[1990-02-24-USWA-Memphis TV] Robert Fuller and Brian Lee / Jerry Lawler, Kerry Von Erich and Nate / Music Video: Jimmy Valiant

[Loss]

Talk about it here.

[Loss]

We start off with Robert Fuller cutting a typically great promo, this time on the Southern Rockers. Brian Lee tells Robert Fuller to come down, and points out that's one of the best teams they have ever faced. Fuller isn't happy with that, and tears into Lee. They end up getting in an argument, which turns into a shoving match. Fuller goads him into an apology, then punches the HELL out of him (no way that was worked) before impaling him on the floor and otherwise beating him to a pulp. Don't piss off Robert Fuller. The Stud Stable is no more. Eddie Marlin tries to break things up and Fuller shoves him to the ground. Fuller is The Man.

 

Next, Kerry Von Erich makes an appearance in the Memphis studio. Lawler calls him "Brain Damage" and points out that he's looking at the wrong camera. Anyway, Kerry has a present for Lawler from Jimmy Valiant and leaves the ringside area briefly, only to return and dump a bucket of water on Lawler's head. Lawler isn't happy at all. Jimmy Valiant then calls the studio to ask if Lawler is cool, which cracks everyone up. Lawler grabs the phone and cuts a scathing promo on him, even mentioning that Valiant cost him the NWA title against Jerry Lawler years ago. Earlier, Lawler sent Nate to McDonald's to pick up some food for him, and sadly for him, this happens to be the time when he returns when the Big Mac and fries that Lawler requested. Lawler ends up throwing the food on him and running him out of the studio.

 

We close things out with a Jimmy Valiant music video.

 

I love Memphis!

[PeteF3]

Robert Fuller laments that his custom-made tag title belts are around the waists of the Southern Rockers. Brian Lee tries to pay his respects to the Rockers, to the ire of Fuller. Lee finally calls out Fuller for being too hung up on Sylvia to concentrate on wrestling and storms off. Fuller tries to apologize and suckers Lee into a DDT on the concrete, then turns to rant to the camera in a pretty masterful way to cover up Lee's bladejob. Big beatdown follows.

 

Dave: "It appears the Lee and Fuller partnership is in serious trouble." A meme could probably spring from that statement. Eddie Marlin finally runs Fuller off with the threat of a permanent banishment.

 

Kerry Von Erich comes out with a present for Lawler on behalf of Jimmy Valiant, the one man capable of making the JYD look spry. It's a bucket of water, which the studio crowd pops big for. Lawler cuts a promo on Valiant over the phone and they reference their whole history together. Awesome fired-up stuff from the King--amazing how he can make a water soaking sound like the most egregious act in history.

 

Nate picks a really, really bad time to come back from McDonald's.

 

A Jimmy Valiant video follows to "Boogie Woogie Man" by Charlie Daniels. Can we get Valiant vs. Soultaker booked, just for the hell of it?

[soup23]

Fuller starts with a great promo then gives a great old school beatdown on Lee giving him a DDt and great shots. We even get a shove for Eddie Marlin.

 

The decline of Lawler to flipping out and losing his shit when Nate returned with the food was fabulous and he really tears into the studio much to the amusement of the fans. I also love in Memphis when they bring up and embrace past history.

 

Music video for Boogie Woogie was well done.

[Cox]

I like that Dave Brown doesn't seem to give a shit that Brian Lee is getting beat up at ringside. There's no emotion in his voice or pleas for somebody to break it up...just matter of factly calls that Brian Lee is a bloody mess on the floor. I guess however many years of Memphis wrestling will desensitize a man to these things.

 

This leads into a great Lawler promo. We've seen a lot of different types of promos from Lawler on the yearbook so far, but we haven't seen him cut a scathing mad promo on anybody, and it's a nice way to bring in Jimmy Valiant by having Lawler get so upset with him. Good stuff which makes me look forward to this program.

[shoe]

This segment had it all. It had realism, comedy, great promos.

[Kevin Ridge]

Fuller has a melt down over his tag team’s lack of success lately putting blame on Lee. Brian puts blame Fuller’s lady and pushes him to do the ground. Fuller looks to back down and apologize but then attacks Lee. Yeah, you don’t need him Robert! I like how Dave casually does play by play during this and trying to get the mic in everyone’s face.

 

Von Erich is missing part of his shirt. Lawler is too quick witted for Kerry calling him “Brain Damage” and where he should be facing the camera. Ha, props to Kerry for just blasting Lawler with a bucket of water. Dave wants to know if Lawler wants to do his interview now. Lawler gets heated when he gets Valiant on the phone alluding to losing to Harley Race due to Valiant’s interference. Jerry doesn’t have his appetite anymore for his food order.

[Laney]

Great string of angles here. Fuller cuts a great promo and the Stud Stable splits up. After seeing this I must say that I would much look forward to seeing Fuller on his own rather than Brian Lee.

 

Nice angle and music video to set up Valiant vs Lawler. Kerry has a present from Valiant which turns out to be a bucket of water. This incites Lawler and results in a very interesting show.

[JerryvonKramer]

I like that Dave Brown doesn't seem to give a shit that Brian Lee is getting beat up at ringside. There's no emotion in his voice or pleas for somebody to break it up...just matter of factly calls that Brian Lee is a bloody mess on the floor.

Yeah, he reminded me of Gene Wilder as Willy Wonka after Augustus Gloop falls in the chocolate river. Ha ha.

 

This was a great 15 minutes of TV.

[garretta]

This portion of one show captures all the chaos of Memphis. Two major angles in fifteen minutes; there was no other show quite like it at the time.

 

I've looked at the March and April threads, and it doesn't seem like the Stud Stable breakup goes anywhere. What a shame; a singles feud with Fuller would have been a nice showcase for Lee.

 

Loved psychotic Lawler, and digging up an old Lawler vs. Race title match to explain the beginnings of the Lawler-Valiant relationship shows a respect for history that not even WCW matched back then.

 

Poor Nate. I hope that wasn't real McDonalds food. Can you just imagine the scene when the order was placed if it was? "Yes, this is the USWA, and we'd like a Big Mac, two large fries, and a Coke to go. Make the bread soggy; the Big Mac's going to be smashed in a valet's face"!

 

More respect for history, as we see some old Mid-Atlantic clips in Valiant's music video, plus a stray TBS clip if I'm not mistaken. Excellent job!

[soup23]

I have really enjoyed the USWA of the 90's but the big criticism is that the angles pretty much spudder out. This may be a case of not having arena footage available, but it can be frustrating at times.

[drew wardlaw]

Hahaha Wilson Phillips to start disc 5. Honestly, I just now realized that all these songs are from 1990....

 

Anyway, back to back huge angles. Dave Brown is very nonplussed by the whole thing, and who can blame him? At this point he's like a veteran police officer who has just seen it all. Kerry comes off as such a dumb jock here, it's awesome. Like pure stereotype, with the relaxed fit jeans and mid-drift shirt. "Happy birthday." This might be my favorite Lawler promo so far actually, I love when he just turns it on and gets serious, then all of a sudden it's Nate with McDonald's. Great segment.

[GSR]

Dave Brown introduces Robert Fuller and Brian Lee, former holders of the World tag team titles. Fuller says how Dave likes that ‘former’ part, but he heard the Southern Rockers out there earlier, stuttering about the Tennessee Stud and Brian Lee. All they do when they talk about the Stud and his partner is stutter because they put a little trembling in their voice. They won the tag team titles in Dallas, TX, went all around the country defending them until he decided the belts were garbage and had some new ones made. He spent his hard earned money on those belts and now they’re around the waist of the Southern Rockers! Lee lets Fuller rant for a bit, but says that while he is the spokesman for the Stud Stable he’s a little out of line as the Southern Rockers are one of the best teams they’ve ever faced. Lee says that he is pointing the finger in the wrong direction and Fuller isn’t happy with that. He says that he’s the one who takes care of business, he might do the talking, but he also does the wrestling too and wonders if he is looking at the problem? Lee says that the problem is Sylvia. He’s tired of hearing him go on about how heartbroken he is over her, how he’s standing on the apron thinking about her while he does all the work. Fuller shoves him and Lee shoves him back with Fuller taking a great fall. Lee goes to leave but Fuller tells him to comeback, he’s right, the problem is Sylvia. Fuller tells him to shake his hand ‘it’s over’. With his guard down Fuller clocks Lee and DDTs him on the floor (which Lawler sells nicely from the desk) busting him open. He puts the boots to him, rams his head into the ring post and beats on him until Eddie Marlin is out to put a stop to the attack. Fuller decks him as well and continues to attack Lee. Marlin finally tells Fuller that if he lays another hand on either himself or Brian Lee he’ll be out of here, and that is enough to put a halt to proceedings.

 

I’d never noticed that Robert Fuller is practically the same size as Brian Lee. Great stuff from Fuller, although from the moment Lee started sticking up for the Southern Rockers you knew where this was heading. Having seen Lee as a face in SMW I’m not expecting much, but the boy can bleed and he does another fine job on that front here.

[GSR]

Jerry Lawler is ranting about Jimmy Valiant (who has a title match with him) when Kerry Von Erich (wearing a ridiculous looking top with a cut off midriff) makes an appearance in the studio. He tells Lawler to quit shaking as he’s not here to beat him up, but as a ‘messenger boy’ for Jimmy Valiant as he has a present for him. Lawler tells ‘brain damage’ that the camera is ‘over here’ if he wants to turn around and look at it! He says that he doesn’t have to keep his eye on him, he isn’t going to jump on him from behind, he’s not a back fighter like him. Kerry goes to get the present, and while he’s gone Lawler says that ‘Handsome’ Jimmy should be here in person to apologise for even asking to take his title. It was probably a mistake and what he really wants to do is come here and be his partner! Kerry returns with the present but it’s a bucket of water all wrapped up that he dumps over ‘The King’. Lawler tells Dave to call Valiant on the phone and in a clever way to disguise that he isn’t there, Dave says that something got unplugged when Robert Fuller and Brian Lee were out here fighting earlier and we won’t be able to hear him on the other end of the line. He says that ‘Jimmy’ wants to know if ‘he’s cool?’ Lawler grabs the phone and tells Valiant that the first time he ever came into the town he cost him the World title against Harley Race when he hit him in the head with a bottle because he was jealous of him. The caring and forgiving person that he is, he forgave Valiant after that, they even became partners but he carried him on his coat tails. He took him to Japan and they won the tag team titles together. Now he wants to come in here, take his World title and have some brain damaged idiot like Kerry Von Erich do his dirty work for him and humiliate him in his home town. Their friendship is out the window and Jimmy Valiant is at the top of the list of people he hates. It transpires that Valiant hung up on ‘The King’ when he was having a go at him, and he then promises to do a number on him like he’s never had done on him before in his life.

 

Nate the Rat returns with Lawler’s Big Mac at this point. Oh no, I have a hunch about how this might end up! His timing is terrible and ‘The King’ rubs the Big Mac in his face before shoving him over.

 

Lawler is exceptional here, although Kerry sounds worse than ever. Between the gift and the subsequent phone call it’s a clever way to build and hype the match without Valiant actually having to be there. We get a serious Lawler promo for a match in the studio (they’ve been reserved for Dallas so far) and a nice bit of comedy with Nate at the end. I enjoyed this immensely.

[GSR]

Jimmy Valiant music video set to ‘Boogie Woogie Man’ by Charlie Daniels (cheers Pete). Some great clips in here including a fair few from Mid-Atlantic, plenty of dancing and Jimmy even kissing Dave Brown (poor Dave!). At one point Valiant appears to be picking up a prostitute with some rather ample breasts!

[dawho5]

So much awesome in this segment. Although I wonder how long Memphis/USWA would have lasted without Lawler carrying it on his back after the mid 80s.