wrestling / Video Reviews
Universal Wrestling Federation (11.15.1986) Review
Image Credit: Universal Wrestling Federation
Loading...-This is a pretty famous episode, with Bill Watts feeling really cute and doing something unexpected with this week’s card.
-We get an SNME-style cold open with Skandor Akbar vowing that the One Man Gang will be the new UWF Champion…followed by Michael Hayes promising that his brother will take care of Gang, and Buddy Roberts will take care of Savannah Jack in the TV Title match.
-Originally aired November 15, 1986.
-Your host is Jim Ross, running down the scheduled card for this hour:
UWF Heavyweight Title: Terry Gordy defends against One Man Gang
TV Title: Buddy Roberts defends against Savannah Jack
Tag Team Title: John Tatum & Jack Victory defend against Bad Bad Leroy Brown & Wild Bill Irwin
If we have time, Hacksaw Jim Duggan will face One Man Gang in a match that had already been signed before Gang threw down the challenge for the heavyweight title
Missing Link & Joe Savoldi vs. Rick Steiner & Sting
Chavo Guerrero vs. Buddy Landel
Elimination Tag Team Match: Steve Williams, Ted DiBiase, & Terry Taylor vs. All Three Freebirds
-So that’s seven non-squash matches for a one hour show, and three guys are getting double-booked to make it happen, so you already KNOW some kind of fuckery is going to happen.
ELIMINATION TAG TEAM MATCH: “Dr. Death” STEVE WILLIAMS, TED DIBIASE, & TERRY TAYLOR vs. THE FABULOUS FREEBIRDS
-And right away, Michael Hayes grabs the mic from the ring announcer and makes it emphatically clear that this match isn’t happening, and to make a point, Buddy and Terry aren’t even in their wrestling gear.
-The faces all hurry to the ring start beating the crap out of Hayes and Roberts while Terry Gordy hurries out of the ring. Doc comes off the second rope for kneedrop on Hayes. Gordy reaches into the ring to pull Hayes to safety, so Doc hits Gordy’s arm, and Gordy lets out a scream and the Freebirds all rush out of the ring, looking concerned as Gordy appears to have broken his arm.
THE MISSING LINK & JUMPIN’ JOE SAVOLDI (with Dark Journey) vs. STING & RICK STEINER (with Eddie Gilbert & Missy Hyatt)
-JR has a medical update from the locker room, and indeed it does appear that Terry Gordy has suffered a severe arm injury and that’s all we know right now.
-Dark Journey chases Missy Hyatt around the ring for a few laps before the referee hands down the order and makes BOTH of them leave to avoid any distractions during this match.
-Savoldi dropkicks anything that moves and armdrags Steiner into an armbar. Sting sneaks in behind the referee’s back for a surprise attack, then tags in and takes over with a clothesline. Steiner tags back in quickly and slams Savoldi into position for a second-rope elbow, but Salvoldi rolls out of the way and tags the Link. Link headbutts both opponents, gets tired of that, and slingshots Eddie Gilbert in to headbutt him. Referee calls for the DQ on Eddie, which, if we’re being honest, is kinda bullshit, and all three heels gang up on Link, which he deserves if we’re being honest about it. It turns out that Missy left her purse behind when she left ringside, so Eddie digs into it and pulls out the yellow spraypaint, and Link gets his back painted.
-We get more words from Akbar, because Gang’s shot at the World Heavyweight Title is coming up next!
UWF HEAVYWEIGHT TITLE: TERRY GORDY (Champion) vs. ONE MAN GANG (with Skandor Akbar)
-Gordy comes to the ring with Michael Hayes, who declares that the match is off because Terry needs to go straight to a hospital for X-rays. Gang demands to know if Gordy has any guts, and Akbar keeps trying to goad Gordy into throwing a punch so they can start the match. Hayes stops him from fighting and referee Tommy Gilbert asks, “Are you saying that Gordy cannot defend his title?” Hayes says that yes, that is what he is saying, and Gilbert calmly grabs the title belt and hands it right over to Gang, who is our new champ by forfeit. Crowd reaction to this is funny because the ruling makes sense and it’s fun to see the Freebirds get their comeuppance, but it’s the sound of 2,000 people thinking “Holy shit, they actually did that…I’ll be damned…” The generally agreed-on story is that Terry had a concussion due to a car accident and they had to get the belt off of him, although more than once an alternate theory has been suggested that Bill Watts was pissed at the Freebirds and booked this to make a point, but if it was more about punishment than actual NEED, I think Bill would have had Terry do an actual job.
TV TITLE: BUDDY ROBERTS (Champion, with Michael Hayes) vs. SAVANNAH JACK
-Savannah lays right into Buddy with rights before hanging him upside down in the corner and stomping a mudhole. Roberts fights back with a clothesline as Terry Taylor arrives at ringside. Buddy takes over and tries for a piledriver, but Jack backdrops out. Slam by Jack, but he’s close to the ropes so Hayes breaks the pin by reaching in and slapping him.
-Terry Taylor runs over and starts a fight with Hayes while the match continues in the ring. Jack superkicks Roberts, who again lands close to the ropes, but with Hayes now laid out on the floor, there’s nobody to break the pin, so Savannah Jack is our NEW TV champion. Too short to be much more than a series of plot points.
TAG TEAM TITLE: HOLLYWOOD JOHN TATUM & JACK VICTORY (Champions) vs. BAD BAD LEROY BROWN & WILD BILL IRWIN (with Skandor Akbar)
-Akbar’s men just beat the piss out of the champions during the ring intros, with Brown even managing to sneak in some shots with the belt. Tatum gets stomped and hammered by both opponents before slipping away and tagging Victory. Clothesline by Leroy Brown. Irwin misses an elbow and tags Tatum back in. Tatum is game, but Irwin boots him in the face with his controversial footwear. Side suplex by Irwin, and a big elbow by Brown gets the pin for our third title change of the hour. This was an odd match, as the fans weren’t about to buy into the champs as babyfaces, and even if they did…this was a squash. Tatum & Victory are just dead in the water now.
-Ernie Ladd, fresh off his brief and disastrous stint as a babyface color commentator in the WWF, returns to the UWF to take over commentary.
CHAVO GUERRERO vs. BUDDY LANDEL
-Buddy stalls before engaging in a crisscross and getting pasted with a dropkick. Landel tries for a wristlock and with a quick yank of the hair, he takes over. Chavo hangs in there, chinlocking Buddy and raking a boot across his face.
-They continue slugging it out before Buddy snapmares Chavo. Chavo responds with a savate kick and a dropkick to send Buddy to the floor. Jack Victory unexpectedly hurries to ringside while Chavo slingshots himself onto Buddy on the floor. Back in the ring, Buddy accidentally backdrops Chavo onto the referee. Chavo moonsaults Buddy, but Victory hurries in and elbows Chavo, and the referee revives in time to count the pin for Buddy to give him the pin, and Victory forms a new alliance.
-The Fantastics want their belts back! “We’re questing!”
-Last week on Power Pro Wrestling, Gang splashes Gary Young repeatedly but refuses to pin him, and Jim Duggan finally sees enough and runs in there to start a brawl, and that brings us to our last match of the week.
STEEL CAGE MATCH: THE ONE MAN GANG (UWF Heavyweight Champion, with Skandor Akbar)
-We have three minutes left in the show and Terry Gordy is circling the cage, demanding a fight with Gang, so we’re not really getting this. Duggan gets tired of waiting so he knocks around Michael Hayes, and Akbar sees an opportunity and slams the cage door against Gordy’s arm. Bill Irwin and Leroy Brown hit the ring for an attack on Duggan before he can enter the cage. Duggan mans up and gets in the ring despite the pain, but now Irwin and Brown grab the referee and carry him away, so it’s just Gang and Duggan in the ring for what’s just a straight fight and not any kind of a match.
