[1990-05-12-USWA Texas] Steve Austin vs Chris Adams

[Loss]

Talk about it here.

[Loss]

Austin looks really, really green here. It stands out here more than in any match I've seen him in so far. Austin gets the win after Jeanne trips Adams during a vertical suplex. He attacks Austin after the bell and she sprays hairspray in his eyes. That's a step up from RAPE TEAR GAS. Austin holds Adams while Jeanne slaps him around. Good stuff, but I'm telling you -- this feud still hasn't scratched the surface.

[PeteF3]

Austin does tend to meander between moves but his stuff in working over Adams outside was solid--as Percy pointed out, he at least knows the ins and outs of breaking the ten-count. Jeannie yanks Adams leg on a suplex to give Austin the victory and Adams gets slapped around more after the match. It's amazing how much more potent the Austin/Jeannie combo was booked here and during the angle in general--Adams' big opening sneak attack goes absolutely nowhere, he loses the match after Austin controls most of it, and his attempted post-match attack is thwarted as well.

[soup23]

I thought this was a step back in this angle from what we have seen so far as Austin does look pretty bad in the match and the hatred was not conveyed like I had hoped. Good to know there is still lots to come though.

[Kevin Ridge]

Adams eats some hairspray as match starts and Austin pummels him. Austin keeps breaking the count allowing him to beat up Adams on the outside. Austin misses a big splash off the top rope. Announcer mentions that a ringside chair is taking a beating. Might want to put over the wrestlers instead. Jeannie gets involved allowing Austin to win. More hairspary for Adams. Jeannie slaps Adams around. Adams does the worst job off “chasing” after Austin up the aisle.

[Cox]

I feel like Jeannie botched the trip on the suplex to a degree too (Austin may have contributed towards this). Not a great match, but it does move things forward.

[garretta]

This was about as close to an Austin squash as you can get without binding Adams hand and foot before he gets in the ring. Sloppy or not, Austin gets almost all the offense, and nothing Adams tries slows him down for more than a second or two. The only reason this feud can even continue is because Jeannie pulls a Bobby Heenan and trips Chris on a suplex attempt to get Steve the win. I'm not even sure that was needed; finish aside, we can call this a clean job. Chris can't even get up the energy to chase Austin and Jeannie up the aisle. It'll be interesting to see how he recovers from this.

 

I know we like to pick on the announcers, Kevin, but Craig can't mention a ringside chair taking a beating? There's such a thing as putting the wrestlers over too much; it's called shilling, and some of us like to bury and degrade guys like Gene Okerlund for it. Context and atmosphere are important if you're going to call a wrestling match with the same level of seriousness that you would a baseball or football game, which is the ultimate goal if a promotion wants wrestling to be seen on that level (which they did back then). If Joe Buck can mention the weather during an NFL playoff game or Vin Scully can read a list of birthdays between (or even sometimes during) the pitches of a Dodger game, surely Craig Johnson can take two seconds to talk about a chair taking a beating, particularly when Austin's about to use said chair on Adams' head.

[drew wardlaw]

So this was kind of just there for me. Didn't really seem to heated, and I know it's just getting into the feud, but was kind of expecting more I guess. Austin looked kind of lost, like others have said.

[GSR]

Adams runs down the aisle and straight into the ring attacking Austin from behind with a can of hairspray. He’s about to spray it at him when Jeannie starts clawing at Adams’ face distracting him and giving Austin the chance to turn the tide in his favour. Austin goes to work on Adams whilst Jeannie grabs the hairspray that he had originally bought out with him. Austin with some forearms and he throws Adams to the floor with Jeannie gleefully watching on. He starts beating on him out there while at the same time keeping an eye on Bronco Lubich’s count. He tosses Adams back in the ring, climbs to the top turnbuckle but misses the big splash. Adams with a superkick and he’s finally able to get some control in the match. He returns the favour throwing Austin to the outside before cracking him in the head with a chair. He rams Austin’s head into the apron and goes to suplex him back into the ring. Jeannie pulls Adams’ leg from under him, Austin falls on top, hooks the leg and gets the pin. Adams superkicks Austin after the match and tries to tie him up in the ropes, but Jeannie is there with the hairspray and sprays it in his face. With Adams ‘blinded’, Austin calls Jeannie into the ring and he holds Adams while she slaps him twice. Adams breaks free of Austin and the heels are out of there with Austin carrying Jeannie up the aisle.

 

A good short match and you can see Austin’s improvement on a weekly basis as everything offensively looked good here. I liked Jeannie as well as the bitchy ex, although her slaps could do with a bit of work. I ended up watching this a second time after reading the posts in this thread. I still stand by my original comments and the only criticism I had was that Austin might have been slightly tentative in the first few minutes when he was celebrating moves, as if he was giving himself some time to think about what to do next. For me, that was the only hole I could find. Shame that the ‘I Quit’ match from 5/18 is missing.

[dawho5]

Adams is going to have to come up with a better surprise.

[El-P]

Adams sure gave a whole lot to Austin,who's sporting great Saved by the Bell tights. Can't get more early 90's than this. He does look quite rough again and he does those odd full rotation each time he throws a punch or elbow. Jeannie is all bitchy, I love her. This is more an angle continuation than a strong match, but it serves its purpose.