Superstar Sleeze Posted September 15, 2015 Report Share Posted September 15, 2015 Jerry "The King" Lawler vs Austin Idol - Memphis 4/27/87 Steel Cage, Hair vs Hair Let’s get the funny part out of the way, which is Lance Russell continually calling Paul E., Paul Dangerly. Ton of fun bullshit to start with the ref ejecting Paul E. and Idol stating he will give a refund to every fan in attendance if he loses. Ok, now I am very intrigued about the finish and how they are going themselves out of this one. Idol is all flummoxed that Paul E. has been ejected and has really thrown if off his game. Idol tries to get out of the cage and after all this ballyhoo Lawler slams him into the cage to get this started. Repeated slams into the cage. The cage is Hell In A Cell style just with no top so there is an area outside the ring to brawl, which I prefer. Most steel cage matches are a bit too claustrophobic it feels even though I have been really digging AWA steel cage tags recently. Lawler has kicked so much ass; he wants to put a nail in the coffin with a piledriver, but Idol scurries away. Lawler has to settle for his bread and butter, punches and gnawing on head. Idol sells overwhelmed heel really well. Idol goes the chain route and nails Lawler. The selling of this is fantastic. It really is the selling that makes this match. This is not an energetic brawl, but one where they are taking the time to make each punch really mean something. Now Idol is giving The King a taste of his own medicine: using the cage and punches to dominate. He crashes down on Lawler. He goes up again and misses knee drop and great selling by Idol flopping around on the mat with his hurt knee. Lawler tries to take advantage, but eats chain again great selling. Now both wrestlers are selling their asses off. Idol tries coming down on him and misses the elbow. Top rope moves used to mean so much more. Lawler hits a diving headbutt, cool shit. The selling of this by both men is incredible and makes each moment 10000000x better. It feels like a war of attrition. Idol staggering and Lawler dazed. Idol right hook that sends Lawler over the top rope in a tremendous bump. Wow! Idol comes drown form apron on Lawler great sound from fist to face and yelp from King. Those soundbytes were great. I am really intrigued about the finish at this point. King no sells and fires away on Idol. So Idol throws him into the ref. They do multiple visual pinfalls for Lawler including a piledriver. I know Lawler is losing, but how. Tommy Rich pops out from under the ring! Oh fuck yeah! He comes out and nails Lawler with a piledriver. Spike piledriver! Double post on Lalwer’s family jewels and Idol wins! Wow! That was insane. The post-match is glorious heel heat –seeking bullshit and the promo with Dangerly, Idol and Rich is fan-fucking-tastic. Idol drops a knee on Lawler while Rich and Dangerously celebrate! A female fan scales the cage and here come the cops! Chair into gut. My one complaint is that Idol and Rich should have done the shaving to get all the heat one them Proclaim themselves the new kings of Memphis! An absolutely beautiful exhibition of the art of selling. I could see this being a ***** match, but I think another rewatch. It just did not feel at that really tippy-top level, but yes one of the all-time greatest matches in any country at any time. ****3/4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JKWebb Posted December 31, 2015 Report Share Posted December 31, 2015 The heel heat and selling in this match... Remarkable. This is really fun watch. Also, apparently they called him Dangerly in Memphis because they thought Dangerously sounded too over the top fake. Loved seeing the fan trying to climb the cage and how pissed the fans were when they left. They had to book it out of there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JKWebb Posted December 31, 2015 Report Share Posted December 31, 2015 Also the story goes that Rich had to hide under the ring all day through the whole show. Just laid under the ring with a case of beer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Superstar Sleeze Posted July 15, 2018 Author Report Share Posted July 15, 2018 I just re-watched this and my crazy take is I like this better than any of the Dundee matches. The finish is just so over the top that it is beautiful. It is like every wrestling gimmick in one 5 minute blast. I still can't go 5 stars. With a story this minimalist and slow, they need to make up for it with hate. I prefer energetic brawls but if you are going to do war of attrition this was great. They were great faces and heels just didn't think the Hate was that next level hate. I'm picking nits and I'm really thinking about the Greatest match Ever project while I write this. This should make the Top 100. I think this is the greatest Lawler match of all time. ****3/4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Makai Club #1 Posted May 17, 2019 Report Share Posted May 17, 2019 A masterpiece of wrestling. The heat was off the charts. Mega heat for Idol and his antics. Mega cheers for Jerry. Hot atmosphere. The storytelling was fantastic. So much heat and violence to match the feud and stipulation. Hair vs Hair matches can sometimes be considered joke matches instead of heated affairs and this went in the total opposite direction to that. This had all the components for a blood feud match. The punches were exquisite and the selling was sensational. The finish had interference but it never felt like the match was overbooked. It added to the match in fact. The execution to the fans near rioting with some fans actually trying to jump into the cage. Paul. E showed his class in his managerial role on the outside, getting the occasional shots in and his smug, hateable mannerisms. Excellent match. ****3/4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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