[1985-12-30-CWA-Mid-South Coliseum] Jerry Lawler vs Bill Dundee (Lawler Leaves Town vs Hair of the Dundee's)

[Superstar Sleeze]

AWA Southern Heavyweight Champion Jerry Lawler vs Bill Dundee - Memphis 12/30/85 Lawler Leaves Town vs Hair of the Dundees

 

So a shit ton has happened since the TV match where Dundee tricked Lawler into losing the Southern Championship so he could face Flair. Lawler ended up missing a bunch of bookings so Lance Russell went to his house and found him sloshed on the ground with empties all around him. Lawler claimed it was all Dundee's fault. I think this was a ruse to lure Dundee into a false sense of security. Then on Memphis TV we get the Hawaiian Flash, which is very clearly Jerry Jarrett to Dundee and Lance. Jarrett wants him to sign a match with the Hawaiian Flash and in return Dundee will get a shot at the tag titles. Dundee jumps at the offer figuring he can polish off the elderly, skinny Jarrett easily. However, he signed for a match with the Hawaiian Flash so when it comes bell time it is Lawler under the hood. Dundee & Co. bum rush the Flash and Jerry Jarrett until the Fabs save with chairs. At some point, Dundee makes an alliance with Dutch Mantell and they win the tag titles. Dundee wants the last belt, which Koko Ware has, but Ware wants Dundee to put his title shot on the line and Dundee loses his title shot to Koko Ware and Ware gets to face Flair. Dundee is pissed. Lawler vs Dundee happens on 12/21, I believe and this time it is Lawler's wife's hair on the line against the title and Lawler wins the belt back. So now in order to get a rematch, Bill Dundee has put up his hair and Beverly Dundee's hair against Lawler leaving Memphis and winning the championship. What a build! I fucking love it! Then before the match Dutch and Dundee did a number on Lawler's eye so now Lawler has a huge bandage over his right eye and is at a sincere disadvantage in this high stakes match.

 

Lawler is pissed at Dutch early and takes his eye off Dundee and gets walloped. Dundee kicks Lawler's ass for the majority of the beginning of the match. I thought both wrestlers gave a tremendous performance especially Lawler in how he was selling. He looked vulnerable, he was trying his bet to fight back and he was very convincing in his debilitated vision causing him to be confused and missing the mark with his punches. Dundee was relentless in this match. He was more vicious in this match. He threw Calhoun down early on. Dundee felt like even more of a prick in this match. He was clawing at the eye. I love the part where Dundee is baiting Lawler and he is basically tripping over himself trying to desperately to punch this little shit while Dundee peppers him with shots and is gloating and taunting him and the fans. There is a kick to the bad eye and you can hear the yelps from Lawler. Nasty headbutt from Dundee right into the bad eye and then a double stomp. I love the constant pinfalls as Dundee is clearly trying to win the match and rid himself of the scourge of Jerry Lawler. There is a great spot where Dundee goes around to Lawler's blind spot and punching him. Lawler finally scores with a big punch. Dundee lashes out in shock and anger just bowling him over. I LOVED THAT REACTION! He comes crashing down on Lawler, but can only get two. Jabs back to the bad eye and now gnawing it. Awesome Dundee strike exchange and Lawler comes off the ropes blasting Dundee, who punches Lawler, but falls on his ass. Clip, NO! Lawler throws Dundee into a table and everyone counts along with Lawler and Calhoun. Dundee breaks the count and grabs his wife. Arena brawling in 1985! Lawler takes a crazy tumble over the railing on the raised stairs. Now that was a great countout false finish! Lawler feels like he is in so much more danger of losing in this match than in the '83 match. Lawler makes his way back to the ring only to eat a baseball slide. Dundee throws him into the post and end is nigh for the King of Memphis. Lawler pulls himself back into the ring and Dundee throws wicked punches, but Lawler wants more! STRAP DOWN~! Crowd gives that those big sound effects to every punch. Lawler blows Dundee away, but he falls down from that. THIS IS FUCKING AWESOME! FIST DROP! HUGE RIGHT! Some dude identified as Tony Falk hands Dundee something and he throws it into the eyes of Lawler and wins the match! LAWLER LOST??!?!?! WHAT THE FUCK!

Holy shit, I had no idea. That was crazy. I loved this moreso than the 83 one. I thought this was way more Memphis. The 83 match is probably the best possible execution of the Lawler formula whereas this was probably the best possible Memphis match. You had the crazy soap opera back story, the Mrs. Dundee's involvement, Jerry going into the match half-blind, Dundee as a cocky shit, crazy bump out in the middle of the arena, a great bullshit ending to put the heel over. I think '83 match has the better ending and is a better feel good match. I think the Idol match had the crazier finish. I think Dutch match had the better work. The Bam Bam match still has the best story. For my money, this match is perfect confluence of soap opera and pro wrestling and high drama. This is also the only match you really feel like Lawler will lose. There have been surprises before like in the Idol and Dutch matches where he does lose, but you dont think it will happen. This is a match where you are like he is going to lose because how bad of a shit kicking he is taking so then you believe in him more than that his comeback will be all the more unstoppable only for him to still lose. I think we are missing too much of the match for me to go the full 5 stars. ****3/4

P.S. So we miss about 16 minutes of a 23 minute match and in the badass music set to "Burning Heart" we see nasty piledriver by both men and Dundee hitting the Whoopie Cushion from the top. Holy shit! This match is even better than I thought it was. Wish we had it in full!

[GOTNW]

Sooooo I watched this today because I knew I hadn't seen one of the famous Lawler-Dundee matches and this was it. Turns out it is also easily the best of the bunch, at least in my opninion. I don't like doing pbp or pbp-esuq reviews by I'll start like that because I have I don't feel very creative right now. Anyway-they start the match-and Dundee just beats the shit out of Lawler, nailing a cheapshot in the beginning which both fits his character and way a really great looking way to gain control. And he beats the shit out of him a lot, mostly with amazing punches. They do a couple of really smart looking hope spots, first you get Lawler trying to fire himself up while he's one his knees and Dundee is punching the shit out of him, and just when it looks like Lawler might start a comeback Dundee kicks him in the head and flattens him with it. Second one was when Lawler finally managed to nail Dundee with a punch only for Dundee to literally run over Lawler with one of the best looking headbutts you'll ever see. I think it was after Lawler's first comeback that they started brawling outside, with Lawler smashing Dundee's head on the announce table, and them eventually getting near the stairs where Dundee punched Lawler OVER the stair barrier which was this really huge amazing spot I really didn't expect to see in a 1985 Memphis match. That was another meaningful and great looking transition which set up Dundee smashing Lawler's head on the announce table later on (which served as a revenge spot on top of being great looking) and more wonderful face punching. My only gripe with it was Lawler's comeback, I get why they did it but it felt like he got the shit beaten out of him too much for that to end being how he finally gains control. They make up for it with the amazingly set up (and quite surprising) finish. ****3/4 seems just.

[Microstatistics]

Rewatched this a few days ago in fact so let me add to the praise. Dundee is such a great heel in this, relentless and cunning but being a total dick with his taunting and showboating during the initial control run. Then he is chickenshit (trying to escape, begging for a countout) when Lawler fights back and then has to cheat to win. This is probably Lawler's masterpiece. The finest selling of his career combined with his best and most gripping comeback. The comeback here was basically an adrenaline/hate fueled surge rather than him suddenly becoming competitive, let alone 100%. All the clipping didn't really matter apart from the one spot where Lawler gets in a punch and suddenly they clip to him throwing Dundee into the table. One of the greatest brawls of all time. **** 1/2

[Jordan]

This is on the same level to me as the 6/83 match but unlike that one which feels more like a dramatic title fight that progresses to an epic climax, this is just an absolute brawl with Dundee trying to make Lawler blind in that right eye. Plus Lawler's comeback teases in this rule, like the one where he just launches himself basically at Dundee to try and stop him. Just great stuff. The toss over the rail made me audibly go "what the fuck" and I can handle Lawler's burst at the end because it occurs almost out of desperation and not in some no-selling kind of way.

[SmartMark15]

A lot of Memphis matches I watch with an appreciative eye more than anything but this just completely sucked me in. Holy crap, that was absolutely amazing. You start hot with the two going at it and Dundee immediately taking Lawler down with the punches. Lawler is broken down and beaten up especially with the injury to the eye. Lawler just completely sells his ass off here. Dundee baiting in Lawler and taking advantage of his blind spot might just be one the greatest things I've ever seen in a wrestling match ever (and easily counting as a five star moment). Then, you have that visually spectacular spot of Lawler taking a tumble over the railing of the bleachers. I never in a million years expected that spot and it looked great and legitimately dangerous. Follow that up with a glorious Lawler comeback and a dirty finish and you have what is a classic of Memphis wrestling.

 

Based on the announcing, about 7 minutes has been clipped and as much as I'd love to give this the full snowflakes, I just can't. 7 minutes is a lot of time to do something that might muck the match up. Still, with what we have, this is just amazing.

 

****3/4

[cactus]

Dundee might be the best puncher ever. The way he throws his jabs looks stiff and I appreciate how he throws a toe kick or a headbutt in every so often to stop Lawler from catching on and defending himself. Lawler is a master of selling and gaining sympathy from the crowd. Lawler falling from the railing and nearly getting counted out kept me on the edge of my seat. This exactly what I want out of my southern brawling.

 ★★★★½