Universal Wrestling Federation (6.27.1987) Review

-The news in real life for the UWF is that after a heel turn that instantly made Terry Taylor white-hot, he was in a car accident while riding with Eddie Gilbert and Missy Hyatt, and Terry got the absolute worst of it, suffering an abdominal injury that’s going to keep him out of the ring for the whole summer. Interesting news for 7-year-old Adam two years later, wondering why the Red Rooster had a scar on his stomach.
-Cold open: Big Bubba and Akbar are walking into a parking garage, possibly to gather incriminating information about a scandal brewing in the Cowtown Coliseum next door to Billy Bob’s, from a source known only as “Deep Hat.”

-Your hosts are Jim Ross and Magnum TA, standing in the locker room and taping this introduction while Chris Adams is getting dressed. I hope they told him they were in there first.

-Elsewhere in the building, Dr. Death is getting a pep talk from Coach Barry Switzer of “Jim Ross always talks about him” fame. Dr. Death is getting ready for a huge match at the “Great All-American Bash” while he’s mending a bad arm, and the coach offers him some special training to help him prepare for Big Bubba. Word in the local press at this point was that Jim Ross was offering Brian Bosworth $25,000 to stand in Doc’s corner for an upcoming match, likely at the Great American Bash. Hmm, large cash payments to Brian Bosworth, Barry Switzer…sounds like a plan.

“Dr. Death” STEVE WILLIAMS vs. DICK MURDOCH (with Eddie Gilbert)
-Bell rings and Dr. Death applies a wristlock…as we pause for commercial.

-We’re back, and another slight change in production for this group, they’re now doing their commercial breaks WWF-style, where the show returns roughly the same point where the match left off. I’m actually in favor of that for pre-taped shows.

-So Dick’s still in the top wristlock as Commissioner John Ayers is sitting at the commentary table, although thankfully without a headset. Jim Crockett is also here this week for “negotiations” with Ayers. They worked out a deal where Ayers continued to do what he was told and Crockett allowed him to keep his job.

-Doc snaps the arm up and down and pops Murdoch in the schnoz before going to an armbar. Finally, Dick notices that cast on Doc’s arm and starts going to work on that, taking the fight to the floor to do so, but Doc reverses a shot into the post and just rams Dick’s arm into the post over and over and over again. Back in the ring, Dick gets the upper hand on Doc and puts the boots to the arm. We pause for a commercial…

-And hey, the UWF is coming back to the Superdome on August 1.

-Back from the break, Eddie Gilbert distracts the referee while Dick Murdoch grabs the STEEL MICROPHONE from Jim Ross and uses it as a weapon. Doc keeps fighting back with his one good arm, so Dick grabs the bell, and Jim Ross marvels “That bell must weigh…” and then a long noticeable pause while JR grasps for a large weight that sounds feasible. Finally he settles on 50 pounds(!) as Doc writhes on the mat in agony.

-Doc gets his second wind and throws a series of punches, so Dick takes it to the floor again and rams Doc into the post. Doc is in so much pain that he completely wraps the ring apron around his head and sticks both arms in there too, because of the pain.

-Back from commercial, Dr. Death is lacerated from the post shot. Dick takes time out to jaw with the referee, and Doc sneaks up and spears him, but Dick collides with the referee and knocks him to the floor. With no referee in there, Eddie Gilbert sees an opportunity and sneaks in, but Doc bag-tags him with the cast and sends him scurrying out to the floor. And hey, the referee’s still out, so Doc KOs Murdoch with the cast, and the referee revives to count three. Doc’s “bad arm” really cramped his style. Good on him for selling it, but this was all punchy-punchy.

-Big Bubba steps into the ring to confront Doc now that he’s the #1 contender, and it turns into a sneak attack, with Dick and Eddie attacking while Bubba is content to just watch and supervise. But here’s DUSTY RHODES to make the save for his good friend Steve Williams. But Murdoch produces a whiskey bottle from thin air and knocks Dusty out cold, but Barry Windham and the Rock & Roll Express make the save. Flat-out amazed that Dream didn’t do the Oklahoma Stampede, and then a superplex, and then a superkick on Bubba to take him out.

-Dusty Rhodes has some screaming passionate words about the blood on the face forming the Red River split that divided Texas and Oklahoma. And remember, he’s a good friend of Steve Williams! Also, Dusty would like us to know that he has black friends.

-We get words from…Okay, again, to clarify, they showed his name on screen as “Skandar” a few times during the Mid-South days, and with the Oklahoma and Texas accents, everyone sounded like they were saying “Skandar.” The chyron here says “Skandor” but I got so used to typing it the other way…

-Anyway, Bubba is in an empty arena here, although thankfully, it’s only because the show hasn’t started yet. Akbar has organized a special training session where he just has multiple jobbers attack Bubba, and Bubba shakes it off and no-sells everything they throw at him.

GENTLEMAN CHRIS ADAMS vs. RICK STEINER
-They shove each other a little bit and come to a stand-off. Adams takes control with a dropkick and a snapmare into a chinlock. Steiner gets back to a vertical base but Adams punches him out to the floor. Back in, Adams clamps on headscissors as we pause for a break…

-We’re back with Adams getting super-aggressive, ramming Steiner into the post and then into the table. Back in, Adams connects with a superkick, but here’s Black Bart with a surprise branding iron attack, busting Adams open, but Sting, now with more crowd-pleasing brightly colored face paint, comes to the rescue. Sting gets overwhelmed fighting two men, and as the show closes, Adams sacrifices himself by sprawling across Sting to absorb the impact from a top-rope move. It took so long for people in charge of Sting to figure out that Sting was over. The UWF is absolutely convinced that Sting needs some kind of rub from Chris Adams and he just DOESN’T, the fans are good to go with Sting.

4.2

The final score: review Poor

The 411

Hour was dominated by one not-great match, and DUSTY'S HERE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!