[1994-10-08-USWA-TV] Jerry Lawler vs Doug Gilbert (Mask vs Crown)

[Loss]

Talk about it here.

[Kevin Ridge]

Before the match Rich whips Hales with his belt. Lawler runs down for the save which leads to the match starting. Gilbert dominates a short match but misses a charge and gets rolled up by Lalwer. That was way too easy. Gilbert unmasks and shows off his just growing back hair. But him and Rich attack Lawler and whip him also with belt. PG-13 shows up to help Lawler.

[Loss]

Doug isn't going to get cheated, and wants Randy Hales out before the match. Tommy Rich ends up hitting him from behind and they whip Hales with a belt, I presume to avenge Scott Bowden. Lawler is out to make the save, which leads to the match, which is pretty short and uneventful. We see a very short-haired Doug Gilbert for the first time.

[Exposer]

Randy Hales gets whipped by Tommy Rich with belt as Doug Gilbert holds him down. Lawler makes the save and this match comes and goes. Lawler wins and Gilbert unmasks to reveal his nearly bald head. Gilbert and Rich beat down Lawler after the match.

[Matt D]

One thing that impressed me so much about the 93 memphis I saw was how they were able to spin one week's match into the next and keep adding or shifting stips to bring the fans back every Monday night, and they'd been doing it for years and years.

 

I love the idea that a hair match leads immediately to the fans being screwed out of seeing the newly bald heel due to a mask.

[soup23]

Really short match where we get the first glimpse of a relatively bald Doug Gilbert.

[PeteF3]

This is just about every Memphis cliche thrown into a blender and put into a three-minute smoothie. Belt whippings, run-ins, interference, foreign objects, and chains. Then Lawler gets in one roll-up to take Gilbert's mask. I guess they were running short on time. Gilbert obliges with the match stips and sells horrific embarrassment despite sporting a crew-cut by this point. Lawler is double-teamed afterward and I was REALLY expecting a Buddy Landell run-in after Rich's promo earlier, but PG-13 do it instead.

 

Memphis is possibly at its hottest, at least artistically, since the Moondogs were at their peak. This was a terrific episode of television.