USA Championship Wrestling Results 10.24.15 – Jackson, Tennessee

Credit: Jeff Wyatt & PW.net

I just got back from USA Championship Wrestling’s “All Star Tribute to Lance Russell” at the Oman Arena in Jackson, Tennessee. The promoter was Bert Prentice and I felt he did a great job putting the event together. There were several vendors set up along selling DVDs, books, and various other wrestling items.

The night began with Jerry “The King” Lawler, Lance Russell, and his longtime broadcast partner Dave Brown in the ring where Lawler and Russell were presented with awards. Each man spoke to the crowd. The format of the night was a match followed by Russell and brown interviewing one of the legends in attendance. Legends in attendance were Superstar Bill Dundee, Rocky Johnson, Danny Davis, Koko B. Ware, the Rock and Roll Express, and Jim Cornette. Everyone was extremely grateful to Russell for “making them a big deal with his words.” Cornette gave a great speech about driving from Louisville to see Lance Russell and to see Lawler vs Funk for the final time. He was seen talking to a lot of people all night, taking pictures with his own camera of the main event, and looked to have a great time. There were eight matches on the card and I must say it was VERY refreshing to have clear faces and clear heels, with heels acting like heels.

1. Alex Taylor pinned Kevin Zion with a version of CrossRhodes.

2. Daniel Eads pinned Nathan Starr. Eads reminded me of young Batista.

3. L T Falk and Memphis legend Tony Falk defeated Johnny Dotson and Derrick King (w/Lucky Pierre). Fun match with some cool spots. Tony Falk got good response from long time memphis wrestling fans.

4. Danny Dollar pinned “The New Nature Boy” Kevin White. White was a great old school heel.

5. The Rock and Roll Express defeated Rude and Poker Face with the double sidekick. I was very surprised at how quick the Express were in the match and they did a great version of their finisher. After the match, Ricky Morton gave a great speech.

At intermission, my little girl and I met and got our picture made with Koko B. Ware. He was very nice. We also did the same with the Rock and Roll Express and they were both very friendly. We got our picture made with my daughter helping them hold an NWA Tag Title belt. They both spoke to my daughter and Ricky went out of his way to thank me for coming and being a fan.

6. The Natural Chase Stevens and Thorn defeated The Young Lions. The Lions are a lesser version of the Young Bucks, but this was a great match! Great action, great spots! Loved it!

7. Matt Starr won the USA Heavyweight Championship from Matt Boyce. They worked hard but this was easily worst match of the night.

The main event was billed as the Final Stand between Jerry “The King” Lawler and Terry Funk. Funk came out and Lance Russell stopped him for an interview. Funk quickly turned on Russell and threatened him. He started to rip the fans and told him that he was headed to the ring to sing our national anthem.

Funk got in the ring and told everyone to stand and then proceeded to sing the “Texas State song” which led to big heat. He made fun of us “idiots” for “standing for a song about Texas when he’d never stand for a song about Tennessee.” The ref tried to hold Funk back as Lawler came to the ring.

8. Jerry Lawler beat Terry Funk by DQ. They tried to start as a match but it turned into a brawl. I don’t recall one wrestling move. It was a fun brawl. They put on a good show. You would’ve enjoyed it. Blast from the past. It was a street fight and it brought everyone to their feet and it was just loud and chaotic. Lawler hit Funk and Funk did his trademark backwards fall through the middle and bottom rope. They crawled all over ringside including Lawler hitting Funk in the head with a full can of coke with a loud thud.

Funk bladed within first three minutes. They fought to back of the floor seats using trash cans, concession boxes and other items. They came back to ringside and punished each other with broom sticks and other weapons. It took three times, but Funk broke broomstick over Lawler’s back. Lawler was backed into the corner as Funk paid homage to their empty arena match and tried to put the sharp piece of broken broomstick in Lawler’s eye. The ref stopped Funk but took a shot from the broomstick from Funk along with a couple of other shots, which led to a DQ.

Funk then returned to finish off Lawler when Lawler hit him with a fireball to the face. It looked pretty scary and it legit looked to get Funk pretty good. I was front row ringside. There was no barricade. Lawler and Funk crawled in front of us quite a bit. The coke can shot to the head was very loud.

Lawler met with fans again for autographs and pictures after the show. We met him again and he was very nice to us. It was a blast, everyone worked very hard. It was amazing to see Lawler and Funk put on an insane brawl here in 2015 and bring back so many memories. Great night!