[1991-02-15-USWA Texas] Jerry Lawler vs Eddie Gilbert

[Loss]

Talk about it here.

[Loss]

I have really grown to hate these lazy schtick matches, especially when watching wrestlers who I know are capable of giving us something so much better, but this is really well done schtick that I suspect Lawler fans will dig a ton. Gilbert apes Lawler's entire heel act and builds a match around it. It's not as much a Lawler showcase as it is a Gilbert showcase, but this is 17 minutes of playing hide-the-chain and cutting promos on the crowd. Worth checking out if that's your thing.

[shoe]

Both guys can work different styles of matches, and get over doing them. I wonder what is the process in when they do it. Do they do it for small crowds , when they are tired, when they are banged up? I understand working schtick matches with an opponent who can't go. Both of these guys can so I wish I could understand it more. Again what they did was fun, and the crowd ate it up so I don't mean to shit on it because I was entertained.

[PeteF3]

Jarrett was in the process of completely unifying the Dallas and Memphis circuits at this point, but I don't know how much of the feud was known to Dallas fans. As a result, this is a stall-and-shtick match when I was secretly hoping for a match befitting of a blood feud. In addition to overemphasis on chain usage my least favorite thing about the Memphis style is the lazy "guy applying a headlock gets thrown into the referee" ref bump. It's a little too homogenized and predictable of a spot for a promotion that tends to thrive on unpredictability. So we get that here, just as a cover for Lawler to kick out of a chain to the head. Doug runs in and the Gilberts lay out Lawler, with Eddie asking if this is all there is to the King.

 

Not a great match, a downright disappointing one, but Eddie's mic work was fun. Dr. Tom is in full-blown Piper mode on commentary, moreso than usual, though I did appreciate his line about Lawler wearing "Dream Wear" gear. Once you see Lawler's outfit you'll be wondering how long it takes for Prichard to go there, and he doesn't disappoint.

[Kevin Ridge]

Tom Pritchard doing announcing. It’s weird to see them brawling in the Memphis studio and then doing stalling/feeling each other here in Texas. It did pick up more as match progressed and they get plenty of time but just didn’t feel like the right match to have after the studio brawls. I know they are separate federations in a way but it was mentioned in announcing that Gilbert hit Lawler with a fireball. Liked Eddie telling the fans when the come to see him wrestling next time that to take a shower and use deodorant as they stink like Lawler.

[soup23]

Dr. Tom was driving me nuts on commentary. I agree that as a schtick stand alone match its fine but they bring up the blood feud aspects from Memphis so overall this was disappointing as it could have been one of the signature staples of the feud and instead is just fun, Memphis stuff.

[ajtroma]

Most of these Dallas matches were just the standard house show matches you'd get. This one is like a spot show in the remotest part of the territory that Lawler would still be willing to make at this point. So like, Malden, Missouri or something.

[garretta]

This was more like a match that would start a feud, not end up being the (temporary) blowoff. Despite the commentators' best efforts, I doubt the fans here cared much about the feud compared with the fans in Memphis. Gilbert in particular tried his best to incite the fans, particularly on the mic, but it was just no good. I especially had to snicker when Eddie referred to Lawler as "your (the fans') king". No, Eddie, their king had, depending on your point of view, either just turned on them (Embry) or left for the WWF last summer (Kerry). If you want to get really technical, their king of kings (Fritz) was retired and living in his big house on Lake Dallas.

 

All of that said, this was a neat little match, particularly the hide-the-chain stuff and the idea of using Dr. Tom at the press table to distract the ref. I got a kick out of Dr. Tom pulling so hard for Eddie in light of what we've seen from Memphis recently; I wonder if any of it will be mentioned on Dallas TV in the coming weeks and if so, how it will be explained. (By the way, can we even call it Dallas TV if it's not aired locally?)

 

The Piper imitation from Dr. Tom gets a bit much after a while, but at least he's good enough at it that you can occasionally forget that you're not listening to the genuine article, which is to his (Prichard's) credit. Of course, the real Piper isn't exactly setting the world on fire from the booth either, so it's as not as big an insult to Hot Rod as it would have been during his 1984-85 heyday. Now, if we were to ever see a "Prichard's Pit" segment, enough would be enough.

 

I got Dr. Tom's "Dreamwear" reference, though it took a few moments. Michael loyally no-sold it. He's not bad, but I wonder where Craig Johnson is.

 

Annoyingly, they cut to break right in the middle of Doug's spiel on the mic. I hate that they cut things off when they're still happening. This is a taped show, guys. You can resume the match or segment right from where you left it with no problem. It's even more annoying in actual matches, where the viewers miss a signifcant part of the action, especially during the shorter matches. (WCW's becoming increasingly guilty of this as well.)

 

I appreciate AJ's explanation of how the Dallas matches were viewed by Jarrett talent. I guess that explains why Lawler in particular tended not to try in Dallas; he didn't view it as the promotion's second "hub", so to speak, but as just another tank town endless miles from home. This begs the question: once he lost the Unified title, why did he even let himself be booked there? If he knew he was going to go out of his way to be as lazy as possible (which was almost always the case in Dallas), why even bother to make the trip? It's not like they really needed him; the fans gave him a decent amount of support, but they had other faces they liked better (Jeff and Travis, to name just two).

 

What was the story with Tony Falk taking off his shirt during a match? I assume that the other guy Dr. Tom was referencing was Jamie Dundee, since Dr. Tom said that this was a youngster trying to make a living. Can anyone tell us more? Jamie/Falk wouldn't have been a bad lower midcard program, since Falk had had previous in-ring experience in Memphis as Boy Tony.

[JKWebb]

Prichard even has a similar haircut to Piper, when the camera catches him from the side, it kind of looks like Piper for a second. It's crazy how much he is trying to be like Piper. I think Bruce probably does the Piper voice better.

[drew wardlaw]

At this point I'm always going to enjoy heavy schtick in matches. Oh! As I'm watching this Gilbert just did a Fargo strut. So schtick AND a Fargo strut? I'm in.

[dawho5]

Good schtick match. I was more than a little annoyed with Pritchar-Piper?-no, Pritchard. Definitely Pritchard. I get annoyed with Piper on WWF commentary, it just gets worse when it's an imitator.