[1993-09-18-USWA-TV] Jerry Lawler vs Tatanka

[Loss]

Talk about it here.

[Loss]

Joined in progress from Mid South Coliseum. Tatanka seems to be living it up as a heel and this is pretty heated for Lawler's comeback. Tatanka wins the Unified title. (They showed the end of the match later in the broadcast after Vince's interview.)

 

Tatanka enters the studio with belt in hand to do a promo. Lawler is out after a couple of minutes and after a few minutes of bargaining, ends up getting Tatanka to agree to a Mid South Coliseum Survivor Series-style match with the top babyfaces and heels with all the top titles at stake. That's a pretty interesting idea for a Monday night match and I'm curious how it drew.

 

The studio crowd is really, really into all of this.

[Kevin Ridge]

Corey seemed to enjoy saying Tatanka in his commentary. Tatanka hits a good looking piledriver to win title. Funny to see Tatanka begging off in match as Lawler does his big comeback. Tatanka better as a heel here than in 1995. Jerry asks Tatanka if he is going to be in Survivor Series and Tatanka responds that "Of course I will". Watch out for Borga!

[PeteF3]

Tatanka actually wrestled against Freezer Thompson in a studio squash, either this week or the week prior. I don't think too many WWF guys did that. Clips from the MSC, as a Paul Neighbors distraction allows Tatanka to level Lawler with a piledriver and take the Unified title.

 

Tatanka's out for a promo and seems to enjoy playing a dick, even if he's pretty awkward, referring to "Jerry King" and correcting himself to "Jerry the Lawler." Big heat for him nonetheless, and a big reaction when Lawler comes out to confront him. Lawler feigns ignorance of how Survivor Series works, which doesn't speak well for him as a WWF broadcaster. Actually it's pretty great psychological warfare on Lawler's part, as he subtly kisses up to Tatanka to get on his good side to get him to agree to all this. The heel side are all champions--Tatanka, Tommy Rich, and the Dogcatchers. They'll go against "Lawler's Losers"--Lawler, Jeff Jarrett, and the Moondogs. All the belts will be on the line. Tatanka is so overconfident that he agrees to everything Lawler suggests. Wildfire is out and he's all smiles about this. Tommy Rich & Tatanka: they're the original Odd Couple. "THIS IS A REAL INDIAN HERE, BROTHER!"

[...TG]

Tatanka is surprisingly great heeling it up in the Memphis studio - riling up the crowd, intimidating Dave, and holding his own with Lawler. Tommy Rich is great here too.

[soup23]

I loved Tatanka here. He does a good piledriver to secure the title and then gets the studio crowd way against him as he starts mouthing off at them. Lawler comes out to set up a Survivor Series style match with the belts on the line and I am really intrigued. I liked that Tatanka and Rich both didn't back down here and played the tough heel that doesn't realize he is in over his head vs. the cowardly one.

[garretta]

I don't know why people complain about Tatanka as a heel; he sounded like a perfectly acceptable one here, taunting Lawler and the crowd. Yes, he slipped a little bit on Lawler's name, but were those slips or intentional digs at the King? It's hard to tell, especially since he showed later in the segment that he could say Lawler's name perfectly well.

 

Dave seemed ever so slightly out of sorts here; I don't think he appreciated Tatanka taking the mic from him, and I don't think he liked Tatanka insulting the fans as much as he did. Most of the time, the heels take a shot or two at the fans, then focus on their opponent. Tatanka kept up the insults to the point where Dave had to remind him on camera to talk to Lawler, not the fans. It didn't help much, though. Maybe this is why the USWA felt more comfortable with outside wrestlers sending in videotapes instead of coming to the studio and disrupting the show's rhythm, which has been a proven ratings winner for two generations. (Just to be clear, I don't think Dave had a problem with the insults themselves; he just thought that they went on for too long, especially after Lawler came out.)

 

Lawler playing the local yokel was a blast. It may have been his best performance in quite a while, because I'm sure everyone expected him to come out and tear Tatanka and the WWF down brick by brick like he usually did. He strung Tatanka out every step of the way, slowly but surely baiting his trap, then fixing it so he walked in willingly. It was a masterful performance, right down to getting him to agree to put all the USWA belts on the line. He had Tommy so overconfident that Tommy wanted to do the match right there in the studio, which was yet another nice touch.

 

I liked how Lawler managed to play booker and talent at the same time without the crowd even knowing it. He made sure that each pairing (Himself/Tatanka, Dogs/Catchers, Tommy/Jeff) over a belt stayed about that belt. In other words, he didn't want Tommy to end up as Unified Champion (to cite just one example that Tommy raised in the interview when he said he wanted a piece of Lawler), so he cleverly slipped in the stip that the Unified belt would only be on the line between himself and Tatanka, the USWA belt between Tommy and Jeff, and the tag titles between the Dogs and the Catchers, all without making the match seem any less wild and unpredictable. It might have shaken things up more if all the belts were on the line for everyone, but it would have also created possible booking headaches if the wrong guy won the wrong belt.

 

I didn't know that the Dogs were still around Memphis, let alone babyfaces. Was Richard Lee still managing them by now?

 

The short clip we saw from the MSC looked good, and Tatanka beating Lawler with the piledriver was significant enough that Lawler brought it up during the interview as something that really galled him. I guess Neighbors was just a hanger-on at this point, although he was obviously supposed to be there to create the distraction that led to Tatanka's win. It'll be interesting to see what happens to him over the next few months, whether he goes back to refereeing or segues into managing.