[1992-08-08-USWA-TV] Bill Dundee and Eddie & Doug Gilbert / Interview: Tommy Rich / Music Video: Tommy Rich

[Loss]

Talk about it here.

[Loss]

Tommy Rich is back! He's in as a babyface and will be wrestling Doug Gilbert on an upcoming show. He does a promo on a pig farm excited about coming in. Then, we find out that Eddie has a surprise opponent too -- Bill Dundee! The Gilberts out and takes off and Dundee takes over and does a fun interview.

 

Then we cut to a music video of Tommy Rich that looks like it's from 1984 or so. I don't think there's much footage -- if any -- newer than that.

[shoe]

A good segment that freshens things up.

[BackToBionic]

That music video is so 80s for something made in the middle of 1992.

[Kevin Ridge]

I guess when they were looking for old footage for Dave Brown's 25th anniversary they stumbled across the Tommy Rich video in the archives. Barking dog interrupting Tommy's promo at the big farm. The Gilberts bail when Dundee shows up as a surprise opponent for Eddie.

[WingedEagle]

Dave Brown sets up Tommy Rich as an opponent for Doug Gilbert. Then Dundee comes out as Eddie's opponent to a huge studio pop. Awesome Tommy Rich music video that looks like it was taken directly from the DVDVR Memphis 80s set.

[PeteF3]

Dave Brown gets to book matches for the Gilberts as a gift for his 25th birthday, and he's brought back Tommy Rich and Bill Dundee! Fun segment and this is all sold great by both Eddie and Doug.

[garretta]

It's great to see Wildfire and the Superstar back!

 

Where was Bill all this time anyway? As good as Lawler/Jeff-Moondogs has been, I kind of figured that Bill would have been in Jeff's spot if he'd been available.

 

I loved Tommy doing his interview in an actual pigpen. He didn't gloss over his heel past, either, which was refreshing, although he promised to shake all the kids' hands at the MSC just so everyone knows which side he's on now,

 

Eddie and Doug sold this like champs, particularly Doug: "He (Tommy) hates me, Eddie! You know he hates me!" They were also great at the beginning, when they were practically strutting around the studio giving Dave a hard time.

 

There's one notable omission from the celebration: Where's Dutch Mantel? I'm not sure who he could have wrestled, but he's about as Memphis as anyone else ever, and the USWA and SMW are freely sharing talent at this time. Come to think of it, we never heard from Jimmy Valiant and Austin Idol either. The only other person that would have made Dave's celebration complete would have been Lance Russell, but he's still in Atlanta for now.

[ajtroma]

Bill was off working local indys and running some side businesses at the time. As far as I remember, that's the only video they had of Tommy as a babyface so, 8 years old and rancid song or not, that's what we have.

[garretta]

Thanks for the info, AJ!

[dawho5]

Eddie and Doug did great to kick things off and we get some great nostalgia for the Memphis fans.  That's one thing I think the USWA did really well was give the fans enough of a taste of the old Memphis territory to keep them coming back.  It's doubtful they could have gone national even with Lawler around, but they were always in business in their home base.