[1991-02-02-USWA-Memphis TV] Jerry Lawler, Jeff Jarrett, Jackie Fargo and the Fabulous Ones

[Loss]

Talk about it here.

[Loss]

Lawler introduces highlights of a Lawler/Jarrett vs Fabs match from MSC. Jarrett eats three piledrivers behind the referee's back. Jarrett finally makes the hot tag. Keirn semi-accidentally nails the ref, which gives Lawler the opportunity to get in his own piledriver. Frank Morrell is about to count the Fabs down when Jamie Dundee, who has started acting as a special referee for some matches, stops the count and DQs Lawler and Jarrett. Jamie later claims that he only saw Lawler's piledriver, not the ones the Fabs gave Jarrett during the match. I like this angle. Nice start to his inevitable heel turn. Because of the controversial nature of the finish, the tag titles have been held up. This week, they'll be decided in a Lawler/Jarrett vs Fabs match, with Dundee, who is still injured, coming back to neutralize Jim Cornette at ringside. In a huge twist, Jackie Fargo will also be the special referee. Wow. There are so many possibilities with all of those people involved. Lawler does a great job getting all of this over in own special way. This is capped off with a personality profile on Jackie Fargo that has some great pictures, clips and narration, showing the entire history between Fargo and the Fabs. Cornette and the Fabs are out to respond to this. Cornette tears into everyone in a great promo, including Jackie Fargo, but Steve Keirn takes exception to that part. The crowd starts cheering him, and Cornette freaks out and asks the really loud crowd to be quiet. Stan Lane backs Keirn, and says Cornette needs to lighten up a little bit in his threats to Fargo. Just an awesome piece of business that created so much intrigue over what will happen. I can't say enough about all of this.

[shoe]

Loss sums it up nicely. Just a great segment.

[PeteF3]

Lawler shuts down a heckler in about the greatest way possible before going into his read-the-church-bulletin spiel, segueing into MSC highlights. The Fabs piledrive Jeff Jarrett into oblivion, but when Lawler manages to get a payback piledriver on Lane, ersatz referee Jamie Dundee runs in and calls for the DQ.

 

Rematch this week for the held-up tag titles. Lawler & Jarrett will have Bill Dundee in their corner to counteract Cornette and Jackie Fargo will be guest refereeing and acting as sort of a guilty conscience for Steve & Stan. Michael St. John narrates a history piece on Fargo's history in the area, with some amazingly bloody photography and a shot of Fargo hanging with Muhammad Ali, as well as video of Fargo bequeathing his name onto the Fabulous Ones tag team...as well as a 9-year-old interview clip promising to "deal with them" if they get out of line. Uh-oh.

 

Cornette comes out playing his tennis racket like a violin, then likens Lawler to a tough-talking poker player who's marked the cards, gotten his friend to deal the deck, and gotten a relative with a shotgun ready to blow away anyone who has a better hand. Then he complains about the added edge--"the only living man on the planet older than Eddie Marlin," which gets a legitimate laugh out of the crowd. He promises to mutilate Fargo if they get out of line...which draws a strong rebuke from Steve Keirn. Keirn will take care of anyone who Cornette wants, except for Fargo.

 

Cornette tries to diffuse the situation, but suddenly there's trouble in paradise. Intrigue! Lawler cuts a great money promo and Cornette is on his way to matching him until we hit a gearshift as only Memphis can do. We get more greatness from Dave Brown as the cherry on top of an awesome all-around segment.

[Kevin Ridge]

Lawler drops a great one liner to studio fan about saving his breath.

 

Stan Lane hits a couple piledrivers on Jarrett. Jeff survives them though. Frank Burrell gets knocked out as Lawler hits the piledriver. Jamie Dundee who was refereeing earlier matches comes down and disqualifies Lawler for using the piledriver. Interesting. Belts are held up though due to the decision. Return match signed again with Bill Dundee be in the corner to keep an eye on Cornette. Lawler lets us know Jackie Fargo will be the special guest referee.

 

Classy video of Jackie Fargo and putting over him and how he was a mentor to the Fabulous Ones.

[soup23]

Great stuff overall that Memphis does well intertwining multiple storylines into one cohesive segment. I especially liked the way Fargo was presented as such a legend.

[Karl]

This is wonderful in every possible way.

[garretta]

This was first class from top to bottom. Fargo's return seems like the biggest thing to happen in Memphis since Lawler first won the World title, and I loved the tribute they paid to him, including the interview clip from '82 where he threatened to turn his back on Stan and Steve if he felt they were soiling his good name.

 

Speaking of which, does anyone else feel that Stan and Steve's potential turn on Corny is happening way too fast? I know they have a Tennessee/Texas feud brewing that's going to pretty much take over the promotion if I'm reading the match listings right, but even so, there's more meat left on this feud. You know that in the following match, Corny's going to get in Fargo's face, and then the Fabs will have to choose between them, which is either going to end Fargo's usefulness in the feud or send Corny out of the territory. The payoff's still going to be interesting to see, but it would have been a lot more interesting with a few more weeks of buildup, much like Doom's breakup in WCW.

 

Another interesting development is Jamie's upcoming heel turn. No matter which side of the fence he's on, he's still a skinny green kid who needs to be carried at this point. Maybe they figure that guys like Jeff and Lawler can potentially do that better than any of the heels they have at the moment, especially since their top heels are a tag team. Jamie vs. Corny might have been a nice novelty match just for kicks, though.

 

Lawler dealing with the heckler was a hoot, even though I recall him using that line about blowup dolls as a heel too, and Dave had a great time watching Corny freak over the Fabs potentially not listening to him. I wonder how that meeting in the back that Dave suggested turned out? We'll see in the next segment!

[dawho5]

There are a lot of reasons to love Memphis. Segments like this are pretty high on that list. I know Cornette doesn't show up again after tonight, but it was great while it lasted.