[1990-04-28-USWA-Memphis TV] Jerry Lawler and Ben Jordan / Jerry Lawler vs New York Mauler

[Loss]

Talk about it here.

[Loss]

Ben Jordan is out for an interview. He's been put in a unique position, a young, relatively unproven wrestler getting a title shot. The studio crowd roundly boos him. It's time to turn Lawler. His heel promos have been so entertaining that they have in effect moved the crowd to his side. Lawler is out to completely bury Ben Jordan's chances, and gets crowd support when he points out that he's a joke challenger. Lawler complains that if the USWA doesn't slow down on his title defenses, he'll start just defending once every 30 days. He calls Ben Jordan a jobroni, and Jordan responds by warning Lawler not to take him lightly. Lawler isn't happy until he has completely humiliated him on the mic.

 

The theme music for the New York Mauler sounds awfully familiar. Say, who is that masked guy? I can't quite put my finger on it. Lawler isn't happy with this at all. Lawler tries to walk out, refusing to wrestle him, saying he signed to wrestle a jobroni. Valiant keeps sneaking the mask off to smile at everyone, which is funny. The crowd keeps cheering for Lawler to make a comeback during the match in spite of everything. This is a much better Valiant match than normal, but it's hurt by the studio crowd not getting behind him at all because Lawler has the support. Lawler does a really good job of carrying things in spite of that, and drops the USWA title to Valiant.

 

This is in some ways a backdrop to get over the new USWA rules. When Lawler grabs a chair, Dave Brown astutely points out that he better not bring that chair in the ring unless he wants a technical loss. They go to a time limit draw, so the ref is out to enforce sudden death rules. The first wrestler knocked off of his feet is the new champ, which Eddie Marlin comes out to remind everyone of. The last few minutes of this are really dramatic, with both guys slugging it out and doing everything they can not to fall. Good finish too!

 

This is in some ways the best Lawler performance so far -- doing great promo work, carrying a limited opponent, getting over new rules and working some drama in the final few minutes that gets over really well. I think they were having trouble drawing at this point, so getting over the new rules on TV was an attempt to maybe let their fans know they were going to cut down on the non-finishes. Nice piece of business, and a solid match too!

 

Not much of an isolated segment, but when you see everything that has happened all year in the USWA before this, it really stands out in a positive way.

[PeteF3]

Jordan has a title shot presumably by virtue of his win the previous week, yet they never mention that part, which doesn't do much to help Jordan's case against being a joke challenger. The crowd has solidly backed Lawler by this point--I know it's Memphis but not only is Lawler as entertaining as he is, but he's been all over television doing interviews, segments, and commentary throughout and eventually fans anywhere are going to see his side of things. This is sort of pushing things into egofuck territory to allow Lawler to masturbate on the mic instead of accomplishing anything to get anybody or any program over.

 

Lawler finally switches gears to talking up the New York Mauler and points out that he wears a mask. Then "The Boy from New York City" hits and a spazzed out guy with long white hair and a beard stuffed under a mask comes out. Now Lawler is stuck in a title match that he bragged about having, with no way to DQ himself or get counted out to save the title. Lawler is able to more or less stall out the ten minute time limit in between getting beaten up, but then realizes that the new sudden-death rules are in effect. The OT period is FUCKING AWESOME, even though the actual match was FF material. The rules are a bit goofy but the teases here are absolutely epic, especially by Lawler though Valiant provides a few near-falls (see what I did there) of his own. Valiant puts his head down for a backdrop but moves away when Lawler tries to kick him, and that sends Lawler flying and sends the Unified belt back to Valiant.

 

For my complaints about Lawler in the first part of this segment, Lawler's stooging to put over Valiant and the new rules more than made up for it.

[soup23]

I really loved this long segment. Great promo by Lawler against Ben Jordan. I should have known what would happen with Lawler talking about the New York Mauler but after seeing who the Thriller really was, I just figured it would be a typical jobber. The match had more wrestling than usual but also mixed in comedy. I also loved the sudden death as a contrast and dramatic way to end a match from what we have seen so far this year.

[shoe]

This segment was great.

[Kevin Ridge]

Ben Jordan is excited at his chance to face Lawler and he’s ready to capitalize on a Lawler mistake to win the title. Lawler talks Jordan down for never winning any matches. Doesn’t really make sense that he’s getting a World Title match.

 

Lawler versus New York Mauler which is also a World Title match. That music sounds familiar. We don’t know for sure who this Mauler is but he has a kiss for Dave Brown. Lawler is forced to wrestle the match with Valiant due to the new rules. Only a ten minute time limit. Crowd is behind Lawler though. Lawler using stalling to run down the time. Time limit runs out but new rules it’s now sudden death. Can’t believe they could have the world title change on a man just knocking the other off his feet. Both men do their best to not fall down. Lawler misses a dropkick but since he left his feet he loses the match and the title! Awful finish though there seems to be some issue with the result.

[Cox]

Ben Jordan's mullet will be getting a Unified World Title soon, and Lawler does an amazing job dressing him down. He does a great job making you want to see Lawler get his here by being this terrible, terrible jerk to poor Ben Jordan and his hideous mullet. Lawler referencing the New York Mauler and how he was smart enough to hide under a mask sets off my shit detector, knowing that Valiant is still around nd is billed fom New York, and sure enough, out comes Valiant.

 

Here is where this segment loses me a bit, as the match is just the shits. I thought Billy Joe Travis showed how to get a good match out of Valiant while relying on bullshit, and this match just isn't as good as that one. Lawler is stalling like crazy, knowing that Valiant only has maybe 45 seconds of offense at this point, and they need to go ten minutes. This needed a hot match, and we don't get one. I expected to hate the finish with the "first man off his feet loses" stip, and it is kind of a bullshit way for Lawler to drop the title, but to Lawler and Valiant's credit, they sell the hell out of it on the finish and make the finish dramatic.

 

I wonder if they changed plans here and originally were going to go with Nitron here after the big segment with Nate a couple of weeks ago, but changed course after they saw how shitty that punch was.

[TravJ1979]

Not sure if it was this segment or the one after commercial break, but after Valiant brings everyone in front of the camera saying this is the people's belt, the crowd is chanting "We Want Lawler!"

[garretta]

Maybe the single most dramatic segment of TV anywhere so far this year, particularly the sudden death overtime. I think that if they'd stayed with this and educated the fans to accept it as a legitimate way to end a match quickly, the "first knockdown" might have had a future. Unfortunately, they didn't.

 

Lawler is the star of this segment, expertly stalling in an effort to take the bout to a draw because he still thinks he can escape with the belt that way. He even tries to explicitly run away with the title, telling Eddie Marlin to stick the new rules up his butt, in so many words. That might have been an interesting way to put over the new rules as well if the match had been against a jobber like Ben Jordan. But since it's Valiant, we thankfully get sudden death.

 

Dave's uncharacteristically sloppy at times here, forgetting to even acknowledge Valiant's sleeper early in the bout although it was a clear near-fall. On the other hand, he doesn't ignore the obvious cheers for Lawler, though he points out that the whole crowd isn't doing it. It must have been hard to treat Lawler like a despicable rat when he obviously had the overwhelming majority of the fan support, but Dave manages to do so without sacrificing his credibility, as does Eddie. To his credit, Jimmy just ignores it all and plows forward, unlike Dusty did when the TBS crowds cheered Flair instead of him. (I forgot to mention that Dave also doesn't insult the fans' intelligence by refusing to acknowledge who the New York Mauler really is when he comes out, although he takes care to say that the match is still valid whether the wrestler in question is Mauler or Valiant.)

 

At this point, changing everything just to formally turn Lawler would have done no good; it was just better for them to go ahead with their plans until they could find their opening to do so, which they apparently did fairly soon.

[drew wardlaw]

I really like these past few segments focusing on establishing the new rules. Jimmy sneaking smiles at the crowd is really funny.

[GSR]

Ben Jordan is out for an interview as he has a shot at the Unified title today against Jerry Lawler. Jordan says he’s really excited about the match as young wrestlers like himself don’t usually get an opportunity like this so soon into their wrestling career. It’s always been a dream of his to be World Champion even though Jerry Lawler probably thinks he’s a nobody and is sat in the back not taking it seriously. Lawler joins them and he was watching all this on a monitor and it amazed him that Dave Brown called Ben Jordan out for an interview with a straight face. He thinks it’s all a joke and Jordan says that ‘The King’ may be taking this lightly, but he’s trained his whole life for this. Lawler says he went to Eddie Marlin and said how seemingly every time he turns around he’s having to defend the title and Marlin said it was because the people want to see championship matches. He says he doesn’t care what the people want, he’s going in there against the top contenders all over the world and he needs a little breather every now and then. If they want title matches he’ll defend it against some jabronis every now and then, otherwise he’ll only defend the title once every 30 days like he has to. Ben Jordan is out here taking it all seriously and it’s like a day off for him. It’s a jabroni match! Jordan comes out every Saturday on TV and loses, he’s a jabroni! He doesn’t have a future in wrestling and may as well go and get a job in McDonalds. He’s got a match upcoming against another jabroni, the New York Mauler coming up. He’s a bit smarter than Jordan though as he wears a mask and doesn’t use his real name, that way he doesn’t suffer the same humiliation that Jordan does every week. He tells him to watch what he’s going to do to this jabroni, and to show how ‘special’ his title match, he’s giving this jabroni one too. Crowd are totally behind Lawler throughout this, and despite his best efforts, they’re not booing him at all.

 

The New York Mauler comes out to some familiar music and it’s Jimmy Valiant, horrible tattoos and all, under a mask. Lucky Dave Brown even gets a kiss from him! Lawler tries to leave as that’s not the jabroni he agreed to wrestle, it’s Jimmy Valiant and they’re not going to trick him out of his title. After bragging about this match he’s now doing his best to get out of it. Eddie Marlin comes out and says that the match is signed and he tells Jerry Calhoun to ring the bell. Dave says that under the new rules is you lose by count out, you lose the match and in Lawler’s case as champion, he would lose the title too. An angry Lawler realises there is nothing he can do, takes off his jacket and throws it at Marlin and gets in the ring at the count of eight.

 

The match has a ten minute time limit, but with five minutes gone it feels like nothing has actually happened. The match ends up going the full ten minutes all of which were controlled from start to finish by Valiant. Not much to the match which was heavy on stalling from ‘The King and none of the stooging or comedy that made the Dallas match so enjoyable. Lawler thinks that he’s retained his title and goes to collect it when Dave tells him about the new rules. He doesn’t care about the new rules, ‘you can stick them up your…’ Calhoun lays down the law and Marlin is back out and tells him to abide by the rules and first person off their feet loses. He’s got a count of ten to get back in the ring or it’s a technical loss.

 

The overtime is better than the match itself, and as a result the crowd are more into it. The two of them exchange punches with neither able to drop their opponent with the ropes helping to keep them up. Lawler has an interesting tactic of kicking at Valiant’s leg, but for some reason he doesn’t persist with it for long. Lawler whips Valiant into the ropes and goes for a backdrop but Valiant kicks him and he stumbles backwards, only kept up again by the ropes. Valiant then whips ‘The King’ into the ropes and goes for the backdrop himself. However when Lawler goes to kick him he steps out the way, Lawler kicks fresh air and the momentum takes him off his feet crashing to the canvas and Jimmy Valiant is the new USWA champion. He celebrates with the fans after the match and seems to be the one person more popular than ‘The King’. He gets them to come over to the announcing desk with him and says that it’s ‘the people’s belt’. Whilst this is going on the tiniest, most petite looking security guard ever tries to usher these kids back to their seats, but Valiant ends up kissing her too!

[dawho5]

I'm not entirely alone in thinking Lawler was getting a little too over for his own good here then. He's going to need to turn soon. There's no way we can pretend he's a heel very much longer like this. I knew as soon as they mentioned the 10 minute time limit we'd see overtime. But they executed it well and it gets across what needs to be gotten across.