[1990-11-17-USWA-Memphis TV] Jerry Lawler vs Eddie Gilbert (Barbed Wire)

[Loss]

Talk about it here.

[Loss]

Clip from MSC. Dirty White Boy and Doug Gilbert quickly run in and all three heels attack him and use the barbed wire on him. The announcers point out that many of the wrestlers have left to cover no one saving Lawler, which is a nice touch, but this segment drags.

[PeteF3]

How the fuck does a lights-out barbed wire match end in a DQ?? I'd have been royally pissed if I'd paid money to see a 1:38 main event like that. That the post-match beatdown goes about twice as long is of little consolation.

[soup23]

Yeah pretty bait and switch end to this match and something that can really piss people off. I still really liked the beatdown as it was the definitive kill Lawler beatdown with no one left to help him.

[Kevin Ridge]

Barbed wire did not keep out Gilbert’s friends. Did Corey Maclin announce that match as only 1:13 (or 1:38 per Pete)? Hope not. Long beat down of Lawler with nobody coming to his help.

[ajtroma]

This was a total jip. That 4 star plus match must have been in Louisville because it damn sure wasnt here. This was perhaps the most disappointing thing on this yearbook. The fireball is barely sold. Three guys interfere after Lawler sells the match as the barbed wire will keep Gilberts crew out. Long-ass beatdown. Lawler's color scheme. And its just ridiculously short.

[garretta]

This match is the answer to the long-debated philosophical question: "What if they killed Jerry Lawler in Memphis and nobody cared?"

 

Seriously, this segment (I can't in good conscience call it a match) could have been done in the WMC studios and gotten more heat. The crowd didn't know what to make of it, and the announcers sounded as though Ken Raper and Freezer Thompson were slapping around Ben Jordan instead of Eddie Gilbert and his friends beating the ever-loving hell out of Lawler. What, could Jarrett not fly in Craig Johnson to do the matches at the MSC every week? The two jokers here (one of whom is Michael St. John) sound like they're describing a child's birthday party on a camcorder. There's no emotion, although Joker #2 finally allows that Eddie's gone just a little too far. I've heard a bit of Corey Maclin, and although he sounds like he's doing a half-baked Lance Russell imitation, I'll take that any day over what we've been hearing lately from everyone in this promotion but Dave Brown.

 

Why was this match so short? I really don't know, unless they were up against a curfew. The barbed wire ended up being useless, because the DWBs just climbed right over the top of it and into the ring, according to St. John. It would have been better to have a regular bout and let either Doug or Tony pull the wire out of their pants during the beatdown. We also have either another miscommunication concerning a fireball or Eddie not having any idea how to sell one, take your pick. Michael says on commentary that the fire may actually have not caught enough of Eddie to cause pain, which would be the topper on this whole fiasco. The beatdown was actually more dramatic than the match, and I bought the idea that the other wrestlers had all gone home, which left Lawler alone to get his brains beaten out.

 

I'm willing to chalk this up to an off night all the way around. Hopefully these two have a better match in them, and soon.