wrestling / Video Reviews
Universal Wrestling Federation (4.25.1987) Review
Image Credit: Universal Wrestling Federation
Loading...-I’m missing the April 18 episode, but luckily, I can tell you this week’s episode fills in the necessary blanks when we get to them.
-Cold open: Dark Journey is leading Buzz Sawyer around on a chain and daring the One Man Gang to get in there with him.
-Originally aired April 25, 1987.
-Your host is Jim Ross.
-Bruce Prichard is now the ring announcer, a job he’s not going to hold much longer as he pretty much followed Paul Boesch out the door.
“Mad Dog” BUZZ SAWYER (with Dark Journey) vs. MIKE BOYETTE
-We get a graphic at the start of the match telling us that Boyette is 0-15 in 1987.
-Boyette throws punches, all no-sold, Powerslam by Sawyer gets three.
-We get a commercial for Tegren Shampoo featuring Pete Rose. Imagine seeing that bowl and thinking “this is the haircut that I want people to associate with my company’s shampoo.”
LAST WEEK: Gary Young comes to the ring while Chavo Guerrero is kicking Mike Boyette’s ass. Young taunts him with the stolen battle royal check. Chavo just pins Boyette and then steals the check from Young after the bell, but it turns out Young was two steps ahead, and the “check” is just an envelope filled with confetti to screw with Chavo.
TERRY TAYLOR vs. GARY YOUNG
-Curious to see what happens here, based on a couple of hints we’ve been getting about Taylor these past few weeks.
-Young works the arm, but Taylor reverses it into a top wristlock, then sends Young into the ropes for an armdrag. Taylor goes for the kill with a figure four, but Rick Steiner and Sting charge the ring. Terry avoids the assault, but the referee calls for the DQ.
-With that, Jim Ross takes us to footage of a bizarre incident that took place last week…
-LAST WEEK: Bruce Prichard talks to Chris Adams in the locker room, and Chris says that because of everything that’s been reported in the last eight months, he wants to put everything out there and speak directly to the fans, calling it a public service. And with that, Chris just says point-blank that he has issues with alcohol addiction, the same way that some people have issues with cocaine. Suddenly, Rick Steiner and Sting interrupt the meeting to just the shit out of Chris, with Eddie Gilbert supervising the assault, and everyone is left wondering what that was all about. My head canon is that they heard Chris say he was going to do a promo where he advocated drug tests for the company and they decided to get a little ahead of that plan.
-So now, back to this week, as Bruce chats with Chris & Terry. Chris says that tough times don’t last, but tough people do. He cites the match where he defended the Tag Team Titles by himself as an example of what he’s willing to put up with. Terry drops another tiny hint, saying he MIGHT have just forfeited the belts if the roles were reversed, but covers that with a quick “just kidding” before promising to take on all comers.
“Dr. Death” STEVE WILLIAMS vs. THE SUPER NINJA
-Chavo is here to plug the new UWF Training Camp, and that’s about all there is to say about this match, as Dr. Death finishes in seconds with the Stampede.
-Last week, Sunshine called out Nicola, which is Baby Doll’s name for the time being. And while she was running down Nicola, Missy Hyatt walks to the ring. It’s crazy, if you didn’t know the story of the failed WWF TV tapings, you would never, ever know she left the UWF. It was that brief. They didn’t even do a burial or an angle to explain why she was gone. Missy and Sunshine have a high school slam session where they talk about what hogs Nicola and Dark Journey are, and Nicola comes in the ring to stand up for herself. She gets a Gucci purse to the back of the head for her trouble, and Missy heads off to third-period biology.
-LAST WEEK: Savannah Jack is battling Gary Young. Jack is about to put Young away after connecting with a superkick, but first, Eddie Gilbert storms the ring with Rick Steiner & Sting, and they cuff Savannah Jack so that Iceman King Parsons can whip him.
-LAST WEEK: Steve Cox and Steve Williams…wait, that’s too confusing for me…Garrison Cox and Steve Williams are battling Angel of Death and Bill Irwin. Viking, One Man Gang and Akbar are at ringside, and Terry is still mad about losing the title and all that, so he runs to ringside for a brawl with the Gang, and everyone just picks a dance partner and slugs it out for the double-DDQ. Irwin gets his hands on the whip and does the single most intuitive thing you can do with a whip, hitting Buddy Roberts in the throat with the handle. You know, the thing that you do when you have a whip. Roberts is injured, coughing and convulsing on the mat.
-Ken Mantell warns us that Eddie Gilbert had better not try to get out of his next title defense, because he keeps weaseling out of it. Mantell had a company-hired doctor examine his arm and has determined that Eddie doesn’t have any kind of injury, so he had BETTER get in the ring this week.
TV TITLE: EDDIE GILBERT (Champion) vs. SAM HOUSTON
-So Eddie does indeed man up and wrestle this match for himself, and the commentators, Jim and Ken, are surprised that Eddie is out there alone without any of his band of merry men.
-The boys trade arm work for a bit with Sam getting the upper hand. Eddie fights free and pastes Sam with a right hand, but he celebrates his sole offensive move a little too long and misses the follow-through elbow. Sam goes back to working on the arm.
-And just like that, we return from a commercial break with Sam writhing on the floor and the referee getting mad because Eddie keeps blocking the re-entry. He finally makes it back in, but they wipe each other out with a double clothesline. Sam uses his last remaining ounce of strength on a neckbreaker, but Eddie actually recovers first and goes for a suplex, getting it reversed. Eddie Flair-flops after a series of punches. Houston sets up for a bulldog, but Eddie just unambiguously punches the referee to get himself DQed, allowing himself to retain.
-Skandar Akbar issues an open challenge to the Freebirds for any kind of match involving any combination or number of men.
-Chris Adams is headed to the ring to face Angel Muhammad, and Chris’ friend and partner Terry Taylor is by his side, but TV time runs out before the match starts.
