tessa says how two on two, Jerry Lawler and Bill Dundee can beat anybody, and she promises to tear every piece of the Dirty White Girls clothing off because no-one humiliates her like that. Dundee says two on two they’ve been whipping everyone for the past ten years, that’s not going to change and they’re going to see how much of a woman the Dirty White Girl is! We return from a commercial break and the White Boys, Eddie Gilbert and the Dirty White Girl are livid. Anthony says that he’s sick, week after week, of Jerry Lawler and Bill Dundee coming out here with their ball bats and trying to cripple him. He tells them that if they’ve got the guts, to show up at any arena in the country, bring their ball bats, some chains and some chairs, as he’s challenging them to a Texas Death match. Gilbert says that he came out here a few years ago and burned their precious ‘King’, but then everybody got scared and wondered why he did that? He then burned a couple more people, pulled out a few chairs out, a few chains and then Eddie Marlin came out and told him that he had to leave the area as they were threatening to suspend him. He comes out here today and gets set up in a trap! He’s never seen anything like it before since he’s been wrestling! Michael St. John tries to say that they came out here ‘three on one’ as they thought Jerry Lawler was all alone, but he claims that they came out here to congratulate him on what a good wrestler he is! When St. John says ‘with chairs and garbage cans’? Gilbert then says that they don’t know what he’s going to do to them! As a kid, the men he watched fight were Jerry Lawler and Bill Dundee and they’d use anything they wanted to. Well he wrote the book on being dirty, and for the Texas Death match they better bring their baseball bats as he’s planning on pulling out a few things that everyone thought had gone away. The Dirty White Girl then says that she’s going to snatch Tessa’s bleach blonde hair out of her head one more time, rip her clothes off and advises everyone to bring a barf bag, because if they could see what she sees close up, they’d be sick! Again the highlights from the Mid-South Coliseum looked good and it’s a shame we don’t have the full match. I’ve no problem with the finish, as in my eyes Jerry Calhoun was still groggy and a bit confused about what was going on. I did think it was a way to get out of the pre-match stipulation of one of the girls being stripped, but fair play, even though it was the wrong one, they did keep to it. The angle in the studio with Dundee showing up was great and I totally bought that he wasn’t there and ‘The King’ was on his own. I thought the ‘Dundee in Dallas’ was a way to cover for him not being on the show (like what they did with Jimmy Valiant being ‘on the phone’ earlier in the year), but then he turns up out of nowhere. Tony Anthony is superb on the mic here, Gilbert has already slipped into my top five talkers of the year so far, and even the girls weren’t bad either.

Drill Sgt. Slaughter is shooting some rounds of ammunition on the firing range. He says that he used to be proud of his country, but not anymore. These maggots have opened their arms to that pinko commie Nikolai Volkoff, and they believe the crap that he and Mikael Gorbachev are feeding them. He’s here to tell everyone that America has gone soft, not only physically, but in the head too. They say the Cold War is over, but over his dead body! We then get a side profile of the Sarge and his almighty chin.

Gene says that ‘the heat returns’ as Summerslam is scheduled to take place on August 27th from the Philadelphia Spectrum. He announces that Hulk Hogan will be returning to face Earthquake, with Tugboat in the Hulkster’s corner and Dino Bravo and Jimmy Hart in Earthquake’s. Brutus Beefcake has been involved in a serious boating accident and has been sidelined in his quest to capture the Intercontinental title, however Jack Tunney has informed him that regardless of this, the belt will be defended at Summerslam. The other title bout will be Demolition defending the tag team belts against the Hart Foundation in a 2/3 falls match, but with only one member of Demolition allowed at ringside. We get a quick recap of what happened on the Brother Love Show and interviews from both teams, with Bret saying how they can’t be beat and that they’re going to take their belts back. I didn’t even spot that they never made mention of the Ultimate Warrior vs Rick Rude match until reading the comments on here. I can just about understand seeing the match playing second fiddle to Hogan/Earthquake, but talking about the IC title, the Tag Team titles and no mention of your World title? Think the omission says plenty about their thoughts on Warrior at this point.

Action from the Mid-South Coliseum that’s joined in progress. Lawler with a fist drop off the middle turnbuckle to The Snowman, when Downtown Bruno is out and up on the apron (what are the two referees doing at this point?). ‘The King’ slugs him with a right and follows up with another for good measure. As he grabs him to nail him again, The Snowman rolls him up from behind for the pin. Lawler decks The Snowman after the match but is then jumped by The Wild Things. They double team the bloodied Lawler until Bill Dundee makes the save, although the Dirty White Boys are out not long after to help The Wild Things. As Tony Anthony holds ‘The King’ ready for The Snowman to hit him, he nails Jeff Gaylord instead. The three of them work together to clear the ring of the heels and The Snowman then helps a hesitant Lawler to his feet as the crowd cheer on in approval. The Snowman is in the studio with Dave Brown, but before he can say anything they are joined by Jeff Gaylord and Downtown Bruno. Gaylord insults The Snowman’s physique whilst posing, and says he’s an athlete, a superior being, whilst The Snowman is just a thug! The only thing that would make him look any better is by having that belt around his 32” waist, and that’s what’s going to happen this week before demonstrating his athleticism by doing one handed clap pushups. He says that belt is the only thing he’s lacking to make himself complete and Monday is going to see the biggest meltdown since the Chernobyl nuclear reactor in Russia! The Snowman says that it will be a long time before he gets this belt, but it’s going to be one of the most exciting matches of all time this Monday at the Coliseum. I’m sorry but this made no sense to me. Lawler attacked The Snowman after the match before the Wild Things attacked him. Why oh why is he then coming to help Lawler out? If someone had punched me, last thing I would be doing a minute or so later is helping them! I’d be wanting to hit them back, or in a situation like this where I can see they are already getting beaten up, I’d leave them to get beaten up some more. Yeah, it might have been cool seeing The Snowman come to his aid and the crowd popped big for it, still doesn’t stop it from making zero sense though. I thought The Snowman might explain his reasoning in the studio interview, but all we got was that he has no allegiance with Downtown Bruno. I found Gaylord pretty funny here, and whatever you think about him, those one handed clap pushups were super impressive.

Jerry Lawler first of all runs down some of his upcoming appearances, including a triple header Softball game in Jackson, TN. One of those games is against a group of fans from Philadelphia, where ‘The King’ and one of the fans are both putting their hair on the line. Whomevers team loses will stand on home plate and the other person will then shave their head bald. Before he talks about wrestling we go to a video from Mid-South Coliseum of Jerry Lawler & Bill Dundee vs Tony Anthony & John Tatum. Dundee with the hottest of hot tags to ‘The King’, who pulls down the strap and unloads on both Tatum and Anthony who pinball for him. Double noggin knocker and great stereo punches from Lawler and Dundee to their opponents. The Dirty White Girls hooks ‘The Superstar’s’ ankle as he rebounds off the ropes and Tessa then chases after her. They end up in the ring and have another lame looking fight, while their dresses ride up and give everyone shots of their pantyhose clad butts. Spike piledriver to Tatum, and Lawler and Dundee are disqualified. Tom Burton is out to help his Dirty White Boy partner, and Anthony clobbers Lawler in the head with his boot busting him open. The White Girl manages to escapes Tessa clutches and heads to the back with Tessa in hot pursuit. Anthony grinds one of the White Girl’s heels into Lawler’s cut, and Tatum wraps a chain around his fist to nail Dundee with as they continue to triple team them. They get hold of Tessa, but the Dirty White Boy just throws her to the canvas. I thought they were actually going to piledrive her, but I’m guessing they’re keeping the ‘man on woman’ violence to a bare minimum in Memphis! The heels have finally had enough, leaving their opponents laid out and Lawler a bloody mess in the ring. Back in the studio and Lawler says how you sign a contract to wrestle John Tatum & Tony Anthony, but it ends up with you wrestling both of the Dirty White Boys. John Tatum is a ‘little under the weather’ after what happened, as he’s got a stiff neck or something, so this Monday night it is going to be himself and Bill Dundee against the Dirty White Boys. There are some added stipulations for the match though. So that there isn’t that much distraction (as ‘The King’ can’t help but look when there are young ladies with dresses over their heads!), Tessa and the Dirty White Girl will both be handcuffed to their respective turnbuckles before the match starts. When the match is over, the winning team will be able to unlock the handcuffs of the girl that is in their corner, and she then gets to do whatever she wants to the other girl. The Dirty White Girl likes to come out here in her short skirts, trying to tease everybody and showing off her body, well Tessa has told him that when they win the match and uncuff her she’s going to go round and tear every piece of clothing off her body. They’ve got a date Monday night and he’s really looking forward to it. A taped Dundee and Tessa promo and ‘The Superstar’ says that if the Dirty White Girl behaved like a lady then she wouldn’t have to be handcuffed, before recapping what Jerry Lawler just said and the stipulations for Monday night. Tessa says that the White Girl humiliated her on TV by trying to tear her shirt off, now it’s her turn. When Jerry Lawler and Bill Dundee win they’re going to uncuff her and she’s going to walk over, slap the White Girl’s jaw and rip her clothes off because nobody ever does that to her! Dundee says that he’s gunning for Tom Burton because he’s the one who came and backstabbed everyone. Monday night it’s going to be a fight and they’re going to find out how bad it is to be humiliated. Tony Anthony and the Dirty White Girl are out to speak with Dave Brown, and Anthony doesn’t like it one bit that the White Girl is going to be handcuffed this Monday. He tells Jerry Lawler that he’s the one who keeps interfering, and he’s the one who stuck his nose where it doesn’t belong. He then says there is some tape that he wants them to play. Dressing room interview with Tony Anthony and John Tatum after the match at the Coliseum on Monday. The White Boy can’t believe that Jerry Lawler and Bill Dundee would stoop so low and they don’t know if John Tatum’s neck is broken or not. ‘Hollywood’ John is in agony and has a towel wrapped around his neck to support it. He tells Lawler and Dundee that he has an 86 year old mother at home and she needs to eat! He thinks his neck is broken, but doesn’t care where it’s at and doesn’t know where it will be, but they better watch their back as John Tatum is going to get them. The doctors have said that he won’t be wrestling for six months but he doesn’t care about no doctors, what he cares about is his momma who isn’t going to be able to eat! Back to the studio and Dave Brown says how the White Boy has one partner who is out of action and another who may be out of action. Anthony questions that isn’t the piledriver illegal in Memphis? Where is Eddie Marlin? That’s two partners and what’s he supposed to do? Out walks Eddie Gilbert and he tells him that he doesn’t have to worry about a partner any more as he’s got one right here. Gilbert says everyone has been wondering where he’s been for the past two months, well he’s been in seclusion in Lexington, TN, getting meaner and nastier than he’s ever been. For two years he had to be Mr Nice Guy, but he’s not going to be Mr Nice guy any more. When Bill Dundee and Jerry Lawler hear his name they know he can get down to the same level as they can, they know he might get a little fire or pull out a chain. This Monday at the Coliseum ‘The Superstar’ & ‘The King’ have got to face the Dirty White Boy & ‘Hot Stuff’. The Dirty White Girls tells Tessa that when she gets uncuffed she’s going to snatch that bleach blonde hair out of her head and snatch her clothes off, and from what she saw last week, it’s not a pretty sight! Gilbert then says that there will be no charge for this, no charge! A lot to talk about here. Lawler must have been super confident in his Softball team to put his hair up in a match against some out of towners. That, or the Softball match is going to be as worked as the wrestling! The tag match from Mid-South Coliseum looked tremendous from what we saw and the hot tag was something else. Again I thought the beat down probably went on longer than it needed, but at least ‘The King’ was selling the cut he received in his studio interview (unlike that beating Dundee took the week before). I have low expectations when it comes to these women talking, so in that aspect I didn’t find their respective interviews that offensive. It is pretty sleazy selling the match on the basis that one of them is going to get stripped, but it is probably the best use of these two as the action is dire anytime they have to get physical with one another. John Tatum continues to be a hoot and as others have said, he must have had some serious issues to never get a shot in the NWA or WWF. Gilbert looks motivated and excited to be back in the USWA and this Monday’s tag match should be a cracker. My only gripe about all this is that Tom Burton has been put out after a piledriver, John Tatum has a ‘suspected broken neck’ after a spike piledriver, Bill Dundee takes two spike piledrivers and a horrendous beating on top and walks around without a mark on him and as if nothing has happened. All in all though, some fantastic stuff here.

The Dirty White Boys defeat Ken Raper & Ben Jordan after Tom Burton pins Raper following an assisted leg drop. They attack them after the match, including a nice swinging neck breaker by Anthony on Jordan, until a baseball bat swinging Jerry Lawler makes the save. A piledriver to Burton and Tony Anthony is back in the ring with a chair. He starts swinging it at ‘The King’ who is able to block the shots with his bat, and when the White Boy drops the chair he gets out of their sharpish. I liked this a lot and am certainly looking forward to more Jerry Lawler vs Tony Anthony down the road.

Eddie Gilbert makes his way out and over to Dave Brown and wonders if Bill Dundee left him his money last week? Dave says ‘no’ and he doesn’t think he’s going to be getting it either. There’s some noise from the crowd and he calls a fan over. It’s a Brian Hildebrand. I smell an angle! Hildebrand says how he is a big fan of Gilbert’s and that he is his idol. Eddie offers to have his photo taken with him, before checking again that Dave doesn’t have his money! He gets Sam Lowe to come over and take the picture, but Gilbert then backhands Hildebrand to the jaw and starts rag dolling him and shouting has he got his money? He says that Bill Dundee promised him $5,000 to be his partner and he did what he asked and came right out here last week. His tone changes and he bets that Jerry Lawler got his money and has his $5,000. He says that ‘Hot Stuff’ Eddie Gilbert is back and he’s not leaving until he gets his $5,000! That backhander he gave Hildebrand looked more vicious than the one Matt Borne gave Chris Von Erich. He proper cracked him with Hildebrand taking a nice bump off it to. Those ‘Get Bucked’ chants are really starting to get annoying now, and Gilbert at least addressed them and tries to get them to stop, by telling the fans that they’ll end up like Hildebrand if they don’t stop.

Last five minutes or so of action, and an Oklahoma Stampede on Kabuki but Jumbo is in there to break up the pin. Gordy goes to work on him until he’s able to get in a shot of his own to drop ‘Bam Bam’ and make the tag to Tsuruta. A pair of jumping knees, followed by a clothesline to both, but the MVC fight back and get a two count after a double shoulder block. Gordy with a powerbomb on Jumbo, and this time its Kabuki who is in to break things up. Oklahoma Stampede attempt on Tsuruta, but Stan Hansen has come out to ringside and hooks Williams’ leg as Jumbo falls on top for a near fall. Doc is distracted by Hansen and a knee to the back followed by a backdrop driver for another two count. Jumbo then evades a football charge, a second backdrop driver on Williams and this time it’s enough to get the win and become the All Japan World Tag Team champions. I’m not an All Japan fan, but it was clear that someone didn’t belong in this match!

Lawler tells The Snowman that this is what they’ve needed from the very beginning, this is the way to settle things, a two out of three falls match. Just like the ‘good old days’ where you had to prove you were a champion. You couldn’t just go into a title match and come out with a fluke win, you had to prove by beating a man two falls out of three that you were the better man. That’s what The Snowman is going to have to do now and he doesn’t think he’ll be able to do it. It’s for the Unified World Heavyweight championship, two out of three falls, it may go for an hour, so The Snowman better suck it up and be ready because he’s coming to get his belt back.

Gene introduces the WWF tag team champions, Ax, Smash and Crush, and he doesn’t know what to make of things. Ax tells him that he doesn’t have to make anything of it. He addresses the Hart Foundation and says that there is a new Demolition in town, more powerful, more devastating and more demolishing than ever. Their power structure has expanded, now there is three and they’re getting stronger and stronger every day. Crush says that it’s no-one’s business what he’s doing here, but he came to the new Demolition on one condition and that is that he doesn’t have to like anyone, he can hurt anyone and he already hates the Hart Foundation’s stinking guts! Smash likes Crush’s attitude because he is like they are and he doesn’t care about anyone. The only thing he cares about is them, and they’re here to knock someone’s head off. After they knock it off Ax axes them, he smashes them, and Crush crushes them, and there is nothing the Hart Foundation can do about it!

Last three minutes of the match. Luger no sells a suplex and hits Mean Mark with three clotheslines before getting him up in the torture rack. Callous’ legs kick the referee in the face knocking him down, and Paul E. then jumps in the ring and nails Lex in the ribs with his phone. The two of them fall to the canvas whilst Heyman is doing his best to try and wake up the referee. Mean Mark crawls over to cover the champion but Lex kicks out at two. He backs him up against the ropes ready for heart punch, but when he comes charging at him Luger gets a foot up. He decks Paul E. (who’d climbed up on the apron), another clothesline to Callous and then makes the cover and a quick looking count sees him retain the title. Good action here and you can see the potential in Callous and his athleticism with the way he was bumping for Luger. Amazing how little charisma he has here compared to The Undertaker though.

Billy Joe Travis and Jeff Jarrett are out for an interview with Craig Johnson and he says how they’ve been having their problems with Devastation Inc. Travis tells General Akhbar that one by one they’re going to get them. They’ve got a match with Gary Young and Sweet Daddy Falcone, they’ve already got rid of Chico Torres, and they’re next. Jarrett tells ‘rag head’ that Chico Torres thought that hot sauce was a real good idea, but he found out when he put that Figure Four on him, and now he’s not around here anymore. He’s got another Figure Four for Young, Falcone and Akhbar, so why don’t they all just come down to that ring. At this point Iceman Parsons comes down the aisle and gets in Jarrett’s face. A couple of security guards are out almost immediately and Johnson is saying that he’s not even in this organization. They’re doing The Snowman angle in Dallas! Security are trying to stop him, but Iceman says that he’s working all over the country trying to make a living and they’ve got punks like Jeff Jarrett in the main event. John Brozell is out next and tells Iceman that he doesn’t have any business here and he’s trespassing. Parsons shoves Brozell and security then get him out of there while he continues to mouth off at Jarrett. Jarrett has just defeated Ed Robinson and Parsons is out again and the two of them start fighting (or should that be ‘rolling around’) at ringside. Billy Joe Travis, Brickhouse Brown, Gary Young and Sweet Daddy Falcone are out to separate them however Jarrett breaks free, charges back towards Parsons and it’s on again. John Brozell is out again and security ends up cuffing the Iceman and escorting him to the back. Jarrett then tells him that he wants a match with Parsons as he ‘humiliated’ him, and says that if he doesn’t get one he’ll quit. I imagine that if you hadn’t seen Jerry Lawler and The Snowman this would’ve looked more impressive and come across as a pretty chaotic scene, as it was, it just seemed like a cheap imitation. Pete has covered the main things that I noted down when watching this, but I didn’t even know that Parsons wasn’t working for the USWA. He had been a mainstay for World Class for so long that I thought he was in the promotion now, and it was only when Craig Johnson said that ‘he’s not in the organization’ did the penny drop on what they were doing. The other reason I didn’t realize it was an ‘outsider’ angle was because the camera cuts to Parsons as he is walking down the aisle to ringside. Why do this if you are trying to portray an element of realism? Sure fire way to give away that it’s a work. The reason that this presentation worked for Lawler and The Snowman was because at first you couldn’t tell whether it was a work or a shoot. It was obvious here from the first moment you saw Parsons. Not sure what he did to ‘humiliate’ Jarrett, but it sure feels like they’re rushing the angle too with him wanting the match straight away.

Tatum says that Tessa reminds him of his old wild days when he’d go to a bar at eight o’clock and she’d look good. Come ten she’d look a little better, at midnight she was beautiful and as two in the morning she was a goddess. He’d wake up at ten the next morning and she was a dog, and that’s just what Tessa is, a dog! When he went to those bars there used to be a punk in every one, and they would call him ‘the punk slapper’! Bill Dundee wants a first blood match with him, well he’s the biggest, sorry shortest, punk he knows! He’s going to hit him in his face, knock him out and he’ll be bleeding like a pig. Good promo from Tatum mixing the serious with comedy by making those digs about Dundee’s height. Good delivery from him too. Craig Johnson appears to be struggling to keep a straight face whilst Tatum is cutting this. Dundee cuts a rebuttal and says how it’s going to be a first blood match at the Sportatorium on Friday 13th. That’s a scary night and it’s going to be scary night for John Tatum. He asked for the match because what he did to Tessa was uncalled for. Beating him, punching his lights out, even stealing the belt, you expect that in professional wrestling, but you don’t want a 240lb man superkicking a woman. He’s going to be in his face from the time the bell rings to the time it’s over. Pinfalls don’t count, the only way the match ends is when someone gets busted open, and he promises to everyone that ‘Hollywood’ John Tatum is the one who’s getting busted open.

Thanks for the heads up. I was going to post to see if anyone had listened to these as I saw them yesterday when I was checking out what was new at mlwradio, but ended up downloading the Steve Austin podcast with Eric Embry (which is well worth a listen, especially his take on Puerto Rico) and Talk is Jericho with Perry Saturn instead.

King and Maggs are the current USWA tag team champions and this is a non-title expiration of time match. King has got an awful haircut! He and Maggs actually look like a decent little team here, but it’s hard to get the image of Well Dunn and Joey Maggs ‘WCW enhancement talent’ out of your head. A few solid minutes of action before Dundee and Lawler are out to attack the White Boys with a baseball bat and trash can that they’d bought with them. Back from a commercial break and out comes the Dirty White Boy (carrying a chair), Dirty White Girl and Eddie Gilbert. Dave Brown tells him that he’s already had his interview, but he says he’s coming out for another one whether he likes it or not. Jerry Lawler and Bill Dundee interfered in their match and started beating on them with a trash can. Does that seem fair? He’s fed up with Bill Dundee, and if Jerry Lawler wants to stick his nose where it doesn’t belong, that’s fine, because this chair will look real good rammed around his neck. He’s going to stomp Dundee’s brains out and if Tessa continues to stick her nose where it doesn’t belong, she’s going to get hurt! What happened earlier was just an example. Eddie Gilbert says that he got up very early this morning to be here, free of charge, to pick up his cheque from Bill Dundee, but now it looks like he won’t be getting his money. He tells Dundee that that if he doesn’t get his money, if Jerry ‘The King’ Lawler is the reason he’s not getting his money, they better look over their shoulders. Be it Monday at the Coliseum, or next Saturday at the studio, someone is going to get hurt, and they haven’t heard the last of Eddie Gilbert. As they leave out comes Downtown Bruno and The Wild Things. Bruno says that they don’t like to be sidetracked or distracted, they want to be the next USWA tag team champions, but Jerry Lawler came out here and he’s now got his mind on other things and has got them all upset. Jerry Lawler was running him down, saying that he was unfaithful, un-loyal and accused him of costing him a match he never cost him. He offered Jerry Lawler his hand in friendship, to be his manager, but he just talked bad about him and called him a weasel. Nobody calls him a weasel! He said how he wanted nothing to do with him, and now he’s upset and left with no choice. Jerry Lawler made him look bad, and now he’s got to make him look bad. Three good promos back to back. I really liked the way the Dirty White Girl reacted to the White Boy throwing the chair down on the floor, almost like she knows he’s been pushed too far. Eddie Gilbert continues to be all about the money, and even Downtown Bruno has got me interested in whatever he’s up to. Excellent episode of TV and things are really picking up in Memphis.

For many years Cowabunga has lived in the shadows waiting for the right time to show his face upon the wrestling world, and now is that time! Cowabunga is a fighter of evil and a fighter for truth, justice and a bigger slice of pizza! Cowabunga has got a new costume and it’s a significant improvement on the one he wore previously. He does some karate kicks and punches, then chops a piece of wood in half. The gimmick is still horrible, but at least it looks like it will be interesting to watch with all those flashy kicks and punches. Not too sure about the faux Japanese accent that he talks in mind!

The Dirty White Boys jump Dundee leading to a technical loss for Wayne. They put the boots to him whilst Tessa pleads with Eddie Gilbert to get in there and help him. Gilbert grabs Tessa by the hair and is dragging her around on the floor, when out comes Jerry Lawler pulling him off her and decking him with a right. He goes to help Dundee and the two of them clear the ring while Tessa chases the Dirty White Girl around the ring. They head over to the announcing desk and Dundee says that about half an hour ago Lawler said for $5,000 he could buy ‘The King’ himself. Eddie Gilbert hasn’t been paid yet, he’s not going to be paid, and now he’s asking him. Lawler says that he never said for $5,000, he can get his services for a lot less than that! He can’t stand Eddie Gilbert, who right then he showed his true colours, has never liked the Dirty White boy and had had his fair share of run ins with John Tatum. Dundee can forget the $5,000 as it would be his pleasure to help him out. Great segment and the crowd were hot when Lawler came to Tessa’s rescue and then when he and Dundee took care of the Dirty White Boys. Eddie Gilbert continued to be a weasel, and although I felt he was outshone by John Tatum in Dallas, I’ve really enjoyed Bill Dundee’s work in this episode.

We join the footage right at the end of the match as Dundee pins the Dirty White Boy with a sunset flip. Anthony blindsides him immediately and the two of them continue to fight. The White Girl is out with a whip and Anthony holds ‘The Superstar’ down, and she repeatedly whips him until Tessa comes out to get at her. The woman fight amongst themselves and Tessa ends up chasing the White Girl to the back. John Tatum, in short shorts and slip on shoes, then jumps Dundee from behind and they double team him. He nails him with a shoe, a superkick and they also spike piledrive him. Ben Jordan, Joey Maggs and Rex King try to help Dundee but to no avail. Reverse neck breaker, another spike piledriver and finally the three of them are able to get in there and put a stop to this. Back in the studio and Jerry Lawler is co-hosting with Dave Brown this week. Dundee and Tessa are out for an interview, and no neck brace and no sign whatsoever of selling the beat down from ‘The Superstar’. Lawler even comments that was the worst beating he’s ever seen anyone take, so again perplexing that he’s not selling it at all. Dundee says that sometimes in your life you do something that you don’t particularly want to do, and he’s just done that, spending an awful lot of money and making a deal with the devil. He went out and got himself a man that was as mean, as bad and as nasty as both John Tatum and the Dirty White Boy, but had to pay $5,000 to do so. Lawler interrupts and says for that kind of money he could’ve made a deal with ‘The King’ and then he wouldn’t have had to deal with the devil. Dundee then jokes, ‘listen to who’s talking? That’s the devil’s right hand man just there!’ He asks his partner to come out but no-one does, and they’re starting to wonder where he is when out walks Guy Coffey to laughter from the crowd and Lawler joking ‘he’ll kill them!’ Coffey says that as long as Jerry Lawler is out there his partner won’t come out, so ‘The King’ heads off to the back. His partner makes his entrance, and it’s ‘Hot Stuff’ Eddie Gilbert! He says to Dundee that he’s the best friend money can buy, he’s going to stand by his side, there’ll be no double crossing and he’ll be his friend for life with this money. He then tells John Tatum that he’s waited four years for this and it’s a reunion he can’t wait for, he’s going to let the air out of the Dirty White Boy so that he flies around that arena like a balloon on a mission, and for that amount of money he doesn’t mind slapping the Dirty White Girl around either! Dundee tells him that he doesn’t have to concern himself with the White Girl as Tessa will take care of her. As she starts to cut a promo, the Dirty White Boys and White Girl rush out. Tom Burton attacks Dundee and Tony Anthony grabs Tessa allowing Kim to slap her and rip open her top. All while this is going on Eddie Gilbert is just standing by doing nothing. Dundee wonders why, and Gilbert tells him that they made the deal for this week at the Coliseum, he said nothing about helping him on television. That’s overtime and bonus money, and if he wants his help on television he needs to pay him some more money. Dundee is exasperated but he's got a match coming up and Gilbert offers to stand in his corner for it, because that’s free! After two spike piledrivers Dundee should’ve been hospitalized at the least, but too see him come out not selling the beating in the slightest and not even wearing a neck brace? The lack of continued selling of a move, a beating, an angle has been my biggest pet peeve of the stuff I’ve watched from the Yearbook. The beat down went on too long, although it is nice to see this feud transition from Dallas to Memphis. From their brief ‘catfight’ I’m not holding out much hope for the women, and this was not a patch on what Jeannie and Toni have been doing. The Dundee promo in the studio is probably the best thing I’ve seen him do so far on the set, and Eddie Gilbert was excellent, being all about the money and nothing else. If I were ‘The Superstar’ I’d cut ties with him immediately as I think we know how this one is going to end up!

Jerry Lawler joins Dave Brown after a victory. He’s getting a bit of stick off some fans and tells that they can go home now as he’s sure their cage has been cleaned out! He asks one of the fans to come over and explain what that chant is they all say and what does it mean? He says it’s ‘Get Buck’ and it means ‘Get Wild’. Now that he’s had that explained to him he can get back to his reason for wanting this interview time. ‘The King’ says that this week he’s been asked more times than ever did he beat The Snowman and did he win his belt back, and it’s embarrassing to admit that he still doesn’t have it around his waist. There is a reason for that though! A few weeks ago Downtown Bruno and Ronnie P. Gossett were in his corner, and one night after a match he and Gossett had words, things got heated and he ended up punching him in the face. Since that time he’s realised that he doesn’t want anything more to do with managers. Last Monday night Downtown Bruno said that he was going to offer him his services for free and he told him that he didn’t want them, but he proceeded to sit down at ringside anyway. Several times during the match he has The Snowman pinned and he saved himself by putting his foot over the bottom rope. On one occasion the referee had even counted the three before seeing his foot over the rope and re-starting the match. However, when The Snowman had him covered and he put his foot over the bottom rope to break the count, Downtown Bruno pushed his foot off and the referee counted the pin. We see the closing moments of the match between Jerry Lawler and The Snowman from Mid-South Coliseum and it was just like he said, with Downtown Bruno pushing his foot off the rope. He tries to protest and explain to referee Frank Morrell what happened but to no avail. Back in the studio and he doesn’t thinks that Bruno and The Snowman were in it together, and Bruno was probably just trying to get back at him for making him look foolish in the past. The Snowman is in the audience as usual, and Lawler says how he’s real proud of that belt as he wears it everywhere but it’s all coming to an end this week. They have another match at the Coliseum, but this time there is going to be two referees for their match to watch over everything. He then tells Bruno that if he ever comes anywhere near his matches again he’s going to run his fist right down his throat. At this point Bruno and The Wild Things (Jeff Gaylord and Scott Braddock) come out and Gaylord calls ‘The King’ a loser, while Braddock tells him to leave so they can do their interview. He uncharacteristically walks off and Bruno starts hyping ‘The Wild Things’, while Gaylord and Braddock pose and flex their muscles either side of him. Lawler casually returns carrying a baseball bat, and the three of them make their excuses and get out of there. He then says if he sees either ‘The Wild Things’ or Bruno anywhere near his matches again he’ll stick that baseball bat where the sun doesn’t shine!

As Love is introducing the show the camera’s cut to a rather large, older lady in the crowd and Vince wonders if she is any relation! Love says that his guest this week is a traitor. A man who is a disgrace to his motherland and a disgrace here in the United States, but for some reason people all over the world have opened their arms to him as an adopted son, Nikolai Volkoff. Big Nikolai jogs out onto the set, clearly happy to be getting some sort of push after all these years in the Bolsheviks. The interview isn’t good, but he says he knows he can beat Boris Zhukov one on one, and hopes that all of the American people will be behind him. Jim Duggan joins him on set and Love isn’t happy as it’s his show and he wasn’t invited! He backs downs sharpish when Duggan tells him to get out of his face. Hacksaw presents Nikolai with ‘Old Glory’ and welcomes him to the United States as a neighbour, a brother and as a friend. The two of them shake hands, Nikolai waves the flag and Duggan salutes it. I know they team together against the Orient Express, but I hope that’s it for this pairing. The prospect of these two as a team is not one that excites me.

Gene confirms that Hulk Hogan is getting better and next week he’ll be making the single most important announcement of his career. Speculation is running rife on whether he’s going to announce his retirement from wrestling, or whether he will be returning to the ring. The Rockers, Hillbilly Jim, Slick & The Warlord, Brutus Beefcake and Jimmy Hart & The Earthquake all have their say, with the faces hoping he’ll return and the heels convince that he’ll retire. Earthquake says that he’ll never be back and he’ll never be the same man again after the Earthquake splashes that he gave him. Okerlund inform us we’ve still got time to get our letters to Hulk before he makes his big announcement, and once more gives us the address to send them to.

The crowd are peppering Abby with rubbish before he even gets in the ring. He doesnt make it in there as Zeus goes out and attacks him as hes on his way around ringside. His attacks look so weak though, worse than Tom Magee against Hiroshi Wajima. His clubbing blows, the headbutts, everything is so soft. They have an okay looking lock up, but those clubbing blows get worse with each one he delivers. You wouldnt imagine that a man who looks as threatening and imposing as Zeus could deliver such piss poor strikes. Even when he starts choking Abby it looks like he is putting nothing into it. He manages to lift the Butcher off his feet with a bearhug, which is the only impressive thing about this match so far. More grazing clubbing blows and you can see Abby blade his forehead. Yet more blows to the head, and words cant convey how bad this is. Abby pulls some scissors out of his boot, but Zeus stops him from using them and they drop to the floor. I thought things may pick up with the foreign object but I was sadly mistaken and Zeus returns to his main move, the powder puff clubbing blows to the head! Abby finally starts to gain some advantage and drops Zeus with some thrusts to the throat. A big elbow, but Zeus kicks out. When you think things can get no worse, Zeus throws a clothesline, adding to his repertoire of lame ass moves. Abby with a nerve hold and Zeus cant even sell that convincingly. Despite both not really exerting themselves, theyre both puffing for air at this point. The Butcher with a low blow, he starts choking Zeus with the rope and Im wanting this to stop! More awful action including Zeus applying a bearhug while he is on the apron outside the ring and Abby is still inside! He pulls him to the outside and the two start fighting out there and mercifully they dont beat the count and the match is declared a double count out. Zeus may well be the worse wrestler ever. Huge credit to Pat Patterson or whomever was looking after him in the WWF, because he looked nowhere near as bad as this there. A legitimate contender for worse match of all time.

The heels are out and in the ring first followed by the Adams’. As soon as Chris and Toni enter the ring they go straight for their opponents and we have a hot twenty seconds with all four fighting in the ring. The women really do look like they are catfighting with one another. Sadly Tony Falk spoils the fun, grabs the mic and tells them to cut it out or he’ll stop the match before it has even started. He’s the referee, he wants some order and they’re going to have a tag team match. Toni wants to start the match against Jeanie, which the crowd are pumped for, but Steve insists on starting for his team and the men open. Almost immediately Adams gets Austin in a chinlock and they work five minutes based around this (Jeanie’s interference leads to Austin escaping and then applying a chinlock of his own). Austin tags in Jeanie and she starts hitting Chris, but he picks her up, carries her over to the corner and tags in Toni. The crowd come alive and it’s clear they want to see the women fight. Jeanie hits Toni in her injured rib and tags Steve back in. Austin starts to celebrate as he’s about to get his hands on Toni, but whilst he’s celebrating she crawls over and tags in Chris. He almost takes Austin’s head off with a clothesline and a right sends him flying over the top rope to the floor. Back in the ring and Adams comes off the top with another clothesline and then starts to stomp the back of Austin’s neck to get some payback of his own. Jeanie comes in to help her man, but that only brings in Toni and all four are fighting in the ring again. The men end up on the outside and Austin posts Adams BEFORE PILEDRIVING HIM ON THE FLOOR! The bell starts ringing and I’m assuming that both teams have been disqualified. With Chris down, Austin goes back into the ring and grabs Toni so that Jeanie can start laying into her. Tony Falk is flapping his arms about and Austin does us all a favour by dropping him. He ties Toni up in the ropes and Jeanie starts slapping her in the face and ribs all while laughing at the predicament Toni is now in. Austin drags Chris into the ring and gives him up another piledriver. Toni manages to free herself from the ropes and chases Jeanie from the ring. Austin by now has climbed to the top turnbuckle and is about to splash Chris when Toni goes over and lies on top of him to try to protect him. It doesn’t matter as he splashes both of them (finally hitting that move!). Toni is screaming in pain and clutching her ribs, Falk gets shoved to the floor again and Austin and Jeanie walk around the ring gloating, surveying the damage and getting in a few additional digs along the way. This really was a match of two halves. The crowd clearly wanted to see the women fight, so I can only assume that was the reason why Austin and Adams worked so long around the chinlock. Almost bore the fans into submission to build up the tension and anticipation before the women finally get it on. If that was the case, judging by the crowd reaction, it definitely worked. I like how the women fight too, it’s like they are ‘fighting’ and not ‘wrestling’. The match picked up from this point and the post-match attack was tremendous. I certainly wasn’t expecting Austin to splash onto both of them so that came as a shock, and similarly to John Tatum’s superkick to Tessa, a hush fell on the audience as though they were in disbelief at what they had just see. Are two men on woman angles in one show overkill? Probably, especially after how vicious the Tatum/Tessa was. Adams’ left laid out in the ring yet again. Not for the first time, and probably not for the last either.