Universal Wrestling Federation (1.31.1987) Review

-It’s funny. From my perspective, the death of this promotion keeps getting delayed by more tapes being unearthed. Here’s another gap being filled in by Fish & Chips.

-Originally aired January 31, 1987.

-Your hosts are Jim Ross & Michael Hayes.

TERRY TAYLOR vs. KEN MASSEY
-Arm wringers are traded while a fan emphatically yells “Kick his ass, Terry!”

-They stay on the mat and Massey gets a bit of an advantage before Taylor comes back with an armdrag. Chops and an armdrag by Taylor, and the five-arm finishes.

-Eddie Gilbert says that Dark Journey and Bill Watts are putting his back against the wall, but that just makes him meaner.
STING & RICK STEINER (with Eddie Gilbert & Missy Hyatt) vs. JEFF GAYLORD & JEFF RAITZ
-Creative has ordered that the jobber who loses this fall must go by the first name “Garrison.” I think Michael Hayes got yelled at on his headset because he makes this off-the-cuff remark about how Eddie suddenly has a new haircut, and then begins stammering nervously and clarifying, “Oh, and he has newfound intensity too!”

-Gaylord whips Sting, but Sting boots him down on the attempted charge and suplexes him. Jim Ross does a funny bit on commentary where he rattles off some details about Missy’s dress that he was “asked to tell everyone,” and he just sounds annoyed. Gaylord gets knocked out of the ring, and Steiner & Sting finish with the Hart Attack. 1987 and Sting is using the same finisher as Bret Hart. Amazing.

-Ted DiBiase cuts a really awkward promo on Akbar’s Army. “I embarrassed you, and you know that nothing humiliates you more than being embarrassed.” Well, all right, the staff of Roget’s Thesaurus is buying tickets to this house show at least.

ICEMAN KING PARSONS vs. ART CREWS
-Crews keeps complaining about hair-pulling before backing Parsons into the corner and chopping him. Parsons chops back and they’re getting rough out there. Backdrop by Parsons gets two. They do a criss-cross, but when Parsons jumps over Crews, he jumps back in the opposite direction, so when Crews stands up, he faces the wrong way, and Parsons hits him with a rumper-stumper for the three-count. Neat detail is that Michael Hayes actually popped for the finish and broke heel/face ranks to put over Parsons for getting the win in such a clever way.

-We go to clips of a match taped December 29 in Cowtown Coliseum, and it’s not clear if this was a dark match that they decided to air or if they always intended to air it. It’s Wild Bill Irwin and Bad, Bad Leroy Brown defending the Tag Team Titles against Hacksaw Jim Duggan and Terry Taylor, and JR says it’s worth noting that General Akbar didn’t come to ringside for this one.

-Taylor is the face in peril, and they do the fake hot tag, with Duggan arguing with the referee while the champs gang up on Taylor. Duggan just gets tired of arguing with the referee and beats up the heels anyway. Taylor hits a five-arm out of nowhere on Brown and goes for the pin. Irwin tries to break but accidentally stomps on his partner, and THEN Taylor gets the pin to take the gold.

ONE MAN GANG (UWF Heavyweight Champion, with General Akbar and Devastation, Inc.) vs. GARY YOUNG
-Gang misses a corner charge early on and Young shows FIRE, lighting into him with punches while the crowd loses their mind, thinking a miracle is in sight here.

-Gang gets Young on his back and tries an elbow drop. Young dodges and the fans go crazy again, but Gang breaks their hearts by recovering and hammering at Young. Slam by the Gang, and a big splash finishes. Pretty much a squash, but a great job working the crowd here.

-We recap Dark Journey causing problems for the Freebirds in the past few weeks.

THE MISSING LINK (with Dark Journey) vs. JACK VICTORY
-Journey got completely thrown away by Jim Crockett later in the year, and I think she had more to offer the business.

-Victory attacks before the bell but runs into a headbutt. Link charges at him and headbutts him again, and Victory takes a BUMP, falling out of the ring and landing on the timekeeper’s table, causing it to collapse under his weight. BONUS: Link’s forehead is bleeding from headbutting him so hard. Crowd went nuts for that spot. Victory just walks back to the locker room for the countout. That might have been the plan all along, but I like to imagine that Victory just thought to himself, “We ain’t topping that” and decided to call it quits.

THE FANTASTICS & “Dr. Death” STEVE WILLIAMS vs. THE FABULOUS FREEBIRDS (with Sunshine)
-Oh man, we are SO not getting a finish to this one. It’s just a big pier sixer from the word go with all six guys brawling. It gets down to Williams and Gordy, but Gordy manages to get Williams into the Freebird corner and tags out. Buddy tries a slam, but Doc deadweights and press slams him.

-Hayes accidentally takes out Gordy with a forearm at one point and gets pinballed by his opponents, and we pause for a commercial and a promo from Terry Taylor.

-Back to the show, Bobby Fulton is now the face in peril. Fulton reverses a turnbuckle shot and makes the hot tag to Dr. Death, and it’s a pier sixer. Referee is trying to restore order while Hayes KOs Bobby Fulton with a post shot, then sends Tommy Rogers over the top rope and onto the concrete. So now Dr. Death is alone against all three Freebirds…and the credits roll.

7.9

The final score: review Good

The 411

Some fun stuff this week!