wrestling / Video Reviews
Universal Wrestling Federation (2.28.1987) Review
Image Credit: UWF
Loading...-Originally aired February 28, 1987.
-Your host is Jim Ross, who announces that the new UWF Tag Team Champions, surprisingly, are Terry Taylor and Chris Adams.
-Dark Journey is here with the new penalty box–a shark cage. Dark Journey speaks out in favor of the concept and warns that Sunshine is going to be locked up the way that she deserves. That brings out Michael Hayes and Sunshine. Dark Journey warns Sunshine that if Sunshine does anything to get locked in the cage, Dark Journey’s next move will be to slap the referee so that she can be locked in there with Sunshine. Sunshine gets a hold of Dark Journey and locks her in the penalty box and pulls her hair through it, and Missing Link is out there to make the rescue in seconds.
-We get a report from Doyle King, who says that the UWF received bids from arenas coast-to-coast to hold their Tag Team Title tournament, with some arenas even upping their own bids at the last minute, but ultimately, the Cowtown Coliseum next door to Billy Bob’s came out on top. The head promoter at Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum immediately flipped over his desk and yelled “Damn you, Cowtown Coliseum next door to Billy Bob’s!” loud enough to be heard down the hallway.
-So with that, Doyle gives us a very, very truncated reel of the matches from the tournament…
ROUND ONE: THE MISSING LINK & CHAVO GUERRERO (with Dark Journey) vs. RICK STEINER & STING (with Missy Hyatt & Eddie Gilbert)
-A million-dollar editing job here, as Doyle talks about the two biggest distractions in wrestling today, meaning Eddie and Missy, but the video editor just gives us a shot of Missy in a plunging neckline. Steiner & Sting keep getting away with stuff behind the referee’s back, but when Chavo finally retaliates by throwing Steiner over the top rope, the referee catches THAT and DQs Chavo.
ROUND ONE: TERRY TAYLOR & SAM HOUSTON vs. ANGEL OF DEATH & TERRY GORDY
-So the story here is that there’s a size mismatch that should favor the heels, but the faces get a major upset in a way that’s so spectacular that we simply cannot see it on television.
ROUND ONE: TED DIBIASE & “Dr. Death” STEVE WILLIAMS vs. WILD BILL IRWIN & ELI (with Skandar Akbar)
-Akbar whips DiBiase with the riding crop, and Devastation Inc. double-teams him from there, but Williams blocks an attempted double suplex. Ugly finish sees DiBiase powerslam Eli, and either Eli sandbagged him or DiBiase just straight-up lost his balance, but DiBiase gets the three-count with it.
ROUND ONE: GENTLEMAN CHRIS ADAMS & ICEMAN KING PARSONS vs. BUDDY ROBERTS & MICHAEL P.S. HAYES (with Sunshine)
-Buddy bungles a missile dropkick and takes out his own partner, and Adams hits a superkick to take the win. Buddy and Michael argue after the match and tease a break-up while Sunshine tries to make peace.
SEMI-FINAL: TED DIBIASE & “Dr. Death” STEVE WILLIAMS vs. GENTLEMAN CHRIS ADAMS & ICEMAN KING PARSONS
-It’s a purely scientific match until Skandar Akbar sends his men to the ring for a surprise attack on DiBiase and Williams. Adams tries to help, but Parsons holds him back and won’t let him. The referee won’t call for a DQ on the surprise attack, reasoning that no one in the match is aligned with Devastation, Inc., but it’s weird logic because even if that’s the case, one side is definitely benefitting here. DiBiase & Williams get counted out, allowing Adams and Parsons to advance, but Adams doesn’t want to win like that and demands the match be restarted.
-Parsons is APPALLED by this and they argue for a bit before deciding that they cannot possibly continue as a tag team and agree to split up. Somebody has to advance, though, so they have a coin flip to decide who gets to advance. Okay, this is getting a LITTLE too cute and clever. Adams wins the coin flip and decides that he’ll go to the finals with Savannah Jack as his partner. How fortunate that Savannah Jack was in the building.
SEMI-FINAL: TERRY TAYLOR & SAM HOUSTON vs. RICK STEINER & STING (with Missy Hyatt & Eddie Gilbert)
-With the match threatening to go to a time limit draw, Terry gets his leg hooked while he’s suplexing Rick Steiner, and Eddie holds onto that leg to make sure Terry gets pinned.
FINALS: SAVANNAH JACK & GENTLEMAN CHRIS ADAMS vs. RICK STEINER & STING (with Missy Hyatt & Eddie Gilbert)
-Parsons is furious that his spot in the finals has ben taken by a “greasy black-eyed pea-eating fool” like Savannah Jack. Savannah tries to convince King Parsons to make peace with Adams and even offers to drop out of the tournament and give his spot back to King, but King completes the heel turn by kicking the shit out of Savannah Jack, leaving Adams without a partner. Luckily, Terry Taylor is in the locker room and freshly eliminated from the tournament, so Chris Adams steps up to be Adams’ new partner, and the five-arm is enough to put away Rick Steiner, giving the titles to “the dream team” of Adams and Taylor, while Missy Hyatt weeps bitterly at ringside.
-Bruce Prichard is with Eddie Gilbert & Missy Hyatt. Eddie has been hitting the gym more frequently, because he’s decided to head back in the ring again.
NON-TITLE: GENTLEMAN CHRIS ADAMS & TERRY TAYLOR (Tag Team Champions) vs. MIKE GEORGE & THE ANGEL OF DEATH
-The first actual official match for the new champions.
-Terry bodypresses the Angel for two. Adams works Angel’s arm. George tags in and it looks like he’s actually making some effort to get back into shape after his return stalled instantly. Taylor misses an elbow and the heels take control. JR explains that Angel is “on loan” from the Freebirds and he suspects that the entire point of this match is for Angel to put together a scouting report for them after the match. I wanna see a post-match vignette where Angel is standing in a conference room with a lot of charts and graphs, then.
-Big boot by the Angel. Taylor gets a visual three-count while Adams stupidly argues with the referee. George tags in but whiffs on a corner charge, allowing Adams to make the hot tag. Superkick knocks out George for the three-count. Match did what it needed to do.
-Skandar Akbar, wearing the UWF Heavyweight Title (which I’m sure they’re two months away from considering) is in the ring with Eli & Irwin. He calls out Ted Debussey & Steve Cox, among others.
WILD BILL IRWIN & ELI VS. JEFF RAITZ & KEN MASSEY
-Irwin clotheslines Raitz and rams him into the turnbuckle. Eli drops an elbow for one. Massey tags in, punching away and backdropping Irwin, but Irwin shuts down the hot tagness and tags Eli. Boot to the face puts Massey away.
STEVE COX vs. MIKE BOYETTE (with Skandar Akbar)
-Akbar flashes a wad of money at Boyette and makes a deal with him on the spot. Amateur stuff to start. Boyette gets a handful of hair and keeps Cox on the mat with a top wristlock. Boyette comes off the ropes but gets backdropped, and a Russian legsweep by Cox gets the win. They kept that really, REALLY basic for the new kid.
SAM HOUSTON vs. RICK STEINER
-Steiner overpowers Houston early on. Houston cartwheels to avoid a backdrop, then dropkicks Steiner down. Steiner just punches and boots away at Houston as JR starts giving us time checks. Powerslam by Steiner gets a two-count. Houston gets flung into the ropes and Steiner winds up for a big clothesline, but Houston just hangs onto Steiner and faceplants him for the surprise three-count.
