[1990-04-28-USWA-Memphis TV] Jimmy Valiant, Jerry Lawler and Ben Jordan

[Loss]

Talk about it here.

[Loss]

Jimmy Valiant continues his amazing celebration, wearing Jerry Lawler's crown and continuing to bask in the love of the crowd. Lawler asks Valiant to come out and face him, and he responds by singing "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot". Amazing! Valiant says Ben Jordan will have the title shot. Lawler tries to talk him out of it, but Lawler was the one who made this booking, and the new champ picks up the previous champ's booking. Lawler says if he's championship material, then he should be able to beat another contender. He tries to talk Ben Jordan into having a match with him to determine who gets the match at MSC. At first, Jordan says no, that he has the match scheduled and has no reason to do this. He finally tricks Lawler into getting in the ring and putting his title shot on the line, so now we have Lawler vs Ben Jordan.

 

Jordan comes out of the gate strong, so Lawler starts playing hide-the-chain to turn the tide then starts working him over. Jordan bleeds and is pretty much destroyed, so now Lawler has the rematch. Valiant tries to get in the ring, and Lawler taunts him by piledriving Jordan.

 

This may be Jerry Lawler's finest hour.

[PeteF3]

Lawler goads Jordan into putting his #1 contendership on the line, and Jordan being a total spineless dumbass agrees to it. The match goes predictably with Jordan blading off chain shots. Valiant comes back after the match and for some reason Calhoun and Marlin are more concerned with holding Valiant back instead of Lawler brutalizing Jordan in the ring.

 

Honestly...as awesome as the opening segment was this got a big "whatever" from me. Lawler was good but his constantly making every babyface look like a complete idiot is starting to wear thin just as it did with Triple H in '02 and '03. Every time he shows ass he immediately gets more and greater payback on someone else, whether it's Chris Champion or Ben Jordan. I'm no big fan of Jimmy Valiant's but it is refreshing to see a babyface capable of coming across as being an actual peer to Lawler and who won't let Lawler's comments get to him, and Valiant fills that role nicely.

[soup23]

Lawler goading Jordan into the match using a fan as leverage was a nice move. Jerry gives a good beatdown to earn his rematch. Great episode of Memphis tv and I have no problem with Lawler destroying underneath wrestlers.

[shoe]

The sheer genius of this segment was so great. Lawler is a master.

[Kevin Ridge]

Valiant thinks Ben Jordan can be the next champion. Wow, this guy was a big time prospect in 1990. Valiant is willing to give him a title shot. Lawler doesn’t want Valiant wasting his time on Jordan. Lawler wants the title shot instead. Lawler pressures Jordan into a match with the number one contendership on the line.

 

Jordan bleeding from the head and missing wildly with his punches. Lawler kind of toying with him. An extended squash in the end outside of Jordan’s initial flurry of offense to start the match. That was pretty stupid of Jordan to put his title shot on the line.

[Cox]

Ben Jordan's mullet should have probably gotten the fuck out of dodge while he still had a title shot for this Monday night, since lord knows nobody that tiny, pasty, and mullety will ever get another shot at the Unified title. Sadly, he sticks around just long enough for Lawler to outsmart him and get him to put up his title match, which ends predictably badly.

 

Was I the only one who noticed how Lawler pretty blatantly blades Jordan right on camera? Dave Brown tries to cover for it by saying he saw Lawler cut him open with something, but it wasn't chain shots at all that I saw, he was just caught blading him by the camera guy. Looked terrible, and I figured a pro like Lawler would know how to cover a blade job better than that.

 

While the segment was good, I can't help but notice that the heel side in Memphis is so depleted, that they have to get Lawler his heat back before the TV program ends just so they can get some interest for the Lawler/Valiant rematch, since they have nobody else who can challenge for the Unified title. I can't help but think that sending Dundee and Jarrett to Dallas has left the Memphis show without much of any star power whatsoever, which leads to things like Nitron getting built up for a title shot, Jimmy Valiant winning the Unified title twice, King Cobra getting a title run, etc. It really feels like a dead territory to me, and even though Lawler is entertaining as a top heel, it's not a role fans want to see him in.

[garretta]

It seems that the King can't get himself booed no matter what. Here, he bullies poor stupid Ben Jordan into putting his title shot on the line, slices his forehead wide open with (ostensibly) his infamous chain, piledrives him after the bell while Valiant makes a halfhearted attempt to get in the ring (seriously, I've never seen a supposed lead babyface follow the referee's instructions so readily in a situation like this, so Valiant must have really been out of gas from earlier)........and gets the crowd chanting his name!

 

Cox is right; who else did they have who could have turned the crowd against Lawler for more than a few minutes? There were only two people that I know of: Dutch Mantel, who was lower midcard in Atlanta at this time, and Bill Dundee, who Jarrett was trying to push as one of many replacements for the Von Erichs in Dallas. Obviously, Jimmy was their can't miss solution to the top babyface problem in Memphis, and now he'd missed horribly. I'm not even sure Hulk Hogan could have helped out here.

 

The only other thing they could have done was not book Lawler on the Memphis side for a month or so; have him work exclusively in Dallas and send in promos saying that while Dallas may be a stinkin' rotten hellhole, Memphis is so much garbage that hell wouldn't take it when it was offered for free. He could still bill himself as "The King of Wrestling", but change his hometown to Cleveland, where he was actually born and whose sports teams he followed. That wouldn't have guaranteed him lasting heat either; more than likely, it would have just driven attendance into the gutter. But it was the only trick he hadn't tried yet other than piledriving Dave Brown on the studio floor at WMC.

[drew wardlaw]

Unreal. Lawler gets a lifetime pass because of these segments. No amount of sleaziness, racism, or poor commentary matters, his good material makes up for all of it.

[GSR]

The celebrations continue as Jimmy Valiant is sat in the crowd with his fans. Jerry Lawler is back out (and the crowd chant ‘Lawler, Lawler, Lawler’) and he wants to see if Jimmy Valiant is really the ‘people’s champion’ and calls him over. ‘The King’ starts talking to him but Valiant is more interested in dancing and having a good time. He tells him that if he is truly the ‘people’s champion’ like he claims, he’ll do like he did and give him another shot at that title. Not here today, but next week. Valiant cuts an incomprehensible reply, but states that Ben Jordan will get the next title shot. Lawler says that Jordan is a jabroni, he’s not a contender for the World Championship and all Valiant is trying to do is hide with that belt and hold on to it for more than a week. ‘Prove to him and all his fans that he’s a man. Give him a title shot and don’t waste time with this punk!’ Valiant says that he hasn’t got time for Kingfish, he’s going back to his people, Ben Jordan gets the next shot and if he doesn’t beat him, stand in line! Lawler is pretty angry at this point and tells Jordan to join him. ‘The King’ runs him down, says that he’s not fit to lace his boots and he tries to talk him into wrestling him today with the winner getting the title shot. Jordan says how he’s already got it so doesn’t need to. Lawler calls a fan from the crowd (the same chap who is always there in a Jerry ‘The King’ Lawler top) and when he asks him what Ben Jordan would be if he doesn’t wrestle him today, he says a jabroni and a yellow coward. He tells Jordan that is what the fans will see him as, so to save face, get in that ring a wrestle him! He continues to push Jordan’s buttons until he finally cracks and tells Lawler to get in that ring with him. Lawler is pretty pleased with himself and makes sure Eddie Marlin and everyone heard that, and whomever wins this match gets the title shot at Jimmy Valiant.

 

Jordan starts out quickly with an early pin attempt, before ‘The King’ reaches into his trunks for a foreign object. He nails Jordan with it, busting him open in the process. It’s all Lawler from here and even pulls out a dropkick! A fist drop off the middle turnbuckle from ‘The King’, who then drops an elbow for the win. He tries to goad Valiant into the ring after the match, even piledriving Jordan, but he is held back by the official.

 

The first part of this was masterful from Lawler with the way he weaselled and wormed his way into getting Ben Jordan to put up his title shot. It was stupid of Jordan to give it up just for being called ‘yellow’ though! In regards to the match, why wasn’t anything done about Lawler using the foreign object? Where is Eddie Marlin? Dave Brown has seen ‘The King’ use it and is openly mentioning it on commentary. After the big deal about the new rules why isn’t someone doing anything about this? Onto Eddie Marlin again, and there appears to be a snafu as Lawler is piledriving Jordan after the match. Who can be seen watching on from the background? Eddie Marlin. Why isn’t he out quicker? Why is he just watching a wrestler use an illegal move on an already beaten opponent after the match? Why isn’t Lawler being fined or threatened with a suspension? More holes than Swiss cheese in this match!

[dawho5]

Valiant and Lawler carry off their roles perfectly, but the crowd still won't boo him. Loved Valiant's "Go fish!" line.