Universal Wrestling Federation (10.4.1986) Review

-Originally aired October 4, 1986.

-Your host is Jim Ross, flying solo.

ICEMAN KING PARSONS vs. ART CREWS
-But first, we have a special guest, Gentleman Chris Adams, who announces that he is now in the UWF. He clarifies that he’s an undefeated world champion because he was stripped of the WCCW Title for not making it to a venue on the west coast. But that’s all behind him now; all that matters is that he’s in the UWF, which has better TV ratings and better competition!

-But Skandar Akbar shows up now, griping that none of his men hold the UWF World Heavyweight Title because the Freebirds all have yellow streaks! And he’s not happy that Chris Adams is here now to clog up the roster with one more contender that they have to mow down to get through. Adams challenges any of his men to a match, and Akbar offers Savannah Jack later in the hour.

-And with all that business settled, we get this one started with Iceman throwing dropkicks and armdrags. There are two rings set up this week, presumably for the dark match main event, but it’s really distracting, especially when everyone is making the effort to pretend that the second ring isn’t there. Also, we have signs of the hard times coming for this promotion, because it is DARK in the arena this week, whereas the UWF usually lights the crowd WWF-style.

-Crews gets some offense going but misses an elbow. Backdrop by Iceman for a two-count, and a splash off the ropes is enough to put Crews away.

-BREAKING NEWS: Buddy Roberts defeated Terry Taylor to become the new TV Champion. We recap Taylor’s match against One Man Gang last week, with JR noting that Taylor was pretty badly beaten and injured. Jim Ross confronts Taylor afterward and asks if it’s a good idea for him to wrestle his next scheduled defense against Buddy Roberts. Terry says he’s signed a contract, he’s a professional and the fans paid money to see him. He’ll be there for the TV Title defense.

-So we go to the ending, and ONLY the ending, with Roberts rolling up Taylor with a handful of tights for three. This is weird, it’s their usual TV taping venue, so…something went way wrong with this match somehow and we’ll never find out what. All that matters is Buddy is TV Champ now.

THE MISSING LINK (with Dark Journey) vs. GUSTAVO MENDOZA
-Mendoza attacks at the bell but gets headbutted down. Link throws him to the floor, brings him back in, throws him to the floor again, brings him back in, and a diving headbutt finishes Mendozaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa.

GENTLEMAN CHRIS ADAMS vs. SAVANNAH JACK (with Skandar Akbar)
-Adams outwrestles Jack and gets him on the mat for a side headlock in the early going. Hiptoss by Adams before going back to the side headlock. Adams hits the ropes but meets a clothesline. Jack tries to follow up with a suplex, but Adams reverses and heads to the top rope. Akbar shakes the ropes to make Adams fall off, and then hits the ring to make it a 2-on-1 attack for the DQ. Quite a way to introduce a new guy.

BAD BAD LEROY BROWN (with Skandar Akbar) vs. JEFF GAYLORD
-Brown wrings the arm, headbutting and biting the shoulder while holding on for good measure. Clothesline and a big elbow by Leroy gets three. Gaylord usually doesn’t get just annihilated like that, damn.

THE FANTASTICS (Tag Team Champions) vs. “Hot Stuff” EDDIE GILBERT & STING
-The Fantastics suddenly have the belts again, and JR just mentions “They won the belts back on the 27th” like it’s a total afterthought. Two underwhelming title changes in one show!

-John Tatum and Jack Victory are here with some things to say. Tatum tells Gilbert and “Crayola Face” that he and Victory are the only reasons Eddie ever had the Tag Team Title to begin with, and he and his buddy Jack have signed a contract to meet the winners of this match.

-Fulton is all over Gilbert with slams and armdrags. Tommy Rogers tags in to work the arm, but Gilbert escapes and tags in Sting. Rogers is ready and armdrags Sting down, clamping on a wristlock and snapping it into position for an armbar as we pause for commercial.

-Back from commercial, Rogers dropkicks Sting and slams him for two. Fantastics double-team Stinger, referee gets distracted and Eddie and Sting retaliate, and honestly, they’re in the right here. Also, all of a sudden, JR clarifies that this match is “Falls count anywhere,” which turns out to actually mean “in the other ring” and coming off the top rope is legal, even though Adams was about to do it with no consequence earlier in the show. That’s my big overall knock on Mid-South/UWF, they could NOT decide how they felt about moves off the top rope and it felt like they changed their minds week to week about it.

-Anyway, that tirade took up most of the heat segment and Tommy Rogers is cleaning house after the hot tag. Gilbert pulls down the top rope, Rogers doesn’t fall over the top rope, but he helpfully steps outside anyway so Eddie can kick his ass. Double-teaming by Eddie and Sting, but Fulton breaks the attempted pin and we have a pier sixer, and Tommy Rogers sunset flips Eddie in the chaos for three. Weird match with no real presence of the stipulations which were announced in mid-match.

3.0

The final score: review Bad

The 411

This was some uncharacteristically odd booking from the UWF, with two title changes presented as minor details and a match with irrelevant stipulations. Also, they're trying to present it as "WCCW sucks because they actually stripped Chris Adams of his title for no-showing a scheduled match" but your fans are going to think that's justified, I'm sorry.