[1990-07-13-USWA Texas] Jeff Jarrett vs Iceman Parsons

[Loss]

Talk about it here.

[Loss]

Not quite as compelling as Lawler/Snowman, but not terribly far behind either. They work a really unique match in the same vein with lots of takedowns and stiff punches. They aim to make this look like a shoot, which I imagine is pretty tough to pull off. The crowd doesn't get as into this as they did in Memphis, but I suspect that's because the racial overtones weren't as strong in the buildup. But give Jeff Jarrett credit for working some excellent, very different matches so far in 1990. Post-match, Iceman promises to find him wherever, church or the store. This was awesome and I wish there had been rematches.

[PeteF3]

I guess this is as close as we'll get to seeing Lawler vs. Snowman in full. Another bit of Redneck UWFI but even more surprising coming from Jarrett and Parsons. It's good stuff but I can't stress enough how much more compelling Lawler/Snowman was--that wasn't just a shoot-style fight, it was a fight between two guys who plausibly hated each other's guts and were truly fighting for something. This is a shoot-style fight between two guys who were booked to have a shoot-style fight. Same finish as the initial Snowman matches as Parsons slugs the referee and the match gets thrown out. Parsons makes threats towards "Jessica" after the match. ROOTY-POOT~! is uttered.

 

A Snowman interview is hyped, with him holding the Unified belt. Oh, NOW we're acknowledging the Memphis title changes?

[soup23]

Good brawl. I love the outfit Iceman wore to show this was a fight instead of a match. Jarrett looked really good to showing a lot of fire.

[shoe]

I thought this was a great fight and delivered off of the angle. From the Roberts/Parsons feud from the 80's set you know Parson's knows how to work snug. I liked how they brought up Iceman's boxer background. For a guy with curly blond hair Jarrett did a good job here.

[Kevin Ridge]

Iceman looks like he came right from the gym to the ring. He’s looking to brawl. Referee is getting very involved forcing guys apart. He gets decked for that by Iceman. Brawling continues. I thought the post match brawling was better then the in match brawling.

[garretta]

I've said this in an earlier thread, but there was no real compelling reason for this feud, and although the so-called "shoot" aspects of this bout were well-performed, I didn't care any more about these two when it was over than I did when it started.

 

Jerry Jarrett forgot one thing: When there's supposed to be a significant issue between two wrestlers, the fans want to know how it started and why. I still have no idea why Iceman "invaded" the USWA, and even more importantly, why he picked Jeff to go after. Jeff has no title, he's not a top contender for one, he's not even the most over babyface on either side of the promotion right now (that would be Lawler in Memphis and Chris Adams in Dallas). Ice hasn't been given enough mic time to explain himself, and Jeff hasn't been given enough time to defend himself, should he need to. If Jerry wanted to run Lawler/Snowman in Dallas, then bring down the videotape of the originals from Memphis to set it up and let them go at it. Don't draft two guys with no previous issue to copy it, then deprive them of the time they need to make sure that the fans give a care about it.

 

Also, Tony Falk was way too involved here. Every time Jeff and Ice tied up, he was there to push his way in between and forcefully keep them back, to the point where the fans were paying as much attention to him as they were to the match. I was actively rooting for one of the two combatants to let him have it, and Ice did eventually, more than once. I get that Jerry probably didn't want Bronko Lubich to get hit and hurt, but surely there were more than two referees on the Dallas side. If not, fly Jerry Calhoun down from Memphis for the night.

 

As I stated earlier, the brawling looked chaotic enough, but I wasn't invested enough in the issue for it to really get me where I lived. This might have been fresh to the Sportatorium audience, but not to those who just got through seeing the angle that inspired it.

 

I wonder how- or if- Snowman ever got over in Dallas?

[drew wardlaw]

Haha is Jessica supposed to be Jeff? Cool match but I'm starting to burn out a bit on uswa/Memphis. I don't know if it's the yearbook format or the full shows, but everything is just so kinetic and non-stop. It's cool but there's just no room to take a breath here.

[GSR]

Parsons is in gym gear as opposed to regular wrestling wear. He heads straight towards Jeff Jarrett, but referee Tony Falk gets between them and is physically pushing the Iceman back. Parsons comes out with a boxing stance, so not only are they redoing the Jerry Lawler/The Snowman angle, they’re doing the same kind of ‘shoot’ match too. A few speculative punches from Parsons and Jarrett takes him down. They roll around on the floor and exchange punches, but you can clearly see that they are being pulled. More grappling and rolling around whilst Craig Johnson informs us ‘this is not a wrestling match, it’s a fight’. Iceman with a head butt and they’re backed up into the corner, but Falk is in there trying to separate them and he again pushes Parsons back. More of the same and Iceman has finally had enough of Falk interjecting himself and manhandling him, so hits him for the DQ. Jarrett tries to prevent him from stopping the match, but overly officious Tony’s not listening. Heaven forbid this be about the wrestlers and not Tony Falk. Jarrett and Parsons continue to fight after the match and Falk gets nailed for a second time by Parsons, this time after Jarrett ducks out the way of one of his punches. A bunch of wrestlers eventually come out to keep the two of them apart and Jarrett is escorted back to the dressing room. Before he leaves Parsons tells ‘Jessica’ that he doesn’t care if he has to catch him at the store or at the church, but he belongs to him, then refers to the audience as a bunch of ‘rooty poots’!

 

It’s difficult to watch this objectively and not compare it to the first Jerry Lawler vs The Snowman match, but this didn’t work for me and I found it pretty bad. A lot of rolling around, blatantly worked punches and not much else. Lawler and Snowman incorporated so much more in their match than these two did to where there was doubt if they were working or not. Tony Falk was also far too involved and shouldn’t be physically putting his hands on the wrestlers and pushing them around as much as he does. I’m not surprised that Parsons slugged him as I think I would have done the same if I was in his position. Even after the match and while Jarrett and Parsons are continuing to fight, the camera cuts to Falk holding his mouth and checking his teeth after he’s been hit for a second time. Why are they showing us this? I want to watch the wrestlers, not the referee! I didn’t notice Jerry Calhoun anywhere near as much as Falk, heck I didn’t even notice the guest referees in the Memphis feud unless they were part of an angle in the match. I’m half tempted to go back and count how many times he gets bumped in matches he’s officiating when I’ve finished working my way through the Yearbook. This guy is the absolute worst!

[dawho5]

I was hoping somebody would hit Falk. I pretty much do every time I see him now.