[1990-01-19-USWA Texas] Bill Dundee & Chris Adams & Eric Embry vs Billy Travis & Gary Young & Skandor Akbar

[Loss]

Talk about it here.

[FLIK]

First time seeing Billy Travis....soooooooo scuzzy, I can't think of any other word. First time seeing Embry & Young too. Akbar I know but don't recall ever seeing him wrestle. Anyways, this started out fun with Dundee punching fools left & right & all around humiliating the heels. Then the match got kinda meh during the first part of the beat down on Adams, then things got good with the destruction of his leg continuing and then things got awesome with the match ending brawl & Adams going all psycho on Embry for shoving down his wife. Need to see more of this

[Loss]

I love the early comedy spots between Dundee and Travis. Adams sneaking in the punch, and Travis's selling of it, is just great. They are building to a couple of things early on, keeping Adams and Travis apart, and keeping Akbar out of the ring. Adams goes to the well too many times, then the heels work over his knee, with Gary Young in particular doing some nice stuff.

 

Kind of a wow moment, as FLIK said, later in the match, when Embry shoved Toni Adams down for no real reason, which sets off a slugfest between partners Adams and Embry. Dundee tries to break it up to no avail while the heels cheer them on from the outside, which is funny. They finally use this as an opening to work over Dundee.

 

This was a good match with a fun angle.

[PeteF3]

The babyfaces really come off all as selfish dicks here, or at least Embry and Adams do. As much as Lowrance tries to sell Embry's shove of Toni to the floor as an accident...yeah, no way on that. Then they beat the shit out of each other over a misunderstanding while leaving Dundee to the wolves.

 

This continues the Embry/Adams split that was beginning at the end of the World Class '80s set, and I'm intrigued as to where this is going, knowing that Steve Austin is going to be making his presence felt soon.

[FLIK]

. As much as Lowrance tries to sell Embry's shove of Toni to the floor as an accident...yeah, no way on that.

Yeah that was so weird how the announcer called things. Pretty clear he shoved her down on purpose then regreted it later like oops, but it def wasn't an accident.

[Kevin Ridge]

This was lots of fun and I was getting a kick out of Travis in this match. The comedy exchanges with him and Dundee were great. He definitely boosted this match when he was in the ring. Adams takes a long beat down to the leg which concerns his wife a lot. She ends up getting shoved to the ground by Embry which was kind of weird and a pretty crappy thing to do by Eric. Adams comes to his wife's defense and the faces implode on the outside of the ring. But there's Billy Joe in the ring with this fists up ready to duke it out if need be. Heels delight with all of this going on.

[soup23]

Holy shit I loved this. Great comedy spots in the beginning and good protection of guys away from each other. Travis' "tree falling in the woods" bumps are amazing. The beatdown on Adams was effective and Gary and Travis mainly kept the action going. Akbar was pretty bad in this but mostly stayed out of the way. I thought Lowerence actually did a good job on commentary first getting over that Embry and Toni have conflicting feelings because Embry wants to win the match and Toni is worried about Chris' well being and 2nd that Chris Adams has a short fuse that is set to go off at any time. The heels cheering on Adams/Embry going at it is glorious especially Gorgeous Gary's shit eating grin. The pull apart was real intense and I cant wait to see where all of this is leading to.

[Cox]

Travis' "one short leg/one long leg" flower print tights are *****. Match is good, building to a hot tag that never comes as instead, we get an Adams/Embry split that allows the heels destroy poor Bill Dundee. Good stuff, Gary Young and Billy Travis have been in some of my favorite segments on the yearbook so far.

[JerryvonKramer]

Who is the commentator here? Something about his phrasing reminds me of Sean Mooney.

 

LOVED and I mean LOVED a lot of the mischeivious shit from Dundee's team here in the early going. Every time I've seen Bill Dundee I've thought he was great.

 

Gary Young has the look of a faceless 80s WWF jobber, but I liked his offense for the most part, especially on Chris Adams, who is good as the face in peril.

 

Billy Travis's one-legged trunks are just ridiculous and hilarious. He's already been the revelation of this yearbook, and I mean what the hell Billy Travis (ha ha!) - awesome guy. Just something captivating about him. Chad -- I'm not even kidding, but once I'm a bit further into the set, I'd consider doing a one-hour special show just on Travis!

 

USWA stuff so far has been excellent.

 

I like the call from the ring announcer too "The match is totally out of control, there's no winner".

[Busterira]

This match was a total blast.

 

The announcer is long time World Class Championship wrestling announcer Marc Lowrance. Some people like him, some don't. I am a big fan of his. He had some great moments in World Class.

 

Found a few of his great calls on wikiquotes:

 

"The Devil has emerged at Will Rogers Memorial Auditorium; the Fabulous Freebirds, have hit the ring!"

--Marc Lowrance, late-1985 during a commercial break when the Freebirds emerged to attack the Von Erichs

 

 

"This match is now X-Rated!"

--Marc Lowrance, during a 1984 bout between Adams and Garvin

 

 

"Gino is thrown into David MANNING...MY GOD HE'S CHOKING!!!!"

--Marc Lowrance losing his voice as referee David Manning is hung between the ropes after taking a bump from Gino Hernandez; July 1985.

 

 

Gino's got the bottle, look out! We may see some hair...OH NO!!!"

--Lowrance when Hernandez throws black substance into Adams face during that same bout

 

 

Fritz Von Erich, is a hero to these fans...at Reunion Aren...WAIT! WAIT! Fritz Von Erich has collapsed! Here right in front of me...Kerry wants everybody back...GET THE PEOPLE BACK for crying out loud! Move 'em back!"

--Marc Lowrance following the four-on-one gang up on Fritz Von Erich; December 25, 1987.

 

 

 

Look out, here's Terry with the piledriver...OH MY! I hope Kevin's alright. Look at Gordy laughing with pleasure, on a move that is so dangerous, the dreaded piledriver."

--Marc Lowrance during a Freebirds-Von Erich match, early-1988.

 

 

 

This feud evidently dates back to previous days in another organization, and (Terry) Taylor came in here and pulled a wool over me and everybody else...another piledriver on Gentleman Chris Adams, who's going to be in dangerous shape I'm afraid."

--Marc Lowrance during a surprise attack on Adams by Taylor.

 

 

 

Here's Cactus Jack Manson from Truth or Consequences, New Mexico, a guy wio's really way out of here; the moon is the first stop for him"

--Marc Lowrance commenting on Mick Foley during his bout with Chris Adams, late-1988

 

 

"(Skandor) Akbar's got a chair! HE'S GIVING THE CHAIR TO HAROLD HARRIS!! OH NO!!! And he cold-cock's Frank (Dusek) across the head! OHHH this is absolutely sickening, and I've been told never to use that word!"

--Marc Lowrance, following a four-on-one attack by Devastation Inc. on WCCW matchmaker Frank Dusek, early-June 1989

 

 

"General Skandor Akbar can kiss my ass!"

--Lowrance shortly after the gangup on Dusek during a bout between Kerry Von Erich & Jeff Jarrett against Cactus Jack & Gary Young.

 

 

"Down goes Percy (Pringle), down goes (Bronco) Lubich, and this is a disgrace! This is an absolute disgrace!" Yamamoto is making a mockery of the sport of wrestling; I think this is horrible! There he hits his own referee! Yamamoto hit his own referee! It's a new low!!!

--Marc Lowrance, during another Devastation Inc. attack; with Tojo Yamamoto involved; June 1989

 

If I had a swingset like that, I'd never leave my back yard."

--Marc Lowrance, referring to valet/manager Tessa during a match between John Tatum and Kevin Von Erich.

 

 

"All right, ladies and gentleman; I think I can speak for you, when I say that not only was that the worst disgrace and abortion I've ever seen; you're a disgrace to wrestling and to yourself!

--Marc Lowrance in an interview directed at Tojo Yamamoto, June 1989

[PeteF3]

"A HUGE, MEAN ORIENTAL HAS HIT THE RING AND ATTACKED FRITZ VON ERICH!" --Lowrance describing the surprise World Class debut of Killer Khan, at the first DVE Memorial Parade of Champions.

[Rock_Of_Jericho]

I liked this one. It was pretty fun, though I thought Billy Travis's ring attire was atrocious. Couldn't help but notice that half of these guys are dead, which is pretty standard when watching any old Texas wrestling, but they still had a good promotion going.

 

However, the difference in the crowd reaction during this period in Texas when the Von Erichs were no longer the main focus is very noticeable with this crowd, who are into the match, but not on the levels they used to be...

 

Chris Adams is a guy I came to appreciate more during the World Class viewing and he's still awesome here. Dundee is fine, but I like watching him be a heel better. Watching Adams and Embry fight each other was hilarious. This was the period of USWA/Memphis when I tuned out, so its nice to go back watch some of the stuff, anyway. Fun match.

[Laney]

Really fun match here. Billy Joe and Dundee do some good comedy spots with Billy Joe doing a great job at playing the stooge. The breakdown of the face team was great at the end. The heels cheering on the Embry/Adams brawl and then taking advantage to beat down Dundee was awesome. USWA has been a real treat on this set.

[bradhindsight]

Pretty hot six-man here - nice start by Dundee as he has his way with Travis and they do some fun stuff before the heat segment on Adams. Announcers do a nice job putting over the drama (especially with Toni) and the crowd is super hot for this. Embry "accidently" knocks over Toni and Adams flips his shit and we get a great visual of the heels laughing and pointing in the ring while those two brawl. No contest but a pretty fun angle-advancer here.

 

Some questionable tights though - the one legged one by Travis so scuzzy. Dundee pulls off the yellow zebra ones though.

[cheapshot]

Really enjoyed this match and like JVK I love Billy Travis and his scuzzyness, his awful awful tights that must of inspired EZ Money in ECW.

 

The angle and brawl at the end was great as well and I am looking forward to see this feud develop.

[Zoo Enthusiast]

This was fucking great. Probably my favorite thing to this point. I love all these guys.

[DR Ackermann]

Billy Joe is as fun in the ring as I hoped he would be. Decent match and a great angle. Having Toni Adams show concern for Chris while Embry was concerned about the match early on set things up perfectly.The execution of everything falling apart was tremendous and felt as organic as possible. I'm much more excited about all this USWA Texas stuff after the early showings than I was with the Moondogs USWA Memphis stuff in 92. That feud had some cool stuff, but Jarrett was grating and it got really repetitive. I can't wait to see more of everyone here, with the exception of Akbar.

 

Side note: Eric Embry throws some really fantastic-looking punches.

[garretta]

Decent little match that sets up what I hope will be a much bigger angle. Expert destruction of Adams' leg by Devastation, and even Akbar doesn't look too lost, which is always surprising for a manager.

 

I saw the beginning of the Embry-Adams stuff at the tail end of the 80s World Class set, and it's notable that Embry, who was booking here, allowed himself to come off looking worse than Adams. He clearly meant to shove Toni, even if he regretted it a second or two later, and Chris was right to pay him back for it. Of course, it's the Memphis invader Dundee who ends up paying the price, as Akbar and the boys have a field day with him. The fight should have been broken up just a tad sooner unless one of these two was going heel immediately, which didn't happen, at least from what we saw. But as wild as Texas always is, you know something big's brewing, and I can't wait to dig into February and find out what it is!

[Johnny Guitar]

Decent match, but I really enjoyed the the post match angle as everything just broke down into chaos

[drew wardlaw]

Billy Joe Travis with the super heelish half tighs/half trunks. For some reason I LOVED Chris Adams crawling and holding his thigh like he was. I think that looked so painful. Memphis seems like such a sociopathic territory. Everyone else has said this but Billy Joe Travis rocks so hard.

[dawho5]

I would count myself as a Marc Lowrance fan. Also, after a few things on this set I am a Billy Joe Travis fan. The guy is a stellar heel. Ending angle is all kinds of awesome. This ranks only behind Tenryu's meltdowns so far for me on the set.

[Stiva]

Billy Joe is as good a comedy worker as you'd expect. Not much more to add than that but it's a testament to USWA that it can flip the switch and have a really intense post-match angle spawning out of a simple 6-man

[cactus]

First time seeing Bill Dundee and I understand the hype. Dundee throws a beautiful punch, and Travis knows how to take a punch, so predictably this was good. I love the comedy spots at the start of the match. Adams gets his leg worked on sells it well. The ending played out perfectly.

 

★★★

[jasch]

Quality Memphis 6man taking place in Dallas. Good action and great post match. Looking forward to watching this play out.