Universal Wrestling Federation (4.26.1986) Review

-Originally aired April 26, 1986.

-Your hosts are Jim Ross and Jay Smith.

-No clue.

DAVID PETERSON vs. GUSTAVO MENDOZA
It would not surprise me if I were to learn that some unscrupulous promoter tried to bring in David Peterson for a run and bill him as “Magnum D.P.” Actually, I’m going to look that up right now…just do a quick search for “Magnum D.P.” annnnnnddddd…….okay then.

-Peterson trips Mendoza and applies an armbar. Dropkick sends Mendoza out to the floor. Back in, Peterson goes back to work on the arm, but Mendoza gets a handful of tights and rams Peterson into the turnbuckle to break. Suplex gets two. Peterson makes a quick comeback and hits the Thesz press for a victory over Mendoza, finally avenging Scoey’s death.

-We get a recap of the Crockett Cup “for those of you who missed it,” which would be a fairly sizeable number because this show was considered a bit of a flop by Superdome standards, 3500 fans for the afternoon show and 13,000 for the night show, and they were expecting at least 30,000. And then they did it twice more and were planning a fourth when Jim Crockett sold the company! The highlights are 90% Fantastics/Sheepherders, and they just throw a chyron on the screen that says “Road Warriors won the tournament.” This did not make me feel like I missed anything.

BUZZ SAWYER (with Rob Ricksteiner) vs. TRACY SMOTHERS
-Sawyer throws Smothers out to the concrete and drags him back in right away. Vicious-looking powerslam by Sawyer gets the three-count.

UWF UPDATE
-Kamala is back in the UWF along with manager Skandar Akbar. We get some strategically chosen old clips of Kamala getting victories over Sgt. Slaughter, Kerry Von Erich, and Billy Jack Haynes. But Kamala has some unfinished business with Hacksaw Jim Duggan, as a result of that whole “set Duggan’s face on fire” thing that happened last year.

-Jim Ross is in the ring live with Akbar and Kamala. Akbar blames Jim Duggan for forcing him to leave UWF for a while, and he’s going to do something about it.

KAMALA (with Skandar Akbar) vs. PERRY JACKSON
-Thunderous chops and a big foot to the face, and a splash by Kamala finishes with ease.

“Dr. Death” STEVE WILLIAMS vs. JACK VICTORY (with Lady Maxine)
-Williams comes to the ring to “Born in the USA” to add the UWF to the elite list of entities that didn’t get the point of the song.

-Victory goes to the eyes, Williams fights back with punches. Victory gets him down to the mat for a chinlock, but Williams fights to his feet and elbows free, only to miss a splash. Williams fights back and looks close to putting Victory away, but Lady Maxine puts her man’s foot on the rope again and again to save him. And then when Victory gives Doc a boot to the face, Maxine grabs HIS foot and yanks down on it for leverage so he can’t kick out, and Victory gets a tainted win.

NORTH AMERICAN TITLE: HACKSAW JIM DUGGAN (Champion) vs. DICK SLATER
-Soooooooooo, there’s just a BIT of a story here. Wrestling being wrestling, you don’t know what behind-the-scenes stories are true and what’s bullshit, but the generally-agreed-upon version of the tale is that Dick Slater suspected that Blade Runner Sting got together with Dark Journey and painted her face, so Slater beat the hell out of Sting and shoved his head in a locker room toilet just to really make sure he learned his lesson. (For the record, Dark Journey herself says the toilet-flush part is bullshit and it stopped with Sting just getting shoved into a stall.) Slater got fired for the incident, but he’s being a good soldier here and doing one last bit of business on his way out.

-Korchenko and Eddie Gilbert show up to issue a challenge for their own match, and it turns into a brawl between Duggan & Korchenko while Slater just leans back and lets Duggan wear himself out.

-Duggan knocks Korchenko to the floor and shifts his focus to his actual opponent to formally start the match. Fight spills to the floor and Duggan gets rammed into the barricade. Back in, Slater stays on the ribs and gives Duggan a back suplex for two. Slater goes for the figure four, but Duggan keeps kicking him away. Duggan fights back to his feet and slugs away.

-Duggan goes for a second-rope splash and crashes. Slater sends him into the ropes but Duggan dodges the clothesline and spears him for a three-count to retain the title, and that’s the end of Dick Slater.

6.2

The final score: review Average

The 411

Good main event, but kind of an off-week considering they were following a big card.