[1993-05-08-USWA-TV] Jerry Lawler vs Papa Shango

[Loss]

Talk about it here.

[Loss]

Clips of a match from Mid South Coliseum. The clips look surprisingly good.

[Phil Austin]

This could be the first and only time a title changes hands via a skull that shoots fire. But ironically not the last time an object shooting fire would lead to a title change in 1993!

[Kevin Ridge]

So that mysterious Japanese photographer was in attendance at the Mid South Coliseum. Shango was a bit unfazed by the fireball thrown by Lawler. King needs to come back with his crown shooting fireballs to counter Shango.

[PeteF3]

Is there any non-Memphis gimmick more suitable for Memphis than Papa Shango? I'd say not. He and Flamingo make a pretty hilariously mismatched couple. Holy crap, these two are beating the shit out of each other. No Memphis heel stall bullshit here, at least that we see. Shango shrugs off a fireball and uses his own bit of fire, from a skull, then follows it up with a bulldog to take the Unified World title (for the second time! Wonder if that tidbit ever got acknowledged).

 

Goddamned if I don't want to see this in full. These clips are legitimately awesome-looking and this has to be by far the best Charles Wright match ever. These two were spirited as all hell--intensity, a quick pace, and MOVEZ, some of whom I've never seen done by either guy. Lawler was fantastic here but this didn't come off as broomsticky by any means.

[WingedEagle]

Man Shango is huge. The action we have here is surprisingly very good. We get Lawler punches and a dropkick, and then fire to win the Unified Title which feels a whole lot more appropriate here than in the WWF.

[soup23]

This is what the Savage cage match should have been as the hate here felt palpable and we get some dueling fireballs resulting in Papa Shango winning the USWA title. They have done a good job keeping Jerry interesting against the bevy of people he is feuding with.

[garretta]

I'm not sure about Flamingo, but I could buy Shango as a good fit with Raven in ECW.

 

At any rate, who knew Shango could go like that? I'm not saying that he was a superworker or anything of that sort, but he could have been a perfectly good heel big man for Vince if the gimmick and its stupidity hadn't made him into a complete joke. I even bought the fire finish, mostly because Lawler had just used it first, and what's better to fight fire with than fire?

 

Say what you will about Lawler, but he always busts his hump to get these weirdo types over as something credible. A lot of guys would be concerned with looking like an idiot by fighting a supposed voodoo priest who shoots fire out of an old skull, but Lawler takes it all seriously (well, as seriously as possible under the circumstances), and gets the fans to do so as well.

 

I guess the inevitable rematch where Lawler gets the belt back wasn't deemed worthy of this set, even in clip form. That's a shame, as I would have liked to see if Lawler could have gotten another match from Shango that was as good as this one,