[1991-04-19-USWA Texas] Jeff Jarrett vs Tom Prichard (Chain)

[Loss]

Talk about it here.

[Childs]

Tough to live up to the All Japan that came before it, but this was a nice little fight in its own right. They laid in the shots and did a good job building drama around the attempts to touch the turnbuckles. I prefer that a gimmick match like this represent a definitive stage in a feud. Instead, Austin's interference felt like it could have been the ending to any Jarrett-Pritchard match. Blood would've been nice as well. Nonetheless, I'm eager to see more from these guys.

[Loss]

I thought this was another good match in their series, but I have to wonder who in the fuck books a chain match with no blood and a DQ finish. Everything up until the finish was excellent, but it could have been so much more with those two things.

[shoe]

I thought what we got was another good match in the series. Though not having blood with this stip is dumb. The angle at the end should have been hot, but the crowd was dead for it.

[PeteF3]

I think those ESPN standards & practices have struck again. This is worked well but what an absurd cheapass copout finish. Jarrett managing to beat Prichard to the 4th buckle wouldn't have hurt Dr. Tom in the least. The post-match beatdown is well done but isn't really anything we haven't already seen before.

[Kevin Ridge]

Match listing with USWA had me thinking it would be a chain match where they had their tights stuffed full of chains. I don’t think it’s one of those touch four corner matches. Yanamoto appears to have too many weapons as he’s fumbling his briefcase while holding a kendo stick. Okay so they are touching corners when they weren’t earlier in match. Austin interferes. I dig that over the shoulder/elbow drop tag team move he’s been doing. DQ finish with the referee getting completely taken out.

[ajtroma]

Just for the sake of pointing it out, USWA did a spot show in Jasper, Indiana the night before. That Jasper to Dallas run must have been brutal.

[soup23]

Worst entry in this series but fairly fun stuff. I agree this finish felt real cheap given the gimmick. PRitchard vs. jarrett is still my favorite as feud of the year so far.

[garretta]

An absolutely useless match, for reasons already laid out earlier. The lack of blood wouldn't have stood out so much if both guys wouldn't have done things like punch with loaded fists and rake their opponents' foreheads with the chain, which anyone with half a brain knows would make the average human bleed like a faucet. Jeff in particular should have been tapping arteries left and right, but this is ESPN, so he's unscathed from start to finish.

 

But as long as you can't have blood, why not have the usual USWA Senseless Babyface Beatdown, now with referees added? Seriously, this is beyond ridiculous now, and even the Sportatorium crowd knows it. The heels have no incentive to hide their cheating, or even to win their matches at all, because all they have to do is create a two-on-one or three-on-one afterward and it's open season on the faces, with no one caring enough to save whichever of their allies is in trouble. It figures that Embry's booking this, because it's he and his buddies Prichard and Austin who get to look unstoppable. They've gone through the entire face roster without an ounce of comeuppance, and who really thinks Jarrett can vanquish (not just beat for a three-count, but do so decisively) Prichard? Who thinks anyone can lay a glove on Embry? Not even Lawler's looked good against these guys, and that's really saying something, considering that he's supposed to be top dog even if he barely gives a damn about Dallas.

 

This whole Tennessee/Texas thing, whether it's framed in those terms like it is in Memphis or not, is rapidly souring for me on both sides of the USWA. Well-executed holds and moves don't mean a thing to me if the ending to the story they're a part of is lousy, and so far this story has been beyond lousy. The entire face roster looks completely ineffectual right now, unable to do a thing right against Embry, Prichard, and company. Quite frankly, I'm surprised there hasn't been a backstage revolt. All I can say is that there better be a hell of a payoff coming very, very soon.

[ajtroma]

The babyfaces there at the time STILL hate Embry over this stuff.

[dawho5]

Perfectly fine match with some really good punches thrown around and in general good work. Three problems.

 

1. No blood in a dog collar match. DO NOT book this stuff for ESPN tapings, okay?

 

2. A run-in during a dog collar match. I am trying to imagine a way you could make this work. Not coming up with anything.

 

3. I just watched an amazing tag match with a middle and ending that defied belief and made perfect sense at the same time. This cannot compare in any way, even if it was perfectly booked and worked.

[ajtroma]

I was the biggest USWA fan around here at the time and even I hated (and still do) these ESPN tapings. The guys were clearly in the "let's get this over with"/spot show/just another night mode. Also, the biggest problem really is that Eric Embry was the booker. I know he's kind of a cult favorite these days, but, I always thought he was nothing but a pig and terrible at everything he ever did. You ask any of the babyfaces around there at the time and see if they have a good word about Embry. I know a couple want to still cut his throat.