Universal Wrestling Federation (10.25.1986) Review

-Cold open: A look at the brawl that preceded Savannah Jack’s face turn last week.

-Originally aired October 25, 1986.

-Your hosts are Jim Ross and Terry Taylor. Medical update: Ted DiBiase got his bell rung but is not going to miss any matches. The Fabulous Freebirds are still in possession of Ted DiBiase’s black glove, and since the Etsy seller who made DiBiase’s black glove is on vacation, DiBiase cannot possibly consider just getting another black glove.

TV TITLE: FREEBIRD BUDDY ROBERTS (Champion) vs. KEN MASSEY
-Roberts has a new entrance theme that I can’t ID, but it’s so awful that the camera catches Massey laughing at how bad it sounds.

-Roberts armdrags Massey and works the calf over. Buddy comes off the second rope with an elbow and misses. Massey punches and backdrops him. He “goes to the well one too many times” except he doesn’t because Gorilla’s not on commentary, but Massey tries another backdrop and winds up in a neckbreaker. Bulldog wins and Roberts retains.

-They have a new backdrop for promos this week. We get words from Skandor Akbar and One Man Gang following last week’s incident with Savannah Jack. Gang is wearing a green baseball cap and denim jeans and it just instantly robs him of all his mystique because now he just looks like a fella wandering the aisles of Lowe’s looking for a tap and die and some Dubya-D-40. Akbar stands by his disgusting remarks and warns Savannah Jack that he’ll be shining shoes when this feud is over.

-Ted DiBiase is so battered and wounded that he can’t lie in a bed at the moment. He says that he’s never needed two friends hiding in the locker room, he’s just needed that black glove, and he promises he’ll get it back. What?! “I’ve never needed two guys to interfere in my matches, I just need a concealed illegal weapon!” What kind of babyface issue is that?

The Fantastics thank us for our support. Mmm, wine coolers…

ONE MAN GANG & BAD BAD LEROY BROWN (with Skandor Akbar) vs. JEFF RAITZ & JUMPIN’ JOE SAVOLDI
-One Man Gang hammers away at Savoldi and backs him in the corner of villainy. Brown chokes him out. Raitz tags in and gets squashed like a bug, with a big elbow from both opponents finishing him off.

-Jim Ross and Bill Apter are here to announce the UWF/PWI Tournament, which will take place from October 31-December 12 in various UWF cities. Michael Hayes announces that every kid that comes to the opening night of the tournament in Houston will get free candy. Is Grizzly Smith still booking at this point?

ICEMAN KING PARSONS vs. GUSTAVO MENDOZA
-Parsons rams Mendoza into the turnbuckle and hammers him down. Ice Man hits a Rear View and splashes Mendoza for three.

-Chris Adams recaps his failure to appear in Los Angeles and being stripped of the WCCW Title. But that’s fine, because the UWF is a fast-growing company with lots of room for growth potential and a lot of proactive forward-thinking synergy in the pipeline.

TAG TEAM TITLE: HOLLYWOOD JOHN TATUM & JACK VICTORY (with Missy Hyatt)
-Tommy Rogers gets off to a hot start, dropkicking victory to the floor. Bobby Fulton heads in for some double-teaming and clears the ring. Fulton does a GREAT counter to a corner charge, turning it into flying headscissors before clearing the ring with more dropkicks.

-We return from commercial with Fulton getting his shoulder injured with a shot into the barricade. It’s a melee on the floor with the referee frantically trying to get the four guys back to the ring. Fulton gets rammed shoulder-first into the post.

-Victory and Tatum work over the face-in-peril until Fulton manages to throw punches with his good hand. Tatum cuts off an attempted tag and goes for a backdrop, but Fulton CRACKS him with a kneelift and makes the hot tag. All four men brawl, this time in the ring, as Eddie Gilbert comes to ringside with flowers for Missy, and this time, Eddie gets her to leave ringside. Tatum sees what’s happening and goes to the corner to stop them from leaving and try to work this thing out, but he gets rolled up for his trouble, and it’s a three-count for the Fantastics to retain the gold. Standard, good tag team action.

-But Tatum wants Eddie to get his ass in the ring right now. Eddie obliges, thinking they’ll talk things over, but instead Victory & Tatum unleash a beating on him until Sting & Rick Steiner hit the ring to help their buddy Eddie. And Missy finally picks a side, walloping Tatum with her loaded purse twice and leaving with Eddie.

-And after touting this hour has having “three title matches” we are DESPERATELY OUTTA TIME as Terry Gordy and Hacksaw Jim Duggan are being introduced, and JR promises that they’ll air the match on next week’s episode.

7.0

The final score: review Good

The 411

The soap opera's been a lot of fun.