Universal Wrestling Federation (11.22.1986) Review

-Originally aired November 22, 1986.

-Your host is Jim Ross. We revisit last week, and JR does a call back to a past angle to explain what happened with the Gordy/One Man Gang match. A few weeks ago, Dr. Death tried to bow out of a match when he was injured, and the Freebirds emphatically insisted that he honor his commitment. So last week, Terry Gordy was held to the same standard that he wanted Williams held to–and he lost his title.

ONE MAN GANG (Heavyweight Champion, with Skandor Akbar) vs. JEFF RAITZ
-Gang hammers Raitz as Ross declares him “the biggest world champion of all time,” which I think would be an accurate statement at this point. Powerslam by the Gang, and the 747 splash finishes.

WILD BILL IRWIN & BAD LEROY BROWN (Tag Team Champions, with Skandor Akbar) vs. GARY YOUNG & JUMPIN’ JOE SAVOLDI
-Champs clear Savoldi from the ring, and Brown keeps his hat on while beating on Gary Young. He tags in the hatless Bill Irwin, who stunguns Young and tags the now-unenhatted Brown back in. He keeps hammering Young and tags Irwin back in. Young finally throws one kick to the relief of the crowd and tags Savoldi back in, but Savoldi falls victim to the side suplex/elbow combo, and the champs get the win.

-We get a Ted DiBiase/Dr. Death music video set to James Brown’s “Living in America.” You know, the song that plays right before the American patriot gets mauled and flat-out murdered by the Russian?

TV TITLE: SAVANNAH JACK (Champion) vs. ART CREWS
-Forearms and dropkicks by Jack, and a…move…of sorts…gets a two-count. Jack suplexes Crews for another two-count as JR is doing everything he can to get Savannah Jack over as the next big thing and it’s just not clicking. Superkick by Jack gets three.

THE FANTASTICS vs. FABULOUS FREEBIRDS (with Sunshine)
-It’s Hayes and Roberts this week, as Terry Gordy sits out to recover. Hayes grabs the mic and cuts an impassioned rally-the-troops promo declaring that the Freebirds are NOT down and out.

-Freebirds attack before the bell. Double bulldogs by the Freebirds as they suddenly wave the Angel of Death into the ring from out of nowhere. They use Angel’s head as a weapon, ramming the Fantastics’ heads into him, and both Fantastics are busted open by the headbutts. Crowd is freaking out at how easily the Fantastics are getting manhandled here, and it’s a non-match.

JACK VICTORY (with Buddy Landel) vs. BOBBY PEREZ
-Jack Victory reinvents himself for the first time, now sporting a feathered boa and a “blonde business in the front, purple party in the back” mullet.

-Victory stomps away at Perez. Landel yells something at Perez that we don’t hear, but JR seems genuinely upset about it and apologizes to us and lets us know he doesn’t agree with Landel’s statements. Gourdbuster gets the victory for Win. I mean…

HACKSAW JIM DUGGAN vs. THE LIBYAN (with Skandar Akbar)
-It’s not really a case of Akbar managing Libyan, but more making a deal with him. Akbar flashes a wad of money at the Libyan to inspire him. Duggan is wrestling with his head bandaged up after last week.

-Libyan attacks as Duggan enter. Duggan lets out a war cry and just beats the hell out of Libyan, mowing him down with the spear and pinning him right away. And post-match, Duggan beats up Libyan some more, throws the referee out of the ring, topples the timekeeper’s table, and beats up the Libyan again. That’s what Libyan gets for asking quarter.

TERRY TAYLOR & CHAVO GUERRERO vs. RICK STEINER & STING (with Eddie Gilbert & Missy Hyatt)
-Eddie and Missy are now wearing matching pink outfits for co-managing and are just over-the-top insufferable during the introduction, capturing the “worst couple in high school” mood perfectly. Missing Link storms into the ring, still with the yellow streak painted across his back from last week, and the heels leave in terror, which means we won’t have a match. Conveniently, we have 90 seconds of highlights of Bill Watts at last week’s OU game to pad the show in lieu of this match.

6.3

The final score: review Average

The 411

This promotion is beginning to fall in love with "no actual match happens" and I'm not onboard with that.