[1994-10-08-USWA-TV] Interview: Doug Gilbert / Interview: Tommy Rich / Scott Bowden and Randy Hales / Sid and Jerry Lawler

[Loss]

Talk about it here.

[Kevin Ridge]

Clips from tag between Gilbert/Sid vs. Lawler/Christopher stretcher match. Rich comes down and takes out Lawler. Sid drops Christopher with two powerbombs and he can’t make the ten count. Back in the studio, Gilbert takes credit for getting rid of Christopher. He will not be losing his mask against Lawler’s crown.

 

New USWA champion Tommy Rich looking and feeling good. Rich has nothing to say about Buddy Landell. But apparently Buddy is half the man from what the ladies have told Tommy.

 

Dave Brown interviews Scott Bowden but he only has so much patience. Bowden refers to Randy Hales as illegitimate son of Eddy Marlin and Dave cuts him off. Randy Hales charges out after Bowden. Fists of fury by Hales. Randy is not the most coordinated person.

 

Sid interviewed and he knows who the mystery partner is which will be Lawler. I’m thinking how Sid is actually coherent in this promo. Wait, he should have been saying mystery opponent instead! Fooled me. He even fooled Lance Russell there. Lawler calls them both out for this gaff. The mystery opponent turns out to be Lord Humongous who gets face to face with Vicious. Sid backs off takes off all scared. Solid acting.

[Loss]

Doug Gilbert pitches to a clip from Mid South Coliseum of Sid attacking Christopher and Lawler in a tag match where Doug teamed with Rich against them.

 

Then, Tommy Rich is out to celebrate his USWA title victory.

 

Then, we get a confrontation from the previous week between Randy Hales and Scott Bowden. Dave doesn't like Bowden using the words "retarded" and "illegitimate". Hales ends up jumping Bowden at the announce booth and they have to be separated. Well done.

 

Finally, Sid tells Lawler he will never get a title shot and that he will not be the "mystery partner", which brings Lawler out. I like Lawler setting the record straight on "mystery opponent" versus "mystery partner", as Sid is promoting the match all wrong. Lawler ensures that it won't be him because of weird contract things, and Sid gloats that everyone is scared of him and no one will be face him. Lawler announces that the opponent will be Lord Humongous, which is a pretty hilarious inside joke.

[Exposer]

Doug Gilbert is all crazy happy about beating Brian Christopher. Tommy Rich cuts a great promo on being the new USWA heavyweight champion. They then show a clip of a pull apart brawl between Scott Bowden and Randy Hales after Bowden talked shit. That was pretty great. Sid came out next and fucked up the promotion of his next title defense by saying he had a "mystery partner." Lawler came out and poked fun at him for it. He corrected his mistake and let everyone know that it was a "mystery opponent" Sid was trying to get across. Lawler then said he wasn't Sid's "mystery opponent" for contract reasons and brought out the real challenger. It was Lord Humongous and I laughed.

[soup23]

One thing I love about the yearbooks is getting all the highlights from a USWA show in 10 minutes. Sid's powerbomb looks good, Rich does a good gloating promo, Dave gets pissed at Bowden saying retarded and we get a pull apart with Hales/Bowden, and finally Sid goofs up on the mic like I have been waiting for all along but Lawler saves it. Looked like a fun hour of tv.

[ajtroma]

According to Scott Bowden, Dave was shoot trying to cut him off. Dave apparently was furious with the term "retarded" being bandied about.

 

The irony is that most people I knew at the time thought Randy Hales was actually retarded.

[PeteF3]

Dave apparently has a special-needs child, so I can see that word hitting close to home. Though I'm pretty sure it was being bandied about on Memphis TV years earlier.

 

Anyway, every segment here was very strong. Doug Gilbert cuts another good promo gloating over his stretcher match victory over Brian Christopher, thanks to two Sid power bombs. Then Tommy Rich gloats over his newly won USWA Heavyweight title, while also dismissing Buddy Landell. Then highlights of the week before, with the aforementioned Bowden interview and a run-in by Randy Hales. Goddamned if these two skinny guys didn't put on a damn realistic brawl. I mean, it's not quite Lawler/Snowman or Gilbert/Jarrett, but it's one of the studio brawls since 1990 that have come closest to evoking that out-of-control feeling. Then the stuff with Sid and Humongous, which is amusing for us even if I'm sure no one in the studio actually picked up on it. How the FUCK am I actually really, really enjoying Sid in this setting? I feel like my whole world is turning upside down. Sid is legitimately awesome working these rinky-dink Memphis angles and he's easily the most appropriate giant monster champion Memphis has seen, among many. We finally get a money Lawler promo for the first time in what seems like forever, as he actually sells us on Sid vs. some big random guy in a hockey mask as a legitimate World title main event.